Chapter 32: Chapter 32 Brown Rice
“Yunjin, if you want to eat something meaty, I’ve just caught some fish. Let’s not eat pig’s blood though,” Gu Yan thought his young wife was craving meat, which was why she wanted to eat pig’s blood that nobody else would eat.
He didn’t realize that in Su Yunjin’s eyes, the pig’s blood was an exquisite delicacy.
While talking, Gu Yan handed the fish he had just cleaned over to Su Yunjin, “This fish is plump, with a lot of meat. It should weigh over two pounds—enough for us all to have a meal.”
Su Yunjin glanced at the fish in Gu Yan’s hands; it was indeed fatty, and the body was long. It certainly weighed over two pounds.
“Third sister-in-law, I’m back to help you cook,” at that moment, a woman unexpectedly came in from outside, holding a sickle in her hand and drenched in sweat. Her hair plastered to her forehead indicated that she had just returned from working in the fields.
The woman was Gu Yan’s fifth brother’s wife, Mrs. Chu. Mrs. Chu’s family had matters to attend to, and she previously went back to her parents’ home. She rushed back early in the morning to help the Gu family harvest rice.
Examining the woman who had just come in from outside, this was the first time Su Yunjin saw her sister-in-law. Mrs. Chu had slightly yellow skin with a healthy rosy tint. She had thick eyebrows and big eyes, unlike the first sister-in-law, Mrs. Zhang, who had a sharp mouth and looked mean. Su Yunjin didn’t dislike her at first sight.
After Mrs. Chu spent the whole morning cutting rice in the fields, Su Yunjin had just woken up from a near-drowning incident; it was almost noon, and Mrs. An, worried about Su Yunjin’s weakened state and inability to prepare lunch, had specifically asked the fifth daughter-in-law, Mrs. Chu, to come back and help her.
Gu Yan looked at Mrs. Chu and asked her, “Sister-in-law, when did you get back?”
“I came back this morning. I even helped cut the grain in the fields this morning!” Mrs. Chu, smiling, walked over to the stove. Glancing into the pot and seeing no rice cooking, she turned to Su Yunjin and said, “Third sister-in-law, how about this—you start the fire, and I’ll rinse the rice and cook it!” Mrs. Chu then skillfully began to scoop rice. The Gu family was large, and it was the busy farming season—everyone needed to eat their fill to have the energy to work.
The Gu family usually cooked a pot of rice, but today, since everyone was working, Mrs. Chu, following Mrs. An’s directions, cooked an extra pot. Until now, the rice Su Yunjin had been eating was porridge specially cooked for her by Gu Yan, made from polished white rice. She was unaware that the rest of the family usually ate coarse rice mixed with corn and wheat. Upon seeing the dark, rough rice that Mrs. Chu scooped out, she thought there had been a mistake.
Without thinking, Su Yunjin asked, “Sister-in-law, are you going to cook with this… rice?”
“Yes, is there something wrong?” After scooping the rice, Mrs. Chu closed the rice container and started washing it. When Su Yunjin saw that Mrs. Chu took it as a matter of course, she quickly recalled and realized that the coarse rice was indeed what the Gu family normally found hard to swallow.
And the white rice porridge she had eaten since waking up from her near-drowning accident was actually the polished white rice that the Su family could only afford to eat during festivals. She realized that the reason she had been given that kind of rice was probably because she had just recovered from an accident, and it was specially cooked to help nourish her body. “Uh, nothing. I was just asking,” she remarked casually after understanding the reason.
Having understood, Su Yunjin did not say anything more and went back to the stove to tend the fire. The flames were blazing fiercely, and soon a pot of fragrant rice was ready. To prevent the rice from getting cold, Mrs. Chu did not dish it out.
So, she let the rice stay warm in the pot.
There was another big iron pot in the kitchen, which was for cooking dishes. Su Yunjin guessed that Mrs. Chu definitely wouldn’t know how to cook with Houttuynia Cordata and pig’s blood.
Consequently, Su Yunjin took the initiative and said to Mrs. Chu, “Sister-in-law, you take care of the fire, and I’ll cook the dishes.”