After finishing their meal, the two tidied up the table and went back to their respective rooms to wash up.

Xu Lai was really suffering from the spiciness. She drank a bottle of milk, but it still made her feel nauseous.

After taking a shower, she brushed her teeth twice before she felt the burning sensation in her mouth subside.

Zhao Qingyun tried to kiss her, but she blocked him, asking, "How many times have you brushed your teeth?"

He covered her mouth with his hand, saying, "Don't worry."

The next day, Xu Lai got up early and went to the street. She was going to buy pork today, and she had to get up early to buy the best cuts.

For making sausages and cured pork, you need to buy three-layered pork or pork belly to make them fatty but not greasy, and the meat will be translucent.

She bought the meat from one side of the market, along with the ribs, and asked the vendor to deliver it to her home after the market closed.

After buying these, she looked around at the various stalls and bought a few pig intestines. The owner of the stall she had just bought kept them for his own use, so she didn't manage to buy any.

Xu Lai went to the spice stall and bought some Sichuan peppercorns and star anise, then picked up the package and went home.

Around 11 o'clock, a tricycle drove up to the front door, honked its horn a few times, and Xu Lai turned down the fire in the pot, ran outside, and opened the gate completely so that the owner could drive the vehicle in.

The boss drove the tricycle to the kitchen entrance, opened the cargo compartment, and inside was the half-pig that Xu Lai had ordered that morning.

Grandma heard the commotion and ran out to see what was going on. She exclaimed in surprise, "Why did you buy so much pork?"

Xu Lai laughed and said, "Making sausages and cured meat, you have to stock up on some cured meats for the New Year, right?"

The shop owner chimed in, "Yes, my family made a lot too. My wife said she wants to buy a few more chickens and ducks to dry and eat."

Xu Lai asked the owner to place the pork on the board she had set up beforehand, and the owner even kindly asked, "Do you need help cutting it?"

Xu Lai shook her head and said with a smile, "Thank you. My grandfather used to be a pig butcher."

She paid the remaining balance, and the owner politely declined her request to stay for dinner, then rode away on his tricycle.

After finishing the meal, Grandpa took out a butcher's knife and began to butcher the pork. He first cut off the ribs and set them aside, then cut the meat into strips.

Xu Lai found a large basin, threw all the chopped meat into it, added salt, cinnamon, star anise, and Sichuan peppercorns, along with some high-proof liquor, and then evenly coated each piece of meat with the mixture.

She set the meat aside to marinate, then cut the remaining foreleg meat into small pieces. She added some fat, which made the sausage oily and moist. If there is too much lean meat, it will affect the taste and make it dry.

Xu Lai asked her grandmother to help her open the package in the corner. Inside was a packet of sausage seasoning, which she had specially bought online because supermarkets didn't have that many flavors.

She allocated one-third of the meat to make Cantonese sausage, and the rest to make Sichuan sausage.

They eat a lot of spicy food here, so I'll make less of the Cantonese rice noodle rolls, just enough for a taste.

Break the seasoning powder into pieces, pour it into a bowl, mix well, and marinate for a while.

This is when she goes to process the pig intestines she bought. Actually, there are sausage casings sold online, but most of them are fake and not real meat at all. Pig intestines are not expensive, so she bought some to make sausage casings.

She cleaned the pig intestines and soaked them in white wine, then went to prepare the pig's feet.

There are two pig trotters here. She plans to keep one to stew and the other to make cured pig trotters, which can be steamed during the Chinese New Year.

First, she removed the hair from the pig's feet. Then she found a gas pipe, connected it to a gas cylinder, and turned on the gas cylinder, which produced flames. This is the tool used by those stalls on the street that remove pig hair.

Xu Lai rarely used it, because she was afraid she wouldn't be able to control the heat well and would burn the meat.

After the pig's trotters were cooked, she put them in a basin, and her grandmother took a knife to shave off the hair. The pig's trotters were black on the surface, but they would be clean and white after being shaved off.

Another pig's trotter only needs to have its surface hair scraped off with a knife, a few cuts made on the surface, and then marinated with salt and Sichuan peppercorns overnight before being dried.

While she was busy, the meat had marinated well and it was time to start stuffing the sausages. She went to the tool she bought online, squeezed out the water from the casings, and then put them on.

Next, squeeze the meat into the tool and slowly push it forward until the meat enters the casing and gradually fills it.

Whenever the filling reaches a length of fifteen to twenty centimeters, Xu Lai loosens it slightly and ties a knot in it.

She could have filled the whole thing and then tied it with rope, but she was afraid that if she put in too much meat, the casing would burst if she tied it later.

She and her grandfather took turns rinsing and pushing the meat in the bowl, and before long, the meat in the bowl gradually decreased.

Two hours later, all the sausages were stuffed. Xu Lai set up two bamboo poles in the corridor, put the sausages on them and hung them up to air dry.

After Grandma prepared the pig's trotters, she put them in a basin. Xu Lai chopped the trotters into small pieces, and one trotter filled a whole basin. Grandma found a plastic bag and said, "We definitely can't finish this meal. Pack some up and freeze it in the refrigerator. We can take it out and eat it on your birthday the day after tomorrow."

Xu Lai only realized her birthday was the day after tomorrow after her grandmother reminded her; she had no idea about the time herself.

She laughed and said, "No need, I can finish it in two meals."

Grandma started packing herself up, saying, "Why not? Birthdays are big events. Even though it's not a full birthday, it's still essential for the family to have a meal together and have some fun."

Xu Lai celebrated her birthday at the company last year. She seemed to be working overtime at the time. After Liang Xuzhou and his mistress finished dinner, he bought her a small cake as a token gesture.

What did he say? Something like, "Xiao Lai, I'm sorry, I was busy with clients today and it's so late. This is all I have left. Don't worry, I'll make it up to you with a big one next year."

She now finds it all laughable; he was just making empty promises, and she actually believed his clumsy acting and lies.

Xu Lai snapped out of her daze, blanched the pig's trotters, then picked up the rice cooker to cook rice. She poured out the leftover rice for the chickens and ducks, and then scooped out three cups of rice.

After cooking the rice, she took out the blanched pig's trotters, put oil in the pot, added rock sugar, and caramelized the sugar.

After stir-frying the pig's trotters until they are browned, transfer them to a pressure cooker, add a spoonful of soybean paste and a spoonful of broad bean paste, along with some star anise and cinnamon, and pressure cook for an hour.

She took out a bowl of soybeans, soaked them in water, and planned to stew them with the pig's trotters later.

A moment later, she heard the sound of an engine and knew that Zhao Qingyun had returned. Sure enough, less than two minutes later, she saw him coming over with flowers.

He was also carrying a bag. "A new dessert shop opened downstairs from the company. I heard the employees say that the desserts there were pretty good after the meeting, so I bought some for you to try."

Xu Lai took the flowers, glanced at them, and put them down; she was still more interested in the food.