Siheyuan: Sizhu starts blindly and takes a new path

Chapter 284 Learning

"Invite them?" Yu Haitang raised her head suddenly, her voice changed, "Are you going to ask Zhou Qisheng to laugh at me?"

Yu Li was so angry that she stomped her feet: "You! You deserve to be called ungrateful!" After saying that, she turned and left, slamming the warehouse door with a loud bang.

When Yu Haitang got home at night, she threw her bag on the sofa as soon as she entered the door. Wang Jianjun was lying on the rocking chair reading documents and was startled by her: "What's wrong? Who offended you?"

"It's all your fault!" Yu Haitang yelled with red eyes, "Why did you insist on holding a birthday party? Now my sister says we are going to be in trouble!"

Wang Jianjun sat up straight for no apparent reason: "What did your sister say?"

Yu Haitang threw the newspaper in front of him and said, "Look at the article written by your future brother-in-law! He criticized you, the son of a cadre, by name in the People's Daily!"

Wang Jianjun glanced at the article and his face suddenly turned pale: "What nonsense! It doesn't mention anyone..."

"No one was named?" Yu Haitang said sharply, "My sister said that the Agricultural Machinery Bureau has already started investigating! Two section chiefs were punished last month! If something happens to you, what will happen to me and the child?"

Wang Jianjun panicked and quickly stood up to comfort his wife: "Okay, okay, I'll listen to you. I won't hold the birthday party..."

"Do it! Why not?" Yu Haitang suddenly wiped away her tears and said through gritted teeth, "Do it at home and invite Yu Shui and Zhou Qisheng!"

Wang Jianjun was stunned: "Are you crazy? Let them see a joke?"

Yu Haitang wiped his face, straightened his back and said, "Who said we should let them laugh at us? We can just hold the banquet at home. I will cook the banquet myself and make it beautiful. Who can laugh at us?"

Wang Jianjun frowned: "You? Cooking?" He looked up and down at his wife's red-nailed hands, "You can't even cut green onions..."

"If you don't know how, you can learn!" Yu Haitang walked quickly to the closet and took out an apron. "Tomorrow I will learn how to make braised pork from your mother, and then ask my sister to teach me a few specialties."

Wang Jianjun sneered: "What can you learn in just two days?"

“What do you know!” Yu Haitang gestured as she put the apron on herself. “Didn’t Shazhu start out by cutting vegetables? At least I’ve seen my sister cook…” She paused at this point, remembering how she always complained about the thick smoke in the kitchen when she went to her sister’s house for meals and had never really watched how her sister cooked.

Wang Jianjun leaned back on the sofa and crossed his legs. "I would just go to the restaurant and order a table to be delivered to your home. It's more convenient and more decent."

"No!" Yu Haitang refused flatly, "There are so many people watching you now, ordering food from a restaurant is too conspicuous." She bit her lip, "Just cook at home, it's safer to keep it simple."

Wang Jianjun looked at his wife in surprise, as if he didn't know her: "When did you become so knowledgeable about this?"

Yu Haitang didn't answer and turned to go into the kitchen. She opened the cupboard and looked at the brand new pots and pans inside - they hadn't even been unpacked in the two years since they got married. She picked up the wok and weighed it. It was heavy, and the trademark on the handle was still shining.

"Jianjun," she suddenly turned around, "Tomorrow go to the grocery store and buy two pounds of pork belly, and..." She counted on her fingers, "buy a carp, it must be alive; and weigh some dried mushrooms..."

Wang Jianjun was stunned: "You really want to do it yourself?"

"Of course!" Yu Haitang pulled her hair up, revealing her smooth forehead. "There is nothing I, Yu Haitang, cannot accomplish!"

She tied her apron confidently, but accidentally knocked over the soy sauce bottle when she turned around. The dark brown liquid instantly spread on the brand new tile floor, just like the mess of thoughts in her mind at the moment.

"Ouch!" She hurriedly tried to get the rag, but her high heels slipped and she almost fell.

Wang Jianjun came over to help her up: "Forget it, or..."

"None of your business!" Yu Haitang shook off his hand and squatted down to wipe the floor stubbornly. "I'll start practicing now. I'm sure you'll be surprised on the birthday party!"

As she wiped, she suddenly remembered watching her sister cook when she was a child. At that time, she thought that women who worked around the stove were the most useless, but now... Yu Haitang looked at her hands covered with soy sauce and suddenly felt like crying.

Wang Jianjun stood at the kitchen door, looking at his wife's clumsy back, hesitant to speak. Finally, he sighed, quietly picked up the phone, and dialed his mother's number: "Mom, tomorrow Haitang will go to learn how to make braised pork from you... Yes, your daughter-in-law..."

The next morning, Yu Haitang knocked on her mother-in-law's door, carrying two boxes of Daoxiangcun snacks.

"Mom, I'm here to learn how to cook from you!" She put on the sweetest smile and stuffed the snacks into her mother-in-law's hands, "I brought this jujube paste cake especially for you, because I know you love it the most."

Old Mrs. Wang took the snack and looked up and down at her daughter-in-law who usually never did housework. Her brows were furrowed so tightly that they could kill a fly. "The sun is rising from the west?"

In the kitchen, Yu Haitang hurriedly tied on the old apron given by her mother-in-law. The apron was stained with oil stains from years of grease and exuded a smell of stale oil smoke, which made her frown.

"Cut the meat into pieces first." Old Mrs. Wang took out a piece of pork belly and threw it on the chopping board.

Yu Haitang held the kitchen knife and gestured carefully: "Mom, is this how to cut it?"

“Ouch!” Old Lady Wang slapped her hand away. “Are you cutting meat or embroidering? Use some strength!”

The meat pieces were twisted and distorted under Haitang's knife, some large and some small, as if they had been gnawed by a dog. Old Mrs. Wang shook her head as she watched: "Jianjun's father was a quartermaster in the army, and the recruits under him were better than you!"

Yu Haitang suppressed her displeasure and said with a smile: "Mom, don't worry, I will learn slowly..."

"Why are you slow?" The old lady grabbed the kitchen knife and cut the meat into neat cubes in a few strokes. "Look! Do it like this!"

As the smoke rose, Yu Haitang began to cough. She was about to step back when her mother-in-law pulled her to the stove and said, "Why are you running? Stir-frying the sugar color is the most important thing. If the heat is not right, the taste will be wrong!"

As she put a spoonful of sugar into the pot, Yu Haitang's hands shook like a sieve. The oil splashed onto her hands, causing her to scream in pain and even burn her newly applied nail polish.

"You're so delicate!" Old Lady Wang rolled her eyes at her. "When I was working in the countryside, I cooked and made fire, so how could I not get burned?"

After finally getting the braised pork out of the pot, Yu Haitang was already sweating profusely, and her delicate curly hair was flattened. She picked up a piece of meat and said flatteringly: "Mom, please try what I made..."

Mrs. Wang took a bite and spat it out: "It's so salty that it's killing me! How much soy sauce did you put in it?"

"Just, just three spoons..."

“Three spoonfuls?!” The old lady’s voice was split. “For this pot of meat, half a spoonful is enough!” She pointed at the pot of black meat. “You want to treat us with this level? Don’t embarrass yourself!”

Yu Haitang's eyes were red, but she still forced a smile: "Mom, I'll do it again..."