Chapter 5

Si Cheng felt mixed emotions as he looked at his young and ignorant brother.

When her parents quarreled and divorced, she had already grown up and was willing to study hard.

Si An was affected and failed to get into a good high school. He finally came to his senses in his senior year, but it was too late. He repeated two years before he was admitted to an ordinary second-tier university.

During those years, they depended on each other as siblings, and the younger brother treated her very well.

Si Cheng’s eyes couldn’t help but get hot. “An An, something bad almost happened at home today. The money my parents used to buy a house was almost confiscated. Before my parents come back, you should stay at home and have fun. Don’t go out and play games.”

Si An tilted his head and thought for a while.

“I can stay home, unless you give me two dollars tomorrow.”

“Five cents.”

Si An doesn’t have any pocket money at home, because once he has money, he will go to the game hall to buy game coins to play games. Si’s father controls him very strictly.

Even when Si An wanted to buy stationery to get some pocket money, his father would buy it for him.

Si An’s meager pocket money was entirely supported by his sister.

“One dollar and a half!”

“star anise!”

“One dollar and two cents!”

“One piece! It’s up to you whether you want it or not. If you don’t want it, forget it! If you run around, I’ll let dad whip you. Then you’ll be the one who gets beaten, not me. Unless you don’t come home.”

Si An got scared.

Normally he could sneak out to play, but today he probably can’t.

He sat back to do his homework, but he was absent-minded, drinking water and going to the toilet from time to time.

Si Cheng shook his head helplessly. His younger brother was actually a good student, but due to his childhood experiences, he was particularly resistant to learning. If he wanted to change his destiny, he would have to work hard on his studies.

Not knowing when my parents would be back, it was almost eleven o’clock. After washing the rice and cooking, Si Cheng took matters into his own hands, chopped the chicken and duck, and used the ingredients at home to start making Dong’an chicken, fish stewed with white tofu and chopped peppers, and beer duck.

Speaking of which, even though my parents set up a stall to sell midnight snacks, there weren’t actually too many dishes and the cuisine was very simple.

They cannot push the refrigerator to the stall as it would be too tiring, so the dishes they prepare, in addition to the common long-lasting vegetables, are mostly long-lasting meat dishes, as well as a small amount of fresh meat.

Si’s mother is not a chef. All she can cook is ordinary home-cooked meals, but they taste good. Si Cheng inherited this from her.

Based on the original recipe, I made these three dishes.

When Si’s father and his family came back from the Housing Authority, they smelled the aroma of beer duck as soon as they arrived at the door. Si’s mother hurried into the house: “Si Cheng, who asked you to cook?! This is to entertain guests, you are wasting -“

“Delicious!” Si An was holding a bowl beside him, his mouth full of oil. “Mom, my sister’s cooking is delicious! Very delicious, try some!”

Mother Si looked at Si An in shock.

Si’s father had already walked into the house and took a piece of chicken from Si An’s bowl and put it into his mouth.

The chicken is sour, spicy and refreshing, and has a completely different taste from their usual mushroom stewed chicken and spicy diced chicken.

Just one bite of freshness is enough to attract you!

Father Si nodded approvingly: “Not bad, not bad, it tastes very good! You can consider adding it to the menu when you set up a stall. But, Cheng Cheng, how do you know how to cook these dishes?”

Si Cheng said after thinking for a long time, “I saw it in a recipe bookstore. I was thinking that we were having a dinner party today and mom wasn’t home. I was worried that you guys would be hungry when you got home, so I learned how to make it first. I didn’t expect it to taste so good.”

After tasting it, Third Aunt and the others praised it highly.

He said Si Cheng had a talent for cooking.

Only then did Si’s mother look pleasant and asked Si Cheng to teach her how to cook these dishes later.

Si Cheng took the opportunity to say, “Mom, I want a hundred yuan to buy a walkman to learn English. My teacher said my English grades are poor. I want to catch up.”

“Why is the walkie-talkie so expensive?! You’re asking for money before you even start working? Your dad and I only make a hundred bucks…”

But Si’s father interrupted and said, “Here.”

After getting the house deed, Si’s father still had a few hundred yuan on him. He kept one hundred yuan for buying groceries for tomorrow and gave the remaining two hundred and thirty yuan to Si Cheng.

“Chengcheng, take your brother to the shopping mall this afternoon to buy a walkman, and buy two sets of clothes for you and your brother. You can buy anything else. When you return to school on Sunday, I will give you another fifty yuan for living expenses.”

Si’s mother was shocked: “Si Wentao!”

Father Si said with a smile: “This is what Cheng Cheng deserves.”

Compared to the huge sum of 30,000 yuan, these two hundred yuan are nothing.

Just think of it as a reward for the child. He is happy that he survived the disaster, and let the child be happy too!

Si An has already reached out: “Sis, give it to me!”

Si Cheng stuffed the money into his pocket: “This is what my father gave me for safekeeping!”

Mr. Si invited the landlord’s family and street officials to sit down and have dinner.

Everyone was tired after going to the Housing Authority, so no one was being pretentious and stayed to eat.

Seeing that Si Cheng was a good cook, Si’s mother asked her to stay and help.

Si Cheng helped cut vegetables while accepting Si’s mother’s questioning.

“Don’t think you can get cocky just because you’ve done something great today. I’m telling you, bring back all the money you didn’t spend. Don’t buy things recklessly, and don’t buy expensive things. You and An An are not allowed to buy clothes and pants that cost more than 20 yuan. You have to learn how to bargain, do you hear me?”

“knew.”

“Besides Dong’an chicken, beer duck and fish stewed with tofu, can you cook other fresh dishes?”

“It seems to be gone.”

“What use is there for you?”

While Si’s mother was making fried pork with chili peppers, she asked Si Cheng how to make the three dishes, and Si Cheng explained them one by one.

Si’s mother asked the same question over and over again until she had finished cooking fried pork with chili peppers, fried pork liver with leeks, loofah and egg soup, and stir-fried duck gizzards with sour chili peppers.

The meal was a great success for both the host and the guests. Before it was over, Si An started asking Si Cheng to take him out shopping.

Si Cheng had no choice but to take his brother out without even washing his clothes.

Before leaving, Si’s mother called her back and said, “When you come back, remember to go to the market and buy some chickens and ducks.”

Si Cheng was helpless: “Okay.”

She led her brother out of the house and heard Si’s father say, “You go later. When they come back, the vegetable market will be closed.”

“I won’t go. I’m sleepy…”

Two hundred yuan is a huge sum of money for Si Cheng and Si An now.

Si An has always wanted to keep a sum of money for himself.

Si Cheng didn’t dare to give it to him, for fear that her brother would run away as soon as she turned around. She wouldn’t be able to buy anything, and would have to go to internet cafes and game halls to look for him.

Si An was tricked by Si Cheng with five dollars and followed behind him, allowing her to successfully buy a walkman, a set of English reference books and tapes for the first semester of the second year of junior high school, three sets of new underwear, a set of slim autumn clothes, and an autumn jacket.

I also bought a set of autumn clothes for my younger brother and a shirt each for my grandparents.

As well as the siblings’ pencils, water-based pens, ballpoint pens, pen bags, diaries and exercise books.

The clothes and pants were really cheap, but the expensive part was the walkie-talkie. Si Cheng bargained with the boss for more than ten minutes, using every possible means, but still he still wanted 58 yuan.

In order to heal Si An’s pain of not being able to take money, Si Cheng bought a Transformer for her brother after buying what he needed. She didn’t give him the last five dollars until she returned home and handed her brother over to their grandfather.

Si An cried out that he had been cheated.

When he came back, it was already past four o’clock and Si’s mother had already gotten up and was preparing to set up the stall. He had taken the huge sum of five dollars but had no way to go to the game hall to play.