"Alas, it's all because Qingqing is too beautiful," Zhang Liunian said, joking as he retracted his hand and continued forward.
But Jiang Qingqing's face began to steam from his words, her eyes constantly flicking towards Zhang Liunian. Each glance made her blush deeper.
Zhang Liunian felt an urge to claim her right there and then.
But the location and time were not right.
"Daddy's home!"
As soon as he stepped into the yard of his mud-brick house, a small figure latched onto his leg. Zhang Liunian put down his wife and picked up his daughter. "Huabao, Daddy's fragrant daughter."
"Huabao is fragrant, Daddy likes it," Huabao puffed out her small chest, full of confidence.
Zhang Liunian looked at his daughter dotingly. "That's right, Daddy likes our Huabao."
"Hehe…"
Father and daughter played together until dinner.
Tonight's dinner was still very rich, with meat, fish, and eggs.
Zhang Xiaomei sat at the dinner table, looking at the abundant food, wanting to speak but hesitating.
Zhang Liunian scooped a piece of meat for her and smiled. "Xiaomei, don't worry, third brother isn't poor. Third brother is working as an individual business owner, and supporting everyone is no problem."
"But no matter how much money we have, won't it be eaten up like this?"
Zhang Xiaomei was worried, fearing she was causing her third brother's family to go bankrupt.
"Isn't the purpose of making money to let your family eat well, dress well, and live a good life? Is money made just to be put on display?"
Zhang Xiaomei found some sense in his words, but after thinking about it again, she felt it wasn't quite right. She wanted to say something, but seeing her third brother, sister-in-law, and niece eating happily, she swallowed her words.
In the evening, after paying Xiaomei and the mute, Zhang Liunian started to try making braised dishes.
To make braised dishes, he first needed to prepare the seasonings.
Zhang Liunian took out the eighteen ingredients he had bought in the past two days, weighing and distributing them one by one, then washing the pot, adding oil, and sautéing the spices…
About an hour later, the aroma wafted out from the iron pot, making Huabao, who was about to sleep, cry out that she was hungry.
"So fragrant, Huabao can't sleep." Huabao trotted out of the room and hugged Zhang Liunian's thigh, looking pitiful.
Zhang Liunian was just finishing putting away the ingredients. He patted his hands and picked up his daughter. "Then later, Daddy will get the meat out for our Huabao to try."
"Daddy is so good." Huabao giggled with joy, knowing she would soon eat delicious meat.
While the father and daughter were having a heartwarming time, Zhang Liunian's neighbors were suffering.
They had planned to sleep after dinner, but as soon as they lay down, they smelled a fragrance. The aroma was so intense that their not-quite-full stomachs kept rumbling.
Tu Meili and her son, who lived closest, tossed and turned, cursing. "Zhang Liunian, you scoundrel, making delicious food late at night. Are you deliberately retaliating against us!"
"Wow, it smells so good. Mom, I want to eat, I want to eat, I'm so hungry." Zhang Datou was also enticed by the smell and cried out, rolling around on the bed.
Seeing this, Tu Meili became even more annoyed. "It's no use crying to me. Without your father back, your mother and I have no money to buy meat."
"Wah, no, I want to eat meat, I want to eat meat." Hearing this, Zhang Datou continued to roll.
Tu Meili, irritated by her son's noise, got up and secretly went to Zhang Liunian's house.
Arriving at Zhang Liunian's tightly shut door, Tu Meili leaned closer and took a deep sniff. It smelled even more fragrant.
She truly wondered what Zhang Liunian was making that was so incredibly fragrant.
Just as Tu Meili was curious about what Zhang Liunian was doing, she heard Huabao eating inside. "Daddy, the meat is so delicious, you eat some too."
So they were eating meat again. This infuriated her.
Fearing she couldn't resist the aroma and would rush in to snatch the meat, Tu Meili turned away and left in anger.
Meanwhile, in the main hall, Zhang Liunian was smiling as he refused his daughter's offer to feed him. "Daddy already ate. Huabao, eat more yourself."
Zhang Liunian had eaten a few pieces earlier and confirmed it tasted like his previous life. He then fished out the rest of the meat, cut it in half with a knife, and sliced it thinly, placing it on two plates.
These two plates were for his younger sister and wife.
Both of them were in their rooms. Zhang Liunian carried the two portions of meat in, giving one to each of them, and then went back to continue cooking.
Jiang Qingqing and Zhang Xiaomei were also kept awake by the aroma. When Zhang Liunian brought them the meat, they immediately got up to taste it.
An intoxicating fragrance wafted to their noses upon the first bite, followed by a deliciousness they had never experienced before, lingering in their mouths.
Piece after piece, by the time they finished, they realized they had eaten a bowl of meat after already having dinner.
Holding their bowls, they walked out of the room and saw Zhang Liunian scooping out the dishes.
There was no meat left inside, only eggplant, peppers, and potatoes… filling an entire basin.
What… were there still vegetables?
Jiang Qingqing had never seen such a dish and stepped forward to examine it.
A moment later, Jiang Qingqing thought of a question and looked at her husband. "Liunian, you're making so much food, are you planning for us to eat it tomorrow?"
Zhang Liunian froze. He lowered his gaze to the washbasin beside him and realized the portion was indeed a bit large. He had been careless. "I wanted to try which flavor would be better, but I ended up making too much."
Just then, there was a knocking sound at the door. Zhang Liunian and Jiang Qingqing exchanged a glance, and Zhang Liunian personally opened the door.
As the door opened, more than ten pairs of eyes focused on Zhang Liunian.
Startled by the crowd, Zhang Liunian looked around, a bit dazed. He even saw Village Chief Zhang Laoshi inside.
When Village Chief Zhang saw Zhang Liunian looking at him, he looked a bit awkward. "I saw them coming towards your house, so I came to take a look."
After the village chief spoke, others began to chime in.
"Oh my, what on earth are you making? It smells so good, it's keeping us awake."
"Yes, it's too fragrant. How can we sleep?"
"Liunian, what exactly are you making? Why is it so fragrant?"
"…"
The aunts and uncles outside complained volubly.
Zhang Liunian finally understood. It was because his braised dishes were too fragrant, keeping them awake and making them curious enough to come and investigate.
"Aunties and uncles, I'm sorry. I'm making braised dishes that I plan to sell.
Since you've come, please take some home to try. It's a small gesture for disturbing your sweet dreams."
Zhang Liunian might be doing this often in the future, and it might still tempt them. To show his appreciation, he decided to share the freshly braised dishes with everyone.
Hearing that Zhang Liunian planned to sell them, the neighbors immediately waved their hands, refusing.
"No, no, you're going to sell these, we can't accept them."
"Yes, your family's situation isn't good either, we can't take advantage of you."
"That's right, that's right, no need to give them. We just came to see."
"Yes, just to see."
"…"
As soon as they finished speaking, they saw Zhang Liunian bringing out the braised dishes.