I was reborn after my cousin stole my life.

Chapter 28: What's it to you?

Yuan Xiu happily entered the house, carrying a vegetable basket in one hand and a fish in the other.

Jiang Zhou sat at the desk by the window, holding up the fish and vegetable basket in her hand. "I bought meat and fish. Shall we make steamed pork with rice flour for lunch?"

Jiang Zhou nodded. "Not cooking fish?"

Yuan Xiu smiled and said, "We've already had meat, why do you still want to eat fish? Not today. I have to keep it in the water and cook it when we're hosting a dinner party."

She's already figured out what dish she'll make with this fish.

Yuan Xiu went to the kitchen.

She also has to stir-fry the rice noodles fresh. She can make some today so that it can be used when she hosts a dinner party.

After the fish was put into the water, it wagged its tail happily. Yuan Xiu breathed a sigh of relief. Judging from its lively nature, it should be able to live for two days.

"Jiang Zhou, how about treating everyone the day after tomorrow?"

Yuan Xiu turned around and spoke to Jiang Zhou by the window.

She'll go to the market again tomorrow to see what else she can buy, and that should be about it.

"Okay." Jiang Zhou looked away and continued reading his book.

Yuan Xiu went into the kitchen to get busy.

Half a pound of rice, three ounces of glutinous rice, a few dried chilies, and a few peppercorns. No dried tangerine peel is used.

Yuan Xiu poked her head out and called to Jiang Zhou, "Could you go next door and ask Sister Guiying if she has any dried tangerine peel?"

Jiang Zhou responded and went out. A little while later, he returned with two dried orange peels.

"Is this okay?"

"Okay, thank you. You can go ahead and get back to work."

Jiang Zhou stood at the kitchen door for a while, watching her cut the dried tangerine peel into shreds and put it into the pot with the rice to stir-fry. She also added chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns, and slowly stir-fried it over low heat.

"Wouldn't it be more convenient to cook this on a large stove?"

Yuan Xiu then realized that he hadn't left yet. "Yes, a big pot and a big stove are definitely more convenient, but I didn't see any firewood for sale when I went to the market."

The people in the family quarters used honeycomb briquettes and kerosene stoves. Yuan Xiu only found out when she chatted with her sister-in-law Guiying that her family didn't even have such a rural earthen stove.

Of all the old courtyard houses in this area, it seems only their family has a stove like this.

I don't know if they didn't have it from the beginning, or if it was exposed midway.

Using a coal stove and honeycomb briquettes would certainly be more convenient, but Yuan Xiu felt that cooking tasted better when she occasionally used an earthen stove.

After the rice in the pot was fried until it turned golden brown, Yuan Xiu turned off the kerosene stove.

Taking out a stone mortar and pestle, Yuan Xiu put some fried rice into it. She looked up at Jiang Zhou and handed him the mortar and pestle, saying, "If you have nothing else to do, could you pound this rice into powder for me?"

Jiang Zhou took it and poured the rice from the stone mortar and pestle into the enamel basin. "I'm going out for a bit."

After saying that, he put the lid on, took the half-basin of fried rice out the door.

"where did you go?"

"canteen."

……

"Battalion Commander Jiang."

As soon as Jiang Zhou stepped out of the cafeteria, he encountered Zhou Lei and Yuan Juan, who had come together.

"Battalion Commander Jiang, are you here to get food from the mess hall too?"

Zhou Lei's gaze lingered for a moment on the enamel basin Jiang Zhou was holding. "I was just looking for you. Are you free tomorrow? If you are, come over to my house for a celebration. I'm getting married."

Jiang Zhou said calmly, "I will go."

Yuan Juan kept clasping her hands together. Whenever she saw Jiang Zhou, she couldn't help but compare him to Zhou Lei.

The more I compare, the more resentful I feel.

Her expression betrayed her words, "Doesn't my sister cook at home? She's married, why is she still like this? Back in our hometown, my grandparents do all the housework..."

She suddenly covered her mouth dramatically, "No, Battalion Commander Jiang, don't misunderstand, I wasn't saying anything bad about my sister, I just..."

Before she could finish speaking, Jiang Zhou coldly interrupted her: "What's it to you!"

"!"

Yuan Juan's face flushed red with embarrassment. She never expected that this man would say such a thing to a female comrade like her.

Jiang Zhou glanced at Zhou Lei with a mocking smile on his lips. He didn't say anything, but simply shook his head.

Zhou Lei felt that not saying it was more embarrassing than saying it.

"Battalion Commander Jiang, I'm sorry..."

Jiang Zhou left with the enamel basin before he could finish his apology.

A surge of anger welled up inside Zhou Lei, and he hissed at Yuan Juan, "Why are you telling him all this?"

Of course, Yuan Juan wouldn't admit that she was jealous of Yuan Xiu's good fortune in finding a handsome man. She said, "I didn't do it on purpose. I just felt that it wasn't good for him to eat in the cafeteria after marrying my cousin. People would definitely think that my cousin wasn't virtuous, so I wanted to give him some advice."

Is this how you advise someone?

Zhou Lei is indeed an honest man, but he's not stupid. Her little schemes were practically written all over his face. "I don't care what you mean, just don't say things like that again. Battalion Commander Jiang isn't a good-tempered person."

"Okay, okay," Yuan Juan pouted. "I won't talk to him anymore, alright? Don't be angry."

Zhou Lei frowned as he looked at his wife and sighed helplessly. "I'm not angry. Just be careful what you say in the future. Even if you don't get along with your cousin, don't become enemies."

"I already said I know, but I'm hungry..."

……

After Jiang Zhou returned, he did not tell Yuan Xiu about meeting Yuan Juan. Instead, he handed Yuan Xiu the powder that had been ground into powder by the machine in the cafeteria.

Yuan Xiu happily accepted it; it was much finer than hand-made rice noodles. "I thought there was nowhere to make rice noodles."

"The cafeteria has them. If you need them in the future, just go to the cafeteria and borrow them from them."

Yuan Xiu nodded and scooped a spoonful of rice flour into the marinated pork belly.

Steam rose from the steamer in the pot. Yuan Xiu used sweet potatoes as a base, then placed meat coated in rice flour on top, covered the steamer lid, and only then did she begin to prepare today's vegetarian dishes.

When she looked up, Jiang Zhou was already gone. She smiled, then lowered her head and continued working.

Their lunch today was steamed pork with rice flour and hot and sour cabbage. Because there were sweet potatoes, Yuan Xiu only steamed eight ounces of rice.

Jiang Zhou already had a certain understanding of Yuan Xiu's cooking skills, but even so, he still raised an eyebrow in surprise when eating the steamed pork with rice flour.

Yuan Xiu had been watching him closely, and upon seeing this, she immediately asked, "How is it? Is it delicious?"

"Delicious." Jiang Zhou nodded. Yuan Juan's words were nonsense. Could someone who could cook such delicious food be someone who does nothing at home?

That's the opposite of what I'm saying, isn't it?

That Yuan Juan, she's the kind of person who does absolutely nothing at home.

"I have to go to the army tomorrow. I won't be back for lunch. I'll be home around 6:30 in the evening. If I'm back late, it means something's happened at the army. Don't wait for me, just eat first." Jiang Zhou reported his usual schedule to Yuan Xiu.

Yuan Xiu nodded. "Is the morning schedule the same as today?"

"right."

Even when he's resting, Jiang Zhou still gets up at the same time every day to go for a run; he feels uneasy if he doesn't run for a day.

"Deputy Battalion Commander Zhou is getting married tomorrow. I'll try to make a trip there sometime during the day. If you don't want to go, don't go no matter who asks you."

Yuan Xiu naturally agreed.

Surely no one is so tactless as to come and call her.

That night, Yuan Xiu felt much more at ease. After washing up, she went to bed as usual.

When Jiang Zhou came in, she said a few words to him, "Go to sleep early, you have to get up early tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Zhou quickened his pace in taking off his clothes, leaving only his vest and half-undone pants. But when he turned around, he saw Yuan Xiu wrapped tightly in a floral quilt.

Jiang Zhou: "..."

He could only sigh helplessly again.