News about Shen Dashan’s household spread quickly throughout Shenjia Village, and the aunts who hadn’t yet come to exchange cloth all tacitly decided not to visit.
After such a major incident, it just wasn’t appropriate to go over today. They would have to wait until Shen Dashan’s family had recovered before exchanging cloth.
This event served as a warning to many in the village: grandparents and parents shouldn’t show too much favoritism.
Cases like Shen Niushan and Liu Chunhua, who showed no affection for their eldest son, were rare. Although Shen Dashan’s family was a little poor, they were honest and kind-hearted people, and this time they had truly been pushed to the limit.
However, most villagers loved their own children; it was impossible for them to curse their sons or grandchildren like Liu Chunhua did, as if she were berating the enemies who had killed her ancestors eight generations back.
This time, she had truly earned her reputation for a sharp tongue.
ᘻᘿᓍᘺ
Shen Dashan slept until nightfall before getting up, as if he had finally lifted a rock-like burden, feeling light and relaxed all over.
“Shen Feng finished the work in the field with Ruo’er today. Both kids care about you so much,” Li Shantao said, handing him a damp cloth to wipe his face and wake himself up.
“Why did Ruo’er also go out to the fields? He should be resting,” Shen Dashan frowned. Having gone back to the field to cut rice just a few days after giving birth, if he fell ill later, it would be a big problem.
Li Shantao smiled: “Alright, alright. You used to nitpick everything, but now you care for Ruo’er, huh?”
“Don’t worry. Ruo’er is recovering quickly, and his body is fine now. It’s the heavens’ blessing,” Li Shantao said, her eyes a little red, but she was genuinely happy.
Although the separation of ties didn’t return what had been taken from their family before, severing the connection with those people still brought relief to the heart.
“That’s good. Where are the children now?” Shen Dashan asked as he got up and walked outside. It was already fully dark, past dinnertime, and in his household, the strict family rules meant no one dared eat until he had started. He wasn’t sure if the children had eaten yet.
Li Shantao said, “They’re in the kitchen. Ruo’er is cooking; he said it’s to celebrate.”
Shen Dashan nodded and followed Li Shantao to the kitchen.
Their kitchen was a small straw hut. As soon as he entered, it felt cramped.
“Father, you’re awake,” Shen Ruo said, cooking with sweat dripping from his forehead. Liu Shan was at the side helping chop vegetables, and Ergou, small as he was, was squatting to wash the vegetables.
“Father.” “Grandpa,” Liu Shan and Ergou called out as well.
“Eh,” he replied.
Shen Dashan’s eyes instantly reddened. Looking at his family, all so good, he wondered why he had wasted so much energy worrying about people who didn’t even care about him. It was enough to just live well with his own family!
Xiao Yuntun couldn’t be left alone, and with the women of the house busy, Shen Feng took over making dinner. After all, he had been a babysitter for four years, so he was quite skilled. Now he carried the little baby to the kitchen doorway.
“Smells amazing! Father, Mother, look, Xiao Yuntun is drooling from how good it smells, hahaha!” Shen Feng laughed heartily. He was genuinely happy; that afternoon, while working with Ruo’er, he had been full of energy, and even before dark, they had already finished gathering the harvest.
Xiao Yuntun, watched by so many pairs of eyes, happily waved his soft little arms like lotus joints, tender and fresh. The baby let out a few soft “ah-woo” sounds, as if greeting everyone.
Previously, Shen Dashan had felt heavy-hearted and avoided looking at Xiao Yuntun, because every time he saw him, he was reminded of what Ruo’er had gone through.
But…
Xiao Yuntun’s big, grape-like eyes looked at him, smiling with a pink little gumline, eyes curved like crescent moons.
Shen Dashan’s heart was struck instantly!
This was Ruo’er’s child, carried in his belly for ten months, and even had a bit of Shen Dashan’s blood in him. Just thinking of that gave him a sense of relief.
Shen Ruo noticed Shen Dashan’s heart softening. Previously, he had deliberately avoided Xiao Yuntun, but now the elder and the little one were locking eyes.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Shen Ruo said just the right thing: “Looks like our Xiao Yuntun wants Grandpa to hold him, huh? He’s smiling so happily at Grandpa.”
Xiao Yuntun obligingly let out a little “ah… ah-woo~,” melting everyone’s hearts.
“Come here… Grandpa will hold you,” Shen Dashan said. Saying “Grandpa” felt awkward on his tongue, but he didn’t resist. Smiling, he carefully took Xiao Yuntun into his arms.
The little one was very obedient, never crying no matter who held him, his round eyes fixed on his Grandpa.
Shen Dashan carried Xiao Yuntun outside, gently bouncing him and playing along.
“Our Xiao Yuntun is heavy! He’s definitely going to be strong when he grows up.”
Shen Dashan’s voice carried from outside, and everyone couldn’t help but laugh.
Shen Feng, exasperated, shouted, “Father, Xiao Yuntun is a little ge’er, why does he have to be so strong?!”
Shen Dashan didn’t care. Ruo’er had been weak and sickly as a child; it was better for Xiao Yuntun to be strong, so he wouldn’t get sick easily.
Shen Ruo could only laugh and cry at the same time. The family was already spoiling Xiao Yuntun endlessly, attending to him in every possible way. By now, he was drinking more than ten feedings of goat milk or goat milk porridge a day. He was worried Xiao Yuntun might grow up a little chubby.
However…
Shen Ruo imagined it for a moment, little chubby Xiao Yuntun seemed…
Even cuter!
Just like that plump baby in the New Year painting, with a little red birthmark on his forehead, it made him even more similar.
The dishes were quickly done. Li Shantao and Liu Shan helped set the table together, while Li Shantao placed the bowls and chopsticks for everyone. Shen Ruo served the last dish onto a plate, then fetched a few sticks of firewood from behind the stove. The food was already cooked and didn’t need much fire, so just two sticks were enough. He added some water to the pot to let it heat slowly with the residual fire, which could later be used to wash the dishes.
Carrying the last dish, Shen Ruo entered the room. Everyone was already seated, and Xiao Yuntun was still in his Grandpa’s arms. Seeing Shen Ruo arrive, the little one started babbling in baby talk again, which nobody could understand.
“Xiao Yuntun is really smart. Look at those eyes, they’re so bright,” Li Shantao couldn’t help but praise.
Shen Feng agreed. He had been working in the fields most of the day, so he didn’t interact much with Xiao Yuntun, but watching him now, it was clear the baby recognized people, reaching out for him to hold him.
Shen Dashan nodded, pride written all over his face: “All the children in the Shen family are smart. Our Ergou is smart too!”
Ergou blushed a little at Grandpa’s praise. He had been frightened earlier, and Shen Ruo had worried it would leave a shadow on his childhood. Fortunately, Ergou had a cheerful personality; after being comforted by Liu Shan and Shen Feng, he bounced around happily again.
Earlier, while washing vegetables, he even ran over to Shen Ruo and said, “Little uncle, later when we go to the drying yard to call out, you have to call Ergou too. Ergou has to help little uncle!”
What a good kid, he was bound to grow up into a genuinely warm-hearted young man.
“All right, all right, everyone’s been hungry all day, let’s eat!” Li Shantao served everyone a full bowl of rice.
This year’s harvest was excellent. With some money in the house, they didn’t need to sell all the rice left after paying taxes, they could save it for their own food. The husks had been thoroughly removed after much pounding by Li Shantao. They couldn’t eat like this every day, but today was an exception.
Everyone was happy today! They deserved something good to eat!
Shen Ruo and Li Shantao had thought carefully about the meal. Although all the ingredients came from what they already had at home, the dishes were plentiful and impressive.
Shen Ruo made a total of five dishes: four main dishes and one soup.
There was stir-fried yellow chives with eggs, [1]Wuyi vinegar chicken (武义醋鸡) is a traditional Chinese dish from Wuyi County in Zhejiang province. It’s essentially braised chicken flavored with vinegar as the defining ingredient, which … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1939283_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1939283_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });Wuyi vinegar chicken, braised duck in soy sauce, caramelized sweet potatoes, and a bowl of loofah egg-drop soup.
The soft yellow scrambled eggs lay over the chives like little clouds. Each bite was tender and slid down the throat without much chewing, the fragrance of the chives blending with the egg aroma, intoxicating the senses. Shen Ruo had previously made Wuyi vinegar chicken using half a rooster; this time he used the other half. The sour vinegar complemented the chicken perfectly. The meat was tender and juicy, not dry, and the aroma made your mouth water before even tasting it. The braised duck was equally delicious, the soy sauce and duck meat were a perfect match. After marinating, it carried its own savory flavor, chewy and utterly tasty.
And then there were the caramelized sweet potatoes—
Making caramelized sweet potatoes required sugar, so although called a dish, it was more like a dessert.
It just so happened that Shen Ziying had brought over some brown sugar earlier, so Shen Ruo took it out to cook.
Actually, authentic caramelized sweet potatoes are supposed to be made with white sugar or rock sugar. But they didn’t have any at home. In ancient times, white sugar was very expensive, almost as costly as salt, so Shen Ruo had to make do with brown sugar.
As a result, the caramelized sweet potatoes he made… couldn’t actually form the signature sugar strands.
They called it “caramelized sweet potatoes” simply because that’s the method Shen Ruo used. Even without the strands, it didn’t affect its popularity at the table, everyone loved sweet food, and sugar was so expensive that they rarely got to eat it.
Shen Ruo thought about how sweetness can stimulate dopamine production, making people feel happy. From now on, he could use those two pieces of brown sugar to make more delicious treats for his family.
Life is about finding ways to make yourself happy and joyful, something money can’t buy.
Sweet potatoes were a treasure, and Shen Ruo planned to roast some for the family first thing tomorrow morning. Sweet potatoes are naturally sweet, and the ones he roasted would rival anything sold outside.
If he weren’t busy fulfilling his grandmother’s wish of passing the civil service exam, he might have even gone out just to roast sweet potatoes.
After all, as the saying goes: “[2]You got into Tsinghua, he got into Peking University, and I roasted sweet potatoes. Roasted sweet potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, fragrant and sweet roasted sweet potatoes! – is a humorous, … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1939283_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1939283_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });You got into Tsinghua, he got into Peking University, and I roasted sweet potatoes. Roasted sweet potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, fragrant and sweet roasted sweet potatoes!”
Look at that, roasted sweet potatoes, worthy of being mentioned alongside Tsinghua and Peking University. That impressive.
Shen Ruo was already craving his own roasted sweet potatoes. He had noticed some at home that had been stored for a long time, the kind that naturally became sweet over time.
He said, “Tomorrow morning we’ll eat roasted sweet potatoes for breakfast. I’ll roast them for you, they’ll be so sweet, with syrup oozing out.”
Ergou responded eagerly. He loved anything sweet! And anything his little uncle cooked was delicious!
ᘻᘿᓍᘺ
The next morning, Shen Ruo did roast sweet potatoes as promised, burying them in the stove’s ash to keep them warm so the family could take them themselves. He tucked two into his own coat pocket and was about to head out.
Yesterday’s letter of severance of kinship needed to go to the government today to get the official seal. Shen Dashan had originally wanted to go himself, but the family’s recently harvested grain had to be weighed to calculate how much tax to pay, since the levy was due in a few days.
Shen Feng, being strong, stayed home to help.
Shen Ruo said he happened to be heading into town, so he might as well take care of this task.
As he walked toward the village entrance, he spotted Gu Yun’s back from a distance and was about to greet him. But a few steps closer, he saw Shen Ziying standing right in front of Gu Yun, in a spot that blocked his path!
“Brother Gu, I want to apologize on behalf of my grandma. Please accept this medicine,” Shen Ziying said in a sweet, coquettish tone.
Gu Yun had already received medicine from Shen Ruo, and the scratches were nearly healed, only slightly swollen. Shen Ziying offering something like this in front of others was definitely going to make people misunderstand.
He replied coldly, “No need.” He felt a little irritated, Shen Ziying was becoming more and more brazen.
It used to be that she pursued him quietly, but now it was as if she wanted everyone to know. She would seize any excuse to approach him.
Shen Ziying bit her lip. “But this is something I had my father specially bring back from town…”
Gu Yun frowned. “I’ve already applied medicine. Shen Ruo gave me some yesterday.”
Shen Ruo: ??? Hey, no need to make me look bad in front of the heroine!
Shen Ziying was already upset at being rejected, and now hearing that Gu Yun had received medicine from Shen Ruo too, if he accepted Shen Ruo’s, why not hers?
Tears of frustration welled up in her eyes, and in the next moment, she caught sight of Shen Ruo not far away.
Her expression instantly twisted.
Gu Yun quietly took two steps back.
Was Shen Ziying sick or something? Why was her face starting to twitch like that?
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