The Butcher's Little Husband - Chapter 26

Li Wenxuan returned quickly, carrying two pheasants and a hare. These small animals were busy putting on weight for autumn, so their meat was especially tender.

While waiting, Tian Xiaoman and the others had gone to find more pine mushrooms and nearly filled his large backpack.

Li Wenxuan tied the pheasants and hare together with vines and carried them in one hand, then naturally shouldered the big backpack. 

The group headed out of the forest. When they reached the large tree, Tian Xiaoman was about to pick up his basket of nianzis when Li Wenxuan picked it up, emptied it onto his back, and handed Xiaoman the now-empty basket.

The other gers saw this and looked at Tian Xiaoman with envy—how nice it was to have someone who doted on you! 

Tian Xiaoman was pleased, but also a little embarrassed. “Why don’t I carry some too?”

“No need, this isn’t heavy at all! If you feel bad, help your friends out instead,” Li Wenxuan suggested. After all, he couldn’t carry everything by himself—he was just helping Xiaoman.

“Alright,” Tian Xiaoman agreed. He took a few handfuls from their baskets and transferred them to his own.

This way, each of the others carried only about two-thirds of their load, and instantly felt much lighter.

The gers walked ahead, chatting and laughing, while Li Wenxuan trailed behind. It wasn’t because he was tired—he just thought a man shouldn’t stick too close to a bunch of young gers. If it were just Xiaoman, that’d be different.

As if his thoughts had been heard, Tian Xiaoman suddenly said something to the others and stopped walking, letting them go ahead.

Li Wenxuan’s eyes lit up when he saw this and quickly walked over, grinning. “Xiaoman, are you waiting for me?”

“You already know, why are you asking?” Tian Xiaoman said, for once being a little coy. Seeing the sweat on Li Wenxuan’s forehead from carrying so much, he took out a handkerchief and stood on tiptoe to wipe it off for him.

Li Wenxuan looked at him deeply, then took his hand. “Xiaoman, I want to kiss you. Will you let me?”

Tian Xiaoman’s face turned red in an instant. “You rascal! What kind of question is that!” 

What was he supposed to say? Agree out loud?

“Will you let me?” Li Wenxuan pressed, his voice hoarse and his eyes burning.

“Yes, yes, yes! You shameless—mmph!” Tian Xiaoman blurted it out in a panic, and before he could take it back, Li Wenxuan leaned in, kissed him on the lips, and hugged him tightly around the waist.

Xiaoman didn’t know how long the kiss lasted—only that he nearly ran out of breath. He finally pushed Li Wenxuan away and gasped for breath, then glared at him and walked quickly ahead with his head down. 

Li Wenxuan laughed and hurried to follow.

When they got back to Tian Xiaoman’s house, some of the others were already waiting. 

Liu Sheng kept winking at him, and Yang Xiaoguo, confused by this, wanted to ask if Liu Sheng had something in his eye.

Tian Xiaoman ignored it all. “Put your stuff away first, and come to my house for dinner later!”

Yang Xiaoguo was the first to respond, running home with his basket. 

Tian Xiaoman called after him, “Don’t forget the nianzis and pine mushrooms!” 

Liu Sheng laughed, “Who cares about nianzis when there’s meat to eat? Let’s cook the pine mushrooms tonight! I’ll go back and tell my cousins—we’re in!”

Tian Xiaoman put his basket down in the yard, grabbed a large basin to hold the nianzis, then had Li Wenxuan take off the backpack and dump all the pine mushrooms out. They needed sorting, since some were worm-eaten or spoiled.

Tian Amu heard the commotion and came outside. Seeing the pheasants and hare in Li Wenxuan’s hands, he was surprised. “Oh my, you caught all that in such a short time? And even found some pine mushrooms too?”

“Yes, Amu. I also invited Xiaoguo, Liu Sheng, and his cousins to dinner. Could you help me boil some water? I’ll prep the chickens.”

“Of course, I’ll get started!” Tian Amu hurried to the kitchen.

Tian Xiaoman noticed Li Wenxuan was still holding the animals. “Are you silly? Aren’t you tired yet? Put them down already and take a rest!”

“Got it!” Li Wenxuan happily set everything down, washed his hands, and moved a small stool over to help Xiaoman sort through the pine mushrooms.

He picked out the ones that had worm holes or rot, then cleaned off the leaves and dirt. When done, they still had about half a basin of usable mushrooms.

Pine mushrooms needed to be peeled and blanched, otherwise they could upset people’s stomachs.

“The water’s ready, Wenxuan—bring over the chickens!” Tian Amu called.

“Coming!” Li Wenxuan picked up the chickens and rabbits and headed to the kitchen.

Soon, everything was cleaned and ready. Tian Xiaoman had also finished preparing the mushrooms.

He decided on a menu: stir-fried pine mushrooms, chicken stew with pine mushrooms, potato chicken nuggets, spicy diced rabbit, and some fresh vegetables from the garden. Eight dishes for eight people—just right.

After deciding, he asked Tian Amu to help prep the ingredients. He chopped one chicken into pieces, diced the rabbit, and set them aside.

There was still hot water in the pot, so Tian Xiaoman asked Li Wenxuan to keep it boiling, then blanched the pine mushrooms. Luckily, Li Wenxuan had brought some pork belly, otherwise they’d have had to rely on lard for the stir-fried dish, since pine mushrooms absorb oil easily.

Tian Xiaoman first heated some oil in the pan, added the pork belly, and quickly stir-fried it. Once the pork was slightly golden and translucent, he tossed in the pine mushrooms, stir-fried them a few times, added a bit of salt, and plated it. Pine mushrooms had a rich flavor—adding too much would only mask it.

Next, he set up a small stove, used a clay pot to stew chicken with pine mushrooms, then got to work on the potato chicken nuggets and the spicy rabbit cubes.

Once the main dishes were nearly done, Tian Xiaoman finally let out a breath of relief. Everyone rarely got together like this—he couldn’t mess it up.

Tian Amu had already prepped all the vegetables and was waiting for him to cook. Tian Xiaoman took the lead, and he helped as needed.

Before long, everything was ready. Yang Xiaoguo and the others arrived. Xiaoguo brought some crispy, fragrant pancakes made by his Amu. Liu Sheng brought a jar of good wine, which made Father Tian very happy.

They all sat down to eat. On the table were stir-fried pine mushrooms, pine mushroom chicken stew, potato chicken nuggets, spicy diced rabbit, garlic eggplant, stir-fried pumpkin tips, braised winter melon, and scrambled eggs with leeks.

“Wow, what a feast!” Liu Sheng said, looking at Tian Xiaoman with admiration. “I heard from your mom that you made all this? Impressive!”

“Xiaoman’s cooking is the best!” Yang Xiaoguo added.

“Alright, alright, stop praising me or I won’t be able to cook next time!” Tian Xiaoman urged them to come to the table. He was starving after all that work.

Everyone sat down and dug in.

Farmers don’t care about the rule of not talking while eating. They chatted and laughed as they ate, and it took a long time to finish. Every dish got unanimous praise—evident from the empty plates left behind.