Peaches and Plums Don’t Speak – Chapter 29

Midsummer (Part 2)

In a daze, Yan Xi seemed to have returned to her college days. By the tung trees on campus, by the lake, there was that tall and handsome figure. Under an umbrella in the pouring rain, he had leaned over to kiss her on the cheek, the corners of his eyes curving as he smiled at her.

It was also on a summer weekend. She had been visiting her grandparents and was returning to school, planning to give him a surprise. Under the large pagoda tree next to the men’s dormitory, holding two cups of iced lemon tea, she saw Gao Jiming¹ standing face-to-face with another girl.

The girl had bright eyes and white teeth², and her beautiful hair draped over her shoulders. She was the department belle³ of the Chinese Department⁴.

“Shixiong⁵, please accept me. I know you have a girlfriend, but… I only wish your heart was like mine, and I will not fail your lovesickness.⁶” She couldn’t remember the rest very clearly. She only remembered that Gao Jiming hadn’t explicitly rejected her. That night, the lemon tea was ice-cold to the heart.

She knew that Gao Jiming truly liked her, but she felt it wasn’t enough. Before he had won her over, he had a fiery passion. She was the fortress he longed to conquer, the program he yearned to crack. After they got together, he gradually lost that initial feeling.

Conquest was probably an innate instinct in the bloodline of male creatures. This was especially true for someone like Gao Jiming, who was overflowing with natural talent⁷ and whose life had been one of smooth wind and smooth water⁸, having encountered almost no obstacles. Whatever he wanted, he could get with just a little effort. So after obtaining it, he would feel a sense of fatigue and boredom, as if it were a matter of course⁹.

When he decided to go abroad and Yan Xi broke up with him, it once again ignited his desire to win her back. But Yan Xi had already made her decision; she had actually given him a chance. She never mentioned that accidental encounter that night. She had waited for him to tell her about it, but he never did.

In a state of half-dreaming, half-awake¹⁰, Yan Xi furrowed her brows. The period right after they separated had been agonizing. She had spent her nights tossing and turning, unable to sleep. Fortunately, Taotao came to her side later.

Her eyelids were heavy. She became conscious in her dream, aware that she was thinking about Gao Jiming. Why am I still thinking of him? It was probably because the busybodies around her were still thinking about them, finding all sorts of ways to tell her his latest news. They said Gao Jiming was already engaged. His fiancée seemed to be a colleague who also worked in Silicon Valley¹¹. One day at work, she proposed to him. Their colleagues brought out prepared flowers and red wine, and everyone smiled as they raised their glasses in congratulations.

Yan Xi subconsciously curled into her quilt, sleeping with great difficulty. She wanted to wake up but couldn’t. When she finally managed to open her eyes, she only felt that her mouth was dry and her tongue was parched.

Just as she was about to get up for a drink of water, she saw a glass of water on the bedside table. She picked it up and drank most of it. In the summer, they would boil water and let it cool. It was a habit their grandparents had taught them to cultivate.

Anzhi had also developed this habit.

Yan Xi pressed her temples. Her mind was still a bit foggy as she got up and went downstairs.

“Taotao?”

The living room light was on, and there were noises coming from the kitchen.

Yan Xi’s expression softened. She must be cooking. It was embarrassing to admit, but nowadays, Grandmother Liu would occasionally buy groceries and cook for them, but the rest of the time, either Yan Xi bought takeout or Anzhi cooked.

This kid was a fast learner in the kitchen. You could tell she genuinely loved it. As for Yan Xi, she would just shamelessly eat the ready-made food¹² and then wash the dishes afterward.

And I’m supposed to be the older one.

She slipped on her slippers and walked into the dining room, where she was greeted by the fragrant aroma of congee.

A small clay pot sat on the table, with two bowls of congee cooling beside it, along with a plate of cold-tossed cucumber¹³. Anzhi, her hair tied up in a little top knot with fuzzy stray hairs on her clear forehead, was slicing beef. This was the braised beef¹⁴ she and Anzhi had made together yesterday.

The recipe was from Grandmother Liu.

They had bought a whole cut of beef shank meat¹⁵. The first step was to be sure to blanch out all the blood.

“Otherwise, it’ll have an off-taste and won’t be fragrant enough,” Anzhi had said.

The whole beef shank went into the pot, which was filled with water, along with three knotted scallions, cooking wine, and ginger slices.

“Keep the lid off the whole time and maintain a boil,” Anzhi instructed, muttering words to herself as she worked.

Yan Xi was amused by her seriousness and started to laugh.

“Switch to medium heat after it comes to a boil. Don’t laugh!” Anzhi puffed out her cheeks at Yan Xi. “Be serious!”

Yan Xi stifled her laughter. “Alright, alright! Let me help~” She took a pair of long chopsticks and prodded the beef shank.

They waited for a full hour, adding more water, until the chopsticks could be inserted into the beef without any more blood coming out.

Only then was the blanching considered a success.

Turning off the heat, Yan Xi took out the beef and rinsed it under cold water. She removed the scallion knots and ginger slices, then filtered the beef broth.

“This beef broth will be used later.”

“Okay, got it.”

Yan Xi washed the pot, then poured the filtered beef broth back in.

“Okay, you give the instructions, I’ll do it.”

“Beef, black tea bag, spice packet, rock sugar.”

“Done.”

“First, pour in 100ML of dark soy sauce, then add 100ML of light soy sauce, and stir.”

“100ML? How much is that?”

“Pour it into the measuring cup first.”

“Why did Grandmother Liu write down such specific numbers? Did you force her to give you a number?”

“…She just said ‘pour some.’ How am I supposed to know how much ‘some’ is!”

“…Pfft.” Yan Xi shook her head, smiling.

“Don’t laugh! Be serious!”

After bringing it to a boil over high heat, they covered the pot, turned it to low, and let it simmer for another hour and a half to let the flavors soak in.

Anzhi stood guard in the dining room the entire time, playing on her phone. She had set three alarms, one to go off every half hour as a reminder.

Once the beef was done, they put it in a food storage bag and refrigerated it overnight.

Now, she took the beef out to slice it. As she cut, Anzhi quietly swallowed, unable to resist. She picked up a slice and popped it into her mouth. “Mmm, delicious!” She squinted her eyes. “So delicious!”

Anzhi liked beef more than pork. She loved cold-tossed beef, braised beef, watermelon beef brisket¹⁶, and barbecue.

Yan Xi smiled and asked, “Is it good?”

“You’re awake? Let’s eat,” Anzhi said to her.

The congee was millet and mung bean congee¹⁷, and the side dishes were cold-tossed cucumber and the sliced braised beef.

“I also made mango pancakes¹⁸,” Anzhi said with a smile.

Anzhi had mixed the dressing for the cold toss herself. She had flash-fried raw garlic until fragrant, then added light soy sauce, sesame oil, chili sauce, and balsamic vinegar, bringing it to a quick boil in the pan. Then she poured it over the cucumbers, which were sprinkled with sesame seeds and chopped cilantro, and let it cool.

Other than their disagreement on whether to add sugar or salt to scrambled eggs with tomatoes, Yan Xi and Anzhi had no conflicts when it came to food.

Yan Xi loved Anzhi’s cold-tossed dishes, nicknaming them: “Taotao-brand cold-tossed dishes.”

The congee was fragrant, the braised beef was truly delicious, and the cold-tossed cucumber was fresh and crisp. Yan Xi drank two large bowls of congee and felt like she had finally been rescued from her chaotic dreams and the dull headache.

After the meal, Yan Xi sent Anzhi upstairs to play while she stayed behind to wash the dishes, clean the kitchen, and mop the floor. She also went to check on the plants in the yard.

Suddenly, she heard Anzhi’s terrified voice from upstairs: “Auntie! Auntie!”

Yan Xi rushed into the house. Anzhi was already clattering down the stairs, her little face pale and alarmed and panicked.

“What’s wrong, what’s wrong?”

Anzhi threw herself into her arms. “Wah. It’s so scary!”

A few days ago, Yan Da Pang¹⁹ had mysteriously given her a book, claiming it was a suspenseful crime story that was very scary and exciting. Anzhi hadn’t thought much of it, but just now, feeling idle, she had picked it up to read.

The story took place in a large family in the countryside. The son went out to work, leaving his wife and mother at home. One night, the mother-in-law went out, and when she returned, she found her daughter-in-law missing. On the floor was a headless female corpse.

The book even had illustrations. The one here depicted a headless body lying on the ground, dressed in a floral cotton jacket and pants. Its arms and legs were intact, but the head on its neck was gone.

Reading this, Anzhi shivered and was already starting to get scared. But curiosity compelled her to turn the page.

The mother-in-law quickly called the police. The police opened an investigation and found a head near the village ferry crossing, its face and eyes completely changed²⁰. The police asked the mother-in-law to identify the body. When the old woman saw it, her expression turned strange, and she kept repeating, “This isn’t my daughter-in-law’s head, this isn’t my daughter-in-law’s head…” Her mind seemed to snap, and she kept shaking her head, repeating, “It’s not her head, her head….”

Anzhi was so scared reading this that the hair on her head was standing on end. She didn’t dare read any further, tossed the book aside, and ran downstairs.

“Alright, alright, don’t be scared. Let me see what this is actually about!” Yan Xi picked up the book. It didn’t even have a proper cover, and she had never heard of the listed author. She opened it to the first page and began to browse.

Anzhi stared nervously at the book, the illustration seared into her mind, as if it would leap out of the pages at any second.

Anzhi let out a whimper like a frightened little rabbit. Yan Xi pulled her into an embrace, and Anzhi buried her head in her stomach, which finally made her feel less afraid. Anzhi heard Yan Xi flipping through the pages quickly. Suddenly, she felt her stop, and then she closed the book.

“Where did this book come from?”

“Da Pang gave it to me.”

Yan Xi said coolly, “This is awful! What a mess! Don’t read this stuff anymore. I have detective novels over there on the left bookshelf. Go read Grandma’s—I mean, Agatha’s²¹. I have a whole set. If you find foreign names hard to remember, you can start with a few books by Gu Long²².”

Yan Xi frowned slightly. The crime in this book wasn’t the main plot. Midway through, there was a large amount of erotic description. It was very explicit, with descriptions of all kinds of physiological organs that one could not bear to look at²³. It was less a mystery book and more a piece of yellow works²⁴—and of the lower-three-streams²⁵ variety at that.

Without moving in sound or color²⁶, she asked Anzhi, “How far did you get?”

“Just… just at the part with the head! Right at the beginning. It was so scary.”

Yan Xi secretly breathed a sigh of relief. “Don’t read it anymore.” She ruffled Anzhi’s hair.

“Mhm!…” After a moment, Anzhi looked up and asked, “So who killed the daughter-in-law?”

Yan Xi answered in three words and two phrases²⁷: “Oh, that body wasn’t the daughter-in-law’s. The daughter-in-law had found someone else and was planning to elope. Afraid of being discovered, she killed a mentally disturbed woman from the village and put her own clothes on her. Then she ran off with her lover.”

Anzhi, who was encountering detective stories for the first time, stared wide-eyed. “It was like that?”

Yan Xi pushed the book aside with one hand, her voice indifferent. “That’s just a tired old stalk²⁸; there’s nothing new about it at all. Besides, this book’s writing style is atrocious, the details are filled with a hundred wrong holes²⁹, and the atmosphere is poorly created! Don’t bother with it. Go to the bookshelf and get the ones I told you about!”

Anzhi: “…”

She looked at her, then at the book that had been pushed far away in disgust. “Oh…”

While Anzhi was at the bookshelf, Yan Xi picked up the book, went downstairs, opened the door, walked out into the yard, and opened the main gate. Expressionless, she walked to a nearby recycling bin and tossed it in.

Then she took out her phone and called her Eldest Sister-in-law.

How can there be this reason³⁰?! Giving Taotao a book like this. Kids mature early these days. Sometimes their minds go astray before their bodies have even fully developed. Although this was a necessary part of adolescence, and Yan Xi didn’t think such books were completely off-limits, they had to be chosen carefully. A poorly made book with no aesthetic value was one thing, but many of the acts within were heavily tinged with misogyny. They couldn’t yet distinguish the line between fun and violent humiliation, and this book certainly couldn’t be treated as one of their enlightenment books³¹.

She could not tolerate the act of someone bringing this kind of book to Taotao. She was determined to tattle on him.

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The author has something to say:

The recipe for braised beef shank is from the internet. The measurements may not be exact and are for reference only.

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