Chapter 41

It was almost four o’clock, and the wives of the military officers were about to go home to prepare their own dinners.

Ji Wanqing got up and swept the pumpkin seeds that had been scattered on the floor, and told Sister Hongmei that Aunt Zhuge would come over for lunch tomorrow.

Sister Hongmei looked a little embarrassed, “Little Ji, there’s something I need to ask you.”

“What’s the matter, Sister Hongmei, just tell me.”

“I wasn’t supposed to be off today, but my colleague who’s on duty tomorrow wants to switch shifts with me, so my husband and I won’t be home tomorrow. Could you possibly let my two children and their grandma have lunch at your place? I’ll provide the food and ration coupons, just give them something warm to eat.”

They were still on a single day off system, only having one day off per week.

Sister Hongmei worked as a secretary in the county committee office, and she was the only working wife in Alley No. 2.

“That’s no problem, just let the two children and Aunt Zhuge come together tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Little Ji.” Sister Hongmei was very embarrassed and insisted on giving the money and coupons to Ji Wanqing.

Two yuan, two food coupons, and four meat coupons.

That’s enough to eat a meal at a state-run restaurant.

Li Hongmei knew that Little Ji was a good cook, and if it weren’t for her mother’s connection, even if she spent tens or hundreds of yuan, she might not be able to taste her cooking.

After all, the watch on her wrist was a Rolex, worth seven or eight hundred yuan.

Back home, Ji Wanqing thought about having the little ones over tomorrow, so she would make a pot of braised food for them.

She had been thinking about this dish while on the train, and now that she was settled, she could finally make it.

She went to the state-run market outside the family compound and bought some vegetables, but it was evening, so there wasn’t much meat left. Only a whole pig’s head on the counter looked good.

Braised pig’s head is also delicious.

She also bought some quail eggs that children love, as well as ingredients for tonight’s dinner, and returned home with a full load.

Since it was a rare opportunity to braise something, and she had space to preserve it, Ji Wanqing naturally braised a lot to have for later.

She went into the space and took out chicken feet, chicken wings, beef tendon, gizzards, pork trotters, pork belly, and the ten eggs Aunt Yulan gave her today. She processed them all and braised them in order of their braising time.

With so much stuff, she had to use the large stainless steel pot she used for the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall last time. Ji Wanqing added ten packets of braising spices to the base flavor, and also added more spices according to the recipe’s ratio.

The braising broth was fragrant and rich, Ji Wanqing knew just by smelling it that it would be amazing!

She took a deep breath and decided to treat herself tonight with meat sauce and braised noodles.

Just as she was grinding the meat from the space, Jiang Che came back.

“What are you doing? I’ll help you.”

The kitchen in the dormitory was too small, Ji Wanqing couldn’t even move around, so Jiang Che didn’t come to bother her.

The kitchen in their new home was quite large, it could fit four or five people.

“We’re having braised noodles tonight.”

Ji Wanqing had already taken out what she wanted to eat for lunch tomorrow from the space and put it in a small pot to show it off.

After all, the key to making braised food delicious is to braise it for three parts and soak it for seven parts.

So she would braise it today and soak it in the braising broth overnight, it would be perfect for tomorrow.

“I’ll help you knead the dough.” Jiang Che washed his hands and rolled up his sleeves.

“Okay, I’ll fry the meat sauce.”

Ginger, garlic, and onions were already in the food processor with the ground meat, waiting for the oil to smoke before pouring in the ground meat and stir-frying it until the water was released. Then, add salt, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, fermented bean paste, yellow bean paste, and sweet bean paste to make a sauce, stir-fry until evenly colored, turn off the heat and add chopped green onions, using the remaining heat to bring out the aroma of the onions.

The meat sauce was ready, and the dough was almost proofed. Ji Wanqing asked Jiang Che to roll out the dough, fold it up, and cut it into half-inch wide hand-pulled noodles, shake them loose, and then put them in boiling water.

Put the base ingredients in the bowl, scoop out some braising broth, wait for the noodles to cook, blanch some small green vegetables, put them in the bowl, then pour over the oily and bright meat sauce, the bright green chopped green onions were soaked in oil, looking crystal clear, just looking at it made you hungry!

Jiang Che cleaned up the dining table, made her a cup of honey lemon water according to her habit, and then picked up his chopsticks and ate with gusto!

He really couldn’t understand, how could such white and delicate hands, hands that clearly never touched the kitchen, make such delicious food!

“How’s work going recently?”

Ji Wanqing didn’t want him to eat too fast, so she found a topic to chat about.

“Something happened recently, the army is a bit busy, otherwise I wouldn’t have been called back today.”

It was their first day of marriage! If it weren’t for the urgent military orders, he really wouldn’t want to leave Ji Wanqing alone at home.

“Were you bored at home alone today?” he asked.

Ji Wanqing smiled, “It was fun gossiping with the aunts and wives about our military families. By the way, don’t call that girl next door ‘sister-in-law’ next time, she’s just here to take care of the children for Old Lady Yan, it would be embarrassing if Deputy Commander Yan misunderstood.”

“Hmm.” Jiang Che was puzzled.

If she wasn’t, why didn’t she correct him? It’s a good thing his wife mentioned it, it would be awkward if he called her that in front of Deputy Commander Yan.

Ji Wanqing: “By the way, Aunt Zhuge and the two children are coming over for lunch tomorrow.”

Jiang Che didn’t ask why, “Okay, I’ll help you cook tomorrow.”

Ji Wanqing laughed, “No need, I’ve already braised everything and put it on the stove, you just need to wash the dishes and hang the pot in the well to cool it down after you’re done.”

Halfway through their meal, they heard a little boy crying and an old woman scolding from next door. It was definitely Deputy Commander Yan’s family, they were really noisy.

After dinner, Ji Wanqing lay on a lounge chair in the yard to cool off, Jiang Che continued his work from the morning, turning over the soil in the yard, watering it, and digging planting holes, so he could plant whatever he wanted later.

When he came out after taking a shower, Ji Wanqing was already asleep.

Slow pace, slow life, the most troublesome thing every day was deciding what to eat. This kind of comfortable life was easy to make you sleepy.

Jiang Che carried her upstairs and lay down himself.

The lights were on, the soft light fell on her peaceful sleeping face, even the tips of her eyelashes were tinged with a light yellow halo.

Jiang Che was thinking, why was she always sleepy, she only got up at nine this morning, and it’s only a little past nine and she’s asleep again.

He secretly guessed that maybe intellectuals do mental work, which is tiring for the brain, so they need to sleep more.

So he turned off the lights and gradually fell asleep.

Because she went to bed early yesterday, Ji Wanqing woke up at eight today.

Jiang Che had just finished his morning exercise and bought breakfast, and was building a wall in the backyard.

The red bricks were delivered yesterday, but the regiment headquarters had something urgent, otherwise they would have been finished last night.

“You know how to do bricklaying?” Ji Wanqing peeled a tea egg and stuffed the yolk into his mouth.

Jiang Che was used to it, but this time he accidentally touched her finger, and he choked, coughing several times before he swallowed the dry yolk.

“Cough, cough, in the army, you have to know how to do everything, I can even farm and harvest.” It’s just that now he’s a battalion commander, so he doesn’t do this kind of work anymore.

“Amazing.” Ji Wanqing didn’t have any intention of helping at all, she just stood there and chatted with him casually.

Then she stretched, went back to the room to change out of her pajamas, and the whole morning was happily wasted.

As noon approached, Ji Wanqing heated up the braising pot, stir-fried a small dish of stir-fried pork and a dish of stir-fried vegetables, and that was today’s lunch.

Yesterday, she braised the food in the space, and when she took it out and covered it, it didn’t smell.

Today, she put it on the stove to reheat, and the aroma wafted for miles! Several families around Alley No. 2 smelled the fragrance, even the family at the back of Alley No. 3 was sniffing hard, wondering whose cooking smelled so good!

Ji Wanqing had just finished stir-frying the phoenix tail, when there was a knock on the door.

“Coming.” Ji Wanqing went to open the door, thinking it was Aunt Zhuge and her two children.

But it turned out to be He Xiao Miao from next door, with a little boy, about eight or nine years old.