196: Farmhouse meal

For such a remote mountainous area, a few strangers appearing in the village was quite a rare sight.

This villager's name was Duan Xingye, and his wife was Li Xiuchun.

The two used to work outside, but now that they were older, Duan Xingye had fallen ill, and the construction site no longer wanted him.

He could only return to farming, while Li Xiuchun used to cook at the construction site, but she came back when the site closed.

Ye Bai drank the tea they brewed and listened to Duan Xingye chat with them.

"You're from Zhonggui City? That's really far! I went there once when I was young, it's a really big city!"

Raphael was too tired to move, but he was also very hungry, so he could only drink tea vigorously.

"You went there to play?"

Duan Xingye laughed, "Play? No, I went to work."

The light in the room wasn't bright, and they sat around the stove, looking at the furnishings in the house.

The room was perpetually blackened by smoke, and there were various odds and ends on the windowsill.

There was also an old mirror hanging there.

Du Xihou stared at the tea on the stove, no one knew what he was thinking.

A moment later, a strong smell of cooking oil, mixed with the aroma of food, wafted from the kitchen.

"You've had a hard journey. Eat a good meal later, get some rest, and tomorrow I'll take you to find Teacher Li."

As Duan Xingye spoke, he also turned on the old television in their home.

the great qin empire: fission was playing on the TV. "I really love watching this show, the director is so talented."

On TV, King Huiwen of Qin was talking to his ministers. As he spoke, his gaze fell on Chen Chen. "You really look like this emperor."

Chen Chen gave an awkward laugh, "That's me."

"Hahahaha," Duan Xingye burst into laughter. "It's you, it's you."

Clearly, he didn't believe it.

"Speaking of which, you also look a lot like that magician, the one from the Spring Festival Gala. Wow, did you watch the Spring Festival Gala? That magic trick was amazing!"

"And a few songs were good too, 'Gong Xi Ni Fa Cai,' 'Gong Xi Ni Jin Cai,'" he hummed.

"These days, TV dramas and cartoons are getting better and better. My grandson loves to watch them, he watches that... that legend of nezha made by Ye Bai, he watches it every day these past few days!"

"Your grandson?" Ye Bai looked around but didn't see anyone.

Duan Xingye smiled, "He went to bed early, he has school tomorrow."

It was already one in the morning. If they hadn't arrived so late, Duan Xingye would have been home by nine in the evening by himself.

"Oh, is the school far from here?" Vilan asked.

Duan Xingye said, "Not far, it only takes about ten minutes for me to drive him there. Our home is close to the school."

"Some places are quite far, it takes over an hour to walk."

"Once, a child fell on the road and dropped directly into a mountain gully. It was Teacher Li who found him and brought him back. Teacher Li is a good person."

"He's been in our village for two years, and everyone praises his teaching. You're Teacher Li's friends, he should be very happy to see you. I heard he's been staying in these mountains, and his girlfriend even left him, sigh."

"Why?" Du Xihou asked, puzzled.

Duan Xingye refilled their cups with water. "What else could it be? They can't see each other, so they can't even talk about marriage."

"Is his salary very high here?" Li Ce also asked.

"Salary?"

"I don't know, maybe about a thousand yuan."

"What?" Raphael's face wrinkled. "A thousand yuan, that's so little, what can you do with that?"

Duan Xingye paused, "It is a bit little, but there's no other way."

"The village is too poor. Teacher Li is a good person, willing to come and teach these children, sigh."

"But we all stay in the village, there aren't many places to spend money. When New Year's comes, we can slaughter a pig and buy a few new clothes, that's still possible."

Everyone fell silent.

Soon the food was ready. Li Xiuchun brought out the dishes and then instructed Duan Xingye to get them more rice.

Raphael looked at the dishes, which were steaming hot. There were stir-fried vegetables, stir-fried potatoes, and stir-fried cured meat.

In the center of the stove was a pot of cured pork.

He took the bowl and chopsticks, feeling a bit hesitant looking at the chopsticks that bore traces of time.

But Ye Bai and Jiang Nan ate without a change in expression.

"Delicious, Auntie, your cooking is superb!" Ye Bai praised.

Li Xiuchun quickly smiled shyly, "There aren't many dishes at home. This is meat cured for the New Year. It's good as long as you don't mind it."

"Meat from New Year's?" Du Xihou looked troubled. "Isn't this expi..." Before he could finish his sentence.

Vilan interjected, "Then we've truly troubled you. My friend here has always been very empathetic since he was young. He feels that you're being too polite by bringing out your New Year's meat for us to eat."

"Oh, what's there to it? You're city folk, we were worried you wouldn't be used to plain food," Duan Xingye said.

Hearing them say that, Du Xihou reached out his chopsticks, wanting to pick up a piece of meat, but he was afraid of getting a stomach ache from eating it.

But unexpectedly, Li Xiuchun thought he was too shy to pick up meat, so she directly picked up a large chunk of meat and put it into his bowl. "Don't be shy! Just treat it like your own home!"

Du Xihou looked at the large chunk of dark-colored meat, his stomach churning.

He really wanted to say he wouldn't eat, he still had some food in his bag anyway.

But everyone else was eating, and he couldn't bring himself to refuse.

So he could only eat along. He avoided the chunk of meat and picked up a slice of potato to put in his mouth.

He expected the taste to be terrible, but to his surprise, it was quite good.

A moment later.

"Can I have another bowl?"

"Hahahaha, I'll get you more right away, eat your fill!" Li Xiuchun took his bowl.

Du Xihou said contentedly, "It's really fragrant."

Now he no longer felt tired, his stomach wasn't churning, and his nasal cavity was filled with the aroma of food.

That chunk of meat wasn't as bad as he imagined, just a bit tough to chew, his jaw was almost cramping.

Raphael was the same; they ate several bowls heartily.

Fortunately, Li Xiuchun had cooked enough rice, otherwise, it wouldn't have been enough for them.

After all, besides Jiang Nan, they were all men.

And they had all been tired for half a day.

After eating, Raphael rubbed his stomach and lay back in his chair. "Where's the restroom?"

Duan Xingye: "You want to wash your hands? I'll get you some water."

Raphael: "No, no, I need to use the toilet."

"Oh, hahahaha," Duan Xingye laughed. "You city people are so funny, calling going to the toilet 'washing hands.' Come, I'll take you."

"I want to go too!" Li Ce and Du Xihou stood up.

A moment later, Raphael returned with a grim expression.

While Duan Xingye and Li Xiuchun were away, he went up to Vilan and said, "I want to go back!"

"Do you know I almost threw up just now? He took me directly to a place full of... full of feces, I think I even stepped in it!"

He covered his mouth, looking like he was about to vomit. "I need to go back and take a shower!"