Chapter 148: A Pot of Chicken Soup
Walking along the narrow mountain path, the plump auntie felt as if even the wind carried a trace of sweetness.
Life was truly wonderful! At the manor, she could eat until she was completely full, use as much oil as she pleased, and pack away as much meat as she wanted. The young mistress owner of the manor was far better than any other employer she had ever helped in the kitchen before! She wasn’t picky in the slightest; when she hired a cook, she let the cook completely rule the kitchen.
Unlike the past jobs she had taken, where the employer’s family practically glued their eyes to her hands—shivering with pure heartache if she scooped half a ladle too much salt into a dish, murmuring and grumbling about it for ages.
In the manor’s kitchen, the auntie could do exactly as she pleased. Whenever she suggested adding a dish, the young mistress owner never disagreed. And if she mentioned being unable to keep up with the rush, the young mistress owner would immediately hire someone to come up and help out.
Heavens! The auntie couldn’t help but hum a tune. For a kitchen helper job like this, never mind the high rewards the young mistress owner provided—even if she didn’t pay a single cent, the auntie would still be fully willing to do it. All for a single purpose: comfort! For an artisan to have a wonderful place to ply their craft was something they could only hope for but rarely find.
The auntie felt immense joy in her heart, and seeing the willow trees by the roadside swaying gently in the breeze only heightened her mood.
By the time she reached Dahong’s house, it was well into the late afternoon. The men of Dahong’s in-laws’ family had all headed down to the fields, leaving only Dahong’s mother-in-law at home to wash clothes, cook meals, and look after the two youngest grandchildren.
When the auntie arrived, Dahong’s mother-in-law was currently hanging up the laundry. The moment she spotted the auntie, her face fell, and she remarked with flagrant sarcasm, “Oh my, look who’s here, it’s my dear in-law. What an unfortunate timing, our household has only just finished our midday meal. Otherwise, I would have definitely insisted you stay to eat with us.”
The auntie couldn’t care less about this pettiness, asking directly, “Where is my daughter? Is Dahong inside her room?”
She came with perfectly legitimate reasons. Back when the Liang family had begged to marry Dahong, they had explicitly stated under the witness of the matchmaker that the west wing belonged to Liang Ershun and Dahong. The east wing, meanwhile, belonged to the household of Liang Dashun. It was agreed that once Liang Ershun got married and the Liang family formally split the estate, the Liang parents would take the young Liang Sanshun with them to live in the old house. In the future, when the third brother grew up and married, the old house would belong to him. When the old couple aged, the three households would take turns supporting them.
However, the moment Dahong married in, the Liang family began dragging their feet continuously, fabricating lies that the old house had fallen into disrepair and required renovations before anyone could live there. They dragged it out back and forth until the very month Dahong found out she was pregnant, when a heavy downpour washed away half of the old house.
Well, that was just perfect—they completely couldn’t move out now.
Mother Liang had even gone so far as to blame Dahong, claiming the child in Dahong’s belly clashed with the Liang family, as her very arrival had caused the old house to collapse. In a place where filial piety was considered grander than the heavens and rumors could crush a person to death, Dahong and Liang Ershun had no alternative. They couldn’t very well force the parents to live in a collapsed house, so the matter of splitting the estate was shelved just like that.
The auntie had been furious when she heard about it—she had previously inquired and confirmed that the Liang family did indeed own an old house located not far away, with one at the entrance of the village and the other at the very end. She had simply forgotten to inquire about the actual condition of the old house and whether it was still habitable! Under the current circumstances, she had no solution either.
Fortunately, Liang Ershun wasn’t a coward. Seeing his parents’ poor attitude toward Dahong, he had proactively begged his mother-in-law. Working together from the inside and outside, the three played good cop and bad cop, successfully pushing the matter of splitting the estate halfway—they still lived under the same roof and shared meals, but Ershun and Dahong were allocated four mu of land to farm themselves. Only by surrendering a portion of grain to the Liang parents could they eat together, and during the busy farming season, they still had to help the parents till their land.
However, during their free time, any money they earned from taking odd jobs and doing casual labor didn’t need to be surrendered to the family funds. Correspondingly, the family funds wouldn’t shell out any money for the child’s three-day bath ceremony or banquet celebrations. To put it bluntly, they were simply lodging under the same roof and sharing the cost of meals.
Consequently, the auntie could come and go as she pleased. “This west wing belongs to my daughter and son-in-law. I’ll come whenever I want and leave whenever I want. If you find it an eyesore, have the capability to get them to drive me out!”
The auntie desperately wished her son-in-law would “drive” her out, because then her daughter could “drive” her parents-in-law out as well. Regrettably, the two kids were far too honest and mild-mannered; their combined tempers didn’t even amount to half of her own unyielding nature.
Mother Liang was furious, but the fact remained that she had intentionally concealed the condition of the old house and played tricks regarding the estate split, meaning she was in the wrong from the start. Thus, she could only watch blankly as the auntie pushed open the door, entering as if stepping into an empty territory.
Once inside the courtyard, the auntie held the two small clay pots and the massive package of leftovers wrapped in lotus leaves high in the air.
“Dear in-law, it really is unfortunate timing! Your household has only just finished your midday meal. Look at me, I’ve brought a whole abundance of food. Behold, old hen soup! And tea-oil duck!”
“Look at this massive package, it’s packed entirely with meat! Roasted pork, cured pork—plenty of it!” The auntie clicked her tongue in admiration. “What a pity, dear in-law, you’ve only just finished eating and must be burping from fullness right now! You simply can’t pack down another bite!”
Mother Liang’s eyes flared with fury—She could pack it down! That was old hen! Tea-oil duck! She absolutely could pack it down! However, the person who had claimed they had only just eaten and made it awkward to invite the auntie for a meal was precisely herself. Now, she could only watch with wide eyes as the auntie carried the items straight into the west wing.
Inside the west wing, Dahong had long since overheard the commotion outside. Seeing her mother arrive, Dahong sat up from the bed, her eyes swimming with anticipation.
“Mother, did you find a kitchen helper job? Did you bring back some dishes?”
Kitchen helper jobs yielded high perks, and any excess ingredients or leftovers were standardly given to the cooks and helpers to bring home.
The auntie looked immensely proud. “This time, what your mother found wasn’t a helper job—I was the head chef!”
“Really! That’s wonderful! I always said Mother’s culinary skills were excellent!” Dahong looked entirely full of admiration.
Over here, the auntie had already hurriedly brought over the pot containing the old hen soup. “The pot isn’t large, and it happens to still be warm. Just hold the pot and eat straight out of it, so it doesn’t grow cold if we pour it out.”
Dahong nodded repeatedly. Thanks to her mother’s genes, she had been born round and voluptuous before her marriage, and her appetite had remained excellent after marrying. Having only just given birth and needing to nurse the baby, she could truly pack away any amount of food.
Regrettably, she and Liang Ershun had only recently married, and the harvest from the first season they managed themselves hadn’t come in yet, forcing them to share meals with the Liang parents. A mother-in-law never failed to find ways to torment a daughter-in-law. In front of Liang Ershun, she behaved decently enough, going through the motions of poaching an egg for her, but chicken soup was entirely out of the question.
Behind Liang Ershun’s back, such as during the midday meal, Mother Liang would deliver the food straight to the fields for the men, giving those who performed labor solid rice and an occasional splash of oil. But what she gave to Dahong was a whole different story—sometimes it was watery congee, or if she was lucky, a bowl of noodles, but oil was nowhere to be seen. Mother Liang couldn’t even bear to let Dahong eat the cheaper cuts of pork, preferring to eat them herself.
With Liang Ershun absent, Dahong unleashed a massive wave of complaints to her mother. Hearing this, the auntie felt both heartache and fury, yet found it slightly amusing. “That foolish old woman—what kind of good item could those cheap cuts possibly be! As cooks, how could we not know? It’s just perfect that she loves eating them!”
With that, the auntie helped locate a pair of chopsticks. “Drink up. The guests at the manor love eating chicken thighs and chicken wings, so those are all gone. Only some chicken frames and chicken necks are left, so hurry up and drink.”
The auntie enjoyed immense respect at the manor, but she didn’t abuse her position. The meals at the manor followed strict portion rules. For instance, with the chicken soup, each bowl was fixed to contain three pieces of chicken meat. It couldn’t be a chicken neck or meatless chicken skin and frames; it had to be proper chicken meat, or a piece of meat plus a whole wing, or a whole thigh. Having worked as a helper for many years, the auntie never played tricks on such matters, delivering full portions according to the rules.
The auntie felt a trace of guilt toward her daughter. “Once some time passes and our household gathers enough eggs to hatch some chicks, Mother will slaughter a chicken and stew it whole for my Dahong.”
Dahong drank the exceptionally flavorful chicken soup, not feeling slighted in the least. “It’s fine, Mother. Ershun caught a massive fish yesterday. He didn’t bring it home, cooking it straight at his childhood friend’s house instead, and brought back a massive bowl of fresh fish and tofu soup without letting his parents know.” A happy flush spread across Dahong’s face. “Ershun still looks out for me; I haven’t suffered.”
The auntie felt even more heartache—this silly child had to drink a single bowl of tofu fish soup behind people’s backs, yet she still insisted she hadn’t suffered. Just as she was pondering how to phrase her words to avoid driving a wedge between her daughter and son-in-law while teaching her daughter to be more sharp-witted, Dahong suddenly let out a sharp cry of surprise—
“Oh, Mother, wait a minute! Look, there are two massive chicken thighs inside this pot!”
“Huh?”
The auntie looked down, and true enough, suspended from Dahong’s chopsticks was a plump, massive chicken thigh!
The auntie slapped her thigh. “Oh no! This was what Mistress Lin instructed to be set aside for the young mistress owner! How on earth did I end up bringing it here!” The auntie was anxious out of her mind. She had only worked there for less than two days, yet a underhanded incident involving stolen chicken had occurred. What would people think of her! What would they think of her mother! This was a job her mother had personally introduced her to!
While the auntie was gripped by anxiety, Dahong fished two round boiled eggs out of the chicken soup. The peeled eggs looked incredibly tender, coated in a layer of chicken soup, appearing lustrous, full, and highly enticing.
“Eh? We didn’t boil any peeled eggs at noon!” They had only made two stir-fried egg dishes. Dahong didn’t dare eat them. “Mother, did you grab the wrong pot? Is it too late to send it back now?”
However, the auntie suddenly frowned—she remembered!
She had originally scooped all the remaining chicken frames, necks, and feet out and placed them into the small clay pot, intending to bring them to Dahong. The guests at the manor didn’t care to eat those parts, but to people like the auntie, it counted as top-tier food.
However, just before she departed, the young mistress owner had suddenly remarked that carrying it bare like that made it awkward to transport. She asked for the pot and handed it to A-Feng, who used straw ropes to weave a handle and wrapped a layer of straw rope around the base to protect it from impacts and preserve the heat.
Then, the young mistress owner had personally handed the pot bound with straw rope back to the auntie.
The auntie recalled that at that moment, the young mistress owner had smiled and said to her, “Your daughter has only just given birth and lives in the village, so she surely isn’t short of vegetables. Just have her drink more chicken soup and eat a few more eggs.” Afterward, she had murmured something about eating more meat or protein being good for the body. But the auntie had been rushing to leave and hadn’t paid much attention, simply assuming it was standard concern for a woman who had just given birth, offering a few pleasant words.
But now…
The auntie looked down at the massive chicken thighs that had been secretly substituted into the pot, along with the extra, smooth, peeled eggs. Instantly, her nose crinkled with a wave of emotion.
Oh, Mother!
Just how much thought did you pour into securing such an incredible job and such a wonderful owner for your fat girl!
