Chapter 35: Chapter 35 Show Her
Su Yunjin did not let Gu Ya follow her to deliver the pig blood. In the end, Gu Ya did not insist any further and reluctantly agreed to let Su Yunjin go alone to deliver the pig blood to the local butcher.
There was a fish on the stove that Gu Ya had gutted before. As soon as Su Yunjin left, the fifth brother’s wife, Mrs. Chu, went to cook the fish. She did not know how to prepare pig blood, but she could still cook fish.
Mrs. Chu made a pot of fish soup, filling half a wooden basin with the thick, white broth that was still steaming hot. When Su Yunjin returned from delivering the pig blood, the fish soup was on the stove, but Mrs. Chu was nowhere to be found, leaving only Gu Ya in the kitchen. Upon Su Yunjin’s return, Gu Ya looked at her and asked, “Yunjin, have you delivered the pig blood to the butcher?”
“Yes! It’s already delivered.” Mrs. Chu had made fish soup, and with the pig blood Su Yunjin had prepared earlier, there were already two dishes. Initially, Su Yunjin planned to make a pot of pig blood for lunch, mix a houttuynia cordata salad, and stir-fry some tender water celery. Now with the added fish soup, Su Yunjin decided not to cook the water celery anymore. She just mixed the houttuynia cordata, and that was enough for today’s midday meal.
Su Yunjin walked over to the stove, where the houttuynia cordata was already clean. All that was left to do was mix it directly. Su Yunjin prepared the food while Gu Ya stood by, watching his young wife mix the houttuynia cordata.
Mixing the houttuynia cordata didn’t take much effort and only required mixing in the necessary seasonings and oil. Swiftly, a delicious mixed houttuynia cordata dish was made by Su Yunjin.
Finding a plate, Su Yunjin poured the houttuynia cordata onto it. Not seeing Mrs. Chu around, Su Yunjin casually asked Gu Ya, “By the way, where did the fifth brother’s wife go?”
“My sister-in-law went to the fields to call mother and elder brother back for the meal,” Gu Ya said.
Su Yunjin nodded. With all the dishes prepared, there wasn’t anything else for Su Yunjin to do. She began arranging the dishes on the table one by one. In the meantime, Gu Ya helped Su Yunjin with the fish soup. Since pig blood had to be eaten boiling hot to taste good and avoid a fishy smell, Su Yunjin added two more logs to the stove to keep the pig blood warm in the pot.
They would serve it when the Gu family returned, ensuring it wouldn’t be cold.
That morning, Gu Ya had gone to the mountains, intending to hunt some game to nourish Su Yunjin’s body. However, due to his inconvenient leg, the pheasants and hares that were almost within his grasp managed to escape. Later, while fishing in the river, Gu Ya accidentally slipped, striking his lame leg against a large rock in the river, aggravating the old wound. Nonetheless, Gu Ya, a grown man, could bear the pain in his leg.
He showed no sign of discomfort on his face!
Back in modern times, Su Yunjin studied medicine, and although Gu Ya did not show it, she quickly noticed something off about the way he walked.
The Gu family members were not yet back, and as there was nothing for Su Yunjin to do while waiting, she decided to examine Gu Ya’s leg wound again.
“Lift up the leg of your trousers so I can look at your wound,” Su Yunjin knelt down, ready to check Gu Ya’s leg injury, but Gu Ya was taken aback by his young wife’s sudden request to roll up his pants to examine the wound. After a moment of surprise, Gu Ya did not do what Su Yunjin asked, and instead said, “Yunjin, my wound is an old one, still the same, there’s nothing to look at.”