chapter 5
05 Braised Pork Belly
There was a knock on the door.
“Time to get up.” Lu Qianqian’s voice was gentle and soft.
“No, no, just a bit longer.” Gu Qing mumbled from under the covers.
“Alright, sleep a bit more then.” Lu Qianqian responded tenderly. Thus, Gu Qing managed to laze in bed for another two hours before finally crawling out of his warm cocoon. When he opened the door, Lu Qianqian was still in her pajamas watching TV.
Seeing him awake, her eyes immediately brightened. “We’ll have noodles for breakfast.”
Gu Qing glanced at the clock; it was already ten.
“You haven’t eaten yet?” he asked, feeling a bit embarrassed.
“Well, I wasn’t very hungry anyway, so now is about right.” As she spoke, Lu Qianqian rolled up her sleeves, went to the kitchen, put on an apron, and started the fire to boil water for the noodles.
Gu Qing looked around the living room and noticed that the clothes he had taken off yesterday had been washed by Lu Qianqian and were hanging up to dry. Also drying on the balcony were the girl’s clothes, including her underwear.
A cute white lace style, though the bra size seemed slightly large. Gu Qing had seen her sister’s underwear before, and even her sister’s was smaller.
The room had a small balcony. Gu Qing moved a small stool there and sat in the sun. Only when Lu Qianqian finished cooking the noodles did he come to the table, slurping them down quickly before returning to his sunny corner to continue basking lazily.
Meanwhile, Lu Qianqian started taking online classes on her phone, making up for knowledge she’d missed during the past two years due to frequent absences. The sunlight was warm and gentle. Gu Qing glanced at her occasionally, taking in her fair face, her shoulder-length hair covering her ears, black as ink.
Lu Qianqian would secretly glance at him once or twice as well. Realizing this, Gu Qing stood up, brought over a chair, and sat beside her, asking quietly, “What don’t you understand?”
Lu Qianqian started, then timidly pointed to a problem.
Gu Qing began explaining it to her patiently. Soon after, Lu Qianqian finished the day’s homework and couldn’t help but mutter, “You’re so smart. If you became a tutor, you could probably charge quite a lot.”
Gu Qing scratched his head. “Coincidentally, I actually did work as a tutor for a while.”
“Really?”
“But later that little girl insisted I become her boyfriend. Too scary, so I ran away.”
Lu Qianqian tilted her head. “Huh?”
“If I hadn’t run away, her parents would have wanted to kill me.”
“I’m more curious… why did she want you to be her boyfriend?”
“I tutored her on weekends. She was actually quite smart, but her parents were too busy and she was lonely. Living in a 300-square-meter villa all by herself was isolating, so she always wanted to drag me around to keep her company. With the mindset of educational care, after tutoring her, I’d accompany her wherever she wanted to go. After all, she was paying. But somehow, as time passed, she suddenly confessed to me, and the next day I just ran away.”
Lu Qianqian suddenly found it hard not to smile. “Maybe it’s because you’re good-looking and speak nicely.”
“Heh.” Gu Qing maintained a different attitude. “She was just too lonely. If you lock two monkeys in a cage together, given enough time, they’ll fall in love too.”
Lu Qianqian seemed to be pondering this.
“Are you going to Huitiang Plaza tonight?” Gu Qing asked softly.
Lu Qianqian shook her head. “Mom’s illness is already better. Going there now would be lying. Besides, I’ve actually earned quite a lot these past few months. I still have over forty thousand yuan.”
“That’s good.” Gu Qing nodded. “So can we add meat to dinner?”
Lu Qianqian nodded without hesitation. “What would you like to eat?”
“Braised pork belly.”
Nobody can refuse a bowl of sweet, tender, and aromatic braised pork belly.
“Then I’ll go to the market to buy ingredients…”
“I’ll go with you,” Gu Qing smiled at her.
…
The market was a bit messy, but fortunately Lu Qianqian had changed into a pair of black leather boots before leaving. She wore a black hoodie and cargo pants, giving her a cool look, though her face still appeared gentle and docile.
In addition to buying a pound and a half of good pork belly, Lu Qianqian also bought half a chicken, some shiitake mushrooms, green peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, loofah, and other vegetables that could fill the refrigerator to the brim. Gu Qing carried all these in his hands. Then they bought New Year couplets, candies, peanuts, melon seeds, and pistachios together – this shopping trip could already be considered stocking up for the New Year.
After returning home, Lu Qianqian was somewhat tired and plopped down on the sofa. Instead, Gu Qing walked into the kitchen, put on her pink apron, and said to her, “Dinner will be ready in two hours.”
Lu Qianqian tilted her cute little head again. “You’re cooking?”
“Yes.” Gu Qing nodded. “Before I left home, I was the one who cooked. My sister is a real princess type, the kind who never lifts a finger.”
“Let me help?” Lu Qianqian stood up, but Gu Qing stopped her with a look. “You rest well. I’ll cook, you wash the dishes.”
Lu Qianqian paused, then obediently nodded. “Okay.”
…
The main reason for volunteering to cook was that Gu Qing wanted to eat a bowl of braised pork belly made by himself.
Lu Qianqian stared at the plate of bright red, fragrant, neatly arranged braised pork on the table, her eyes gleaming. “It looks so delicious.”
Gu Qing picked up a piece of evenly marbled meat with his chopsticks and put it in her bowl. “Try it?”
The meat was tender and translucent, stewed until soft and melt-in-your-mouth, with the aroma of fat satisfying the natural craving for lipids. The sweet flavor was also packed with calories; every bite was a calorie explosion, yet impossibly delicious.
Lu Qianqian looked like she was about to cry. “It’s so good.”
“No need to exaggerate that much…” Gu Qing smiled helplessly, picking up a piece with his chopsticks. Now his eating pace became extremely slow, only speeding up after Lu Qianqian was full and put down her chopsticks. He then finished everything on the table, not leaving a single bit.
Having often gone hungry during his years of wandering, with his stomach practically touching his back, Gu Qing always treasured food.
Lu Qianqian gently rubbed her stomach, then stood up and began clearing the dishes, carrying them to the kitchen to wash. It was only four in the afternoon; there was still plenty of time. Usually at this hour, Lu Qianqian would be getting ready, packing up her speaker and advertisement board to head to the plaza. But now that her mother’s illness had improved, she suddenly didn’t know what else to do.
She sat by the balcony somewhat blankly, suddenly at a loss.
Meanwhile, Gu Qing was already leaning on the sofa, holding a book he’d taken from the bookshelf. He read quickly, turning a page every five or six seconds. Noticing this, Lu Qianqian couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Are you really reading?”
“Yes, I read very quickly.”
“Even so, five or six seconds per page seems…” Lu Qianqian’s voice grew softer.
Gu Qing had almost finished the book. He used the last few dozen seconds to complete it, then came over to Lu Qianqian and looked into her eyes. “You can flip to any page and find a line to test me.”
Obviously skeptical, Lu Qianqian actually took the book and slowly said, “Page thirty-eight, line seven?”
“The origin of this nickname was that he once defeated the devil in a song-writing competition. Nobody knows his real name.”
Lu Qianqian widened her eyes.
“You really are…”
“Photographic memory isn’t entirely a good thing.” Gu Qing’s smile was somewhat helpless. “Sometimes you want to forget certain things, but no matter how hard you try, they’re etched in your mind. That can be quite torturous.”
“I suppose so…” Lu Qianqian looked into his eyes, feeling that they had suddenly become very deep and unfathomable.
Gu Qing didn’t read anymore but sat beside her and started playing on his phone. His phone was very old but still usable for watching short videos and reading novels. Lu Qianqian went to her room to get her earphones to listen to music. The two sat quietly by the balcony, letting time slowly slip by.
Gu Qing looked up inadvertently and noticed that the roses he had given Lu Qianqian last time had been carefully placed in a cut-open large Coca-Cola bottle. They were still blooming.
It wasn’t until seven in the evening that Gu Qing suddenly stood up.
“I need to go out for a while.”
“Where to?” Lu Qianqian asked instinctively.
Gu Qing showed her his phone. It said that seven kilometers from City A, a new bar was having its grand opening, and at eight o’clock tonight, they would hold a cocktail challenge. If someone could drink eight glasses and remain sober after half an hour, they would be given a thousand-yuan stored-value card.
“You’re… going to participate in this?” Lu Qianqian blinked curiously.
“Yeah, opportunities to get free stuff are rare.”
“I’ve heard that for these kinds of events, they use really strong alcohol in the last two glasses…”
“It’s fine, I’m a drinking expert.” Gu Qing answered proudly and matter-of-factly.
Gu Qing’s face was already full of impatience. He stood up, seemingly about to leave when Lu Qianqian hesitated for a moment before reaching out to gently grasp the hem of his clothes, asking softly, “Can… can you take me with you?”
Gu Qing was startled and turned around.
She was probably worried that Gu Qing might get too drunk to function, with no one to take him home.
The next second, Gu Qing smiled. “Sure, the free thousand is perfect for treating you to some snacks.”
“Can you really drink that much…”
“Of course, I’m no ordinary person.”
…
The city night was illuminated with neon lights.
Lu Qianqian followed beside Gu Qing. Suddenly, he turned to look at her and noticed that her face was radiant with smiles, her footsteps much lighter than before.
It made sense. For the past two years, she had been constantly on edge. Now, having a rare opportunity to go out purely for fun, of course she would be happy.