The children brought in the peeled garlic, and Wang gave them a bunch of scallions: "Peel the scallion skins and wash them clean."

Zhang said, "I'm good at making cotton-padded clothes, but let Yunying do the embroidery. She's a good embroiderer."

The fabrics here, whether coarse cotton or light silk, are mostly solid colors without embossed or dyed patterns. If you want to decorate them, you have to embroider them stitch by stitch.

Xiao Yunying, slicing garlic, said, "I don't know how to embroider. Sister-in-law and second sister-in-law, please do it."

Zhang and Wang exchanged a glance, and Zhang said, "Yun Ying, what did you say?"

Xiao Yunying's cleaver slipped, and she almost cut her hand.

He got carried away, didn't he? He said the wrong thing.

She quickly tried to cover it up: "What I meant was that I haven't held a needle in a long time, so I must be rusty. Also, I developed an eye disease from doing embroidery for a long time, and I can't see clearly anymore, so I can't do embroidery anymore. Mother knows about this."

Zhang brought the washed vegetables to the stove: "Your eyes are damaged, is it serious?"

"It's not serious, but I can't strain my eyes because my vision is a little blurry."

“Then let your eldest sister-in-law do it. Although your eldest and second sisters-in-law’s embroidery skills are not as good as yours, they are still passable.”

Xiao Yunying changed the subject, saying they couldn't talk about this anymore: "Sister-in-law, you recognize all these seasonings, so you can mix the red-root vegetables."

Zhang and Wang have learned a lot about cooking from her these days, and they can easily make a cold dish.

"Okay, I'll give it a try."

Xiao Yunying secretly breathed a sigh of relief, blanched the diced pork belly and rabbit meat, and went outside to use the large pot to stew the braised pork.

When her two brothers brought back the pig intestines with disgusted looks, Xiao Yunying had them wash them several more times with salt, vinegar, and wood ash. After they passed the inspection, she soaked the intestines in water with vinegar and ginger.

Xiao Yunying took out a chopstick and inserted it into the pig's trotter. When she felt it was almost done, she took out the pig's trotter, heart, and tail, and put the large intestine back in to continue cooking.

Xiao Yunying handed the pig's heart to her sister-in-law to make a cold salad with cabbage hearts, while she began to stir-fry the hot dishes.

Lively conversations could be heard coming from the courtyard. Mu Lianrong stood up and said, "They must have arrived. I'll go out and see."

Not long after, Mu Lianrong came in with a few people: "Yunyun, your second aunt is here."

Xiao Yunying was stir-frying braised rabbit meat and couldn't free her hands, so she called out while stirring the vegetables, "Second Aunt."

"Yun Ying is in charge of cooking, her skills are really good, it smells delicious."

Three young women followed behind the second aunt; they were probably her daughters-in-law. The eldest one said, "We'll lend a hand. Is there anything we can help with?"

Mu Lianrong said, "No need, it's almost ready. Just wait and eat. Go sit in the courtyard; it's all smoky here."

Xiao Yunying asked Zhang to pour the potatoes into the braised pork. Not long after, a group of women came in. They were from the village chief's family. They gathered around and wondered why the dishes Xiao Yunying made smelled so good.

Xiao Yunying really couldn't have a good conversation with people she didn't know well. After saying a few words, she cast a pleading look at Wang Shi while she was cooking.

Wang must have understood, because she took them out.

When Zhang came in, she asked, "Yunying, is it done when the potatoes in the braised pork are cooked?"

"Just reduce the sauce a bit, sister-in-law, taste it, and serve it when it's done. Also, bring me the pig intestines."

There were many people coming to eat, and the portions they prepared were so generous that they had to serve the food in porcelain basins because there weren't enough plates to hold it all.

There were too many people, and the main room couldn't accommodate everyone. Since it was still bright outside, they simply moved the tables out to eat in the courtyard.

The table wasn't long enough, so they put two together, one for the men and one for the women and children.

There were more women and children than men, so Xiao Yunying simply put two kang tables together in the kitchen to make another table. She served food separately for her own children and two sisters-in-law, making room for the guests.

The main point is that she doesn't want herself and her two sisters-in-law to eat other people's leftovers.

She wasn't sure if the women and children could handle spicy food, so the pig's trotters, large intestines, and rabbit meat were first stir-fried in soy sauce, then some were set aside, and then a few chili peppers were added and stir-fried again.

Mu Lianrong, who was in charge of entertaining the women, took a moment to go into the kitchen: "Yunyun, you must be exhausted. Are you hungry?"

"Don't worry, Mother. We've saved some food. You and your sister-in-law can eat it in the kitchen later."

Seeing that her children were already sitting around the kang table with a full set of dishes, Mu Lianrong said, "Then Mother is going out."

"Mom, go eat quickly, there are only two more dishes to go."

Xiao Yunying let the children eat first and then started preparing to make garlic ribs.

Deep-fry the pork ribs, which have been marinated for 25 minutes with cooking wine, ginger, garlic, pepper, and salt, until golden brown. Remove and drain the oil.

Leave a little oil in the pan, sauté the minced garlic until fragrant, then add the ribs, a suitable amount of light soy sauce, and chicken bouillon for seasoning.

I served the garlic ribs and had my two sisters-in-law take them out, while I took a plate and placed it on the children's small kang table.

"Is it tasty?"

"Auntie, you're amazing!"

"It's delicious, much better than my mom's cooking."

"Auntie, are you done yet? Come and eat quickly."

Luo Xin shakily picked up a piece of pork rib and used her small hand to bring it to Xiao Yunying's mouth: "Mom, you eat."

Xiao Yunying opened her mouth and ate it; it tasted good.

Spitting out the bones, he said, "You guys eat, there's only one more dish to finish."

Xiao Yunying went back to the stove, stir-fried some cabbage with vinegar, and peeked out after her sister-in-law took it out.

"Luckily, there was enough food; with so many people, it almost wouldn't have been enough."