Chapter 6: The First Mission 6

Wang Juan watched as Liu Wen carefully rinsed the small fish before placing them into a pot to boil fish soup. She thought to herself, isn't this exactly the same as how they usually make fish soup?

Can you really make fish soup without fish bones just by boiling it like this? Wang Juan was very skeptical. Sigh, she felt like a fool for actually taking it seriously. Forget it, she’d just consider it a good deed.

Liu Wen didn't know that Wang Juan was already starting to regret her decision. She quickly processed the vegetables and took a moment to check on the fish soup.

Seeing the soup slowly turning milky white, she used a rice scoop to mash all the small fish into a paste and continued to boil it.

Seeing this, Wang Juan was a bit bewildered. How could anyone make fish soup like this? Recalling the gauze she had asked for earlier, she began to understand.

Although this would waste some of the fish meat, they were just small, miscellaneous fish that she wouldn't have eaten anyway, so there was no real waste.

After finishing the vegetables and seeing that the soup had turned milky white, Liu Wen began to strain it. Worried about lingering fish bones, she made sure to strain it twice.

She set the strained fish soup aside; it wasn't time for dinner yet, so there was no rush to finish the soup.

She then turned her attention to the fish she had lightly salted earlier. She added a bit more salt and proceeded to give the fish a thorough massage.

Wang Juan had never seen such a technique before. Seeing it now, she couldn't help but be stunned. "What is going on?" Why was she giving the fish a massage?

Is this how people cook nowadays? Wang Juan wondered if she had lived all these years in vain; she had never imagined that cooking could be done this way.

She thought back carefully, and her mother had never done anything like this when she cooked. "What are you doing?"

If you don't understand, you ask. She wouldn't have asked if she hadn't seen Liu Wen's earlier skills, but now, no matter how she looked at it, even if Liu Wen wasn't a master chef, her cooking skills seemed at least decent.

"To help the flavors penetrate better."

"If you marinate it for a long time, you don't necessarily need to do this."

"But since we're grilling the fish soon, I need to speed things up."

"By the way, Sister Wang, is one fish soup and one grilled fish okay for tonight?" It was only then that Liu Wen remembered a major matter; she hadn't confirmed the dinner menu with Wang Juan.

Wang Juan looked at the worried-looking Liu Wen. She really was just a young girl, only thinking to ask about the menu after it had already been decided. "That's fine."

"I have no objections." Wang Juan hadn't expected her new roommate to be so capable. Could this be considered finding a treasure?

"Great." Liu Wen set the fish aside. With Wang Juan's help, she moved the cabinet and the bed frame into the room. After laying down the reeds and the bed sheet, she carefully placed her clothes and books into the cabinet.

Wang Juan had helped carry the luggage and knew it wasn't light. She thought to herself that Liu Wen's family must really care for her to have prepared so many things. Only now did she realize why it was so heavy—there were so many books.

In contrast, there weren't many clothes; it was all very simple. "Why did you bring so many books?"

"I was supposed to start high school in September, but now that there's no chance to attend, I brought the high school books I had prepared so I can read them when I have free time."

Liu Wen feigned a relaxed tone. "Besides, if I didn't bring the books, this is all the luggage I'd have."

"Are all your clothes here?" Wang Juan looked at Liu Wen's clothes again; there really were too few.

"All my worldly possessions." Liu Wen closed the cabinet door. "Barring any major accidents, I will be staying here."

Even if she left, it would be to attend university. As for the Liu family, she would never return there; no one was waiting for her to come back anyway.

Before she had even left, the entire Liu household was already complaining about her habit of occupying the balcony, claiming it made it inconvenient to dry clothes and so on.

All her worldly possessions? Wang Juan was stunned for a moment, but it was someone else's family business, so she couldn't ask too much. Every family has its own troubles.

Liu Wen thought for a moment. "My second sister is a sent-down youth at the farm nearby." Even if she avoided talking about it, what if they ran into each other?

Moreover, she had to mail a letter home to say she had arrived safely. If she mailed it through the farm, it would have the same postmark as Liu Xia's, and the Liu family would surely mention it to her.

Liu Xia had previously complained incessantly about how hard it was to be a sent-down youth, which had made Zhai Min feel so distressed that she took it out on Liu Wen at home.

Knowing she was near the farm, Zhai Min, in her concern for her daughter, might notify Liu Xia. Once the latter knew, she would surely find all sorts of ways to bother her, thinking she could get Liu Wen to do her chores.

That was why, when the other sent-down youths looked at her with pity for not staying at the farm, she was actually quite happy. She really didn't want to be in the same place as Liu Xia, not even if the farm divided them into different companies.

As for the village that many people thought poorly of, after learning about it, Liu Wen felt it was quite good.

Although there was no monthly salary, there was enough private land. Even if they couldn't eat their fill, at least they wouldn't starve, and she could slowly recover her health.

As for making money, that was a matter for the future. With the current wages, how much could one really save?

"Since I've arrived, should I have a meal with Sister Li and the others?" After all, she was the newcomer; shouldn't she cook a meal to treat them as a way of getting to know them?

Seeing the cautious Liu Wen, Wang Juan laughed. "No, no need."

"Whether it's Li Yanan or Li Wan, they are used to eating by themselves."

"They might be leaving the farm soon anyway."

Leaving the farm? Liu Wen assumed their families had found them jobs, like parents retiring and letting them take over their positions.

"Around here, if you want to leave the village, besides your parents retiring and letting you go back to take their place, you can also fall in love with someone from the neighboring farm."

"As long as you get a marriage certificate, you can wait to go to the farm." Wang Juan explained why there weren't many sent-down youths in the village, and also told Liu Wen that there was no need to get familiar with them; they would be strangers in the future.

Besides, being too enthusiastic would only make people suspicious.

I see. Liu Wen understood. "What about the male sent-down youths?"

"There aren't many male sent-down youths either, though there are more than the females. After Li Yanan and the others go to the farm, there will only be two female sent-down youths left."

"As for the men, there are six." Wang Juan explained the situation at the sent-down youth dormitory while helping Liu Wen grill the fish.

"So there aren't any major conflicts here."

"If you need to go up the mountain for firewood, you can have the men go, but you have to cook for them."

"Their cooking skills aren't great." Wang Juan felt that Liu Wen's cooking was good, so she should be able to satisfy those men without them being picky.

Liu Wen was truly confused. Weren't they supposed to cook their own meals? Why would she be eating with the men?

Forget it, don't think about things you don't understand. Cooking for more people was the same as cooking for a few. According to Wang Juan, the men could help chop firewood, too.

"I have no objections." Liu Wen indicated that cooking for a few more people was fine. "I used to cook for seven people back home."

Liu Wen said this while preparing the grilled fish. Unfortunately, there was no grill rack, so she had to keep turning it by hand.

(End of chapter)