Chapter 2.2

Su Ying knocked on the door, and from inside came her mother’s loud voice.

“Coming!” Her mother opened the door, beaming with joy. Her precious daughter was finally home. She grabbed Su Ying’s hand and pulled her inside.

“Your daughter’s back!” she called out to Su Ying’s father.

Her father poked his head out from the kitchen, wiped his hands twice on his apron, and hurried out to take Su Ying’s luggage.

He set the luggage down in Su Ying’s room and watched as mother and daughter happily chatted on the kang (heated brick bed). Smiling, he returned to the kitchen to bring out the dishes.

One dish after another—Su Ying’s favorites: braised pork belly with preserved vegetables, spinach with century eggs, sweet and sour pork, and sauerkraut stewed with glass noodles.

Su Ying returned to her room to change clothes. She unpacked her suitcase and noticed the pleasant scent of laundry detergent lingering in her wardrobe. Clearly, her parents had been tidying her room even while she was away. The bed was neatly made with floral-patterned sheets, clean and tidy. She hung up all her clothes, took out the gifts she had prepared, and changed into comfortable pajamas.

Back on the kang, seeing the table full of her favorite dishes warmed Su Ying’s heart. Her father placed a piece of braised pork belly into her bowl with his chopsticks.

“You must be tired from the trip. Eat something quickly. These are all your favorites. Tell Dad whatever you want to eat, and I’ll make it for you.”

Su Ying took a bite of the pork belly. It was made with pork belly cuts that melted in her mouth. The savory preserved vegetables perfectly balanced the richness of the meat—fat but not greasy, fragrant and flavorful. It was her father’s signature dish.

She handed out the gifts she had prepared. Her parents were delighted. Su Ying carefully put the bracelet on her mother’s hand. Compared to Su Ying’s slender fingers, her mother’s hands—calloused from years of farm work—made the bracelet look even more fitting. Her father, on the other hand, gently placed the purple clay teapot alongside his tea set, itching to brew tea with it immediately. The house was filled with joy.

After dinner, before Su Ying could start tidying up, her parents urged her to rest. Having spent the whole day traveling, Su Ying was exhausted and didn’t refuse. She went to her room, pulled the soft cotton quilt over herself, and fell fast asleep on the familiar bed.

At six in the evening, her mother carefully opened the door and looked at Su Ying’s sleeping face. She gently patted the blanket.

“Sweetheart, wake up, it’s time for dinner.”

Hearing her mother’s voice, Su Ying opened her eyes and realized it was already dark outside.

She got out of bed, feeling a chill, so her mother fetched a vest from the wardrobe for her to put on.

Dinner was just as lavish as lunch and even included fried meatballs that were usually only made during the New Year. Su Ying ate bite after bite, unable to stop. The feeling of being home was wonderful.

Being pampered like this, Su Ying couldn’t help but think that relying on her parents wasn’t so bad after all.

In the days that followed, Su Ying helped her parents work in the family fields. They were growing wheat, and August and September were the months of harvest. Although the first few days of labor left her sore all over, she slowly found joy in the work. Snapping casual photos, she captured the golden wheat fields stretching across the village. Her once clumsy hands grew more skillful with each passing day.

“Ah!” her mother suddenly cried out. Su Ying immediately stopped working and ran to her side. Her mother had stepped on a raised stone and twisted her ankle. It was already swollen. Her father hoisted her onto his back while Su Ying packed up the tools and followed behind.

Seeing the white strands in her parents’ hair, Su Ying thought about how hard they worked when she wasn’t home. If something serious happened, she wouldn’t even know. For the first time, she considered staying home permanently.

Back at the house, her father was drenched in sweat from carrying her mother. Su Ying went to the freezer and fetched a piece of frozen meat, wrapped it in a towel, and placed it on her mother’s ankle. The bruising was already appearing. This sprain wasn’t minor. Her father took out the medicine box and applied a herbal plaster before they all sat down to rest.

Looking at her mother’s bandaged ankle, Su Ying said:

“Mom, Dad, I’m not leaving this time. I’ll stay home and find something to do here.”

Her parents looked at her serious expression with concern.

“Sweetheart, Mom’s fine. It was just an accident, you don’t have to worry. There’s nothing much to do in the village. If you want to go out, you should.”

They worried she was making the decision because of her mother’s injury.

“No, I already have some ideas. Don’t worry about me. I’ve really decided to stay.”

Su Ying was from this village. During this visit, the bustling rural life had brought her comfort. Compared to her hectic job, she wanted to spend more time with her family and explore possibilities at home.

Perhaps because she was back in the countryside, her social media algorithms started pushing many rural lifestyle creators to her. Some were returning to their hometowns, others were traveling just to showcase the countryside. Their videos were slow-paced, filled with the fresh atmosphere of rural life, which felt soothing to watch.

Having worked in project planning and operations, Su Ying was familiar with short video production. Combined with her mother’s injury, her decision was now firm—she wanted to become a short video creator and promote her hometown.

Although her parents didn’t fully understand short videos, they often watched them themselves and fully supported her plan.

During these days, Su Ying also learned more about the village’s changes. In addition to the golden wheat fields, many villagers had leased orchards, and there were even strawberry farms. Several small mountains nearby were rich in natural resources—a real treasure trove.

She had decided on her content direction: authentic rural life. She wanted more people to see the beauty of her hometown, discover its specialties, and experience daily life in the countryside.

That night, Su Ying cooked dinner. Her parents discovered she was a skilled cook. The piece of frozen meat she had used for her mother’s ankle turned out to be a large pork hind leg. She first had her father fetch a blowtorch and singed off the pig hair from the skin. Then, using a knife, she carefully scraped away the burnt bits and separated the skin.

She blanched the pigskin in boiling water with scallions, ginger, and cooking wine, then cleaned it thoroughly, cut it into thin strips, and simmered it with star anise and cinnamon until the broth turned gelatinous. She added soy sauce for color and poured it into a basin to cool—this was the traditional dish pork skin jelly.

The remaining pork leg meat was finely chopped into minced meat (three parts fat, seven parts lean)—perfect for dumpling or bun filling. She soaked star anise, cinnamon, and bay leaves in hot water to make a fragrant broth, which she added gradually into the meat while stirring until the mixture became sticky. Then she added minced scallions, poured hot oil over them with a sizzling sound, and seasoned with salt. The filling was ready.

Using flour ground from their own wheat, she made the dough with boiling water, kneaded it until smooth, and covered it with a damp cloth. She rolled the dough into thin, round dumpling wrappers—thin at the edges, thicker in the middle—and stuffed them with the prepared filling. One by one, perfectly shaped dumplings appeared on the table.

She boiled them in water, adding cold water three times to ensure they cooked evenly. Once they floated, she scooped them out, steaming hot and ready to eat. The pork skin jelly had also solidified by then. She sliced it and served it with soy sauce, smashed garlic, and aged vinegar.

That night’s dinner was lively: cool pork skin jelly as a side dish and dumplings as the main course.

After eating, Su Ying’s mother returned to bed to rest her injured foot, while Su Ying and her father cleaned up before going to bed early. Everyone was tired that day.