Song Tan’s Chronicle - Chapter 115.1

In the countryside, a traditional stove with a large fire and big pot allows for quick cooking. One stove was used to cook rice, with a small pot in the middle for boiling water, while the other large iron pot, which was at least twenty-five years old and still used from their wedding, gleamed with an oily shine from years of use. Stir-frying in it produced the most delicious and smooth flavors.

With around twenty people today, Wu Lan increased the quantity of food without changing the variety (mainly because there wasn’t much variety during this time of year), and each dish was served in large bowls.

The main dish was a large bowl of stir-fried purple vetch with cured meat.

Technically, the main dish should have been a stew, but the lettuce pulled from Grandma’s garden was not quite of the right quality, so stewed lettuce with pork could only be ranked second.

Next was scrambled eggs with chives.

Yesterday, Song Tan had harvested all the chives. The family spent hours making dumplings and chive pockets. For lunch, there was also a big plate of chive pockets, serving as another main course.

For the leftover chives that couldn’t be stuffed into dumplings, they were all scrambled with eggs today.

The reason it couldn’t be the main dish was purely because it didn’t have any meat, so it seemed less grand.

Then there was stir-fried pork with green peppers and stir-fried cabbage with tofu.

These were all vegetables available in the fields; the rest were purchased from the town early in the morning and were not worth mentioning.

Still, the overpowering aroma of the chives, the unique scent of the crispy chive pockets, and the flavors brought out by stir-frying the purple vetch with meat… All these smells made everyone’s stomachs rumble with hunger.

If it weren’t for their remaining self-control, they would have been fighting for food with their chopsticks by now!

Not to mention, they were tempted to grab a bite of the chive pocket first—they were really hungry!

However, when all ten large bowls were served on the table, Mao Li and Sun Yanyan still hadn’t returned.

Everyone was sitting around the table with their chopsticks in hand, feeling anxious.

Eldest Song looked displeased, “I’ll make a call; let’s start eating.”

But how could they start eating before everyone was present? Then the corresponding ringtone sounded from the courtyard, and they realized that both women had gone out to pick vegetables without taking their phones.

Wang Lifen was puzzled, “The garden is so small, and there wasn’t much lettuce left. What’s taking so long?”

“Qiao Qiao,” Song Tan smiled, “Go check Grandma’s house to see if Aunt is there.”

Qiao Qiao was eager to help. He immediately stood up, acting like an adult, “Sigh! It’s time to eat, and they’re not back yet. So playful!”

Eldest Song’s face was dark, and Song Tan nudged him, “Hurry up, go check.”

Qiao Qiao, with his long legs, ran off and came back within five minutes, panting, “No, there’s no one at Grandma’s house, neither inside nor in the garden. Big White isn’t there either.”

Everyone was focused on where they had gone, but Song Tan, looking at Qiao Qiao, knew he must have checked Big White’s spot too.

After all, since Big White moved to the mountain, his old, shabby basket had been left unattended, with only his good buddy Qiao Qiao caring for it.

The phone calls went unanswered, and no one knew where they were. Song Tan guessed, “Aunt mentioned going to pick purple vetch this morning, but there’s none left in the fields. Could they still be searching there?”

So Qiao Qiao was sent to the gate to look towards the fields.

He looked around, but there was only a patch of brown soil—no one was there.

Someone’s stomach growled, and Eldest Song’s face grew even more embarrassed. He finally picked up his chopsticks, “We won’t wait any longer, let’s eat! We’re all family, no need to stand on ceremony.”

He was both a family member and a guest, and the ones missing were his own family members. His suggestion prompted everyone to finally give in.