Chapter 67 - Stir-fried Twice-Cooked Pork with Two-in-One Sauce...

She didn't have time yesterday, but today she told Guo Jixiang everything she had said to her.

Helan said, "Lady Lin, you must be careful."

“Yesterday I didn’t intend to reveal that Xiao Pei was her family’s savior, but Madam Guo asked about your sister’s age and marriage. She had asked you about it before, and after learning that you were married, she asked about your sister again.”

“I’ve known this Madam Guo for several years, but we’re not close. They think their family business is more noble than mine and look down on me behind my back. But you see, when they need something, they come to me in person. That’s when I realized that her intention to marry you is not pure.”

Lin Chuntao understood Helan's meaning. How did these poor orphans catch the eye of this wealthy lady?

"Thank you, Manager He. I understand."

Since the topic had come up, Lin Chuntao took the opportunity to inquire about the Chai family's interpersonal relationships and the personalities of the Chai family members, including Chai Xingyu.

The Chai family has a key figure, Chai Xingyu's second sister, who married a prefectural judge in Hegui Prefecture as his second wife. This man was in charge of taxation.

The Chai family's good fortune in recent years is partly due to this person.

Since Lin Chuntao has made this sauce, she must be using it to make money. However, the recipe is already tied to the soup noodles, and Lin Chuntao doesn't want someone else to buy it out.

As they were about to close up shop, Lin Chuntao came out of the house and saw Chai Xingyu and Sanbao walking towards the stall.

Helan joked, "Lady Lin, your brother is here."

Lin Chuntao chuckled, narrowed her eyes, and then smiled, "I will treat him like my own younger brother."

Her tone was so gentle that Helan was a little confused, as if she really wanted to be Chai Xingyu's good older sister. But thinking back to what the two had just talked about, Helan smiled and shook her head. She watched as Lin Chuntao walked smilingly towards Chai Xingyu.

Yesterday's decision to recognize her as his sister was somewhat impulsive. Although he doesn't regret it, the thought of the awkwardness of meeting her again makes Chai Xingyu's scalp tingle.

But he can't just recognize someone and then feel awkward and refuse to see them, can he? Besides, he was still arguing with the old man yesterday and was going to Lin Chuntao's house.

Actually, he didn't know if Lin Chuntao would take him home, but he still made preparations in advance. He asked Sanbao to go to a well-known pastry shop in the county town to buy two boxes of pastries, two jars of wine, and two packets of tea to bring to the stall to look for Lin Chuntao.

Sanbao was carrying the things. He saw Lin Chuntao from afar and was so embarrassed and nervous that he was almost sweating. He had no idea how he got to the stall.

When Lin Chuntao saw him, she walked over to greet him. She neither called him "young master" nor "brother" in a cloying way.

“Ayu.”

Lin Chuntao's warm voice rang out, and Chai Xingyu froze. He was quite a bit older than his two older sisters, who called him A-Yu before they got married.

As soon as Lin Chuntao said those words, she sounded as familiar as if she were his own sister, and all the embarrassment he had just felt vanished the moment those two words came out.

"elder sister."

Upon hearing this, Lin Chuntao smiled and asked, "Have you had lunch yet?"

Chai Xingyu shook his head slightly, "Not yet, where's my sister? Are you going home to eat later?"

Hearing this, Lin Chuntao said, "Yes, we'll go home and cook after we close up shop." As she spoke, she went over to help Lin Chunxing, but then turned back to ask him, "Do you want some soup noodles? I'll cook them for you."

"Let's not eat today. Yesterday was too sudden. In our area, when people recognize relatives, they have to visit each other in person. I'll go back with my sister today."

Lin Chuntao was stunned after he finished speaking, but she didn't show it on her face and smiled, "No problem, it's just that my home is simple, so please don't mind when you go, Ayu."

Chai Xingyu said he wouldn't mind, but he was still shocked when he got home with Lin Chuntao and the others.

However, it took them a moment to realize that if they were well-off or their parents were still alive, they wouldn't be forced to work so hard from dawn till dusk to earn money.

He often heard the old man talk about how the Chai family's ancestors rose to prominence.

One part describes how poor the family was at the time. As the eldest sister, the matriarch had to shoulder the responsibility of the family, working for a wealthy family to support her younger brothers. Once, the master gave her some bean rice, which she couldn't bear to eat and planned to take back to her brothers. After several days, the bean rice went bad and became unpalatable. So, the matriarch added chili peppers to the bean rice to mask the smell, and that's how it became a sauce.

He had always found it hard to imagine what it meant for a poor family to need an older sister to support them, but now he had seen it for himself.

Their ancestor was already quite old when he made the sauce, but Lin Chuntao was still very young.

He didn't know why, but he felt a strange surge of excitement in his heart.

Lin Chuntao, of course, did not miss his subtle change, and smiled as she opened the bamboo fence gate to invite him into the yard.

Chai Xingyu followed her into the house. The yard was very tidy, with two chicken coops neatly placed next to the bamboo fence. There were two bamboo racks in the yard, with some winnowing baskets and dustpans on them, some empty, and one covered with gauze. He also saw the jar next to the chimney on the stove.

Lin Chunhe and Lin Duo'er ran out of the house when they heard the door open, and were stunned when they saw a strange face.

Lin Chuntao smiled as she introduced her younger sisters: "This is Chai Xingyu. He has recognized me as his older sister, so he will be your older brother from now on." After saying that, Lin Chuntao introduced Chai Xingyu: "My third sister is Lin Chunhe, my fourth sister is Lin Duoer, and you know my second sister Chunxing."

Chai Xingyu said, "Hello, sisters." As he spoke, he hurriedly turned around to find Sanbao, took the snacks, and handed them to Lin Chunhe, saying, "These are snacks for the sisters."

Lin Chunhe looked at Lin Chuntao, and only after Lin Chuntao nodded did she take it, smiling and saying, "Thank you, brother."

Chai Xingyu doesn't have a younger sister, but he has two cousins ​​who are a bit mischievous and rarely call him "brother" so obediently. He was very happy to hear Lin Chunhe and Lin Duo'er's words.

The two sisters brought some snacks into the house and also brought out two stools for Chai Xingyu and Sanbao.

Pei Ying went back to her room to change her clothes. After changing out of her dirty clothes, she prepared to wash them by the river. Chai Xingyu and Sanbao followed her.

Having not had a chance to ask Lin Chuntao until now, Lin Chunxing finally did, "Sister, what does this person mean? Does he really want to be our brother?"

Lin Chuntao chuckled softly, looked at her steadily, and said, "What are you thinking? We four sisters are the real family."

"Whether you're polite or cold, whether you like it or not, it's all up to you. I'll handle it."

Lin Chunxing nodded. Lin Chunhe and Lin Duo'er were still looking at the pastries inside the room. Lin Chuntao said, "You know, they're eyeing our sauce recipe. Just do what you're supposed to do. I'll take care of this."

Lin Chuntao glanced inside the room and said, "Duo'er can't keep secrets, so let's not tell them yet. Just consider her another person to buy them snacks."

Lin Chunxing smiled helplessly.

Lin Chuntao said, "Let's see if the food is almost ready. If it is, then we'll start cooking the dishes."

After receiving the message, Lin Chunxing left, and Lin Chuntao went back to her room to get chopsticks. She wanted to check if the sauerkraut she made yesterday had gone sour.

The two sisters worked together to lift the jar off the stove. A lot of sour water had already overflowed from the mouth of the jar. Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "It should be fine now." This time, they weren't in a hurry to eat it, and they didn't bother to light a fire to roast it like last time. They just used some of the heat from the stove fire while cooking.

She lifted the lid, picked one out, tore off a piece and tasted it; it was so sour that her face scrunched up.

Lin Chunxing laughed and asked, "Is it more sour than last time?"

Lin Chuntao tore off a piece and fed it to her: "Try it."

Lin Chunxing opened her mouth and ate, but soon her face crumpled up and she shivered.

"So sour, so sour."

Today, Chai Xingyu came along, and there was pickled cabbage at home. Lin Chuntao bought some pig's blood, pig's heart and liver, and half a pig's head from the butcher shop.

She planned to cook the pig's head in the afternoon and eat it in the evening. For lunch, she would stir-fry some pickled cabbage and pig's blood, stir-fry the pig's heart and liver, and the main dish would be braised pork belly with potatoes. But since Chai Xingyu was here today, she naturally had to let him try the sauce she made.

She set aside a piece of pork belly to make twice-cooked pork, which was then mixed with a sauce that was deep red in color and had an overpowering, pungent aroma.

Chai Xingyu followed Pei Ying with Sanbao. Whenever villagers saw them, they would ask, "He's my younger brother." Pei Ying would simply say, "He's my younger brother."

The villagers were all surprised. Where did Pei Ying get another brother? Chai Xingyu was still wearing that bamboo hat, so they couldn't see his face, but they could tell that the fabric he was wearing was expensive. When they pressed him for details, Pei Ying explained, "My sworn brother."

These people understood immediately and simply said "Oh".

After walking through the village to the river, washing the clothes, and returning, Pei Ying smiled and said, "Ayu, you've never been to the countryside before, have you?"

"I've been here before." But he hadn't visited anyone's home; he had only passed through villages on his way to the mountains. He kept this to himself and didn't tell Pei Ying.

When Pei Ying returned with Chai Xingyu and Sanbao, Lin Chuntao was standing by the stove cooking. There was also a fire burning in the yard with an earthenware pot stewing on it.

They moved the table to the yard, where stir-fried pig liver and pig heart were already laid out, and Lin Chuntao was cooking pickled cabbage and pig blood.

Seeing Pei Ying and the others return, Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "So fast? The food isn't ready yet. Are you all hungry?"

This question was definitely not directed at Pei Ying. Chai Xingyu approached and smiled, replying that she wasn't hungry yet. Lin Chuntao smiled, and seeing that the pig's blood and pickled cabbage in the pot were cooked, she ladled them into a bowl and had Lin Chunxing take it over.

Looking at the three dishes on the table, Chai Xingyu and Sanbao sniffed.

Although the Chai family wouldn't serve these offal dishes, Chai Xingyu often mingled outside and had eaten quite a bit of braised offal. The taste was alright, but not exactly delicious, especially the pig liver. He'd never seen anyone make such good pig liver in his entire life. The pig heart was even worse. He remembered his cook making him soup with pig heart when he was little; one sip made him vomit so badly he felt dizzy and never wanted to touch pig heart again.

Under the sun, the three dishes were still steaming. Chai Xingyu found it hard to believe that the wafting aroma was coming from these three dishes. This was quite different from what he had imagined.

Sanbao stood behind Chai Xingyu and whispered, "Young Master, it smells so good."

His voice was low. Chai Xingyu turned around and glanced at him after hearing it. Sanbao pursed his lips and looked serious. Seeing Sanbao's expression, Chai Xingyu smiled and turned to Lin Chuntao, saying, "Sister, how did you make all this? It smells so good!"

Sanbao: "..."

Lin Chuntao said, "Ayu, don't flatter me. This is just home cooking."

As she spoke, her hands didn't stop moving. After the oil in the pan was hot, she poured in scallions, ginger, and garlic and stir-fried them. With a sizzling sound, the aroma wafted from the pan. Lin Chuntao quickly poured in the prepared pork belly slices and started stir-frying.

Stir-fry the fatty pork until it turns translucent, then Lin Chuntao adds some firewood to the stove. Once the fire is strong, she pours in the sauce. In an instant, the aroma of meat, sauce, and garlic blend together, and the fragrance of the twice-cooked pork wafts out.

The scent drifted into the noses of the master and servant, and they both involuntarily took a deep breath.

Sanbao was so excited that he tugged at Chai Xingyu's sleeve, wanting to say something but afraid of embarrassing Chai Xingyu.

Chai Xingyu licked his lips and walked uncontrollably to the stove. Looking at the reddish-brown meat slices in the pot, he swallowed hard and asked Lin Chuntao with some restraint, "Sister, can this sauce be used to stir-fry meat like this?"

Lin Chuntao turned to look at him and smiled, "Of course, there are many ways to eat this sauce. You can use it in soups, stir-fries, as a dipping sauce, or as a seasoning. You can eat it however you like."

As she spoke, she ladled the stir-fried twice-cooked pork into a bowl and handed it directly to Chai Xingyu: "Take it to the table."

Chai Xingyu was stunned for a moment, and Sanbao was also stunned. Why would he need Chai Xingyu to do chores when he was around? But by the time he reacted, Chai Xingyu had already taken the bowl from Lin Chuntao's hand. Just as he was about to tell Chai Xingyu that he had come, Lin Chuntao had already ordered him: "Sanbao, help me scoop a ladle of water."

Sanbao nodded hurriedly and ran to fetch water.

Lin Chuntao looked at the master and servant with a smile. What a lovely day!

This was the first time Chai Xingyu had been asked to do chores, and it was serving dishes. The main reason was that Lin Chuntao made him feel extremely natural, giving him a sense of self-awareness that it was something he should be doing.

Lin Chuntao cooked the hot pot, then made a tomato and egg stir-fry and a stir-fried cabbage.

While waiting for the vegetables to be cooked, she went to check on the potatoes and meat stewing in the earthenware pot. She lifted the lid, and a wave of steam rushed out.

Lin Chuntao gently fanned away the steam. The soup in the pot had thickened and was starting to boil.

She took a spatula and stirred it; a lot of potato starch had already seeped into the soup.

It was cooked, but he still needed to taste it to check the saltiness. He turned around and called out to Lin Chunxing.

"Chunxing, bring me a pair of chopsticks."

Lin Chunxing agreed and quickly brought chopsticks. Lin Chuntao picked up a piece of meat to taste. It was already very soft and the saltiness was just right. She felt that this new potato dish was even tastier than the one she had made before.

She asked Pei Ying to bring the earthenware pot to the stove, and while serving the food, she called to Lin Chunhe and the others to get their bowls and chopsticks and get ready to eat.

Lin Chunhe led Lin Duoer to get bowls and chopsticks, while Lin Chunxing and Pei Ying placed chairs at the table and invited Chai Xingyu and Sanbao to sit down.

Sanbao sat down next to Chai Xingyu only after Chai Xingyu had sat down, which felt a bit strange.

Although Chai Xingyu would ask him to sit down and eat at the same table when he went outside with him, it was his master's order and there were no outsiders present, so he could sit down and eat together.

If Chai Xingyu were eating with his brothers and friends, they would never invite him to sit down and eat with them.

But today, in this dilapidated farmhouse, he seemed to be treated as a person, not a servant.

Normally, they serve themselves their own meals, but today, with guests, they couldn't let the guests leave any food uneaten, so they served everyone's food.

Chai Xingyu looked at the dishes on the table. Apart from scrambled eggs with tomatoes and cabbage, he had never eaten these dishes before, or to be more precise, he had never eaten them prepared in this way.

The braised pork stall had pig heart and pig liver, one braised and the other cold, but the taste was really just so-so, and he didn't like either of them.

He had tried cold slices of pig's blood before, and the taste was nothing to write home about.

Today, Lin Chuntao made pig's blood in a soup with pickled cabbage. The color and appearance weren't great, but the smell was quite unique. She also stir-fried pig's heart and liver with chili peppers, and he wasn't sure if it would taste good. The stewed meat and potatoes were mixed together. Lin Chuntao's meal was quite unusual for Chai Xingyu.

What he wanted to eat most was the stir-fried meat in soy sauce. It smelled so good that it made his mouth water uncontrollably. He really wanted to taste what it was like.

Lin Chuntao brought out serving chopsticks and first served food to Chai Xingyu and Sanbao.

Chai Xingyu looked at the twice-cooked pork in his bowl and thanked Lin Chuntao. Sanbao was flattered and also said, "Thank you, Madam Lin."

Lin Chuntao said, "Sanbao, don't be so polite. Just make yourself at home."

Sanbao thought to himself that he had never received such treatment in the Chai family, and nodded gratefully at Lin Chuntao.

After Lin Chuntao finished speaking, she said to Chai Xingyu, "Ayu, try it and see if it suits your taste. My cooking skills are just so-so, I just figured it out by trial and error."

Chai Xingyu said, "It smells delicious. Sister, don't worry about me, just eat."

Lin Chuntao smiled and nodded, calling to Duo'er and the others to eat.

As soon as they picked up their chopsticks, the sisters all went to pick up the pickled cabbage and pig's blood soup. To the surprise of the new master and servant at the table, Lin Duo'er took a bite and said, "Sister, the pickled cabbage is more sour than last time, and the pig's blood is delicious too."

Lin Chuntao said, "It's delicious, eat more."

Chai Xingyu had already tasted the twice-cooked pork. He wondered how the heat was controlled so perfectly. The pork had a slightly crisp texture, and when coated with the rich, spicy sauce, he simply didn't know how to describe the taste of this dish.

This is just pork... how can it taste like this?

After tasting it, Sanbao looked at Chai Xingyu with a face full of surprise. The master and servant exchanged a glance and exclaimed in unison, "This cooking is amazing!"

Lin Chuntao smiled helplessly and said, "You two are overdoing it. Eat more."

Chai Xingyu was still wearing his straw hat, which made eating a little inconvenient. Lin Chuntao said, "Ayu, take off your straw hat. We're all family."

Chai Xingyu paused for a moment, then took a deep breath before taking off his straw hat.

Lin Chuntao and the others had seen it before, so they weren't surprised. But it was the first time Lin Chunhe and Lin Duo'er had seen it, and since the children didn't know how to hide their emotions, the two sisters stared wide-eyed.

Chai Xingyu was a little embarrassed. He looked at his two younger sisters and said, "Did I scare you?"

The two sisters quickly shook their heads, "No."

That's a lie; Lin Chunxing was so frightened by him that she fell down that day.

Lin Duo'er looked at the scars on his face and hissed coldly. Just thinking about it made anyone feel pain.

"How did you get hurt, brother? Does it hurt a lot?"

Her dark eyes showed worry, and Chai Xingyu suddenly felt a stinging sensation in his eyes; the sunlight today was truly dazzling.

He twitched the corners of his mouth into a smile, but the smile was actually somewhat terrifying.

"I was injured in the fall from the horse, but it doesn't hurt anymore."

As soon as Chai Xingyu finished speaking, Lin Duo'er took a spoon and scooped a spoonful of potato stew with meat for him, saying, "Eat more, brother, you'll grow bigger and healthier."

Chai Xingyu felt a surge of warmth in his chest. "Thank you, Fourth Sister."

All the dishes today were to their liking. As for Chai Xingyu and Sanbao, they couldn't stop eating each dish after just one taste.

Because of these dishes, the two of them ate a full three bowls of rice.

After finishing their meal, the two of them belatedly felt awkward. But Lin Chuntao remained composed. Pei Ying cleaned up and washed the dishes, and Sanbao also went to help. After the dishes were cleaned up, Lin Chuntao washed some peaches, and everyone sat in the courtyard to rest and eat peaches.

After resting for a while, Lin Chuntao washed and cooked the pig's head before leading them to the fields to pull weeds. Chai Xingyu and Sanbao also went along.

Chai Xingyu wore his bamboo hat. Neither he nor his servant had ever done farm work before, and Lin Chuntao even told them to keep an eye on the bean sprouts so they wouldn't step on them.

After watching for a while, the two of them also started working.

Although their work was a bit rough, the two were, after all, fifteen or sixteen-year-old boys, and they could still pull up a patch of weeds.

After gathering enough pig feed in her basket, Lin Chuntao led them back home. There was still pig's head cooking on the fire, and the aroma filled the yard when they returned.

Lin Chuntao lifted the lid and looked inside; it was still a bit hard, so she added some firewood and continued cooking.

She bought some brown sugar today, and she plans to process the bitter vegetables and put them in jars.

She went to check on the bitter herbs. Lin Chunhe had turned them over in the morning, and now they were dry and had wilted a bit from the sun.

Lin Chuntao took the vegetables, chopped them up, put them in a bowl, sprinkled in salt, and began to rub them.

Watching Lin Chuntao make something, Chai Xingyu asked curiously, "What are you making, sister?"

Lin Chuntao said, "Pickled vegetables."

Chai Xingyu nodded. It was Lin Chuntao's first time doing this, and the younger girls were equally curious. So the group stood around the table in a circle.

Lin Chuntao rubbed the bitter greens for almost a quarter of an hour, and seeing that the bitter greens had been rubbed until they were full of water, she asked Lin Chunxing to bring a bamboo sieve, and squeezed the water out of the bitter greens in the basin and put them into the sieve.

Since she didn't have glutinous rice flour, Lin Chuntao directly scooped a small bowl of rice, mashed it into a paste, mixed it with dried chili flakes and brown sugar, added a little water, and frantically stirred it like beating eggs to make a paste.

The bitter greens, which had just been squeezed, were still releasing water, so Lin Chuntao squeezed them again, poured them into a basin, added the prepared seasoning, and stirred them well. Then, Lin Chuntao took out a small jar, put the greens in it, pressed them down with her hands, poured half a bowl of wine on top, and then sealed the jar.

Pei Ying asked from the side, "Should we carry it to the stove?"

Lin Chuntao said, "No need for that, just put it inside the house."

Chai Xingyu asked curiously, "Sister, how long after this can we eat it?"

"It will be ready in about five days. I'll use this to cook noodles and share them with you then."

As soon as Lin Chuntao finished speaking, Chai Xingyu's eyes lit up, filled with anticipation. He watched Lin Chuntao make the pickles with skillful and efficient movements, just like the master craftsmen in the pickle shop. Thinking of the boast he and his old man had made, he felt uneasy.

He was willing to pay Lin Chuntao, but the problem was that he had no idea how much he should pay. He had a feeling that Lin Chuntao's recipe could make her countless riches in the future. She might not agree to sell, and if she didn't sell, how could he get Lin Chuntao's sauce into their shop?

She makes sauce and sells it to them?

But in this place, in this house, she couldn't possibly make that much sauce by herself!

Besides, today is our first day here, and we agreed it was a family reunion visit, so he definitely can't mention the sauce. Let's wait and see.

Chai Xingyu and Sanbao had to go back that night. After Lin Chuntao finished making the pickled vegetables, she went to check on the meat, which was almost ready. She then asked Lin Chunxing to soak the rice and prepare the dishes for dinner.

Eat dinner early, and then let the two of them go home.

The pig's head meat for dinner was prepared the same way as before. The two of them had privately discussed at noon that they should eat less at night because it would be too embarrassing, but once they started eating, they completely forgot what they had said at noon and wolfed down their food until they were stuffed.

After eating, Chai Xingyu felt extremely embarrassed. He said to Lin Chuntao, "Sister, I'll pay for your meals. Come eat at our house from now on."

Lin Chuntao laughed and said, "Didn't you recognize me as your older sister? Why would my own brother need to pay when he comes to our house for a meal? As long as you don't mind the distance, you can come anytime you have time, and you can tell me what you want to eat anytime."

Lin Chuntao spoke with utmost sincerity, as if Chai Xingyu's mention of money again would mean he was becoming distant from her.

Chai Xingyu said, "Then I won't stand on ceremony with you, sister."

Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "No need to be so polite. It's inconvenient at home, so I won't keep you here, little brother. I'll have your brother-in-law borrow a mule cart to take you back."