Chapter 38: A Display in the Kitchen Gathering

As luck would have it, Aunt Ge was just examining the bundle of vermicelli when Song Yeqing walked through the door. Seeing her, she immediately asked what it was.

Aside from the memories in her mind, this was the first time Song Yeqing had actually seen Madam Chen and Young Madam Wu in person.

The one wearing a faded blue cotton top and a gray skirt, with her hair coiled into a bun using a wooden hairpin and a strip of cloth, was Madam Chen. She looked like a reserved person. After greeting Song Yeqing with a brief smile, she lowered her head and quietly continued her work.

Next to her stood Young Madam Wu, dressed in a light pink floral blouse and a skirt made from the same fabric as her mother’s.

Her bangs were trimmed just above her brows, and the rest of her hair was braided with a pink ribbon, tied up to one side. A small section at the back was tied with another strip of cloth and left to hang down. This hairstyle signified that she was still an unmarried maiden.

Both women were thin and not particularly tall.

Young Madam Wu had tanned skin, but she still possessed the liveliness and charm unique to a fourteen-year-old girl. In contrast, years of hard labor had left Madam Chen with rough, thick fingers. Although she was only in her thirties, she already looked rather aged.

After a quick glance, Song Yeqing mentally matched them with the people in her inherited memories.

Being in the same room with people who felt both familiar and unfamiliar, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy and nervous.

At home, because her two sons were still young, they didn’t notice the subtle changes in their mother. The only person who might’ve realized that someone else now inhabited this body was He Yanxin—someone in a similar line of work. So, these past few days, Song Yeqing hadn’t bothered to imitate every word and gesture of the original Song woman.

But now, that wouldn’t do. These women had known the original Song Yeqing for years. She was worried they might notice anything out of the ordinary, so she did her best to mimic how Song Yeqing used to behave.

Thanks to the bonus of inherited memory, it wasn’t too hard. As she gradually adapted, she even began to feel a sense of warmth and closeness around them.

“Yan…”—nope. She really couldn’t bring herself to say Yan-lang out loud. He Yanxin was just outside. It felt too embarrassing.

“Yanxin brought it back last night. It’s a specialty from the Jiangnan region called sweet potato vermicelli.” She threw the blame on him without batting an eye or blushing.

“I thought we hadn’t seen this around here before. Looks a bit like dried noodles, but the color’s different,” Aunt Ge said, clicking her tongue in curiosity.

“Do you cook it like noodles too?” Madam Chen put down her vegetables and came closer, intrigued.

“Yes, but you need to soak it in water first to soften it. Otherwise, it’s very hard to cook.”

Song Yeqing set down a bowl and took the roughly one-jin bundle of vermicelli, carefully dividing it in half.

But Aunt Ge immediately stopped her. “No, no, don’t do that. You take it home and eat it yourself.”

She glanced at the bowl Song Yeqing had brought. “What’s this now? Oh dear! Quick, take that home too! Are you planning not to live your life anymore? Why do you keep bringing things over here?”

Aunt Ge was getting flustered. She had just invited them over for a simple meal—how had the gifts only increased?

Seeing her so agitated, Song Yeqing had no choice but to lie.

“I’ve just been feeling really homesick. That’s why I had him buy it for me. Auntie, I’ve been craving this dish all day. Can I please have it tonight?”

Then she put on a pitiful expression—though her acting skills were pretty terrible.

Aunt Ge and Madam Chen didn’t catch the lie. Both looked at her with concern and affection, comforting her as they spoke.

This made Song Yeqing feel a little guilty. Deceiving such genuine kindness didn’t sit well with her.

Young Madam Wu, on the other hand, was quite sharp despite her age. She was trying to hold back laughter and kept winking mischievously at Song Yeqing.

The original Song Yeqing was only five years older than her, and they had often played together. They got along very well, so Young Madam Wu never acted formal or reserved around her.

Song Yeqing paused for a second, then glanced toward Aunt Ge and Madam Chen before winking back at the girl.

“Granny, if Auntie wants to eat it, just let her! Better that than having her hide under the covers crying tonight!” Young Madam Wu chimed in, catching the signal. After saying that, she quickly ran off to get some warm water to soak the vermicelli—before her mother could scold her.

“Oh, this child! No respect for elders!” Madam Chen glared at her daughter, but knowing the two got along well, she didn’t press the matter.

“Da Ling is right! If I eat this tonight, I won’t have to cry when I get home,” Song Yeqing joked, following Young Madam Wu with the vermicelli and soaking it in a basin.

Aunt Ge, worried about upsetting her and feeling sorry for her situation, immediately agreed. “Then let’s cook it! If you’re craving it, we’ll make it.”

Song Yeqing declined any help, saying she wanted to personally make a dish from her hometown.

She began frying the base sauce. Normally, the hotpot base didn’t have a strong aroma when sitting in the package, but once it hit the pan—boom—the intense, mouthwatering smell filled the entire house.

In moments, the whole kitchen was engulfed in a rich, dominating fragrance like nothing the Wu family had ever encountered.

The children playing happily outside were soon drawn to the kitchen doorway, peeking in eagerly. Even Wu Erlang, who had been “slumping like a corpse” in his room all day, came out and wandered near the kitchen, curious about what was being made.

Let alone the ones standing right by the stove.

Aunt Ge couldn’t help but take a deep whiff in the direction of the pot. Madam Chen and Young Madam Wu followed suit, equally enthralled.

The smell was simply irresistible.

Even neighbors nearby noticed the faint scent wafting through the air and started sniffing around, trying to locate its source.

“There’s chili peppers and some spices in there, right? Why so much oil though?” Aunt Ge, a seasoned cook, recognized a few ingredients after decades spent in the kitchen.

“Yes, that’s right. More oil makes it tastier,” Song Yeqing replied casually. She wasn’t entirely sure what ingredients were used in store-bought hotpot bases anyway.

But it was probably the usual—plus the most important ingredient: fermented bean paste.

She scooped out a small portion of the base to make a lighter version for the children—just to add a bit of flavor.

Kids in this area could generally handle spicy food. But the two boys from the He family were still too young, and Song Yeqing didn’t want to overdo it with them.

Well… another big reason was that if they ended up with runny noses from the heat, she couldn’t exactly whip out modern white tissues to wipe them, and she wasn’t used to using handkerchiefs either.

Taking the hot water that Young Madam Wu handed her, she poured it into the pot, added the soaked vermicelli, and finally tossed in some clean, naturally-grown cabbage from the Wu family’s garden.

“Do people in Jiangnan eat food this spicy?” Madam Chen asked, remembering how Yeqing had seemed uncomfortable with spicy dishes when she first arrived—especially those with chili peppers.

“It depends on the region. Some places do, some don’t,” Song Yeqing replied.

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(End of Chapter)