Witty Wife, Better Life-Chapter 81 - 79 Eat Meat

Shen Yunfang packed almost four fifths of the meat for Dashuan, all pure meat, because Dashuan said that meat with bones wouldn’t fetch a good price, as nobody was in the mood to gnaw on bones at that time. So, Yunfang let Dashuan trim out all the bones, which others might not fancy, but she herself loved them.

After starting work, Yunfang’s mind wandered again. These past few days, distracted by the thought of the wild boar on the mountain, she had been slacking off at work for several days, digging wild vegetables absently and, when milking the sheep, even caused the ewes to bleat incessantly.

Today, she found it even harder to settle down. Please understand the cravings of a woman who hadn’t touched a piece of meat for many months.

After filling another basket with wild vegetables, Yunfang made up her mind that she must put meat into her mouth by noon today.

Luckily today, she hadn’t led the flock far before she started sprinting home with the sheep in tow.

She got the fire going and the pot scrubbed in one breath, then took some sugar to caramelize, following which she tossed the prepared chunks of pork into the pot. She even took out a bunch of vermicelli but then decided to put it back; today was just for pure braised pork.

When the pot began to boil, Yunfang sat in front of the stove drooling. Half an hour later, when the braised pork came out of the pot, just looking at the glistening, ruddy, trembling pieces of meat made her mouth water uncontrollably.

She filled a full basin with the enamel bowl and poured the remaining pork into another bowl, then directly stored it in her space—those would be saved for her to enjoy slowly later.

Then she found another basin to cover the one with the braised pork, stuffed a pig’s foreleg into the basket, covered it with a cloth, and, with one hand clutching the basin and the other holding the basket, headed off to the Wang Family’s home.

It was just as well that Yunfang’s house was on the very edge of the village; otherwise, the scent of her cooking might have wafted over the whole place.

When Yunfang pushed through the door into the Wang Family’s courtyard, they were also having their meal: a dish of sauce-dipped vegetables, a pot of braised eggplants and a bowl of egg custard in front of Xiaojuan.

"Why are you here at this time? Have you eaten yet? Come, have some," said Dashuan’s wife, noticing Yunfang holding something and swiftly standing up to help. "What’s this?"

"Open it and see," Yunfang said, placing the basket aside.

As the two basins were uncovered, the rich scent of meat wafted out.

Oh, it’s delicious. frёewebηovel.cѳm

"Did you stew this? Just bring it here, you should have eaten it yourself," Dashuan’s wife said, feeling a little embarrassed. How could she put this? Her family was likely earning money because of Yunfang, and now they were eating her meat; she felt it wasn’t right.

"Meat, Mommy, I want meat," Xiaojuan also caught the scent of meat and immediately stood up from the kang, peering eagerly into her mother’s basin. (Xiaojuan used to call her mother ’Mom,’ but after hearing Auntie Yunfang saying that city kids call their mothers ’Mommy,’ she insisted on changing how she addressed her.)

"Hehe, see? I brought it here to eat with Xiaojuan," Yunfang took the basin from her arms and shifted the pot of braised eggplants to make room, placing the braised pork in the middle.

"Yes, I’ll eat with Auntie Yunfang," Xiaojuan beamed, with a grin that showed her tiny teeth.

Wang Granny, fondly caressing her granddaughter’s head, said, "It isn’t easy to get hold of some meat; you should keep it to yourself. Why bring it here? Take it back quickly."

The daughter-in-law had told her about Yunfang catching a wild boar all by herself and about Dashuan helping to sell the pork at noon, so she knew that Yunfang’s house hadn’t kept much meat. All the good meat had been sold, leaving only some scraps and unwanted bones.

When Xiaojuan heard her grandmother telling Auntie Yunfang to take the meat back, she looked up at her pitifully but didn’t throw a tantrum insisting on having the meat.

Yunfang didn’t care about any of that; she took off her shoes, climbed up onto the kang beside Xiaojuan, and picked up a pair of chopsticks from the table to place a piece of layered fat and lean pork into Xiaojuan’s bowl. "Here, Xiaojuan, if your mom and your grandma won’t eat, then we will. Go ahead, don’t mind them."

Xiaojuan, coveting the meat in her bowl, was a sensible kid. Although she wanted to eat, she didn’t immediately reach for the chopsticks. Instead, she looked up at her grandmother.

Mrs. Wang sighed. Skipping one piece of meat herself was nothing, but the thought of rejecting her hopeful granddaughter was too difficult to express.

"Go ahead and eat, your Auntie Yunfang made this especially for you. Eat a little more and you’ll grow strong," she said, her words heavy with expectation for the child.

"Exactly, Auntie Yunfang is right, isn’t she?" Shen Yunfang winked playfully at Xiaojuan.

"Mhm." Xiaojuan vigorously nodded, then began to eat the meat, but before she could finish her first bite, she remembered her mother and grandmother. Hurriedly, she spit out the piece of meat she was chewing and used her chopsticks to pick a piece for both her mother’s and grandmother’s bowls, "Mom and Grandma should eat too."

Shen Yunfang feigned jealousy, "How come Auntie Yunfang doesn’t have any?"

"Auntie Yunfang should eat too." Xiaojuan obediently picked a piece of meat for Shen Yunfang as well.

"Alright, let’s all eat," Shen Yunfang said contentedly as she chewed the meat in her mouth, then called out, not quite articulate, "Sister-in-law, Mrs. Wang, hurry up and eat before it gets cold. You should all try my cooking skills."

And she wasn’t bragging – her cooking skills were indeed something to talk about. When the braised pork had just come off the stove, she couldn’t resist eating several bites. It was fatty, but not greasy, simply divine.

Seeing the child had begun to eat, Mrs. Wang and Dashuan’s wife stopped refusing and served Shen Yunfang a bowl of thick porridge. Then the four of them gathered around the table and started eating.

"Yunfang, Meiling told me that People’s Liberation Army comrades helped you bring down the boar from the mountain. What are they doing up in our mountains? Has something happened?" Mrs. Wang couldn’t hold back and voiced her curiosity.

Meiling is Dashuan’s wife’s maiden name.

"Ma, haven’t I told you? The People’s Liberation Army comrades are on a secret mission here. It can’t be disclosed. If by chance we leak their secret and the country suffers any loss, our sin would be grave," Dashuan’s wife quickly interjected, regretting having mentioned it to the old lady.

Mrs. Wang glared at her daughter-in-law, discontented, "Am I such an indiscreet person? I spoke only because we are not strangers."

Dashuan’s wife smiled and said nothing.

"Mrs. Wang, I really don’t know. They said it was a secret mission, so I didn’t dare ask further," Shen Yunfang found time to add.

"Yes, secrets are secrets for a reason. Ah, I was just hoping to find out if there was anything we could help with," Mrs. Wang sighed. "Xiaojuan, you can’t eat anymore."

Finally, the old lady noticed her granddaughter steadily eating the meat. This was not good – a child’s digestion is delicate, and suddenly consuming something so greasy could upset her stomach.

Xiaojuan reluctantly put down her chopsticks, looked down at her bowl, and fell silent.

"Xiaojuan hasn’t had enough, right? Don’t worry, there’s still so much meat left. We’ll save it for you to eat tonight," Shen Yunfang hurriedly comforted her.

Xiaojuan looked at the bowl on the table, then turned to Shen Yunfang and said, "Auntie Yunfang, you can’t give it all to me, Dad hasn’t eaten yet."

"Ah, Xiaojuan is so filial. Your parents are lucky to have raised you," Shen Yunfang said affectionately as she pecked Xiaojuan on the cheek, then added with the child’s giggles in the background, "Don’t worry, I also brought over a big pork leg. When your dad comes back, you can have your mom cook it for him."

"Look at you, taking just a bit to eat would’ve been enough. Why did you bring over a whole pork leg? Hurry and take it back later, we barely kept much for ourselves." Mrs. Wang, upon hearing what Shen Yunfang said, quickly lifted the lid of the basket to see it was a pig’s knuckle and refused to accept it.

Shen Yunfang didn’t reply, having brought it over, she truly intended to give it away – there was no taking it back now.