Chapter 15: There’s Actually Meat?!

“I’m more than willing to help the village,” Su Miaomiao agreed without hesitation.

Seeing how readily she accepted, a bright smile appeared on Wang Hongjie’s tanned face.

“That’s great—you agreeing already solves a big problem for the village.”

“But I’ve been to Old Zhao’s house before, and he barely has any equipment or medicine,” Su Miaomiao said, her eyes flashing slightly.

At this, Wang Hongjie let out a sigh.

“The village has poor conditions, and medicine is just too expensive—we simply can’t afford it. Usually, when people see Old Zhao for treatment, he uses herbs he gathers from the mountains.”

Hearing him finally bring up medicine, Su Miaomiao continued:

“There are indeed many useful herbs in the mountains. If properly used, they’re not any worse than Western medicine.”

“You know herbs too?” Wang Hongjie was stunned.

He had assumed Su Miaomiao only knew Western medicine—doing surgeries and such.

“I know a bit about traditional Chinese medicine too,” Su Miaomiao nodded.

“That’s excellent!” Wang Hongjie said with delight.

“So, may I go to the mountains to gather herbs from time to time?” Su Miaomiao finally asked what she most wanted to know.

After all, at this time, even a blade of grass on the mountain technically belonged to the collective.

“Of course! You’d be doing it for the good of the people,” Wang Hongjie agreed without hesitation.

“Then when should I start working?” Su Miaomiao’s face lit up with a brilliant smile.

“Would tomorrow be okay?” Wang Hongjie asked tentatively.

It wasn’t that he was being pushy—there were just too many sick people, and Old Zhao couldn’t handle it all alone.

“Tomorrow works,” Su Miaomiao nodded.

“Then let me thank you on behalf of everyone,” Wang Hongjie said, his eyes showing much more respect.

In this era, people had great admiration for those with skills.

As long as you had real talent, it didn’t matter if you were male or female, old or young—you’d earn respect.

“No need to thank me. I’m also doing this for myself,” Su Miaomiao replied with a smile, seeing Wang Hongjie off.

She felt refreshed and full of energy.

Checking the time, she turned and went back into the house.

She took out the meat and rice she had bought from the county that morning.

She cooked enough rice for eight people and started cutting the meat.

She had chosen top-quality pork belly—perfect for stir-frying with chili peppers.

Su Miaomiao’s knife skills were exceptional. That slab of pork belly was sliced evenly and with perfect thickness.

She then took out some green chili peppers from her spatial storage, chopped them, and set them aside.

One dish wouldn’t be enough for eight people, so she looked over at some cabbage and winter melon, planning to make winter melon pork rib soup, hand-torn cabbage stir-fry, and a plate of cold cucumber salad.

She’d make large portions—that should do it.

In her previous life, Su Miaomiao had always lived independently. When she wasn’t on a mission, she loved studying cooking.

She had even dreamed of working in a restaurant after retirement—though she hadn’t expected to end up here.

Later, she had spent 18 years working alongside Butcher Su, slaughtering pigs, and her culinary skills had become outstanding.

Besides the soup, which needed longer to simmer, the other three dishes were ready in less than half an hour.

The only problem was that the Huo family didn’t even have a table.

Su Miaomiao laid a cloth on the floor and arranged all the food on top.

Just as she brought in the soup, voices came from outside.

“Bro, do you smell that? That rich aroma of… meat?” Huo Xinyuan had just reached the doorway and took a deep sniff.

“You’re probably just starving so badly you’re hallucinating. Mom came to work with us—who’s home to cook?” Huo Minxue said weakly, barely even having the energy to talk.

Although they were men, growing up in the Huo family, they had always lived comfortably.

Especially Huo Minxue—he liked literature. While Huo Zhenbo and Huo Xinyuan were expected to train in the military, he had never been forced to go, since he disliked it. The Huo family’s way of raising kids had always been open-minded, and they never pressured him.

As a result, Huo Minxue had far less physical stamina than his older and younger brothers.

After a full day of intense labor, he was practically dragging his feet.

“I think I smell it too,” Huo Zhenbo frowned slightly.

“You’re back? Just in time—we also cut a lot of grass,” said Grandpa and Grandma Huo, carrying a big basket of grass between them.

“Why are you all standing at the door?” Grandpa Huo asked, looking at the group.

“It’s nothing. Xinyuan was getting too hungry and claimed he smelled meat. I’ll go make dinner now,” Tang Chunlan forced herself to rally and got ready to cook.

Just then, Su Miaomiao came out of the room. Seeing everyone had returned, her face lit up.

“You’re all back? Perfect! Go wash up—we can eat now.”

“Eat? You already cooked?” Tang Chunlan was surprised.

Su Miaomiao nodded. “I didn’t have much else to do at home, so I made dinner.”

As the door opened, the aroma became even stronger. Huo Xinyuan was now certain it wasn’t his imagination—he dashed inside.

When he saw the dishes laid out on the ground, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

He quickly turned around and shouted out the door:

“Come in quick—there really is meat!”

The others looked at Su Miaomiao, then slowly helped each other into the room.

When they saw the food laid out on the floor, their reactions were no different from Huo Xinyuan’s—completely stunned.

Su Miaomiao was once again thankful they weren’t living inside the village. Otherwise, with Huo Xinyuan yelling like that, the whole place would’ve heard.

“Alright, let’s eat,” Su Miaomiao said as she uncovered a pot nearby.

Inside was fragrant, steaming white rice.

“There’s even white rice!” Huo Xinyuan rushed over and breathed in the scent greedily.

In reality, they’d only been relocated for one full day, plus the two days on the road—a total of three days.

But to Huo Xinyuan, it felt like white rice, meat buns, and pork ribs were luxuries from a past life.

“What are you all waiting for? Let’s eat!” Su Miaomiao said, seeing the Huo family still frozen. She served a bowl of rice and handed it to Huo Xinyuan.

Looking at the hot, fragrant white rice in his hands, Huo Xinyuan swallowed hard and then turned to give it to Grandma Huo.

“Grandma, you eat first.”

“You kids should eat first—you worked harder,” Grandma Huo declined with a wave of her hand.

“There’s plenty for everyone—no need to argue,” Su Miaomiao said, serving several more bowls.

Seeing that there was indeed a lot of rice, Grandma Huo finally accepted.

Everyone had burned through their energy and was absolutely starving.

No one cared anymore about tables or chairs—one by one, they sat on the floor, abandoning any sense of decorum they’d grown up with, eating like ravenous wolves.

“Sis, this stir-fried pork with chili is amazing! And this smashed cucumber—it’s so fresh and cuts the grease. Your cooking is better than anything I’ve had at those big restaurants in Beijing!” Huo Xinyuan praised Su Miaomiao between mouthfuls.

“She’s right, Miaomiao, your cooking is wonderful,” Tang Chunlan added, her usual grace nowhere to be seen, her mouth glistening with oil.

“I’m glad you like it,” Su Miaomiao smiled.

Ever since Butcher Su had died, she’d always eaten alone.

Looking at the Huo family gathered around her now, for the first time, she didn’t think having more people around was so hard to bear.

“Miaomiao, you shouldn’t do this again,” Huo Jianguo suddenly spoke, staring at the bowl of white rice.