Ever since his injury, Zhuo Dawu had become such a burden that the whole family was on the verge of starving.
Yet Fenniang had never once complained or shown the slightest resentment. She had never spoken a single harsh word to him, only cared for him with all her heart.
Thinking back to the day he pulled her out of the river, Zhuo Dawu couldn’t help feeling that he hadn’t rescued himself a wife.
He had rescued a living Bodhisattva.
“Mother! Meat! Meat!”
The moment Fenniang came outside, Zhuo Ling was the first to clap her hands, jumping up and down excitedly. Strings of sparkling drool dripped continuously from the corner of her mouth.
The second brother secretly pinched off a tiny piece of pork and sucked the grease from his fingertips.
It tasted like meat!
The third brother was so greedy he didn’t even want his pastry anymore. He circled around Fenniang’s legs, loudly begging for meat.
Fenniang quickly washed and sliced the pork before dropping it into the pot. Then she rinsed the rice and started cooking a pot of white rice.
“Chang’an, go invite Madam Zhang over to help.”
She soaked the foul-smelling pig intestines, stomach, and fat in water. Then she dug out a large handful of wood ash from beneath the stove, mixed it into the basin, added a pinch of the alkaline powder they normally used when making mixed-grain dough during the New Year, and stirred everything vigorously with a wooden stick.
In truth, Madam Zhang had heard they were back long ago.
She had simply been too embarrassed to come over.
The family had bought rice, grain, and even meat. If she went over now, it would look like she was trying to get a free meal.
How shameless would that be?
“Oh my! Fenniang!”
Covering her nose as she stepped into the courtyard, Madam Zhang exclaimed,
“Why does your yard smell like a pigsty? What are you doing?”
The moment she saw the basin full of pig offal, her face twisted in disgust.
“Why would you buy this stuff? You can’t get it clean no matter how hard you wash it. It’ll stink up the whole pot when you cook it!”
“I know how to clean it.”
Fenniang smiled as she beckoned her over.
“Just give me a hand. We probably won’t finish before noon, but once it’s cleaned, we’ll have it for dinner.”
“You can actually clean pig offal? No thanks! Even dogs won’t eat this stuff!”
Despite her complaints, Madam Zhang rolled up her sleeves and began scrubbing the offal alongside her.
…
Soon, the aroma of simmering meat drifted out from the little thatched cottage, mingled with the fragrant scent of freshly cooked white rice.
Fenniang carried a large basin of pale stewed pork to the table, along with a plate of wild vegetables cooked in meat broth and seasoned with the refined salt the “young Madam Pang” had given them, and a plate of yellowish-black mixed-grain steamed buns.
The meal left everyone at the table staring in disbelief, swallowing mouthful after mouthful of saliva.
Fenniang first filled Zhuo Ling’s little black pottery bowl with a heaping serving of white rice.
Then she gave her husband and each of her three sons a small half-bowl of rice, along with two mixed-grain buns each.
As for herself, her bowl contained nothing but the coarse-grain buns.
Even during the New Year, their family had never eaten such a luxurious meal.
Zhuo Ling had eaten white rice-flavored and braised pork-flavored ration packs in the underground city before.
The taste had been similar.
But having real white rice and genuine stewed pork sitting right in front of her…
The visual impact and the feeling were something those underground-city “dog food” rations could never compare to.
The body couldn’t lie.
From the moment the pork started stewing, the drool at the corner of her mouth had never stopped flowing.
Compared to the underground city…
This place deserved to be called the human world.
This was what real life looked like.
“I’ve already eaten! I really have!”
Great-Grandpa was practically dragged over by Zhuo Chang’an and the second brother.
The moment he stepped inside and saw the dishes on the table, he froze.
“Good heavens!
“Dawu, what’s the special occasion today? How did you end up eating pork?
“How much did all this cost?”
Fenniang quickly filled a large bowl with white rice for the old man and said with a smile,
“Ling’er and Chang’an earned the money. We normally wouldn’t dare eat like this, but we wanted to let the children satisfy their cravings for once…”
“Yes… it’s good to let the children enjoy themselves once in a while.”
The old man nodded.
“But poor families like ours still have to be careful with every coin we spend, don’t we?”
Originally, he wanted to push away the bowl of rice and take one of the coarse-grain buns instead.
Unfortunately, his eyes stubbornly refused to look away from the rice.
In the end, he surrendered with a wave of his hand.
“What are you all waiting for?
“Eat!”
Before he’d even finished speaking, the room had already filled with the sounds of frantic chewing.
For the first time in her life, Zhuo Ling’s soul was conquered by real white rice and stewed pork.
She had read about stewed pork in the database.
According to the recipe, you first caramelized rock sugar, then stir-fried the pork before adding scallions, ginger, and various seasonings, and finally simmered it until tender.
The pictures showed braised pork that looked absolutely perfect in color, aroma, and taste.
Fenniang’s stewed pork was nothing like that.
There was no soy sauce.
No Sichuan peppercorns.
No star anise.
The only seasonings were a few slices of yellow ginger and some scallions grown in the courtyard.
It had essentially been simmered in plain water.
But with enough refined salt and a slow fire fueled by firewood, the pork had become soft, tender, and melt-in-your-mouth.
The rich meat flavor exploded with every bite.
It practically dissolved the moment it entered her mouth.
It was so delicious it could knock a person head over heels.
It tasted ten thousand times better than she’d imagined.
The fragrance of white rice filled the tiny thatched cottage.
Soft, sweet, and fragrant, it became even more irresistible paired with the aroma of the meat.
One bite was enough to send dopamine soaring.
The pleasure brought by perfectly cooked refined carbohydrates was so overwhelming it nearly brought tears to her eyes.
Even the wild vegetables, with their slightly bitter taste, became exceptionally delicious after soaking up the meat broth.
Thinking about the life she’d lived in the underground city…
What kind of miserable existence had that been?
As Zhuo Ling ate, tears suddenly streamed down her face.
Drops rolled off her little cheeks one after another.
The entire family was so absorbed in eating that no one had time to speak.
The little thatched cottage echoed only with the sounds of chopsticks clinking against bowls and people chewing.
Only Zhuo Chang’an ate with the same composed manners as always.
Even so, joy couldn’t help but appear on his handsome face.
The second brother chewed each piece of pork until it was completely soft, yet still couldn’t bear to swallow it. Then he shoveled a tiny bite of rice into his mouth.
He looked so blissful he almost started grunting like a pig.
“Mmm…
“Why is pork so delicious?
“I almost ate my own tongue…”
The third brother’s mouth was shiny with grease as he stuffed huge mouthfuls of rice into his belly.
“Mother! More meat! I want more…”
The old man stroked his beard after every bite, as though he couldn’t quite believe he was really eating white rice and stewed pork.
After another bite, his nearly toothless mouth trembled as he slowly chewed.
After taking the special medicine, Zhuo Dawu’s appetite had clearly improved.
He couldn’t bear to eat the meat.
Instead, he tore off pieces of the coarse-grain bun, dipped them into the meat broth, and stuffed them into his mouth.
“Fenniang, your cooking is truly extraordinary!
“It’s a shame our family is so poor. If only we were like your maiden family—”
Fenniang immediately picked up a piece of pork and placed it in his bowl, interrupting him with mock annoyance.
“Stop talking and eat your meat.”
Zhuo Dawu wisely closed his mouth.
The children had never heard Fenniang mention her parents’ family.
Whenever the villagers asked, she would simply say that there was no one left in her maiden family.
By the time the meal was over, everyone was so full their eyes looked unfocused, and they all rubbed their bellies as drowsiness overtook them.
They had suddenly consumed a large amount of refined carbohydrates, causing their blood sugar to spike and reducing blood flow to the brain…
They were all in a full-blown carb coma.
Rubbing her bulging little belly, Zhuo Ling hated how small she was.
Just one bowl of rice had left her so stuffed she could barely move.
Her eyelids felt as though they had been glued shut.
Still holding her chopsticks, she began nodding off.
Zhuo Chang’an gently took the empty bowl from her hands, gathered her into his arms, and carried her over to the heated kang bed.
“So good…
“Eldest Brother… your world is the only one worthy of being called the human world.
“I’m never going back to the underground city.
“I’m going to eat… every delicious thing… here…
“Every… one…”
She let out a long yawn, curled her tiny body against Zhuo Chang’an’s warm chest, mumbled a few sleepy words, and promptly fell fast asleep.
“Sleep.”
Zhuo Chang’an gently stroked her little head, a tender smile curving his lips.
“Ling’er…
“You’ll stay here forever… in the human world.
“All right?”