Chapter 251 Buying Sauce

Taozi spoke softly, as if making a promise to me, or perhaps talking to himself.

Taozi must be suffering a lot inside. Perhaps in Taozi's heart, he has long regarded the old base commander as a father figure.

I took a deep breath: "It's okay, I'll help you."

Taozi nodded, his eyes filled with sorrow yet resolute determination.

According to local custom, the old base chief's body will remain for three days before burial.

I weighed the can of diesel in the truck; it was enough for a few more trips.

I went home with my old pocket watch in my pocket; the little animals at home were still waiting for me to feed them.

I was in a bad mood on the way back. I regretted not visiting the base elder when I came to exchange the donkey last time.

Get him another bottle of liquor; it might help suppress his cough.

If we could meet again, would we have no regrets?

I drove home in silence. As soon as I opened the door, the dogs swarmed out and circled around me.

The passing of the old base chief served as a wake-up call, reminding me that I must cherish the people around me, and of course, the animals as well.

I kissed each of the four dogs on the forehead, and then kissed Tiedan. I really hope they can stay with me for a few more years.

On the day of the base elder's burial, people from the Eagle Base also attended.

Sumi, Sumi's father, and Mancang stood beside me, all watching in silence as the old base commander's body was consumed by the flames.

May this little old man have a peaceful and prosperous next life, with plenty of wine to drink and plenty of cigarettes to smoke, but please, no more coughing.

Taozi's tears streamed down his chin, one after another. To be honest, after knowing him for so many years, this was the first time I had ever seen him cry like this.

"Oh dear, don't cry. You're such a grown man. It's a good thing that the old base commander doesn't have to suffer from illness anymore. He's gone to enjoy his retirement!"

Brother Liu patted Taozi on the shoulder and raised his voice to comfort him.

Yes, it's a good thing not to be bedridden or constantly plagued by illness.

It will be alright. Everyone needs time to process this, and things will get better eventually.

...No sadness allowed...

A few months later, winter passed, and spring arrived once again.

As the ice and snow melted, I patted the fermenting sauce blocks on the west stove.

It makes a thumping sound when you tap it, just like a ripe watermelon.

Boil water in a large iron pot until it's warm, then ladle it into a basin.

Pick a round, plump piece of sauce and throw it into the basin of water, then scrub it vigorously with a steel wool pad.

This sauce has been sitting for several months, and some mold has grown on the surface. We need to brush off the mold.

Set the brushed sauce blocks aside to dry.

The dried sauce block needs to be broken into smaller pieces. If you try to break it with both hands, the sauce block won't budge.

His eyes swept around the kitchen, finally settling on the kitchen knife on the cutting board, and he shook his head.

This sauce is a bit hard; I'm afraid I'll break the blade of my cleaver.

In the end, I settled on the bone-chopping axe.

The sauce block was placed on the metal cutting board, and the cleaver was stomped down hard, the blade of the cleaver cutting into the sauce block.

With great effort, he removed the axe from the block of sauce, and with both hands, he pried it open along the seam.

The sauce block is solid inside, and its color is darker than its exterior. It has a rich, savory aroma.

However, the aroma of this soy sauce is somewhat different from that of soybean paste. Although it is said to have a soy sauce aroma, it also has a slightly pungent smell. It is only passable.

Besides the flavor, the sauce blocks also contained some white mold, which was used for fermentation.

Upon thorough inspection, these sauce cubes were placed very well.

However, you still need to break all the sauce blocks into smaller pieces, which is impossible to do with just two hands.

Continue using the cleaver to chop the sauce block into smaller pieces, each about half the size of a fist.

After chopping all the ingredients, put all the sauce blocks into a pre-cleaned and dried earthenware jar.

This earthenware jar is a bit bigger than the soy sauce jar.

It was originally used to pickle radishes and vegetables. We ate quite a lot of them over the winter. The leftover radishes and vegetables were put into the sauerkraut jar, freeing up this jar to make sauce.

After all the sauce blocks are placed in the earthenware jar, add the same amount of salt as the sauce blocks.

Add three times the amount of cooled boiled water.

Stir gently in a clean large tank. After a while, some impurities will float to the surface of the water.

Skim off the layer of impurities on the water surface, cover the tank with clean gauze, and tighten the tank opening with an elastic rope.

This earthenware jar for brewing soybean paste was placed right next to the small earthenware jar for brewing soy sauce, both receiving the sun's warmth.

I stared at the small earthenware jar for brewing soy sauce for a couple of seconds; it was time to pour the soy sauce over it.

Open the lid of the earthenware jar used for brewing soy sauce, scoop out the brown soy sauce from the basket with a spoon, and pour it over the fermenting soybeans next to it.

Repeat this process more than 20 times, then cover the container again and tie it tightly with an elastic rope.

This soybean paste will soak in the jar for a day, and we'll make some soybean paste tomorrow.

I'm still missing a large soybean paste cake.

Go to the west wing and find a piece of wood of suitable thickness, then cut out a 30-centimeter square piece.

Find a smooth wooden stick, carve a small hole in the middle of the wooden board, and slowly hammer the stick into it.

Boil the prepared sauce cakes in boiling water for a few minutes to sterilize them.

On the second day, the cloth used for brewing soybean paste was opened. The soybean paste blocks inside had swelled up after being soaked in water. They had changed from being completely submerged at the bottom of the water the day before to now filling the earthenware jar.

The purpose of this large soybean paste rake is to break up all the soybean paste blocks inside.

Slowly place the sauce rake into the sauce jar and press it down.

After pressing it for just a second or two, I realized that things weren't quite as I had imagined.

In my imagination, making sauce involves gently pressing down with a sauce rake, breaking down all the sauce lumps, and gradually kneading them into a fine texture.

But the truth is, you can't press the sauce stick down at all.

I used all my strength to press down on the stick of the sauce puff, and it took me a long time to finally press it all the way down.

But when I try to pull it upwards, I can't budge it.

In order to make the soybean paste well, he stood firmly in a horse stance, gritted his teeth, and lifted the soybean paste rake up hard.

Press down harder, back and forth.

Finally, after my unremitting efforts, the sauce cubes became more and more broken up, and it became easier and easier to press them up and down.

Several dogs and kittens were playing when they suddenly stopped and stared at my strange actions, all frozen in place.

Their little heads nodded back and forth in rhythm with my up-and-down movements.

I laughed, not sure if I was amused by my own ridiculous appearance or by the cute creatures.

After a while, some grayish-white foam appeared next to the jar. I scooped the foam out with a spoon and continued stirring.

Even when they were completely exhausted, the sauce blocks were not completely broken up.

Never mind, I'll leave the rest to myself tomorrow.

The first thing I did after waking up on the second day was to continue making sauce.

Since the sauce blocks have been broken into much smaller pieces, today's process was significantly easier than yesterday's.

After a short while of pounding, the sauce block turned into powder and dissolved into the liquid, becoming a thick sauce.