Chapter 8: The Scent of Meat? Someone’s Cooking Meat at Home? The Li Family’s Astonishment

“Sister-in-law, you go out and rest. I’ll make lunch today,” Li Su declared with fervor. “Sister-in-law, please light the fire for me.”

As a young person of the new era, Li Su knew how to cook—and quite well—but he truly couldn't handle lighting the stove.

Jiang Yu looked at him as if he were joking, “Fourth, stop messing around. Go out now, or our parents will be back any minute.”

“I’m serious. Either I cook or you do, but we need to make rice and meat. After working so hard in the fields all day, if we don’t eat well, how will our bodies hold up?” Li Su insisted, resolutely. “Are we saving what we bought for New Year’s?”

Jiang Yu hesitated, conflicted, but finally gritted her teeth. “Fine, I’ll cook. Fourth, get out now.”

“Hooray! We get to eat meat today!” Li Ziruo, who had been hanging onto the doorframe, cheered as she listened to their conversation.

Li Su leisurely lowered his sleeves and went out, carrying the bag of malt sugar.

Jiang Yu felt as if she had fallen into a trap.

Li Su took out a piece of malt sugar from the bag and handed it to Li Ziruo. “As promised, here’s your candy.”

“Wow! Uncle, you’re the best uncle in the world!” Li Ziruo exclaimed, her eyes fixed on the candy. She cupped it in her little hands, cautiously reached out her tongue and licked it, her face enraptured—it really was sweet and delicious. Er Niu hadn’t lied.

Li Su felt both amused and a little sorry for her. “Ziruo, why aren’t you out playing with your friends?”

Li Ziruo licked the candy again. “They don’t want to play with me.”

“Why?”

“They say I always mooch food and fun, that I’m a little beggar. They even push me. I hit them back, but honestly, I don’t want to play with them.”

“What about Er Niu?”

“She doesn’t play with me either. She just likes to show off her treats and make me beg. If she’s in a good mood, she’ll let me lick a bit, but usually she won’t share.”

Li Su was speechless.

“Normally, I play with my brothers, but now they have to help in the fields. I can play with Xiao Huang.”

Li Ziruo savored her malt sugar, licking it a few times before putting it away.

“Why not finish it?” Li Su asked.

Li Ziruo lifted her chin proudly. “I want to show Er Niu the malt sugar Uncle bought for me.” With that, she ran off, cradling her precious candy.

Li Su stared in surprise at the little girl’s short legs as she dashed away.

He guessed that most of the family’s money had been given to the original owner, so while other children occasionally had snacks, the kids in their family could only watch others eat them.

How could he let that stand? From now on, he’d make sure the children at home had plenty of treats.

…

Li Ziruo ran off to find Er Niu. The children in the village of similar age were all playing together, so Er Niu was surrounded by many others.

Er Dan pointed at Li Ziruo. “Little beggar, we won’t play with you. Go away!”

Li Ziruo bared her teeth at Er Dan and ignored him, turning instead to Er Niu. “Er Niu, you were right—the malt sugar is really tasty.”

Er Niu’s eyes widened. “Where did you get that malt sugar?”

As soon as they heard the word “malt sugar,” the children’s eyes lit up, wolfish gazes fixed hungrily on the candy in Li Ziruo’s hands.

“My uncle bought it for me!” Li Ziruo held her head high, full of pride.

“No way! Your uncle only ever scolds you!”

“That’s not true. My uncle is really nice to me now. He even carries me and buys me candy.”

“Ziruo, can we have some of your candy? We’ll let you play with us from now on,” the children pleaded, eyes glued to the treat.

Li Ziruo thought for a moment. “Then you have to share your snacks with me in the future.”

“Mm-hmm!”

The group of children smashed the malt sugar and divided it, each getting a tiny piece to savor its sweetness.

“Ziruo, why did your uncle buy you candy?”

“I told him I wanted malt sugar, so he bought it.”

In a child’s world, anyone with candy is a good friend. But Li Ziruo was thinking about lunch. “Let’s play after we eat. I need to go home for lunch.” Today, after all, there was meat.

…

The Li family, exhausted, arrived at the gate of their house. Li Zhengqiang sniffed hard. “Why do I smell meat? Who’s eating meat when it’s neither festival nor holiday?”

Feng Cuicui shot him a glare. “You must be dreaming of meat.”

Li Zhengqiang grinned foolishly. “Mom, when will our family have a meal with meat?”

“Meat? We can barely afford rice, let alone meat,” Dong Fangfang said irritably. “But… it really does smell like meat.”

Li Zhengyi joked, “Well, we can eat our meal while smelling the meat. That counts as having meat with rice, right?”

They couldn’t help but laugh. Feng Cuicui thought for a moment. “Once this busy spell is over, I’ll buy some meat.”

“Why does it smell like it’s coming from our house?” Li Daping asked as they got closer.

Everyone exchanged glances. Feng Cuicui said, “You all wash up first. I’ll go check.”

Li Su was in his room, practicing calligraphy and tidying his books. Tomorrow, he would return to the private school.

…

Feng Cuicui entered the kitchen and saw Jiang Yu frying meat. She asked in surprise, “Eldest daughter-in-law, where did the meat come from?”

Jiang Yu was calm now, even a bit mischievous. She’d already been shocked herself—now it was her turn to watch everyone else be amazed.

She replied coolly, “Mother, Fourth bought it. I didn’t want to cook it at first, but he said if I didn’t, he’d do it himself. So I had to, to avoid wasting good food.”

Feng Cuicui nodded immediately. “Right, he doesn’t know how to cook. Don’t let him ruin the meat.” She doted on her children, but meat couldn’t be wasted.

Feng Cuicui figured Li Su must have used the money she gave him to buy meat for the family. She felt even more gratified—Fourth was finally learning to care for his family.

“If he wants you to cook, just do it,” Feng Cuicui said, then went out to wash the dirt off herself.

As she emerged, several pairs of expectant eyes looked at her. Feng Cuicui announced, “You all have sharp noses—it was Fourth who bought the meat. The eldest daughter-in-law has already cooked it. Once you’re clean, prepare for dinner.”

Everyone visibly brightened with excitement. Feng Cuicui shook her head helplessly—both young and old were greedy for meat.

Li Zilin and Li Ziliang swallowed hard. Eggs yesterday, meat today—life was getting better and better!

Yesterday’s eggs were from their uncle, today’s meat was bought by him too. This new uncle was simply wonderful!

They hoped he would always stay this way and never return to his old self.

The family gathered at the table. No one reached for the food first, but all gazes constantly drifted to the plate of meat.

“Zilin, go call your uncle for dinner,” Li Daping said.

Li Zilin responded eagerly, “Okay!”

Li Ziruo jumped off her stool. “I want to go too!”

Li Ziliang, full of envy, wanted to go as well but didn’t move. He watched as his brother and sister ran to their uncle’s door, slumping in his seat.

“Uncle, uncle, time to eat!” Li Zilin called, gently knocking on Li Su’s room.

Li Su opened the door and smiled at the two children. “Let’s go eat.”

Li Ziruo and Li Zilin were momentarily dazed. They both thought, Uncle’s smile is truly beautiful.

Li Su led the two children to the dinner table.

“Fourth is here. Dish up the rice and let’s eat. If I’d known we’d have meat for lunch, I would have told the eldest daughter-in-law to mix some rice into the millet,” Feng Cuicui said with regret.