Ding Lan had temporarily managed to send Ding Jing away. For the time being, in order to avoid repaying that one tael of silver, Ding Jing probably would not come looking for her again. At least she could enjoy some peace and quiet for a while.
She returned to the village with light steps. As soon as she entered, she noticed that the villagers were looking at her somewhat strangely, but she did not think much of it. She simply quickened her pace and returned to her own courtyard.
The moment she pushed open the door, she could not help exclaiming in shock.
“Did a thief break into my house?”
The entire floor was a complete mess!
Auntie Liu, who lived in the neighboring courtyard, heard the commotion and came over with Ding Qiao to take a look. When she saw that Ding Lan had returned, she finally felt relieved.
Ding Qiao immediately wrapped her arms around her elder sister’s leg, as if she had finally found someone she could rely on. Tears welled up in her eyes.
“Big Sister…”
Ding Lan looked at Auntie Liu and asked tentatively, “Auntie Liu, what happened to my house?”
Auntie Liu angrily reported, “That brat Ding Jing did this!”
Ding Lan’s expression turned cold. She gave a mocking laugh.
“Well, isn’t he just the best little brother in the world?”
After bringing Ding Qiao over, Auntie Liu returned to take care of her own chores. Ding Lan comforted Ding Qiao for a while, and gradually, the little girl calmed down.
Ding Lan stared at the mess in the room, but the anger burning inside her still had nowhere to go.
It seemed she had been far too lenient with Ding Jing.
She glanced toward the room next door. An idea suddenly occurred to her, and the corners of her lips curled into a strange smile.
She had been eyeing Ding Jing’s room for a long time anyway!
She simply had never found the right opportunity. Since this had happened now, why not take advantage of it and switch rooms?
Once she made up her mind, Ding Lan immediately entered Ding Jing’s room. She took his clothes out of the wardrobe and instructed Ding Qiao to put the sisters’ clothes into Ding Jing’s wardrobe instead.
As for Ding Jing’s clothes, she simply stuffed them into the room that had once belonged to their parents.
Looking around at the bright, clean room, Ding Lan finally felt much more relaxed.
After all that cleaning and rearranging, however, much of her energy was gone. The pastries she had eaten that morning had long since been digested.
Remembering the meat she had bought in town, Ding Lan became full of enthusiasm.
Today, she was going to make a proper meat dish for lunch—braised pork!
Ding Lan took the meat out of the basket on her back. Ding Qiao followed her into the kitchen and automatically began preparing the fire.
There were two pots on the stove. Ding Lan first put rice on to steam in one of them, while the other was reserved for cooking.
First, she washed the pork belly in cold water. After cleaning it thoroughly, she cut it into chunks. She also washed the green onions and cut them into sections.
That was all the preparation she could do.
As for star anise and the other seasonings normally used for braised pork, they were simply unavailable here, so Ding Lan wisely left them out.
She heated some lard in the pot. Once the oil was hot, she added the green onions and stir-fried them until fragrant.
When the aroma emerged, she added the star of today’s meal—the pork belly.
She kept stir-frying it. As the pork cooked, some of its own fat slowly rendered out. Taking advantage of the moment, Ding Lan poured in an appropriate amount of soy sauce.
She quickly tossed the meat so that every piece was evenly coated with soy sauce. Its color gradually deepened into a rich brown, while an irresistible aroma filled the kitchen.
Ding Lan added enough cold water to just cover the pork.
Once the water came to a boil over high heat, she covered the pot and lowered the heat, allowing the pork belly to simmer slowly until it became tender.
Finally, she turned the heat back up to reduce the sauce.
And just like that, the braised pork was finished!
Ding Qiao, who had been waiting nearby, quickly grabbed a plate and handed it to Ding Lan so she could serve the meat.
The rice in the other pot had already finished cooking as well.
After serving themselves some rice, the two sisters officially began enjoying their delicious lunch.
The moment Ding Lan bit into the pork, the meat practically melted in her mouth. The juices flowed freely, and despite its richness, it was not greasy at all.
Even without all the usual seasonings, there was not the slightest trace of a gamey smell.
After eating until they were completely satisfied, Ding Lan felt so comfortable that she only wanted to take a nap.
After lunch, she returned to her room and took an afternoon nap.
She had to admit, Ding Jing’s bed was made from good-quality wood, and it was exceptionally comfortable to sleep on.
Ding Qiao, however, did not have the habit of taking afternoon naps. She was still sitting on a small stool, continuing to sew the outfit in her hands.
Judging by her progress, she would probably finish it very soon!
When Ding Lan woke from her nap, she planned to render all the fatty pork she had bought that morning into lard.
After all, it was summer, and food was difficult to preserve in the heat. It was better to process it sooner so she could feel more at ease.
First, she washed the fatty meat thoroughly and cut it into small pieces to make rendering easier later.
She washed the pot clean and waited until all the moisture inside had been dried away by the fire. Then she began putting the pork fat into the pot.
Once the fat began to melt, she added the small pieces of fatty pork and started rendering the lard.
The originally white pieces of fat quickly released their oil under the high heat. The skin of the pork became golden brown.
Only after the pieces had been fried until it seemed there was not a drop of oil left in them did Ding Lan scoop the crispy pork cracklings floating on top of the hot oil into a bowl.
Then she began rendering the next batch.
The amount of cracklings in the bowl continued to pile up.
These cracklings were truly delicious. They were crispy, fragrant, and incredibly satisfying to eat!
Before long, the household oil jar was filled with hot lard.
Once the hot oil cooled, it would turn into a milky-white, solidified substance.
The summer heat was already intense, and rendering lard in the kitchen in the middle of such a hot day made things even worse.
Ding Lan was soon sweating profusely.
Only after she returned to the room did she finally feel a little better.
Ding Lan sat down on the carved wooden chair and casually picked up a book from Ding Jing’s writing desk.
She flipped through it for a while.
The characters looked very similar to traditional Chinese characters. By guessing here and there, she could more or less understand what the book was about.
But if someone asked her to actually write them, that would be another matter entirely.
Since she had nothing else to do at the moment, Ding Lan began matching these characters one by one with the simplified Chinese characters she had studied for many years.
The main ones she needed to memorize were some commonly used characters.
Fortunately, she still had a decent educational foundation, so she made progress quite quickly.
After some time, while Ding Lan was reading, Ding Qiao’s excited voice suddenly came from outside.
Ding Qiao trotted over to her and proudly held up the clothes she had been sewing for quite some time.
“Big Sister! I finished the clothes!”
Ding Lan took the clothes and shook them out.
They actually looked quite decent.
She gently tugged at the seams where the pieces of fabric had been joined. The stitching was extremely sturdy.
Ding Lan sincerely praised her.
“Little Sister, you did a great job sewing these clothes. Go ahead and put them on and see how they fit.”
Ding Qiao had previously worn clothes that had been discarded by other family members.
Not only were they terribly old, but they also never fit her properly.
Some were far too large, while others were much too small. Most of them were so worn and ragged that they were barely recognizable as clothes.
That was why, as soon as Ding Lan had bought the fabric, she had cut out pieces for Ding Qiao first.
And during this period, Ding Qiao had been working on her own clothes.
Ding Qiao had never worn new clothes before.
With delight written all over her face, she quickly changed into them.
The moment she put on the new outfit, she looked like an entirely different person.
She was clean and neat, and there was hardly any trace left of the little beggar she had once looked like.
She was even afraid that she might accidentally dirty her new clothes, so she did not know what to do with her hands and feet.
Ding Lan teased her with a smile.
“Little Sister, that outfit looks really pretty on you.”
Ding Qiao was shy about wearing new clothes, and her face quickly flushed bright red.
Ding Lan reached out and touched the sleeve.
The fabric was still somewhat rough against the skin, but after being washed a few more times, it should become much softer.
Ding Qiao looked up at her.
“Big Sister, I’ll sew you an outfit that’s even prettier than mine!”
Ding Lan smiled.
“That sounds wonderful. I’ll be waiting to wear the new clothes you make for me.”
With that, she stood up and found the remaining fabric.
She cut it into the necessary pieces and handed them to Ding Qiao, who had been waiting nearby.
Ding Qiao happily accepted the fabric, picked up her needle and thread, and immediately began sewing the next outfit.
Although Ding Qiao was still young, she was surprisingly dependable when she set her mind to something.
Ding Lan did not disturb her any further.
Instead, she went into the kitchen to make bone soup, planning to give her hardworking little sister a proper reward.
Making the soup was quite simple.
After washing the bones thoroughly, she could simply put them into the pot and let them simmer over low heat.
Ding Lan added two thick pieces of firewood to the stove and let the fire burn on its own while she took the household laundry to the river to wash.
When she arrived at the river, several women were already there washing clothes.
Among them was Auntie Ding, who had taken care of the two sisters quite often since they were young.
When she saw Ding Lan approaching, she warmly called out, “Xiaolan, come over here.”
Auntie Ding made some room beside herself.
Ding Lan smiled and walked over. She placed the wooden basin beside her, squatted down, and soaked all the clothes in the water.
She tore open the soapberries she had picked along the way and rubbed them over the dirty parts of the clothes.
After scrubbing them by hand, the clothes quickly became clean again.
Auntie Ding was washing a bedsheet. She repeatedly beat the fabric with a wooden washing paddle while casually chatting with Ding Lan.
“Xiaolan, I heard Ding Jing came home and caused another scene?”
The women washing clothes nearby immediately pricked up their ears and secretly listened.
They had actually wanted to ask about it for a while, but since it was someone else’s family matter, they had been too embarrassed to bring it up directly.
Ding Lan did not try to hide anything.
She spoke neither too loudly nor too softly—just loud enough for every woman washing clothes nearby to hear.
“He wrecked the room Ding Qiao and I were staying in. I don’t even know where we’re supposed to sleep tonight.”
After saying that, she sighed sadly.
Auntie Ding immediately spoke up sympathetically.
“That boy has gone too far. Since Ding Jing doesn’t even come home to live here, you two might as well move into his room.”
A woman beside Ding Lan could not resist joining in.
“Exactly. Ding Jing has absolutely no respect for his elders. Last time, I…”
The moment she started, the conversation opened the floodgates.
The other women began bringing up and criticizing all the things Ding Jing had done in the past.
What had started as casual gossip suddenly turned into a full-blown public condemnation of Ding Jing.
This was something Ding Lan had never expected.
She occasionally chimed in with a few agreeing remarks.
Once her clothes were clean, she did not linger any longer. She picked up the wooden basin and returned to her own courtyard.
She hung the clothes up to dry in the yard, then went into the kitchen and lifted the lid of the pot to check the bone soup.
She scooped up a spoonful and tasted it.
The rich, savory aroma immediately filled her mouth.
Ding Lan added a little salt, then poured the bone soup into bowls.
There was a generous amount of soup.
There was no way Ding Lan and Ding Qiao could finish it all by themselves.
Ding Lan found two large bowls and filled each with bone soup containing pieces of meat.
She gave one bowl to Auntie Liu next door and planned to take the other to Auntie Ding.
Before leaving to deliver the soup, Ding Lan added another handful of firewood to the stove and put rice on to cook.
By the time she returned, it should be ready for dinner.
Ding Lan carefully carried the bowl to Auntie Ding’s house.
Auntie Ding’s husband had died of illness eight years ago, leaving only her and her nine-year-old son, Ding Shouxin, to support one another.
Fortunately, Ding Shouxin had been sensible from a young age.
Whether working in the fields or helping around the house, he was capable and hardworking.
At the beginning of last year, he had married a wife.
However, even now, a year later, his young wife still had not become pregnant, and there had already been some gossip going around the village.
Auntie Ding lived on the western side of the village, quite a distance from Ding Lan’s home.
Ding Lan carefully carried the bowl, afraid that she might spill the soup.
When she reached Auntie Ding’s house, she knocked on the door.
“Auntie Ding, are you home?”
A young, cheerful female voice answered loudly from inside.
A moment later, the woman came running over and opened the door.
When she saw Ding Lan, she greeted her with a bright smile.
“Oh, it’s Little Sister Lan!”
Ding Lan looked at the young woman in front of her.
She was Auntie Ding’s daughter-in-law, Xue Caishi.
She was only a little older than Ding Lan and came from Xue Family Village. She had married into the Ding family just last year.
Ding Lan smiled warmly.
“Sister-in-law, I came to bring Auntie Ding some bone soup I made.”
Xue Caishi hurriedly took the bowl from her and smiled.
“You’re too kind. Mother and Shouxin are still working in the fields. I’m just making dinner right now. Why don’t you stay and eat something with us, Little Sister Lan?”
Ding Lan politely declined.
“The food at home is already prepared. I’ll come another time.”
She was about to say goodbye and leave now that the soup had been delivered.
But the young sister-in-law was extremely warm and immediately took hold of her arm.
“Then let me give you some of the pickled vegetables I made. They’re especially appetizing in summer.”
Ding Lan sincerely praised her.
“I’ve heard Auntie Ding praise your pickling skills many times. It looks like I’m really going to be lucky today!”
This was not even a lie.
While washing clothes at the river, Ding Lan had already heard several villagers praising Auntie Ding’s daughter-in-law for being especially good at making pickled vegetables.
Hearing that her mother-in-law praised her to others naturally made Xue Caishi even happier.
She dug out a large bowlful of pickled vegetables for Ding Lan before finally letting her go home.
Ding Lan returned home carrying a bowl full of pickled vegetables.
The rice on the stove was ready as well.
Ding Lan called out to Ding Qiao, “Little Sister, come eat!”
The two sisters sat down and enjoyed a hearty dinner with the flavorful bone soup and the pickled vegetables Xue Caishi had given them.
After eating her fill, Ding Lan rubbed her stomach and sighed.
“These pickled vegetables really do whet the appetite.”