"He’s the old man," Xiaofeng hurriedly spoke up to introduce, "The old man is hungry and thirsty..."
Sini and Zhou Ying tacitly ran back into the house, and before long, Sini came out holding some pastries, while Zhou Ying carried out a slowly a bowl of water, which, because she was so small, spilled quite a bit as she walked.
"I’ll do it." The old man didn’t wait for anyone’s politeness and took the bowl himself, tilting his head to drink a couple mouthfuls, "Hmm, tastes good."
"Old man, have some pastries," Sini said as she lifted the pastries up.
The old man quickly took the pastries but shook his head after eating only one piece, "Not tasty." Then he turned to Yang Ruxin, "I want to eat a meal."
Yang Ruxin frowned but nodded helplessly, "Alright, I’ll go cook."
"My big sister cooks really delicious meals," Sini declared proudly to the old man.
A glint of light flashed through the old man’s eyes.
Because there was a festival that night, many foods had been prepared in advance, and there were no plans to make lunch complicated. Since the dough had been mixed in advance for gifting, Ruxin had been wanting to eat noodles with soybean paste and decided to prepare it. There was plenty of dough, a mixture of white flour, whole wheat, and cornmeal because pure white flour was too precious to use for making noodles alone at that time.
Yang Ruxin glanced at the dough in the basin and decided that there would be enough even with the addition of the old man.
As for the soybean paste, salt was a precious commodity in those times, so nearly every household would make their own soybean paste. Some families would even prepare a large vat of it. During times without vegetables, the paste could be used with rice as a meal, or as a substitute for salt when frying or stewing dishes.
She hadn’t made any soybean paste, but the Gu Family next door had prepared some, and Gu Yao had previously brought over a large basin.
After she cooked a large pot full of noodles and soaked them briefly in cool boiled water, she began to make the fried sauce. It was without much fuss, just made how she liked it, with diced meat, cucumber, radish, green onion, egg, and soybean paste all stir-fried together. When eating, it was just poured over the noodles, and the taste was absolutely amazing.
Carrot cubes should have been included, but as carrots didn’t exist in that era, radish was used instead.
Before Yang Ruxin could speak, the old man couldn’t wait any longer and rushed over, "Girl, what are you making here? It smells so good..."
"Noodles with soybean paste." Yang Ruxin, with resignation, first mixed a bowl for the old man, and then called her younger siblings to come and eat, "I’ll go give some to Aunt Feng and the others."
"Sister Xin, let me do it," Zhou Xiao said as he stood up, "I’ll deliver it." He found the old man too strange and felt he must talk to Brother Gu Yao and have him come to protect them.
Yang Ruxin nodded, then packed up some of the noodles and sauce for Zhou Xiao.
"I’ll help you." Sanni also hurriedly came over to carry the sauce, "I’ll go with you to deliver it." Then she exchanged a glance with Zhou Xiao, and the two little ones immediately understood each other and dashed out.
"Since when are those two so in sync?" Yang Ruxin shook her head with a laugh, but when she turned around, she saw Erni, Sini, and Zhou Ying all wide-eyed in astonishment, looking at the old man. Ruxin quickly looked too and immediately her own eyes went wide.
Besides the initial serving of noodles she had given to each person, the rest were in a large basin, but in just those brief moments, only the soup remained in that basin, and even the bowl of sauce was nearly finished.