Page 47

Lu Heng pointed at the quartz clock hanging on the main room wall and reminded him, "Lunch is in an hour. We're having chicken stewed with potatoes. Do you eat potatoes?"

Wei Linxuan fell silent.

Lu Heng swiftly finished his work. Carrying the basin of potatoes past Wei Linxuan, he deliberately jostled it and asked with a grin, "Can you find the potato chunks with their beautifully curved, sleek lines?"

Unable to endure it any longer, Wei Linxuan reached out and gave Lu Heng a knuckle rap. Then he ran over to the cameraman to inspect his filming work.

His conclusion was—

"Lu Heng, this habit of always stealing the spotlight isn't good! I'm telling you, if you do this while filming, you'll easily offend people, you know?"

The countryside's infrastructure definitely could not compare to the city's. Like the surrounding villages, Lu Family Village had not adopted gas canisters at all; the villagers still preferred cooking over large wood-fired stoves with big iron pots.

Such simple facilities would naturally fall far short when used for delicate dishes. But for Northeast China-style rustic mixed-pot stews, they had a distinctive charm.

Dry firewood was stuffed into the stove, burning into crimson tongues of flame. In the thick iron pot, home-raised free-range chicken simmered fragrantly. The richly scented broth bubbled away, the golden potato chunks stewed soft and fluffy, and there were dried green beans and sliced dried tofu skin, all glistening with oil and smelling so delicious that just catching a whiff made one drool.

The youngest child in the family, Lu Miao, anxiously circled the stove. Seeing his little sister acting like a greedy kitten, Lu Heng, who was manning the pot, picked out a piece of chicken, blew on it, and held it up to Lu Miao's mouth.

Little Lu Miao swallowed the chicken in one bite, her eyes wide and round as she nodded repeatedly. "Delicious! So delicious!"

Lu Heng glanced at Wei Linxuan, who was standing beside him. After thinking for a moment, he picked out another piece of drumstick meat and brought it over to him.

Wei Linxuan lowered his head to look at the still-steaming chicken and said unhappily, "Why didn't you blow on mine?"

Lu Heng: "..."

Rolling his eyes helplessly, Lu Heng said, "How old are you?"

Wei Linxuan huffed and poked the bone with his index finger. Once he felt that it was no longer so hot, he pinched the drumstick between his thumb and forefinger and put the meat into his mouth.

The rich fragrance instantly spread through his mouth. Wei Linxuan's eyes lit up. "Delicious."

Wei Linxuan savored the taste for a moment. "It somehow feels better than what you made in Beijing."

"Of course it is. This is pure home-raised free-range chicken fed on corn, stewed in an iron pot over firewood for at least two hours. How could it be the same as the meat chickens in the city, cooked over gas?" Lu Heng pointed at the soup in the pot. "Even this broth is thicker, richer, and more concentrated. Otherwise, why would it be called country cooking?"

Seeing that Wei Linxuan's gaze, like Lu Miao's, was still stuck on the pot, Lu Heng smiled and ladled out two more pieces of potato for them. "Try these potatoes too. They've absorbed the flavor of the chicken. They're especially fluffy and delicious."

Mother Lu was stewing fish over another stove. After finishing her potato, Lu Miao knew her second brother probably would not feed her any more. With a giggle, she sidled up to Mother Lu. Mother Lu reached out to stroke Lu Miao's little braid and gave her a piece of fish.

Then she beckoned Wei Linxuan over as well.

Wei Linxuan felt a little embarrassed. Lu Miao said with a grin, "Come over, Brother Wei. Second Brother won't give us any more."

Wei Linxuan: "..." I'm not actually craving it.

Lunch consisted of firewood-stewed chicken and fish, goose stewed with pickled cabbage, braised pork ribs, red-braised beef, tiger-skin pork knuckle, Four Joy Meatballs, braised pig's trotters, and several vegetable dishes. The rice was freshly cooked with corn kernels, and the moment it finished steaming, a fresh fragrance wafted through the air.

Father Lu and Mother Lu set up two large round tables in the main room. The five members of the Lu family, Wei Linxuan, and the production crew sat around the tables and enjoyed an especially lavish New Year's meal.

More than once during the meal, Wei Linxuan sighed, "It's so fragrant. I've never had country food this delicious. Once this episode airs, I bet the viewers in front of their televisions will be drooling themselves to death."

"Every place really has its own specialty dishes. Last time, when we went to a small village in Yunnan Province to film the show, their steam-pot chicken was especially delicious. The village chief treated us to it. Ah, it smelled amazing. I think it was every bit as good as today's firewood-stewed chicken."

"Hey, do you think we could make a food program someday? One that gathers specialty dishes from all over the country—I think it would be really fun." The cameraman put a piece of fish into his bowl and suddenly suggested, "How about when we film the third episode of Exchanging Lives, we try adding some of those elements?"

"You might as well write up a proposal and submit it to the company, then set up a separate project." Wei Linxuan said casually, "You can be the director, I'll find someone to be your producer, and you can put together your own team. How about it?"

Several young writers and directors at the same table immediately raised their hands. "Count me in. I swear I'll eat every delicious food in the world."

The cameraman chuckled, not taking Wei Linxuan's words seriously.

Perhaps because the meal had been so delicious, everyone ate until they were a little too full.

After the meal, Wei Linxuan, Lu Heng, and the production crew went out for a walk. The cameraman dutifully carried his camera around, filming all kinds of things in the village: frost-covered trees wrapped in silver, fields blanketed in snow, stacks of firewood, and children setting off firecrackers and throwing poppers by the roadside.

Watching the cameraman struggle to find material, Lu Heng had a sudden idea. "How about I take you to the township middle school? It's changed a lot over there now. I think you could film it."

Wei Linxuan also thought it was a good suggestion. Then he watched Lu Heng run over to a group of children and have them notify all the village kids to gather at the township middle school.

Wei Linxuan raised a brow and asked, "What's this for?"

"I'm telling you, there's a ton of snow on the township middle school's playground. No one has cleared it since winter break started, and it's been snowing nonstop these past few days. We can go over there and have a snowball fight—"

At this point, Lu Heng turned back to look at Wei Linxuan. "Have you ever had a snowball fight?"

Wei Linxuan gave a dry laugh. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Lu Heng's clear eyes looking straight at him. Somewhat awkwardly, he said, "When I was very little, I built a snowman with Jia Yi once."