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Chapter 292: Chapter 282: Never Insist
Shen Yunfang picked up the dead rabbit from the ground and brought it next to the stove. It was too late today, and skinning and cleaning up the rabbit would take a while, so she decided not to cook it that night and wait for a better time the next day to properly handle it.
After considering for a moment, she remembered there were pre-cooked lamb ribs in the storage space. She took out a head of garlic, peeled and smashed it in a garlic mortar, prepared the garlic sauce, and decided to make hand-pulled lamb ribs. With the meat dish settled, she needed a vegetarian option as well, so she took out some fresh green beans, added extra soybean oil in the pan, and made dry-fried green beans. Of course, she still had to feed Pangpang, so finally, she made a meatball soup.
The two dishes and one soup she prepared were all not too salty, as Li Hongjun, the rough man from the Northeast, preferred stronger flavors, so Shen Yunfang went to the storeroom and fetched him a few plates of pickles.
"Dinner’s ready," Shen Yunfang called out from the kitchen.
"Okay," Li Hongjun replied from inside the house before lowering his head to instruct his son, "Son, your mom and dad are going to eat now. Anyway, you can’t eat, and you’d just feel envious watching. Why don’t you sleep for a bit, and dad will chat with you after finishing dinner."
Seeing that his son, with wide eyes, showed no intention of sleeping, Li Hongjun could only follow his son’s wishes, letting him observe his parents’ meal firsthand.
He tugged the little quilt to the edge of the brick bed and set up the small table on it.
Once the dishes were served, the couple began to eat. Li Hongjun picked up a large white bun and bit off half in one go, finishing a bun in just two bites.
Of course, meat was his favorite dish, and after serving his wife the best piece of lamb rib, he began eagerly chewing on the less meaty, more difficult-to-chew ribs, dipping them in garlic sauce with gusto.
After finishing, he casually threw the bones onto the ground where Taxue, already crouching and waiting, was happy to oblige. The father and son had a tacit understanding.
Meanwhile, Shen Yunfang took the opportunity to recount her visits to Sister Wu and Liu Shuli’s homes that day.
Naturally, she spoke with some emotional coloring, which indirectly influenced Li Hongjun to also foster a negative impression of Liu Shuli.
"If they don’t have time, then let it be," Li Hongjun concluded in the end. "Inviting people over for a meal is just a gesture of goodwill; there’s no need to insist."
The purpose of inviting people to dine was not to butter up or please anyone, but simply to gather some close friends for a lively meal, celebrating the move into a new home. He wouldn’t press anyone who really didn’t want to come. After all, it’d mean saving on a meal for one more person, which wasn’t such a bad thing.
The truth was, although Li Hongjun’s relationship with Wu Chaoyang wasn’t as close as with his old buddy Wu Guoqiang, it was still good. They got along well on a regular basis. He really didn’t expect Wu’s wife to have such a personality.
"I feel the same way," Shen Yunfang agreed. "I guess the wife of Commander Wu holds herself rather high and probably looks down on a village girl like me. I figured I might as well not always show up and bother them. We can talk if there’s business, but otherwise, I won’t go." That’s how it is with friendships; it’s important to find people who genuinely get along. If one side is always reaching up to the other, it’s not going to last. This logic applies to relationships between men and women, and just as well among women or men.
Li Hongjun agreed, and the couple moved on to discuss what dishes to prepare for the guests next week.
This really needed careful consideration; serving something too fancy wouldn’t do, as they couldn’t explain where it came from, yet anything too shabby wouldn’t be presentable either.
Afterwards, the couple put their heads together and discussed, finally deciding on the final menu.
It was February when only a few households still had stored autumn vegetables. Those who knew how to manage a household might have some dried vegetables left, but other greens were generally out of the question. Taking stock of these fundamental conditions, Shen Yunfang counted the ingredients her family could offer using her fingers.
"We openly have cabbages, radishes, and potatoes. When the time comes, we’ll just make stewed cabbage with potatoes. It might be a bit plain," Shen Yunfang said. She still wanted to host a dinner that looked decent, to receive praise from her guests rather than serve something that looked shabby, lest they talk behind their backs later, which would make the effort not worthwhile.
Li Hongjun, however, was unconcerned. "Being able to eat radishes and cabbages these days is already good. We just need to make a larger quantity," Li Hongjun said. He truly understood the hardships of the people, having previously dined daily at the canteen without much thought. Now that he had a home and cooked for himself, he learned from his colleagues that having some autumn vegetables at this time meant you were a good household, deserving of praise for the lady’s management skills. For most families who couldn’t bear to buy and store that many autumn vegetables, their table would now mainly feature pickled and salted vegetables.
"That shouldn’t be the case. Aren’t the guests coming over all on good terms with you? It would be embarrassing to just serve them radishes and cabbages," Shen Yunfang felt that serving only these was a bit improper.
"Precisely because we’re on good terms, we don’t need to fuss over it. It’s good enough to have something to eat," Li Hongjun didn’t want to worry about it any further and turned over, lying on his back on the heated brick bed, pulling his son over to cuddle with him.
Seeing that he was of no help, Shen Yunfang racked her brains to think of dishes that would be suitable to serve.
In the end, she decided to carry forward the revolutionary spirit of the iron man Wang Jinxi—if there were conditions, press on; if there were none, create them and press on regardless.
If they didn’t have fresh vegetables to offer, then she would prepare some presentable fresh vegetables herself.
Firstly, they had various beans at home, and she could sprout some mung bean and soybean sprouts. The soybean sprouts didn’t need to grow too long; they could be stir-fried with cured meat. The mung bean sprouts could be mixed with glass noodles to make a cold dish.
They also had garlic at home, so she could start growing some garlic sprouts in an iron dish. In about a week, they should be long enough to stir-fry with eggs.
They could also use some dried vegetables. Dried eggplants could be used to make a braised eggplant pot, which both adults and children loved.
They certainly needed meat, but taking it from their own supply wasn’t ideal. Li Hongjun said they could ask the soldier responsible for procurement from the canteen to help buy some meat in the city. After calculating the meat vouchers they had, they could buy about ten pounds of meat. When the time came, they would see if they could also get someone to bring back a few bones or pig offal.
Well, perhaps they shouldn’t eat Taxue’s rabbit for the time being, as it could also make a dish.
Adding it all up, they should roughly come up with eight dishes, which ought to be enough.
Although Shen Yunfang had been transplanted into this time for almost four years, during these years she was either not celebrating New Year on her own or was just getting by outside. Thus, she had no idea that the dishes she was preparing were better than what other families had for New Year’s.
After finalizing her plans, Shen Yunfang hurried to discuss them with Li Hongjun.
One stir-fried soybean sprouts with cured meat, one cold mung bean sprouts, pickled cabbage and kelp stewed with big bones, braised dried eggplants, scrambled eggs with dried cucumber, potato stewed with quails, steamed pumpkin with minced meat sauce or egg sauce, and finally, a deep-fried combo plate with fried radish balls, fried mushrooms, fried potato strips, which could be eaten with the grape jam she had picked in the mountains last autumn.
Li Hongjun thought it over and nodded in agreement. Although it seemed a bit extravagant, on second thought, there was nothing inappropriate about it. Every household had beans, and his wife sprouting some bean sprouts was no grand affair. Others would only admire his wife’s homemaking and resourcefulness. However, they needed to be cautious about the meat, not having the soldier from the kitchen purchase too much at once, as that would draw too much attention.
After further consideration, Li Hongjun decided they would exchange for five pounds of meat, three of which should be pork lard, so they could rely on using the fat for frying and cooking other dishes.
