Shen Jianing took a bite of the noodles, and her eyes immediately lit up.
“Ruanruan, these cold noodles are absolutely delicious! How can they taste this good? They’re sweet, sour, savory, and so fragrant. Best of all, even with so much chili oil, they don’t feel greasy at all.”
“Auntie, that’s because of the carrots and cucumbers. Those vegetables keep the noodles from feeling heavy. If we had some blanched bean sprouts too, they’d taste even better.”
“Then let’s find some beans and sprout them. We can make this again in a few days.”
“Sure. But aren’t we going back to Yunnan first? I’ll make them for you again after we come back.”
The moment Qin Ruan mentioned returning to Yunnan, Qin Ruofeng could no longer stay calm.
“What? Why are we going back to Yunnan again? Didn’t we already agree we weren’t going back?”
“Why are you getting so worked up?” Shen Jianing said, gently tugging at his sleeve.
Hu Yufen explained,
“We still haven’t dealt with the chickens and ducks back home. There are quite a few of them. And there’s all the grain too. We originally thought we’d just come here for a visit, so we didn’t bring much with us. But if we’ve really decided to settle here, then we have to make another trip back. See if you can take some leave and come with us. We can bring over the extra grain, the chickens, and the ducks. Then whenever Jianing wants to eat one, we can simply butcher one. If there are extras, we’ll save them for her postpartum confinement. That’ll save us from having to buy so much.”
Qin Ruan quickly chimed in.
“Exactly! Home-raised chickens are much better than store-bought ones.”
Qin Ruofeng let out a sigh.
“All right then. When are we planning to leave? I’ll go see if I can get leave approved.”
Hu Yufen had already thought it through.
“This weekend, you, Ruanruan, and I will visit the Shen family. We’ve been here for quite a while now. We couldn’t attend your wedding, so now that we’re here, we should at least pay a proper visit to your father-in-law and mother-in-law.”
“All right, Mom. I’ll go buy some gifts tomorrow.”
“No need,” Hu Yufen replied. “Ruanruan already bought everything today.”
Qin Ruofeng looked at Qin Ruan in surprise.
“You already bought everything? What did you get?”
After swallowing the noodles in her mouth, Qin Ruan answered,
“I bought six bottles of Moutai, two tins of malted milk powder, and a large assortment of pastries. We also plan to bring some of the tea we brought from Yunnan. Auntie said the two of you hardly drink tea anyway, so we’ll take it over as a gift for Grandpa Shen and Grandma Feng.”
“You bought all that? Do you even have enough money?”
“Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I have money?”
Qin Ruan shot him a sidelong glance.
Qin Ruofeng awkwardly rubbed his nose.
“All right. Since you have the money, then that’s fine. We can definitely take the tea over. We really don’t drink much tea at home. When we go back this time, let’s bring more tea with us.”
Qin Ruan nodded.
“Mm-hmm. Once we’re back, I’ll harvest the rest of the tea leaves from our tea mountain. Before we left, I’d only picked about half of them. I hadn’t finished yet. It may have rained these past few days, so there should be another fresh flush ready to harvest.”
“Good. I’ll go back with you. I should be able to get leave.”
Qin Ruofeng nodded in agreement.
Hu Yufen was delighted.
Her son hadn’t returned to the village in such a long time.
A moment later, Qin Ruofeng turned to his wife.
“Jianing, why don’t you come back to the village with us?”
Hearing the suggestion, Shen Jianing actually wanted to see what Yunnan was like for herself.
Hu Yfen looked worried.
“Maybe that’s not a good idea. Jianing has only recently become pregnant. The journey is long and tiring. We have a long trip ahead of us, and we’d have to spend more than a day on the train.”
Shen Jianing still wanted to go.
“Mom, let me come. Ruofeng and I have been married for over three years, and I’ve never been to Yunnan even once.”
Qin Ruofeng nodded as well.
“Mom, let her come. Once we’re back home, it’ll be a good opportunity to introduce her to everyone.”
Hu Yufen couldn’t help but laugh.
“Who exactly is ‘everyone’ in our family? The people in the village were all tenants working for your father back then.”
Qin Ruofeng could only rub his nose awkwardly once again.
Shen Jianing finally realized that Qin Ruofeng’s father had once been a wealthy landowner.
Qin Ruan tugged gently on her grandmother’s hand.
“Grandma, let Auntie come back with us. If the villagers expect us to host a banquet, then we’ll hold one at home. If they don’t, we’ll just go back, pack up our things, and leave. Why worry about what everyone else thinks?”
“All right, then we’ll all go together. Ruofeng, go buy the train tickets. This weekend, while you’re off duty, we’ll visit your in-laws. Then we can leave the following day.”
“Okay, Mom. Tomorrow I’ll ask one of my coworkers to help buy the tickets.”
Now that the departure date had been decided, all that remained was for Qin Ruofeng to arrange his leave.
After visiting the Shen family, they would set off the next day, hoping to make the trip as quickly and efficiently as possible.
“All right, Uncle, Auntie, Grandma—let’s eat before the food gets cold.”
“Right, right. Let’s eat.”
As he spoke, Qin Ruofeng eagerly dug into his bowl of noodles.
Only Shen Jianing was eating with little gasps.
“Hiss… ha…”
“Auntie, is it too spicy? If it is, eat a little less. Next time I’ll make a non-spicy version for you.”
“No, no, Ruanruan! It’s really delicious. It isn’t too spicy at all.”
Seeing Shen Jianing refuse, Qin Ruan smiled.
She couldn’t help thinking that her aunt was exactly like the kind of child people nowadays described as “can’t handle it, but loves it anyway.”
Just like kids eating spicy snack sticks.
They’re incredibly spicy, tough, and hard to chew, yet children still love eating them.
Why?
Because they’re delicious.
The courtyard echoed with scattered laughter and cheerful conversation, filled with warmth and harmony.
Meanwhile, over in the military dormitory, Huo Tingchen sat eating the cafeteria food.
After having Qin Ruan’s cooking the previous day, the mess hall’s meals suddenly tasted almost impossible to swallow.
Her cooking had simply been too good.
His mind couldn’t help wandering.
If Qin Ruan and I get married, wouldn’t I get to eat meals like that every single day… and hold my wife in my arms too?
The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that getting married was a wonderful idea.
After making his bed with the freshly washed sheets, Huo Tingchen prepared to wash up and go to sleep.
Unexpectedly, in the middle of the night, he received urgent orders.
A new mission required him to leave immediately.
This time, he didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye to Qin Ruan.
Still, he knew she would remain at the military family compound, so he wasn’t worried that she’d disappear before he returned.
Likewise, when Qin Ruan later left the compound, she never thought about saying goodbye to Huo Tingchen either.
In the blink of an eye, the day arrived for them to visit the Shen family.
The Shen family also lived in the same military residential compound, though their home was farther uphill.
That day, they carried numerous gifts with them as they headed to the Shen residence.
To avoid attracting too much attention, they wrapped the Moutai, malted milk powder, canned fruit, tea leaves, and the other gifts in large pieces of cloth.
All six bottles of Moutai were bundled together and carried by Qin Ruofeng.
In his other hand, he carried the canned fruit and tins of malted milk powder.
The canned fruit had been bought by Qin Ruofeng the previous day because, in those days, canned fruit was considered a customary gift when visiting someone’s home.
That was the one thing Qin Ruan hadn’t thought of.