Chapter 153

After Xu Ran left, Wu Mei told Xu An who was still eating, “Dear, Xu Ran often treats us to meals. Maybe we should also treat him back, or I will feel embarrassed to go to his home.”

Xu An finished the meal in his bowl quickly and said, “You’re right. We might be invited by him during the Spring Festival. Let’s treat our guests a meal tomorrow. And the other two families must invite us to dinner, too. Then we can have a big meal every day till the New Year’s Eve.”

Hearing Xu An’s words, Wu Mei smiled. “Good! Now, eat quickly and think about what to cook tomorrow. Only a few dishes could be prepared during winter, and Xu Ran must often eat them at home. Now, we have two more guests, so we’d better figure out something new.”

Xu An replied indifferently, “Why do you think so much? Just prepare a daily meal. Since Liu Tong likes to eat our Zha Cai (pickled mustard plant stems), why don’t you cook some for him? As for those guests of their family, Zhuo Yun seems not a picky person, and it’ must be easy to satisfy him.”

“Alright, I’ll cook as usual. By the way, we’ve bought two fish, right? I can cook one for Liu Tong. He likes to eat sour and spicy food. He doesn’t have any taboos on eating since he has finished the postpartum confinement now. He must be happy.”

Xu An didn’t have any objections. “Up to you. I can buy fish when they are sold again.”

Then, the two of them decided the invitation.

Xu Ran heard the same explanation from the other two families that they felt embarrassed to be treated so frequently.

Xu Ran didn’t care about that, as his families would have meals even if there was no guest. Besides, these people had helped him a lot.

In any case, Xu Ran thought so. Then, he invited Wu Lan and Liu Qing, and they promised to come in the evening.

Then, Xu Ran went home. It was the first time for them to eat hotpot, and there were many things to be prepared. Shao Yu must feel overwhelmed. And he didn’t know much about the hotpot.

After Xu Ran went back, he first went to the living room and saw that Zhuo Yun and Qin Shuwen were hugging two babies and playing with them on beds. One was his little Baozi, the other was little Qinshu. Besides them, Xu Ran didn’t see anyone else and asked, “Where’re the others? Why are you looking after little Baozi?”

Zhuo Yun said while teasing Baozi, “Your Liu Tong went to the kitchen to offter help. Mr. Hu went to find someone to play chess. As for Tangtang, Guoguo and Gao Quan, I don’t know where they’测gone.”

Then, Xu Ran told Zhuo Yun to take good care of Baozi and went to the kitchen.

And he saw Shao Yu  was cutting vegetables while talking to Liu Tong.

Shao Yu asked, “I wonder what the master is going to do. Why does he ask me to prepare so many vegetables? It’s beyond our appetite.”

Liu Tong replied with a smile, “He likes these strange and interesting things, don’t you know? Fortunately, it’s cold now and the food can be kept fresh easily. It’s fine even if we can’t consume all of them tonight. Just eat them tomorrow.”

Shao Yu replied, “Right!”

Hearing their conversation, Xu Ran walked over to Liu Tong. “Let me cut the vegetables, Tongtong. Don’t touch cold water now.”

Liu Tong refused. “You cut your finger last time, don’t you remember? The New Year’s Eve’s coming. I don’t think it wise to let you cut anything.”

Xu Ran felt wronged, “It was just an accident! You can’t stop me from cutting vegetables because of it!”

Liu Tong smiled, “Yes, I can! Go ahead with your work. Why are you preparing so many vegetables?”

Xu Ran turned around mysteriously. “You’ll know the answer tonight. I’ll go to clean a big iron basin and make delicious food for you.”

He replied as if teasing a kid.

Again, Liu Tong couldn’t help laughing.

Xu Ran’s pots were too big, and it was inconvenient to eat hotpot in these pots. Therefore, Xu Ran wanted to make a pot with a big iron basin. There were two basins for washing vegetables, which could be used as pots as long as they were cleaned and sterilized in boiling water. The only disadvantage was that the basin would be faded after being cleaned.

Xu Ran wondered if Liu Tong would beat him up.

Anyway, he would make the hotpot tonight.

After cleaning the iron basin, Xu Ran began to prepare the hotpot base. The two primary ingredients were pepper and chili.

Many other ingredients were added too.

Liu Tong and Shao Yu had been also busy for half an afternoon making a lot of preparations.

Xu Ran asked them to have a rest and wait for the guests including Wu Mei.

“Did you invite Wu Mei and the others over here?” Liu Tong asked.

Xu Ran nodded. “Yes. What’s up?”

Liu Tong shook his head. “Nothing. I was just worried that they would feel embarrassed to have dinner with us so frequently.”

Xu Ran touched his nose and thought, ‘Tongtong was so considerate.’

Looking at Xu Ran, Liu Tong knew what he was thinking. He smiled and explained, “There are few happy events in our village, so few people would invite others to their home. Most people are living a frugal life now, you know… and their diet tends to be simple. Few people would treat others to meals every now and then like us.”

Hearing that, Xu Ran understood it instantly. Indeed! He invited his friends to dinner too frequently.

Then, he told Liu Tong, “It’s alright. The Spring Festival’s coming. It would be next year if we invite them after the festival. Anyway, it’s the last time this year!”

Hearing that, Liu Tong said nothing. He didn’t care that Wu Mei had had meals with them so frequently but he was afraid that this might cause some distances between them.

…

When it was almost dark, Wu Mei and the others came. They were holding baskets in their hands, in which were quite a few vegetables.

Liu Tong opened the door and found the things in the basket. He was quite surprised, “Why are you guys bringing so much food here?”

Wu Mei walked into the house with the basket, followed by Xu An and their two children.

Wu Mei replied, “Xu Ran had asked us to bring these things. He said that he was going to cook something interesting and delicious, but you didn’t have enough kinds of vegetables, so I picked some in my garden, although they are quite tiny.”

Liu Tong took the basket and said to Wu Mei, “How could he to do that?! How could he ask you to bring vegetables when inviting you to dinner! What if you would feel embarrassed and refuse to come again! I’m sorry for that!”

Wu Mei smiled, “Nothing! We knew him well! Just a few vegetables. Don’t mind it!”

Xu An answered, “Right!” There must be a reason for Xu Ran to ask for vegetables. I’m quite curious about that.”

Liu Tong shook his head. “I don’t even know what he’s going to do. He asked Shao Yu to make preparations in the kitchen after lunch. Shao Yu and I have cut quite a lot of vegetables. Xu Ran himself has been busy in the kitchen for a long time after he came back. Now he’s going to move bricks.”

“Anyway, we’ll know it tonight. Let’s wait and see! You may take this basket to the kitchen. Xu An and I are here to wait. Xu Ran must have also called my brother to dinner.”

“Okay,” Liu Tong nodded and took the basket to the kitchen.

After entering the yard, Dahu and Yueya’er didn’t see Tangtang and Guoguo. Then, they ran into the living room and found nobody, so they went to ask Liu Tong.

“Daddy Liu Tong, where are Tangtang and Guoguo? Have they gone out?”

Liu Tong nodded. “Tangtang, Guoguo, and Gao Quan have gone out together. They’ll come back soon. Are you feeling cold? It’s snowing outside. Why don’t you warm yourselves by the fire?”

“No, We’ll go to find them,” said Dahu and Yueya’er.

Liu Tong stopped them instantly, “Dahu, Yueya’er, I don’t know where they went. It’s snowing outside, so don’t run around. Maybe you can go to pick up Gouzi and the others.”

Dahu though for a while and agreed with Liu Tong.

Then, he nodded and replied, “OK, Daddy Liu Tong. We’ll go to pick Gouzi up.”

Waiting at the door, Wu Mei and Xu An saw the two children running outside and asked where they were going.

Dahu answered, “Daddy Liu Tong asked us to pick Gouzi up. Are you going with us, Daddy?”

Thinking that Liu Qing’s family must have brought things over, Wu Mei was worried about letting the two children out by themselves, so he nodded, “Alright, I’ll go with you.”

The two children didn’t ask Xu An if he wanted to go with them. Xu An, who was left, smiled helplessly and went to the living room to talk with Zhuo Yun.

Then, he saw that Xu Ran was building bricks, like constructing a stove.

Xu Ran had almost finished it. It’s quite tall. If a little bit taller, with a pot on it, people could sit around it and have meals.

After finishing the stove, Xu Ran placed a brazier on it. He seemed to measure the height and size and then he took the brazier back.

Then he ran out of the door, without even greeting Xu An.

Xu An asked Zhuo Yun, “What’s he doing? He didn’t even say a word to me.”

Zhuo Yun shook his head. “Nobody knows. He has been busy with it for a long time. I wanted to help him but he refused me.”

Xu An shook his head and sat down with confusion on his face.

Then, Xu An and Zhuo Yun started to play Five in a Row. The latter asked Shao Yu to look after little Baozi.

Not long after Xu Ran went out, he came back with another brazier in his hand, in which were piles of flints.

After putting the brazier down, Xu Ran picked up a few burning stones from the brazier in the living room to make a fire. Xu An was just about to ask a few questions,but Xu Ran was gone again…

Xu An felt more speechless.

Xu Ran ran back and forth a few times. After the fire was up, he brought over a big iron basin with half a basin of water. There were many things floating on the surface of the water, primarily chili and pepper.

The scent of the water was obvious before it has started boiling. After putting the iron basin on the brazier, Xu Ran breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat on his forehead.

Then he greeted Xu An, “Hey, when did you come over, Xu An? I didn’t even notice it.”

Xu An replied, “Well… actually I’ve been here for a while. You were busy just now, so I didn’t talk to you.”

Zhuo Yun, who seemed to be fed up with Xu Ran, finally couldn’t help asking him, “Are you going to treat us to it tonight, Xu Ran?”

Xu Ran nodded. “That’s right. You’ll like it.”

Zhuo Yun looked at the hot chili in the iron basin and swallowed. It seemed to be appetizing, and he was curious about how it would taste.

Looking at Zhuo Yun’s look, Xu Ran said, “Be patient. you can taste it after all of people are here. Now, please look after the fire for me. Add some flints if the fire is about to be extinguished. There are flints near the door… and don’t make the fire too large… it would be enough to boil the water. Thank you! I’ll go to check the attendance.“