Chapter 48: Side Dishes

◎ Pushing Isn’t a Business ◎

Wu Yun and Song Jianjun held their banquets in the same month, one after the other. Song Jianjun’s wife, who Jiang Che did not know, was said to be from the capital city, with a pretty good family background and a proper job.

As for Wu Yun’s wife, Jiang Che couldn’t stop talking about her for several days after returning from the banquet.

“You know, Wu Yun is such a great person, how did he end up with a wife like that?” Jiang Che complained.

Wei Xuan, who really didn’t want to hear any more about it, busied herself with her own tasks, pretending not to hear him.

Jiang Che muttered to himself for a while and then realized his wife wasn’t listening at all. Annoyed, he walked over and blocked her from working: “Wei Xuan, could you please respect me a little? I’m talking to you!”

Wei Xuan rolled her eyes helplessly: “Fine, what do you think I should do to respect you?”

“Heh, it’s not difficult. Just analyze it for me, what do you think Wu Yun is thinking?” Jiang Che said eagerly.

Wei Xuan really didn’t want to deal with him. A person gets married and it’s bothering him this much? What kind of situation is this?

But seeing his attitude, it was clear he wouldn’t give up until she said something, so Wei Xuan sat down on a nearby chair without further hesitation.

After looking at him for a moment, she said, “Have you ever spent time with Wu Yun’s wife?”

“No.” The last time he went to a wedding banquet was the first time he saw her.

Wei Xuan shrugged: “Well, there you have it. Wu Yun spends every day with her, and he knows her better than you do. If he’s willing to marry her, there must be a reason. As for you, you’re not familiar with her, so you don’t have a say. It’s like when we got married. There were probably people in your family who didn’t understand and tried to convince you, right? But look at us now, we’re doing fine.”

Mentioning their past, Jiang Che felt a bit guilty. He still remembered how his mother had been so angry about his decision to marry Wei Xuan that she ended up in the hospital for a few days.

But even though he felt guilty, Jiang Che refused to admit it out loud: “Is it the same? You didn’t see it. On the wedding day, Wu Yun’s wife’s brothers caused a scene at his house, almost making Wu’s grandmother collapse. And yet, she still spoke up for her brothers. In the end, Wu Yun had to give them 20 yuan to settle it.”

Wei Xuan couldn’t understand it either. Of course, she would think of her own family when something good happened to her, but only if her family members deserved her help. Otherwise, she wouldn’t care who they were. She wouldn’t even care if it were her own parents if they were bad to her.

After thinking for a while without coming to any conclusion, Wei Xuan finally said, “Maybe others have reasons you’re unaware of. Anyway, stop bothering me with this. Go check on Yuan Yuan, see if she’s awake. Otherwise, when she wakes up and doesn’t see anyone, she’ll start crying.”

Speaking of their daughter made Wei Xuan feel a headache. She didn’t know what had gotten into Yuan Yuan lately; she had started crying a lot.

She had asked her mother-in-law, who said it was just like how Jiang Che was when he was young—nothing serious, just wait until she grows a little older.

But every time Wei Xuan saw her daughter crying with her little face scrunched up, she couldn’t help but feel heartbroken. The child was so young and couldn’t understand anything, so she didn’t know what to do. All she could do was stay by her side as much as possible so that when Yuan Yuan opened her eyes, she would see her.

Jiang Che also worried about their daughter crying. When Wei Xuan mentioned it, he stopped thinking about Wu Yun’s situation. After all, it was still a matter between a husband and wife. No matter how close he was to Wu Yun, he couldn’t compare to his own spouse. Apart from complaining a little to Wei Xuan at home, he wouldn’t bring it up in front of Wu Yun.

Yuan Yuan was already six months old, and Wei Xuan was considering introducing solid foods to her.

After finishing up in the vegetable garden, Wei Xuan washed her hands by the well and then went into the kitchen. She cracked an egg and threw it into the pot to boil.

Inside the room, Jiang Che had just reached the crib when Yuan Yuan opened her eyes. She stared blankly for a while before realizing it was her dad.

To make sure his daughter could see him clearly, Jiang Che bent down, bringing his face closer to hers.

Yuan Yuan just stared at him, and since Jiang Che didn’t expect anything, she suddenly raised her hand and slapped his face.

Jiang Che exclaimed “Ow!” and rubbed his cheek. He hadn’t expected it, but it actually hurt quite a bit, considering how small her little arm and hand were.

Yuan Yuan probably thought it was a bit funny, and she started giggling.

Jiang Che reached out to tickle her, and the father and daughter had a lot of fun playing together.

However, after a while, Yuan Yuan wasn’t having it anymore. One second she was laughing, and the next, her little mouth puckered up, about to cry.

Jiang Che was afraid she would cry, so he quickly scooped her up and headed outside.

“Wife, the little one’s hungry.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Wei Xuan, looking at the finely mashed egg yolk in the bowl, added a bit of water and stirred it before quickly walking out.

When Yuan Yuan saw her mother’s puckered lips, her own mouth instantly relaxed.

“Sit with her. I’ll feed her something first,” Wei Xuan directed Jiang Che to sit down.

At first, Yuan Yuan wasn’t sure what was going on. Why wasn’t her mom holding her? She was hungry and wanted milk.

She was about to open her mouth and cry out her frustration when Wei Xuan took the opportunity to feed her a spoonful of the egg yolk water.

Yuan Yuan’s crying was interrupted midway. When she tasted something in her mouth, she curiously used her tongue to explore it.

Hmm, what’s this? It tastes even better than milk.

Wei Xuan noticed that she accepted the egg yolk water and fed her a second spoonful.

“What’s this?” Yuan Yuan seemed to ask.

“It’s egg yolk with water. Now that she’s older, just milk isn’t enough to fill her up. I thought I’d try adding a little something else for her to eat. Oh, I also want to make some rice porridge for her. Later, grind some rice powder so it’ll be easier to prepare next time.”

“Got it.”

Yuan Yuan leaned against her dad’s chest, closing her eyes in enjoyment as her mom fed her.

She was eating happily, and when Wei Xuan wiped her mouth with a napkin, she said, “Alright, we can’t let her eat too much the first time.”

Wei Xuan handed the remaining task over to Jiang Che and took her daughter, ready to carry her into the house and feed her some milk.

Yuan Yuan wasn’t full yet. Seeing that her mother stopped feeding her, she made some noises, trying to let Wei Xuan know she still wanted more.

Wei Xuan, however, didn’t understand her, thinking her daughter was just playing. She responded with “oh, oh” sounds of her own.

When Yuan Yuan realized her mom wasn’t paying attention to her, she opened her mouth wide, about to cry out. Wei Xuan quickly shoved the milk bottle into her mouth.

As soon as Yuan Yuan smelled the familiar scent, she immediately forgot about the egg yolk water and began drinking eagerly, gulping down the milk.

Wei Xuan couldn’t help but laugh and gently scratched her little nose, “Slow down, no one’s going to take it from you. Don’t choke yourself.”

Now that Yuan Yuan was a bit older, she stayed awake longer during the day. After finishing the milk, Wei Xuan carried her outside. She saw that Jiang Che had finished drinking the remaining egg yolk water that Yuan Yuan hadn’t finished, so she asked him to hold the baby while she went to the cupboard, took out some rice, washed it clean, and then dry-fried it in a pan.

After about five or six minutes, the smell of toasted rice filled the air. Seeing that the rice in the pan had turned slightly yellow, Wei Xuan took the baby back from Jiang Che and asked him to take the rice outside to grind it.

“Make sure to grind it at least twice, the finer the better.”

“I got it.”

From that day on, Wei Xuan became fond of researching all kinds of solid foods for her daughter—apple juice, carrot juice, rice porridge, corn porridge, pumpkin puree, and various unsalted fish or bone broths.

In short, Wei Xuan enjoyed making the food, and Yuan Yuan enjoyed eating it.

Now, every afternoon was her happiest time because Wei Xuan would prepare the solid food while Yuan Yuan was taking her nap, so that when she woke up, it would be ready for her to eat.

Today, Wei Xuan had prepared a bowl of meat porridge, finely chopped minced meat cooked with rice porridge. Though it didn’t have any salt, it still smelled incredibly delicious.

Yuan Yuan ate eagerly, her little mouth going “bap bap” as she took one bite after another. Wei Xuan could barely keep up with her speed.

Just as Yuan Yuan finished and Wei Xuan wiped her mouth clean, Sister-in-law sister-in-law Wei arrived at the door.

“Third Sister-in-law, why are you here at this time? Are you on holiday today?”

“Yes, I had nothing to do at home, so I thought I’d come over and see Yuan Yuan,” sister-in-law Wei replied with a smile. She then looked at Yuan Yuan, teasing, “What’s Yuan Yuan doing? Do you remember your third aunt? How about giving your third aunt a hug?”

sister-in-law Wei lived nearby and often slipped over in the evenings, so Yuan Yuan was quite familiar with her.

Seeing that Yuan Yuan wasn’t shy, Wei Xuan handed the baby to sister-in-law Wei, “Sister-in-law, please hold her for a while. I’ll go wash the dishes.”

“Alright, you go ahead.”

After washing the dishes, Wei Xuan returned to the room, picked up some pastries, and went to the living room. “Sister-in-law, try this. Jiang Che bought it a couple of days ago, and I think it tastes pretty good.”

sister-in-law Wei wasn’t polite and immediately picked one up to eat.

After finishing one and drinking a glass of water, sister-in-law Wei finally spoke about the reason for her visit today.

“Little sister, you’ve been having me fill in here for over half a year now, and Yuan Yuan is already six months old. I’m wondering when you plan to go back to the supply and marketing cooperative?” She quickly added, sensing Wei Xuan might misunderstand, “I’m not rushing you; I just wanted to ask so I can be prepared.”

“Don’t worry, Sister-in-law, I haven’t been thinking too much about it.” Wei Xuan had been troubled by this issue recently as well. sister-in-law Wei had been in Beijing for quite a while, and it wasn’t just her brother, even her mother had written to mention this issue, so it wasn’t going to be good to delay it any longer.

But the thought of leaving her daughter and going back to work made her reluctant. After thinking for a while, she decided to be honest with sister-in-law Wei.

“Sister-in-law, to be honest, before Yuan Yuan was born, I could have said I’d send her to daycare when she got older, but now I really can’t bear to leave her. So I most likely won’t go back to the supply and marketing cooperative. Of course, I’m not asking you to keep filling in for me forever. If you put yourself in my shoes, you’d probably want to be with my brother and Xiangxiang too. Here’s what I’m thinking—please help me for a few more days while I look for someone to take over my job. Once I find someone, you can return home. What do you think?”

sister-in-law Wei was stunned. Just like that, Wei Xuan was giving up her job? Her younger sister-in-law was really generous.

“Okay, as long as you have a plan. Well, I’ll go then,” sister-in-law Wei said, clearly taken aback by Wei Xuan’s boldness. It wasn’t until she was out of the courtyard and the wind hit her that she snapped back to her senses.

When Wei Xuan said this in front of her, she actually wanted to see if sister-in-law Wei would take over the job. She hadn’t asked directly, worried that if she did, and if sister-in-law Wei wasn’t interested, it would be awkward. After all, pushing for something wasn’t good business.

By saying it more subtly, if sister-in-law Wei wasn’t interested, it wouldn’t stop her from selling the job. On the other hand, if she was, sister-in-law Wei would likely come and ask her about it. As for the details of how to negotiate between sister-in-law Wei and her brother, that was their business, and Wei Xuan didn’t need to interfere.

Wei Xuan’s judgment was right—sister-in-law Wei did have an interest. Although she hadn’t asked how much Wei Xuan was planning to sell the job for, she had a rough idea. After all, if she took it over, she was sure to make a profit.

Without even going home, she headed straight to the nearby public phone booth to call her family.