“How are you, brother!”
I spotted Hazel’s figure from a distance.
I stopped and hesitated, unsure whether to go back.
When I heard Gray calling her, I had no choice but to come over and say hello.
“Hazel, this is the eldest daughter of Iris’s neighbor. Hazel, this is my wife, Evie!” Gray introduced.
“Hello, Hazel!” Evie said.
“Hello, sister-in-law Gray! I won’t disturb you anymore. I need to water the vegetables!” Hazel looked a bit flustered, her head lowered.
“Go ahead!” Gray said.
Hazel walked around them.
Evie turned to look at Gray and smiled.
“What’s so funny?” Gray looked down at Evie and asked.
“Brother Gray, sister-in-law Gray!” Evie said and laughed again.
“People are used to calling me Gray. Younger people call me Gray. You are Gray’s wife. What else would they call you but sister-in-law Gray?”
“You can call me sister Evie!” Evie said and laughed first.
“Mischievous!” Gray pinched Evie’s nose and said with a mix of smile and exasperation.
“Hazel is so beautiful!” Evie said as they walked. “She looks younger than me!”
“She just turned 18 this year!”
“Oh, an 18-year-old girl is like a flower!” Evie said with a smile.
Gray glanced at Evie and didn’t say anything.
Back at Iris’s house, Iris had just returned from picking vegetables and said to Evie, “Evie, please help me pick the vegetables!”
“Okay, Iris!” Evie was stunned for a moment, then realized Iris was calling her, so she answered and came over.
“Gray, go to Uncle Chen’s house and take a look. His TV has been broken for a while. See if you can fix it!”
“I know! Evie, follow Iris and study hard. I’ll go to Uncle Chen’s house!” Gray explained.
“Okay!” Evie nodded with a smile and sat down on the bench.
After picking up such a big mustard green, she wondered where to start.
“Can you cook?”
“Yes!” Evie said.
“Then you can make dinner. My back is a little sore!”
“Okay, Iris!” Evie responded, then asked, “Iris, how do you want to cook this mustard green?”
“Just remove the leaves and cook the stem. There’s three-layer pork in the cupboard. Put some in to fry and cook it for a while longer.” After frowning, Iris said to her.
“I understand. Thank you, Iris!” Evie said.
She got up and went to the kitchen to get the kitchen knife.
She removed the leaves, leaving only the bare stems.
She washed them by the sink before taking them into the kitchen.
Iris sat by and watched Evie’s movements. She didn’t know why she couldn’t like this girl. She looked delicate and clumsy.
Compared to her Gray, the difference was more than a little.
Back when Gray was holding his wedding, he had specially asked someone to pick up Iris to attend. Her old back problem had flared up, and she walked with great difficulty. She couldn’t attend. So she asked him to bring his bride to the island to play after the wedding.
Gray was also filial. After the wedding, he really brought his bride to the island to see her.
It’s just that the bride was really hard to like!
Evie was rather slow. Although Iris didn’t seem to like her very much before, Gray had said that Iris’s character was cold, and Evie thought that was just how she was, so she didn’t care about it.
Holding the mustard greens into the kitchen, Evie looked at the stove for a moment.
Before, when she ate the oyster rice noodles, she hadn’t noticed the furnishings in the kitchen. Now when she looked around, she found that there was no gas stove, no induction cooker, only the stove for burning firewood!
Evie stood frozen in place.
How was she supposed to cook now?
Should she find a way to make a fire?
Evie had to put the mustard greens on the table first, then squat down in front of the stove to take a look.
Beside the stove stood chopped firewood. On one side of the closet were matches, and there was some kindling pine.
Evie remembered that Gray had told her before that Iris would like her if she behaved well.
With Gray around, people could also like her and accept her. Evie steeled herself, rolled up her sleeves, and prepared to make a big effort.
Gray came back from Uncle Chen’s house to get a small spanner and saw smoke coming out of the kitchen.
Startled, he cried, “Iris—!”
“Gray, cough, it’s me!” Evie ran out of the kitchen, choking with tears.
“What happened?” Gray asked and walked in.
The stove was full of firewood, smoking and choking.
“I wanted to cook by fire, but I couldn’t do it well all the time!” Evie coughed and explained, her eyes choked with tears.
Gray took out the firewood that was crammed into the stove and said, “You can’t stuff so much dry firewood in there. The oxygen in the stove isn’t enough. Naturally, there’s smoke and no fire.”
At this time, they heard Iris’s voice, “Oh, what’s up? What’s up?”
“Iris, it’s okay, I’m starting the fire!” Gray explained back.
“You kid, you scared me. I thought it was on fire!” Iris was relieved.
She turned to see Evie standing on one side, her face full of embarrassment. Evie wanted to say something but finally didn’t.
Evie couldn’t help wailing in her heart. She was finished. She wanted to make a good impression on Iris, but now she had made a fool of herself. Not only had she not done anything well, but she had almost burned down the kitchen.
Gray helped Evie start the fire again soon, and water was added to the pot.
“Is Uncle Chen’s TV fixed?” Iris asked Gray.
“Not yet. Uncle Chen doesn’t have a small screwdriver. I came back to get it.” Gray answered, then turned to Evie and said, “Iris’s cooking is very good. You can learn from Iris.”
His hand patted gently behind Evie’s back.
“Good!” Evie nodded.
“Iris, I’m going to Uncle Chen’s side. My daughter-in-law is in your hands!”
“I know, but I’m afraid I won’t lose her!” Iris replied faintly, but she still understood the meaning of Gray’s words.
“Won’t lose her, I’m afraid you dislike her clumsiness!” Gray smiled.
“What’s there to dislike, what’s there to like? Go and come back early for dinner!”
“I understand!” Gray finished, squinted at Evie, and then walked out of the kitchen.
Evie felt warm because of Gray’s action.
The next second, under Iris’s gaze, she quickly withdrew her line of sight and first apologized, “Iris, I’m sorry. I couldn’t start the fire earlier, and I didn’t do a good job. I’ll know how to make a fire tomorrow!”
Iris answered faintly, “I’ll come for dinner. You should learn more, and you can make it tomorrow!”
“Okay, okay, thank you, Iris!” Evie said quickly.
Iris didn’t say anything more. She cooked rice first.
It was also cooked in a large pot. When it was done, she put it in a wooden bucket and covered it to keep warm.
At the bottom of the pot, a rice ball was made and handed to Evie.
Evie took the rice ball and asked, “Iris, what are you going to do?”
“Haven’t you ever eaten a rice ball? Gray liked this most when he was a child.” Iris looked at her and asked.
“Oh!” Evie answered with a smile and took a bite.
It was very hard. After chewing it twice, she felt it was very fragrant. There was a smell of rice that she had never tasted before.
Suddenly, she felt like she was holding a favorite snack, and she took another bite.
After a little more than half, she stopped.
“Don’t you like it?” Iris saw that she had only eaten a little, slightly frowned, and asked.
She thought that city children were delicate.
She couldn’t even make a fire, but she had to be picky when eating rice balls.
“No, I want to leave some for Gray!” Evie said with embarrassment.