Chapter 103 Beef Offal Noodles and Vegetable Rice [First Update]...

Just a few days later, a cold front suddenly arrived. It seemed that all the rain this year had been saved for autumn and winter. A cold, early winter rain drizzled down, and overnight, everyone was wearing winter clothes.

The beef offal hot pot, a new dish, replaced persimmon cakes and fried shrimp balls as the star of the restaurant, just as the cold winter rains began to fall.

Some people had been grumbling about not having had enough persimmon cakes or lamenting the loss of fried shrimp balls, but all of that disappeared in front of the fragrant beef offal stew.

A warm pot, invite a few friends over, eat the main course and then add some side dishes and noodles, and you'll feel warm all over after you're full.

Yao Qingqin's outdoor stall has come to an end. She ran out of ingredients for persimmon cakes in the morning, and she stopped making braised skewers for lunch. She also couldn't make fried shrimp balls in the evening because the shop was so busy.

Wenji's business is now so simple that it only offers braised dishes, beef offal stew, and rice noodles.

Things have decreased, but people are still busy.

Yao Qingqin was in charge of the beef offal hot pot stall, lighting the stove and serving the soup and vegetables. Wen's father still managed the kitchen, and Wen's mother handled the cash register. Yu Fangfang had been worried that Wen's mother wouldn't let her come anymore, but now that she only worked for an hour during lunch and dinner, helping to clear bowls and serve dishes, the work wasn't heavy at all. Yu Fangfang suddenly felt that spending a few hundred yuan was a bit too much.

She was too embarrassed to ask Wen's mother, so she could only ask Yao Qingqin quietly.

Yao Qingqin was cooking radishes. The plump, white radishes were peeled and chopped. A spice packet was placed in a large, deep pot, and the radishes were filled to about halfway up the pot. She was cooking them until the radishes were half-cooked. Recently, many of her regular customers had been asking for extra radishes when ordering. The radishes, cooked thoroughly in the clay pot and soaked in the beef offal broth, were even more delicious than the meat.

Yao Qingqin had taken good care of Fangfang, and now, hearing the other woman timidly ask her a question, she put down the knife and said, "No, it's not like you haven't been working. You've been busy for an extra half hour every night, haven't you?"

During this period, without Yu Fangfang's help, the store would have been really too busy.

Especially at night, when there are the most customers, and delivery riders also come to the store, it's no exaggeration to say it's a complete mess.

Yu Fangfang: "But..."

"There are no 'buts,' just focus on your work."

After comforting Yu Fangfang, Yao Qingqin reassured her, "The boss lady is busy taking her driver's license test recently, she won't ask you to leave. Besides, the store might have new products coming in at any time."

The young boss has been busy studying lately, but once he has some free time, he'll probably come up with some brilliant ideas.

After coaxing Yu Fangfang away, Yao Qingqin continued with her own tasks.

She has now adapted to this job, and she is not worried about the temporary reduction in workload. On the contrary, she has more time in the morning to take her daughter to kindergarten.

Now that both mother and daughter have moved out, Yao Qingqin was initially worried that her daughter might not be able to adapt. On the way to school, she quietly asked her daughter, and her daughter kicked a pebble on the side of the road and whispered that it was better now.

"I like it when Mom goes to work."

Although her mother used to stay home with her every day, her mother was unhappy, her father always said hurtful things to her mother, and her grandmother always asked her if she wanted a younger brother...

"Mom, should we go back?"

Yao Qingqin's heart softened, and she squatted down to hug her daughter: "Baby, if you don't want to go back, then we won't. Mommy has work to do."

Her monthly salary has exceeded that of her husband. Yao Qingqin only realized this after she started working. There's no such thing as forgetting or spending so much. Every month after she gets her salary, she transfers two thousand yuan to her parents first.

The old man helped her so much, and she was always grateful.

Looking back, it's laughable now that my husband didn't give me any money for household expenses and made all sorts of excuses.

Do working people not even know when they get paid? It's obvious they're making her figure out how to make ends meet herself.

Yao Qingqin cursed inwardly a few times, then gently stroked her daughter's hair. The hair clip on it was one she had bought for the child a few days ago. Her mother always advised her to spend less money, and she always refused the money offered each month. After Yao Qingqin forced it on her, her mother frequently bought picture books and toys for the child.

My baby now has several times more stuff than before, and is much more confident at kindergarten.

Meanwhile, her husband has been stirring things up lately, sometimes saying harsh words to her, and sometimes asking a mediator to persuade her.

After Yao's mother explained the reasons for the divorce to the mediators, the mediators, who were related to both sides, were too embarrassed to speak.

"I really didn't know he was like this!"

When the two families initially agreed to the engagement, she was just going through the motions. This time, it was only because the man's side said there was a conflict that she thought she could come and offer some advice. If she had really known the real reason, she wouldn't have even bothered to visit!

Yao's mother sighed, "Originally, I didn't want to say anything, but he doesn't even dare to admit his mistakes. He goes around asking this person and that person to apologize, but he refuses to come to our door to apologize. I feel that this kind of marriage is really unnecessary. You can also pass on a message and let's get things done sooner rather than later. It's better for everyone. There's no point in dragging it out like this."

“We didn’t ask for a single penny of dowry back then. Now the child is three years old, and he still doesn’t contribute anything. Since that’s the case, the child is still ours. We’ll just treat her as our daughter who married into the family. If the man dies, we won’t ask him for a single penny of child support. Also, we want to change the baby’s surname. If he doesn’t agree, then we’ll take legal action.”

As the people left the Yao family home, they sighed, "Yao's mother really lost her temper; otherwise, she wouldn't have said such harsh things."

That's true. If it were my own daughter, I'm afraid I would say even harsher things!

They relayed Yao's mother's words without any additions or alterations. The middleman wouldn't even sit for a while. Such a family, who even schemes against their daughter-in-law, really has no need to associate with them in the future.

Yao Qingqin's husband flew into a rage, shouting that he would absolutely not do it and that he would drag Yao Qingqin down with him. Only the old woman looked worried and distressed.

Delay? How will you delay?

They're making money now, so at worst they'll just have to take care of themselves. Marriage is just a piece of paper; if you don't take it seriously, who can you bind?

As for the children, their parents are taking care of them; you don't need to.

Yao Qingqin received a long message from her husband, but she didn't even bother to read it and immediately added it to her blacklist.

In short, it boils down to this: if you want a divorce, then get one; if not, then pretend you never existed.

Anyway, given how much my in-laws are pushing for a second child, I'm definitely not the one who won't be able to wait any longer.

After cooking the white radish, Yao Qingqin took out her phone to take pictures of the braised beef offal.

The supplier that Wenjia works with gets the beef offal fresh from the slaughterhouse. The advantage is freshness, but the downside is that it's not processed properly. Therefore, one of the store's major tasks now is cleaning and processing the beef offal.

Beef lungs need to be filled with water to expand, beef tendon needs to be trimmed of fat first, and beef intestines need to be cut open and soaked in flour...

After everything is processed, the fishy smell still needs to be removed.

After Wen's father finished processing all the offal, he put it into the beef bone broth that had been simmering for several hours in advance, added the spice packet that Wen Fan had prepared beforehand, and simmered it over low heat until evening, just in time for the evening rush hour.

After filming, Yao Qingqin edited the video directly on her phone. Once it was all done, she mischievously saved it, planning to post it that night.

The previously edited video of the beef offal stew has already garnered tens of thousands of views on the homepage.

The comments below were all from fans.

[Grilled fish: It looks so delicious! Waaah, why haven't they developed a phone that can smell things yet?!]

[Bieber: Hi, I'd like a beef offal stew, no lungs, lots of beef brisket, and plenty of white radish at the bottom, please!]

[momo: Hello, I'd like to eat a little.jpg]

[Kayako: Hello, please put your chopsticks away.jpg]

[What do I really want: ...I hate big data, it keeps pushing all sorts of food recommendations to me every night!]

[South of the City: Do you even know what time it is?! You bastard platform, I'll buy you out when I have the money!]

...

Such comments are common, and Yao Qingqin picked out a few that asked for the address and business hours to reply to.

Wen's mother called Yao Qingqin to eat from the kitchen.

The shop has been so busy lately that if we don't eat something in advance, we simply won't have any time to spare when customers arrive.

The staff meals at the store are usually whatever is available, just for convenience. Tonight, Mr. Wen made beef offal noodles.

The shop has ready-made beef offal. Just take it out of the braising pot, cut it up, and cook the rice noodles that are delivered. If you want spicy food, get the spicy soup; if you want non-spicy food, get the clear beef bone broth.

Fry a few extra eggs and place them golden on top of the rice noodles.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Wen ate the clear broth. The beef bone broth was already very delicious. Mrs. Wen then opened the garlic oil that Wen Fan had made and took a spoonful. The garlic was fried until golden brown. The jar was full of fried garlic and garlic oil. Wen Fan had instructed that this stuff was the best for enhancing the aroma and flavor of the clear broth.

Mr. and Mrs. Wen have recently developed a fondness for garlic oil, second only to fried shallots.

Whether it's blanched lettuce or a simple noodle or rice noodle dish, adding garlic oil transforms the blandness into a fragrant experience.

Once the pungent smell of raw garlic fades, the fried garlic crisps become fragrant and mellow, and with the garlic oil added, even the most discerning person wouldn't say that Mr. Wen's cooking is bad.

After the three of them finished their meal, it was time for Wen Fan to get out of school. With her eyes glazed over from being exhausted by her studies, Wen Fan asked her parents what they had eaten.

When Wen's mother said it was beef noodles, Wen Fan frowned.

"Let me look at something else."

When she gets irritable, she craves something substantial, so she braved the cold wind to retrieve some leftover Chinese sausage from the kitchen when she made claypot rice.

After cutting the sausage into small pieces, Wen Fan also grabbed a handful of green vegetables from his father's kitchen.

Sauté the sausage in a pan until the fat renders out, then add the chopped greens and stir-fry until just cooked. Season and then pour it all over the almost-cooked rice. Stir well and let it simmer for another ten minutes.

A big pot of rice and vegetables is ready.

The rice cooker in the shop was too big, so Wen Fan cooked a whole pot, served himself a bowl, and then served the old man next door a bowl.

Thinking it was a bit simple, I casually scooped a few spoonfuls of clear broth from the beef soup pot, added a few slices of white radish to the broth, cooked it for a few minutes, and then poured a spoonful of garlic oil on top.

One dish of rice and one dish of soup were served. While Wen Fan ate his own, Qu's father, who was waiting outside, took the other portion away.

Mr. Qu brought the food to the old man's table.

The rice absorbed the aroma of the sausage, each grain distinct. The greens were soft with a hint of their own sweetness. The sausage, after being stir-fried, was full of its own salty and sweet flavor.

The beef bone broth became even more delicious and fragrant after the addition of garlic oil.

The old man ate a mouthful of rice and a sip of soup, enjoying the aroma and flavor of the food. But as he ate, he suddenly sighed.

Mr. Qu dared not speak. A few days ago, he ate beef offal stew without restraint, and even secretly ate the beef offal he had packed home in the middle of the night when everyone was asleep. As a result, his blood pressure rose again in just two days. Now, not to mention vegetables and rice, he has to follow the old man's instructions for all three meals.

Seeing the old man sigh, he cautiously asked what was wrong. Was it because the patient from that afternoon was too difficult, or because his senior colleagues had called again to urge him to leave?

Ever since the old man set up camp here, his two senior brothers have been calling Mr. Qu every few days, speaking politely, always asking him to persuade the old man to come to his pharmacy instead of seeing many patients. They say, "He can have as many patients as he wants here!"

Mr. Qu couldn't tell the old man that he was staying because he wanted food, so he could only say that he would try to persuade him, since the old man had already come to the city and it was only a matter of time before he went to his place.

Qu's father thought to himself, "It seems that my fellow disciples couldn't hold back any longer and finally decided to take Master away."

Old Master Duan looked at his troublesome apprentice.

"Not your senior brother... but your senior uncle."

Qu's father was even more confused: "Uncle-Master, which one?"

He knew very little about his own school of thought. After all, he had only studied for a few years before opening his own clinic, which was quite different from the style of his school, which was full of doctors who treated patients in big hospitals.

Grandpa Duan: "The local university of traditional Chinese medicine."

University of Traditional Chinese Medicine...

Qu's father's gaze became vacant.

Grandpa Duan displayed a strange expression, probably indicating that he didn't want to go but dared not say so.

"He asked me to be his teacher for a while, just twice a week."