Chapter 43 I Listen to You

By the way, you also need to wash the hot pot rack in advance.

It was a tripod, a bit like a hanging pot, with a pot hanging on top and a fire burning underneath.

Fortunately, June in the north is not too hot, and they are close to the mountains, so the morning wind is even a little cool.

Su Heng took out the meat that had been hanging in the well all night. When she saw the tenderloin, she thought it would be a shame not to make some crispy pork.

So the oil in the tank was reduced again, and this time it was soybean oil.

The golden and crispy crispy meat is sprinkled with a little chili powder. It is great to eat it directly or in hot pot.

Su Heng spent the whole morning preparing ingredients. She had a bit of obsessive-compulsive disorder, after all, it was her first time to have someone over to her house.

She must show off her skills and surprise them!

The guests would not arrive until the afternoon, and Su Heng was too lazy to cook at noon, so Lu Mingchuan's salary plummeted and he only had a bowl of bone soup noodles.

He didn't mind and continued to eat with relish.

After dinner, Su Heng went to take a nap while he went to clean the yard.

It was windy in the afternoon, and it would be cooler to eat hot pot in the yard, so he put away the tools for making a rocking chair under the tree.

Before Su Heng woke up, Chen Xiang and the others arrived, both carrying things.

"Why are you so polite? You even brought something."

Although he said this, he curiously leaned over to see what they were carrying.

Luo Yan was holding a bucket with water in it. Su Heng was very curious and took a look. She found that there were small river shrimps and fish as big as fingers in it.

This kind of river delicacy is the most delicious when fried. Luo Yan went home yesterday and begged her brother to take her to the river to search until dark to find so much of it.

"I didn't bring anything good." Luo Yan smiled shyly.

"Wow, this is so delicious when fried. It's a pity I don't know how to fish it out. Yan'er loves to be modest, and I like it very much."

Su Heng took it with a smile, then turned to look at Chen Xiang's basket. "What goodies did you bring me again?"

Chen Xiang was very simple and rough. She lifted the cloth covering the basket and said, "You always buy eggs, so I brought you a basket."

Su Heng looked at the basket of eggs in shock: "You brought all the eggs from home? You won't get beaten by your mother when you go back, will you?"

"What are you talking about? I'm already an adult and I'm still getting beaten."

Chen Xiang was not convinced, and she coughed lightly and explained, "I just washed clothes for the family for a month, you don't have to be too touched."

Both of them are still girls at home and don't have much spare money, but they tried their best to get the best.

Su Heng was so moved that she pulled the two of them into the house.

He brought over the candied apricot water that had been brewed in well water early in the morning and poured a cup for the two of them.

It was cold, sour and sweet, and the two of them couldn't help but drink it in one gulp.

Su Heng poured more wine for them, then patted their shoulders and said, "Just wait, I'll treat you to a feast today!"

Neither of them had ever heard of hotpot; they only knew about big pot dishes.

When they saw the pot of red solidified base material, they all hissed at the same time.

"Is this really edible?" Chen Xiang asked a soul-searching question.

"I guarantee it's edible. Trust my cooking skills, okay?"

"Is it really edible?" Meng Xiao asked again.

"Really." Su Heng explained tirelessly.

Uncle Lin also came over to watch and said with a smile, "I heard there was a comrade from Sichuan who had this way of eating it there."

Su Heng's body had never traveled far and was a native northerner, so she could only say that she had seen it in a book.

Meng Xiao untied a long box from the back of his bicycle. Su Heng's eyes lit up as she stared at him as he took it. "What is this?"

Glancing at her expectant eyes, Meng Xiao didn't keep her in suspense and opened the box to reveal two rolls of cloth and two flashlights inside.

"Didn't you ask if they had any cloth? Just now, two bolts arrived, along with the flashlight you asked about."

One of the two rolls of cloth was white Dacron.

The other roll was of goose yellow cotton cloth. Meng Xiao privately thought that this color was very suitable for Su Heng, so he chose this one.

Su Heng was happy that she had gotten the upper hand from the wealthy again, but she said, "How can this be so embarrassing."

Meng Xiao was in a good mood as he saw how she couldn't let go of the roll of cloth. He joked, "You can pay for it, too."

"Talking about money is a bit hurtful." Su Heng accepted it without hesitation, and Chen Xiang also pulled Luo Yan over to take a look.

When they first saw such a noble and handsome man, they were a little scared and didn't dare to go forward.

Uncle Lin also took a bag from the car and handed it to Lu Mingchuan who was serving tea. It was a large piece of pork belly with alternating fat and lean parts.

He smiled and said, "Yesterday, when I saw Xiao Su didn't buy any pork belly, I asked Wu Zi to save a piece for me."

Su Heng was a little surprised. She thought Uncle Lin and Meng Xiao were one family, but she didn't expect Uncle Lin to be so polite and even mention something separately.

What surprised Su Heng the most was Cheng Yi, who came with Song Wan.

Song Wan was carrying a bag of canned yellow peaches. He also carried a separate basket, the ugly kind that Chen Xiang and her friends usually used to pick grass for pigs. It looked quite heavy.

Su Heng was puzzled: "What is this?"

Song Wan smiled: "I brought it back this morning and left it at the educated youth camp for a while. I need to cover it up."

Now Su Heng was even more curious: "What is it?"

Cheng Yi removed the cloth and grass covering it, and found a big lamb leg inside.

My goodness, he heard that he was going to celebrate with his sweetheart, and he was unwilling to lose to her, so he spent such a huge amount of money.

As he was speaking, Meng Xiao and Uncle Lin, who had gone to the backyard to watch the geese, came over. Their eyes met and the air suddenly became quiet.

Su Heng reacted and asked, "You didn't... buy it from him?"

That’s what I bought from Meng Xiao.

Cheng Yi's pupils trembled. He owed this guy a favor this morning so he could buy this leg of lamb, and now he came here too.

Meng Xiao raised his eyebrows and smiled: "Oh, what a coincidence."

Cheng Yi held the lamb leg in his hand and said gloomily, "Why are you here too? Do you know each other?"

Su Heng nodded, this was obvious.

Lu Mingchuan stood silently behind Su Heng and watched this interesting scene.

"Okay, stop standing there, have some tea, and come help me prepare the ingredients."

What else could Cheng Yi say? He could only swallow his anger and pretend not to see Meng Xiao's smug look.

He and Meng Xiao knew each other in Beijing, and he never expected to meet in such a remote place. He was also severely ridiculed for his deeds of going to the countryside for love.

With so many people around, the yard suddenly became lively.

Su Heng looked at the lamb leg, which couldn't be used up in the hot pot, so she asked everyone's opinion, "How about grilling it over a fire?"

Chen Xiang was the first to respond. If the hot pot couldn't be finished, she could still have meat to eat. Luo Yan also nodded silently.

Song Wan thought both were fine, so Cheng Yi said, "Then I'll grill them."

So several grown men went to the backyard and moved the remaining bricks from the well they had dug to form a square pool for the fire.

Su Heng silently stopped Lu Mingchuan from going over to help, and decided to let the men with good legs do the hard work.

She leaned over to Lu Mingchuan's ear and whispered, "There are a lot of hard workers today. Let them do the hard work. You can slack off."

The warm tone hit his ears, and Lu Mingchuan smelled the pleasant fragrance of her hair and couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth.

"Okay, I'll listen to you."

Chen Xiang and the others who were picking vegetables by the pond couldn't help but make faces and feel jealous when they saw this scene.

It was still early, so they quickly burned a batch of dry firewood into charcoal, and then slowly roasted it over a low fire.