To be honest, Shi Suo's wife's cooking was truly mediocre; only the old vinegar peanuts were decent, though Wang An felt that no matter who made that dish, it always tasted the same.
Consequently, after tasting every dish once, Wang An craned his neck and shouted toward the outer room
"Sister-in-law, what kind of pickled vegetables do you have? Get me some of those, and then some dipping vegetables—whatever you've got is fine. If you don't have any, just get me a bowl of soybean paste and a couple of large green onions."
During this season, the vegetable gardens of every household in Northeast China were empty; one could say there was nothing left. Thus, from the moment the ground froze, the people of the Northeast entered the days of having no green vegetables to eat.
Of course, it wasn't that there were absolutely none, because every household had stored radishes and Chinese cabbage in their cellars for the winter, and there were large green onions on the roofs of the granaries that had white stalks but no leaves. These three things constituted "green vegetables."
After Wang An finished shouting, he heard Shi Suo's wife agree from outside, while Shi Suo said with a face full of helplessness
"Brother, why are you eating pickled vegetables and dipping vegetables? What's so good about those things?"
Wang An shook his head and made an excuse
"No, it's just that whenever I drink, I crave some pickled and dipping vegetables. Without them, I feel like drinking is boring."
Shi Suo stared at Wang An for a long while before shaking his head and falling silent.
Soon, Shi Suo's wife brought two types of pickled vegetables for Wang An: a bundle of pickled eggplant and some twisted pickled cucumbers. Truth be told, while Shi Suo's wife's cooking was very poor, her pickling was actually quite proper.
Following that, she brought Wang An a steamer basket of dipping vegetables and a bowl of thick soybean paste.
Wang An took the opportunity to say
"Sister-in-law, don't bother anymore, come up on the kang and eat."
However, Shi Suo's wife said with a smile
"I'm not drinking, I'll just have a bite in the outer room. You eat, you eat, hehehe."
Thus, Wang An didn't press further. Mainly, there was indeed such a custom locally: when guests visited, women and children did not sit at the table.
In reality, the root of this custom wasn't that women weren't valued or that children were too immature; it was because food was too scarce, and the guests had to be fed first.
Because even the male host accompanying the guest at the table would basically only taste the dishes superficially and rarely used his chopsticks.
For the rest of the meal, Wang An basically ate nothing but peanuts, pickled vegetables, and dipping vegetables.
Shi Suo thought Wang An was too shy to eat meat, so he repeatedly placed meat into Wang An's bowl, making Wang An feel quite miserable.
Mainly, when a host serves food to a guest, it shows the host is afraid of neglecting the guest and is a manifestation of treating the guest with importance. Unfortunately, Wang An didn't have even a shred of interest in the meat cooked by Shi Suo's wife.
Eventually, Wang An said helplessly
"Brother Shi, stop giving me meat. I've eaten so much meat these past few days that I'm 'stuffed to the gills' with it; I just want something light."
"Stuffed to the gills" (吃怼着了) was local dialect, meaning one had eaten too much of something, grew tired of it, and didn't want to eat it anymore.
As soon as Wang An finished speaking, Shi Suo was completely stunned.
Mainly, in this era, for ordinary commoners, meat was an extremely luxurious item. Not only was it rationed, but the price was beyond what an ordinary family could afford.
When a normal family bought meat, they only wanted the fatty parts—the fattier the better—so they could render it into lard. When guests came and dishes were made, just before the food left the pan, they would use chopsticks to scoop a tiny bit of lard and stir it into the dish.
Yes, the oil was added after the vegetables were cooked. This method of adding oil was called "late wife-oil" (后老婆油).
The reason for doing this was that if the oil was added last, it wouldn't soak into the vegetables, making the entire plate look glistening and oily, which provided a better visual effect for the guest and gave the food a hint of animal fat flavor.
And this was only when guests were present. If the family was cooking for themselves, there wasn't even any "late wife-oil"; it was simply vegetables boiled in salt water.
To put it bluntly, it was simply because they were damn poor.
Once Shi Suo recovered his senses, he said with a face full of disbelief
"Stuffed to the gills? Can you actually get stuffed with meat?"
As he spoke, Shi Suo picked up a piece of meat, put it in his mouth, and said while smacking his lips
"This stuff is so delicious, the more you eat the more fragrant it gets. How could you get stuffed with it?"
From this point, one could see that the life of Shi Suo's family was truly not great, not much different from other rural families at the time.
Wang An laughed and said
"I remember telling you that I raise a large pack of dogs. Before winter, I go into the mountains to hunt. You know how my marksmanship is; do you think my family could lack meat to eat? Hahahaha..."
Upon hearing that there was no shortage of meat, Shi Suo immediately wore an expression of envy and said with great interest
"I know there are plenty of mountain beasts in the hills, but those things are cunning; once you enter the mountains, you can't even find a trace of them. Hearing you say this, how come it seems like those mountain beasts have become your family's meat source? Hahahaha... you're not bragging, are you?"
Wang An said, speechless
"Damn, I can tell you're not an expert. Tell you what, the day I run into a herd of wild boars, I'll get you two big ones to eat. With the way things go, getting some meat to eat is a piece of cake."
Shi Suo picked up his enamel mug, clinked it against Wang An's, and said with longing
"Brother, tell me, when you go into the mountains to hunt, how do you do it?"
Wang An said casually
"Hunting, you see, is not hard if you say it's not, but if you say it's simple, there are actually quite a few tricks to it. Let's talk about hunting—'hunting' is the term for outsiders; we call it 'beating the perimeter' (打围). Beating the perimeter is divided into 'large perimeter' and 'small perimeter'."
As he spoke, Wang An popped two peanuts into his mouth and said while chewing
"Things like setting snares, traps, cages, or using slingshots—that's 'small perimeter.' As for me, I do both small and large perimeters..."
And so, the two of them ate and chatted, and a bottle of Beidacang liquor was finished before they knew it.
Wang An was immune to alcohol, so half a jin of white liquor went down without any effect. As for Shi Suo, aside from a slightly red face, he was equally clear-headed and spoke clearly; he seemed to have no problems at all. Truth be told, Shi Suo's alcohol tolerance was genuinely good.
However, the various anecdotes Wang An shared about trekking through the mountains left Shi Suo incredibly excited and eager to try.
It must be said that the idea of riding a horse, carrying a gun, and leading a pack of dogs through the forests is something that would make anyone long for it, wishing they could be a part of it.
It was just that the danger and hardship involved were automatically ignored by most people.
Thus, although the food wasn't great, the drinking session was actually quite pleasant. By the time Wang An left, it was already past two in the afternoon.
Upon leaving, Wang An left Shi Suo a bag of rice and a bag of white flour.
Mainly, when Wang An had stepped out to urinate during the meal, he had actually seen Shi Suo's wife using a corn bun to scrape the remaining vegetable broth from the pot to eat in secret; of course, there were also pickled vegetables on the stove.
For some reason, this scene reminded Wang An once again of when he first returned through rebirth—the longing looks in his younger siblings' eyes for meat, and the scene where Wang Yi used a flatbread to scrape the vegetable basin clean after he had hunted his first wild boar.
It was clear that Shi Suo's wife had put all the dishes on the table to entertain Wang An, leaving nothing for herself.
Thanks to "Book Friend 20250625155951005" for the tip, thank you, thank you!
(End of Chapter)