Gu Yi never expected that something as thrilling as rebirth would happen to her.
In fact, when thinking of Ye Fu, Ye's mother, and Ye Qian, they were really good people.
Although Ye Fu and Ye's mother felt very guilty towards Ye Hao, they also felt the same towards her, so they always treated Gu Yi and Ye Qian equally.
Even though Ye Qian never showed her a good face, when someone bullied her, she would still rush forward. Otherwise, she wouldn't have scolded Ye Hao for his actions towards Gu Yi.
In her past life, Gu Yi didn't think much, never considered how to live better, and always went with the flow.
Now that heaven has given her a chance to start over, should she still take the old path from her past life?
Gu Yi thought perhaps it's better to just divorce Ye Hao.
He always had someone in his heart; being bound together was torturous for him too. Moreover, she was still young, and even if she didn't marry, as society progresses, she could still live well. The only regret was that her daughter would not be born.
Gu Yi put away her sadness and cleaned the room thoroughly.
Looking at her chubby face in the mirror, the first thing she needed to do was lose weight.
Being overweight made her tired without doing much; Gu Yi's weight was due to her cold constitution.
Gu Yi decided from now on, she wouldn't drink cold water anymore and would go out later to see if there was any dried mugwort to soak her feet in, as it was quite effective.
Looking at the house in front of her, because Ye Hao was in the army and received an allowance, the Ye family's life was better compared to other families in the village.
Gu Yi only remembered the year was 1988, but she couldn't recall the exact date.
But she knew that most people still depended on farming, while only a few with active minds started trying small businesses, and later most of them successfully accumulated considerable wealth.
Gu Yi didn't want to earn much, but she needed to be able to support herself, and to start preparing for life after the divorce early on.
Before Gu Yi could organize her thoughts, she heard Ye's mother preparing dinner in the kitchen, so she hurried to help.
Even though Ye Hao's family was better off, for dinner, they only made some porridge; Ye's mother already put rice in the pot.
Gu Yi quickly took over the spatula and said, "Mom, let me do it."
"Okay, I'll go add some wood to the stove." Ye's mother said as she went to watch the fire at the stove.
Gu Yi used the spatula to spread the rice in the pot and added more boiling water, as there wasn't much rice.
She noticed a bag of sweet potato starch next to the cupboard; in those times, sweet potatoes were considered food too.
But sweet potatoes weren't easy to store, so every household made them into starch, which could be cooked in many ways. Most commonly, it was pressed into sheets in the pot and stir-fried or mixed with vegetables to steam.
Gu Yi took a soup bowl, scooped half a bowl of sweet potato starch, and mixed it with some cold water to form a batter. She placed it on a steamer above the pot to steam.
Turning around, she got a basin and fetched some pickled beans and sour cucumbers from the pickle jar, adding some pickled hot peppers too.
She took them all to the well, washed them clean, and chopped them into small pieces, setting them aside.
"Mom, do we have any coarse chili powder at home?"
"Yes, I'll get it."
Ye's mother took down a bag hanging on the wall and opened it, revealing chili powder. To Gu Yi's surprise, there was still around half a pound of five-spice powder inside.
Gu Yi filled half a bowl with chili powder, added a bit of five-spice powder, chopped some ginger and garlic, and placed them on top, adding some salt and a bit of sugar.
Ye's mother, watching Gu Yi do these things, was more satisfied with her daughter-in-law. Aside from not being very talkative, she was clean, efficient, and blessed with good looks. At this moment, Ye's mother felt she really had good taste in finding a wife for her son.
Ye's mother didn't think Gu Yi's weight was a problem. She felt that it brought good fortune and looked festive.
If Gu Yi knew what Ye's mother thought, she could only sigh and say, "As long as you're happy."
The porridge in the pot was nearly cooked, and the sweet potato starch was also steamed.
Gu Yi removed the steamer, filled a basin with cold water, and placed the bowl with sweet potato starch in it to cool, making it easier to remove later.
She took an aluminum pot and scooped out all the porridge, saying, "Mom, add some more wood, I need to stir-fry the vegetables."
Gu Yi said to Ye's mother while washing the pot.
"Alright," Ye's mother replied, taking all the burned firewood from the pot out and laying it on the ground, sprinkling some water to extinguish the fire and putting it outside to dry and make charcoal. Then she added another handful of wood to the stove.
Gu Yi, waiting for the water in the pot to evaporate, added a lot of rapeseed oil into it.
At that time, every household used rapeseed oil, keeping lard for when they slaughtered pigs around New Year to save some oil.
Once the oil was hot, she used a ladle to scoop and pour it over the chili powder, instantly filling the kitchen with a fragrant aroma.
Ye's mother, seeing so much oil used, felt a bit distressed but didn't say anything, and at this moment, Ye Fu returned carrying a hoe.
Gu Yi mixed the chili evenly and moved it to the side. Using the leftover oil in the pot, she quickly stir-fried the chopped pickles and served it out. The sour aroma in the kitchen made everyone's appetite grow.
Gu Yi casually scooped a ladle of water into the pot.
She took the sweet potato starch from the cold water bowl, cutting it into thumb-sized strips and placing them in a bowl, adding vinegar and freshly made chili oil, and a bit of salt, and mixed it all together.
"Dinner's ready," Ye's mother called out to the living room.
Once Gu Yi and Ye's mother set the table, Ye Qian also came out. "Mom, your cooking skills have really improved. It's delicious."
Ye Qian assumed that Gu Yi was resting in her room and thought that the food was cooked by Ye's mother.
"I can't cook like this; it was your sister-in-law who made it. Tasty, right? You should learn more from her in the future and hone your skills."
Seeing Ye's mother's expression, Ye Qian quickly interjected, "Mom, alright, alright, I promise to learn well in the future, so please stop nagging."
"I'd rather save my breath. I'm just waiting for your sister-in-law to give me a lovely grandchild; who would pay attention to you then?" Ye's mother said, glancing at Gu Yi.
"Dad, Mom, if there's nothing much to do at home, I'd like to go back to my parents' place tomorrow."
Gu Yi first wanted to change the topic, and secondly, she genuinely wanted to go back. In her past life, she left suddenly, unaware of how her parents coped with the sadness.
"Alright, go back and check in," Ye Fu suddenly spoke.
"Thank you, Dad and Mom."
Ye Qian helped Gu Yi clean up the dishes and chopsticks.
Though Ye Qian seemed to still be upset, she placed the dishes and chopsticks in the kitchen without a word and left.
Gu Yi didn't mind, adding a ladle of cold water to the pot to wash the dishes. Today's food seemed to be quite to everyone's taste; except for a bit of pickles left, everything else was finished.
After washing the dishes, Gu Yi recalled that there were some dried peanuts at home.
She thought of boiling some salted peanuts to take back for her dad to enjoy with his drink.
As she thought, she did, finding the peanuts and soaking them in a large basin of water.
She rekindled the fire, poured the peanuts into the pot, and once the water boiled, added salt, sugar, five-spice powder, and a few dried chilies for flavor.
She let it simmer for half an hour, then removed the bright firewood from the stove, leaving the peanuts to cook on low heat in the pot for better flavor absorption.
After finishing these, Gu Yi quickly fetched some water to wash up and then went inside to sleep.
With not much entertainment available, people in the village usually went to bed after having dinner and cooling off outside for a while.