Chapter 23 Selling Food (3)

  The lively Chen family, who were in the midst of a heated discussion, didn't notice that a figure slowly climbed down from the horse carriage. The young servant beside him made a gesture to support him, but unexpectedly, the person didn't even touch him once.

  "Alright, I'm here, you can go back to the mansion now. Remember, don't tell Father and Mother that I snuck out, if they ask, just say I'm staying at Aunt's house." After finishing dressing, "Did you hear? If I find out there's a leak..." Two hands crossed over each other, making a cracking sound.

  "The consequences are obvious, no need for me to say more." Although he's still young, he already has an air of superiority about him.

  "Yes, yes, I understand, I guarantee that nothing will be leaked out, young master can rest assured." The servant replied respectfully.

  "That's enough, listen to Young Master and you'll have benefits later. Now get out." Who was the one who came? It turned out to be Zhang Jia's little overlord.

  After the horse carriage went far away, Zhang Zhi slowly walked into the yard. Humming, if you don't come to find me, can I not come to find you? This time, let's have a good play for a few days.

  Several people who were dividing the work saw him coming in, and Zhao first greeted "Young Master Zhang, how did you come? Do your parents know you're out? Why didn't anyone send you over?" Hearing Zhao's string of questions, Little Overlord finally had a hint of embarrassment.

  "Don't worry, Aunt Zhao, my parents already know about it, this has been going on for several days now. You guys haven't invited me to play either, so I came to find you today." Xi Mei saw his hesitant look and bluntly said: "I'm guessing you must be playing hooky, right? And you told your mom too? This kind of talk can only fool someone as silly as Xi Mei."

  Alas, I'm really being shot while lying down. With a sullen face, she explained to her second sister, "Second sister, I'm not stupid."

  Unexpectedly, Xi Mei didn't hear what she said at all and was staring at Xiao Ba Wang with big eyes.

  "Hmph, I knew it. You don't welcome me, you don't love me coming, but I'll come anyway, just to annoy you to death." She even made a face at Xi Mei afterwards.

  "Zhao was afraid that the daughter would quarrel again, blocking Xi Mei's line of sight, and bowing to Zhang Zishang said: "Okay, young master can stay for a few days if he wants. Aunt Zhao will cook delicious food for you."

  After hearing Zhao's words, he was even more pleased. "Did you hear that? Did you hear that? It was Auntie Zhao who let me stay, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered staying."

  Seeing Xi Mei about to blow up again, Xi Ju hastily pulled her, "Alright, if you say anything more, Mother will blame you. If he wants to stay, let him stay. Our family doesn't lack one mouth to feed."

  His sister listened beside him and couldn't help but laugh, this is still not lacking his meal, his mother served him delicious food every meal, even during the Chinese New Year, they didn't eat that well.

  Her eyes rolled around, and she thought to herself, "This isn't free labor, is it? I was just worried that no one would show up." Looking at Zhang Zishang, who was having a great time with Rui Xuan and Rui Hao, she revealed a sly smile.

  Just as he was saying that, the happy person let out a loud "ah-choo!" Why did he suddenly sneeze? He must have been thinking of his grandmother. He rubbed his nose and continued talking.

  Not to mention them, Zhao's family is worried about tomorrow. "Dad, look at our family now, we don't have any cash on hand, only 80 cents left from the last time we caught medicine." Before he could finish speaking, Chen Tianfa interrupted him.

  "Do whatever you want, you're in charge at our house. Anyway, this money won't increase in value if it's left with us, so let's just take a chance. At worst, we can just consider it as extra nutrition for the kids."

  Can't help but say that Chen Tianfa is a good husband without any discount. Not at all with the outdated ideas of men in this era, looking down on women and disrespecting women. Overall, Zhao's weight at home is still not light.

  After listening to her husband, Zhao wiped away her tears. "Alright, let's do it this way. With 80 cents, we can buy all the meat. Beef is 15 cents a pound and pork is 12 cents a pound. We won't be able to buy much. Should we go borrow some more money?"

  "It's the only way, I'll go to my second brother's house to take a look, you go and tidy up our old pushcart at home, there's still a lot of work to do today." Chen Tianfa instructed with concern. "Alright, no need for you to say that, just do what needs to be done." Zhao Shi scolded.

  In the yard, several siblings also divided up the work. Rui Xuan instructed Rui Hao: "Our family didn't plant any vegetables this year, go to Old Aunt's house in the old courtyard and pick some back, it doesn't matter what kind, just pick whatever there is."

  "Ji Ju, our big pot hasn't been used for a long time, go wash it, it must be very dirty."

  "Xi Mei, go to the backyard and cut some scallions, after picking them up, wash and chop them. Make sure they are clean."

  "Xihe, let's go to the well to fetch some water, I think we'll be using a lot of water today."

  After arranging several people, the siblings all went their separate ways, leaving only Xi Mei and Xiao Ba Wang behind. Zhang Zi Shang turned his head and asked Xi Mei in a daze, "They're all busy, what about us?"

  The little girl reluctantly raised her head to look at the sky, and said, "Hey, don't you understand? It's not what we're doing, it's what you want to do. I didn't give her any tasks just so she could watch you."

  "Alright, since you want to do that I won't let you down. Rushing into the kitchen and bringing a small basket of garlic, 'Shang Gege, let's peel the garlic.'"

  "What? Peel garlic?" Looking at Xi Mei's determined face, the young master of the Zhang family had no choice but to surrender and started peeling the garlic. As he worked with his head down, Xi Mei felt a bit embarrassed.

  Since he's a young master from a big family and has come to our humble abode, I'll let him do this rough work. After some thought, I decided to tell him a story to comfort him instead.

  "Brother Zhang, let me tell you a story. I guarantee you've never heard it before." Zhang Zhi was bored at the time and eagerly shouted for his sister to tell him quickly.

  What's the story? A Grimm fairy tale? Looking at this kid, doesn't seem like the type to be into prince and princess romance stories. Acting all mature and stuff... Hey, don't forget you're just a kid yourself.

  All right, let's talk about Journey to the West. Clearing his throat, "A long time ago, there was a mountain, and on top of that mountain, there was a spiritual stone. The stone was 36 feet five inches tall and had a circumference of 24 feet. Because it received the essence of heaven and earth every day, and was washed by the pure dew and moonlight, it soon gained spiritual awareness. Inside the stone, a divine embryo formed, and one day it cracked open, producing a stone egg that looked like a ball. When it saw the wind, it transformed into a stone monkey, with all its limbs intact..."

  Just as they were getting into the conversation, Chen Tianfa walked in with a lot of meat and half a bag of noodles in his hands. He lightly shook his head at Zhang Zishang and said, "Brother, let's talk next time, we still have things to do today."

  In the reluctant situation of Xiaobao Wang, it was finally agreed to after much persuasion. However, territorial concessions and indemnities... forget it, the more said, the more tears. If only I had known earlier, I wouldn't have spoken so much nonsense about Journey to the West.

  Looks like you've dug your own grave now.

  Chen Tianfa had just put things down in the kitchen when Zhao's wife and daughter cleaned up. Chen Tianfa saw that there was nothing for him to do, so he went out to repair his car.

  Quickly handling the pig hair, looking at the pig head by his side, the pig ears are worried. Alas, so many, can they be sold tomorrow? The day is still so hot.

  Xī Jú saw her mother worrying and said with a smile: "Mother, why don't we do half of it, and hang the rest in the well? It won't spoil for these two days."

  "Alright, let's do it." Zhao nodded in agreement. Then the pig trotters were scalded with boiling water, and after adding white wine to remove the meat odor, they were rinsed under cold running water (to enhance the texture), then taken out and cut into pieces for later use. A pot was heated with oil over low heat until it started to smoke slightly, at which point sugar was added, and during the caramelization process, attention was paid to the fire temperature, using a wooden spatula to stir twice, waiting for the sugar to fully dissolve and bubble up.

  Add the pork trotter cubes, shake the pot to make the sugar color even, add ginger slices, eight horns, peppercorns, bay leaves, cinnamon, dried red peppers and stir-fry. Then drizzle a small amount of fragrant oil, soy sauce and continue to stir-fry along the edge of the pot.

  Add water to the pot (boiling water), the amount of water is not over the pig's trotters, then add 1 tablespoon of white wine and 1 tablespoon of salt, etc. Stew on low heat for 2 hours, then high heat to collect the juice. At this time, the whole yard was filled with a strong meat fragrance.

  The little overlord who was envied by the Xiao Ba Wang said, "I really envy you guys, every day is so happy, and there's such delicious meat. The cook in my house isn't as skilled as your mother."

  No sooner had she finished speaking than she received several big white eyes from Xi Mei. Alas, Xi Mei looked at them and took a light breath, praying that nothing would go wrong tomorrow.

  Dà Nī also prayed, who can give me a vote, collect it, the results are dismal, ah. Bite a small handkerchief, enthusiastic shouting: "Give me a recommended vote, give me a collection, give me ba ba ba!"