Chronicle of the 70s
Chapter 162 - 158 Come Back, One Update

Chapter 162: 158 Come Back, One Update

The next day at 5 a.m., they disembarked and went through customs. It took a full hour of inspection before they were released. During this time, both of them were asked a lot of questions, such as who they met and the like. The questions were repeatedly asked. If one was too tired and not focused enough, it was easy to slip up. Luckily, before they set off, Xu Xi met with them and wrote down most of the questions they needed to answer, allowing both to memorize them thoroughly.

After leaving customs, the two, with their six bags messed up from the search, got into a car that had been waiting and sped towards the capital.

At that time, one could take a train or a long-distance bus from Shanghai to the capital, a drive taking about seven or eight hours, or a train taking about an entire night.

Li Xianglu was drowsy, having forced herself to stay alert at customs, but now relaxed and fell asleep leaning against Qin Xi.

Qin Xi, somewhat resignedly, spread a towel on his lap for her to lie on, while he himself sat by the window.

The car belonged to the embassy and had a smooth journey. They had a bite to eat on the way and didn’t stop again, finally arriving at around four in the afternoon. The car had scarcely stopped when the wooden gate of the courtyard opened, and a dark figure rushed out. Li Qinxi had just opened the car door to see the figure pull the door wide open: "Bro, bro, why did you just come back now?"

The exuberant behavior was like that of an excited family dog, eagerly greeting its owner upon their return.

Li Xianglu, having eaten at noon, did not sleep again and either looked out the car window or chatted with Qin Xi. Now arriving home, she was also delighted. She didn’t pay attention to Qin Zhen but got out of the car and ran towards Mr. Li, who was coming from behind, and embraced him: "Grandpa!"

"Ouch, my Xiangxiang, oh!" Mr. Li too had missed his granddaughter, letting go of her and then looked her up and down. She hadn’t lost weight; in fact, her complexion was quite rosy. It was just that her eyes were a bit swollen. He had received a call from Xu Xi the day before, saying that Ah Yin mentioned, this girl’s eyes had swelled from crying, sigh.

It’s always good to be back home. Everything looked pleasing to the eye. Even seeing Qin Zhen felt more agreeable. He wasn’t too concerned to see a large jar of twenty pounds of pickles gone; they could just make more. His own jar of cookies was also gone, well, they could buy more.

Grandpa’s milk powder was gone, too. Well, no problem, this time they brought back a lot, but even the okara she had planned to get for growing orchids was gone, what was that about?

Li Xianglu’s mood, which had just improved, was instantly deflated. What food did the house have left? They even finished all the okara, which would be used to feed livestock in the countryside in a few years. Why didn’t this guy spare the okara?

Li Xianglu glared resentfully at Qin Zhen, who was sitting in a chair hugging a large jar of cookies and eating non-stop. This fellow had started looking for food as soon as he entered and greeted them. The scallion-flavored cookies, specially baked by the villa’s chef for her to eat on the road, she had only had a few pieces. Thinking that Grandpa Li wasn’t much into sweets, she decided to save them for him. But in half an hour, this guy had already eaten half a jar. She touched her forehead, well, only one and a half pounds wasn’t too much.

Li Xianglu took out all the food and laid it out on the table, letting Qin Xi take their clothes back to the room. She then looked at Grandpa Li and asked, "Grandpa, how have you been these few days?"

Mr. Li smiled: "Do you think you’ve been gone for a few years? You girl, why did you even cry?"

Li Xianglu’s eyes widened: "She told you?"

Mr. Li smiled and shook his head: "It wasn’t Ah Yin who said it, it was Xu Xi. He said when you left, your eyes were swollen like a rabbit’s."

Li Xianglu glared unhappily, and Mr. Li quickly interjected, "Oh, Xiangxiang, hurry up and make something delicious, recently without your cooking grandpa has really lost weight."

Li Xianglu immediately went to her room to change clothes, tied on an apron, and upon checking the kitchen, found a whole chicken, a basin containing a three-pound live fish, as well as Chinese cabbage, long beans, cucumbers, onions, and a large piece of pork belly.

Li Xianglu thought for a moment and then called Qin Xi over to chop the chicken in half for her.

Qin Xi asked Li Xianglu what she planned to cook and chopped the chicken into the small pieces she wanted. Li Xianglu then added water to the pot and set it to boil, while she herself steamed some rice. She used the electric rice cooker she bought in May, a Triangle brand one made by a factory in Zhanjiang that’s of particularly good quality. She bought two: a medium-sized one for steaming rice, and a larger one for stewing soup.

The chicken weighed about five or six pounds. Li Xianglu blanched the better half of the chicken and decided to stir-fry it into spicy chicken chunks. The remaining smaller half was dropped into a well with a basket because it was too hot and their house didn’t have a refrigerator yet – they could only use the most primitive method for preservation.

The chicken was turned into spicy chicken chunks, and the fish had to be made into simple braised fish chunks. She prepared minced garlic with chilled long beans and stir-fried cucumber with eggs. The pork belly was sliced thin with a mix of fat and lean meat, stir-fried until somewhat dry, combined with onions, and sprinkled with cumin before serving – the flavor was simply exquisite.

The household had now upgraded to a gas stove with two burners, making cooking especially convenient and stirring much faster, starting both flames at once.

An hour later, the food was ready, and there was half a jar of scallion cookies left, which Li Xianglu reluctantly covered and put away.

It was too hot, and Qin Xi had built a cooling shed outside the kitchen in June. Now there was a dining table there, and in the hot weather, they would eat outside.

Grandpa Li first drank a mouthful of seaweed soup before he started eating the slightly mushy rice. Even the not-so-spicy spicy chicken chunks were edible for him. Despite Qin Zhen’s countless complaints that it wasn’t spicy enough, Xiang never changed her ways, always catering to his tastes, even though she was exposed to the opulent life of Hong Kong, her principles remained unchanged.

During the meal, Qin Zhen had three bowls of rice and an uncountable amount of dishes. In the end, he looked at the half-plate of braised fish left with a frown and stared fiercely, finally letting out a sigh, "If only I knew, I wouldn’t have eaten those cookies."

Li Xianglu paused while cleaning up the dishes, a forced smile tugging at her lips, "I know you don’t like them, I’ve already put them away."

After saying that, she turned and walked away, not listening to any of his explanations.

That afternoon, Li Xianglu was indeed tired, but fearing that she would wake up too early if she slept now, she took out the laundry that had been washed and became somewhat disordered, and Qin Xi helped her sort it.

Among the clothes were Qin Xi’s, hers, Qin Zhen’s, and Grandpa Li’s, of course, with a large batch still on the way. Xu Xi had already called to say the items would arrive in half a month, always in the evening.

After returning, Li Xianglu made a call to Su Yan. On the other end, while the old lady teased about her messy hair, Li Xianglu suddenly felt a wave of emotion surging in her nose and wanted to cry. She held back and deliberately called out sweetly, "Grandma Su," finally ceasing the teasing from the other side.

Li Xianglu sighed and reminded her to drink milk before bed, emphasizing the need for calcium intake with age. She made Su Yan so frustrated that she didn’t speak for a long while, completely devoid of any sentiment of being upset over the girl’s departure. Okay, even from so far away she could be annoying. How vexing! She didn’t want to miss this brat at all!

ps: That’s it for now, my thoughts are a bit scattered, I need to organize them.

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