The Three-Life Stone

When they returned that day, Shen Xingzhi took the knife-shaped fish and Yu Zhaozhao helped him, and together they made boiled fish fillets, fish head tofu soup, and fried small fish.

Yu Le built a small rack outside, killed and cleaned the fish he caught, skewered them, and grilled them, sprinkling them with cumin powder and chili powder.

After everything was ready, Yu Le took out his mobile phone and took a photo for Sui Rou. The two chatted and made a video call. When the video was hung up, one side of the fish was already burnt.

Yu Le removed the burnt parts while it was still hot. Even with the help of tools, his fingers were inevitably burned and made a "sha...sha..." sound.

"Le Le, it's time to eat. Is your grilled fish ready?" Yu Zhaozhao shouted towards the door.

Yu Le increased the speed of his hands, sat firmly on his buttocks, stared at the fish's mouth and promised: "Hey, here it comes."

Returning to the square wooden table, Yu Le placed the grilled fish on the plate. Despite his best efforts, the fish still looked a little shabby. To save face, Yu Le did not tell the truth: "It smelled so good while grilling just now that I couldn't help but eat some."

His own son didn't know it? Yu Zhaozhao didn't expose it and nodded: "Okay, go wash your hands and eat, and try your uncle's cooking."

While everyone was getting their meals, Yu Le took a photo of the whole fish feast on the table except for the grilled fish and sent it to Sui Rou.

Yu Le: My grilled fish is delicious. We finished it before it was even served. I’ll take you fishing some other day so we can eat grilled fish together. Authentic grilled fish, hahaha.

Sui Rou: Okay, okay, Lele is awesome.

Yu Le couldn't hide the smile on his face. When he put away his phone and picked up the dishes, he realized that the atmosphere was a bit weird: "Why are you looking at me?"

Shen Xingzhi and Yu Zhaozhao laughed and said in unison: "Look at how old he is and still can't eat. I don't know who has seduced him away."

Yu Le didn’t understand what the adults found funny, so he took his meal and came to the door and sat there alone - eating to feed the mosquitoes.

It's hot in the summer, and the breeze under the shade of the trees is cool.

An old tree in front of the door was cut down many years ago. I don’t know how many years the tree has been there. I don’t know who talked about feng shui and said that locust trees should not be planted in front of the house, but I feel sad every time I see that corner.

Yu Zhaozhao missed the days when the locust tree was there. Nothing happened at that time, and other people in the village just sat under the tree to enjoy the cool and chat.

Perhaps it was a beautification of the memory, Yu Zhaozhao felt that with the protection of the big tree, the room would never be too hot. However, when he came back after two or three years away, the tree had become a wooden stump, and there was no trace of it on the current concrete floor.

If only the conditions were still there to capture those past events.

The furnishings in the old house make it difficult to notice the changes, but it also makes people feel that everything is different.

When I was a child, my great-grandfather kept change under a wooden box. When I was really greedy, I would grab a few coins to buy some snacks, or look for some biscuits, sesame paste, etc. in the box. Every time I called my hometown when I was away, I could hear his indignant voice.

Yu Zhaozhao didn't like talking on the phone. She would call every few months as a symbolic gesture. During the next two phone calls, her grandmother said everything was fine, but she would always interrupt her great-grandfather no matter what he said. She had to go to work and take care of the children privately. Even if she noticed something, she could only pray silently in her heart that everything would be safe.

When the news came that his great-grandfather would soon pass away, Yu Zhaozhao quit his job and took Yu Le with him to accompany him by his bedside for the last few days. He never returned to that "home" in another city.

There were times when I felt uncomfortable, times when I was confused, and times when I wanted to go back to the city to work, but I never regretted it.

The days are longer in summer, and the scenery that can be viewed from the top of the stalk is no less than that of a scenic spot. On one side are hundreds of acres of lush rice fields, dotted with lotus leaves and flowers, and a large expanse of dazzling sunset glow; on the other side is a small river, with clouds refracted by the sunlight and trees on the opposite side of the river reflected in the water.

Running recklessly in the sparsely populated rural area, there is a middle-aged woman chasing a lost dream.

At night, Yu Le and Sui Rou teamed up to play Egg Boy in the room upstairs. One was before going to bed and the other had just woken up. This time difference was especially precious.

Shen Xingzhi and Yu Zhaozhao were lying on the bed downstairs.

"Xingzhi."

"Ah."

Yu Zhaozhao raised his hand and pointed at the ceiling: "Look there."

"What's hidden there?" Shen Xingzhi joked.

"Yes, it used to be made of lime. Due to the rain and humidity over the years, some of the lime fell off and formed various shapes."

"Let me guess, you didn't think those shapes were characters when you were a kid!"

Yu Zhaozhao smiled sweetly, her smile was pure and innocent: "Yeah, I have forgotten what they were all about. I only remember that there were bad guys, children, demons, and so on."

"Life is like a dream, how much joy can there be?"

Yu Zhaozhao turned sideways and hugged Shen Xingzhi: "What's wrong?"

Shen Xingzhi seemed to have realized something and sighed: "This is probably what Shen Sanbai said about the pleasure beyond the material world."

Shen Xingzhi wanted to say something, but when he looked down and saw Yu Zhaozhao with a smile on her face and steady breathing, he smiled and closed his eyes. Yu Zhaozhao felt the 37-degree body temperature in his arms, and he felt at ease and sleepy. He closed his eyes and did not hear any subsequent sounds. The two of them fell asleep just like that.

At five o'clock the next day, Shen Xingzhi put on his raincoat and pants, and Yu Zhaozhao followed behind with a bucket. They came to the pond at the door. Shen Xingzhi went into the water and fished out the fishing net that he had put down yesterday. There were snails, small fish, crayfish, eels, loaches, frogs and some small shrimps in the net.

"Hehe." Yu Zhaozhao laughed foolishly. When she was a child, her grandfather would take the big lobsters to the market to sell and eat the small ones. Later, he stopped selling them and just ate as many as he could or brought them to his sons and daughters-in-law in the county. After the news of snail parasites came out, they never experienced the joy of a few children gathering together to eat snails again.

Shen Xingzhi was enjoying the fun of farming. He was in a good mood as he looked at the silly Yu Zhaozhao and asked, "What should I eat today?"

“Isn’t this all?” Yu Zhaozhao pointed at several fishing nets and poured them into the bucket, half a bucket of harvest.

In the morning, Shen Xingzhi fried an egg while Yu Zhaozhao cooked noodles. When the noodles were not yet cooked, Yu Zhaozhao turned off the fire and said, "Let's go, wake Yu Le up and brush our teeth together."

Except for Yu Le who looked sleepy, Yu Zhaozhao and Shen Xingzhi were both energetic when brushing their teeth, as if they had their own music and were very cheerful.

After eating the noodles, Yu Le went to wash the dishes, and then went to the vegetable market to buy some vegetables.

Shen Xingzhi acted as the executioner, picking up scissors and a knife to move around among the smuggled goods, while Yu Zhaozhao acted as the nanny to handle the cleaning matters.

Men who can cook are really handsome.

Yu Zhaozhao was chopped ginger, garlic and scallions, and watched Shen Xingzhi pour in cooking wine and toss the wok. His series of movements were as smooth as flowing water, which did not match the white shirt he was wearing. His calm and handsome face added a touch of otherworldly air to this aristocratic family's atmosphere.

The crayfish gradually turned red in the pot, giving off an alluring aroma as if saying, "Come and eat me."

The stir-fried eel and snails wrapped in chili sauce are delicious and tasty.

The small fish is wrapped in starch and fried until golden and crispy; the spicy and sour potato shreds are distinct and dotted with green and red peppers, which looks refreshing and goes well with rice; the last one is clam and kelp soup.

Yu Zhaozhao picked out the meat from the snails with a toothpick, taking one bite at a time. The meat was tender and refreshing. The spicy and fresh crayfish was her favorite.

The rice cooked on the stove formed a crusty rice. Yu Zhaozhao scooped off a whole piece with a spatula, put shredded potatoes, peeled lobster meat, and another piece of crusty rice on top. He happily demonstrated: "Ding ding, a burger with crusty rice."

With a disdainful look, Yu Le scooped up a piece of rice crust with his honest hands, put a piece of small fish in it, covered it with another piece of rice crust and tasted it: Well, not bad, next time you can try pickled mustard greens, bamboo shoots and other things with dumplings. Next time when classmates go out to play, let's go directly to the countryside and clean up a few rooms. It would be nice to have a good time fishing in the farm.

"Xingzhi, next time we have a holiday, let's try making cured meat, as well as cured sausage, cured fish, cured chicken and cured duck. Hahahahaha, I really like doing these ordinary things with you."

"it is good."

"I don't know when I can take a long vacation." Yu Zhaozhao was probably thinking about how to make money.

Shen Xingzhi peeled a crayfish and put it in Yu Zhaozhao's bowl: "We have a long way to go."

Yu Zhaozhao chuckled: "Being able to experience every little bit of life during this short vacation is already a great pleasure to have a little leisure time in life. There is still a long way to go."

Only when the two raised their Cokes did Yu Le officially join the team. The three of them seemed to have reached some kind of agreement using Coke as a medium.

This joking promise is gradually forgotten in the busy life, but will come again someday.