Chapter 4: The first meal for a family of three

She cooed softly.

'Be good, Tangtang, Daddy's not going anywhere. Don't be afraid, Daddy's just going to find something delicious for you.'

After saying this, she endured the pain in her heart and smiled as she looked at the little baby in her arms.

'Be good, Tangtang, go with mommy and see if the porridge is ready.'

Following his memory, Gu Chen walked all the way up the ridge.

To be honest, it was cold everywhere in winter, especially in this area of the ridge.

Elsewhere, there was at least a house or something to shelter from the wind.

But this area was bare.

Although Gu Chen was wearing leather shoes with a layer of cotton inside, he still felt that his feet had already become numb.

Thinking about the cloth and cotton shoes that Ji Pianran and Tangtang were wearing, he felt a pang of sadness in his heart.

It was February, and there was still ice in some places along the field ridges, and the soil was also a little hard from the cold.

Gu Chen had come here to catch eels.

Don't think that there are no eels because it's cold. They're actually hibernating.

As long as you find the holes, you can still dig up quite a few.

It's just that it's hard work and cold.

Really cold.

Walking into a bare field, Gu Chen looked around with his eyes.

Sure enough, there was a small, seemingly round hole at the back of the field.

A flash of surprise crossed his eyes, and he took three steps and walked over.

He immediately took out the pliers from the box and poked into the hole.

After feeling something, Gu Chen used force and without hesitation, he clamped the object in the hole.

Seeing the object in the pliers, Gu Chen was shocked and his temples started pounding.

Unexpectedly, he didn't catch an eel, but a water snake!

Fortunately, the snake was also hibernating and didn't react much.

Gu Chen threw the snake away and ran forward without saying a word.

Luckily, the snake was hibernating, otherwise it would have been really dangerous.

But Gu Chen was not afraid. He had already made up his mind: today, he would say anything to let Tang Tang and Ji Pianran eat a decent meal!

This area was full of crop fields and there were many ridges.

He changed to another ridge and continued his search.

It was clear that there were more holes than the last time he looked.

They were all smooth and moist.

They were all eel holes.

He walked over and immediately pushed the tongs deep into the larger-looking hole.

Eels are slippery and can easily escape without some effort.

After feeling something, Gu Chen squeezed again with all his strength.

The moment he pulled the tongs out, he was overjoyed.

The end of the tongs was wrapped around a yellow eel, which looked quite big and plump.

He immediately threw the eel into the bamboo basket behind him.

He continued probing into the second and third holes.

Luckily, they were both hiding yellow eels!

After catching five or six, Gu Chen stopped contentedly.

Then she lifted her legs and walked towards the reservoir behind the ridge.

As she remembered,

there were many fish in this part of the reservoir.

And there were often wild small crucian carp in the shallow water at the edge.

Although it was winter, Gu Chen wanted to take a chance.

If there were just two, one for Ji Pianran and one for Tang Tang, that would be perfect.

When she arrived at the reservoir, the edge was already a little frozen.

It was a thin layer, not very thick, but just looking at it made you feel cold.

Gu Chen took off her shoes without hesitation, rolled up her pant legs, and then stepped onto the ice.

Crack.

The ice cracked, and the top layer of ice entered the water along with Gu Chen, drifting away in all directions.

Gu Chen trembled and took a deep breath.

It was cold, bone-chilling cold.

Fortunately, however, there were still fish in the water.

And because no one had come to catch them because of the cold, the crucian carp had grown surprisingly large, each one looking to weigh at least 7 or 8 taels.

Gu Chen was overjoyed and quickly emptied the basket of eels, then placed the basket in the water and tipped it.

As the water dripped from the edge, the basket was already filled with fat, jumping crucian carp.

He reached out and grabbed the carp and threw it towards the shore.

He then continued to put the basket back in the water.

This time, there were two.

Just as plump as the last one.

That's enough, Gu Chen hurried ashore.

If it wasn't so cold in the water, he really wanted to catch a few more.

He first put the eel and fish back in the basket, and then shivered as he put on his shoes and socks.

He rubbed his hands together vigorously and walked home with a grin, his teeth chattering.

Half an hour later, Gu Chen arrived home.

At that moment, Ji Bianran was patiently feeding Tangtang porridge. The child had eaten it all over his face, and there were still a few grains of rice on his chin and around his lips.

Gu Chen could see clearly.

Ji Bianran's bowl was clear and light, almost like a bowl of rice soup.

But the bowl she fed to Tang Tang was a small, sticky bowl.

Seeing Gu Chen, Tang Tang happily ran over.

She held out her hands for a hug.

She was so cute, with rice grains at the corners of her mouth.

Gu Chen quickly put down the frame and picked up his daughter in his arms.

'Okay, Daddy will hug Tang Tang.'

Ji Pianran's beautiful almond-shaped eyes looked over at the bamboo basket.

The bamboo basket was wet, and it had only been on the ground for a short while, but the surrounding concrete floor was already wet an inch around.

Ji Pianran was shocked.

'You, you went fishing?'

You know, it's really not an easy thing to go fishing in this weather.

It takes a lot of courage and perseverance.

Gu Chen nodded and gave Ji Pianran a smile.

'Not only did I catch fish, I also caught an eel.'

After saying this, he looked at the congee on the table and pursed his lips.

'Don't eat the congee yet. I'll go change and cook for you.'

Hearing that he was going to cook, Tangtang was overjoyed.

'Fish fish, Tangtang wants to eat fish fish, eat fish eat fish.'

She had been craving meat for a long time, and now that there was suddenly meat, the little girl was overjoyed.

She immediately wanted to get out of Gu Chen's arms and go look at the fish.

As she watched her happy daughter dancing around, and Gu Chen, whose nose was red from the cold,

Ji Pianran felt a mixture of emotions.

Without saying much, Gu Chen went back inside to change, then came out and started cleaning the crucian carp and eel.

Once that was done, he glanced back at the stove.

Fortunately, all the spices were there.

But since they were going to cook the eel, they would also need garlic to get rid of the fishy smell.

Gu Chen didn't know if there was any garlic at home, so he looked at Ji Pianran and asked, 'Do we have any garlic at home?'

Ji Pianran seemed to have never expected that Gu Chen would catch fish and eels for them.

She looked at Gu Chen, who was so different from the past, and opened her mouth, but didn't say anything for a while.

Hearing that there was some, Gu Chen was relieved, and immediately poured oil into the pan. Once the oil was hot, she added the spring onions and ginger.

Then she added some plump crucian carp.

Gu Chen was like a fish in water when it came to cooking.

Ji Pianran hurriedly came out of the house, carrying some garlic. He saw Gu Chen skilfully frying the fish.

A flash of surprise came into his beautiful eyes. He could actually cook?

It had been three years, and it was the first time she had realised that Gu Chen could cook!

But after a moment, that flash of surprise returned to its usual dullness. Perhaps in the past, he had just not wanted to cook for them.

When the fish was done, Gu Chen added some water and then covered the pan.

Only then did he look back, his gaze meeting Ji Pianran's beautiful but cold almond-shaped eyes.

She subconsciously looked away from his eyes.

'That, I'll peel for you.'

Gu Chen walked over and took the head of garlic from her hands.

'I'll do it myself, you just keep Tang Tang company.'

When Gu Chen's fingertips brushed past Ji Pianran's somewhat coarse palms,

the latter's hands visibly trembled.

Then they hurriedly retracted.

The expression on his face was even a little unnatural.

Gu Chen pursed his lips and turned to peel the garlic.

He knew that he had been a jerk in the past.

It takes more than one day to freeze three feet of snow.

He had to thoroughly warm the heart that had once been moved for him.

That meant taking it slowly!

Ji Pianran sat down at the small table and clenched his hot palms.

His eyes expressed an indescribable emotion.