Chapter 300: Chores Before the Year
A large bowl full of chili dipped in water was shared by everyone.
Although Chen Ze can eat spicy food, he can't eat much.
In the past two years, he often came to Zhang An's house, which actually gave him training.
Zhang An eats by himself. Every time he dips the vegetables in water, he likes to pour it into a bowl and mix it with the rice to finish it together.
Not to mention, the bibimbap is really good. It is delicious and appetizing and goes very well with rice. Everyone who has eaten it says it is good.
The more times Chen Ze came, he also fell into this habit.
So at Zhang An's house, every time Wang Fang makes a dip, there will be no leftovers, and all the dishes will be moved.
Speaking of why Wang Fang’s dipping sauce is so delicious, there is a secret recipe.
In addition to her own good combination of various condiments, it is also because Zhang An has a baby at home.
That is a small round bucket less than one foot tall.
Whether it’s fresh chili peppers or dried chili peppers, Wang Fang makes her own dipping sauce.
They will use a round pei, also known as a beating bowl, to pound everything.
Especially the ginger, garlic, and chili peppers, mash them all together.
After the impact of the pestle, all the fragrance contained in their juices was washed out.
Then with the old rural soy sauce, fish coriander, and chives, the dipping water is really fragrant.
When Zhang An eats it by himself, he also likes to cut the root of Zheer into foam and add two drops of wood ginger oil. It is simply delicious.
Speaking of round pei, Wang Fang’s small round pei can be said to be a family heirloom.
It’s also Yuan Lei, but other people’s ones don’t have the same taste when brewed.
As for Zhang An’s, it tastes great in everything.
Later, everyone knew that it might have something to do with the materials used for the round pestle and the pestle stick.
Other people’s round pestles become deeper and deeper as they are used, and the pestle becomes thinner and thinner.
The bottom of many stone round buckets will eventually be broken through after use.
Although Zhang An's pair is also made of stone, it seems to have not changed much after decades of use.
Many people came to see it before and after, but they couldn't recognize what stone it was carved from.
It is said that this Yuanzui was a dowry brought by Zhang An's great-grandmother, Wang Fang's grandmother, from home at that time.
Later, when Wang Fang got married, Zhang An’s grandfather didn’t give her any dowry.
Zhang An's grandmother was stubborn and couldn't make the decision, so she asked Wang Fang to bring the Yuanzu over as a thought.
Anyway, since Zhang An was a child, he used it to pound everything at home, including chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, peppers, etc.
But decades have passed and it remains the same, with little change.
Perhaps because it was the only thought of her mother's family, Wang Fang loved it very much.
Every time you use it, clean it, dry it and put it away.
However, because of frequent use, the outside of the Yuan Lei now looks a bit smooth and translucent.
“Hey, I feel bad when I think about going home during the New Year and not being able to eat the New Year’s Eve dinner cooked by my aunt.”
Chen Ze shook his head and sighed, then picked up another piece of meat and dipped it in He dipped it full in the water and put it in his mouth.
Because the meat slices are so big, you can still see the bright red dipping water overflowing from your mouth.
"Then just don't go back. It just so happens that we have one more person in our family to celebrate the New Year. It would be nice to be lively."
"That won't work. I'm not that bold. If I don't go back during the New Year, I will be in trouble in the future. I can’t even go back.”
For Chen Ze’s family, it’s okay to wander outside.
If you don’t go back to participate in ancestor worship during the Chinese New Year, it will be a very serious problem.
"I'm going back this time to see if I can convince the old man to build a small yard in the village like Li Hongbin."
"Wouldn't it be nice to take the old man over for retirement?"
Chen Ze was very excited after seeing Li Hongbin build a small yard here.
He originally wanted to buy a piece of land here and build a country yard.
But their family did not agree, for fear that the man would not come back after running to the countryside.
"Okay, you just need to convince your family, and the village will be able to solve it easily."
Although the development of Changqing is much better than before, the current environment is like this.
If you want to build a small yard in the countryside, as long as you have money, buy a piece of land and the rest is up to you.
"Okay, I'll go back this year and give it a try. Then it will be fine. Please help me tell the old village chief."
Chen Ze thought of the one he took back a few days ago. Zhu Yeshan Ginseng, thinking that this thing should be able to deal with the old man.
When the old man agrees, what else can the rest of the family say.
Early the next morning, Zhang An still got up early, and Chen Ze was still as positive.
After only two sets of punches, Zhang An stopped and started looking for work.
Today he did not practice acupuncture as usual. He would be busy killing pigs later and did not have so much free time in the morning.
As for Chen Ze, it was because there was nothing for him to do, and even if there was something, he couldn't do it.
So just stand aside and play, so as not to affect other people.
"Hey, why did Lao Chen start practicing health exercises? Don't tell me, he is really impressive."
At this time, Ding Yi came with Li Li, Also accompanying him was Fatty Lu Jun.
"Haha, it's boring to have nothing to do, practice and play, and keep fit."
Seeing Ding Yi and the others coming, Chen Ze stopped.
Chen Ze didn't care at all about Ding Yi who was making fun of him.
I silently thought to myself, health exercises? When I reach the level of Zhang An.
Guaranteed to make your jaw drop and see if you can still laugh when the time comes.
"Auntie and uncle, we are disturbing you again."
Li Li got out of the car and said hello to Zhang An's parents first.
"What are you kidding about? Auntie will be happy if she comes more often. Walking home, it’s cold outside."
Seeing Li Li’s belly getting bigger, Wang Fang's eyes were full of envy.
But she is envious, and now she does not dare to rush her son and wife.
"Zhang An, Lao Chen, let's unload the things first, so we can drive out and put them away."
There are pigs to be killed in the yard today, and there are several of them, which takes up a lot of space.
Therefore, the cars they drove must have been parked in the yard, and even Zhang An's own car had already been driven out to dry in the yard.
"You're just here, why are you bringing so many things? I'm afraid we won't have anything to eat at home and we'll starve you, right? You're out of sight, right?"
Ding Yi Opening the trunk with Lu Jun, it was full of things.
“We didn’t bring anything, they were all things we sold ourselves. Let’s get some for our uncles and aunts to try.”
What the two of them brought was indeed New Year’s goods. Some fruits and some wax goods are all New Year's goods launched in his supermarket.
As for Lu Jun, they are all aquatic products operated by his company, but they are all seafood.
He didn't think of bringing some fresh water and aquatic products, then it would really be like trying to do what he does best.
Both of their cars are not small, and the trunk space is quite large.
When the things inside were moved out, half of the room was occupied.
Lu Jun brought a lot of seafood, and most of it was alive.
Only some fish, such as hairtail, which are difficult to survive out of seawater, are kept fresh with ice.
The rest are all crabs, prawns and sea fish. Not to mention, Zhang An has never eaten seafood much.
Especially there are two red eastern star spots inside, which are not small at all.
“Hey, this fish seems to be energetic again?”
When Ding Yi saw the two eastern star spots in the bucket, he seemed to be alive again.
He came here last night. At that time, the fish was wilted and looked like it was going to die.
Fortunately, they found an aquatic product store in the city to give them oxygen, otherwise they might not have been able to make it to Zhang An's home.
“Is it possible that they got motion sickness? Now that they are no longer in the car, their spirits have recovered.”
Of course Zhang An knew what was going on, because the man had just added more water to the bucket. The space spring water. When he brought these two fish down just now, he looked at them dying.
Zhang An suddenly thought that the space spring water was currently useful to all the animals he encountered.
Then would it also be useful for fish in this seawater?
So he quietly added a lot of space spring water into it.
It didn’t take long for the two Eastern Star Spots to come back to life and regain their energy.
This also confirmed Zhang An that the spring water in space is also useful for deep-sea fish.
That’s good, at least these sea fish can last until the New Year, and then they can be used to make a sumptuous New Year’s Eve dinner.
If it is of no use, you can only kill them while they are still alive.
Otherwise, when they are all dead, it won’t taste as good as when they are killed alive.
He had this question before simply because he had only come into contact with freshwater fish.
Lu Jun on the side felt something was wrong after hearing this. He had been engaged in aquatic products for a long time.
I have never noticed the problem of whether this fish gets motion sickness.
But to be strange, he couldn't give any reason to refute it. After all, the facts were right in front of him.
This thing was dying just now, but now it feels like it just came out of the water, so uncomfortable.
After everything was packed up, Wang Fang shouted to have breakfast.
The steamed buns were steamed this morning, and there were quite a few of them.
In addition to eating at home, it is also convenient and hassle-free when someone comes to eat for everyone.
Lu Jun and Li Li hadn't eaten yet, so they praised what they had just eaten and made Wang Fang very happy.
"Sister-in-law, I'm here to help you get your transcript."
While Su Ying was having breakfast, Zhang Tie came over.
“Tiewa come over and eat some steamed buns.”
Seeing his eldest nephew coming, Zhang Jianguo picked up two steamed buns and handed them to him.
"Uncle, I can just eat one. My mother cooked rice noodles for me."
Zhang Tie was not polite and took it over and ate it. He knew that the uncle’s mother made steamed buns. It tastes better than the ones bought in town and doesn’t cost any money.
Today Su Ying is going to school to distribute report cards. There are nearly a hundred report books for two classes, and Su Ying is not easy to lift.
So Zhang Tie took the initiative to come over and help his sister-in-law take her to school.
This guy, when Su Ying was assigned last night, he came over and hung out for a long time.
Finally, I secretly looked at my transcript and found out my score.
So from yesterday to today, the smile on this guy's face never stopped.
Zhang An also looked through it and found that his score in today's test was not bad.
Although I didn’t look at everyone’s scores, it is estimated that Zhang Tie’s score would be beyond the reach of those in the top grades.
"Sister-in-law, you guys are playing at home, I'm going to school first."
"Don't worry about us, we come here often anyway, go and do your business."
Read it Looking at the time, Su Ying got up, and Zhang Tie also carried a sack of report books and went out together.
After Mr. Huang and his elders arrived, they brought a few sacks of corn cobs to light the large stove outside.
Then he put in coals and ignited them, then Zhang An set up a large iron pot and started boiling water.
Because we had to kill three pigs and the time was tight, everyone came early.
Wang Fang brought out the freshly steamed buns and washed water chestnuts and asked everyone to chat while they boiled the water.
Although there were many people, it was already noon by the time the three pigs were slaughtered.
Everyone who came to help was not too tired, but Lin Youde, who was in charge of killing the pigs, was exhausted.
Every pig in Zhang An’s family is so big, and the slaughtering process is not easy.
Especially when blowing pigs, it is very tiring every time.
But Lin Youde was not afraid of being tired at all, but was very happy.
His butchering skills are very proficient. That is because he often helps everyone slaughter pigs and has developed his skills.
But in the past, he had killed pigs weighing more than 200 kilograms. For larger pigs, the slaughtering was not so smooth.
So when Zhang An’s family was killing the New Year pig, he came uninvited.
I just want to practice with a few big fat pigs from Zhang An’s family, so that if someone asks him to do it in the future.
Even if he encounters a big fat pig, he can catch it easily.
Therefore, when Zhang An paid him for his hard work, he thought it was not easy, so he gave him one hundred and fifty for the three pigs.
But Lin Youde didn’t ask for that much and only accepted one hundred yuan.
He is not stupid. Not only can he practice his skills by doing this, but he can also make friends with Zhang An. Why not do it.
"Uncle and aunt, let's go back and come back in a few days."
After dinner in the afternoon, Ding Yi and his group brought freshly slaughtered pork.
Zhang An also prepared a lot of game, nuts, etc., and he was ready to go back.
Even Chen Ze is the same, he has been out for several days.
Chen Ning called last night and said angrily that he would not take her with him to play.
And he also warned Chen Ze that if he didn't go back, he would wait for the old lady's wrath.
So after killing the pig today, Chen Ze packed up and returned immediately, otherwise the good fruits at home would not be delicious.
After they left, Zhang An didn't do anything. Instead, he kept mixing spices to prepare marinated meat.
There will be a lot of bacon to be smoked this year, including their own, Ding Yi, Chen Ze, Lu Jun and others.
I also need to smoke some for my mother-in-law’s family, which adds up to several hundred kilograms.
Fortunately, Chen Ze and the others took back half of their share of meat, otherwise it would have been more.
For this year's pork, Zhang An marinated it using the method that Mr. Huang taught him.
He had already been greedy for it when he saw the golden bacon from Mr. Huang’s house.
So this year, before the pigs were killed, he bought all the materials early.
Zhang An marinates all the pork that is used for bacon.
A few hundred kilograms of pork is not a lot at all, and it needs to be marinated in place.
Zhang An spent most of the day and continued marinating after dinner before finally marinating all the meat.
Then just leave it like this for a day or two, then put it on the shelf and start smoking.
There is a lot of meat this year, so I have to have someone dedicated to guarding the fire.
But Zhang An thought this was a good idea, as it would save his father from having to drive the sheep out in the cold weather.
He himself does not mind suffering, but those sheep also suffer.
Let him guard the meat and find something to do so that he doesn't have to go out to get some air.
And Zhang An is sure that his father will take good care of the meat.
Because of his tendency to split a penny into two parts, this meat costs thousands of dollars, and he will definitely serve it well.
"Husband, I just called my parents. They won't get off work until the 29th this year. Let's pick them up on the 30th."
When I went to bed at night, Su Ying said, leaning on her man.
"Little fool, there is no New Year's Eve this year. New Year's Eve falls on the 29th of the twelfth lunar month."
Zhang An was happy and couldn't help but scratch the tip of his wife's nose and teased her. she.
The twelfth lunar month this year is a small month, so it only has twenty-nine days. Zhang An only saw it when he changed the calendar a few days ago.
“Then when I’m twenty-nine, I’ll pick them back up.”
"Don't scratch my nose, it's flattened by you."
Su Ying was a little dissatisfied that her man kept scratching her nose and said with her little eyes staring.
"Okay, okay, go to sleep, I have to go to Zhou Yang's house tomorrow to help."
(End of this chapter)