Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

chapter 23

Chapter 23: Delicious Taste

“Here comes Zhang Yun, come in and have a seat quickly.”

Di Yelei hurriedly called out to the child and led the three children in, “Come, sit by the small table, and we’ll start eating in a while. This is your Third Aunt Di. Sisi, this is Zhang Peng’s child. Occasionally, when I go hunting, I entrust Zhang Yun to help take care of the two children.”

Liu Sisi turned her head to look at the three children. Zhang Yun was holding a vegetable basket, filled with a small handful of garlic sprouts and baby bok choy.

“Hello, Third Aunt Di.” Zhang Yun showed great manners as a child.

While greeting, he also observed Liu Sisi. Seeing her delicate and frail, he felt a bit happy. If the stepmother was too strong, he would really be afraid that Di Xuan and YingEr would be abused by the stepmother…

Di Ying hopped out from Di Xuan’s shelter and came to Liu Sisi’s side in a few steps. She reached out to pull Liu Sisi’s dress, gently shaking it, “Mom, it was Brother Yun who sent us home. Mom, what are we having for lunch at home?”

“It was Zhang Yun who brought you back. How good is our Ying’er! Ying’er, hurry up and go to Zhang Yun’s side and sit with your Brother Yun for a while. When I finish cooking, we can eat. By the way, you should also wash your hands with Zhang Yun quickly, as the food will be ready soon.”

Naturally, Liu Sisi didn’t know his thoughts and continued to talk as she made the food.

“No need, we already ate before we came back…”

Zhang Yun still wanted to say something but was dragged away by Ying’er: “Brother Yun, let’s go! Mom said it’s time to wash our hands and eat. You have to wash your hands too, otherwise, bugs will get into your mouth, and you’ll get sick…”

Hearing Di Ying’s chattering like a little sparrow, Liu Sisi smiled.

She quickly washed the pot, added oil and salt, then took a few fiery red peppers from beside the chimney and put them in to bring out the aroma. Surprisingly, there were also Sichuan peppercorns by the stove! She threw a few in as well, stirring to release their fragrance before discarding them. When the bottom of the pot turned red, she added the marinated dried shrimp, river clam meat, and field snail meat to quickly stir-fry.

It is worth mentioning that in her previous life, Liu Sisi relied on her hard work and cooking skills when she lived with her grandfather. Even her college roommates joked that she should open a high-end restaurant after graduation!

With that said, she naturally had more confidence in the dishes she made!

When this unnamed dish was finished, Zhang Yun had also brought the two children back. The mouthwatering aroma provoked their appetites, making their mouths water.

Liu Sisi didn’t stop and chopped the few perilla leaves she had picked up on the way back, sprinkling them evenly over the top.

“I’d better go back! Staying would be too… troublesome for Third Uncle Di and Third Aunt.”

Zhang Yun’s words were somewhat insincere, as the enticing aroma was too tempting to leave.

Di Yelei also chimed in, “What’s troublesome? When we’re busy, we’ll have to ask you to help look after Xuan’er and Ying’er.”

“That’s right, hurry up and serve the rice. I’ll fry some eel fillets and vegetables, then we’ll be done.”

As Liu Sisi spoke, she turned around to wash the pot again and began to stir-fry eel fillets.

Di Yelei didn’t remove the bones while butchering the eel; it was Liu Sisi who removed them later when cutting the fillets. She heated the oil on high heat, added dried chilies, ginger slices, and garlic cloves to bring out their aroma, then poured the marinated eel fillets into the pot to stir-fry with the garlic and chilies. She added a little cooking wine and the garlic sprouts Zhang Yun brought before continuing to stir-fry until the sauce thickened, then removed the dish from the stove.

The sight of such efficiency made Di Yelei forget to blink, and it was only at this moment that he realized his little wife actually had excellent cooking skills!

This really was an unexpected surprise!

Once more, Liu Sisi stir-fried the sweet potato sprouts that Zhang Yun had sent over. However, she reserved half of them, intending to plant them in the vacant land behind the courtyard wall. This way, they would have an additional dish of sweet potato sprouts, and when autumn came, they could harvest sweet potatoes as well – a win-win situation!

When the sweet potato sprouts were ready, Liu Sisi added some water to the pot. The water in the large pot heated up quickly, and by the time Liu Sisi had set the table and served the grains rice, the water in the pot had already boiled.

She washed the remaining shepherd’s purse from last night and tossed it into the pot. The boiling water in the pot bubbled under the high heat, and as soon as the shepherd’s purse changed color, Liu Sisi swiftly removed it from the stove.

This was clear soup, with no salt or oil added. Together with the three meat and vegetable dishes, the pot of clear soup was just perfect.

With the soup served on the table, the four dishes and one soup were ready.

There were three meat and two vegetable dishes on the table, colorful and mouthwatering, with a fragrance that lingered for miles. Everyone couldn’t resist their appetites and eagerly started tasting the dishes as soon as Di Yelei picked up his chopsticks. The children no longer restrained themselves, quickly grabbing the dishes with their chopsticks and stuffing them into their mouths.

Braised pork with stir-fried bamboo shoots – the bitterness of the bamboo shoots had been removed, making them even more delicious than the braised pork itself.

The field snails were crispy, the river clam meat was sweet, and even the red dried shrimp meat was incredibly fragrant and crunchy. Not to mention the tender and smooth eel fillets, accompanied by the green garlic sprouts, which made people unable to stop eating and wishing they could eat even their own tongues.

Four pairs of chopsticks flew over the table as if they were afraid others might snatch their food.

It was not until an adult and three children were all stuffed, with round bellies, and the food in the bowls was almost gone, that everyone reluctantly finished the last sip of soup in their bowls and put down their bowls and chopsticks, feeling contented.

On the contrary, Liu Sisi, who had cooked the dishes, had only eaten a few mouthfuls and glanced at the few pieces of braised pork left at the bottom of the bowls. She reluctantly picked up one piece and placed it in her bowl.

“It’s simply too delicious! Ten times better than the food my mother makes!”

Zhang Yun leaned contentedly on the chair back, let out a satisfied burp, and exclaimed, “Xuan’er, Ying’er, you two are so lucky to be able to eat such delicious food every day. My mother’s cooking is like boiling everything in water and then scooping it out.”

Di Yelei, who was sitting opposite, couldn’t help but laugh with his mouth wide open. Even though Zhang Yun was praising Liu Sisi, Di Yelei felt even happier than if he himself had been praised!

How could he bear to see Liu Sisi suffer?

“Sisi’s body is not yet fully recovered. From now on, I’ll take care of the cooking.”

“No! Dad, your cooking is too awful!”

Di Xuan and Di Ying both objected in unison.

Liu Sisi also laughed, “Don’t worry, it’s just cooking some dishes, I’m still capable of that. Zhang Yun, out of all the dishes here, which one do you think is the best?”