The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 114: Chapter 114: Han Xiaorui Driven Mad by ”Playing House

Boss Zhang gritted his teeth, filled with regret.

’What can you do when you meet a fellow foodie?’

He was a foodie, so he understood other foodies.

As long as you could make ends meet, you wouldn’t deny yourself good food!

”Xiao Han, you’re great just the way you are. You’re like me, always chasing after the next delicious bite.” Boss Zhang gave Han Xiaorui a thumbs-up, feeling a sense of camaraderie.

Han Xiaorui laughed heartily. ”You only live once, for just a few short decades. If I don’t eat now, am I supposed to wait until I’m old and my teeth have fallen out?”

”Exactly, exactly!” Boss Zhang paid, painfully tearing his gaze away from the sea cucumbers and the beautiful Moonfish.

Han Xiaorui counted the money and put it away. ”Thanks for your business, Boss Zhang.”

”I should be the one thanking you, Xiao Han,” Boss Zhang said politely, watching Han Xiaorui’s boat depart.

Han Xiaorui pushed the boat to its maximum speed, eager to get home.

Back home, Han Xiaoqing was looking after her nieces and Cai Wenjun. She kept glancing outside, worried about why her sister and Sister-in-law Xiao Yu were so late today.

Hearing a noise at the door, Han Xiaoqing rushed to open it. ”Sis, Sister-in-law Xiao Yu, why are you so late?”

Han Xiaorui smiled. ”We caught some great stuff today, so we had to make two trips! We have sea cucumbers tonight, so we’re eating well. Sister-in-law Xiao Yu, take the bike and go get Granny Cai. We’re having a feast.”

Liang Xiaoyu’s face lit up. ”Alright, I’ll ride my bike over right now.”

The moment Granny Cai heard there were sea cucumbers longer than her palm and Moonfish, she couldn’t sit still. She grabbed her tools and headed out the door.

”Mom, if we all go to Xiao Rui’s for dinner, what will Wenjun’s father and grandfather do for their meal?” Liang Xiaoyu asked. They were always eating well with Han Xiaorui, and while she didn’t mind leaving her father-in-law, she felt bad about her husband going hungry.

Without turning her head, Granny Cai replied, ”There’s still rice in the pot. They can have it with boiled water. We also have eight-treasure sauce and some fresh greens I just washed. They can just stir-fry those.”

”Xiao Yu, let’s hurry. They’re grown men; they won’t starve.”

Since her mother-in-law had spoken, Liang Xiaoyu followed her back to Han Xiaorui’s house with a clear conscience.

When Granny Cai saw the Moonfish, her eyes sparkled like stars. ”Oh, my little darlings, so cute. You must be delicious.”

Han Xiaorui burst out laughing at Granny Cai’s words and actions.

She was truly speaking the cruelest words in the gentlest tone.

Granny Cai laughed heartily. ”Moonfish makes especially delicious sashimi. Just you wait, I’ll show you what I can do.”

”The kids can’t eat sashimi. Should we braise the Moonfish or steam it?” Han Xiaorui asked. They couldn’t just eat while the children watched.

Granny Cai replied, ”Steamed Moonfish is also excellent. The meat is tender and nutritious.”

”Granny Cai, I also have the sea cucumbers over here. How should we prepare them?” Han Xiaorui asked. She knew sea cucumbers were expensive and fetched a high price, so they must taste good.

Granny Cai’s eyes burned with intensity. ”Braised sea cucumber with scallions, sea cucumber and tofu hot pot, red-braised sea cucumber...”

”But we don’t need to make so many dishes. I’ll prepare the sea cucumbers first, cook some for tonight, and put the rest in the freezer. We can take them out whenever we want to eat them.”

It wasn’t worth the effort to dry this half-bucket’s worth.

Granny Cai was swift and meticulous as she cleaned the sea cucumbers.

She set aside half a basin’s worth for the braised sea cucumber with scallions and packed the rest in plastic bags for Han Xiaorui to freeze.

That evening, Granny Cai’s culinary skills were on full display.

The sliced Moonfish sashimi was already beautiful in color, and Granny Cai’s exquisite plating made it even more so.

It was not only a treat for the palate but also a feast for the eyes.

The children also loved the steamed Moonfish and the braised sea cucumber with scallions.

With a bowl of seaweed and egg drop soup to round it out, the variety of dishes was small, but the flavors were anything but ordinary.

Han Xiaorui found some food containers and packed a box of sea cucumber for Granny Cai and Liang Xiaoyu, also giving them a Moonfish that weighed several pounds.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were overjoyed. Granny Cai even slapped her chest, promising, ”Xiao Rui, if you get good ingredients in the future, you have to call me over to cook. I absolutely love doing it; it’s pure enjoyment for me.”

Back when she had first finished her culinary training, times were tough economically. With no good ingredients to work with, the best she could do was be a chef for village banquets.

Now, her culinary skills finally had a chance to shine.

Whenever Granny Cai cooked, Cai Wenjun, Pingping, and An’an loved to watch from the side.

Watching the ingredients transform into delicious food, their big eyes filled with a longing for and curiosity about the cuisine.

They were still too young to learn to cook, but that didn’t stop them from cooking and preparing meals while playing house.

Playing house is essentially role-playing, which is a very important skill for children to develop.

Han Xiaoqing reported the children’s behavior of cooking while playing house to Expert Wang.

Expert Wang was very supportive, believing that parents should cooperate with their children’s make-believe games.

So, after returning home, Han Xiaoqing used bricks to build two small stoves for her nieces against a wall and placed old, unused pots from the house on top of them.

There were no lids, so Han Xiaoqing made some out of hard cardboard.

The children couldn’t use the real kitchen knives, so Han Xiaoqing came up with another idea: she ground stones into thin slices to make stone knives.

Han Xiaoqing thought outside the box. She didn’t just limit their play to cooking; she also took the children to the vegetable garden to pick vegetables and to the market to buy them.

Re-enacting these snippets of daily life during their make-believe play was incredibly helpful for the children’s development.

The children’s progress was a joy to see.

However, the ”meals” the children made for Han Xiaorui every day were becoming increasingly bizarre.

Stir-fried greens with caterpillars.

Stir-fried green peppers with bean worms.

Stewed flower petals with bees.

Han Xiaorui endured it all!

But one day, her two daughters placed little pellets of sheep dung on a play-pretend plate and presented it to Han Xiaorui.

”Mommy, eat some Maltesers.”

”Eat, Mommy. We found lots of Maltesers.”

Han Xiaorui really wanted to spank them, but when she met her two daughters’ sparkling eyes, so eager to share their wonderful find with her, she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

”Pingping, An’an, these aren’t Maltesers! This is sheep poop! Throw it out right now and go wash your hands!”

Pingping and An’an looked reluctant. ”You can pretend they’re Maltesers. Just pretend to take a bite...”

If they had been naughty boys, Han Xiaorui would have already given them a slap on the butt.

But these were her two fair, tender, sweet, and soft little daughters. Han Xiaorui could only suppress the urge to spank them. ”OM NOM... Okay, I’ve pretended to eat. You can throw it away now! Hurry up and wash your hands, or Mommy will spank your bottoms.”

”Hee hee hee...” Pingping and An’an giggled, finally dumping the ”Maltesers” from the chipped, broken dish.

Han Xiaoqing was doubled over with laughter, unable to stand up straight.

When she recounted the story to Expert Wang at the hospital, he was very surprised.

”Xiao Jing, I truly didn’t expect the intervention to be this effective with Pingping and An’an. They already understand the concept of pretending! That requires strong logical thinking skills. I can now say with certainty that Pingping and An’an are only developmentally delayed, not that they aren’t developing at all. They are improving rapidly and catching up quickly.”