New work “The Substitute Bride and the Little Doctor” is updating with a sweet rural story~
At the end of summer, the night wind seemed to have been soaked in the creek water, bringing a refreshing coolness. The torrential rain that poured all day finally began to subside as night fell. The entire sky was misty, gloomy, and oppressive, making it hard for people to breathe.
It got dark earlier and earlier, but the stream of diners remained endless.
In the west of Xinan County, there was an inconspicuous small restaurant. It was the peak time for customers. The restaurant had been open for five or six years. The people of Xinan County knew that the place had only one owner from out of town, surnamed Xu. Everyone called her “Aunt Xu.” She had a little girl around six or seven years old with her. The lady was delicate and graceful, always dressed in plain clothes, and had caught the eye of many bachelors who hoped to win her favor.
However, the lady fell seriously ill a few years after opening the restaurant. The old doctor in the county said that the disease was beyond cure, and she was merely dragging her sick body along, waiting to die. It was a pity for the little girl she had, named Sui Sui, who was lively and adorable and was about to become a motherless child.
The neighbors felt sorry for the mother and daughter. When they had free time, they would visit the restaurant and eat a bit. Interestingly, the restaurant only sold one dish, zajiang noodles, hence the name “One Bowl Noodle House.”
The noodles were made fresh daily, mixed with eggs, and could be cut wide or rolled thin. They were cooked to be smooth and soft, chewy yet firm. The sauce was simple, made with pork and various seasonal vegetables, diced into pea-sized pieces. The pan was heated with oil to fry scallions and garlic until fragrant. Then, a spoonful of homemade doubanjiang was added along with the meat and vegetables, stir-fried together. A spoonful of cooking wine was added, and once the oil boiled and the vegetables were cooked, the broth was ready.
When a customer ordered, the freshly cooked broth was poured over the egg noodles, topped with some sesame oil and chopped scallions. Served hot and steaming, the bowl was simple yet fragrant, whetting the appetite.
The small noodle house became lively with bowls of steaming noodles, attracting a steady stream of customers. Some ordered a bowl and started eating right away, while others just watched their bowls of noodle soup, waiting for something.
At this time, a teenager emerged from the back room, looking about sixteen or seventeen, carrying a round red lantern. He ran through the front hall, stood on tiptoe to hang the lantern outside, then tilted his head to check that it was not crooked before retreating back inside.
No one knew where this teenager came from. When asked, Aunt Xu would stammer and couldn’t give a clear answer. But fortunately, the teenager was smart and handsome, very likable. Most importantly, he could cook well, attracting a lot of business to the “One Bowl Noodle House.” He also seemed to know some medicine, often explaining common dishes in great detail and even treating minor illnesses for the villagers.
People couldn’t figure out who this teenager was, so they followed Aunt Xu and called him “Little Brother Nian.”
“Little Brother Nian, what delicious dish did you make today?” A diner called out to him. “Won’t you show us?”
The teenager turned his head at the sound, squinting to recognize the speaker from among the diners. Smiling, he replied, “Uncle Zhang, is that you? Today it’s a bit stuffy, and Sui Sui wanted something sweet, so I thought of making her some Shu’er Yin to try.”
Someone curiously asked, “What is Shu’er Yin?”
The teenager blinked and pretended to be mysterious. “You’ll know when it’s made!”
With that, he bowed and slipped through the curtain to the back room.
The teenager was no longer visible, and the diner named Zhang seemed even more eager, shouting, “Alright, alright! Hurry up, Little Brother Nian! My stomach is so empty it could sail a boat!”
This caused the other diners to burst into laughter.
While the front hall was bustling, Yu Jinnian had already washed his hands and stepped into the kitchen. He looked up and saw a figure kneading dough intently. Surprised, he exclaimed, “Oh, Aunt, why are you up?”
The figure was indeed the owner of the “One Bowl Noodle House,” Aunt Xu. At first glance, she was still a graceful beauty, but her thin and pale face showed her severe illness.
Aunt Xu smiled and said, “I’ve been lying down for so long. I can’t always trouble you to manage everything. I feel better when I move around.”
“It’s nothing.” Yu Jinnian rolled up his sleeves, poured some ground mung bean powder from a jar, and said with a smile, “If you hadn’t taken me in back then, where would I be now? Helping you with some work is the least I can do. By the way, I made some jujube soup, which is great for nourishing blood and energy. Have some when you have time.”
Aunt Xu responded with a slight smile, her heart feeling a bit warm.
She didn’t know much about the teenager, only that his surname was Yu and his name was Jinnian. A few months ago, for some unknown reason, he fainted at the door of her noodle house. Aunt Xu found him when she opened the shop early in the morning and quickly dragged him inside.
After the boy woke up, he said he was alone and wanted to stay and work as a handyman. Aunt Xu felt soft-hearted and agreed. She thought the boy looked thin and pale, seemingly not someone who could endure hardship. She figured he might be a runaway young master from a well-off family and that his family would come looking for him soon. She assumed it was just another mouth to feed temporarily. However, despite his young age, the boy had good skills and knew many strange and interesting recipes. He often presented dishes she had never seen before.
At first, he only cooked for her and Sui Sui, and the food was indeed delicious. Later, she had him set up a stall in front of the restaurant, selling snacks in the morning and evening, which turned out to be quite profitable. The previously quiet noodle house gradually became lively, even attracting people who came specifically to try the boy’s snacks.
Moreover, the boy had a gentle and friendly temperament, with unexpectedly bright eyes. He was naturally handsome, and when he smiled, he looked like a crescent moon, very endearing. Aunt Xu had a son who died young; if he had lived, he would have been about Yu Jinnian’s age. This brought out her maternal instincts, and after a few months together, she had already come to care for Jinnian as if he were half her own son.
Thinking about her late son and her own illness, Aunt Xu couldn’t help but turn away to secretly wipe her tears. After a while, she saw Yu Jinnian grinding some dried leaves in a clean mortar and asked, “What are you making this time?”
Yu Jinnian patiently ground the leaves, replying, “These are dried mint leaves, crushed to mix into the dough for making Shu’er Yin for Sui Sui.” He then gently pushed Aunt Xu out of the kitchen, saying, “Aunt, you should rest. I’ll have Sui Sui bring you a serving when it’s done.”
“Alright, alright,” Aunt Xu smiled as she left the kitchen. “I won’t disturb you. Don’t tire yourself out. If those greedy ones outside bother you, just chase them away!”
“Got it!” Yu Jinnian waved his hand.
After seeing Aunt Xu off, Yu Jinnian breathed a sigh of relief and returned to the kitchen. He sifted the crushed mint leaves through a fine sieve, using only the fine powder that fell through. He then measured equal parts of flour and bean powder, mixing them with the mint powder and water to make the dough.
As he watched the loose flour gradually form into a fluffy dough, his tightly wound nerves began to relax, and he started to zone out.
He had been here for several months now… Several months ago, when he opened his eyes, he found himself in a mass grave, surrounded by bones and rotting flesh, decaying leaves and stems, with a red-eyed crow circling overhead, ready to peck out his eyes.
He wasn’t someone who couldn’t handle adversity. Apart from the initial shock of his surroundings, he quickly calmed down and thought things through. His whole body ached, and he was weak, so he had no choice but to spend another night in the mass grave to rest and recover. Luckily, he dreamed of some memories belonging to the original owner of the body, slowly piecing together his current situation.
The body was also named Yu Jinnian, originally the young master of a Yu family in Sifang Village nearby. His parents died early, and he was pampered like a little girl, soft and fair. When he was entrusted to the care of distant relatives in the same village at the age of four, the little boy couldn’t distinguish between good and bad people, nor between sweet and foul smells. He was bullied by his indifferent relatives, who not only took over his family’s land and house but also mistreated him. Nonetheless, he managed to grow up.
Before Yu Jinnian transmigrated into this body, his unscrupulous relatives had incurred debts and planned to sell him to a debt collector as a concubine. He refused and was beaten one night. He then bit the bullet and escaped on an empty stomach. Unfortunately, he didn’t get far before being discovered. In his panic, he slipped and fell into the river by the village. When they fished him out, he was already cold and lifeless.
His relatives, angry at his failure to secure their future, didn’t even give him a proper burial. They wrapped him in a straw mat and threw him into the mass grave.
—
Yu Jinnian couldn’t understand it at first. He knew he had died, but waking up in a new, healthy body and being given a second chance at life was beyond his comprehension.
However, with many unresolved matters in his heart, even a tiny bit of hope made him want to live well. He didn’t want to wait for death in the wilderness, nor did he want to return to that heartless “Yu family.”
After spending a night in the mass grave, Yu Jinnian endured the pain and climbed up, walking aimlessly along the mountain paths. When he was hungry, he ate wild vegetables and grasses by the roadside, and when he was thirsty, he drank from the river. He wandered with a group of beggars, feeling lost for who knew how long, until he entered a town with dim lights.
Eventually, exhausted and starving, he collapsed in front of Aunt Xu’s shop.
No matter what, Yu Jinnian, a materialist, had encountered the most idealistic event of his twenty-eight years of life. He truly realized this when he woke up from his deep sleep and heard Sui Sui exclaim “Mother!” while peering at him from beside his bed.
Indeed, he had come back to life, and he was reborn in a place he had never heard of before, in the Da Xia Dynasty, at the age of eighteen.
Obrigada pelo capítulo