Chapter 53: Mountain Meal
To be honest, Jian Xingxia had actually given it some thought.
In the past, the old house had essentially functioned as a makeshift guesthouse. Her maternal grandmother’s two mountain peaks were quite large, and as she grew older, she couldn’t manage them all on her own, so she would frequently hire people to help.
The villagers refused to accept money for helping with farmwork, so her grandmother allowed them to head into the mountains to forage whenever mountain goods were in season. For those from Lu’an Village, it was fine—they could make the round trip within a single day. But those from other villages or further away would temporarily stay at her grandmother’s house.
The two rooms in the west wing were originally designed as a “guesthouse” with large platform beds separated by gender. If the second floor wasn’t layout with a main hall and a small parlor, it could easily be partitioned into six rooms of that size, which was by no means small.
The problem, however, was that Jian Xingxia had no money. She currently possessed the “Temporary Worker Recruitment” system, but she didn’t have a single cent to her name.
The words “I can lend you the money” hovered on the tip of Liang Chengcheng’s tongue for a long moment, but she ultimately swallowed them back down. Forget it—Xiaxia wasn’t the type of person who liked borrowing money.
Liang Chengcheng knew that taking it upon herself to buy the appliances and furniture had already pushed Jian Xingxia’s boundaries, so she didn’t dare mention lending money to open a guesthouse again.
Jian Xingxia asked Liang Chengcheng, “Have you seen your room? How is it, decent enough?”
Aside from the bed and the sofa, which Liang Chengcheng had purchased herself, the rest of the room—the desk, chairs, clothes rail, flower vase, fruit basket, blankets, and pillows—had all been arranged by Jian Xingxia.
Liang Chengcheng was absolutely thrilled. “It’s amazing! I’d expect nothing less from you!”
Jian Xingxia placed her hands on her hips, looking proud.
“I bought some vegetables and meat. What do you want to eat? I’ll cook.”
Jian Xingxia had Liang Chengcheng check her refrigerator. Liang Chengcheng giggled, “What do you mean ‘your’ refrigerator? It’s ‘our’ refrigerator.”
That was true—a single person had absolutely no need for a massive refrigerator spanning nearly 600L.
Liang Chengcheng wasn’t picky. “I’ll eat whatever you cook.”
Jian Xingxia looked over the ingredients in the refrigerator. Returning so late today, she hadn’t had time to gather fish, chicken, or duck from the village, so she only had the pork she purchased.
There was a good amount of vegetables, though. When the furniture arrived today, the villagers had come along to help, and someone—she didn’t know who—had left two massive piles of vegetables right under the porch of the front door.
“How about stir-fried pork, braised pork with chestnuts, garlic eggplant salad, and a tomato egg soup?”
Liang Chengcheng threw her arms around Jian Xingxia and gave her a loud kiss. “Perfect!”
The two of them set to cooking, with Jian Xingxia acting as head chef and Liang Chengcheng lending a hand as her assistant. It was a bit of a struggle. Liang Chengcheng could wash and chop the vegetables, but she didn’t know how to stoke the earth stove. Jian Xingxia was slightly better, but using an earth stove to cook still felt a bit awkward.
At this moment, Jian Xingxia couldn’t help but recall Lin Sanniang’s virtues. Lin Sanniang could turn out a three-course meal and a soup like this in less than an hour, with time to spare.
Jian Xingxia ended up steaming the eggplant in the electric rice cooker, letting it cool before tearing it into strips and tossing it with minced garlic, rather than using the large iron pot. The tomato egg soup was just an afterthought. All things considered, she had only made two proper dishes.
Yet Liang Chengcheng was incredibly supportive. “This is delicious! The peppers are so fragrant without being overly spicy. What variety is this? Is it mass-produced?”
Jian Xingxia laughed out of sheer exasperation. “Drop your corporate heiress act. You promised that you were coming to the mountains for a short stay and wouldn’t bring up work.”
“Oh, right, right, I forgot,” Liang Chengcheng instantly caught herself. “I won’t talk about work anymore. If I do, I’m a dog… No! If I do, I’m that moron of a manager!”
Having traveled all day, unpacked her luggage, and helped cook, Liang Chengcheng was absolutely starving. Tonight’s meal tasted exceptionally good.
Jian Xingxia had been cooking for herself since childhood, so while she couldn’t be called a master chef, she was highly experienced.
For the stir-fried pork, the peppers were fragrant but mild. She dry-fried them in the pot first until they developed blistered skins, then scooped them out for later use. Next, she added a tiny splash of oil to the pot, tossed in the pork belly to render out the lard, and used the pork oil to stir-fry the lean meat, throwing in garlic and the fermented black beans gifted by the villagers to unleash a burst of fragrance. Finally, she poured the peppers back in, drizzled the prepared sauce along the edge of the pot with a sharp sizzle, and the aroma filled the air. The stir-fried pork was complete.
The braised pork with chestnuts was a dish that relied entirely on heat control. The chestnuts were readily available, and once boiled, they peeled easily. For the braised pork, she used pork belly cut into mahjong-sized cubes, blanched them with scallions and ginger, then scooped them out to rinse with warm water and drain. After that, she seared them in the pot until fragrant, rendering out the oil from the fat. Once scooped out, she used the remaining oil to melt the sugar until it turned a deep amber color, then tossed the meat back in to stir-fry.
There weren’t many spices at home, but Jian Xingxia had bought a few along with the meat, which came in handy now. The massive iron pot of the earth stove was perfectly suited for simmering braised pork, and cooking the chestnuts alongside the meat infused them thoroughly with the savory flavor.
Whether it was just Jian Xingxia’s imagination or not, she always felt that braised pork cooked on an earth stove carried a unique, rustic wood-smoke fragrance.
Liang Chengcheng usually avoided fatty meat, but she couldn’t resist eating two pieces of perfectly layered pork belly. “This is so good, nom. If I didn’t know this was fat, I really wouldn’t be able to tell at all.”
The braised pork was melt-in-the-mouth tender and perfectly chewy without being greasy in the slightest. Some of the chestnuts had simmered down and dissolved, coating the braised pork in a rich, thick glaze.
Jian Xingxia also ate with absolute relish. Working in the fields these past few days had increased her appetite, and she ultimately ended up ladling the braised pork gravy straight onto her rice, mixing it all together. Liang Chengcheng was a step too late; running low on gravy, she wished nothing more than to snatch Jian Xingxia’s bowl.
“Waaah, Xiaxia, your cooking skills are amazing! The braised pork is delicious, the chestnuts are delicious, the stir-fried pork is delicious, and even the eggplant is delicious!”
The remaining, plain tomato egg drop soup was treated like tea or wine as the two of them slowly finished it off.
Liang Chengcheng couldn’t even believe it. “How many bowls of rice did I eat today? We actually finished this entire bowl of braised pork?”
Aside from the bits of fat they bit off, they had cleaned out every single drop of the gravy.
Jian Xingxia beamed. “Tomorrow I’ll make sweet and sour ribs for you!”
Liang Chengcheng gasped in horror. “Oh no, I’m going to gain weight!”
Talk was just talk, but Liang Chengcheng was thoroughly satisfied with her trip to the old house. Once she ate and drank her fill, she helped Jian Xingxia clear the dishes, then opened her phone, pulled up her classmate and friend group chats, and began to show off.
“Dearest classmates, I have successfully arrived at Xiaxia’s hometown!”
“Look at this sunset! Look at this mountain road! And look at these wild fruits—they just fall to the ground and nobody even eats them!”
“This is the old peach tree at Xiaxia’s place. I’m not bragging, but I’ve eaten imported honey peaches that cost eight hundred yuan a piece, and they didn’t taste half as good as this!”
“No need to worry, electricity, running water, and internet are all connected. The signal is a tiny bit weak, but electricity is in endless supply.”
“I’m just in the mountains, not in a cave, okay? Who says the mountains are backward?”
“See this? What is it? Photovoltaic panels! They can generate a hundred kilowatt-hours of electricity a day!”
“I’m not lying to you. I didn’t say there was only this one patch; they’re all over the front and back courtyards. In any case, it’s more than enough for personal use.”
“But wow, it’s so cool in the mountains! You don’t even need a fan; the natural breeze is incredibly comfortable.”
“Mmh, there are a few mosquitoes, though. I got bitten while eating… Hey! Let me show you Xiaxia’s cooking skills!”
“Purely natural wild chestnuts, gathered right from the deep mountains! Incredibly fragrant! The eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes we ate today are all authentic homegrown produce, a completely different taste from the supermarket!”
Liang Chengcheng was practically a one-woman army. Her typing speed was incredibly fast, and paired with vivid voice notes and pictures, she quickly drew widespread attention from the class group, the grade group, and even the large alumni association group.
