Star-Crossed Lovers: The Ex-Convict and the White Rabbit - Chapter 21
- Home
- Star-Crossed Lovers: The Ex-Convict and the White Rabbit
- Chapter 21 - Simmer on Low Heat
Chapter 21 – Simmer on Low Heat
Old Li smiled, not taking it seriously. Finishing his cigarette, he rode his bicycle home.
Lu Qiang turned away when he saw the old man’s figure disappear in the distance. He was the only one in the vicinity of the sentry post. There were elderlies square-dancing in the little community’s park, the never-changing happy tunes enclosed the faraway area in a bubble of excitement and thrill.
He stood in the quiet and silence. Light shone from up above, through the dense branches and arrived in slivers of illumination below.
He was reminded of that night, a myriad of twinkling lights, a gentle breeze.
A car had honked from outside the gates. He had stood up and seen a head sticking out of the car from a distance. Tendrils of her hair danced gently in the wind, her neck long and slender, her face lucid and elegant.
Her face suddenly broke into sight. The road was dim except for the rickety street lamp above her head. The dim light shone softly on her face and then, he heard a ‘boom’. A rock had splashed into the peaceful lake that was his heart. No matter how hard he tried to suppress it, he wasn’t able to conceal the unexpected joy that he felt.
It had never occurred to him that he had been waiting for this uncertain reunion.
***
That night was a sleepless night for Lu Qiang.
The small community fell deeper and deeper into quiet, all the lights beyond the windows were off. The sentry post had no TV so an old radio was blaring. It was broadcasting an advertisement, come and visit the andrology1 department of so and so hospital…
Lu Qiang turned the knob. The channel switched into one that was playing an old song.
He rested both legs on the table and looked out the window. The street lights had gone out and the night was noiseless. He pressed his phone. The phone had been a popular model in that year he went in. It took a long time for the screen to turn on. He glanced at the time, it was already one o’clock in the morning.
There was another person who couldn’t sleep. Lu Yin tossed and turned and couldn’t fall asleep. Her insomnia had been going on for half a month. While her heart was slowly calming down and moving on, her biological clock had been disrupted and she was unable to sleep early.
She turned and rolled out of bed. She searched high and low around her apartment, finally pulling out a bottle of white wine that was half-finished from behind the bookshelf. Liu Zecheng had bought it. She forgot to get rid of it. Lu Yin found herself a wine glass and filled it halfway.
The room was dark. She walked to the window by the moonlight and took a sip.
Lu Yin was never one to drink alcohol in the past and she didn’t have high tolerance either. At that moment, she just wanted to use alcohol to hypnotize herself, stop being so sober.
She wasn’t a wine connoisseur, she drank it all in a few gulps. The pungent pain burned from her throat down to her chest. After standing for a while, the alcohol traveled up to her brain. She supported herself with the wall and staggered back to bed. She closed her eyes, dizzy but still somewhat sober.
She let her mind wander for a while. Then, she took out her phone and tapped the screen to turn it on. It was already one o’clock in the morning. She finished browsing WeChat Moments and then went on to browse Weibo. But there was nothing to see so she opened Baidu Search and typed in:
How to make braised pork…
The progress bar buffered for a few seconds. Line by line, the search results appeared.
She clicked on the first one. Steps:
- Blanch pork belly and cut into small cubes.
- Add spices and dark soy sauce.
- Place it into a pot of water and bring it to a boil on high heat.
- Turn it down to low heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Let rest for 12 hours.
- Bring it to a boil again on high heat and let it simmer on low heat for 1.5 hours.
- Finally, put sugar…
It didn’t look too difficult. Lu Yin skimmed over the recipe casually.
She scrolled down. There was a line of words on the bottom, colored in red:
Sleepiness slowly came in waves. She closed her eyes… and opened it again, barely managing to read the small characters.
Cooking tip: Remember, only by letting it simmer slowly on low heat, letting it rest and soak up flavor, will it come out delicious.