Su Shuoci understood the thoughts of the Gu family. He had once felt that his disability made him unable to help his family, so he used aloofness to mask his feelings.

“Grandpa, Mom, Big Brother, your priority should be to take care of your health. Work comes second. Once you’re healthy, you can do anything.”

Grandpa Gu, hearing his grandson-in-law speak like this, felt that his own thinking had been somewhat narrow: “Haha… from now on, we’ll act according to our capabilities.”

Indeed, his thumbs and index fingers ached from shelling peanuts, but his health wasn’t yet good enough to go out for a stroll.

“Grandpa, you and Big Brother can sit in the yard and read. Mom can also enjoy the scenery. Jiaojiao’s home is your home.”

Su Shuoci spoke sincerely, his serious demeanor convincing the three members of the Gu family.

“Then I’ll go cook. Mom, would you like to help in the kitchen by tending the fire?”

Gu Jiaojiao hadn’t yet learned how to tend the fire, so she called her mom to help.

The Su family rarely used honeycomb briquettes. It was only after she arrived that the coal stove was lit.

But now, with so many people, the coal stove could only be used to boil water for plucking chicken feathers and making soup. Cooking and boiling rice still required the firewood stove.

“Yes, yes,” Mother Gu immediately replied.

It was almost lunchtime, and Su Qinchun hadn’t returned yet. She didn’t feel comfortable entering the Su family’s kitchen alone.

Gu Jiaojiao scooped out more than ten cups of rice, causing Mother Gu’s heart to tremble, “Jiaojiao, that’s enough, that’s enough…”

“Second Brother, Qinchun, and I are all growing. We need to eat our fill. Mom, we have plenty of rice at home.”

Mother Gu helped tend the fire, Su Shuoci killed the chicken and fish by the well, and Grandpa Gu and Big Brother Gu helped pick vegetables.

After washing the pot and steaming the rice, Gu Jiaojiao prepared to chop vegetables and slice the fish. She was craving boiled fish slices.

There wasn’t enough time to make chicken soup for lunch, so she decided to make it for dinner instead. For lunch, Gu Jiaojiao prepared stir-fried chicken with wood ear mushrooms.

While stir-frying the twice-cooked pork, she heard Su Qinchun’s lively voice.

“Sister-in-law, what delicious food are you making? I could smell the aroma from the yard gate. The kids next door are crying for meat.”

“For lunch today, we’re having boiled fish slices, stir-fried chicken with wood ear mushrooms, twice-cooked pork with green peppers, stir-fried green beans and eggplant, and stir-fried young pumpkin with lean meat. Qinchun, are Mom and Dad back yet?”

“Business is booming right now. They’ll come back after everyone has gone to work.”

Su Qinchun came back for lunch during her noon break. None of the schools in the compound had cafeterias.

Although the compound was large, the school was located in the center, so everyone’s time to return home was about the same.

There were restaurants across the street from the school. Wealthy children who were too lazy to walk would eat there, but most went home to eat.

The adults who worked in factories and units also went home to eat, of course, they could also go to restaurants.

Starting in the 1980s, some rural areas began to allocate land to households, let alone the cities.

Thus, stalls selling fried snacks were also allowed outside factory gates. Unmarried young people and those in romantic relationships chose to eat out.

“Then you eat first and go to class. By the time I finish cooking, they should be back.”

As she spoke, Gu Jiaojiao served a small bowl of food for Su Qinchun to eat first.

Su Qinchun, pressed for time, didn’t refuse and ate in the kitchen while showering her sister-in-law with compliments.

“Sister-in-law, this stir-fried chicken is really delicious. No wonder the kids are drooling.

In the past, I was the one smelling the aroma of meat from other people’s homes in the yard. Hehe, now I can finally hold my head high.”

“Then why don’t you take your bowl and eat in the yard? The aroma will spread even further,” Gu Jiaojiao said with a smile.

“No way! If that shrew next door sees me, she’ll hit me. She glares at me whenever she sees me now!”

Su Qinchun was only a year younger than Gu Jiaojiao, seventeen this year, and just a high school freshman.

Her clothes were no longer the red and yellow combinations of before. She was quite pretty, with delicate features.

However, most rural people had dark complexions, which overshadowed her refined looks.

Moreover, with her elder brother injured and needing medicine, the Su family couldn’t afford to dress her up.

But now it was different. Gu Jiaojiao had plenty of whitening and hair care products in her space, and the Su family ate meat every day.

Thus, many of Su Qinchun’s classmates were jealous of her, especially her neighbor Zhou Ling. The shrew she mentioned was Zhou Ling’s mother.

Gu Jiaojiao teased her with a smile: “Our Qinchun is quite strong. Can that shrew next door really beat you?”

“She can’t beat me, but her daughter is really annoying. She keeps badmouthing my family at school.

Sister-in-law, let me tell you, her older sister Zhou Mei once wanted to marry my brother.”

Mother Gu looked at her daughter with concern: “Then we should stay away from the Zhou family.”

“But she didn’t succeed, right? What’s there to fear? Your brother is very clear-headed. No one can lure him away.”

Gu Jiaojiao was absolutely confident that Su Shuoci wouldn’t have any wandering thoughts now, since he wasn’t yet fully recovered. As for the future, who could say?

She wouldn’t worry needlessly and calmly continued cooking, washing the pot, and heating it until it was hot.

She poured in oil, fried ginger, garlic, and scallions, then added the fish slices. Gu Jiaojiao scooped out the fish slices and placed them in a large bowl, then stir-fried bean sprouts in the same pot.

Meanwhile, she boiled water in a small pot on the coal stove to blanch the lettuce, then scooped it out and placed it in a stainless steel basin.

She had previously taken two large stainless steel basins from her space. With such good items, the Su family assumed the couple had bought them at the Overseas Chinese Store.

She layered the bean sprouts and lettuce at the bottom, poured the soup over them, and piled the fish slices on top.

The next step was the most important. She poured oil into the pot, added Sichuan peppercorns and chili peppers, and fried them until fragrant, then poured the hot oil over the fish slices.

With a sizzling sound, the aroma of the peppercorns and chili peppers wafted out, making Gu Jiaojiao’s mouth water.

Su Qinchun exclaimed, “I’m already full, but if I had known the fish would smell this good, I would have eaten more slowly.”

Gu Jiaojiao rolled her eyes at her and served her a small bowl: “Fish is easy to digest. You can have a bit more.”

Mother Gu also swallowed hard. Gu Jiaojiao scooped a bowl for her mom to taste.

“Jiaojiao, just a slice is enough for tasting,” Mother Gu said, holding back her drool.

“Hehe~ I didn’t measure the water properly. This basin isn’t big enough to hold it all.”

Mother Gu looked helplessly at her mischievous daughter, feeling countless sweet bubbles welling up in her heart.

She had once shared such warm moments with Gu Xinglian, but Gu Xinglian wasn’t as lively and adorable as her Jiaojiao.

“Sister-in-law, what are you cooking? I could smell the aroma from outside your yard.”

Dong Qihua’s loud voice rang out in the living room.

“My sister-in-law’s boiled fish is really delicious,” Su Qinchun said, putting down her bowl after eating and going to set the table.

Father Su and the others also returned from the stall. “Jiaojiao, the fish you made smells amazing. I’ve eaten fish before, but it never smelled this good.”

Second Brother Gu had already washed his hands by the well and came in to serve the dishes, not forgetting to grab a piece of chicken with his hand and pop it into his mouth.

Mother Gu saw her second son being so naturally familiar and smiled knowingly. “Your older brother has been mischievous since he was little.”

“My second brother is very nice like this.”

Dong Qihua and his father, having finished their meal, stopped by to see his sister (aunt) before heading off to work.