"The taste of this clear soup reminds me of the noodle soup my grandma used to make for me when I was a kid..."

As he ate, Hu Zhihai suddenly blurted this out. He thought for a moment and continued,

"Back then, my parents were busy with work and were often not at home, so I lived with my grandma.

One winter, while playing with a few little friends from the village, I accidentally fell into a pond and got soaked. That night at home, I came down with a high fever.

I was so out of it with the fever that it worried my grandma to tears. She carried me on her back to the barefoot doctor's house in the neighboring village that very night.

I had an IV at the barefoot doctor's, and by the time the fever broke and we returned home, it was already midnight. My grandma asked if I wanted something to eat. I hadn't had dinner that night, so after the fever broke, I was starving and said I wanted to eat.

Then, late at night, my grandma busied herself in the kitchen for quite a while and finally brought me a bowl of hot, fragrant noodle soup.

I slurped down a big bowl, broke out in a sweat, and then comfortably fell asleep. When I woke up the next morning, I was completely better!"

"Tsk tsk, your grandma's noodle soup worked much better than any fever medicine!"

Lu Shuwu clicked his tongue in wonder and said with a smile,

"I guess most of us as kids ate something similar that seemed to have magical properties. No matter the illness, it was gone after eating!"

"I'm not so sure, all I know is that time my grandma made the most delicious noodle soup, and later, even though I ate it many times after getting better, it never quite tasted the same."

Hu Zhihai licked his lips and said nostalgically,

"Unfortunately, my grandma passed away from illness a few years ago, and since then, I've never been able to taste her noodle soup again."

"Uh... don't be sad!"

Lu Shuwu didn't know how to comfort him for a moment, so he reached out and patted Hu Zhihai on the shoulder, saying comfortingly,

"If your grandma could see how well you eat now, I'm sure she'd be very happy."

"Or maybe she'd complain that I eat too much and tell me to exercise more!"

Hu Zhihai chuckled, took a big gulp of soup, and mumbled,

"But honestly, this clear soup Lao Jiang made really has the taste of my grandma's soup back then. It's delicious!"

"Alright then, if you think it's good, eat more. After you're done, Brother Xiao Wu and I have to head home!"

Although Hu Zhihai had already mentioned several times that the clear soup had the taste of his grandma's noodle soup, Jiang Yu didn't think much of it.

A lot of people feel a sense of déjà vu with familiar people or things when eating, it's completely normal.

Not just Hu Zhihai, even he had experienced it before.

So, he didn't think there was anything unusual about it.

Another half-hour passed, and after everyone had their fill, Jiang Yu tidied up the kitchen, washed and sanitized the dishes, and then went upstairs to pack up, ready to head home.

With the canteen closed for the holiday, the construction crew would soon arrive to renovate the second floor, so Jiang Yu handed the main door keys over to Hu Zhihai.

"Lao Jiang, you can go home and enjoy the New Year without worry. I'll make sure the renovation of the canteen's second floor is done perfectly!"

Hu Zhihai patted his chest confidently and said with a smile,

"Once you come back, all you need to do is get ready to open for business!"

"Alright, I trust you with the job!"

Jiang Yu didn't say much more, waved at him, and said,

"When I get back, if everything goes smoothly, I'll make you a braised pork knuckle!"

"Braised pork knuckle..."

When Hu Zhihai heard this, he immediately started drooling.

The tender, soft, and flavorful braised pork knuckle, with a bite full of collagen, who could resist that?

His eyes turned red as he called after Jiang Yu's retreating figure,

"Lao Jiang, don't worry for a second, my work is top-notch!"

It wasn't until Jiang Yu's figure was far out of sight that Hu Zhihai, feeling a bit reluctant, turned back to the canteen.

He frowned and looked around, feeling like he had forgotten something but couldn't quite recall it at the moment.

It wasn't until he turned around and absentmindedly saw the empty serving window that he suddenly remembered:

Jiang Yu had left, so what was he going to eat for the next month or so?

At the thought of this grave issue, Hu Zhihai's face turned pale instantly...

...

When he returned to his home in Raozhou, it was just after four in the afternoon.

It was drizzling lightly outside, making the already gloomy sky look even darker.

When he returned home by taxi, the main door was still closed, not knowing it was raining outside and the weather was so cold. His grandma must have gone out somewhere again to look for things to do.

Jiang Yu found the key through the door crack, opened the main door, and a gust of swirling cold wind carrying raindrops blew in, making Jiang Yu involuntarily shiver.

He quickly closed the main door and took his suitcase back to his room.

Grandma probably knew he would be coming back these days; the room was tidy and neat, and the quilt was freshly washed, carrying the scent of sun-dried freshness.

The small desk beside the bed was also spotlessly clean, with just a calendar, a clean teacup, and a few books, nothing else.

Jiang Yu sat in the room for a while, watching as the sky grew darker and grandma still hadn't returned. He pondered for a moment and then got up to go to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

He first washed some rice and put it into the rice cooker to cook, then immediately opened the refrigerator to have a look.

What he saw left him momentarily speechless.

The refrigerator only had two plates of leftover food, a piece of fatty meat, and a couple of bunches of greens, nothing else.

With just these few ingredients, even if Jiang Yu was a master cook, he couldn't make anything particularly delicious.

This truly echoed the saying: even a clever housewife cannot cook without rice!

After some thought, Jiang Yu took an umbrella and went out, hurriedly heading to the nearby vegetable market.

It was already a bit late, and there were hardly any good vegetables left in the market.

Jiang Yu carefully picked out some pork belly, tofu, carrots, potatoes, vermicelli, cabbage, and other vegetables, filling up a big bag before rushing back home.

Grandma still hadn't returned, so he had no choice but to return to the kitchen and keep busy.

The southern weather was damp and cold, and coupled with today's rain, whatever stir-fried dish he made would get cold just as it came out of the pan.

So, Jiang Yu thought about it and decided to make a Northeast-style stew instead.

Once it was ready, he'd put it into a small pot and set it on a simple wood-fired stove, simmering it on low heat so that even after the whole family was full, the dish would still be hot.

In the damp and chilly winter, being able to sit down to a steaming, fragrant stew really warmed you up, from body to heart.

Jiang Yu's kitchen still used a wood-fired stove, so to cook, he had to first set up the wood and start a fire.

Even though he hadn't used a wood fire in a long time, it didn't pose a challenge for him.

Jiang Yu stacked a few thin and dry sticks in the hearth, took some thin wood shavings, lit them with a lighter, and carefully placed them into the hearth.

Though it was raining outside, the dry wood in the kitchen wasn't damp, catching fire as soon as it was sparked. In no time, the wood in the hearth was blazing fiercely.

Once the large iron pot was heated, Jiang Yu added oil to it, put in chopped garlic to stir-fry for fragrance, then added the pork belly pieces that had been soaked in hot water and dried, with an appropriate amount of light and dark soy sauce, continuing to stir-fry.

Soon enough, the kitchen was filled with a rich aroma of pork fat, and it was hard to resist the urge to eat.

After the pork belly was stir-fried to release some oil, turning slightly golden, Jiang Yu added water, a small amount of rock sugar and salt, and let it simmer on low heat.

After stewing for over half an hour, Jiang Yu took out the pork belly along with the soup, added more oil and garlic to the pot, and then put potato slices, carrots, and other ingredients into the pot to stir-fry for a while.

Next, he added the pork belly and soup back into the pot, poured in an appropriate amount of boiling water, and continued to stew.

Once the water in the pot boiled, he cut the tofu into chunks and added them along with baby napa cabbage and vermicelli, letting it simmer a bit longer, then added salt, chicken essence, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, pepper, and other seasonings, finishing with chili powder and chopped scallions.

With that, the Northeast-style stew was ready.

At this moment, the entire kitchen was filled with white steam; the aroma of the stew crowded the small room, drilling straight into Jiang Yu's nostrils, making his mouth water.

Jiang Yu pushed back some of the wood in the hearth, leaving only enough embers to keep the pot warm. He got up, washed his hands, and went to the front hall to open the main door.

Outside, the sky was completely dark. The drizzling rain from before had stopped at some point, and now snowflakes were beginning to fall from the sky.

Watching as vehicles occasionally sped past on the dark street, Jiang Yu couldn't help but furrow his brow tightly.

In such cold weather, why hadn't Grandma come back yet?

He hesitated whether to go out and search for her when out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly spotted a small, hunched figure slowly making its way from the street corner.

She was dragging two large plastic bags, the contents of which were unknown.

"Grandma's back!"

Jiang Yu's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't care about the damp and muddy outside as he rushed out.

At that moment, his heart was full of regret. If only he had brought Grandma to Jiangzhou, maybe she wouldn't have had to endure so much on her own.

But he also knew that Grandma most likely wouldn't have come with him; his thoughts were nothing more than wishful thinking.

"Grandma, why are you back so late?"

Running a few more steps to reach her side, Jiang Yu couldn't help but mutter a bit reproachfully.

Without waiting for Grandma to say anything, he grabbed the plastic bags from her hands and carried them back home.

As he walked, Jiang Yu didn't forget to add,

"If you keep pushing yourself like this, you should just come with me to Jiangzhou. I can't rest easy leaving you at home alone!"

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