"We bought so much good stuff yesterday, today is Tianjun and Yunyun’s birthday, let’s have a good meal!"
Upon finishing her sentence, Feng Qingxue rolled up her sleeves and got busy. She started by cutting a large block of mutton into pieces and boiling it with the offal. Then she mixed a basin of pure white flour and let it rest in the basin, covered with a round lid made of sorghum stalks. The preparations for the afternoon meal were yet to start.
Lu’s father and Lu Tianjun helped to rinse the rice and wash the vegetables. The young Lu Tianzhi and Feng Qingyun worked together, one to build the fire and the other to hand over items.
"Aunt Snow! Is your basket the Treasure Box?"
Lu Tianzhi watched as continued pulling one item after another from her basket, seemingly endless, and filling up the entire kitchen.
Feng Qingxue smiled, "It’s not the Treasure Box, but it’s more convenient."
Chicken, fish, meat, eggs, a mouthwatering selection.
Lu’s father and Lu Tianjun were both surprised and impressed by Feng Qingxue’s skills. All of these items were in high demand, it must have taken a lot of skills to gather all of them!
"This wasn’t something accomplished overnight. I started preparing for the New Year early.", Feng Qingxue explained with a smile.
Lu’s father said, "You’re very thoughtful, my girl."
Even one’s own children might not treat their parents with such great care.
Red braised pork belly, sweet and sour redtail carp, radish stew with spare ribs, dry bamboo shoot with old duck soup, mushroom stewed with small chicken, hot and sour shredded potatoes, and garlic shoots scrambled with eggs. She also cut boiled mutton slices and simmered them with bok choy.
The staple was rice, made from fine white grains.
While the children couldn’t help but salivate at the sight of the food, she specially made long-life noodles for the birthday boys.
"Happy birthday, Tianjun!"
She brought a bowl of long-life noodles to Lu Tianjun and Feng Qingyun. The latter was still dazed, but the former’s eyes suddenly reddened, his voice choked with emotion, "Thank you, Aunt Snow, thank you!"
"No need to thank me." Feng Qingxue stroked his head, "Tianjun, we’re family. If you need anything, just talk to me about it. As long as it’s within my power, I’ll try my best to satisfy you and Tianzhi. You two and Yunyun are just kids, we all hope that you can grow up healthily without bearing too much burden."
Lu Tianjun rubbed his face against Feng Qingxue’s palm, "Aunt Snow, I’ll remember!"
Who looks forward to worrying and stressing if they could live their lives worry-free?
He and his little brother were very lucky. Despite the hardships of life, they were fortunate to have an aunt who was willing to worry and stress for them.
The birthday today was a very happy one.
The amount of long-life noodles wasn’t much, just a small bowl.
The main reason was that Feng Qingxue just wanted to show some thoughts, hoping that they could eat more rice and dishes.
The meal was very plentiful and there was a lot. Even with five people eating heartily, they only managed to finish half of it.
"We’ll eat the rest tomorrow."
Hearing Lu’s father’s words, Feng Qingxue laughed, "Though it’s the 29th tomorrow, it’s New Year’s Eve. We should have dumplings! I reserved some pork with fat and didn’t cook it. Now I’ll start chopping the filling and wrapping the dumplings to freeze. We’ll boil them and eat them tomorrow."
"Great, great, great!"
They had the means now, and Lu’s father didn’t want to disappoint his two grandchildren.
The pork was washed and sliced, and Lu’s father sat by the table with a kitchen knife, chopping the filling loudly.
Feng Qingxue placed the boiled mutton in a separate bowl, poured the offal soup into a pottery jar, and boiled another pork knuckle in the pot. Then, she stored the brought steamed buns, pancakes, dumplings, and fried vegetarian and meatballs separately into Lu’s family containers like pottery jars and bamboo baskets. The leftover flour, together with the bag, was placed in the kitchen.