Chapter 55: A Good Omen

When the trio of three returned to the Li family home, it was already half-past seven, leaving only half an hour until dark.

Upon entering the house, Li Yi asked Li Na to pick some fresh vegetables from the garden and peel a few potatoes.

Meanwhile, he began kneading the dough himself.

Tang Xue wanted to help, but Li Yi stopped her, telling her to just sit by and watch.

This drew strong dissatisfaction from Li Na, who bluntly accused Li Yi of being an ungrateful little ingrate who forgot all about his sister the moment he got a wife.

To this, Li Yi simply responded with a chuckle.

A sister is fine and all, but can she compare to the fragrance of a wife?

What Li Yi wanted to make today was Qishan Saozi noodles, one of the famous delicacies of Qin Province.

The most crucial part of Saozi noodles is the Saozi broth, which is the very soul of the dish.

Therefore, after kneading the dough and taking advantage of the time it needed to rest, Li Yi began preparing the savory minced meat topping known as Saozi.

Li Yi hadn't bought any fresh meat today, but the family had some cured pork left from previous salting. He retrieved a few pieces, rendered the pig fat on top, and diced the meat.

Next, he scooped out a large spoonful of lard, heated the wok, and added the diced cured pork, stirring and frying it continuously while adding a moderate amount of minced ginger to remove any gamey taste.

Since the cured pork was already quite salty on its own, no extra salt was needed. However, when the meat was about sixty percent cooked, he added mature vinegar and stir-fried it; at seventy percent, he added soy sauce, Sichuan peppercorns, and other seasonings. Just before taking it out of the wok, he added an appropriate amount of red chili powder and mixed it well.

After simmering for a short while, it was ready to be served.

Soon, half a wok of savory Saozi broth was completed.

The resulting Saozi meat was tender, fragrant, and bursting with flavor, while the oil was a vibrant, glowing red without being overly spicy.

Once the Saozi was ready, Li Yi began rolling and cutting the noodles. The defining characteristic of Saozi noodles is that the strands must be thin, long, and uniform in thickness.

For Li Yi, rolling and cutting noodles presented no difficulty at all, and before long, an entire cutting board was piled high with noodles.

By this time, Li Na had also washed the pot and brought the water to a boil, whereupon Li Yi immediately dropped the noodles into the pot.

Once cooked, the noodles were scooped out and topped with the rich Saozi broth, completing a bowl of authentic Qishan Saozi noodles.

The Saozi noodles made by Li Yi featured a savory, aromatic topping, a rich and glossy red soup base, and a robust flavor that was deeply satisfying without feeling greasy.

In addition, Li Yi blanched some fresh vegetables right in the noodles, and the resulting flavor was simply—exquisite!

Tang Xue truly never expected that she would be able to eat a bowl of authentic hometown Qishan Saozi noodles in this remote little mountain village. Alongside her astonishment, she felt an overwhelming sense of being touched.

Previously, she hadn't quite believed the things Li Na had said—how could Li Yi possibly have gone out of his way to learn how to make cold rice noodles just for her?

However, now she believed it, because Qingshan County was located in the northern frontier, close to Shanxi Province, where the locals mostly ate knife-cut noodles and pot-resting noodles.

As for Qishan Saozi noodles, let alone eating them, most people here had never even seen them.

If it weren't for her, or to accommodate her preferences, Li Yi had absolutely no reason to make Saozi noodles.

Having figured this out, the look Tang Xue gave Li Yi became even gentler.

Li Yi had no idea what was going on in Tang Xue's mind; had he known, he certainly would have remarked that this was truly a beautiful misunderstanding.

The main reason he made Qishan Saozi noodles wasn't because Tang Xue was from Qin Province and he wanted to pander to her taste, but simply because the only noodles he knew how to make were Qishan Saozi noodles.

Just like the cold rice noodles, Qishan Saozi noodles were something Li Yi had learned in Tang Xue's hometown.

Because in his past life, it was only during the annual trip to sweep Tang Xue's grave that Li Yi would cast aside all his disguises and masks, spending a period of time in his most relaxed state.

Li Yi felt that he had already shown his most wretched and pathetic side to Tang Xue, so what was left to disguise in front of her, even if that presence was merely a gravestone?

Every year during that season, he would cook by himself, live by himself, and spend an hour or two every day before Tang Xue's grave.

It was during that exact period that he learned to make cold rice noodles, meat burgers in steamed buns, Qishan Saozi noodles, and several other delicacies of Qin Province.

As for the local pot-resting noodles or the neighboring province's knife-cut noodles, he could barely manage to make them if pressed, but the taste definitely wouldn't be as authentic as Qishan Saozi noodles.

Although he was unaware that Tang Xue's imagination had quietly fabricated a vast narrative in her mind, Li Yi could nevertheless sense the change in her.

The look Tang Xue gave him a while ago was vastly different from the way she looked at him now—it was practically night and day.

Before, her gaze was distant, cold, and even carried a faint trace of aversion.

Later on, although the aversion disappeared, there was still no emotion to speak of; she looked at him more like a complete stranger.

Yet now—whether it was his imagination or not—Li Yi discovered that Tang Xue's gaze towards him held a hint of curiosity, a touch of appreciation, and a subtle, hard-to-detect fondness.

This discovery left Li Yi faintly thrilled!

He actually knew that there had always been someone in Tang Xue's heart, a man named Tan Cheng, who in his past life ultimately became Tang Xue's brother-in-law.

According to the investigations Li Yi conducted in his previous life, after Tang Xue returned to the city from here back then, she discovered that Tan Cheng, whom she had always liked, was about to marry her own younger sister, Tang Bing.

In fact, the two of them had already been engaged as early as two years prior!

Yet while Tang Xue's entire family knew about this matter, they were the very ones who kept it a secret from her.

Compounding this, Tang Xue suddenly discovered that she was pregnant. Upon learning of the situation, her parents not only refused to help, but instead scolded her for lacking self-respect and tried to force her into getting an abortion.

Thinking of all she had endured at the Nianzi Mountain Production Brigade, combined with the attitude of her family members, this cascade of blows ultimately drove Tang Xue to a desperate end.

Therefore, ever since his rebirth, Li Yi's heart had remained somewhat anxious; he truly worried that Tang Xue might never be able to let go of that man.

If that were the case, what he had married would merely be an empty shell.

He would have attained only her person, but not her heart!

Yet looking at it now, that man didn't carry as much weight in Tang Xue's heart as he had imagined, and she wasn't completely devoid of feelings for him either.

This was definitely an auspicious sign!

Li Yi believed that as long as Tang Xue held even a shred of feeling for him, she would never escape his grasp in this lifetime.

After all, he was Tang Xue's first man; based on that fact alone, someone with her traditional mindset could never simply ignore him.

Secondly, barring any accidents, a tiny new life was already growing within Tang Xue's womb.

Given what a gentle and kind-hearted woman Tang Xue was, as long as there remained even a glimmer of hope, she would never let her child suffer any grievance.

In her past life, she would rather die than undergo an abortion, which showed how immensely important that child was to her.

Since she accepted the child, accepting the child's father was merely a matter of time.

In high spirits, Li Yi completely disregarded the strange looks from his parents and sister. Throughout the meal, he continuously piled food into Tang Xue's bowl and added more noodles, displaying a level of enthusiasm that was enough to make anyone green with jealousy!

Tang Xue was also caught off guard by Li Yi's warmth, her pretty face involuntarily flushing as her heartbeat quickened.

Though somewhat shy, this time she didn't rebuff Li Yi as she used to, instead accepting his care with good grace.

Seeing this scene, Li Shankui and his wife wore gratified smiles, while Li Na wore an expression as if she had just seen a ghost.

And it was no wonder Li Na was so astonished; the Tang Xue she knew was like a flower perched upon a high, frigid peak—while somewhat naive, she was exceedingly proud.

Let alone a ruffian-style character like her younger brother, she hadn't even deigned to give the time of day to the most prominent youths of the educated youth contingent, such as Song Wenzhi or Zhang Hanshi, when they pursued her.

She had returned every single gift they sent her, refused their offers to bring her meals or fetch water, and was as stubborn as a mule!

Yet now, she was actually accepting such intimate gestures as her younger brother picking food out for her—truly, the sun must have risen from the west.

Or could it be that once a woman shared a bed with a man, all other intimate actions simply became child's play?