Chapter 7: CH 7

“Time to eat!” Fang Qing came out of the kitchen holding a plate of pig trotters, putting it on the table. “What are you talking about?”

Ji Tong glanced at Lu Rong, slightly embarrassed. “Rong Rong is interested in my business.”

Lu Rong, “…”

F**king interested.

“Let’s eat first, talk later. Have a taste of my cooking.” Fang Qing enthusiastically served them the food.

Ji Tong stood up happily, helping her arrange the table. “Why cook so many dishes?”

Fang Qing’s face reddened, “Isn’t it because you’re here. Normally I don’t enter the kitchen.”

Ji Tong shyly lowered his head. “Thank you.”

Fang Qing, “look at you…”

Lu Rong, “…”

What kind of middle-aged love is this?!

The flirty Fang Qing and Ji Tong who finally remembered Lu Rong, “Rong Rong, have you washed your hands? Come and sit.”

“En.” Lu Rong walked to the table heavily. Even though he made mental preparations, his face darkened when he looked at the dishes.

The reason why Fang Qing normally  didn’t cook was—Lu Rong didn’t let her cook.

Too dangerous, it was truly dangerous.

Before Lu Rong was admitted to school, he could already cook. When other children played in the playground, he cooked three meals a day while standing tiptoe on a small bench.

Not only could he cook, he also understood human philosophy: this world had things called talent, some people really didn’t have talents, it couldn’t be forced upon. For example, cooking and Fang Qing.

Fang Qing hadn’t cooked in so long, Lu Rong felt like he had forgotten the fright of her dark cooking. But when he sat at the table, he felt rueful, it turned out that a childhood nightmare can haunt you for a lifetime.

What the f**k did you combine the food with?!

When he saw the pig trotters and lard swimming in the pot, he thought Fang Qing would have done some more processing, at least finished it off with soy sauce. Unfortunately, she put the whole pot on the table as was. Now, the living room was filled with a nauseatingly sweet smell!

Next to the white trotters was a bowl of bright red beef, with no complete pieces of beef. Because she cut it along the fiber, the beef disintegrated into small pieces. Floating on the too-thick sauce, it made people think of a battlefield that hadn’t been cleaned up.

Next to the beef was a fish. The fish was on the plate, both eyes opened, the belly cut. It could be seen that the fish was not thoroughly descaled, it reflected the light of the fluorescent lamp. The fish organs were pitch-black, it also hadn’t been washed clean. The bitter taste could be smelled from three feet away, unable to be covered up by the thick oil and sauce, because Fang Qing broke the gallbladder when she cut the fish’s belly open. The fish looked like a famous English dish “Stargazy pie”.

Beside the fish was a chicken. Stewing chicken was something that no one could get wrong. The chicken Fang Qing bought from the market had been killed, all she needed to do was to stew the chicken in the pot. But Fang Qing took it literally, she put the chicken in the pot with the behind facing the sky. She didn’t put any condiments, it seems like she also didn’t put enough water. Lu Rong also didn’t know how the head looked like, but he supposed the pot can’t be used anymore, the bottom had turned black.

The other plate was a vegetable dish. It seemed like it was half cooked, but this was the only one that could be considered “edible”.

Fang Qing and Ji Tong were talking endlessly about trivialities, while Lu Rong was sitting on his chair. Holding his chopsticks, he was motionless.

“Eat.” Fang Qing finally realized her son’s abnormality and wanted to pick vegetables for him.

“No need.” Lu Rong stopped her movement.

Lu Rong swept a glance, at last he locked eyes at the vegetables, stretched his chopsticks out, elegantly picked one then put it in his bowl. He took a few deep breaths, then bravely put the vegetable in his mouth.

It was sweet.

Lu Rong stood up, calmly walked to the toilet. He spat the vegetables to the trash can, then he made a retching sound.

Fang Qing shouted from outside, “What’s wrong?”

Lu Rong, “Choked by fish bone.”

Fang Qing, “This kid… he’s this old, but still choked. Has it come out?”

Lu Rong flushed the toilet, walked out unperturbed. “It has come out.”

Ji Tong saw that he was well, then said, “He is still a child, they gobble up food if it tastes good. It would be okay if he was more careful.” He moved the fish to Lu Rong and wanted to help Lu Rong pick it.

Lu Rong, “…”

Although it was not wrong for the middle-aged man to be in love, it was a bit overboard to brown nose [1] like this!

Fang Qing also thought that it was overboard, so she moved the fish back. “He can pick it himself if he wants to eat. It’s not as if he can’t pick his own food, you go ahead and eat.” She said while picking a big piece of fish belly to Ji Tong.

Lu Rong thought: d*mn.

If he ate that, he could immediately go to heaven.

He pitied Ji Tong a little, but even if Fang Qing didn’t do anything, Ji Tong might put that piece in his bowl, making things difficult for himself. He stopped eating, focusing on observing whether Ji Tong ate that fish.

Ji Tong’s rice was covered by oily fish, the sauce even flowed down to the bowl. The fish bones could be seen everywhere, adding on the half-cooked rice, the whole bowl looked chaotic.

But Ji Tong’s expression was sweet and happy. His gentle face blushed, it was even more dazzling than his golden necklace.

Fang Qing enthusiastically urged him, “Eat!”

Ji Tong was stunned for a while, he was a bit moved. “…Yes.”

He elegantly pulled out the bone while talking, then he took one bite.

Ji Tong’s expression changed, his slender eyes opened wide, he looked even more like Bai Yunsong[2], “Delicious!!!”

Lu Rong, “…?”

He was astonished at Ji Tong. Whether it was real or fake, if he can make such judgement to Fang Qing’s dishes, it proved that he was harsh enough on himself.

Ji Tong slowly savoured that piece of fish. Fang Qing happily passed the pig trotters to him. There was fur left on the skin, the white lard was floating like snow. “Try my pig trotters!”

Lu Rong can’t bear to see it anymore. “Forget it…”

Even if she was trying to probe him out, this way was too excessive, the human heart could never bear the test.

Unexpectedly, Ji Tong took a bite and said, “Delicious! It has been some years since I last ate such wonderful pig trotters!”

Lu Rong, “…”

Big bro, how was your living condition some years ago?

After finishing the pig trotters off, Fang Qing wanted to pick some chicken, but Ji Tong refused. “Meat has to be combined with the vegetables.”

He clipped some vegetables, then he slowly but not inefficiently put the half-cooked rice into his mouth.

Lu Rong couldn’t bear to see it anymore. It was very difficult for a man to marry a wife.

Ji Tong finished his rice off, then put the bowl down. “I just realized that your family’s rice is extremely delicious, it is terrific. Where did you buy it? What is the brand?”

Fang Qing didn’t know anything. She poked Lu Rong with her elbow.

Lu Rong, “It was bought from the market downstairs, 3.5 yuan for a catty.”

Ji Tong, “It is very special and chewy, it has a pure rice fragrance, it tastes like the stove-cooked rice that I ate when I was young.” He said while taking his bowl to the kitchen. “I want another bowl, does anyone want more?”

Lu Rong, “…”

When he entered the kitchen he realized that Fang Qing didn’t turn the rice cooker on, so the rice was half-cooked. He saw Ji Tong struggling to fill his bowl full in the kitchen, he felt that it wasn’t faked.

When Ji Tong came back, Fang Qing asked him to eat the chicken, this time her tone was not as cheerful, she was sobbing, her eyes were tearful. “You…you eat more…”

Ji Tong, “What happened?! Why are you crying?”

Fang Qing, “No one has…ever liked the dish I cook…”

Ji Tong, “How?!”

Fang Qing, “Rong Rong doesn’t like it.”

Ji Tong’s eyes were full of regret, but he immediately sat beside Fang Qing gently, comforting her. “This child eats your dishes everyday, his taste was spoiled, he naturally won’t be grateful for what he has. But I haven’t eaten a home-made dish this delicious for a long time.”

“Rea…really?” Fang Qing happily wiped her tears. “Then I will make it for you everyday!”

Ji Tong glanced at Lu Rong, ill at ease. “…yes!”

Lu Rong: “…”

He saw Ji Tong bury his head and eat strenuously, and silently shook his head. Some people looked normal but in fact had disabilities. If the inability to taste could be considered a disability, then Ji Tong’s condition was eligible for the level ten disability qualification.

Maybe this was the so-called pot suiting the lid. As Lu Rong and Fang Qing happily watched Ji Tong eat, he thought, maybe Fang Qing’s real fated-one had come.

His lips twitched, it was okay even if he was a loan shark.

While Lu Rong washed the dishes in the kitchen, Ji Tong and Fang Qing stood together on the balcony.

Fang Qing, “Let’s go get the certificate tomorrow, why are you hesitating?”

Ji Tong asked seriously, “Do you think Rong Rong likes me?”

Fang Qing, “Yes!”

Ji Tong, “I can’t see through him, he sometimes gave off a very deep feeling, especially at dinner—am I eating too much?”

Fang Qing, “He normally acts like this.”

Ji Tong still felt anxious. Fang Qing comforted him, “You marry me and not him, so what if Rong Rong doesn’t like you? I like you!”

Ji Tong, “But how will we live together?”

Fang Qing, “It doesn’t matter, we just need to raise him until he is eighteen, after that he can live by himself.”

Ji Tong shook his head, “That was based on the law, but it is not applicable in real life.”

Fang Qing solemnly said, “He will leave us when he is eighteen, really. Because he is not my biological son, I am just his temporary guardian.”

The bowl in Lu Rong’s hands slipped. There were still some pig trotters left, he wanted to ask Ji Tong to eat it, and unexpectedly he heard such shocking news.

The ambience was broken.

Ji Tong bent over to pick the pig trotters and plastic bowl up. “…I’ll wash the bowl, you talk.”

After he went away, Lu Rong immediately asked, “Aunty [3], may I ask what were you talking about just now?”

Fang Qing, “…”

Fang Qing, “I am not your aunty, I’m your aunt.[4]”

[1] flatter, bootlick, butter up, anyway, Ji Tong is praising Fang Qing to the high heaven

[2] a TV Presenter

[3] Lu Rong called Fang Qing A Yi as in mother’s sister.

[4] Chinese has a lot of ways to say aunty and uncle based on the relation, the way you call your father’s sister is different from the way you call your mother’s sister. The spouse of uncles was also called differently. At first Lu Rong called Fang Qing aunty as his mother’s sister, so Fang Qing corrected his way of calling because she was his paternal uncle’s wife.