Chapter 16

The phone vibrated again, and only then did Xie Zhitang come back to herself. She hurriedly turned off the water, but when she lifted the glass, it scalded her hand.

Only then did she realize she had adjusted the temperature to over eighty degrees just now.

Xie Zhitang blew on her fingers, picked up her phone, and opened the message bar. Seeing the sentence Xin Geling had sent—“Sleep early”—her heart warmed slightly.

Auntie would accept her one day.

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The next day, Xin Geling and Lin Huailan went to the farmers’ market again. This time, they bought twice as much beef, lamb, pork belly, chicken wings, and chicken cartilage as yesterday.

Although there were still thirty grilled sausages left, those would not spoil even if stored for a long time, so they bought another box.

Since fewer people ordered potatoes, they bought a little less.

They also bought twice as much baby cabbage and chives as yesterday.

The seasonings were also bought in doubled amounts accordingly.

This time, Lin Huailan did not stop her at all. Looking at those ingredients, all she thought of was making money.

Even the movements of her hands as she chopped scallions, ginger, and garlic were nimble and brisk.

In the small kitchen stood one tall figure and one short figure, both busily preparing ingredients.

There was a lot of fresh meat. Xin Geling first had to cut the meat into large slices about one centimeter thick, then spread each slice on the cutting board and cut it into strips of the same one-centimeter width. Finally, she cut the strips into roughly even, one-centimeter square pieces of meat.

She placed them separately into several large stainless-steel basins, poured in the prepared marinade, mixed everything together, and put them into the refrigerator.

During the two hours of marinating, Xin Geling used some leftover beef scraps she had cut off to stir-fry a plate of green peppers with beef. She also made a vegetable dish of scrambled eggs with chives. Unexpectedly, while she was cooking, the flame went out.

Xin Geling bent down to check whether the gas cylinder had run out, and it really had.

There was still a half-cooked pan of chives and eggs in the wok. She could not just serve it half-raw. Beside it, the pressure cooker was still cooking a pot of pork trotter soup.

Speaking of the pork trotter soup, they had bought the trotters that morning while shopping for ingredients.

Since they had made money, they had to reward themselves properly and eat something good. Xin Geling had spent quite some effort persuading Ms. Lin, who was used to poverty, to buy ​bailiantales.com​two or three jin of pork trotters to stew into soup.

She had blanched them with star anise, ginger slices, scallions, and cooking wine to remove the smell, then added a plate of golden soybeans, a one-yuan bundle of loose goji berries, and a few northern red dates, pouring everything in to simmer together.

Now, the soup had already turned pale and was bubbling away. For the flame to suddenly go out was truly unpleasant.

So Xin Geling detached the gas cylinder, carried it downstairs to the stairwell, and swapped it with the small gas cylinder inside the stall cart to make do for now.

After reconnecting the gas, Xin Geling turned on the flame. The pork trotter soup in the pressure cooker continued boiling and simmering, while the chives and eggs in the wok were stir-fried over high heat. With a little salt added, a fragrant basin of chives and eggs was ready.

At last, larger pieces of meat could be seen on the dining table.

Xin Geling ladled soup for Lin Huailan. “Ms. Lin, eat more.”

Lin Huailan carefully accepted the bowl of soup with both hands. “Be careful. Don’t burn yourself.”

Xin Geling always watched her silently, the corners of her mouth curving from time to time.

Lin Huailan drank the soup, her face full of satisfaction. Even when holding a pork trotter in her hand and eating the meat, there was still an air of elegance in her every gesture.

Fortunately, those years of hardship had not completely destroyed all of her elegance as a teac[read the original at bailiantales.com]her, as a learned person.

After they ate and drank their fill, Grandma Chen suddenly came over and said her refrigerator had broken. She wanted Xin Geling to go over and help repair it.

Xin Geling thought she had nothing to do at the moment, so she went over to help Grandma Chen take a look.

“What part is broken?” Xin Geling opened the refrigerator door and found water leaking out.

Grandma Chen said, “I don’t know what happened. When I woke up this morning, water was seeping out of the refrigerator. It’s the same even when the door is closed.”

Xin Geling closed the refrigerator door again, opened and closed it several times, then crouched down to inspect it. In the end, she found the problem. “The refrigerator door isn’t closing tightly. The sealing strip has lost its magnetism.”

Grandma Chen sat on a stool in front of the round table, her wrinkled, shriveled mouth opening as she asked, “Can it be fixed?”

Xin Geling looked at Grandma Chen. “Yes, but I’ll need to go to a repair shop and buy the materials.”

Grandma Chen was about to take money from her pocket, but Xin Geling stood up first and walked out. “Grandma Chen, I’ll go buy the materials first.”

Grandma Chen’s hand had only just touched the money wrapped in a red plastic bag. Seeing Xin Geling’s back, she gave her a reproachful look.

Xin Geling went downstairs and directly went to a physical store that sold refrigerators. She reported the refrigerator’s dimensions, and before long, the staff quickly brought her a new sealing strip. Xin Geling took it back, and when she returned to the stairwell, she saw [stolen content]her stall cart and suddenly remembered that her gas cylinder had not been refilled with liquefied gas yet.

She would take it to exchange for a new one later.

Xin Geling carried the new sealing strip upstairs and fitted it onto Grandma Chen’s refrigerator door. After testing it several times and confirming there were no problems, she put away the tools on the floor.

“It’s fixed, Grandma Chen. There’s nothing wrong with the refrigerator now. I’ll go back first.”

Grandma Chen called after her, “How much was it? I’ll pay you.”

Xin Geling said, “Grandma Chen, why are you being so polite? No need for money.”

Grandma Chen said, “How can that be?”

Xin Geling picked up two apples from the table. “Then I’ll eat two of your apples.”

“…”

Grandma Chen kept watching until Xin Geling entered the apartment next door. “That child really has a good heart.”

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When Lin Huailan woke from her afternoon nap, she saw her daughter holding two apples. Just as she was about to ask, Xin Geling handed them over.

“Here. I helped Grandma Chen fix her refrigerator just now and took two apples as payment.”

Lin Huailan hesitantly accepted them. A moment later, she foolishly smiled for several seconds, then took a bite of an apple. “You know, your Grandma Chen’s apples are quite sweet.”

Xin Geling looked at her with smiling eyes. “Then should I give you mine too?”

Lin Huailan said, “Eat it yourself. Why give it to your mom? Mom already has one.”

“I’m going to exchange the gas cylinder.” Xin Geling walked out while biting into the crisp, grainy flesh of the apple.

“Go and come back quickly.”

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After carrying back a full fifteen-kilogram cylinder of new gas, Xin Geling pulled over a small stool and sat in the living room. On the floor in front of her was a basin of beef cubes, and on the low coffee table was an empty basin.

Bamboo skewers lay beside her wrist.

She picked up a skewer and threaded the marinated meat cubes onto it one by one, five pieces of meat per skewer.

Lin Huailan was skewering another basin of meat cubes. The two of them worked quietly. From time to time, Lin Huailan looked toward her daughter and saw her doing this dull, tedious work without a single complaint.

If it were another girl, who would be willing to do it?

Only her daughter was willing. Not only was she unafraid of exhaustion or dirt, she even took the initiative to help.

The same was true for rough work like repairing appliances.

Lin Huailan’s thoughts drifted back to many years ago, to her ex-husband and that unhappy marriage. It had clearly been that man who, after getting drunk, had repeatedly poured alcohol over important architectural drawings and ruined them. Unable to give an explanation for his work, he had turned around and blamed her instead, beating and cursing her.

She had endured it many times. Afraid that her daughter would also be dragged into it, she had only ever told her not to stand up for her.

But her forbearance had not earned her ex-husband’s understanding. Instead, he had become worse and worse. In the end, he had even brought his mistress home right in front of her and her daughter.

Lin Huailan still remembered that day after school. After teaching her last class and coming home, she saw her daughter sitting in the living room, expressionless, listening to the filthy words coming from the bedroom.

She had no idea how long her daughter had been listening. In that moment, as a mother, she had only [unauthorized copy]felt her scalp go numb, her mind go blank, and her hands and feet turn cold.

She did not even know whether she should be furious over being betrayed, or shocked that her daughter, so young, had heard such things.

She felt that things could not continue this way, and resolutely chose divorce. Fortunately, her daughter chose to stay with her. She spent no small amount of effort moving with her daughter to the area near the school.

The mother and daughter depended on each other for survival. Gradually, her daughter learned to share her burdens for her—repairing the air conditioner, fixing the refrigerator, repairing water pipes, fixing fans…

She did not even know when her daughter had learned all of these things.