Chapter 40: The Childhood of a Foodie

Chapter 40: The Childhood of a Foodie

"No!" Song Xilan said confidently. "My mom had a dream last night that my grandma missed me, so she told me to go visit them."

If Jiang Chengxiao hadn’t told her yesterday that he was going to Yangsongkeng, he would have believed her. But it was still a nice coincidence.

"Do you visit your grandma’s place often? Is Yangsongkeng fun?" Jiang Chengxiao brought up the topic.

"It’s fun! I’d stay there for a few days every winter and summer break when I was a kid, but later I went less often, only returning during the New Year. Summer is the best time to go; you can catch fish in the mountain streams. The fish are as thin as your pinky, and they taste best when fried. They’re great in soup too. There are these tiny shrimp you can grill too. The mountains are full of wild fruits. In winter, there are Haihong fruits, which are used to make candied haws. They’re especially delicious. I brought some sugar, so I’ll make some for you to try."

Of course, a foodie’s priorities are always different.

As Song Xilan talked about the delicious food at her grandma’s house, she took two oranges from her bag and handed one to Jiang Chengxiao.

Jiang Chengxiao was about to say he didn’t want it when she scratched a few crosses into the orange peel with her nail: "Here, take it. Hold it under your nose, and when the smell fades, pinch it again. How about it? Doesn’t it smell better?"

The bus was pretty old, and the cheap leather from the seats, the metal smell of the bus, mixed with the accumulated sweat, body odor, and gasoline smell, made that gross, long-distance bus smell.

Jiang Chengxiao followed Song Xilan’s example, holding an orange under his nose, and indeed felt much better.

It was still early, and the sky was just starting to light up when the bus left the station. They chatted off and on, mostly about Song Xilan’s childhood adventures sneaking food at her grandma’s house.

Like climbing to the top of a tree to steal bird eggs and then roasting them, catching frogs in the fields at night, skinning and grilling them, or secretly digging up sweet potatoes from someone else’s field and roasting them in a fire pit.

Listening to her, you’d think her family never fed her.

These were all childhood experiences Jiang Chengxiao had never had, as he grew up in the city.

Song Xilan then asked him what he used to do as a child.

Jiang Chengxiao thought for a while and realized that all he seemed to do back then was fight.

Kids from the compound fought with kids from the neighborhood, kids from different compounds fought each other, and in winter, they fought on the ice rink at Shichahai...

Song Xilan burst out laughing: "You must have driven your parents crazy with all that fighting!"

"Absolutely! They probably wanted to beat me three times a day. But luckily, they had my brother. He was the golden child of the compound, good at everything—morals, smarts, sports, art, and even chores. He was proficient in chess, calligraphy, painting, and even spoke three foreign languages. He got into college on a recommendation and now works at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

"Wow, your brother is amazing! If I had a brother like that, I’d be unstoppable."

Jiang Chengxiao smiled faintly: "Yes, my brother is truly impressive." Once, he had been very proud of having such an outstanding brother, but when did that pride start to change?

"Having a particularly outstanding sibling isn’t necessarily a good thing, though. When I was a kid, my cousin was always top of her class. Every time we met, my mom would praise her and tell me to learn from her. Once, I finally got a 90 on my math final and was really happy, but my cousin got a 98, and my mom gave me grief again," Song Xilan said indignantly.

Then Jiang Chengxiao remembered his first exam in elementary school. He scored 99, the highest in the class, and excitedly brought the test paper home.

But his mom just glanced at it and tossed it aside disdainfully: "Just 99? That’s embarrassing. Look at your brother; he never scores below 100."

"Then what happened?" Jiang Chengxiao asked.

"Then I threw a tantrum! I cried and screamed, and even told my mom that since she liked my cousin so much, she should just make her her daughter. I said I would go be Uncle Wang’s daughter instead. And then I actually ran over to Uncle Wang’s place, hugged his leg, and cried, 'My mom doesn’t want me anymore, Uncle Wang, please take me in! I’ll be your daughter!'"

"Uncle Wang?"

"Yeah, he was the head chef at our company’s cafeteria. His meat buns were especially delicious."

"Pfft!" Jiang Chengxiao couldn’t help but laugh. "And then? Did Uncle Wang really take you in?"

"No, my mom pulled me back and apologized, saying she would never compare me to my cousin again, no matter what grades I got, I was always their most beloved daughter. But the lingering effect of that incident was that later, whenever anyone in our neighborhood made something delicious, they’d see me and say, 'We made something tasty, come be our daughter!'"

How wonderful, Jiang Chengxiao thought. If he ever had such a lovely little daughter in the future, he would definitely tell her that she was the best and deserved all the most beautiful things in the world.

The journey was long, and since they had started early, Song Xilan yawned as she spoke, eventually closing her eyes and falling asleep to the rhythmic "clatter clatter" of the car window beside her.

Her head nodded little by little, gradually tilting toward the window.

Seeing this, Jiang Chengxiao sighed, slipped his arm behind her neck, and pressed it against the window.

Sure enough, after a while, her head "thudded" against it, but fortunately, it landed on the back of his hand.

The auntie beside them looked at them enviously, "Young man, you sure know how to treat your wife well."

Jiang Chengxiao felt a bit pleased.

He sat upright, eyes fixed straight ahead, his arm gently and carefully moved to her shoulder when no one was looking, quietly pulling her closer, until finally, he pressed her head steadily onto his shoulder.

Only then did he quietly sigh in relief.

For the first time ever, he wished the journey would never end, that it would go on forever.

Unfortunately, the trip was remarkably smooth, and by 11 a.m., they had already arrived at the county bus terminal.

Jiang Chengxiao had already inquired about it. Yangsongkeng was a small village under this county, and it was called "keng" (pit) because it was surrounded by mountains, sitting in a hollow, looking like it was in a pit from above.

Yangsongkeng was still over twenty kilometers from the county town, and there was no ready-made transportation from the county to the village. You either had to hitch a ride on a nearby village's ox cart or walk on your own two feet.

Jiang Chengxiao had originally planned to walk there himself. After all, carrying heavy loads and marching dozens of kilometers was routine for them. But now, with the delicate Song Xilan by his side, he couldn’t stand the thought of her walking such a long distance.