Rebirth to the Eighties to Get Rich

Chapter 84 – Why Does It Smell So Good?

When Ji Jianyun went back home, he headed straight to the kitchen to cook fish soup. His wife really liked his fish soup and he had just caught a few crucian carps. They were not big, and weighed about half a jin.

This soup was nourishing and it was good for his wife in producing milk.

After putting the fish down to simmer, Aunt Yang knocked on the door. Ji Jianyun opened it and let her in. Da Hei was familiar with this neighbor. He knew that since his male owner was around, he didn’t have to pay much attention to her.

“Aunt, go in and have a cup of ginger jujube tea to warm yourself up. You can pick some celery later. It’s still early,” Ji Jianyun greeted her.

It was only a little after four o’clock now. People here usually didn’t eat until after five o’clock.

“Then I’ll go in and see my great-nephew.” Aunt Yang smiled.

After Ji Jianyun let her in, he said to Su Danhong, “Danhong, can you pour aunt a glass of water? I still have to finish some things in the kitchen.”

“Okay, go ahead.” Su Danhong was also very well acquainted with Aunt Yang and smiled.

Ji Jianyun went back to cooking. He was going to take the rest of the fish to his mother and grind them up so that he could make some fried fish balls. He liked to eat fish balls.

His mother would be stressed out and reluctant to use oil for this. Thus, he planned to take it home to fry it. His wife did not care about how he cooked things.

But before he did that, Ji Jianyun went to the back greenhouse to pick out some celery for Aunt Yang.

Su Danhong was chatting with Aunt Yang. Aunt Yang was very fond of Xiao Renren and cherished him. She picked up the child as soon as she came in and boasted, “This has to be because of how well his mother takes care of him. Look at Xiao Renren, no one in the village can be as good as him.”

She boasted a little too much, but Su Danhong liked to hear it.

While she did like to hear it, she still had to be modest. With a smile, she said “Aunt, you don’t have to be so nice. This kid is very naughty. You’ve never seen him throw a tantrum and not let us sleep in the middle of the night.”

“What tantrum? You’ve never seen a real one. Renren is the best child I have ever seen,” Aunt Yang contradicted her.

She would come over from time to time to watch over Xiao Renren. Every time she saw him, he looked tidy and squeaky clean. Sometimes he laid on the bed to play, giggling in such a precious way.

Su Danhong smiled and was about to say something when she heard Xiao Renren, who was being held by Aunt Yang, crying “Ah, ah” and looking anxious.

She quickly took her child and held him over the urinal. As soon as it was aimed, he lost control and went full blast.

Aunt Yang was surprised and asked, “He can make a noise when he wants to pee?”

“This stinky little kid likes to be clean. He used to pee all over himself and then he would feel unwell. After that, he will make a noise before he pees,” Su Danhong replied.

Aunt Yang was very surprised and exclaimed, “How old is Xiao Renren to know how to do this? He must be a smart kid!”

Su Danhong smiled.

She soon cleaned up the happy boy in her arms and filled a bottle of warm milk for him to drink.

The little guy happily drank the bottle in his arms.

“Aunt, you really don’t know how much this stinky kid loves to be clean. I just wiped his body the day before yesterday, but he threw a fit today until I wiped him clean,” Su Danhong said.

In this cold weather, she was also worried that her child would catch a cold. Unexpectedly, this boy was even more excessive than she was. He needed his body wiped and liked to play in the water.

But she couldn’t let him play in the water. She simply wiped him down, or his father would wrap him in a towel and use the steam from a hot pot to clean him.

It was really annoying.

Aunt Yang smiled, glanced at the little guy drinking milk. She chatted a little more, and then said she needed to leave.

Su Danhong put the little guy on the bed to play by himself. She sent Aunt Yang out and gave her the celery.

“Why is there so much? Just a little bit is needed to make dumplings,” Aunt Yang said at once when she looked at how much celery there was.

“I can’t finish this or save it for the next meal,” Su Danhong responded.

Aunt Yang smiled and did not say more.

After seeing Aunt Yang off, Su Danhong went back to the room, and her peevish son had already fallen asleep.

Su Danhong couldn’t do anything about this kid because when he went to sleep, he would sleep until about seven or eight o’clock. And when he woke up, he would be energetic for a few hours.

But she took care of him. She tucked him in, and went to the kitchen.

The smell of crucian carp soup filled the kitchen. Su Danhong was very pleased, and quickly took out some dumpling skins to make dumplings. Whether it was meat or dumpling skins, both were readily available in the refrigerator.

It was such a cold day that food would turn cold when it was served. It was convenient to eat dumplings during this time since it was filling and was warm when eaten.

When Ji Jianyun came back, she had already finished making the dumplings, and all she had to do was put it in the pot.

“What are you doing?” Su Danhong asked when she saw him bring back a basin.

“I want to fry some fish balls,” Ji Jianyun replied.

Su Danhong glanced at the chopped fish. It still had fish bones and the other parts. She suddenly lost her appetite and stated, “Do it after we finish eating.”

The kitchen was very big and had all the utensils he needed to mess around with.

“Okay.” Ji Jianyun nodded.

Su Danhong put the dumplings into the pot. Soon, they had a pot of boiled dumplings. The food was first sent to Father Ji. The meal also included a thermos of ginger jujube tea, which was essential. Father Ji liked drinking this.

When Ji Jianyun returned from delivering the meal, the couple had their dinner. After feeding the dogs, Ji Jianyun rolled up his sleeves and began to fry the fish balls.

Su Danhong went back to the room. While her son was sleeping, she took out the embroidery frame and began to embroider.

Currently, she had to work while her boy was asleep. If not, she would  have to coax him for a while, which would distract her from embroidering.

She already had a piece of embroidery made, but it had been so cold that she didn’t let Ji Jianyun go into town. She was waiting to go after the New Year. The piece she was embroidering right now was only ⅓ done. At this rate, she could finish by New Year’s Eve.

But as she was embroidering, a nice smell came in.

This time, Ji Jianyun had prepared a lot of other ingredients: chives, ginger, a little chili pepper, and lard. The fried fish balls were full of flavor and looked delicious!

“Jianyun, why does it smell so good? What did you make?” Su Danhong came over and had to ask.

“Fried fish balls,” Ji Jianyun answered with a smile. He pointed at the ones he finished frying next to him, and said,  “Try it. I just ate one, and it tastes great!”

Su Danhong swallowed her saliva. She took the chopsticks and was about to pick up one to eat. Then, she immediately remembered something and asked, “Did you put chili pepper in it?”

“Yes, but only a little.” Ji Jianyun was confused, but quickly remembered that his wife couldn’t eat chili pepper yet!