27: Chapter 27 I Fan for You_1 27: Chapter 27 I Fan for You_1 “Do you know how to make straw hats?”
Qiao Duo’er looked at the delicate crafts Tan Zhenghong was making, clearly the work of skillful hands.
Tan Zhenghong raised the semi-finished product in his hand, “This one is for you, but even with a straw hat, you shouldn’t go out when it’s too hot.”
It was the height of sumr, the sun scorching.
Too much exposure could lead to heatstroke.
Qiao Duo’er nodded; she was no fool, did he think she didn’t know such things?
Still, it was rather nice to have soone fussing over her.
After walking around half the day, she felt like her throat was on fire, so she poured herself a big cup of water and gulped it down.
But a cup of cold water did little to alleviate the sumr’s dry heat.
What hellish weather, it could bake a person alive!
Qiao Duo’er missed air conditioning and electric fans dearly, yet now she had just a palm-leaf fan at her disposal, waving it vigorously with far less effect than she had hoped for.
Damn it, it was still hot no matter how much she fanned!
“Co here, I’ll fan for you,” Tan Zhenghong couldn’t help but say.
Her efforts at fanning were strenuous and thankless; a lot of energy spent with little breeze to show for it.
Qiao Duo’er glanced at the palm-leaf fan, overwheld by a sense of defeat.
After thinking it over, she obediently sat at the edge of the bed and handed the fan to Tan Zhenghong.
Soon, a gentle breeze began to blow.
The wind was soft, but constant, and very refreshing.
Qiao Duo’er squinted her eyes in enjoynt; it seed that waving a fan was an art in itself, and her bargain of a husband was quite skilled at it.
“Sister-in-law, bring the pot over, I’ll fix it for you.”
Sun Erhu stood at the doorway and shouted, but upon seeing the couple in the room, he wished he could disappear on the spot.
In broad daylight and with the door open, they were all lovey-dovey, and he had to witness it!
Sister-in-law seed to be living the good life, making him want to find a wife who could fan him too!
Qiao Duo’er was no longer feeling so hot, so she got up to start her chores.
Her task was to help hold the pot in place while Sun Erhu secured it on the stove with li, ensuring the edges were sealed to prevent smoke from leaking when burning the fire.
Sun Erhu was a handy man, promptly getting the job done.
Seeing Sun Erhu’s dirt-smudged face made Qiao Duo’er laugh, but she kindly held it in, “Go wash your face.
I’ll heat up the morning’s al; we can eat soon.”
Sun Erhu had no objections.
Even though he had eaten dry rice that morning, after building two stoves all morning, he was starving.
Qiao Duo’er washed her hands and moved on to prepare lunch.
Without a refrigerator, the only option was to keep the als in a bucket and hang it down the well for cooling.
The natural chill of the well helped preserve the food, which is how that morning’s al had been kept.
Qiao Duo’er took the als out and put the recently purchased bones and at into the bucket.
Back in the kitchen, she poured chicken soup into the pot, added so cold water, and placed the rice on the steaming rack.
That way, as the soup boiled again, the rice would warm up too.
Once the fire was lit in the stove, it didn’t need constant tending, so Qiao Duo’er went to the vegetable garden to pick so fresh green beans.
After picking the beans clean and chopping so garlic into a mince, she was ready to make her favorite dish, green beans with garlic.
Before frying, the beans needed to be blanched.
Then, she would heat oil in a pan, toss in the minced garlic until it was fragrant, add the beans and stir-fry them, and finally sprinkle so salt before serving them up.
The beans were cooked perfectly, and the soup and rice in the other pot were also heated.
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