Chapter 4: How About Cooking Together

Ye Xin Ran looked at the little one’s longing expression and couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow.

It’s just dragon flies! How much meat could there possibly be?

Wasn’t Xiao Huai’an a hunter? Could it be that they usually didn’t even get to eat meat?

“Where’s the kitchen? I’ll cook dinner for you tonight,” Ye Xin Ran said.

“You can cook?” Chang Ping asked, his skepticism written all over his face.

“Of course! Not only can I cook, but I’m really good at it.”

Ye Xin Ran wasn’t bragging.

Although she was usually busy with work, in her free time, she loved collecting recipes and cooking to treat herself, so her cooking skills were decent.

“It’s over there!”

Chang Ping pointed in a direction.

Following his gesture, Ye Xin Ran saw a “semi open” kitchen.

The run down kitchen had neither doors nor windows.

When she got closer, she saw only two broken pots and a few disorganized jars.

Ye Xin Ran gasped.

Sure, she could cook.

But even the most skilled cook couldn’t work without ingredients.

And to top it off, she didn’t know how to light a fire on such a primitive stove.

Seeing her hesitation, the hopeful look in Chang Ping’s eyes dimmed again.

He shouldn’t have believed this woman’s words.

Grandma Zhang was right: she was the eldest daughter of a wealthy family, someone who was usually served meals by others. How could she possibly know how to cook?

“If you can’t cook, then forget it. As long as my little brother doesn’t go hungry, it’s fine,” he said.

Right after saying that, his stomach let out a loud grumble.

“Gurgle!”

The boy’s face immediately flushed red.

“I’m not hungry, it’s my stomach that’s hungry!”

“Right, right! The stomach has its own thoughts,” Ye Xin Ran teased with a laugh.

“I’ll check the kitchen to see what we have. Can you light a fire?”

Hearing this, Chang Ping perked up immediately. “Yes, I’m the best at lighting fires!”

“Chang An can help too! Chang An can carry firewood!” Little Chang An chimed in enthusiastically.

Seeing how eager and obedient they were, Ye Xin Ran smiled and said, “Alright, you two are in charge of the fire, and I’ll handle the cooking. Let’s do this, tonight’s dinner will be our own effort!”

The children, being young, became excited at the idea of helping with dinner.

Chang Ping fetched a bundle of kindling from the corner of the kitchen, and Chang An followed behind, imitating him by carrying two sticks.

By the time they returned, Ye Xin Ran had already checked the kitchen supplies.

Outside the kitchen, there was a jar with a small amount of coarse rice and a pile of sprouted sweet potatoes on the ground.

However, inside one of the broken jars, she discovered a surprise: half a bag of rice, half a bag of flour, and a piece of pork weighing over two pounds, with more fat than lean!

So, they did have food!

Why did these two kids look like they hadn’t had a proper meal in ages?

Ye Xin Ran placed the flour and pork on the kitchen counter, planning to make shredded pork noodles for dinner.

When the two little ones entered the kitchen and saw the ingredients on the counter, they were dumb founded.

“Meat!”

Chang An pointed at the pork, his eyes sparkling.

Even Chang Ping couldn’t help but gulp.

“How do we have such a big piece of meat?”

Ye Xin Ran was also surprised. “You didn’t know? I found it in the jar!”

“It must have been brought back by Second Uncle! He bought us meat!” Chang Ping suddenly realized.

“Second Uncle! Second Uncle!” Chang An became so excited that he couldn’t form a proper sentence, just shouting in delight.

“Well, since we have both meat and flour, how about we make shredded pork noodles for dinner?” Ye Xin Ran suggested to the two children.

“Mm! Mm!”

This time, both kids agreed immediately, nodding vigorously, their big eyes filled with joy.

Ye Xin Ran found a wooden basin, poured in some flour, and added water to mix the dough.

The flour wasn’t very white and even had some black impurities, but it turned out to be quite elastic when kneaded.

Chang Ping, as it turned out, wasn’t boasting.

He lit the fire quickly, and soon the flames were crackling under the stove.

Once the dough was ready, Ye Xin Ran covered the basin with a lid to let it rest.

Then she turned to the two children and asked, “Are there any vegetables at home? We should add some greens to the noodles, it’ll taste better that way.”

“There are!”

Chang Ping replied, “There are vegetables in the garden that Second Uncle planted. Right now, there’s only cabbage and green onions, though.”

“But… can you really cook?”

“I’ll go pull a cabbage,” Ye Xin Ran replied without directly answering his question. Whether she could cook or not would be clear once the noodles were ready.

The vegetable garden was right next to the kitchen.

The small courtyard wasn’t very spacious, so there wasn’t much planted, just four rows of cabbage and a small patch of chives.

The cabbages were still young, so Ye Xin Ran pulled out a few.

While at it, she took a moment to observe the layout of the courtyard.

The yard was divided into front and back sections, with four rooms in total: two bedrooms, a dilapidated kitchen, and, at the farthest corner to the north, a make shift out house built from a few wooden planks.

It was easy to imagine that the outhouse consisted of a pit dug into the ground with two planks laid across it, dangerously prone to collapsing if stepped on carelessly.

It was… not ideal.

Ye Xin Ran sighed as she brought the cabbages back to the kitchen to clean.

By then, the pot was already hot.

She cut a portion of the pork into thin strips, cleaned the pot, scooped in some oil, and stir-fried the pork strips.

As soon as the meat hit the hot oil, the distinct aroma of sizzling fat filled the air.

Chang Ping and Chang An, who had gone outside after lighting the fire, immediately poked their heads back into the kitchen, drawn by the smell.

“It smells so good!” Chang An said, swallowing hard.

Ye Xin Ran turned back with a smile. “Go play outside for a bit. When the noodles are ready, I’ll call you in to eat.”

“Okay!” The two responded but decided to stay nearby.

Chang Ping couldn’t resist grilling the three dragon flies over the fire while tending to the flames. Once cooked, he shared them with Chang An.

Chang An, in turn, took a piece of candy out of his little pouch and shared it with his brother.

Meanwhile, Ye Xin Ran added water to the pot, took the dough out of the basin, kneaded it evenly, rolled it into a thin sheet, and then carefully sliced it into noodles.

When the water boiled, she began adding the noodles to the pot.

Halfway through, she remembered that there was another child and an adult who hadn’t yet returned, so she set aside some noodles for later.

Before long, the noodles floated to the top of the pot. After adding water twice, she tossed in the cabbage and a pinch of salt. The result was a pot of smooth, springy noodles, perfectly cooked.

Ye Xin Ran called out to the courtyard, “Chang Ping, Chang An! Wash your hands, it’s time to eat!”