Lei Tie threw the money pouch to Qin Mian, opened the door and carried the big water vat into the house.
Qin Mian smiled and went into the bedroom with the money pouch. He still put it in the wooden box and locked it with a new lock. The key was put under the mattress first before he put a string to wear on his person.
“Wife, I’ll go carry water.”
Since the protest against this title was to no avail, Qin Mian didn’t bother about it with him anymore and nodded immediately, “Alright.”
After Lei Tie left with two buckets, Qin Mian took out the dishware in the rice and flour sacks, heated up water to wipe the new water vat several times, then soaked the new dishware and tea sets in the boiling water to simply disinfected them. There was no cupboard, so he brought the low table in the bedroom and put the dishware on it. Rice and flour were put in their bedroom for the time being and be taken care of in the night, so as not to be eaten by rats.Qin Mian then made some paste with flour and picked up the white paper on the ground to stick onto the window.
Once Lei Tie had filled the water vat, he came quietly to help.
“I can take care of this alone.” Qin Mian looked at the sky. “It’s late. Go to Brother Zhang’s house to inform him first, so that Sister Zhang doesn’t have to cook Brother Zhang’s meal portion.”
After thinking about it, he looked at Lei Tie and explained that since they want to live together, the misunderstandings that could be avoided should be avoided. “It’s not that I don’t want to invite Sister Zhang and their children. Brother Zhang and Sister Zhang are not necessarily willing to let their children know about us two men living together. If we invite without consideration, it may turn awkward. We’ll consider that again after the two of our families have deeper association.”
“I understand.” Lei Tie pressed him on the shoulder.
Qin Mian put off his worry and continued to arrange work for the man. “You take the basket and pick some vegetables in the vegetable garden, such as eggplant, bitter melon and whatnot. Pick a lot of chili and some other green vegetables you see. You’d better bring back some potatoes and don’t forget to cut some if there are green onions. Eggs… Forget it, the villagers must have kept eggs for busy farming season, I’m afraid we can’t buy even if we pay. Oh, forgot to buy wine!” He tapped on his forehead in frustration.
“There is a wine shop in the village. Don’t worry.” Lei Tie nodded and went away.Qin Mian watched him go far before he quickly scooped a bowl of spring water from the space and added it into the water vat and continued to bustle about.
After all the windows were pasted with paper, he nailed two nails on the top of each of the two windows in the room, tied a string in between the nails and then hung two pieces of cloth on the top before he sewed several stitches to avoid it falling off. It was a simple version of sliding curtain. Not pleasing, but practical.
“Wife, I’m back.”
Qin Mian was rinsing rice and almost splashed the rinsing water onto his feet. So be it if you are back, is it necessary to say it deliberately? Is it necessary to add a “wife”? Is it necessary to be so loud?
Lei Tie put the wine jar on the table and the basket beside Qin Mian. “Eldest Uncle Jiang next door [at Lei’s] gave ten eggs.”
Feeling touch, Qin Mian said: “Eldest Uncle Jiang is a warm-hearted man.” All the good things someone done to them was remembered in his mind, so he could return the favors later on.
He shook the water off his hand, rummaged through the basket and gave Lei Tie a funny look. This was really something that someone who was not in charge of the household could do. In addition to eggs, there were several purple eggplants, several bitter melons, handful of green onions, some green peppers, three big potatoes, a handful of chrysanthemum greens and a handful of leeks in the basket. There were a lot of variety, but there were only a handful of leeks enough to fry for a small plate; the chrysanthemum greens seemed a lot, but it was sure to fill two or three mouthfuls after stir-fried. There were going to be several adult men to dine together in the evening, so it would not be enough. Fortunately, there were leeks and chrysanthemum greens in his space. He would add some when Lei Tie didn’t notice.
Lei Tie looked at the basket. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Qin Mian said with a smile.
Lei Tie thought he didn’t tell the truth, but he didn’t ask again. “Not enough stool. I’ll go to the mountain back to chop some wood stumps.”
“Go ahead. I don’t need your help here.”
Qin Mian cooked the rice first, cleaned the pig liver, cut it into thin slices and soaked it in water. Although pig liver contained a variety of nutrients as well as fresh and tasty, it must be detoxified before eating, because pig liver was the largest detoxification organ in pig body. After cleaning, it was best to cut into thin slices and soaked for one to two hours to eliminate residual blood. But today, he was in a hurry to cook. He could only soak it first and fry it last. When it was time to fry it, he could fry it for a while.
Because there was no tenderizer powder and starch, Qin Mian used eggs as tenderizer. He mixed the egg white with the thinly sliced meat and cured for a while. Today was for their own enjoyment and serving guests. Until their financial conditions become better, there could be no such luxury. When he was in town, he had inquired that an egg costed a wen, not cheap.
Afterwards, Qin Mian cleaned the bones and fat, and prepared them the same for use.
Lei Tie came back with a few wood stumps. Qin Mian directed him to pick the edible part of the vegetables while he started to cook.
When there were two dishes left [to be cooked], Qin Mian asked Lei Tie to invite people.
When Brother Zhang, Lei Xiangyi, Lei Xiangli, Lei Xiangzhi, and Lei Chuntao followed Lei Tie, it had been passed six o’clock in the evening. The setting sun dyed the western sky orange.
Smelling the attractive fragrance, several people involuntarily wanted to quicken their steps but suddenly realized that they were in a bit of a state of disrespect, they hurriedly restrained themselves and followed Lei Tie to walk neither slow nor fast.
Consequently, they didn’t notice that Lei Tie was moving faster than usual.
“Eldest brother, we can smell the fragrance all the way. It seems that the eldest sister-in-law is not only good at cooking, but also very well at craftsmanship.” Lei Xiangli said with a smile.
Zhang Dashuan nodded and laughed out loud, “It seems that we have the luck to get something nice to eat today.”
In the house, the fragrance was stronger. Stewed pork bone with potato, sautéed shredded pork with green pepper, stewed pork fat with eggplant, simple version of twice cooked pork, bitter melon with scrambled egg, stir fried chrysanthemum greens and stir fried leeks had been brought to the table in the central room in all sort of colors and flavors.
There was surprise in Lei Tie’s eyes but it soon turned serene.
The Lei brothers and sister as well as Zhang Dashuan were stunned speechless at the dishes on the table. At the same time, they sighed with emotion: Lei Tie family’s [wife] / eldest sister-in-law is very generous in treating guest. In fact, Qin Mian had made some reservations. He kept half of the lean meat. The fat was oily, there were only seven or eight pieces of fat in the eggplant stew, but the taste was not bad. The rest of the fat was extracted to make lard.
The Lei brothers and sister couldn’t help swallowing their saliva. Du Shi didn’t begrudge them in treatment compared to Lei Tie, but in general she was a stingy person. The family ate meat less than a few times a year and she was reluctant to put more oil in the cooking. Qin Mian’s cooking today was comparable to that of a wedding banquet for them.
“Second brother and second sister-in-law must be very regretful if they knew.” Lei Chuntao was laughing and whispering in Lei Xiangli’s ear.
When they went out, Lei Xiangren and Zhao Shi was ridiculing Lei Tie and Qin Mian in innuendo. Lei Xiangli could not help laughing at the expression that his second sister-in-law would show when she knew they had eaten something good.
Qin Mian appeared carrying stir fried pork liver with green pepper that was just scooped out of the wok. He said with a smile, “Please sit down.”
“Eldest sister-in-law.” Lei Xiangyi and the others spoke in unison.
“Lei Tie family’s [wife], pardon my intrusion.” Zhang Dashuan also said.
“Sit down.” Qin Mian put the dishes down. “There are no outsiders; there is no need to stand on ceremonies.”
The few of them thanked as they each took a seat.
Lei Tie opened the wine jar to pour wine for the few people. Without wine cups, he directly used bowls.
After Lei Tie poured wine for Zhang Dashuan and the others, he wanted to pour for Qin Mian but was stopped by Qin Mian. He wanted to leave his stomach for eating meat.
“I won’t drink. You guys drink to your heart’s content.”
At the table, Lei Chuntao was the only girl, but because there were basically her elder brothers at the table, she didn’t need to pay much attention to segregation between male and female. Lei Xiangli was sitting on her left side and Lei Xiangzhi was sitting on her right side.
Qin Mian was afraid that Lei Chuntao would not be comfortable, “Little sister, are you going to eat some dishes first or directly eat cooked rice? Your eldest brother’s home is the same as your own, help yourself.”
Lei Chuntao hurriedly said: “Eldest sister-in-law, you don’t have to take care of me specially. I won’t stand on ceremonies with you guys. Eldest sister-in-law’s craftsmanship is so good. I’ll eat the dishes first, and then I’ll scoop the cooked rice myself.”
Qin Mian saw her conducted herself in natural and unrestrained manner, he nodded and said nothing more.
Zhang Dashuan and the others also started eating. Their mouths were full of praise for Qin Mian’s craftsmanship. They felt that even the potatoes in the bone stew were tender and fragrant, which made people want to swallow their tongues.
“I’m flattered. Don’t just drink wine, eat more dishes.” Qin Mian smiled and said simply, pretending to be bashful, eating the dishes from time to time.
Lei Tie had few words, but Zhang Dashuan, Lei Xiangli and Lei Xiangzhi were all eloquent. The atmosphere on the wine table was relatively warm.
After finishing meal, the guests were very pleased. Except for stir fried leek and stir fried chrysanthemum green still had a few left, all the other dishes were eaten clean.
Zhang Dashuan, Lei Xiangyi and Lei Xiangli were all drunk, but not to the extent of not being able to walk. Lei Tie and Lei Xiangzhi had drunk less.
Qin Mian asked Lei Tie to send them off, but they refused and went away with a smile.
It’s already dark, but the moon was high, so he wasn’t worried for them not being able to see the way.
Zhang Dashuan lived at the other end of the village, so the few of them split up halfway.
Lei Chuntao snorted, “I dare say second sister-in-law hasn’t slept yet, waiting for us to go back and laugh at us. I’ll tell her later what fine food we ate to keep her awake all night!” After that, she could not help laughing.
Lei Xiangzhi suddenly said, “Third brother, fourth brother and little sister, I think it’s better not to mention about it.”
“Why?” Lei Xiangyi and the two were puzzled.
Lei Xiangzhi sighed, “Eldest brother and eldest sister-in-law finally get peace, better let them be in peace.”
Lei Xiangyi and the two thought of their mother and second sister-in-law with a temper that wished for the whole world to be in chaos, and they nodded at the same time.
“Okay, no mention.”
