Carefree Farmwife: Training the Husband, Raising the Bun - Chapter 159

Ying Su returned home, then went back out to the Dongjun River. She spread open the fishing net she had woven earlier, hoping she might get lucky and catch a fish to cook.

Picking up the net, she couldn’t help but recall how, when she had first arrived, she had been dirt poor. To scrape together a little money, she had even set her sights on the fish in this river, only then had she managed to survive those hard days.

After casting the net, Ying Su returned home to cook. With just the pork alone, she made five dishes, stir-fried pork with chili, boiled pork slices, braised pork with potatoes, twice-cooked pork, and cumin pork slices.

She also made soy-braised pig’s trotters and red-braised ribs, plus a simple blanched green vegetable tossed with mashed garlic.

The pig’s trotters were full of rich sauce, a glossy reddish hue, tender yet not mushy, fragrant but not greasy, each bite left the mouth filled with flavor, slippery and gelatinous.

The red-braised ribs were one of Ying Su’s specialties. Years ago, she had once been lucky enough to taste the dish at a friend’s house. She pestered her friend’s mother for a long time before learning the secret recipe. 

Unlike most households, who simply stir-fried ribs, this method simmered them until tender. Compared with stir-frying, the stewed version was more flavorful, more delicious, and better in color, aroma, and taste.

The fragrance wafting from the kitchen drew the three people playing in the main hall. Seeing Ying Su bustling about, the little bun felt guilty for having played too much with his uncles earlier and forgetting that his mother was cooking alone. He quietly slipped into the kitchen and crouched at the hearth to stoke the fire.

When Shen Changyun saw the boy trying to shove wood into the stove, he quickly pulled him out, laughing, “Uncle will handle the fire. You go taste your mother’s cooking with your eldest uncle first!”

Shen Changge had already snatched up a piece of meat. When he saw the little bun watching, he hurriedly stuffed it into the boy’s mouth, then quickly popped another piece into his own.

His behavior made Ying Su laugh out loud. “Big Brother, you’re way too greedy!”

Shen Changge tapped her head, looking perfectly justified. “I was just testing the seasoning!” Not a second later, his facade cracked, and he laughed, “The Northwest is a godforsaken place, the food there is awful! It’s been ages since I’ve tasted meat this good. Little Sister, you’ll have to make this for me every day from now on!” His face was shameless.

From the hearth, Shen Changyun winked at him, but Shen Changge didn’t get it at all. “Changyun, what’s wrong with your eye?”

Helpless, Shen Changyun said, “Big Brother, the smell’s making my mouth water. Let me test the seasoning too?”

Though the elder, Shen Changge loved teasing his siblings. With a straight face, he said, “I already tried it. The balance is perfect.”

That left Shen Changyun pitifully eyeing the food from below the stove. At last, the kind-hearted little bun picked up a piece of meat and popped it into his little uncle’s mouth.

Shen Changyun chewed with relish, then said, “Second Sister, your cooking just keeps getting better. I remember when you used to cook, either too salty it burned the throat, or so bland it had no taste at all…”

“Exactly!” Shen Changge burst into hearty laughter. “Back then, Mother used to worry you’d never get married. Any husband’s family would starve to death with your cooking!”

Ying Su’s lips curled in a half-smile, half-scowl. “Exposing my shortcomings in front of my child? Neither of you will get any food later!”

“Don’t say that! Little Sister, your cooking is one of a kind in this world. Big Brother came all this way home, you’d really let me starve?” Shen Changge said, full of shamelessness.

Sitting by the hearth, Shen Changyun snickered. “Second Sister, Big Brother eats a lot. I eat very little. Let him go hungry, it doesn’t matter. I still need to grow taller! Isn’t that right, nephew?”

Suddenly called on, Huzi’s dark eyes swiveled, and he diplomatically answered, “Mommy wouldn’t let either of my uncles go hungry.”

His soft, sweet little voice made the two men burst into laughter.

After cooking a pot of fragrant rice, Ying Su went back to the river. She found only a few small fish in the net, so she decided to make crucian carp soup.

That meal was a feast. Everyone ate until their lips were shiny with oil. Shen Changge polished off three bowls of rice in a row, Huzi ate a big bowl himself, and the milky white crucian carp soup had them all slurping with delight, singing its praises.

Seeing their satisfied faces, Ying Su felt a faint, quiet happiness bloom in her heart.

After the meal, once the pots and bowls were washed, Ying Su and the little bun began to pack their things to go home with the Shen brothers.

Shen Changge and Shen Changyun helped them tidy up as well. Remembering Madam Shen’s health, Ying Su asked worriedly, “Is Mother doing any better now?”

“She took the medicine you prescribed last time. She’s better than before, now she can even sit in the courtyard,” Shen Changyun replied.

“All these years I haven’t been home, I didn’t realize her illness had gotten so bad…” Shen Changge’s face was filled with guilt, his voice low. “Back in the Northwest, when I couldn’t sleep at night, I sometimes regretted leaving. Changyun was still so young, and Father and Mother were so honest and simple… these past years, who knows how much they’ve suffered…”

Seeing his eyes reddened, Ying Su quickly comforted him, “What matters is that it’s all in the past. Now our family is together and well.”

“Second Sister is right. Our family’s being well is more important than anything. Since you went to the Northwest and Second Sister suffered her accident, Mother’s health declined. I had no hopes in my heart, only that our family would be safe and could be reunited,” Shen Changyun added, nose turning sour.

Five years might sound short, but lived day by day with firewood, rice, oil, and salt, it felt endless.

Ying Su’s heart ached with complicated emotions.The little bun grabbed her hand and said, “Mommy, once we go home, I’ll massage Grandpa and Grandma’s backs every day and be filial to them.”

She rubbed his head, sweetness swelling in her chest. Shen Changge, full of affection, lifted the boy into his arms and praised, “Knowing filial piety at such a young age is a wonderful thing!”

Remembering the imperial physician Wang living at Zhang San’s house, Ying Su told the Shen brothers, “I know a doctor from the capital. Tomorrow let’s bring him to our home to examine Mother.”

“Good. Let’s go back early today. Father and Mother have been waiting for so long,” Shen Changge said with a smile.

In truth, Ying Su and the little bun didn’t have much to pack. Just a few sets of clothes, nothing valuable.

As for furniture, Ying Su planned to move it only once the family house was built. The little bun’s most treasured possession was his set of brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, which he carefully wrapped in a small bundle.

Next was the clutch of chicks he had asked Madam Li to buy. He had been raising them diligently these past few days. Every day after school, the first thing he did was catch bugs and pick grass to feed them.

But the thought of how to take the chicks along troubled him. He circled around them several times, his delicate brows furrowed, his little face solemn.

Seeing his nephew pacing around the chicks, Shen Changge pinched the boy’s cheek and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Uncle, I want to bring the chicks back, but we don’t have a cage for them…” The little bun said with a face full of worry.

Hearing the little one speak so seriously like a tiny adult, Shen Changge chuckled. He crouched down and said, “Give your uncle a kiss, and I’ll make you a chicken coop.”