Ge Sanmei was not exactly fond of her daughter, but considering she was a girl who would eventually marry someone, she didn't dwell on it too much, and before leaving, she instructed, "I've put a bowl of fine grain in the cupboard, get up and roll out some dough for noodles. Your second brother needs brain food for his studies, and your third brother is growing."
Li Xianglu was already impatient. That old woman's heart had completely shifted to the western end of the village, and she just wouldn't stop. What was there to explain? It was just blatant favoritism to feed her sons better.
Was all this necessary? She was just fourteen and also growing. Why did nobody care about her? However, Li Xianglu didn't verbalize any of this, she simply sat on the bed and coldly watched Ge Sanmei, who still seemed eager to nag.
Ge Sanmei was startled by her daughter's cold gaze, and realizing her own words, she felt guilty. She cursed a few times, calling her daughter a loss-making proposition, and left the house.
Li Xianglu got dressed and neatly folded Ge Sanmei's and Li Erfu's blankets and quilts, placing them at the west side of the kang near the large wooden chest, before climbing down from the kang.
At this moment, a groggy Li Jianqing saw his sister climbing down from the kang and cheerfully said, "Little sister, why don't you sleep a bit more?"
Li Xianglu looked at her third brother in front of her, a skinny youth with a dark face and a smile. She replied smilingly, "Third brother, I have to cook. You sleep a bit more; I'll make fine noodles for you later."
Li Jianqing perked up at the mention of fine noodles and immediately climbed out of the covers, asking from the side of the kang, "Really? Did Mom say she's making fine noodles?"
Li Xianglu nodded, put on her shoes and said, "Yeah, you sleep a bit more. I'll leave the blankets, I will fold them when I come back with dinner."
Li Jianqing felt slightly embarrassed looking at his little sister, who was a head shorter than himself. Although she wasn't so little anymore, at fourteen, she was much smaller compared to other girls in the village. With an embarrassed grin, he said, "Then I'll help little sister fetch some water."
Just as Li Xianglu was about to step out, she heard her third brother say this. She turned her head, squinted and smiled, replying, "Yeah, that's nice of you, third brother. You're really kind."
Li Jianqing, for the first time being praised by his little sister, beamed with joy. After thinking for a moment, he folded the blankets just like she did and neatly placed them in the corner before climbing down from the kang.
By this time, Li Xianglu had already drawn water from the tank, filling the large pot. Then she checked and saw in the cupboard nearly half a bowl of the dark fine flour.
She found a box of matches and crouched in front of the stove, carefully igniting some corn silk, added some corn leaves, and when the fire was strong enough, she threw in some corn stalks. As the fire blazed, she pushed it into the stove chamber and laid some thin kindling on top, with some thicker firewood placed outside. After finishing all this, she then looked at that half bowl of flour.
Li Xianglu sighed. What kind of noodles could she make so early in the morning? Maybe just noodle soup. She dissolved some salt in warm water, kneaded the dough, and let it rest.
Despite the ease with which she now performed these tasks, those first days had almost killed her.
In fact, as a standard foodie, Li Xianglu not only loved to eat, but she was also good at cooking. It was just that the sight of the large pot, big enough for a person, filled her with awe. She didn't dare even stand too close to it for fear of accidentally falling in.
Next is cooking with firewood, which was also difficult for her, but people are forced to learn. Nobody is born knowing everything, and now, after a while, Li Xianglu has become a little expert in doing chores.
Li Xianglu has been here for over three months now and has almost fully understood this village.
This village was originally called Li Family Village, a traditional village of the Li family surname. Now it's called Li Family Village Production Team. Besides people of the Li surname, there are a few people with other surnames living here, as well as a group sent here for re-education through labor, and the educated youth who came to the countryside that are deeply respected by Li Jianwen, the second son of the Li family.
Li Family Village is located in the northwest region of ****, in the Northern Guanzhong. The Loess Plateau that people referred to in the past is right here.
Here, people rely primarily on tilling the soil and farming under the open sky, but compared to backward villages, the conditions here are much better. Thanks to the long river to the southwest of the village, the harvests of crops are never poor, and it could be said that it's a village of the few wealthy families.
The local customs here are generally simple and unadulterated, with few truly wicked people. Of course, there are quite a few biased to extremes like Ge Sanmei, and rare cases of the lazy and gluttonous like one's elder aunt.
She quickly fed the two pigs and twenty chickens and ducks, and hurried back into the kitchen.
The Li Family's courtyard is a typical cave dwelling, with a small kitchen added to the side of the big brother Li Jianye's cave.
The Li Family had a relatively luxurious setup of three stoves, with two large pots burning away and a small pot for stir-frying dishes.
Li Xianglu quickly filled two thermos flasks with already boiling water. She only stopped after pouring the water, then swiftly added a finger's width of alkaline powder to the prepared cornmeal, rapidly stirring with a large spatula, fearing clumps might form if she didn't mix it quickly.
After stirring everything evenly and seeing that the bubbling porridge was also about done, she quickly withdrew the large firewood chunks and placed them into the adjacent stovehole. Then she used a wooden board to sever the smoky pathway to the middle stove.
She added half a pot of water to the small pot, then used a rolling pin to flatten the dough into a circular shape. She cut it into long strips with a knife, then rolled the center of the strips flat with the rolling pin. Using a hand to support, she tore the long, 'belt noodles' into thinner strips and tossed them into the boiling pot.
Once she had put them all in, Li Xianglu scooped them into cold water. After cooling, she divided them into two bowls, sprinkling green onions, some chili powder, salt grains, soy sauce, and vinegar on top.
Actually, there wasn't much dough, just two and a half bowls. Li Xianglu helplessly poured some oil onto a small iron spoon and roasted it over the fire. Once the oil was hot, she directly poured it over the green onions and chili powder on top of the noodles. A burst of fizzling and crackling noises ensued—the hot oil noodles were ready. Right then, Li Jianqing also came in.
Li Jianqing had indeed come in lured by the aroma. The slim youth nimbly leapt to the cutting board, looking at the two bowls of hot oil noodles, he expressed his surprise: "Little sister, why did you use so much oil?"
Li Xianglu's hand, originally stirring the dough, trembled slightly but then calmly explained: "Mmm, it's not too much. For hot oil noodles, without enough oil, the chili wouldn't taste good."
Li Jianqing looked at the mere two bowls of noodles, furrowed his brow for quite a while, then took out another bowl and scooped into it what seemed like the larger portion, picking out some and giving it to his sister.
He wasn't a fool. He knew the remaining bowl wasn't for his sister. It was most likely for Er Fu or his eldest sister.