Bai Zhi saw her grandpa frowning, looking very angry, clearly his thoughts had run off to who knew where again. This grandpa was good in every way, except his imagination ran a bit wild.
She did not wait for him to answer and directly put the pork belly she had bought into the pot to singe off the bristles,
because there were a lot of hairs on the surface of the pork rind they sold, so it had to be dealt with first, then water was added, it was washed clean, fresh water was added again, and she started boiling it,
Bai Dan fed the fire, and Bai Zhi, carrying the vegetable basket, went to pick vegetables according to the spots in her memory. Grandpa was very diligent, and in this season eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, string beans, and long beans were all in their prime.
When she reached the field, she saw there was everything, so Bai Zhi hurried to pick some of each, and the basket quickly filled up.
There were wax gourds too, but it was not yet time to eat those, they could be eaten after another month or so.
On the way back, she once again saw Bai Ye and the others, only from a distance, and they were not on the same path. From the look of it, they should have been digging fish mint, something they often did because it could be sold for money.
But, they had never brought the original owner along. Or rather, even if they wanted to, the original owner had no time, she had too many things to do all day long,
cleaning the house, waiting on them, then having to do homework, feeding the chickens and pigs. They could earn money to buy candy, and occasionally they would toss a piece of candy to the original owner, without ever thinking of helping with even a little bit of the work.
This was what they called not playing favorites.
However, the current Bai Zhi was not going to bother with any of that. They were the female lead and supporting male, what was she? Cannon fodder. Only by staying far away from them could she live well.
Bai Zhi carried the vegetable basket home. The cucumbers were especially fresh, and she directly took one out, washed it, and took a bite,
it was crunchy and delicious, and her mood improved a lot.
The rest would only be boiled in the meat soup, which would taste even better.
The peppers would be used to stir-fry the pork, she would fry an eggplant dish, and the remaining tomatoes, eggplants, long beans, and so on would be saved for the afternoon.
For two people, one meat dish, one eggplant dish, plus soup would be more than enough.
In the past, Bai Dan just ate whatever casually, but now they had two dishes and a soup, and they were actually properly made.
Bai Dan felt that he was really blessed.
"Grandpa, time to eat."
The chopsticks and wooden spatula at home were all made by Bai Dan himself, and there was even a faint bamboo fragrance when they ate.
She did not cook all the meat. Bai Zhi cut it into three portions, one to give to Bai Da and his family, and one portion of the boiled meat was left for the afternoon.
It was the height of summer, and if it was left too long it would spoil.
So she boiled two portions at once. Bai Dan saw that Bai Zhi divided everything reasonably, so he was not worried and just went along with her.
That afternoon, Bai Zhi planned to stay home and do homework. She was in third grade, and she also had to wash the family's clothes, tidy up a bit, and then go nearby to see if there was any fish mint. Not to sell, but to eat themselves, that stuff was great.
And there was Honeysuckle. She remembered there was Honeysuckle nearby, and that was her real target. Drinking it often helped clear heat.
"Xingxing, eat more, the meat you cooked was so good,"
Bai Dan felt it was especially fragrant as he ate. If he had cooked it himself, he would have just boiled it any old way.
"Grandpa, you eat too. If Grandpa was not working so hard, Xingxing would not even get to eat meat."
Bai Zhi felt a warmth in her heart. Whether in reality or here, grandpa was the one who cared about her most. She had to treat him very, very well in the future.
"In a while, Xingxing, you should take a piece of meat to your dad and the others. Even if he was not a good dad."
Bai Dan let out a sigh. This son of his, he really did not have his priorities straight.
"Okay, Grandpa, I'll go this afternoon. Since my dad is not home now, I was scared."
What if she brought it over and they refused to admit it, right.
"If they dare, then Grandpa will take it over. You just stay home and rest this afternoon, Grandpa will go after he comes back from cutting bamboo, okay."
Just thinking about it got Bai Dan angry again. Back then, Xingxing's wound had been so scary. The doctor had said that it would probably leave a scar in the future.
She was a girl, and she would have a scar later on. He did not even dare tell Xingxing that. What would they do in the future.
"Okay, Grandpa, don't work too hard, I would feel bad. You have to stay with me forever."
Bai Zhi picked up another piece of meat for her grandpa with her chopsticks. Old folks were like that, always giving the best to the children. He was only eating the garlic shoots, not picking up a single piece of meat.
Bai Dan kept putting meat into Bai Zhi's bowl,
"Grandpa didn't eat meat, it was too greasy."
Bai Zhi set down her chopsticks, pouting, clearly unhappy,
"If Grandpa doesn't eat, I won't eat either, I'm tired of it too."
How could he not like it. He was just saving it for her.
"Okay, okay." Bai Dan's nose stung a bit. Xingxing felt sorry for him, and he could not be happier.
"Grandpa will eat, Grandpa will eat."
With tears in his eyes, he put the meat into his mouth. It was the best meat he had ever eaten, bar none.
After they ate, Bai Zhi cleared the dishes, then put the meat into the cupboard, a bamboo cupboard her grandpa had built himself, which was easy to close up.
Because it was made of bamboo, it was ventilated, so she did not have to worry about the food spoiling.
In the afternoon, Bai Zhi started doing homework, sitting in the main room. She opened the windows, and cool breezes drifted in. There was a pear tree and a loquat tree in the yard, as well as a grape arbor, and it was wonderfully cool.
Third-grade homework was a breeze for Bai Zhi, just unit exercises. She picked up her pen and started working. The little girl had basically never done any before, not because she could not, but because she had never had the time.
After a bit more than an hour, she put her homework away. She picked up her basket, took her sickle, and headed out toward the bamboo forest.
There was plenty of fish mint there, right by the bamboo forest, and there was also a large patch of wild Honeysuckle. She would pick it, process it, and take it to the pharmacy in town to sell.
In reality, she had depended on each other with her grandpa, and he made a living planting Honeysuckle, so she was very familiar with how to handle it. As for tea leaves, if there were any, she knew how to pan-fry them too.
Speaking of which, there seemed to be tea trees on the mountain, but no one was taking care of them, so she did not know what condition they were in. One of these days she had to go take a look, pick some, fry them, and brew tea, that was what mattered.
She did not like drinking plain water, tea was much nicer.
She knew how to make Honeysuckle Tea and jasmine tea.
When she found the spot, sure enough, there was plenty of Honeysuckle. Bai Zhi was delighted and hurried to pick it all.
Since it was still early, she would go home and process it first. She would deal with the fish mint later, otherwise the smells would mix.
The freshly picked Honeysuckle needed to be washed and then laid out to dry. Actually, Honeysuckle was best picked before noon, otherwise the blossoms opened up, but because no one took care of the Honeysuckle here, they had long since opened. Picking them now was about the same.
By the time she finished everything, it was already afternoon. There was no watch and certainly no cellphone, so she could only judge by the position of the sun.
It was time to go dig fish mint. Once she dug it up and brought it back, she would wash it clean, and just adding some soy sauce would already make it delicious.
By then, Bai Dan had already brought back the bamboo and had taken that piece of meat over to Bai Da's place.
Bai Da had come back too. She worked at the cement factory, and since it was not busy recently, she got off work earlier. When she saw her old man bring over a piece of meat, she was a bit puzzled.
"Dad, how come you brought meat over?"