Qin Huai realized that although Chen Huihong lived with Hui Niang, they were merely roommates. Chen Huihong would have a good meal in the inner city each day, bring back some snacks for the rest of the time, and if something interesting was happening outside, she’d go watch; if not, she’d stay at home nibbling on sunflower seeds.
Hui Niang was much busier than her.
She would go out in the morning to buy groceries and grain, return to clean up the sunflower seed shells Chen Huihong left behind, and tidy up. If the sun was out, she’d also set up a frame to air the quilts outside.
When Chen Huihong went out for a stroll, Hui Niang was doing work outside; when Chen Huihong returned from her stroll, Hui Niang was usually in the kitchen steaming sweet potatoes.
In the cold evening, Hui Niang and Chen Huihong would nestle together at home. Without a fire basin, Hui Niang would curl up in a blanket and chat with Chen Huihong, who would continue sitting by the table, nibbling on sunflower seeds and playing with small toys.
According to the agreement with Manager Lu, Chen Huihong did not go to eat at Taifeng Building on the second day but went to Yonghe Inn. The staff at Yonghe Inn warmly welcomed her; Chen Huihong returned home in the evening carrying many big and small bags.
Hui Niang was in the kitchen steaming cornbread.
"Sister, you’re back." Hui Niang greeted with a smile, excitedly announcing the good news, "The cornmeal at the grain store was particularly cheap today, I bought an entire bag! Also picked up a small bag of white flour, I steamed cornbread, would you like one?"
Chen Huihong glanced at the cornbread, which didn’t look very appealing, but didn’t fuss, nodded and asked, "Isn’t the grain price different every day now? Why was today’s cornmeal particularly cheap?"
"The staff at the grain store said it was because this batch of cornmeal got damp and was a bit moldy." Hui Niang said cheerfully, "It’s all right, I’ve already picked out and disposed of the moldy bits, still got more than half a bag left."
Chen Huihong frowned out of habit: "Next time, don’t buy grain from this shop, selling such grain is heartless."
"Sister, this store already has good grain. When we were at home, when there was a grain shortage, we’d buy mixed grain from the landlord, with three taels of sand and two taels of mouse droppings in every jin of cornmeal, leaving only half a jin of cornmeal after sifting. At least this store’s cornmeal isn’t mixed with any sand, and it’s sold cheap!"
"So many people went to buy it, luckily, I went early in the morning, otherwise wouldn’t have got any."
Chen Huihong remained silent and handed Hui Niang a preserved fruit.
Hui Niang happily accepted it, savoring it without swallowing: "Thank you, sister."
Chen Huihong stood in the kitchen waiting for the cornbread to steam.
Hui Niang rarely steamed cornbread, didn’t know how to control time and fire control, so she’d occasionally lift the wooden lid to check. Qin Huai watched from the side, thinking Hui Niang’s cooking skills were really worrying.
Not to mention the cornbread itself, with a large mix of raw cornmeal and a small amount of white flour, the coarsest of coarse grains, smoothness and neatness were impossible.
Hui Niang’s dough kneading skills seemed lacking, and the degassing was poorly done.
Most crucially, the fire in the stove was too small.
He didn’t know whether it was to save firewood or simply too little was added, but Qin Huai felt with this method of steaming, the cornbread would likely end up undercooked.
Sure enough, after over ten minutes, the firewood in the stove had burnt out, but the cornbread in the pot was still not completely steamed through.
Hui Niang fiddled with the cornbread, uncertain, and asked: "Sister, is this cornbread done?"
"I don’t know." Chen Huihong said honestly, "I only know how to eat, not cook."
"But we’re out of firewood." Hui Niang said embarrassedly, "I lost time snatching cornmeal this morning, and by the time I got back the firewood seller was already gone, so we’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning to buy more."
"Let’s just make do." Chen Huihong said, then thought for a while, pulling a piece of tree bark out of her pocket, "Or do you want to eat this?"
Hui Niang hesitated for a moment: "My mom said, cornbread even when not fully cooked can still be eaten."
So they began eating the half-cooked cornbread.
Hui Niang steamed four cornbreads in total, each about the size of a fist, with Hui Niang eating three and Chen Huihong eating one.
The kitchen was too cold, so they took the cornbread back to the room to eat.
On her way from the kitchen to the room, out of curiosity, Chen Huihong couldn’t help but take a bite early, wrinkling her face from the taste, she complained: "Strange taste."
Then she popped a preserved fruit into her mouth, and gave the rest of the half pack of preserved fruits to Hui Niang, meaning that the cornbread tasted too awful, and she should eat it with preserved fruits.
Hui Niang did not refuse, joyfully accepted, ate a preserved fruit then followed it with a big bite of cornbread, while chewing, mumbled indistinctly: "Sweet."
"That’s about all you say." Chen Huihong sat at the table helplessly gnawing on the cornbread, watching Hui Niang climb onto the bed, wrapping herself up with only a head and two small hands exposed.
Hui Niang happily ate preserved fruits with cornbread.
While eating, Hui Niang suddenly said: "Sister, you’re really good to me, much better than my parents."
"That’s because your parents aren’t much, it’s been over half a year, yet they haven’t come to Beiping." Chen Huihong said coolly.
The words directly left Hui Niang silent, after a while, Hui Niang quietly asked: "Sister, if I tell you I actually don’t know whether my parents will come to Beiping, I only lied saying they’d come to meet me in Beiping because I was afraid you’d leave me, and I don’t want to find them at all, would you be angry?"
Chen Huihong glanced at her: "They call me crazy lady, I allowed it because it avoids many troubles, and I get free meals and drinks, I’m not actually dumb."
"Would you think I’m unfilial?" Hui Niang asked again.