Chapter 76: Preserved Eggs

The two of them agreed on a date. Xiaoguo picked up the bag of sawdust. The bag looked big but it was pretty light. She called out to Zhuang Zhuang—it was getting late—they should go home.

The woman looked at Wen Xiaoyi, who was walking over from a distance away. The boy’s eyes were filled with happiness and deep reluctance. She could not help but feel a little sad. It was a pity that Wen Xiaoyi had ended up with them…

“Is this your child?”

Startled, Xiaoguo looked at the woman and nodded. “This is my son, Zhuang Zhuang.”

The woman nodded and pointed at Xiaoyi. “This is my son, Xiaoyi.”

Xiaoguo nodded and turned to look at Xiaoyi. From the looks of it, the boy did not resemble the couple. The woman looked like a typical southern beauty. Her looks were gentle and charming. The man, who was hard at work in the house, had a strong and masculine look about him.

But this child, Xiaoyi, was too beautiful. Yes, he could only be described as beautiful. At such a young age, he was already so good-looking.

Xiaoguo didn’t think much of it. After all, there were many children who didn’t look like their parents at a young age, but when they grew up, the resemblances would surface. Children’s appearances change very quickly.

The woman looked at Zhuang Zhuang, who was about the same height as Xiaoyi. She guessed that they were about the same age. “Zhuang Zhuang, how old are you?”

Xiaoguo did not answer and let Zhuang Zhuang speak for himself. Zhuang Zhuang replied in a crisp voice, “I’m three years old this year!”

The woman nodded, looking shocked. “He’s the same age as my Xiaoyi.”

Xiaoguo was also surprised. “Was he also born in the year of the Tiger?”

The woman nodded, her face lighting up. “That’s right, he was born at the beginning of the year. What about your son?”

“He’s a year-end baby.”

Xiaoguo said, “So Xiaoyi is older than Zhuang Zhuang.”

The woman deemed it as fate and chatted with Xiaoguo a little while more. Xiaoyi pulled Zhuang Zhuang back to where Xiaohu was tied up and talked to him in whispers.

During their conversation, XIaoguo learnt that the woman’s name was Su Hui and her husband was Tang Zhu.

Xiaoguo almost laughed out loud when she heard the man’s name. Who would have thought that a man with rippling muscles would have such an artistic name?

The couple had just arrived in Yonghai County. Xiaoyi had been leading a nomadic life with the two of them before they decided to settle in the County.

Xiaoguo listened quietly. Something that Su Hui mentioned caught the attention of Xiaoguo.

“Sigh, look at Xiaoyi. He’s good with animals, playing with cats and dogs, but he doesn’t enjoy studying. How can he take the admission test next year?”

Su Hui looked at Xiaoyi, who was playing with the dog. Her face was filled with worry.

Xiaoguo followed her gaze and saw that Xiaoyi was holding the dog and gesturing at Zhuang Zhuang at a corner. He was pretending to bark like a dog. Looking over towards Zhuang Zhuang, he did seem much quieter in comparison. He was standing obediently at the side—giggling with his hand over his mouth—watching Xiaoyi bark like a dog.

Xiaoguo smiled and turned to look at Su Hui. She asked the question that piqued her interest earlier. “Which school is Xiaoyi going to next year?”

Xiaoguo was prepared to let Zhuang Zhuang go to school the next year, but she was feeling a bit hesitant. It was said that all the better academies were run by teachers in their homes, and Xiaoguo didn’t know where to go. Now that Su Hui had mentioned it, she had to ask her about it.

As soon as Su Hui started talking about the schools, she became energetic. She had been finding out about the different schools recently. Now that Xiaoguo was asking about it, she told her everything she knew.

“I heard that Mr. Kong is going to open an academy here next year. It’s said that he has retired from the capital. Yonghai County is his hometown, and there are many parents watching out for news of his academy.”

Xiaoguo nodded in understanding. Mr. Kong was the most famous teacher in the capital. She had heard that he used to be the private tutor of someone in the royal family. If this was true, she would have to pay more attention.

After chatting with Su Hui for a while more, it was really getting late. Xiaoguo called out to Zhuang Zhuang, asking him to go home. Before they left, Su Hui brought Xiaoyi to see them off. The boy reluctantly waved goodbye to Zhuang Zhuang and promised to meet with him again.

Zhuang Zhuang waved goodbye to Wen Xiaoyi enthusiastically.

On the way home, Xiaoguo asked Zhuang Zhuang about his thoughts on going to the academy. He only knew a little about it, but from Xiaoguo’s explanation, going to a school would mean picking up more knowledge. Zhuang Zhuang was very tempted by the idea and was keen to go.

On the other hand, if he had to attend school for an entire day, it also meant that he would not see his mother for one whole day. This was not good! Thinking of this, he buried himself in Xiaoguo’s arms.

Seeing that Zhuang Zhuang suddenly seemed disinterested, Xiaoguo was puzzled. Zhuang Zhuang clearly liked to study. What was it that made him not want to go? She couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard she tried. Hence, Xiaoguo could only give up. It seemed that she would have to slowly convince him in the future.

When he returned home, Zhuang Zhuang hurriedly fed his friends. When the animals saw Zhuang Zhuang, they all cried out loudly. Even the two little puppies huddled around his feet to ask for food.

Xiaoguo tied up the donkey cart and reminded Zhuang Zhuang to feed the donkey. After hearing his reply, she went to the kitchen to prepare lunch.

After lunch, Zhuang Zhuang wanted to go to bed. However, he saw Xiaoguo coming to the courtyard with the sawdust and a basin. She had also brought out the lime. He was curious. “Mother hasn’t told me why she needed sawdust.”

With this thought in mind, he ran to Xiaoguo’s side and asked what she was thinking.

“Mother is going to make century eggs out of duck eggs!”

“Century eggs?” Zhuang Zhuang repeated what Xiaoguo had said, chewing on the unfamiliar words. What was a century egg?

Xiaoguo patiently explained to Zhuang Zhuang about the origins of century eggs and how they were made.

As she spoke, Xiaoguo sat down with the work in her hands and explained each step as she went along.

First of all, she had to mix the lime with water. Upon adding water, the lime mixture would heat up. Xiaoguo reminded Zhuang Zhuang to stand further away. Once she was done with the mixture, she allowed it to cool down a little before adding yellow mud, wood ash, salt, and pure alkali. After stirring everything thoroughly, the mixture was left to cool down. The duck eggs would be added as the final step.

Zhuang Zhuang brought out the duck eggs and followed Xiaoguo’s instructions to put the eggs individually into the mixture. Using two wooden sticks, Xiaoguo rolled the eggs around to ensure that they were coated evenly before picking them up and throwing them into the sawdust. She covered the eggs evenly with a layer of sawdust by using her hands.

After being coated with sawdust, the eggs would be stored in a clean vat. When Xiaoguo was done with putting one egg into the vat, Zhuang Zhuang would place another one in the basin for Xiaoguo to repeat the steps. There were nearly fifty duck eggs in total. Soon, almost half the vat was filled. Xiaoguo carefully sealed the lid. She had to ensure that the vat was sealed tight. In this weather, it would take about a week if it was placed in the shade.

Zhuang Zhuang stared curiously at the vat in the corner. Seven days… He hoped that when he woke up tomorrow, it would be seven days later. This way, he could see if it would turn transparent and black like his mother had said.

Zhuang Zhuang was supposed to take an afternoon nap, but he was very energetic and did not feel sleepy at all. After informing Xiaoguo that he was going out, he ran off to herd the cows.

Seven days later…

The minute Zhuang Zhuang woke up, he was already looking forward to Xiaoguo opening the jar to look at the century eggs.

Xiaoguo didn’t say much. She let Zhuang Zhuang feed the animals and have him wash his hands after. When he was back, she would take out the century eggs.

Zhuang Zhuang quickly got dressed and rolled off the bed. Xiaoguo followed him out of the house and went to the kitchen to cook porridge. She took out some lean meat to make some pork and century egg congee.

She started off by stir-frying the shredded pork, then water was added to make the porridge. The century eggs would be added last.

There were also some steamed buns from the day before. They could be heated up later. She just had to add one more side dish, which is pickled century eggs.

When she reached the house, Zhuang Zhuang was fetching water from the well. When he saw Xiaoguo, he eagerly asked her to wait for him. As he spoke, he scooped a basin of water and added it to the cows’ trough. Seven days ago, the cows had taken up residence in the shed.

Xiaoguo told him to take his time. Zhuang Zhuang quickly washed his hands and followed Xiaoguo to the vat.