Su Qingyun spent a full minute mentally preparing herself at the door before knocking. As it turned out, neither Li Chunhua nor her husband were home—only their two children were doing homework.
"Teacher Su, are you looking for my mom? She's on the afternoon shift today," the older daughter, Wang Na, greeted Su Qingyun timidly. She was quite introverted, nothing like her mother.
"What about your dad then?"
"Dad went to the cafeteria to get food."
"Teacher Su, what are you carrying? It smells so good!" the younger daughter, Wang Yue, sniffed vigorously.
"It's chicken stewed with mushrooms. Yueyue, go get a bowl."
Wang Yue scampered off to fetch a bowl. Su Qingyun glanced at Wang Na's homework, spotted a mistake, and took the opportunity to explain it to her.
"Sister-in-law! Time to eat!"
"Coming!"
Su Qingyun quickly poured the chicken into the bowl and hurried home for dinner. By the time Wang Zhiwei returned, the two children were practically drooling over the chicken on the table, unable to focus on their homework.
"Where did this chicken come from?"
"Teacher Su brought it."
Wang Zhiwei thought he must have misheard. "Teacher Su next door? Are you sure it wasn't Uncle Li?"
"It wasn't Uncle Li—it was Teacher Su, the really pretty Teacher Su. She even helped me with my homework," Wang Na said, looking at Wang Zhiwei with dissatisfaction.
"Alright, alright, it was Teacher Su. Let's eat quickly."
"We should save two pieces for Mom."
"Okay, set some aside for Mom first. She can eat it when she gets back."
Over at Li Qingxiu's place, they were having chicken noodle soup. The broth had been ladled out before adding the potatoes—rich in color, perfectly seasoned, with two vibrant green vegetables blanched in it. Just the sight of it made one's mouth water.
They had only eaten half of the chicken stewed with mushrooms, and there was a little leftover hand-pulled noodles and broth. Li Qingxiu figured she wouldn't need to cook breakfast the next morning—just have Li Weiguo go buy a few steamed buns.
When Li Chunhua returned from work that evening, she was surprised to find chicken among the leftovers. After finishing her meal and washing up, she poked the sleeping Wang Zhiwei.
"Where did this chicken come from?"
Wang Zhiwei, half-asleep, mumbled, "Weiguo's wife brought it over."
"Weiguo's wife? Not Weiguo's sister?"
Wang Zhiwei couldn't help but laugh with his eyes closed. His wife's reaction was exactly like his own—truly his match.
"It really was Weiguo's wife, your daughter's Teacher Su. She even helped Nana with her homework."
"Really?!" Li Chunhua's eyes widened. "Has the sun risen from the west?! How did that capitalist's daughter become so down-to-earth?"
"What capitalist's daughter? Don't talk nonsense. Hasn't Weiguo's wife done all sorts of work since she married into the family?"
"What work? What can that frail little body of hers do? And what hasn't Deputy Factory Director Li helped with?" Li Chunhua narrowed her eyes at the mention of this. "Why don't you learn from Deputy Factory Director Li? He's a deputy factory director, yet he still helps with chores at home. Aren't you ashamed of acting like a lord at home?"
Still not satisfied, Li Chunhua gave Wang Zhiwei a hard pinch on the waist.
Wang Zhiwei winced in pain, dodging as he retorted, "What haven't I done? Don't I make the meals when you're at work?"
"All you do is fetch food from the cafeteria, and you have the nerve to say that? I'll pinch you again…"
"Don't pinch, don't pinch…"
As they bickered, the two of them tumbled onto the bed.
The couple worked different shifts to take care of the child, so they only had about eight hours together each day, which also had to include sleep time. Only when one worked the day shift and the other the swing shift did they get a chance to be alone in the evening—naturally, they had to seize that time.
The next morning, Su Qingyun wanted chicken noodle soup again. Naturally, the Li siblings couldn’t compete with a pregnant woman for it, so Li Qingxiu made egg drop soup instead, and she and Li Weiguo ate steamed buns with braised chicken and mushrooms.
After tidying up the house, Li Qingxiu put on her coat and headed out with a basket. This lapel-checked coat was something she’d brought from her hometown—it was the nicest piece of clothing the original owner had, looking almost brand new, probably something she rarely wore.
“Heading out to buy groceries, Li’s girl?” Just as she reached the ground floor, she ran into an auntie from downstairs. She was one of the earliest veteran employees at the cotton mill, so she’d been assigned a pretty decent apartment.
Li Qingxiu smiled and nodded. “You’re going grocery shopping too, Auntie?”
“Yes, the vegetables are fresher in the morning,” she replied. She’d just gotten off the night shift and planned to buy groceries before going back to sleep.
Since both were heading to the market, they naturally walked together. Along the way, Li Qingxiu’s ears were never idle—this woman chattered nonstop.
Though both were gossipy, this one was far worse than Sister-in-Law Chunhua next door. On the surface, she kept saying things like:
Your sister-in-law is so pretty…
Your sister-in-law is so filial…
Your brother really dotes on her…
You’re so capable, your sister-in-law is so lucky…
But the underlying meaning was:
Your sister-in-law is useless except for her looks!
Your sister-in-law gives everything to her own family!
Your brother forgets about his sister once he has a wife!
You’re just here to be a maid!
…
Damn! As if I needed you to tell me that!
Still, Li Qingxiu managed to glean some useful information from her chatter. In three days, Su Qingyun would get her paycheck. Usually, the day after or two days after payday, that wretched aunt would show up.
She needed to prepare early.
There was still meat in the fridge at home, so Li Qingxiu only bought dried noodles and vegetables—just potatoes and cabbage, since those kept the longest and were available year-round.
The only fresh vegetable today was lotus root, so Li Qingxiu bought a section of that too.
For dinner, she made dumplings with pork and cabbage filling, using up all the leaner meat from the fridge.
The other piece of pork belly was a bit too fatty. She planned to boil it first, then salt-cure it so it wouldn’t be greasy when stir-fried later.
In the afternoon, Li Qingxiu shelled a plate of peanuts she’d brought from her hometown and fried them. Then she soaked some wood ear mushrooms and tossed them with lotus root slices to make a cold salad.
As soon as Li Weiguo got home and saw dumplings, he immediately wanted to go buy steamed buns. Li Qingxiu was baffled. “We have dumplings, and you want to eat steamed buns?”
“Your sister-in-law won’t eat fatty meat—not even a little bit.”
“Huh?”
Su Qingyun quickly waved her hands. “It’s fine, we have the cold salad here. I can just make a flatbread myself.”
The cold salad looked delicious.
“Sit down, I’ll do it,” Li Weiguo said. True to his reputation as the most popular white moonlight in the original novel, he wouldn’t let his wife lift a finger.
Li Qingxiu watched her older brother roll up his sleeves and head to scoop flour before speaking up. “Sit down. There’s no fatty meat in the dumplings—it’s all lean.”
“Huh? Won’t that be too dry?”
…
You’ve got an answer for everything, don’t you!
Li Qingxiu shot him a sidelong glance. “It won’t be dry. I rendered the fat into lard and added that.” She turned to Su Qingyun and added, “Don’t worry, Sister-in-Law. I didn’t even add the cracklings.”
Hearing this, Li Weiguo laughed and quickly praised, "My sister is so clever. How did you come up with such a method?"
Li Qingxiu snorted, "Do you think I'm stupid? Putting such a lean piece of meat in the fridge—it must be because sister-in-law doesn't eat fatty meat."
Besides, for a novel heroine like Su Qingyun, not eating fatty meat is practically standard.
Li Weiguo laughed heartily, "Let's eat! Let's eat! Try our Xiù'er's cooking."
Li Qingxiu's culinary skills were naturally beyond reproach. When she first started working, she had won over her roommates' stomachs with her cooking, which even helped her avoid paying rent.
The dumplings made Su Qingyun's eyes sparkle—she had never tasted such delicious dumplings before.
Growing up, because she didn't eat fatty meat, she had rarely eaten meat-filled dumplings. On the rare occasions she tried all-lean ones, they were too dry, and she could only manage a few bites. But these dumplings were truly fragrant without being greasy, lean without being dry, and seemed to have a special seasoning she had never tasted before.
What special seasoning? It was just homemade thirteen-spice. Soaking ingredients like Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, fennel seeds, and cinnamon in water, then dry-frying them in a pan, and finally grinding them into powder with a rolling pin.
"Qingxiu, these dumplings are really delicious!"
"Indeed! My sister's cooking is even better than the chefs at the state-run restaurant."
Faced with their flattery, Li Qingxiu calmly took a sip of the dumpling broth and said,
"If sister-in-law likes them, I'll make more in a couple of days."