After a while, Liu Guilan called out
"Xiao An, hurry up and wash your face, it's time to eat."
Wang An answered and walked into the room.
By the time Wang An had finished washing his face and brushing his teeth, the food and porridge had already been set on the table.
As soon as Wang An sat down, he heard Liu Guilan say with a smile
"Xiao Li woke up early to make the buns this morning. Everyone, try some and see how they are."
After Liu Guilan spoke, everyone turned their gaze toward Huang Li. Under their stares, Huang Li immediately became embarrassed and said somewhat awkwardly
"I didn't know what you all liked to eat, so I just thought I'd steam some buns."
Truth be told, Huang Li had settled into her role quite quickly; it was only her second day here and she was already proactively waking up early to cook.
At the moment, Huang Li had not sat at the table. Instead, she stood beside it like an ancient maidservant, as if waiting for instructions from Wang An's family at any moment.
Seeing this, Wang An hurriedly greeted Huang Li
"What are you staring at over there, niece? Hurry up and sit down to eat."
Huang Li hurriedly waved her hands and said
"You all eat, you all eat. I'll just eat in the outer room in a while."
Liu Guilan said dissatisfiedly
"The food is all right here on the table, why go to the outer room to eat?"
Turning around, Liu Guilan said to Wang An with a look of displeasure
"Look at this child. This is how it's been since we brought her here last night; no matter what we say, she won't sit at the table and insists on eating in the outer room. Hurry up and tell her something."
Wang An frowned and looked at Huang Li
"Now that you're here, we're all family. Our house doesn't have that many rules. Hurry up and get to the table."
Huang Li lowered her head and said in a very soft voice
"I heard my grandma say that when she used to work for the landlord's family, she wasn't allowed at the table. She only ate the leftovers of the master's house..."
Before Huang Li could finish, Wang An said quite unhappily
"Stop with the 'I heard my grandma say,' 'I heard my grandma say.' What era is this that you're still listening to your grandma? If our family were landlords, we'd have been beaten to death long ago. Hurry up and eat, stop dawdling. From now on, we all eat at one table."
Mu Xueqing added
"Exactly, I told you last night—once you're here, just treat it like your own home. Whatever work you did at home, do the same here; no one will say anything to you. And yet, here you are, acting like a stranger."
Seeing Wang An's cold face, and with Liu Guilan and Mu Xueqing also appearing unhappy, Huang Li finally shuffled her steps and sat down in a chair by the table.
Only then did Wang Dazhu, the nominal head of the household, speak
"Eating at one table is the right way. If people started saying our family were landlords, that would be a disaster."
At this time, although matters regarding landlords and capitalists were no longer given much importance—or more accurately, basically no one cared anymore—things involving "class enemies" were still not to be underestimated. In any case, it was better to be quiet and low-profile.
After a pause, Wang Dazhu said to Wang An with great dissatisfaction
"Xiao An, the seniority has to be changed from now on. Xiao Huang isn't even two years younger than you, yet you've gone and become her uncle. In our house, she'll call you Brother, call Xueqing Sister-in-law, then call me Uncle and your mother Aunt. That's the only way the seniority makes sense."
After Wang Dazhu finished, Liu Guilan also said dissatisfiedly
"Exactly. Last night, Xiao Li opened her mouth and called me Grandma; it gave me a fright. If you dare to mess up the seniority outside again, just see if I'll let your father beat you!"
As she spoke, Liu Guilan gave Wang An a sharp glare.
To be honest, Wang An also felt the previous titles were very awkward—extremely awkward. It would be much more comfortable to address each other as siblings.
Thus, Wang An gave a few dry laughs and quickly agreed. He turned to Huang Li and said
"Xiao Li, did you hear? Your seniority has gone up. From now on, call me Brother and call my dad Uncle."
Huang Li naturally nodded repeatedly.
Wang An picked up a bun and took a huge bite.
Truth be told, these buns were steamed quite well. The filling was a mix of fat and hazel mushrooms, and the dough was a blend of refined and coarse flour.
With a mouthful of bun, Wang An couldn't help but praise
"This filling is seasoned perfectly. Delicious, absolutely delicious."
In the local area, there were many types of mushrooms, and many of them were edible.
However, the ones most commonly eaten—mainly because they had the best texture and were the most abundant—were hazel mushrooms, red mushrooms, "di kou" (poplar mushrooms), birch mushrooms, and straw mushrooms.
As for pine mushrooms, although they were edible, tasted fine, and were very numerous, it was best to peel the skin off before eating or stew them for a long time; otherwise, one could easily get diarrhea after eating them.
Therefore, although pine mushrooms were the most abundant, locals rarely picked them; even if they did, they only picked the small, tender ones.
It couldn't be helped; the mushroom resources were simply too rich, so naturally, they picked the best ones to eat.
After Wang An's praise, Wang Dazhu and the others also expressed their appreciation for the buns.
Even the two younger sisters joined in, shouting, "Delicious, really delicious!"
The collective praise from Wang An's family finally made Huang Li smile, her face flushing red.
While eating, the family spent some time advising Huang Li.
The main point of their advice was for her to be more relaxed at home and not so constrained, as there weren't many stifling rules in the house.
Especially regarding meals: if she wanted something, she should just reach for it with her chopsticks; she should eat as much as she could until she was full. She didn't need to fear there wouldn't be enough, nor worry that eating too much would lead to being disliked or scolded. This family wasn't lacking for a few bites of food, and there was no need for such formalities.
In reality, a person's appetite is determined by the amount of fat and protein in their stomach. Once there is enough oil in the belly, a person's appetite naturally levels off.
Under the chatter and persuasion of the family, the seventeen-year-old Huang Li finally had the smile that belonged to her age, and her eyes finally held the light that belonged to her age.
Yes, it was the feeling of having light.
It was as if a person had set down a heavy mental burden, no longer harboring so many inhibitions and fears, and was now filled with hope and expectation for the future.
By the end of the meal, Wang An, with his large frame, had eaten six buns, while Huang Li had eaten a full eight, plus a large bowl of coarse corn porridge.
Of course, this was the result of Liu Guilan and Mu Xueqing proactively adding buns to Huang Li's plate.
Because both Liu Guilan and Mu Xueqing knew all too well how much a person eats when their stomach has been devoid of oil for too long.
One only had to remember that when Wang An had first been reborn and went to the county town, both his mother-in-law Liu Ruxin and Mu Xueqing had eaten about ten meat buns each before they were full.
After the meal, Huang Li proactively started clearing the bowls and chopsticks. No one said anything about this, as Liu Guilan was also helping out.
Wang An, without glancing at these chores, walked toward the electrical wires.
Taking advantage of the fact that he didn't have to go into the mountains today to protect the autumn grain, Wang An intended to finish laying all the wiring in the house and install all the electric lights.
This was a legitimately significant project.
(End of Chapter)