After seeing off the customer who had just come by to order fifty jin of noodles, Fang Shuwen let out a long sigh.
Watching the customer’s retreating back, Zhou Shengcai couldn’t help asking curiously, “Didn’t he complain that our noodles cost thirty cents more per jin and stop ordering them? Why’s he come back to our place to order noodles again?”
Fang Shuwen shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe he fell out with the cheaper place, so he’s come crawling back to us.”
Seeing that the last of the Dumpling Wrappers on the counter had sold out, Fang Shuwen looked a little smug. “Ever since Zhiwei came, business at our noodle stall has gotten better. We sold everything today! And now we’ve got one more Order every day!”
Zhou Shengcai was left speechless. His lips moved a few times, and he wanted to argue, but the facts really did prove her right.
Still, his wife had put way too much of a filter on her little brother. Did she really think he was the God of Wealth?
Fang Shuwen didn’t care that Zhou Shengcai was speechless. She patted his shoulder. “Comrade Zhou, keep up the good work! Let’s make our noodle stall bigger and stronger, and achieve even greater success!”
“Fine, fine, fine!”
As the couple chatted, they suddenly caught a strong aroma of oil. They turned and saw Fang Zhiwei standing at the Stove, stir-frying.
Fang Shuwen smacked her forehead. “Oh, no! Why is Zhiwei cooking? I got so caught up talking business that I completely forgot about making dinner.”
Zhou Shengcai suppressed the smile tugging at his lips. Heh. He’d noticed ages ago, but had pretended not to.
It wasn’t as if the kid had been sent up a mountain to chop wood or down to the river to catch fish. What was wrong with having him cook?
Only his wife, who saw her little brother through a hundredfold filter, would make such a fuss.
Fang Shuwen sniffed. “Well, I have to say, he does look like he knows what he’s doing.”
“I’ll go help.”
Just as she was about to rush inside, Zhou Shengcai grabbed Fang Shuwen. “Have you balanced today’s accounts yet?”
Fang Shuwen replied casually, “We don’t take cash like we used to. Now we just add up the two payment platforms and we know. What’s there to check?”
She glanced up at Zhou Shengcai, who looked like he wanted to say something but couldn’t. Fang Shuwen understood what he meant at once and pursed her lips, exasperated. “All right, all right. I’ll balance the accounts first.”
Zhiwei was working, after all. She really didn’t know what was wrong with going in to help him.
He was getting old, yet he was still playing these little tricks on her.
There were three dishes in all. Fang Zhiwei started with Twice-Cooked Pork, the perennial star of Sichuan Cuisine.
The Sliced Meat curled up, turning slightly translucent as the fat rendered out of the Pork Belly. Fang Zhiwei added a spoonful of doubanjiang to the wok and stir-fried it a few times, then added fermented black beans and sliced ginger and garlic.
The fragrance of the Chili Oil bloomed, and in an instant the small Shop was filled with the aroma of Twice-Cooked Pork.
Fang Zhiwei glanced down. Four-year-old Zhou Yue had appeared by his feet at some point.
He swallowed the saliva that had filled his mouth, then spoke with a little dribble. “Uncle, it smells so good.”
Unlike Zhou Ling and Fang Qingyue, who kept their distance from Fang Zhiwei, Zhou Yue had taken to this unfamiliar family member quite well.
Fang Zhiwei gave a casual “Mm.” “Dinner will be ready soon.”
Zhou Yue replied with something completely unrelated. “I had Ice Cream just now.”
“Chocolate flavored?”
Zhou Yue’s eyes went wide. “Uncle, how did you know I had chocolate Ice Cream?”
Meeting Zhou Yue’s adorable expression, Fang Zhiwei suddenly thought of a classic expression from a character named Xiong Er and couldn’t help laughing.
He pointed at Zhou Yue’s mouth. “Why don’t you look in a mirror?”
Zhou Yue stuck out his tongue and licked around his mouth, grinning. “I haven’t finished all my chocolate yet.”
With her back to the two of them, Fang Qingyue heard the exchange between uncle and nephew and unconsciously tightened her grip on her pen.
Facing a familiar problem, her mind went blank for a moment.
Fang Qingyue didn’t know how many seconds passed in silence before she started writing again.
While he was talking to Zhou Yue, the Twice-Cooked Pork finished cooking. Fang Zhiwei had just transferred it to a serving bowl when Fang Mother came over to take it from him. The aroma grew even stronger, drifting straight into her nose.
She couldn’t help secretly swallowing.
Well, going away for ten years hadn’t been entirely without its benefits. At least he’d really, truly learned some skills.
Could he have cooked this well before?
As she thought about it, for some reason, four words Fang Mother had once heard Zhou Ling say suddenly popped into her head—
A dark joke.
Fang Mother shook her head, quickly tossing the thought aside. Carrying the Twice-Cooked Pork to the dining table, she called to Zhou Ling and Fang Qingyue, who were doing their homework, “Are you done with your homework? Dinner’s ready!”
Zhou Ling kept writing, but stared fixedly at the Twice-Cooked Pork Fang Mother had set beside the table. “Almost, almost.”
Fang Shuwen, having finished balancing the accounts, came over too and teased her with a smile. “How come you were never this eager to eat before?”
Zhou Ling immediately cried out, “Mom, look at what we used to eat every night! I’m so sick of eating noodles every evening!”
“Either Dough Wrapper soup or a big bowl of noodles.”
Just like fruit sellers eating bruised fruit and vegetable sellers eating wilted vegetables, the Fang family was no different. For dinner, they either made soup with leftover Dough Wrappers—if they were in a good mood, they might even wrap a couple of Dumplings—or boiled the leftover noodles.
Their business was hard-earned money, and no matter how used to the work they became, it was still tiring. Over time, the family’s Three Meals a Day all became makeshift affairs.
Fang Shuwen couldn’t find anything to say in response, so she nodded repeatedly. “All right, all right. I’ll try not to make noodles for dinner from now on.”
Zhou Shengcai, serving the rice, silently pursed his lips. As if anyone would believe that.
He took another deep breath of the Twice-Cooked Pork’s aroma. Heavenly. Absolutely heavenly.
The other two dishes were both Quick Dishes. Fang Zhiwei finished them in no time, and Fang Mother brought them to the table.
He had just added water to the wok after finishing the stir-fry. When he turned around, the whole family was already seated neatly at the table, waiting for dinner.
Seeing everyone looking at him, Fang Zhiwei raised an eyebrow. “Eat. What are you waiting for?”
Zhou Shengcai blurted out, “Then hurry up and come over!”
Then he called out, “Leave the pots and everything. I’ll wash them later.”
Just from the smell, he could already tell how delicious the dishes on the table would be. And they looked so appetizing, too.
Honestly, he was sick of eating noodles and Dough Wrappers every day, too.
With so many people and so little food, each of the three dishes filled a whole serving bowl, making everyone’s mouths water.
As soon as Fang Zhiwei’s backside touched the stool, no one needed to tell the family what to do. They all picked up their Chopsticks and reached for the Twice-Cooked Pork.
The first bite was salty, with a hint of heat and the fragrance of garlic shoots. A few chews later, it didn’t feel greasy in the least.
After a hard day’s work, nothing could replace the joy of a delicious bite of Twice-Cooked Pork with a bowl of rice!
Fang Shuwen ate several mouthfuls with her rice before praising it. “Delicious!”
Fang Zhiwei nodded modestly. Actually, it could be even more delicious—much, much more delicious. He was afraid of shocking them, so he’d only used thirty percent of his skill.
Thinking back to the days of “Gongjin,” people from an entire college had chased after him, begging him to cook them some Twice-Cooked Pork. He truly hadn’t wanted to cook, but a crafty fellow whose name included “Nian” had tricked him. He’d fallen into the trap, lost the bet, and ended up cooking Twice-Cooked Pork for him for a whole month.