Reborn: Back to the 1980s Chapter 28 Part 1

Chapter 28: Making Braised Meat

Guan Yuan rolled his eyes. "Why should we give our meat to you?"

Guan Taiming tried to snatch it, but Zhao Shenggu stood in front of him like a great wall, and Guan Taiming shrank back. "You have so much meat—can't you just give me one piece?" He even sucked back his drool.

Guan Yuan was completely defeated by this guy's gluttony. "Fine, I'll give you two pieces. But don't ask again next time."

Guan Taiming nodded frantically. Guan Yuan picked up two pieces with his chopsticks, and Guan Taiming snatched them away eagerly and shoved both into his mouth at once. He chewed slowly, a look of pure bliss spreading across his face.

Ever since Guan Yuan had told Zhao Shenggu about his past life, Zhao Shenggu felt a deep, bone-deep disgust for the Guan family. "Finish eating, then get lost."

Though Guan Taiming was a bit older than Zhao Shenggu, he was inexplicably afraid of him. Having gotten his meat, and with Zhao Shenggu chasing him off, he didn't linger—just left, savoring the meaty taste in his mouth.

"Xiao Yuan, why did you bother being nice to him? After what they did to you, I'd rather see them dead." Zhao Shenggu's face twisted with rage as he thought about how Guan Yuan had lost his life at Guan Mancang's hands.

Guan Yuan placed his hand in Zhao Shenggu's. "Brother, aside from you, I don't care about anything. Let's just live our lives well—why bother with those people?"

Zhao Shenggu was pulled back to his senses by Guan Yuan's gentle words. He took a deep breath. "Xiao Yuan's right. Those people aren't worth our anger. Let's just live well."

At that time, Guanjia Village still didn't have electricity. That night, by the light of a single kerosene lamp, the two of them slowly planned their future.

Guan Yuan carefully explained how the country would develop in the years to come, and Zhao Shenggu listened and thought deeply. Seeing his brother deep in thought, Guan Yuan didn't disturb him. He had always known that his brother was much smarter than him—he could never match up. He didn't enjoy making plans anyway. Whatever Zhao Shenggu said, Guan Yuan would do. With his knowledge of the future, Guan Yuan was confident that Zhao Shenggu would succeed.

And sure enough, after thinking for a while, Zhao Shenggu made up his mind. "Xiao Yuan, here's what I think. Right now, people care most about food. Let's start by selling some small snacks. In a few years, when living conditions improve, we can think about other things. Didn't you say that clothing would change a lot too? And that thing you mentioned—mobile phones, computers—we'll take it step by step."

Guan Yuan nodded with a smile. "That's what I was thinking too. We can't do anything too flashy. Being one step ahead is good enough. I have a lot of recipes in my space—wait here, I'll go get them." As soon as he finished speaking, Guan Yuan vanished.

Zhao Shenggu's heart lurched, and he instinctively reached out—only to remember that Guan Yuan had gone into the space. He let out a breath of relief and waited quietly.

Inside the space, Guan Yuan selected a few recipes from his collection. As he passed by the spiritual spring, he noticed that a lotus flower had grown on it. The bud was tightly closed, shimmering with a crystalline clarity.

Guan Yuan felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity with this sudden lotus. Drawn to it, he moved closer and reached out his hand toward the bud. The lotus seemed to sense him—it leaned over without any reserve, rubbing against his palm.

Guan Yuan was amused by its reaction and stayed there for a while, his hand gently touching the flower. After a long moment, he came back to his senses. Afraid that Zhao Shenggu had been waiting too long outside, he patted the bud softly. "Alright, I'll come see you again next time. I have to go now."

The lotus trembled and tilted, reaching after his retreating hand.

Guan Yuan felt a strange ache in his heart. "It's fine. I'll come every day."

When he came out of the space, Zhao Shenggu was indeed staring motionlessly at the spot where he had disappeared. Seeing him reappear, Zhao Shenggu let out a long sigh of relief. "Xiao Yuan, you're back. Next time you go in, tell me first—otherwise I'll worry." Guan Yuan stuck out his tongue. "Got it, brother. Look, these are the recipes I collected. Let's pick one together."

The two of them sifted through the pile of recipe notes and finally decided to set up a braised meat stall. It was something they could make at home. Once the braising broth was ready, the work wouldn't be too exhausting. But there was one problem—they couldn't buy much meat right now.

"Brother, if it really comes down to it, we could go up to Datun Mountain and catch some wild game. With the spiritual spring water, we could definitely catch something." 

"No, that won't work. It'd be just like catching fish—too conspicuous. We'll take it slow."

Guan Yuan knew that Zhao Shenggu was worried about exposing his space. Although he thought his brother was being a little too cautious, he also knew that better safe than sorry. One never knew when something might go wrong.

After discussing a few more details, they finally went to sleep.

Early the next morning, Zhao Shenggu took Guan Yuan to the county town to buy meat. When they arrived at the butcher's stall, the butcher looked at the two kids standing in front of him. "You two want to buy meat?"

Zhao Shenggu nodded. "How much is your meat?"

The butcher gave Zhao Shenggu a once-over. "You got meat ration coupons? With coupons, it's 2 mao per catty. Without coupons, it's 6 mao. You're lucky, actually—a month ago, you couldn't buy meat at all without coupons."

Zhao Shenggu nodded. "We don't have coupons. We'll pay with cash. We want one pig head, and we'll take all the pork stomach and pig ears you have."

The butcher hadn't expected such a big order from a couple of kids. "You're not joking with me, are you?"

Zhao Shenggu didn't bother with more talk. He pulled out a 10-yuan bill from his pocket. "Is this enough?" The butcher was surprised to see that the kids actually had money. He gave a thumbs-up. "Hey, kid, not bad!" He quickly wrapped up the meat and handed it to Zhao Shenggu.

To avoid drawing too much attention, they also bought some seasonings.

They never planned to hide the fact that they were selling braised meat. They carried the meat openly back to Guanjia Village. Along the way, everyone they passed stared at the meat in Zhao Shenggu's hands.

"Oh, Shenggu, Xiao Yuan, why did you buy so much meat? Having a feast at home?" a village auntie asked enviously, eyeing the meat.

"No, we want to go to school. We're making some braised meat to earn tuition."

The auntie burst out laughing. "Oh, you kids are so young and inexperienced. These days, people are happy just to have meat at all—who's going to spend money on braised meat? You're going to lose all your money for sure. Besides, the Guan family took so much of your grandfather's money—just get them to pay for your schooling."

Zhao Shenggu shook his head. "The Guan family barely feeds me. They'd never send me to school. I'll save up myself."

Everyone who asked along the way got the same answer. Soon, the whole village was buzzing with the news that Zhao Shenggu was going to make braised meat.

The Guan family naturally heard about it too. When Zhao Shenggu and Guan Yuan passed by the Guan family courtyard, all the Guans were waiting there.

Yang Xiucui stood on her bound feet, her eyes sweeping over the two like searchlights. Yang Feifang darted forward to grab the meat, but Zhao Shenggu easily sidestepped her.

Guan He took a slow drag from his pipe and spoke in a disappointed tone, "Shenggu, how could you waste money like this? Look at all this meat—how long are you two boys going to take to eat it all?"

Ever since Guan Yuan told him about what happened in the previous life, Zhao Shenggu had been burning with rage inside. He wanted nothing more than to tear these people apart. Barely holding back, he said coldly, "What we do is none of your business. If you say one more word, I'll spill everything that happened. Keep your people in line. If I find out anyone's hands aren't clean, I won't hesitate to cut them off." With that, he led Guan Yuan away.

The Guan family stood there in stunned silence. Guan He was so angry at Zhao Shenggu's harsh words that he nearly choked. 

"Dad, what's gotten into that little brat? Why's he so aggressive?" Guan Manku asked, confused.

Guan He finally caught his breath. "How should I know? Forget it. Let him blow through that money, and he'll calm down soon enough."

Yang Feifang was furious—she had hoped to grab some meat while the kid wasn't paying attention, but that plan had fallen through too.

Back in the backyard, Guan Yuan and Zhao Shenggu got straight to work. They made the braising broth according to the recipe. The recipe was pretty good, but in these times, just having meat at all was already a luxury. If they wanted folks to spend extra money on braised meat, they needed something that really stood out.

Guan Yuan added two drops of spiritual spring water into the broth, and instantly the aroma intensified by a noticeable degree.

It was their first time making it, so they weren't very skilled yet. They worked from morning until sunset, finally finishing all the pork. To keep it fresh, Guan Yuan had Zhao Shenggu put it in basins and store them directly in the space.

They had been so busy all day that they hadn't noticed the lotus in the spiritual spring. Now that they were done, Guan Yuan pulled Zhao Shenggu into the space.

"Brother, look at this lotus. Do you feel anything?"

Zhao Shenggu had been drawn to the flower the moment he entered. He stared at it fixedly and murmured, "I feel like I've seen it somewhere before. It feels very familiar."

Guan Yuan was even more puzzled to hear that Zhao Shenggu felt the same way. "Brother, try touching it and see what happens."

Zhao Shenggu reached out and touched the lotus, an unconscious smile of affection spreading across his face.

Guan Yuan began to suspect that this lotus had become something like a spirit—it could even affect people's minds.

"Brother, let's go out. I think there's something off about this lotus. Even the spirit beasts in the mountain behind us can understand human speech, but none of them can influence our thoughts like this."

Guan Yuan was so focused on talking to Zhao Shenggu that he didn't notice that when he said those words, the lotus flower stiffened, and then the entire stem began to tremble slightly.

Zhao Shenggu waved his hand. "Xiao Yuan, the moment I saw it, I felt it was friendly. There shouldn't be any problem, right?" He reached out and touched the flower bud. "See? It's very gentle."

Guan Yuan had originally thought the lotus was cute, but now that he saw Zhao Shenggu's attention completely captured by it, he found the crystal-clear flower bud irritating. "Let's go, let's go. Who knows if it's some kind of monster in disguise. Better to keep our distance."

Zhao Shenggu followed Guan Yuan out of the space. Behind them, where they couldn't see, the lotus flower drooped pitifully, its whole body wilting and hanging listlessly downward.