Pushing Su Lang away, Lin Zhilan glanced at Deng Jing and Su Jue, quickly making arrangements.
"Second Brother and Second Sister-in-law, could you help me pick through these green vegetables? Su Lang, help me chop the scallions, ginger, and garlic. I'll get the dried abalone and scallops out to soak."
Su Jue seemed relieved and hurriedly took the vegetables.
Auntie Yu stood to the side, realizing she couldn't step in to help at all.
Seeing this, Lin Zhilan quickly said, "Auntie Yu, there are too many people in the kitchen. You should go home early and rest."
Auntie Yu hesitated, "This..."
Xu Yueyun was outside coaxing the children. Hearing this, she raised her voice, "Xiao Yu, listen to Zhilan. It's the end of the year, you should take a couple of days off to rest too."
Only then did Auntie Yu agree, taking off her apron and preparing to leave.
Lin Zhilan suddenly remembered something, walked quickly to the backyard, and returned shortly with a bundle of green vegetables. "Auntie Yu, take these back with you."
"No, no need, you have so many people in your family."
"Take it. When I asked someone to transport them back, I specifically saved this portion for you."
Looking at the vegetables in her arms, Auntie Yu felt somewhat warm in her heart.
She was lucky. Having worked for the Xu family for so many years, Comrade Xu treated her well. But every time Fan Biyun came over, she would just freeload, and before leaving, she would take a bunch of things from the house.
Deng Jing's personality was rather cold, and she didn't have much to say to Comrade Xu either.
With Lin Zhilan coming over this time, in Auntie Yu's eyes, this was probably the most satisfying New Year Comrade Xu had ever had.
Although Auntie Yu was an outsider, just looking at how Comrade Xu's three daughters-in-law conducted themselves, Auntie Yu had to admit that Lin Zhilan was the most generous and appropriate one.
It was just a pity that this couple lived on the island year-round, which was too far from the capital. They might not even be able to come back once a year.
"Then thank you," Auntie Yu smiled, holding the vegetables.
Her son also said he was tired of eating cabbage every day, so these greens would be enough for a change of taste.
"You're welcome. Su Lang and I are away from home all year round, so we still have to trouble you to take good care of our parents."
"That's what I ought to do."
"..."
Lin Zhilan smiled and saw her to the door before turning back to the kitchen.
Su Lang had already started cutting the meat.
Seeing her come in, he nudged her with his arm. "Not bad, Dr. Lin, you even know how to speak polite pleasantries now."
Lin Zhilan used to be very fierce on the island, and wasn't very polite to disobedient patients.
However, her medical skills were excellent, curing illnesses with her medicine, so people actually felt her big temper was justified.
Going back and forth with Auntie Yu like this, using set after set of polite phrases, was completely unlike her usual style.
Lin Zhilan whispered, "Who told us to be the ones asking for a favor? We live so far away. If anything happens to our parents normally, doesn't Auntie Yu have to take care of it?"
Su Lang gave her an affectionate look. "My wife is still the most thoughtful."
"I'm not doing it for you, I'm doing it for Mom."
Lin Zhilan wasn't too worried about whether Xu Yueyun liked her, but she worried that her parents-in-law might have prejudices and biases against her daughter.
But neither Xu Yueyun nor Su Bingcheng did.
Lin Zhilan was thanking them on behalf of her daughter.
While they were whispering here, on the other side, by a small table near the window, Deng Jing sat on a low stool, spreading out the vegetables handful by handful, and began to pick through them.
Su Jue pulled up a small stool and sat opposite her.
"Let me help you pick them."
Deng Jing's hand movements paused. She didn't speak, just pushed a handful of greens in front of him.
The two sat face to face, separated by a small pile of vegetables.
One picked quickly, the other picked slowly.
One kept her head down and didn't speak, the other wanted to speak but didn't know what to say.
Su Jue's vegetable-picking movements were very slow. He wasn't very good at it, often discarding the edible parts and keeping the inedible ones.
Deng Jing took a look, reached out to take the vegetables from his hand, and picked through them again.
"I'm not doing it right, teach me."
Deng Jing didn't even look up. "It's fine, go out and sit for a while, I can do it."
Su Jue choked up.
When they first got married, it certainly wasn't like this.
Su Jue was a bookworm back then, only knowing to bury himself in books all day.
It was Deng Jing who pursued him first.
The Deng Jing of that time was very energetic and proactive, often coming to ask him questions.
Su Jue found it a bit annoying at first, thinking this girl was a bit slow.
Later, Deng Jing got sick once, and without seeing her figure, Su Jue inexplicably felt like something was missing.
After school, he changed his route for the first time.
He asked a classmate and found the alley where Deng Jing lived.
Later on, they got married and soon had Su Pei.
At that time, the couple's relationship was still very good. Although Su Jue was a bit wooden, he had no wandering thoughts, handed all his salary over to Deng Jing, never went out to socialize, and went straight home after work to see his daughter.
When Su Pei was one year old, he received orders from the organization and left the capital.
Within ten years, he only came back twice.
When Su Yao was born, he wasn't even by her side.
Su Jue had always arrogantly believed that his wife and daughters would keep waiting for him, and that once his mission was completed, they could return to the time when they were newlyweds.
He only realized now that waiting too long seemed to make people estranged from each other.
His wife was distant with him, and his two daughters found it hard to get close to him as their father.
Su Jue wanted to close the distance between them, but didn't know what to do.
Besides... so what if they got close again?
He still had to leave in a while.
Thinking of this, Su Jue chose not to voice the words bottled up in his heart.
At the stove.
Lin Zhilan was preparing the sea cucumbers.
Sea cucumber is mild and nourishing, particularly good for replenishing vitality and nourishing essence and blood.
The key is that its nature is peaceful, neither hot nor cold, so even a patient with a heart condition and a weak constitution like Xu Yueyun could eat it.
Lin Zhilan had specifically sought out fishermen to buy it.
The dried sea cucumber still had some moisture in it. Lin Zhilan first held it with iron tongs and roasted it over red-hot coal briquettes.
Once the fire burned the outer skin black, she used a knife to scrape off the black skin, soaked and boiled it in water. After boiling it three times and letting it cool three times, when she could pinch an indentation into it with her fingers, it was considered fully reconstituted.
She left half of the sea cucumbers soaking in water to be used for making millet porridge the next morning.
Lin Zhilan decided to use the rest for a cold salad.
She heated oil in a pan, stir-fried finely chopped chili, scallions, and minced garlic until fragrant, and finally added some soy sauce and black vinegar, mixing them with sesame oil into a bright brown sauce.
Pouring it over the sliced sea cucumber strips, the cold dish was ready.
The room was hot, so a cold dish was needed to whet the appetite.
The cold sea cucumber salad wasn't as fragrant as the dishes Lin Zhilan had made before, but Su Lang trusted his wife's skills.
Seeing Lin Zhilan pick up a piece of sea cucumber, Su Lang was ready to open his mouth to receive it. Who knew she would turn around and feed it to Deng Jing's mouth, "Second Sister-in-law, help me taste this and see if it's good."
Lin Zhilan was really amazed by her second brother and sister-in-law; she had finished making a whole dish, and the couple hadn't exchanged more than three sentences.
Deng Jing was stunned for a moment. At her age, when was the last time someone had fed her a dish?
"Second Sister-in-law?" Lin Zhilan urged her, "Give me some feedback. If it's good, I'll make it again for the New Year's Eve dinner."
