"On my seventeenth, shamelessly I stood, joining the challenge♫"
"Even stars have their training schools, just one short year feels so new♫"
Yao Jiping leisurely stirred the egg mixture with chopsticks, humming Liu Dehua's "17 Years Old" at the corner of her mouth.
Wu Lingyu listened at the kitchen door for half a minute before whispering, "Good morning, Auntie!"
Yao Jiping put down the egg mixture, turning around, "Yu'er, you're up so early. I've just started making breakfast: egg pancakes and vegetable porridge. I didn't think you all would be up this early."
Wu Lingyu gave Yao Jiping a sweet smile, "I went to bed early last night. Auntie, let me help you!"
With that, she picked up an apron hanging on the wall, put it on, rolled up her sleeves, and came in to help.
Yao Jiping didn't refuse; with Yu's help, she could finish early and go back to sleep.
If it were any ordinary day, she would never get up so early to make breakfast for the whole family, but today was different because they had guests in the house!
And among them could very well be her future daughter-in-law. Yao Jiping had to make sure to showcase her mother-in-law's impression in advance.
[Although Xiao Xiao and Yu'er are both good, it wouldn't hurt the stinky kid to have more choices. Besides, all the girls are so pretty.]
[But Yu'er is truly virtuous... and she's got a... big butt.]
Yao Jiping started to fry pancakes, though her gaze occasionally swept over Wu Lingyu.
"Auntie?" Yu blinked innocently.
"Oh... nothing, I was just checking how you're washing the vegetable dry. Keep going," Yao Jiping nodded with a smile, continuing to spread her pancakes.
"I've washed it three times already; should I just put it directly into the porridge?" Wu Lingyu drained the vegetables.
"If the porridge is boiling, go ahead and put them in. Don't forget the dried scallops and fish from the little bowl that have been soaked, add those too," Yao Jiping answered.
Wu Lingyu opened the lid of the pot, and upon seeing the water boil, stirred the bottom with a spoon to prevent any burning.
She added the dried scallops and fish first, followed by a bit of peanut oil, and then the final addition of the dried vegetables.
Reducing the flame to simmer, and after waiting quietly for twenty minutes, they would be able to enjoy a pot full of the delicious flavor of dried scallop vegetable porridge.
[Brother Fan loves to have vegetable porridge with youtiao (fried dough sticks)!]
Wu Lingyu was in a delightful mood because Brother Fan would be able to have the lovingly made breakfast she and Auntie had prepared as soon as he woke up.
She placed two chopsticks across the top of the pot, leaving a gap when closing the lid, so they wouldn't have to worry about the porridge spilling over once it started boiling.
After finishing all this, Wu Lingyu wiped her hands clean on her apron, then her gaze landed on the array of ingredients laid out on the countertop.
"Auntie, do these meats need to be chopped and marinated?" she asked, pointing at the table with chicken, duck, goose, pork, fish, and more.
"The chicken will be steamed whole with figwort root, the duck is for soup, half the goose will be pan-fried then stewed..." Yao Jiping explained her plans for each ingredient, and without needing to say more, Wu Lingyu knew exactly what to do.
If only she could like now, wake up early and prepare breakfast and lunch with Auntie for Brother Fan and everyone else...
Wu Lingyu felt such a future would be very blissful!
It was not that she loved cooking, but doing something for a loved one was a thought so joyous in itself.
Of course, that assumed you received love in return. Otherwise, wouldn't that turn into an act of unrequited devotion?
Yao Jiping quickly finished cooking all the egg pancakes, ate one herself, then brought a piece to Yu's mouth.
"Eat some egg pancake to fill your stomach for now."
"Thank you, Auntie!" said Wu Lingyu, wearing gloves because she had just finished massaging the chicken, so she let Yao Jiping feed her.
Soon, she finished the entire egg pancake.
Yao Jiping's hands were clean as she helped tuck her hair behind her ear, "Go get a bottle of milk from the fridge to drink. Leave the rest to your auntie."
The family always had milk delivered every morning. The fresh bottled Yantang milk, only pasteurized without preservatives, had a shelf life of just three days.
"My hands are dirty now, let me continue," said Wu Lingyu, lifting her clawed hands as she spoke with a radiant smile.
"Alright then, your auntie will stew the goose and set the timer for the soup," Yao Jiping affectionately tapped her nose, not refusing Yu's kind offer.
The two of them busily divided their tasks in the kitchen, showing a glimpse of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law harmony.
As the goose meat sizzled in the iron pan, the skin and fat contracted upon contact with heat, rendering out quickly and making a "pitter-patter" sound in the pan.
Yao Jiping kept adjusting the pan's position so that each piece of goose meat received even heat.
This demanded more time than effort, so she found time to chat with Wu Lingyu, "The mid-term exams at school must be approaching soon, right? Do you still have the confidence to be number one?"
"Brother Fan and Xiao Xiao are so much smarter than me," said Wu Lingyu cutely.
With one being Xiao Xiao and the other her son, Yao Jiping wasn't in the place to favor one over the other.
She said with a laugh, "It doesn't matter which position you get, as long as you give it your all, that's what counts."
"I understand!" said Wu Lingyu, smiling back.
Yao Jiping then asked, "You're in Class 10, right?"
"Yes, Grade 10 Class 10. Brother Fan and Ruan Wen are in Class 16, Xiao Xiao is in Class 1, Wanning and Yiyi are in Class 2," Wu Lingyu introduced everyone's classes one by one.
"Being in a class all alone, are you getting used to it?"
"Have you made any new friends in class?"
Wu Lingyu responded immediately, "Auntie, I'm used to it. Brother Fan... and everyone sometimes eat together, and I've met many new classmates."
"Do you have both male and female classmates?" Yao Jiping suddenly asked.