Sisi exchanged a fresh piece of honeycomb briquette for a red charcoal ball from the long-faced woman, and soon the fire in the stove became vigorous, the blue flames twisting as if they were dancing.
The long-faced woman’s name is Su Ping, with a junior high school education, and she is a teacher at the town’s primary school, which makes her somewhat of a Scholar. Her husband, Zhu Xianren, is the town’s deputy mayor. Based on Sisi’s observations, this second-floor household seems to be led by Su Ping.
Although Sisi had only interacted with Su Ping for half a day, she could already tell that this woman was vain, liked to show off, and enjoyed giving orders for others to follow. However, she seemed to be harmless.
Thinking about the way Su Ping had looked at her clothes and jewelry earlier, Sisi of course understood what Su Ping was thinking. It wouldn’t hurt to give her some clothes and jewelry, but that would also depend on her usefulness.
Sisi silently chuckled to herself, then boiled the pork belly she had bought in water. Tonight, she planned to make twice-cooked pork and give Tian Xinhua a good meal.
Huang Guixiang, an earthy-looking woman, eyed the pork belly in Sisi’s hands with envy. Such a large piece of meat must weigh about two or three kilograms, right?
It has been a month since her own family had meat. Huang Guixiang secretly swallowed her saliva, thinking about going inside to avoid looking at the meat, but ultimately she couldn’t resist. Even if she couldn’t eat it, sniffing the aroma would suffice!
"Mom, I want to eat meat."
A little boy about seven or eight years old stood behind Huang Guixiang and whispered eagerly. Next to him stood a four or five-year-old girl who, although silent, stared at the meat in Sisi’s hands just as intensely as her brother.
Sisi felt the burning gaze and looked up, only to see Huang Guixiang and the two children with a pitiful, greedy look, their six eyes fixed unblinkingly on the meat in her hands.
Su Ping scoffed disdainfully and whispered to Sisi, "Don’t bother with them, acting as if they’ve never eaten meat in their eight lifetimes."
Since her family was well-off, Su Ping’s household ate meat several times a month. Though she felt a bit pained that Sisi was cooking up so much meat at once, she wasn’t extremely eager to eat the meat herself, but her desire to ingratiate herself with Sisi grew stronger.
This Mayor Tian’s wife seems quite generous, just look at her careless demeanor, even the unintentional slips of her hand seem to yield good things!
Sisi took the meat out of the boiling water, cleaned it with fresh water, and placed it on a chopping board, slicing it into thin slices. Su Ping, seeing how skilled Sisi was at chopping the meat with uniform thickness, felt a bit of surprise; she didn’t expect the delicate-looking girl to be so adept in the kitchen, clearly indicating she often did housework.
"You’re quite good with a knife, Sisi, even better than me," Su Ping flattered.
Sisi smiled, turned her head and saw Huang Guixiang and her children still staring straight at her, causing her eyebrows to involuntarily furrow. It’s understandable for children to not know better, but how could Huang Guixiang, an adult, also be so thoughtless? Who craves meat to this extent?
Without further thought, Sisi began cooking. With the fire in the stove blazing perfectly, it was an ideal moment to sear the slices of pork. The aroma of the pork mixed with Sichuan peppercorns instantly spread throughout the entire corridor, causing everyone to sniff deeply and swallow their saliva, secretly wondering which family’s daughter-in-law was cooking such delicious meat dishes.
In no time, the shiny golden double-cooked pork was ready. Sisi put the pork on a large plate and after thinking for a while, she dished out two small bowls separately, one for Su Ping’s house, and naturally the other for Huang Guixiang’s house.
Though Sisi could disregard Huang Guixiang, she couldn’t harden her heart towards the children. She waved at the two kids who brightened up and hurried over, calling her "Auntie."
"This bowl of meat is for you and your siblings to eat. Remember to return the bowl to Auntie, okay?" Sisi said as she handed the bowl to the older boy.
The boy happily took the bowl and went back, followed by the little girl who joyously shouted, ’eat meat meat’.
Su Ping pursed her lips and said, "Sisi, let me tell you, don’t feel pity for this family. If you give them a bowl of meat today, those two kids will come to your house every day begging for meat. I’ve been through this big loss before."
"Really? Their parents can’t possibly just ignore their children, can they?" Sisi was somewhat incredulous. Even if the kids didn’t understand the concept of gluttony, the adults should know better.
"How could it not be possible? When the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be askew. Haven’t you seen what Huang Guixiang was like just now? If they were shamefaced, why would they stare at your meat along with the kids?"
Sisi thought about it and couldn’t help but smile bitterly, "So what should I do? If those children come again, I can’t just ignore them, can I?"
Su Ping became anxious, "You can’t cater to them. This family is like leeches, you absolutely must not be soft-hearted. Let me tell you, don’t think they look pitiful, they have no less money than anyone else. Huang Guixiang and her husband are reluctant to spend, they hardly buy meat all year round or eat fine grains, and save all their money. The two kids are so fond of tasty food that they run to other people’s homes to ask for something to eat. Initially, everyone felt sorry for the children, giving them something to eat, but how long can anyone tolerate that? No one’s money falls from the sky, does it?"
Sisi patted her forehead and felt no hope for that new bowl anymore, she handed the other bowl of meat to Su Ping, smiling, "Sister-in-law Su, try my cooking. Let’s not talk about these disheartening matters."
Su Ping happily took the bowl of meat and commented, "Just by looking at it, I can tell it’s delicious. This is the first time I’ve ever seen meat cooked . Today I’m really having a fresh dish."
"This is double-cooked pork, a Sichuan dish. My Xinhua loves this."
Su Ping brought the bowl of meat inside, placing it on the table, ready for her husband when he returns from work. Thinking it over, she also placed a bottle of wine on the table. This double-cooked pork would make a perfect accompaniment for her husband’s drink, it’s just unfortunate that the children are at their grandparents’ or they could have tried something new too.
Sisi was cooking tomato and eggs, she cracked four eggs which had Su Ping feeling sorry for her, as the mayor’s wife was really too generous. Just two tomatoes required four eggs for frying, tsk tsk, such cooking tastes good even without oil!
Looking at how Sisi poured the oil, Su Ping’s heart ached again, she couldn’t help but say, "Aren’t you using too much oil? With this much oil, another family could cook three meals."
"Got used to it, it’s not fragrant if not enough oil is used." Sisi explained with a smile.
Su Ping didn’t say anything more, but she felt even more certain that Sisi’s family was not an ordinary one. Not to mention anything else, just from the generous way she used the oil, an ordinary family couldn’t raise such a girl.