Chapter 3: Aunt to Visit the Day After Tomorrow
After playing with the two for a while, Xu An once again told them they could only play in the yard and that even if someone they knew came by, they had to tell him before opening the door. He then grabbed a basket and a small knife and went out.
This time, his destination was the family’s vegetable garden.
The four members of the Xu Family had each been allocated eight *fen* of land, adding up to a total of 3.2 *mu*.
However, with the old being old and the young being young, the only one in the family who could serve as able-bodied labor, Xu An, still had to attend school. Thus, the land was rented out to a private individual for farming, earning them three hundred yuan per *mu* annually.
The vegetable garden he was heading to now was one Granny Xu had cleared and set up herself by the river. Other families in the village had done the same, creating a line of gardens, each separated from the next by a bamboo fence.
Following the memories in his mind, Xu An found his family’s vegetable garden.
One look was all it took for Xu An to freeze on the spot. He finally understood why his grandmother hadn’t followed up on what he’d said earlier.
His grandmother hadn’t planted green beans this year; she had planted eggplants instead!
’Memories from too long ago really are unreliable.’
After a moment of reflection, Xu An quickly cast aside his stray thoughts and focused on what to make for lunch.
"Picking vegetables, Anzi?"
Xu An, who was deep in thought about what to cook, was pulled from his reverie by the greeting. He turned to see his neighbor, Aunt Hong.
Aunt Hong looked just as he remembered, with her neat, short hair and eyes that crinkled into a smile when she spoke, radiating a palpable warmth.
Aunt Hong’s surname was actually Han. She was called Aunt Hong because she wore a red top year-round. The styles might change, but the color was always red.
"Aunt Hong."
"I just got a call from your paternal aunt. She said she’s coming to visit your grandmother the morning after tomorrow. If you need anything, you come find me, alright?" Aunt Hong added with concern, her heart aching for the Xu family’s situation.
When Xu An’s aunt had been a girl, she was a perfectly nice person. But ever since she married out, her personality had grown stranger with each passing year.
She had been relatively well-behaved back when Mr. Xu and Mrs. Xu were still alive. But in the past two years, she had become increasingly disruptive. Every visit ended with her and Granny Xu arguing until they were red in the face, and she would leave in a huff.
"Alright. Thanks for taking the trouble to come tell me, Aunt Hong."
The two exchanged a few more pleasantries before Aunt Hong left.
Xu An surveyed the vegetable garden, picked two eggplants that would be a bit overripe if left another day, added two green peppers, and headed back, basket in hand.
When he got home, he saw the two little ones playing quietly in the sand, so he didn’t disturb them. He walked straight into the kitchen and started preparing lunch.
In his previous life, he had brought Kang and Le to live with him after he graduated from college and started working. Practice made perfect, and he had honed his cooking skills until they were quite good.
While he couldn’t make extravagant or complex gourmet dishes, anyone who tasted his ordinary home-cooked meals would give him a thumbs-up.
The first thing he handled was the bone broth. He had placed the bones in a basin of cold water right after buying them. They had now been soaking for exactly an hour, and a bloody layer had settled at the bottom.
He lifted the bones out and placed them in a pressure cooker. After pouring out all the bloody water, he drew fresh water from the well and added it to the pot.
He found some red dates and goji berries in the spice area, added three slices of ginger and a pinch of salt, then put the lid on and set the pot aside.
The Xu family didn’t have a gas stove and still used a traditional wood-fired stove. For soups, however, they used a honeycomb coal stove.
Honeycomb coal briquettes were cheap. A single briquette could burn for three hours—just enough time to simmer a pot of soup, and much cheaper than using gas.
He grabbed a pair of iron tongs and removed the top two briquettes, setting them aside. He then pulled out the spent briquette at the very bottom and discarded it before placing the two partially used briquettes back inside.
From a sack nearby, he took out some leaves and other kindling, placed them in the stove, and lit them. He added small twigs on top. Once he saw the briquettes catch fire, he used the tongs to add a new one to the very top. He then set the pressure cooker on the stove, and with that, the soup was taken care of.
He cut the eggplant into small pieces and salted it to draw out the moisture, which he then squeezed dry.
He took out a piece of pork that had a bit of fat, sliced it thinly, and then minced it. He put half of the minced pork onto a small dish, saving the other half for the eggplant stir-fry.
Xu An called out to the yard, and Xu Kang and Xu Le came scampering into the kitchen. One fetched firewood while the other stacked it to light the fire. They worked in perfect coordination, looking like seasoned experts.
He heated the family’s heirloom iron wok, added oil, and poured in the eggplant when the oil was shimmering. He stir-fried the eggplant until it was soft and wilted, then added the minced pork and continued to stir-fry.
Normally, he would add broad bean paste once the minced pork changed color, but they didn’t have any. He had to make do with green peppers and fermented black beans instead.
To be honest, while Granny Xu was a master of gardening and housework, she was not a skilled cook. Her cooking was at a level where it would fill your stomach without making you sick, and that was about it.
That was why the only seasonings in the house were usually oil, salt, and soy sauce.
Once the julienned green peppers had softened, he added soy sauce and salt. After a quick taste to check the seasoning, he transferred the dish from the wok to a bowl. It was done.
He cleaned the iron wok again, measured out two cups of rice, washed it, and poured it into the wok. He added water up to the second knuckle of his finger.
He set a bamboo steamer insert over the rice, placed the small dish with the seasoned pork patty on it, and put the lid on. All that was left was to wait for the rice to cook.
With the cooking underway, Xu An told the two to go back outside and play for a bit. The rice would need another ten minutes or so, and it would taste even better if it was left to sit for a while after cooking.
But the two didn’t want to leave. They turned to the stir-fried eggplant and pork on the stovetop and took a deep breath.
"Brother, it smells like meat! It smells so, so good!"
"Brother, it smells so delicious! I’m going to eat two bowls of rice later!"
"Alright, alright. You have to eat a lot to grow up big and strong."
"Can I grow as tall as you, Brother?"
Xu An glanced at Xu Le. ’If a girl grows to be one-eighty, that’s a bit too tall.’ Despite his thoughts, he played along. "If you eat two bowls of rice every meal, you’ll grow even taller than me."
"How tall is taller than you?"
"It’s just... taller than me."
"Brother, I’m going to eat two bowls of rice too, so I can grow taller than you!"
"Okay, you’ll both grow taller than me."
In his previous life, the two had suffered four years of mistreatment at their aunt’s house. Afterward, even though Xu An had deliberately tried to supplement their nutrition, neither of them had grown taller than him.
Xu Le grew to be 1.62 meters, and Xu Kang was 1.73 meters.
Xu Le’s height was about average for a girl, so she wasn’t considered short.
But Xu Kang was definitely on the shorter side compared to his peers, who were generally over 1.8 meters tall.
Mr. Xu and Mrs. Xu had been 1.78 meters and 1.68 meters tall, respectively, which was considered tall for their generation. With those genetics, sufficient nutrition should allow Xu Le to reach 1.7 meters and Xu Kang to reach 1.85.
’For now, I’ll make that my goal.’
Cooking rice on a wood-fired stove made it especially fragrant, but it also required skill. The moment you heard a faint SIZZLE from the wok, you had to immediately pull out the firewood and let the residual heat do the rest.
About ten minutes after pulling out the firewood, the rice would be ready. Usually, this method also produced a perfect sheet of scorched rice at the bottom.
Sprinkling it with sugar and breaking it into pieces made for a tempting snack.
Normally, they ate lunch at the square table in the living room. But now that Granny Xu had trouble getting around, Xu An propped up a wooden plank on two stools in front of her bed. He brought over a few more stools, and their simple dining table was ready.
Perhaps because Xu An’s cooking was so good, not only did Xu Kang and Xu Le eat two big bowls of rice each, but even Granny Xu had a rare second helping, finishing another half-bowl.
After the meal, Xu Kang and Le slumped back in their chairs, lifting their shirts for Xu An and Granny Xu to see their round, bulging bellies.
"Brother, the meat was so yummy! My tummy is so big and full."
"Brother, I love eating meat! Piggies are so cute."
"You two little gluttons. We’ll have more meat tonight."
Granny Xu watched the three of them, wanting to say something but holding her tongue each time. In the end, she said nothing, but the sight of all that meat on the table made her heart ache.