Daily Life in the Countryside After Being Reborn-Chapter 248 - 37: Love Letters and Family Dinner (Second Update)

Zeng Xuerou’s palms began to sweat as she gripped the steering wheel tightly. She was wearing a down jacket, but still had on Sacred Heart Middle School’s uniform trousers. She had first snuck out to drive a car at the age of eleven. Over the years, she had driven without permission well over a hundred times yet never once had she fallen into the hands of the traffic police.

The two passengers in the back seat also quieted down as the police officer approached step by step, and time seemed to stand still. ƒreewebɳovel.com

Suddenly, at the intersection to the left, a sedan swerved through the red light. The traffic police shifted their attention and stopped that car. The driver inside was clearly drunk, his face flushed, and his steps unsteady.

The car passed the traffic light smoothly, and the three people inside all sighed in relief. Zhang Yiyi, feeling a little embarrassed, scratched her head and unfolded the letter, which had startled her into exclaiming. It was a part of the letter Wang Ke had written. To curry favor with Qu Yang, Wang Keke had gone to all lengths. The letter even mentioned her purchasing "Agent A."

"Could Wang Ke be foolish enough to use steroid drugs?" Zeng Xuerou frowned, piecing together Wang Ke’s abnormal behavior in the past few months and what she wrote in the letter. Such behavior was equivalent to cheating on an exam.

"I’ll bet what’s on the paper is the same drug I heard about at the beauty salon," blurted out Zhang Yiyi, without restraint.

Hearing "beauty salon," Zeng Xuerou gave a baffled look. What kind of people are in the school’s basketball team? One’s using stimulants, and another’s visiting beauty salons so young.

"Don’t get the wrong idea. She went to the beauty salon just to look for drugs that make people smarter," Xiao Xian’s words left Zeng Xuerou even more speechless. Kids these days...

"But this letter looks pretty new, clearly untouched," said Zeng Xuerou, taking the letter and judging by the folds and the seal that Qu Yang apparently had not opened it. Qu Yang indeed has the habit of carrying around love letters, stuffing his backpack with ninety-something letters, Wang Ke’s among them, which ran to three or four pages, a thick stack of them. Qu Yang wasn’t interested in her. After opening it, he didn’t look closely and just threw it aside, which fortunately let Zhang Yiyi and the others learn some things they shouldn’t have known.

"Let’s not talk about this anymore. Don’t mention these messy things in front of my family, to avoid them overthinking," the car had arrived in front of the Zeng Family’s villa, and the three of them got out.

As soon as they entered the house, the aromatic scents filled the air and stimulated their spirits.

"It smells so good," Xiao Xian and Zhang Yiyi, who had been to the Zeng house to eat several times, were still smelling such a delicious aroma for the first time. It wasn’t fried food or stir-fried with scallions, but rather the bones simmered in clear soup and...

"It’s river crab. My grandma’s hometown is in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, where the river crabs are produced, and they taste really delicious." Beijing’s geographical location is a bit awkward, considered part of the Bohai Sea Circle yet not directly on the sea. There are freshwater catches, but most seafood is transported from Shandong, and with long-distance transport, the taste of the seafood changes.

Grandma Zeng visited friends at home last week and brought back more than a dozen plump and rich river crabs on her return. With the weather getting colder, Grandma thought of boiling a pot of soup, and as several young girls who were over at the house were growing, she decided to stew tube bones with river crabs today.

"Grandma went to the market early in the morning to buy groceries against our advice," the Hourly Worker reported to Zeng Xuerou. The Zeng Family didn’t like to hire domestic helpers; they were picky eaters, and the meals were all personally prepared by Grandma Zeng. They only hired two Hourly Workers to help with washing clothes, cleaning, and purchasing groceries.

Grandma Zeng insisted on entertaining guests today and wouldn’t be persuaded otherwise, claiming the Hourly Workers didn’t choose good meat bones. She took a basket early in the morning and, after haggling with the vendors at the market, brought back several good pork backbones. They were properly cleaned and required no chopping, and she chose two river crabs to go into the pressure cooker with them. For soup-making, the crabs don’t need to be too fatty; water crabs are best. Once the backbones were stewed until tender, the river crabs were added and cooked for a few minutes, mixing the seafood’s flavor with the meat, letting both the meat and crab flavors come through.

Hearing that Xiao Xian’s father was from Wenzhou but had never tasted river crab, Grandma Zeng couldn’t contain her joy. "I can’t believe, girl, with ’Xian’ in your name, you’ve never tasted seafood. How could you say you’ve experienced ’Xian’? Fortunately, Grandma knows how much you can eat, so I made stir-fried river crab."

The table was set with six or seven dishes, a large pot of stewed tube bones with river crab, and the stir-fried tender and delicious fatty crabmeat, making Xiao Xian and Zhang Yiyi’s mouth water. Zeng Xuerou watched on the side and also felt her appetite increase, eating twice as much as usual.

Grandma Zeng was ecstatic watching the empty plates and bowls.

Halfway through the meal, the clock in the dining room just struck seven when the Zeng Family’s driver came in, supporting Zeng Xuerou’s mother, who struggled to walk.

"Ah, your mum must have gotten drunk again, come on and help her," the Hourly Worker had just left when Zeng Xuerou and Grandma Zeng had to step forward to assist, one supporting her mother while the other went to prepare the hangover medicine.

Xiao Xian and Zhang Yiyi also stood up to help upon seeing this.

Zeng Xuerou’s mother was thoroughly drunk, unable to distinguish whether the people around her were her daughter or not. She randomly grabbed Xiao Xian, whose height was similar to that of Zeng Xuerou, and sat down on the sofa, drunkenly demanding, "Drink, another drink."

"Mom, you’re drunk, have some hangover medicine first," Zeng Xuerou saw her mother so out of control and felt embarrassed, holding the mixture ready to be given to Mrs. Zeng.

"I’m not drunk. Who says I’m drunk? I can still drink. Who are you? Why is this drink yellow? Take it away," Mrs. Zeng refused to listen, gesticulating wildly.

"Help me hold my mom down; she’s getting crazy drunk again," out of options, Zeng Xuerou had to ask for help from the tall and strong Zhang Yiyi.

"No problem, I can handle my dad when he’s drunk," said Zhang Yiyi, now full and strong, teaming up with Zeng Xuerou to force the hangover medicine into Mrs. Zeng’s mouth.

"Stop, all of you stop," Xiao Xian pushed with both hands, knocking the tea cup away. The spilt hot water scalded the other two, causing them to cry out, "Your hangover medicine is wrong." (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast a recommendation ticket and a monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m fre𝒆webnov(e)l.com