Looking at the large amount of wild boar meat, and since the meat they bought earlier still hadn’t been finished, Su Wan thought for a moment and decided to make two meat dishes, stir-fried eggs, and steamed rice.
This area belonged to the north, where people mostly grew wheat and corn, so they rarely ate rice. The rice at home had been bought by Su Lei during one of his business trips, especially for Su Wan. In her previous life, although Su Wan had also been from the north, she had long been used to eating rice.
She never expected that after coming here, even eating rice would become difficult. Before, whenever Father Su had the chance, he would find some rice for her. Later, after Su Lei became a driver, Su Wan finally got to eat rice more often.
“Mom, I’ll make loofah with eggs, potato stew with meat, and stir-fried pork offal for Dad. Is that okay?” Su Wan asked while cutting the meat.
Mother Su smiled and replied, “Okay, okay. That sounds wonderful.”
Su Wan washed the rice and put it into the pot to steam before starting to cook.
She first made the potato stew with meat. She poured oil into the wok, stir-fried scallions until fragrant, then added the chopped meat and fried it until the color changed. After that, she added the special sauce she made herself, poured in the potato chunks, sprinkled some salt—since they didn’t have the seasonings available in later generations—and finally added water and covered the pot to simmer.
The aroma of the stew gradually drifted through the air. Father Su sat in the courtyard, smoking while enjoying the smell coming from the kitchen, thinking to himself that life was truly good now.
Once the potato stew was done, the remaining dishes were simple. Before long, dinner was ready. Mother Su carried the three dishes to the table in the courtyard, served three bowls of rice, and prepared to eat.
The three of them had just sat down and were about to start eating when they heard Su Lei’s voice from outside.
“Dad, Mom, Su Wan, I’m back!”
As he spoke, he pushed his bicycle into the courtyard.
Su Wan happily ran over. “Brother, you’re finally back.”
Mother Su also hurried over and carefully looked Su Lei up and down. Seeing how much darker, thinner, and more exhausted he looked, she said worriedly, “You’ve lost weight, really lost weight. This trip must have been hard on you.”
Su Lei grinned. “It’s fine, not that tiring. One good night’s sleep and I’ll be okay tomorrow.”
When Su Lei saw the dishes on the table, he immediately knew Su Wan had cooked them. He patted her head and laughed.
“You knew your brother was coming home today, so you specially made such a feast for me, right?”
Su Wan rolled her eyes. “Stop flattering yourself. We only made good food because you weren’t home. Who knew you’d come back today?”
After hearing that, Su Lei reached over and pinched her cheeks, pulling them to both sides.
“You’ve gotten bold, huh?”
When Su Wan tried to hit him, he quickly let go and ran away. She angrily shouted after him, “Dad, Mom, look! Brother’s bullying me again!”
Father and Mother Su simply watched the siblings fool around. The sadness Mother Su had felt earlier disappeared because of Su Lei’s antics.
“Alright, alright, come eat already. The food will get cold,” Mother Su called out.
Only then did the siblings stop messing around and sit down to eat.
Su Lei stuffed several large mouthfuls of food into his mouth and sighed while chewing.
“My little sister’s cooking is still the best!”
Seeing him wolfing down the food, Mother Su said, “Slow down, don’t choke.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Su Lei started pounding his chest—he really had choked. He gulped down several mouthfuls of water before swallowing it properly.
Seeing this, Su Wan laughed shamelessly.
Since she was laughing so happily, Su Lei vigorously rubbed her head, messing up her hair completely. Su Wan angrily stretched out her hands and tried to mess up his hair too.
Father and Mother Su smiled as they watched the siblings quarrel.
The meal ended amid laughter and playful fighting between Su Lei and Su Wan.
After dinner, Su Lei called his parents and Su Wan into the main room. From his bag, he carefully took out a long package wrapped layer after layer. Inside was a ginseng root.
Su Lei said, “When I was collecting mountain goods in the villages, I bought this from an old farmer. He said he found it by chance while going into the mountains and had kept it carefully all this time. His grandson is already in his teens, and he wanted to save up some money for him, so he decided to sell it.
“He said some people from their village had tried selling things before, but the supply and marketing cooperative offered prices that were too low, so he didn’t want to sell it there. Since he had no other channels, he secretly asked me if I wanted to buy it.
“With such a good opportunity, of course I took it. He said it was over eighty years old. From what I can tell, it’s not bad at all. I bought it for 800 yuan. Su Wan, was it worth it?”
Su Wan gave him a thumbs-up.
“Amazing, Brother.”
Hearing their conversation, Father Su looked completely confused.
“So, Su Lei, why did you bring so much money on your business trip?”
Then he suddenly realized something and angrily asked, “Where did you get that much money?”
Su Lei’s smug expression instantly froze. He stammered awkwardly, “Well… uh…”
He glanced guiltily at Su Wan and desperately signaled to her with his eyes.
Su Wan noticed and softly explained, “Dad, I was the one who told Brother to bring that much money. I gave him the idea and asked him to see if he could buy wild mountain ginseng during his trip to the northeast.”
Seeing Father Su’s increasingly dark expression, her voice became quieter and quieter.
Father Su’s face darkened.
“Oh? So, the two of you have gotten quite bold now!”
After a pause, he asked again, “And the money? Where did all this money come from?”
Su Lei lowered his head and admitted, “Whenever I go on business trips, I bring back some local goods and store them in the county house. Xiao Wan is responsible for reselling them. Over the past two years, we saved up the money like that.”
Hearing this, Father Su’s face turned completely black. Mother Su was also frightened.
Seeing how angry their parents were, Su Wan quickly added, “Dad, Mom, it’s okay. The boss of the black market in the county knows me, so nothing will happen. I only asked Brother to look for wild ginseng because I heard that person wanted to buy some.”
After hearing that, Father Su’s expression softened a little, though he still asked sternly, “How do you know him?”
“His son got lost, and I happened to find the child and took him to the police station, so he’s been looking after me ever since.”
“Are you sure nothing will happen?”
“Dad, really, nothing will happen,” Su Wan promised confidently.
Then she added, “Besides, Dad, I don’t go there often. And whenever I do, I disguise myself properly. You know my makeup skills are really good.”
Only then did Father Su’s expression finally relax.
“Our family isn’t short on money. Don’t do such risky things anymore.”
“Dad, we just wanted to save up more money,” Su Lei carefully replied while watching his father’s expression.
Mother Su finally spoke up too.
“You should do this less in the future. Your father and I worry about you.”
Su Lei and Su Wan nodded repeatedly and answered in unison, “Got it.”
Seeing them act obediently, Father and Mother Su finally let the matter go and turned to leave.
Su Lei and Su Wan exchanged glances and patted their chests in relief.
After walking a few steps, Father Su suddenly turned back around.
The moment Su Lei and Su Wan saw him, they immediately straightened up.
Father Su said, “Find time in the next few days and sell that ginseng quickly.”
Su Wan nodded rapidly.
“Mhm, mhm, got it.”
After watching Father Su return to his room, Su Lei finally dared to slump onto the chair and said, “Tomorrow, I’ll go with you.”
Su Wan nodded. “Okay. But shouldn’t you rest first?”
Su Lei waved his hand dismissively.
“It’s fine. One night’s sleep is enough. Who am I? A single trip can’t tire me out.”
Su Wan walked to the doorway, leaned against the frame with only her head peeking out, and held back a laugh as she said:
“Right, right. You’re Heidan after all. Heidan is super impressive!”
As soon as she finished speaking, Su Wan dashed back into her room and slammed the door shut with lightning speed.
Only Su Lei remained outside, stomping his feet angrily and shouting:
“Su! Xiao! Wan! Just wait and see how I deal with you tomorrow!”
“Heidan” was Su Lei’s childhood nickname. Ever since he started school, he refused to let anyone call him that anymore. Nowadays, only Su Wan occasionally teased him with it.