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Steamed Cake
In the room, Lin Chenghai’s wife, Zhou Laidi, was quietly crying. She didn’t dare to speak in front of Old Lady Lin, who had always looked down on her granddaughters, feeling that they were just eating without contributing.
“Wasn’t it agreed that your second brother’s daughter would go?” Zhou Laidi said. “How did it end up being our daughter?”
“Second brother is back and won’t let his daughter go. Mom has already taken the money, so it has to be our daughter who goes,” Lin Chenghai tried to comfort her. “Don’t worry, the Ge family lives better than us…”
“You go talk to your second brother and reason with him,” Zhou Laidi said.
“It’s useless.” Lin Chenghai didn’t want to approach Lin Chengshan. With Lin Chengshan’s bad temper, what if he ended up getting beaten?
Lin Chenghai was reluctant to go. He thought it was acceptable for one of their daughters to marry off early.
“If you won’t go, I will,” Zhou Laidi said, after some thought. She still felt it was necessary.
Old Lady Ge’s grandson was an idiot. If the boy weren’t a fool, Zhou Laidi might have felt it was acceptable. But since he was a fool, she worried her daughter would resent her for life.
Lin Chenghai didn’t stop Zhou Laidi. He hoped she could persuade Lin Chengshan if possible.
When Lin Chengshan returned on his bicycle with his daughter, he encountered Zhou Laidi.
“You… Meihua has been taken away by Old Lady Ge,” Zhou Laidi said, feeling intimidated by the tall and strong Lin Chengshan.
Lin Chengshan didn’t respond. It wasn’t him who forced them to sell their daughter.
“Second brother, could you let Qingqing go and exchange her for Meihua…”
“Dream on!” Lin Chengshan said coldly. “You don’t want to sell your daughter but want to force me to sell mine? Or do you have the money?”
“I can introduce you to a wife. You could still have more children in the future,” Zhou Laidi said impatiently.
Lin Chengshan thought Zhou Laidi was being unreasonable. He had seen how she treated her three daughters, often criticizing them and belittling them because they were girls. He suspected Zhou Laidi was only making these statements because the money was in Old Lady Lin’s hands, not hers.
“Can’t you still have more children?” Lin Chengshan sneered. “Aren’t you trying to have a son?”
“…” Zhou Laidi did want to have a son but couldn’t admit it. “Meihua is your niece…”
“Niece or daughter, I know the difference,” Lin Chengshan said. “If you want Meihua back, then return the money.”
Lin Chengshan had an idea and handed Zhou Laidi the IOU written by Xu Youcai. He wanted to see if they would demand the money back and if they would cause a scene.
“This is me helping Meihua,” Lin Chengshan said.
“This is an IOU?” Zhou Laidi had attended literacy classes and could recognize some words.
“As long as you can get the money back, it’s yours,” Lin Chengshan said. “Gather some more money and get Meihua back.”
After saying this, Lin Chengshan took his daughter into the house. He didn’t want his daughter to constantly see these scenes and had bought some biscuits earlier that she could eat.
In the room, Lin Chengshan placed his daughter on the bed so she could lie down and rest.
Lin Chengshan couldn’t help but feel heartache as he looked at the bump on his daughter’s forehead, even though he had applied medicine.
Lin Qingqing felt overwhelmed by the smell of the medicine on her body. She didn’t like the smell much, but since her father had taken her to the doctor, which cost a lot of money, she had to be obedient.
“Daddy,” Lin Qingqing asked, lying down, “Are you going out again?”
“I’m going to make something for you to eat,” Lin Chengshan said. “In the future, wherever I go, I’ll always tell our Qingqing. Daddy won’t leave you behind.”
“Okay,” Lin Qingqing said. “If Daddy doesn’t come back, I won’t go with them today. If they try to take me away, I’ll just run back.”
“Good girl, close your eyes,” Lin Chengshan said softly. “Rest for a bit. Daddy will make you some steamed cake.”
Steamed cake might not be as fragrant as baked cake, but since there weren’t many tools available at home, Lin Chengshan decided to make steamed cake for his daughter.
After Lin Chengshan left the room, Lin Qingqing opened her eyes. She couldn’t sleep.
Quietly, Lin Qingqing got up, worried that her father might have left. When she heard noises from the kitchen, she stood at the doorway of her room, not going into the kitchen.
In his previous life, Lin Chengshan had learned from famous chefs, and they had used high-quality ingredients. Now, he could only cook with the meager resources available in this simple kitchen.
The egg yolks and egg whites needed to be separated. Without an electric mixer, Lin Chengshan had to whip the egg whites by hand. He had the strength, so he didn’t mind if it took a bit longer.
Lin Qingqing listened for a while and then sat back on the bed. She wiggled her small feet and then stopped immediately. She imagined her mother’s displeased expression and thought her mother would say: “At your age, you don’t have any manners, all because you take after your rough father.”
Xiao Man disliked Lin Qingqing. She believed from the bottom of her heart that Lin Chengshan had bad genes. Since Lin Qingqing was Lin Chengshan’s biological daughter, she would not be much better in the future. From the beginning, Xiao Man had a prejudice against Lin Qingqing. She even thought about having an abortion, but her own health was not good, so she had to give birth to the child.
After about forty minutes, Lin Qingqing smelled the aroma of the steamed cake and took a deep breath. It smelled so good that even if she couldn’t eat it, just smelling it was enough.
Lin Qingqing had mostly watched her mother eat. Her mother would give her only a little and would even say that with such a small mouth, Lin Qingqing couldn’t taste anything. Xiao Man would sometimes give Lin Qingqing only half of a small egg cake.
To Lin Qingqing, it felt natural that her mother, being older, should eat more. Lin Qingqing never dared to ask for more and didn’t stare at her mother while she ate. Her mother would scold her for being greedy and impolite.
Lin Qingqing rubbed her nose and took another deep breath. It smelled so good, even better than the egg cakes her mother used to eat.
“I’m not hungry,” Lin Qingqing murmured softly, patting her small belly. “I already ate meat buns.”
Big, savory meat buns that oozed with delicious oil.
Lin Qingqing almost had the oil dripped onto herself, and it was her father who wiped her mouth with a handkerchief.
Slurp—whether it was meat buns or egg cakes, they were both delicious.
Lin Qingqing decided to lie on the bed. Her mother had said that in dreams, everything was possible. She could dream about egg cakes and big chicken legs, and eat as much as she wanted in her dreams.
But Lin Qingqing just couldn’t fall asleep. She tossed and turned, the aroma was too enticing. The chicken legs in her dreams didn’t smell this good.
After Zhou Laidi returned with the IOU, she thought it over and felt something was wrong. Regardless of whether Meihua was redeemed or not, didn’t the money on the IOU need to be recovered?
Zhou Laidi pondered this while cooking in the kitchen.
“What are you thinking about?” Old Lady Lin asked, noticing Zhou Laidi’s distracted state. “Hurry up and cook.”
Zhou Laidi looked at Old Lady Lin. If she were to go after the money, Old Lady Lin might not be willing. Old Lady Lin had so much money, she might not care about the small amount. Zhou Laidi, feeling angry about her daughter being sold and unable to vent in front of Old Lady Lin, had no choice but to keep her frustration to herself.
No, Zhou Laidi decided she would still go find Xu Youcai later to demand the money back.
At that moment, Zhao Xintong had not yet returned. She was staying at someone else’s house. However, it was time for everyone to cook, and nowadays, there was no surplus food at home.
“Do you need to cook?” someone asked.
Hearing this, Zhao Xintong realized she had to go home quickly. She couldn’t stay at someone else’s house for dinner. If she stayed, they would eventually ask her to leave, so she needed to hurry back.
“Yes, we need to cook. I’m going back now,” Zhao Xintong said.
Zhao Xintong still thought about the slap her husband had given her, it had really hurt. She knew her husband intended to use it as an excuse not to repay the money, but she wondered if Lin Chengshan would be willing to cooperate. Zhao Xintong didn’t want to have endured the slap for nothing.
After Lin Chengshan finished making the steamed cake, he went to the room to call his daughter.
Lin Qingqing had considered covering her face with a blanket, but she was worried about getting the medicine on the blanket and making her father unhappy. So, she didn’t use the blanket to cover her face but closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep.
When Lin Chengshan saw his daughter’s eyelids fluttering, he knew she wasn’t asleep.
“Qingqing, the steamed cake is ready. Get up and eat,” Lin Chengshan said.
“Daddy,” Lin Qingqing opened her eyes quickly,”I’m lying down well.”
She hadn’t been sniffing the aroma of the steamed cake intentionally. She was just lying there, trying to rest.
“Alright,” Lin Chengshan chuckled softly. “Our Qingqing is very well-behaved.”
Lin Chengshan had even added some honey to the cake, which he had just bought from the town. Although he had been away from home for many years as a soldier, he was still familiar with the people and environment back home and knew where to find good things like honey.
In the past, everyone kept such things hidden and didn’t dare to let others know. But after the reform and opening up, things were different. People didn’t have to hide things anymore.
When Lin Qingqing saw the fragrant steamed cake, she even doubted her own eyes and pinched her little face.
“Can I eat it?” Lin Qingqing asked cautiously, looking at her father. “Should we save it for Mom?”
***
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Ayalee[Translator]
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