In the village, there are only two kinds of winter vegetables: cabbage and radish, so if you have tofu, it is fresh, or there is sauerkraut or pickled vegetables, but they are also cabbage and radish. For cooking, there are only the following kinds of dishes: multi-grain rice, multi-grain porridge, and noodles.

　　Gu Zhao of the Li family talked about the bone soup, which was much better than that of the East and West villages.

　　After not having breakfast and working all morning, my husband said he would just make do. Li Zhouzhou was reluctant at first, but he was not afraid of trouble. What was the trouble of cooking? He washed his hands and went into the kitchen. There was a pot of mixed grain rice simmering. He didn’t have time to stew the bone soup in the morning, and there was no tofu, so he fried the meat slices.

　　Put more.

　　Cooking on a large wood stove is fast. After a while, the rice in the pot started to smell delicious. Li Zhouzhou sat on the back stove, melted some lard in the pot on the front stove and started cooking.

　　In a moment, the meal will be ready.

　　Li Da in the main room also lit the stove. Everyone ate around the stove, so the food wouldn’t get cold so quickly. If we used to fry some dishes with lard in winter, we had to eat them quickly, otherwise they would be cold and greasy and not tasty.

　　The family was having dinner when there was a knock on the gate.

　　”It sounds like Aunt Wang’s voice? I’ll go take a look.” Li Zhouzhou put down the bowl and went to open the door.

　　It was indeed Aunt Wang, with Lingling. Li Zhouzhou invited everyone to come into the main room to sit and talk. It was too cold outside and the snow had not stopped yet. Aunt Wang and her daughter had just entered the main room.

　　Lingling first said it was so warm and then said it smelled so good.

　　Aunt Wang saw the stove in the main room of the Li family, and the lunch they had. Was this pork slices fried with lard? No wonder it smelled so good. In the middle of winter, they didn’t work in the fields, and they just ate dry rice during the day. It was a waste.

　　”Auntie, please sit down.” Li Zhouzhou moved a long bench and asked if she had eaten.

　　This was just a polite remark. How could I really come to beg for food? Aunt Wang sat on the stool and said that she had eaten. This was also true, but it was early in the morning, and it was a thin and watery mixed grain porridge.

　　”Aunt and Lingling, have some hot tea first.” Gu Zhao came over with a teapot. Seeing Zhou Zhou about to take it, he said, “Zhou Zhou, eat your meal. It will get cold soon. I’ll make tea for you.”

　　In front of outsiders, my husband calls him so dear.

　　Li Zhouzhou felt a little embarrassed, but he listened to his husband obediently.

　　Aunt Wang saw what the Li family’s son-in-law meant and said with a smile, “Yes, you guys eat first, don’t let the food get cold. Lingling and I came here just to chat with you, it’s nothing serious.”

　　There was a pot on the stove with boiling water. Gu Zhao only needed to add hot water to the teapot. Seeing the little girl standing around the stove, she was obedient and didn’t move. After Gu Zhao poured the hot water, he didn’t put the pot on the stove, but put it on the ground to let the little girl warm her hands.

　　”Mom, you’re so warm.” Lingling turned around and said to her mother.

　　Aunt Wang said, “Don’t touch it.”

　　”good.”

　　Gu Zhao poured hot tea for Aunt Wang. Before he could pour another bowl, Aunt Wang stopped him and said, “No more, you guys should eat first.” Gu Zhao then went down the slope.

　　People in the village seldom visit the Li family. In all his time here, Gu Zhao has only seen Xing’er a few times.

　　After finishing lunch quickly, Li Zhouzhou and Gu Zhao cleaned up. Aunt Wang and Lingling were in the main room, and Li Da did not stay in the room, saying that he was going out for a walk to check out the crops in the fields.

　　”Mom, it’s sweet.” Lingling dared to take a sip only after everyone had left.

　　Aunt Wang: “Is it still sweet?” She took a sip from the bowl and it was really sweet. She thought it would be cold after being left out for a while, but it was still warm. This room was even warmer than the room where she heated the kang at night.

　　The mother and daughter finished the sweet tea in the bowl. Lingling licked her lips and wanted to drink more. Aunt Wang saw that no one had come back yet, so she weighed the pot and poured another bowl for each of them. The one in the pot was still hotter.

　　After Li Zhouzhou cleaned up the dishes, he and his husband returned to the main room.

　　As soon as he came in, Gu Zhao said in a gentle and sweet voice: “I’m going to read a book, Zhou Zhou.”

　　”good.”

　　Aunt Wang was amazed when she saw this. It was really like what was said in Dongping Village, that Li Zhouzhou was the head of the household.

　　Gu Zhao went into the inner room and closed the door. Aunt Wang in the main room was obviously more at ease. After sitting for a while, she started talking about business. She didn’t talk about business directly. The villagers, especially the women, always like to trace the source of things when they talk and lay a lot of groundwork.