The Delicate Darling with Her Rough Man

Chapter 204: Chapter 203: Recalling Bitterness and Thinking of Sweetness

When Chen JianShe heard the call for dinner, his eyes lit up. Without a second thought, he ran to the table and sat down.

Leng Yuan finished up the last of his work before washing his hands and entering the kitchen.

Although he had a reserved personality and a calm expression, his movements as he washed his hands had clearly quickened.

Leng Yuan knew Gu Jiaojiao was afraid of getting burned, so upon entering the kitchen, the first thing he did was carry the meat-and-skin broth she had made to the table.

The kitchen Leng Yuan had built was quite large. It had an inner room with two doors—one connecting to the kitchen, and another that could be opened directly from the outside.

Inside were stored pots, bowls, ladles, and basins.

In the summer, they ate in the courtyard. In the winter, they moved to the small room next to the kitchen to have their meals.

The space wasn’t small; if they squeezed in, it could seat eight people.

With just the three of them, the room felt quite spacious.

All the food was brought out.

Leng Yuan was already used to the routine. He took a flatbread, handed it to Gu Jiaojiao, and then everyone started eating.

Chen JianShe picked up a flatbread and took a bite, and his eyes instantly lit up.

It was his first time eating food like this. It was novel and delicious. Most importantly, the flavor of the braised meat was absolutely out of this world. It was so good he felt like he could eat an entire cow.

He was too busy eating to speak, so he could only give a thumbs-up to show how delicious the flatbread was.

A bite of the crispy flatbread filled with meat, followed by a mouthful of the rich, savory broth, sent a wave of warmth through his body.

It even dispelled much of the winter chill. He relaxed completely, the tension in his brow smoothing out.

It was Leng Yuan’s first time eating it as well, and he was instantly amazed.

The toughness and gaminess of the wild boar were completely gone, leaving only the fragrant taste of meat. He had no idea how his young wife had managed it.

Because wild boar meat is usually tough, it had been stewed over the fire for a long time. Now, not only was it not tough, but it actually tasted better than domestic pork.

’Looks like using wild boar for the banquet would be a good idea.’

Leng Yuan was still thinking about hosting the banquet on the twenty-fourth of November.

Over the course of the meal, more than twenty flatbreads were eaten clean, and all of the meat-skin soup Gu Jiaojiao had made was finished. The three of them wore looks of pure satisfaction.

Chen JianShe wished he could just move into his Brother Leng’s house. That way, he could eat such delicious food every day.

Speaking of which, he was truly envious of his Brother Leng. Not only was his wife beautiful, but she was also an incredible cook.

After they finished eating, the three of them started chatting casually.

They had no idea there was someone else at their gate.

Li Hongmei took a bite of her steamed cornbread bun and took a deep, deliberate sniff of the meaty aroma wafting through the air.

She had developed a habit. She didn’t even have an appetite anymore unless she could smell meat.

Since there was hardly anyone around in the dead of winter, she had taken to bringing her cornbread buns to Gu Jiaojiao’s gate to eat.

Every time she came, the smell of meat was in the air.

Li Hongmei took another bite of her cornbread bun and cursed under her breath.

”What kind of family is this? How can they eat meat every single day?”

She took another bite.

”Does that Leng Yuan go hunting in the mountains every day? What a spendthrift! Even if you have meat, you don’t eat it like this!”

Muttering to herself, she finished two cornbread buns. She patted her stomach with satisfaction; anyone who didn’t know better would have thought she’d just eaten a bellyful of meat!

Before leaving, she took one last deep breath of the meaty aroma and then headed back.

Back at the Educated Youth Dormitory.

Chen Ruoyu looked at Li Hongmei with a puzzled expression. ”Hong Mei, what’s gotten into you? Why have you been running off to eat outside every day recently?”

Li Hongmei’s behavior might be hidden from others, but there was no hiding it from the people she shared a room with.

Li Hongmei was too embarrassed to admit she had been crouching at Gu Jiaojiao’s gate to smell the aroma of meat, so she came up with an excuse.

”I like to go out and reflect on past hardships to appreciate my present happiness.”

”Being out in the cold wind reminds me of the years of bitter struggle. Then I take a bite of my cornbread bun, and my heart fills with gratitude for how wonderful life is now.”

As she spoke, Li Hongmei looked like she was about to cry from being so moved.

Chen Ruoyu was speechless.

’Is there something seriously wrong with this person?!’

She shivered and decided to keep her distance from Li Hongmei.

Li Hongmei hadn’t been normal lately. Every day, she would stare at the male educated youths, making them all feel creeped out.

Several of them had come to ask her if Li Hongmei wasn’t getting enough to eat lately, or if something was troubling her.

They said if they could help, they were willing to solve the problem—they just begged her to stop staring at them all the time.

They had asked Chen Ruoyu to pass on the message.

But how could she bring herself to say it?

Girls were supposed to be modest, and besides, Li Hongmei’s behavior was just too bizarre. Chen Ruoyu wanted nothing more than to stay far away from her.

’Those male educated youths will just have to fend for themselves!’