You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 16 Part 4

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 16 Part 4

Ruan Yu led Xu Huaisong into the kitchen and opened her refrigerator for him to see: “With the ingredients inside, I could make a sandwich or pasta.”

She deliberately pointed at some western food choices but Xu Huaisong’s eyes landed somewhere else: “This one.” He was pointing at a block of rice cake.

So he hadn’t been totally westernized.

Ruan Yu asked: “How do you want it cooked?”

“Fried.”

Ruan Yu nodded and bent over to take the rice cake out from the refrigerator: “Then you can go sit in the living room.”

Xu Huaisong walked out of the kitchen.

Ruan Yu put on her apron and started to get busy. However, she hesitated for a moment when she was about to cut the rice cake.

This was shui-mo rice cake[1] which wasn’t suitable for frying. But she suddenly understood why Xu Huaisong wanted to eat fried rice cake.

It was because there’s a special local rice cake from Su City, lard rice cake, and was usually fried.

He was probably homesick.

Ruan Yu happened to have some lard rice cake that her mother had sent over before.

She figured that Xu Huaisong was so tired that he could fall asleep on the couch, shouldn’t she treat him a bit better? As she was thinking, she replaced the shui-mo rice cake with the lard rice cake.

Searching her memory, Ruan Yu followed the recipe her mother had taught her. She made the batter, beat the egg, heated the oil in a wok, coated the sliced rice cake with the batter, and then pan fried it on low heat.

Pieces of the rice cake turned golden brown, emitting a fragrance.

Even though she already had lunch, she began to feel hungry.

As she was putting the fried rice cake onto the plate, she wanted to sneak one for herself but was afraid Xu Huaisong might see her. She looked back into the living room and found Xu Huaisong had his back facing the kitchen. He was doing something there while kneeling on one knee, with his shirt sleeves folding up.

Ruan Yu was wondering when he happened to stand up and turn around. He was holding a dustpan full of pieces of shattered porcelain.

Ruan Yu hurriedly walked over: “I can do that.”

Xu Huaisong put the dustpan to the side and briefly said: “Rag, tape.”

Ruan Yu went to fetch these two items. As she was about to squat down to clean, Xu Huaison pulled the rag out of her hand.

He mopped the floor without uttering a sound. After cleaning the floor, he put down the rag and opened his palm towards Ruan Yu.

Ruan Yu put the tape in his palm and bent over to say: “The material of the cup shouldn’t have any tiny shards.”

Xu Huaisong ignored her, instead he started to tape together the broken pieces one by one. He was extremely precise, as if he was doing a surgical operation.

Ruan Yu was a little surprised.

Though he was just making up for his own mistakes, Ruan Yu still felt moved by his gesture.

So when she brought out the rice cake later on and saw the shocked expression on Xu Huaisong’s face, she said something she wouldn’t have said under normal circumstances: “I’ve replaced it with lard rice cake. You probably haven’t eaten it for many years.”

Then, she was faced with a lethal piece of interrogation.

Xu Huaisong raised his eyebrows: “How do you know that I’m from Su City?”

[1]: 水磨年糕 (shuǐmó niángāo) literally means 'water milled new year cake' it's made from finely ground rice flour, not from glutinous rice, and it's plain not sweet. It’s usually used for cooking, not as dessert

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.