New Year Extra ③
New Year's Extra: Stewed Meat Chapter
The third day of the Lunar New Year is the day before Zheng Siyuan's wedding banquet, and it is also the day when my uncle and grandpa's family come to Jiang's house to pay New Year's greetings.
Grandma Jiang was actually very dissatisfied with the fact that her own brother came to pay her New Year's greetings, and there was a hint of secret joy in her dissatisfaction.
So these days, Grandma Jiang has been complaining: Where can such a thing happen? How can we let your uncle and grandpa come to pay us New Year greetings? This is not in line with the rules at all!
While actively cleaning the guest room, Jiang Feng kept asking Jiang Feng what to cook on the third day of the Lunar New Year, and even took Dahua to have a beauty treatment. It can be said that he was fully prepared.
Finally, the third day of the Lunar New Year that everyone has been waiting for is here.
Zhao Mei and her husband set off in the car very early in the morning, even taking the twin tires with them, which were still in kindergarten. For this reason, Zhao Mei's husband specially asked a colleague to borrow another car, and the family of seven drove two cars over.
The Jiang family also got up early together. Grandma Jiang had been wandering in the yard since seven in the morning and chanting loudly: "Oh, Zhuangzhang, who has been suffering from motion sickness for so many years and even fainted when taking the bus, how can he take a two-hour bus ride here?" Can you bear it? ”
"Have they set off? If not, one of you can call Meimei and we can go over and see if they can do it."
I muttered these two sentences back and forth for more than half an hour, so loudly that everyone in the big room could hear them.
The other unfilial descendants of the Jiang family were in the house watching Grandma Jiang wandering around in the yard.
Jiang Zaide looked at Jiang Weiming and the old man who were sitting on the sofa in the living room calmly drinking tea, turning on the heater and watching the news. Then I looked at Grandma Jiang and the old man who were walking around in the yard without a heater and blowing cold wind. They were wearing thick clothes and didn't know what they were waiting for.
"Why do you think grandma is standing in the yard waiting so early? Sister Meimei will naturally call us when she arrives and ask us to go out to pick her up. They don't know the way." Jiang Zaide said he didn't understand.
"You don't understand this. It used to be that my uncle was standing at the door blowing the cold wind waiting for us. Grandma wanted to experience what my uncle felt these years." Jiang Shoucheng said that he was the one who understood the old lady best.
"Sister Meimei said she brought us something. Could it be vegetables grown by my aunt?" Jiang Ran cracked melon seeds and changed the subject.
"It's possible." Jiang Junlian nodded in agreement, "I saw Sister Mei Mei's post on WeChat Moments yesterday. There are so many radishes. I guess they will eat all the radishes during the Chinese New Year this year."
"The radish is also delicious. The radish cake I fried last night was delicious." Jiang Junqing said.
Jiang Zaide was shocked: "What?! My little brother fried carrot cake last night? When? Why didn't I know!"
Jiang Shoucheng also started to eat melon seeds: "Just last night, when you went to coax Xiaoyun to sleep, Qiqi wanted to eat carrot cake and fried it for him. So Brother De, you didn't get it?"
Jiang Zaide squeezed out a smile with tears in his eyes: "It's okay, it's important to put your son to sleep."
It would be more credible if his words were not squeezed out from between his teeth.
Several juniors were chatting. Jiang Jiankang, who had just wiped the guest room window again, came out with a rag and found that Grandma Jiang and the old man were still standing in the yard blowing the wind. He couldn't help but ask: "Why don't your grandparents come in?"
"Third uncle, Brother Cheng said that grandma wanted to experience the feeling of my uncle and grandpa waiting for someone at the door all these years." Jiang Junqing answered honestly.
Jiang Jiankang scratched his head in confusion and muttered: "What kind of hobby is this? Mom's hobbies have become more and more weird in the past two years. What's the good experience of blowing the cold wind outside, and when can't it be done?"
He turned around and went back in to check with Jiang Feng on the menu for tomorrow's wedding.
The wind blew for another 10 minutes or so. Perhaps Grandma Jiang had had enough experience and slowly wandered back into the house.
"When will Meimei and the others arrive?" Grandma Jiang asked.
"It's coming soon."
This time it was really fast. There was no traffic jam on the morning when Zhao Mei and the others set off. The original two-hour drive was now expected to take one and a half hours. If Zhao Zhuangshi hadn't slowed down slightly due to motion sickness, he would have arrived by now.
At 8:05, Zhao Mei sent a message to Jiang Shoucheng saying that they had arrived, but they couldn't find the Jiang family's house and needed someone to pick them up.
No need for Grandma Jiang to say, Jiang Zaide, Jiang Shoucheng and Jiang Ran consciously put on their down jackets and went out to pick up people.
Grandma Jiang looked at the backs of her two fat grandsons and a not-so-fat grandson with satisfaction, and suddenly remembered that she also had a thin grandson.
"Hey, old man, where is Xiaofeng? Why do you feel like you haven't seen him since breakfast?"
"Xiao Feng was checking the recipes with Qiqi in the room." The old man said, "The boss, second child, third child, fourth child, and fifth child are also busy with this matter. Tomorrow is a wedding banquet, so don't be careful."
"Oh, Meimei and the others are here, what are you doing checking this thing now? I'll call them out." With that said, Grandma Jiang entered the house and arrested people.
When Jiang Feng came out, he was thinking about how many plates of phoenix eggs and when they would be released, how many plates of shredded yam should be placed on which tables in a limited number, and whether the pickled dumplings that Han Guishan strongly requested should be given to them as a separate plate on the table, or should be given after the wedding banquet. He packed a plate and took it home.
So much so that Jiang Feng didn't even react when he heard that Zhao Mei and the others had arrived.
"So early?" Jiang Feng glanced at his father and found that he was also confused. He looked at Qiqi and found that Wu Minqi was sending a message.
"Then should we go out to pick up Sister Meimei?" Jiang Feng asked.
"Dede, Chengcheng, of course they have gone out a long time ago." Grandma Jiang stretched her neck and looked at the door, "Why hasn't it taken so long to pick up someone?"
Just as he was talking, people came.
Jiang Zaide, Jiang Shoucheng and Jiang Ran were each dragging a sack forward slowly. There were not many sacks that Jiang Zaide and Jiang Shoucheng could drag without moving. For a while, everyone's attention was focused on these three.
Except Grandma Jiang.
Grandma Jiang's sharp eyes saw her brother and Zhao Zhuangshi behind the three big sacks, and she greeted them enthusiastically.
After a while of greetings, Grandma Jiang led her uncle and Zhao Zhuangshi into the house, while Jiang Zaide and the other three were still dragging sacks.
Zhao Mei's family of four followed closely behind, Zhao Mei with her two children, and Zhao Mei's husband carrying two large bags of radishes, and soon surpassed the three people dragging the sacks.
Tian Lin walked at the end with her hands full of things. Jiang Feng's sharp eyes saw a live chicken in two big bags of vegetables.
Tian Lin, who arrived last, quickly passed the trio of sacks and walked into the house.
People in the room were paying New Year greetings, congratulating each other, exchanging pleasantries, and pouring tea. For a moment, no one could spare the time to help the sack trio drag the sacks.
When Jiang Feng and others went out to help, the three people's sacks were dragged through the door.
"Huh, my dear is so heavy. Auntie, what's in your sack?" Jiang Zaide panted heavily and sat on the sofa, drinking three cups of hot tea in a row.
Jiang Shoucheng's stretcher in the emergency room did not have a white platform in these years. He was much better than Jiang Zaide. He was just out of breath and didn't drink tea.
Jiang Ran's sack was the smallest and easiest, and it was better than Jiang Zaide's.
While pouring tea for Jiang Zaide, He Yueru said: "I told you to pay attention to your daily exercise. After I got a gym card, I went there twice. I didn't give you a half-year pass to ask you to go once every six months."
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"Next time, definitely next time." Jiang Zaide breathed heavily and promised.
"Oh, Dede must be exhausted. I told you not to carry it alone. Your bag weighs more than 200 kilograms at most." Tian Lin asked with concern, "Are you okay? It doesn't matter if you are tired. Auntie will make stew for you later.”
Tian Lin's words were so frightening that Jiang Zaide couldn't even breathe, and he immediately said: "Auntie, you don't have to work so hard. How can you cook a meal of meat when you come all the way here? Besides, there is no meat at home. I bought some lean meat during the Chinese New Year. This pure lean meat is not easy to make stew, right? Brother: I don’t think there is pork belly at home, right?”
"No, no." Jiang Feng testified to Jiang Zaide, "The pork belly has been made into pork belly on New Year's Eve. Now the kitchen only has a pig leg and some ribs. It shouldn't be possible to make stew."
If Tian Lin insists on stewing pork legs and ribs, it should be better than big fat meat.
Tian Lin smiled and said: "Oh, we have already guessed that it is difficult for you to buy meat in Peiping. Didn't I bring it here for you?"
Everyone:? !
Tian Lin pointed to the three sacks on the ground: "I don't know if Meimei has told you that this year's pigs are very fat, one big and one small. The big one weighs more than 500 kilograms, and the small one weighs more than 400 kilograms. Then Not to mention how fragrant the meat is when stewed, the pork bought from outside can’t produce this flavor at all. Home-raised local pork is so rare these days, some people tell me that I’m not even willing to sell it.”
Jiang Zaide swallowed hard and looked at the sack he had just dragged in with a look of disbelief.
"Auntie, could these bags be..."
"Yes." Tian Lin quickly untied the sack, revealing the large pieces of pork inside. The large pieces of fat were frightening to see.
"I brought the little one here for all of you, and the big one also specially cut some good meat in that little bag. How can we not eat pork during the Chinese New Year? I heard what Dede said just now, you are celebrating the New Year. I guess I don’t eat pork that much. The pigs bought from outside are not as fragrant as home-raised pigs. Don’t worry, Dede, my aunt is going to make some meat for you now.”
Jiang Zaide now just wants to go back in time to two minutes ago and take back the nonsense he just said.
The old man's eyes were shining when he looked at the pork in the sack, and he was already thinking about what dishes to cook with each part of the meat.
Jiang Shoucheng and Jiang Juanlian winked at Jiang Feng wildly, signaling him to quickly find a way to stop Tian Lin.
Jiang Feng immediately understood and took a step forward: "Auntie, you came all the way to our house to celebrate the New Year and brought so many good things. How can we have the nerve to let you cook?"
"There are so many chefs in our family standing here. How can we be embarrassed to bother you even for such a trivial matter as cooking?"
"Besides, it's not easy for you to come all the way. Tai Feng Restaurant has been open for so long and I haven't had the opportunity to invite you to the restaurant for a meal. It just so happens that you brought so much good meat and vegetables here today, so you can Feel free to stay with us as a guest for a few days. Leave all three meals a day to me. Now I am the cook for our family during the Chinese New Year. You haven’t tasted my cooking for several years. Why don’t you try my cooking in the past few days and see how good I am at it over the years? Is there any progress?”
Jiang Juanlian quickly agreed: "Yes, aunt, I tell you that my cooking skills are very good. Do you know about the celebrity chef directory? I am now ranked first on the celebrity chef directory! Why don't you come all the way here? Easy, just let us accompany you around the city of Beiping these days. You don’t have to worry about cooking, just wait and see.”
"Yes, yes, if you want to eat pork belly, you can ask Xiaodi to make braised pork. The braised pork that I cooked on New Year's Eve is delicious!" Jiang Zaide began to drag the sack to the kitchen.
Tian Lin was surrounded by everyone, and even Zhao Mei joined in persuading her.
After persuading, Zhao Mei pulled Jiang Feng aside and said to him in an embarrassed voice: "I'm so sorry, little brother. In fact, my mother's cooking skills have improved a lot in the past few years. But the stew, too. It’s just barely edible. She probably can’t change her habit of eating fat meat. She just thinks that eating meat during the Chinese New Year is an old tradition in her family, so she wants to do it.”
Of course Jiang Feng understood. Tian Lin didn't mean to bring a pig here specially, but the stew was really not good.
People who understand the power of stewed meat will naturally not be surprised by what just happened, but Wu Minqi has never eaten stewed meat, so she can't understand it.
After Wu Minqi and Jiang Feng got married, because of the Wu family's New Year greeting tradition, they had to fly back to Shu on the second day of the Lunar New Year and stay there until the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, so they didn't go to the Zhao family to celebrate the New Year or taste the stew made by Tian Lin.
When Tian Lin was dragged into the mahjong room by Grandma Jiang to play mahjong, Wu Minqi asked Jiang Feng a little strangely: "Fengfeng, don't you all like to eat stewed meat?"
"I don't really like it." Jiang Feng said tactfully.
"But... I remember you liked it quite a lot." Wu Minqi was a little confused, "I remember when you went to my house the year you and I were engaged, didn't you stew a pot of boiled meat for yourself and finish it all? I remember that there was basically no seasoning in the pot of stew, and the meat was so fat that you actually ate it all in one go. I thought you liked this kind of stew very much.”
Jiang Feng:...
"Well...it's a special situation. I like to eat when necessary, but I don't like to eat under normal circumstances."
If it weren't for his wife, who would eat such a big pot of stew, or the first generation stew. (`)
(End of chapter)