Chapter 1144

To be honest, Shi Suo's wife's cooking was really not that great. Only the raw peanuts in old vinegar were decent; mainly because Wang An felt that no matter who made that dish, it always tasted the same.

Consequently, after tasting every dish, Wang An stretched his neck and shouted toward the outer room:

"Sister-in-law, what kind of pickles do you have at home? Bring me some of those, and then bring me some vegetables for dipping in sauce. Whatever you have is fine; if you don't have any, just bring me a bowl of bean paste and two stalks of green onion."

In this season, the vegetable gardens of every household in the Northeast were empty; it could be said there was nothing left. So, from the time the ground froze, the people of the Northeast entered the days of having no fresh vegetables to eat.

Of course, one couldn't say there were absolutely none, because every household's cellar was stocked with radishes and cabbage for the winter, and on the roof of the storage shed, there were green onions that had only the white stalks and no leaves. These three things were the "fresh vegetables."

After Wang An shouted, he heard Shi Suo's wife answer from outside, while Shi Suo said with a helpless face:

"Brother, why are you eating pickles and vegetables with sauce? What's so good about those things?"

Wang An shook his head and made an excuse:

"It's not that; whenever I drink, I want to eat some pickles or vegetables with sauce. Without these things, I feel drinking is meaningless."

Shi Suo stared at Wang An for a long time before shaking his head and saying nothing.

Soon, Shi Suo's wife brought two types of pickles for Wang An: a pickled eggplant and pickled cucumber twists. And don't say, although Shi Suo's wife's cooking was very poor, her pickling was actually quite good.

Shortly after, Shi Suo's wife brought Wang An a bamboo steamer of vegetables for dipping and a bowl of bean paste.

Wang An took the opportunity to say:

"Sister-in-law, don't busy yourself anymore, come up on the kang and eat."

However, Shi Suo's wife said with a smile:

"I'm not drinking, I'll just eat a bite in the outer room. You eat, you eat, hehehe."

Consequently, Wang An didn't urge her further. It was mainly because in the local area, there was indeed a custom that when guests were present, women and children did not sit at the table.

In fact, the root of this custom wasn't that they didn't value women, or that children were ignorant, but because food was so scarce that it had to be saved for the guests to eat first.

Because even the male host accompanying the guests at the table would basically only take a light taste of the dishes and rarely move his chopsticks.

For the rest of the meal, Wang An basically just ate the peanuts, pickles, and the vegetables with sauce.

Shi Suo thought Wang An was too embarrassed to eat the meat, so he kept putting meat into Wang An's bowl, which made Wang An feel quite uncomfortable.

It was mainly because a host putting food into a guest's bowl is a manifestation of the host fearing they might neglect the guest and taking the guest seriously. However, Wang An truly had not even a shred of interest in the meat cooked by Shi Suo's wife.

Consequently, Wang An said very helplessly:

"Brother Shi, don't put meat in my bowl anymore. I've had my fill of meat these past two days, I just want to eat something light."

"Had my fill" (chi duizhe le) was a local dialect meaning one had eaten too much of something, was tired of it, and didn't want to eat it anymore.

As soon as Wang An finished speaking, Shi Suo was completely stunned.

It was mainly because in this era, for ordinary people, meat was a very luxurious item; not only was it rationed, but the price was also something ordinary families couldn't afford.

Normal families buying meat only wanted to buy the fat—the fatter, the better—and then render the meat into oil. When guests came over, just before the dish was taken off the heat, they would use chopsticks to scoop a tiny bit and mix it into the dish.

That's right, adding oil after the dish was cooked; this way of adding oil was also called "step-wife oil."

The reason for doing this was that if the oil was added later, it wouldn't soak into the vegetables, making the whole plate look glistening with oil, which provided a better visual effect for the guests and allowed the dish to have a bit of a meaty flavor when eaten.

Even then, that was only when guests were present. If they were cooking for themselves, there wasn't even the so-called "step-wife oil"—it was just vegetables boiled in salt water.

To put it bluntly, it was just because of poverty.

Shi Suo, after coming to his senses, said with an incredulous face:

"Had your fill? Can one even get tired of eating meat?"

As he spoke, Shi Suo picked up a piece of meat and put it into his mouth, smacking his lips as he said:

"How delicious this thing is, the more you eat, the more fragrant it gets. How could you get tired of it?"

From this point, one could see that life in Shi Suo's household was truly not that great, not much different from rural families at this time.

Wang An laughed and said:

"I remember I told you I raise a large pack of dogs. Every winter, we go into the mountains to hunt. You know what my marksmanship is like, so do you think my family could be short of meat? Hahahaha..."

Upon hearing that they weren't short of meat, Shi Suo immediately showed an expression of envy and said with great interest:

"I know there are many wild animals in the mountains, but those mountain animals are old and cunning; once you enter the mountains, you can't even find their shadows. Hearing you say that, why do I feel like those mountain animals have become your family's food? Hahahaha... You aren't bragging, are you?"

Wang An said with a speechless face:

"Damn, I can see you don't know the trade. How about this: the day I run into a herd of wild boars, I'll get you two big wild boars to eat. Day after day, getting some meat to eat is just a piece of cake."

Shi Suo picked up his enamel mug, clinked it with Wang An's, and said with a face full of longing:

"Brother, tell me, when you go into the mountains to hunt, how do you do it?"

Wang An said very casually:

"Hunting, well, it's not hard to say it's hard, but to say it's simple, there are really quite a few tricks to it. Let's talk about hunting—hunting is what outsiders call it; we call it 'beating the perimeter,' and beating the perimeter is divided into 'big perimeter' and 'small perimeter'."

As he spoke, Wang An tossed two raw peanuts into his mouth and, while chewing, said:

"Things like setting snares, setting traps, setting cages, and using slingshots—that belongs to 'small perimeter.' As for me, I do both small and big perimeter..."

Just like that, the two of them chatted while eating, and a bottle of Beidacang was finished without them even realizing it.

Wang An was immune to alcohol, so half a jin of white liquor down his throat didn't affect him at all. Shi Suo, aside from his face being a bit red, was also clear-headed and spoke clearly; he looked like he had no problems at all. It must be said, Shi Suo's drinking capacity was truly not bad.

It was just that the various interesting stories about mountain trekking that Wang An told left Shi Suo feeling incredibly excited and eager to try it himself.

It must be said that riding horses, carrying guns, and leading a pack of dogs through the mountains and forests is something that would make anyone feel a sense of longing, wishing they could become one of them.

It was just that the dangers and hardships involved were automatically ignored by the vast majority of people.

Just like that, although the dishes weren't great, the drinking session was actually quite good. By the time Wang An left, it was already past two in the afternoon.

When he left, Wang An also left Shi Suo a bag of rice and a bag of white flour.

It was mainly because when Wang An went out to pee during the meal, he happened to see Shi Suo's wife secretly eating by dipping cornmeal buns into the leftover vegetable soup in the pot. Of course, there was no shortage of pickles on the stove.

I don't know why, but this scene once again reminded Wang An of the time he was reborn, the longing in his younger siblings' eyes for meat, and the scene where Wang Yi used a cornmeal bun to wipe the vegetable basin clean after he brought back his first wild boar.

It was clear that Shi Suo's wife had brought all the dishes to the table to entertain Wang An, and she hadn't saved a single bit for herself.

Thanks to "Book Friend" for the tip, thank you, thank you!

(End of chapter)