Daily Life in the 70s-Chapter 112 Colleague

Minmin felt that she had no shame in learning from others, especially when it came to looking after her own "temple of five viscera." Whenever she had time, she would pop into their place.

The dishes that Fourth Aunt could cook remarkably encompassed both northern and southern cuisines—northern dishes like noodles, sweet and sour pork, blood sausage, sticky rice dumplings, and leek pockets and southern dishes such as rice cakes, squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, lion’s head meatballs, white-cut chicken, stuffed tofu, and so on. Minmin was curious about her previous job, and later she mentioned that she learned it because her family members had been chefs.

If Minmin asked too many questions, Fourth Aunt would just laugh it off, "Why so many questions? You better hurry up and learn. Yiguang also got used to my cooking; he always came over for meals when he was younger. You really need to work hard, and in the future, you won’t need anything else but your cooking skills to keep him tightly tied to you."

Whenever she cooked something new, she loved having Minmin bring it home for others to try. Only after receiving multiple praises would Fourth Aunt feel a sense of accomplishment.

That’s why Yixiang, who was obligated by the food she received, stood up to shut Yidong up.

Minmin was bringing meat to Fourth Uncle’s house when they had just sat down to eat.

And Mr. Hao, who had asked her for directions today, was also there.

"Minmin is here, come on in quickly," Fourth Aunt warmly waved her over.

"Have you eaten yet? If not, don’t be shy, just go grab a pair of chopsticks for yourself."

Minmin smiled and placed the meat on their table, "We were about to eat too. Today we have cured meat, so I brought some over for you, Mr. Hao."

Mr. Hao Qinghui stood up and nodded at her, "Mr. Yang."

Fourth Aunt watched them with amusement, "What is this? Is this how you teachers greet each other?"

"Not really, Mr. Hao is just too polite," Minmin laughed.

Mr. Hao sat down again and said, "Thanks to Mr. Yang’s directions today, I was able to find Uncle Shen’s place."

Fourth Aunt smiled and nodded, "So, you’re from the same school."

Knowing this, Fourth Aunt pointed to the steamed fish and sweet and sour pork on the table and said to Minmin, "Since you’re here, take your bowl and scoop some to take back and try. The fish was caught by Faithful today; it’s very fresh. Eat it while it’s still hot; it won’t taste good when it’s cold as it will start to smell fishy."

Minmin politely refused, "No thank you, Fourth Aunt. You have guests, I should get back home, they’re waiting for me to eat."

Mr. Hao stood up again, "Mr. Yang, don’t mind me, I’m here today because I accidentally hurt my foot and couldn’t rush back home, so Uncle and Aunt kindly let me stay for dinner. If my presence makes you uncomfortable, I’d feel even worse." freewebnoveℓ.com

"Look, Xiao Hao is just being courteous. Let me tell you, today Fourth Uncle made a wardrobe for Accountant Liu’s daughter from his team. It needed to be moved outside to air, and knowing he’s old and not up for the task, they needed someone to help carry it. Xiao Hao saw and eagerly wanted to help but accidentally twisted his foot stepping on a pebble."

"It was getting dark, and we couldn’t just let him go back like that. He was even being polite and didn’t want to stay for dinner, but that’s not okay. It’s only right to keep him for a simple meal after helping us."

"Minmin, just listen to Xiao Hao, no need to be polite with us. Either join us for a bit here or take some food back with you. Seeing it’s late and you even brought us meat, I wouldn’t want you to go back empty-handed, in case your elder sister-in-law or someone might say something. Your mother, though, she wouldn’t mind."

Pei Min felt somewhat embarrassed and touched her nose softly as she said to Fourth Aunt, "Fourth Aunt, I really can’t take it anymore, my skin isn’t that thick yet. I’m really going now. I’ll come bother you again tomorrow."

After saying goodbye to everyone, she was about to dash off when Fourth Aunt stopped her, "Minmin, wait a minute, don’t you have a bicycle there? I was thinking Xiao Hao still can’t walk back, so I want to borrow your bicycle and have Yiguang help him ride back."

Pei Min nodded, "Sure, no problem. Mr. Hao sprained his foot, and I have some medicated plasters at my place. I’ll bring them over in a bit."

Mr. Hao stood up again, "That would be very kind of you, Mr. Yang."

Pei Min waved her hand, "It’s nothing, just looking out for a colleague."

After that, she left Fourth Uncle’s house.

After eating at home, she went back to the storeroom and dug out the herbs she had collected. Under the light, she mixed the herbs, pounded them in a medicine jar, and wrapped them in gauze. She made two packs in total. These were common remedies for bruises and sprains—there was no great skill involved in the preparation. She had simply seen and remembered her grandfather making them a lot in her previous life. If it had been something rarer, she wouldn’t have been able to make it.

She pushed her bike over to Fourth Uncle’s house and handed the medicated plaster to Hao Qinghui, "Put this on first, the sooner the better."

Fourth Aunt helped him move to a shorter chair and took the medicine from Pei Min’s hands. She smelled it and nodded, "It smells like Panax notoginseng, I’m not sure what else, but I didn’t expect you had these kinds of medicines at home. I also have some gauze scissors here. Minmin, can you pass those to me? I’ll help Xiao Hao apply it."

"Sure," Pei Min hurriedly fetched them. Watching Hao Qinghui and Fourth Aunt compete to apply the medicine pack, Hao Qinghui eventually lost and could only sigh helplessly. He looked up and saw Pei Min in front of him, somewhat sheepishly nodding his head at her.

"Minmin has brought it, pass it to me. I need the gauze," Fourth Aunt told her.

Pei Min quickly handed it over, then stood aside unable to leave, watching Fourth Aunt help with the wrapping. Hao Qinghui’s ankle was severely swollen and tinged with blue, looking worrisome. Fourth Aunt pressed the medicine pack onto the swelling, securing it with one hand, while she wrapped it with gauze with the other, and he watched Fourth Aunt’s actions without changing his expression.

Pei Min, however, noticed him feeling slightly embarrassed under her gaze and wondered if people of this era were all so modest. Merely watching a foot made him uncomfortable—how would they react to the bare-skin antics of people in future generations?

Seeing his discomfort, she tactfully decided not to stand there anymore, handed him the items, "You pass these to Fourth Aunt."

"Thank you, Mr. Yang."

"Mr. Hao, you’re too polite." Pei Min nodded at him, then said to Fourth Aunt, "Fourth Aunt, I’ll head back first. The bike is in the yard, please mention it to cousin later."

Fourth Aunt looked up, "Alright, it’s getting late, you should head back early."

Pei Min nodded.

When she arrived back at the Shen family’s house, Yiyue curiously asked her, "Did guests arrive at Fourth Uncle’s house?"

"Some guests just sprained their foot. I lent the bicycle to cousin to take the guest home."

Yiyue nodded, and didn’t say anything else.