Chapter 14 Dinner at Han Family

After Su Yue left, Mao Lin looked at what was left from the sweet and sour pork ribs and couldn’t help but sigh, “I didn’t like Su Yue before. I thought she was squeamish, arrogant, and not gregarious. She had no other good qualities except that she was good-looking. Now I realize that I was wrong. Su Yue has many skills, not only good cooking skills but also a generous personality.”

Wu Xiaoxiao nodded in agreement. “I see that we have all gained weight during this period, and we all eat Su Yue’s good food, and Su Yue pays for it herself. She bought the ingredients and cooked them for us without asking for any money from us. We should all thank her.”

Li Xiaoqing said, “Su Yue just didn’t get used to it when she first came here and was in a bad mood. You see, it’s better now. She’s very good. She treats us well, and we can’t just take advantage of her. From now on, let’s buy the oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar in the kitchen. Don’t let Su Yue buy it herself. What do you guys think?”

As soon as these words came out, surprisingly, Wei Jia was the first to nod in agreement.

Seeing everyone looking at her in surprise, she blushed slightly and said angrily, “Why are you all looking at me like that? I used to hate her, but now that she has changed, why don’t I like her?”

“Okay! Okay, why not?” Everyone laughed and thought this was great.

Now the relationship between the five educated youths living together is getting better and better, and life is not as difficult as before, thanks to Su Yue’s delicious food.

Su Yue didn’t know that she had been praised by her friends while she was away. She was walking to the door of Han’s house when she saw Han Aimin standing at the door.

As soon as he saw her coming, Han Aimin immediately ran over with a grin on his face and said happily, “Sister Su Yue, you’re here!”

Su Yue had become very familiar with him during this time and rubbed his head, “Were you waiting for me specially, huh?”

Han Aimin scratched his head in embarrassment. “There’s nothing to do today anyway.”

Su Yue smiled, put her hand on his shoulder, and walked inside with him.

When Old Lady Han saw Su Yue coming, she greeted her from the main room with a smile. When she saw what Su Yue was carrying, she immediately said angrily, “I asked you to come to dinner just to thank you. Why did you, girl, bring something with you?” Take it back later; otherwise Aunt will be unhappy.”

Su Yue put the basket in her hand on the table, lifted the cloth covering it, and said, “Auntie, I didn’t bring anything; I just made some mooncakes and a dish for everyone to try together. Auntie, just accept this little thing.”

As soon as the children of the Han family heard that there were mooncakes, they couldn’t stand it one by one, and they all ran to Su Yue and shouted in front of her, “I want to eat mooncakes! I want to eat mooncakes!”

When Old Lady Han saw it, she slapped one of them. “You are not allowed to eat now; you will have to eat later.” After saying that, she no longer refused and smiled.

She said to Su Yue, “Then I will accept it and let everyone have a taste of your craftsmanship. But we have to agree that you are not allowed to bring anything else with you in the future.”

Su Yue just smiled and said, “Okay, okay, I won’t bring it anymore.”

Han’s second daughter-in-law brought a bowl of sugar water to Su Yue and greeted her with a smile, “Su Yue, drink a bowl of sugar water quickly.”

At this time, it’s expensive, and you have to buy it with a ticket. Only when distinguished guests come to the house will they serve sugar water, so this is considered a good thing.

Su Yue smiled and took a sip. “Thank you, second sister-in-law Han.”

Before Han’s second daughter-in-law could say anything else, Han’s third daughter-in-law pushed past her and sat next to Su Yue, saying, “Su Yue, you are really amazing. The mooncakes are so fragrant; no wonder you can make so much money. If you want to sell them again, you can contact me and I will sell them for you.”

Su Yue said, “This time it’s was  for Mid-Autumn Festival, and usually everyone eats them, but now these mooncakes will not be sold for the time being, and we have to wait until next year’s Mid-Autumn Festival to make them.”

Han’s third daughter-in-law was very disappointed when she heard what she said and wanted to persuade Su Yue to try other ones.

As soon as she opened her mouth, Old Lady Han glared at her with a fierce face. “Third daughter-in-law, go to the kitchen and help your second sister-in-law cook together. Don’t be lazy all day long.”

Seeing that her mother-in-law looked angry, Han’s third daughter-in-law frowned but did not dare to say anything anymore. She got up and went to the kitchen to cook.

Old Lady Han said to Su Yue, “Don’t listen to her; just ignore her.”

Su Yue smiled nonchalantly and said, “Auntie, I will also go to the kitchen to help. It’s not okay to sit around anyway.”

But Old Lady Han refused, “There is no reason to let guests go to the kitchen. There is not much work to do anyway. The second and third daughters-in-law can handle it. Just sit down and drink some water and eat some melon seeds.”

Old Lady Han said like Thinking of something, she suddenly said, “It will be a while before dinner starts. If you feel bored, Xiao Su, you can go to the backyard and watch my eldest make your backpack, just to see if the size fits.”

Old Lady Han already knew that the backpack was for Su Yue; that’s why she said this.

When Su Yue heard this, she immediately gave up her idea of going to the kitchen to earn points. She stood up and said, “Then I’ll go take a look.”

In the yard, Han Aiguo was sitting on a small stool knitting a backpack; the bottom of the backpack was already knitted.

Su Yue walked up to him and knelt down to look. “Brother Han, how come you made it up so quickly? I just asked you last night, and you’ve already made it up so much!” Han Aiguo looked up at her, then lowered his head and continued the movements of his hands. “I have nothing to do at home.”

Su Yue was really afraid that he would neglect his food and sleep for it, so she hurriedly said, “Brother Han, I am not in a hurry; just take your time and make it up. Don’t work too hard.”

There was a pause and then a “huh” sound.

Su Yue didn’t bother him; she just squatted next to him and held her chin up while watching him compile.

Probably because he saw Su Yue squatting like this, Han Aiguo said, “Go and move a bench and sit on it; your legs will feel numb from squatting.”

Su Yue felt sweet in her heart. She didn’t expect that he could even think of this. He is a serious man, but he has such a delicate heart.

However, she likes such a man who loves his wife.

Su Yue obediently brought back a small bench and placed it two steps away from him. She sat down and continued to watch him make the backpack.

His hands were large, with well-defined joints. One of them was twice as big as her hand. They looked full of strength, but they were very flexible when working. His slender fingers quickly shuttled between the canes. If one didn’t know, they would think he was a professional at this.

Su Yue unknowingly stared at his fingers, thinking roughly in her mind.

She heard that if a man has long fingers, he will have long….. If this is really the case, then with such long fingers, wouldn’t he have …?

Han Aiguo felt the gaze from the girl next to him getting more and more intense, which made it hard for him to ignore it.

”What’s wrong?” Han Aiguo felt a little weird and had to ask.

Su Yue came back to her senses after being asked this question.

Remembering what she had just thought about, her face instantly turned red. She hurriedly waved her hands and said, “It’s nothing, nothing. I was just in a daze.”

When Han Aiguo turned around, Su Yue finally knocked on her head and secretly cursed herself: What are you thinking about? How can you be such a rogue! Su Yue, even if you know that this is your man still you can’t act like a gangster in your heart. You have to be a pure and good girl!

Just when Su Yue was educating herself hard, Chuncai from Han Lao-er’s family ran over and shouted, “It’s time to eat; come eat.”

Su Yue quickly stopped educating herself and followed Chuncai to the main room to eat.

Old Lady Han said that today men, women, and children all will sit together and have a lively meal.

The children screamed happily when they saw the dishes on the table, and stared at the table while drooling.

Not only did Su Yue bring a meat dish today, but the Han family also made meat, a braised pork dish, and a goldfish soup. The goldfish was caught by the children in the river.

In addition to meat dishes, there is also a dish of roasted eggplant, a dish of stewed tofu, a dish of roasted beans with potatoes, and a dish of cold cucumber.

Such a table of dishes now seems to be comparable to the Chinese New Year, so rich that even adults will drool.

Old Lady Han took the lead and gave Su Yue two pieces of braised pork and said, “Xiao Su, eat as much as you want today.”

“Thank you, Auntie. You guys should eat quickly. You don’t need to wait for me.” Su Yue said, putting the braised pork into her mouth.

To be honest, the braised pork didn’t taste very good. It could only be said that it was barely cooked. If it was her previous life, she would have spit it out. But food was scarce here, and it was hard to come by, so Su Yue had no choice but to suppress the desire to frown and swallowed it as if it were normal.

However, in the eyes of others, braised pork is a rare and delicious dish; they all wish they could eat more pieces. Normally, if the meat was cooked at home, it will be eaten up within a minute, so Old Lady Han was already ready to scold the children to pay attention to the statues.

However, something unexpected happened today.

Everyone was not in a hurry to start with the braised pork and fish soup. Instead, they eagerly stretched out their chopsticks to the sweet and sour pork ribs that Su Yue brought, as if it would be gone after keeping it untouched.

The children all ate with their mouths full of oil and exclaimed unconsciously, “The ribs are really delicious.”

Han’s third daughter-in-law hurriedly picked up two more pieces of ribs and put them into her bowl. “Oh my god, these pork ribs are so delicious, a hundred times better than braised pork.”

Although the braised pork was cooked by Han’s second daughter-in-law, she was not angry when she heard this because she also had the sweet and sour pork ribs. After taking one bite, she felt that the meat she cooked was inedible, and the meat cooked by Su Yue was called real meat.

While Han Lao-er was eating by himself, he didn’t forget to put a piece of it into Old Lady Han’s bowl. “Mom, Su Yue’s cooking is so good. Please try these ribs quickly. It’s really amazing. I’ve never had anything so good to eat.”

Upon hearing this, Old Lady Han quickly picked up the ribs and put them into her mouth. The ribs are crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and sour and sweet, and it feels like a flower blooming in your mouth after you bite it.

Fragrant, so fragrant.

Seeing that there were only two pieces left in the big bowl of ribs, Old Lady Han quickly picked up a piece and put it into Han Aiguo’s bowl. “Aiguo, please try Xiao Su’s cooking. It’s so delicious.”

Han Aiguo couldn’t help but raise his head and glance at Su Yue, only to find that she was looking at him with a smile, her eyes seemed to be filled with spring water, and there were full waves rippling in them.

His heart was hit hard in an instant. Han Aiguo hurriedly looked away, lowered his head, and gnawed on the ribs. However, with just one bite, his entire taste buds were conquered by the taste of the pork ribs.

Now, the whole family was conquered by this plate of sweet and sour pork ribs.

Translator’s Food Notes:-

braised pork

roasted eggplant

stewed tofu

roasted beans with potatoes

cold cucumber