Gu Xiaoxia was delighted to find Li Long at the Big Courtyard. After parking her bicycle, she watched him cooking in the kitchen and said from beside him:
"When I came back that day and saw all the snow in the courtyard was gone, I was startled at first. Then I figured you must have come back and cleared it."
"Yes. I was selling fish those two days, and Daqiang, Yongqiang, and I cleared it while we were here." Li Long dished up the rabbit, set it on the table, and handed Gu Xiaoxia a pair of chopsticks.
"Here, try some spicy rabbit."
Then Li Long picked up another pair of chopsticks. Some leavened flatbreads were already on the table-rather like Xibe flatbread, they were good for wrapping around vegetables, too. He picked one up and handed it to Gu Xiaoxia.
Gu Xiaoxia happily sat down to eat with him, talking between bites:
"When we had some free time at work, one of the older women in the office told me a recipe for braised fish. I'll make it for you when I have time."
"Sure." Li Long had a middling opinion of Gu Xiaoxia's cooking. She could certainly cook ordinary home-style meals. After becoming a teacher, she had less time to practice. Later, once she joined the Education Bureau and had Sister Yang cooking for her, she hardly cooked at all. Her interest in doing it now was probably mostly enthusiasm, but also habit.
After all, how many married women these days couldn't cook?
Gu Xiaoxia made breakfast the next morning. After eating, she went to work, while Li Long went to the bus station and took a local bus to Stone City.
He could have ridden his bicycle, but it wasn't as fast as the bus, and he