Mother An stormed out of the kitchen, deciding that what she couldn’t see couldn’t upset her.
Fine. Let her waste it. Just this once.
“Mom, why are you coming out of the kitchen? Who’s cooking in there? It smells amazing!”
An Jianjun was a little worried about Feng Jiaojiao. He had no idea what she and his fourth sister-in-law had been doing all morning or whether the two had gotten into an argument.
As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw his mother marching out of the kitchen with an angry expression.
“Your wife!”
Mother An pointed toward the kitchen.
“Go in there and see what your wife has been doing!”
An Jianjun hadn’t expected Feng Jiaojiao to be the one cooking. He hurried inside.
Hopefully she hasn’t cut herself.
The moment he entered, he saw Feng Jiaojiao wielding a spatula with great enthusiasm. The delicious aroma coming from the wok was absolutely irresistible.
“You… know how to cook?”
An Jianjun had assumed Feng Jiaojiao couldn’t do anything in the kitchen. He hadn’t expected her to actually look so capable.
“Underestimating me, aren’t you?”
“And I’m not just an ordinary cook. My food is really good!”
Feng Jiaojiao was already thinking about eating as much as she could later.
It smelled incredible.
During her few days at the educated-youth compound, she had practically starved. All they ate was boiled cabbage and potatoes, with barely a drop of oil.
Seeing how lively Feng Jiaojiao looked, the corners of An Jianjun’s mouth slowly lifted.
Then he glanced toward the side.
His pupils contracted slightly.
He suddenly understood why his mother had been so angry.
Feng Jiaojiao had practically dug a crater into his mother’s precious jar of cooking fat.
His mother treasured that jar more than anything.
Whenever his eldest or second sister-in-law cooked, she would stand nearby and watch carefully, afraid they might use too much and waste it.
With such a large family, they had no choice but to calculate everything carefully. Otherwise, how could they possibly have enough food?
His mother always portioned things out based on experience, making sure everyone could at least eat until they were seventy or eighty percent full.
Even basic cooking oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar were precious commodities.
“Hmm, not bad. Just looking at it makes me hungry.”
What else could An Jianjun do?
Praise her.
Even though they had only just gotten married, he was already starting to understand his responsibilities as a husband.
At a time like this, he could only compliment his wife.
Mother An came back into the kitchen.
Seeing her son looking completely smitten only made her even more annoyed.
“Mom, why are you back again?”
An Jianjun instinctively avoided his mother’s glare.
“Hmph! If I don’t come back and keep an eye on things, you’re going to completely empty my oil jar today!”
Mother An still couldn’t relax.
If she left, Feng Jiaojiao would probably use even more oil.
She had to keep watch, or the few supplies in the kitchen would all be gone.
“Mom, I’ll find a way to replace the oil you used this afternoon. Don’t be angry. Sit down and rest for a while. I’ll tend the fire.”
An Jianjun figured his wife was probably craving good food.
He was already thinking about buying more meat later.
“Hmph. You’d better figure it out!”
As long as her precious oil jar was restored, Mother An could let the matter go.
“Wow! Who’s cooking something so delicious? I can smell it all the way over here!”
An’s eldest daughter-in-law had been working all morning and was practically starving. Her stomach had been growling for hours.
“Yeah, it smells really good. They must have used quite a lot of oil. Otherwise, how could it smell this good?”
The second daughter-in-law had smelled it too.
“Stop dreaming. There’s no way Mom would use this much oil when she cooks. Someone else must have bought meat.”
The eldest son knew his mother well.
She would never be this extravagant.
“No, Big Brother. This smell doesn’t seem to be coming from any of the neighboring houses.”
The fourth son had an unusually sharp nose. He already knew the smells of the dishes cooked by nearly every household around them.
This aroma belonged to none of them.
“Good grief, Fourth Brother. Your nose is sharper than a dog’s. You can even tell that?”
The second brother slapped his younger brother on the shoulder.
“Hmph, Second Brother, I’m not bragging, but I can tell what almost every household around here is cooking just by smelling it when they lift the lid.”
The fourth brother looked extremely proud.
It wasn’t that difficult, either.
There weren’t many different dishes people could make during this era.
Most families ate some combination of potatoes, cabbage, eggplant, peppers, or stewed green beans.
“Then can you figure out who’s cooking this?”
The second brother asked curiously.
The fourth brother cleverly followed the direction of the wind.
“I know! It’s our house. I’m going to take a look.”
He immediately ran off.
Sure enough, the closer he got, the stronger the aroma became.
It really was coming from their house.
“Mom! What delicious food did you make?”
The fourth brother rushed into the kitchen.
Mother An looked behind him.
“Why are you the only one here?”
“They’re all coming behind me. I ran back first to see if our family was really cooking something this delicious.”
“And sure enough, it’s our house.”
“Hmph. Of course it smells good. Your third sister-in-law cooked today and nearly emptied my oil jar!”
Mother An looked at the layer of oil sitting in the bottom of the serving dish and felt her heart ache.
At this rate, there won’t even be any left for tonight.
But Mother An was worrying for nothing.
There wouldn’t be any oil left by evening.
“Third Sister-in-law, you actually have this kind of cooking skill?”
The fourth brother was genuinely impressed.
Even his own wife couldn’t make food that smelled this good.
“Fourth Brother, enjoy it while you can. I’m pretty sure Mom won’t let me into the kitchen again after today.”
Feng Jiaojiao had obviously noticed her mother-in-law’s expression.
She knew perfectly well that she was walking on the edge of disaster.
But what could she do?
She was willing to fight for a decent meal.
“Hmph. At least you know your own limits!”
Mother An had figured Feng Jiaojiao out.
This girl wasn’t simply a pampered young lady.
She was also the type who would pretend not to understand even when she knew exactly what she was doing.
She was delicate and spoiled, but she was also stubborn and impossible to deal with.
Mother An couldn’t hit her, couldn’t scold her, and had absolutely no idea what to do with her.
She had already told Feng Jiaojiao to scoop some oil back out.
Instead, the girl had simply dumped the vegetables straight into the wok.
“Mom, this is my first time cooking for you. You have to eat plenty later!”
Feng Jiaojiao had cleverly elevated her own craving for food into an act of filial devotion toward her mother-in-law.
Mother An’s mouth twitched.
She didn’t believe that for a second.
“Come on, Mom! Look how well Third Sister-in-law cooks. Why don’t you—”
The fourth brother thought his third sister-in-law was practically the family’s savior.
The flavor was so good it could rival the dishes served at a state-run restaurant.
“Get out, get out!”
“If you want to eat like this today and spend the next six months starving, then go ahead!”
Mother An had to think about the expenses of the entire family.
If they continued eating this way, they would eat themselves into poverty.
“Hehe, forget I said anything.”
The fourth brother decided that he absolutely had to eat as much as possible this time.
There might not be another opportunity.
An Jianjun remained silent nearby.
He was thinking about what they should do in the future.
His wife clearly wasn’t the type to deprive herself.
But the An family had nearly twenty people, from the oldest to the youngest.
Supporting everyone wasn’t easy.
Perhaps he should talk to his parents about splitting up the household.
But then he thought about Feng Jiaojiao’s personality.
He didn’t feel comfortable leaving her to live on her own.
With the whole family around, at least there would always be people to look after her.
His mind was already running through countless possibilities.
An Jianjun didn’t realize that he was becoming more and more concerned about Feng Jiaojiao.
And the more he worried about her, the deeper his feelings for her became.
When lunchtime finally arrived, the dining table turned into a battlefield.
Even little Jiabao, who normally relied on his mother, the eldest daughter-in-law, to put food into his bowl, started grabbing food for himself.
He was afraid that if he moved too slowly, his sisters would eat everything.
“Third Sister-in-law, looks like you do have some good qualities after all. This food is really delicious!”
The eldest daughter-in-law loved good food.
Seeing dishes this rich in oil, she didn’t hold back.
She first put some food into her son’s bowl, then gave her husband a serving, and finally piled a generous portion into her own bowl.
“Eat as much as you want, but keep your mouth shut!”
Mother An glared at her.
“After lunch, you’re washing the dishes.”
“Why me, Mom? It’s not my turn today!”
The moment work was mentioned, the eldest daughter-in-law immediately protested.
“Because you ate the most!”
Mother An frowned at the way her eldest daughter-in-law was eating.
You’d think she hadn’t seen decent food in a hundred years.
Is my cooking really that bad?
Seeing his children eating so happily, and even his sons and daughters-in-law enjoying themselves, Father An realized that his wife had probably been making their meals too plain.
“Old woman, from now on, let’s use a little more meat and oil when we cook.”
“The children are still growing, and the adults work hard every day. They need proper food to keep their strength up.”
He didn’t blame his wife.
Anyone who had lived through years of famine would naturally learn to prepare for the worst.
His wife was simply frugal by nature.
She was always afraid that something might happen and the entire family would go hungry.
Having money saved up meant having peace of mind.
Saving for a rainy day had become deeply ingrained in them.
Mother An wanted to say something, but when she saw how happily her children and grandchildren were eating, she eventually nodded.
Feng Jiaojiao had only just married into the family, yet she had already changed Mother An’s cooking habits of many years.
Feng Jiaojiao secretly smiled to herself like a little cat that had just stolen a treat.
Finally, I don’t have to suffer through miserable meals anymore.
Step one: successful!
In the end, not even a drop of that precious oil remained in the serving dish.
Everyone had mixed it into their rice and eaten it all.
They were completely satisfied.
In an era when material resources were scarce, happiness could be incredibly simple.
As long as one’s family was healthy and safe, and everyone could enjoy a delicious, satisfying meal together, that was already enough to make them happy.