Chapter 621 You want to fight me?
Aunt Zhang's eyes swept across the New Year's goods piled up like a mountain on the eight-immortals table. Her brows furrowed slightly, and she unconsciously hid the feather duster in her hand behind her back.
She walked up to Zhou Yimin, her tone was filled with a bit of blame, but also with gratitude that could not be concealed: "Yimin, I told you not to send so many things over! The bacon you sent a while ago is still hanging on the beam."
As she spoke, she reached out and brushed away the snow foam on Zhou Yimin's shoulders. Her fingertips touched the rough fabric of the military coat, and she was secretly calculating in her heart.
These ten kilograms of pork are enough to eat for the entire first month of the lunar year. Beef and mutton are even rarer. It would be great for an ordinary family to be able to smell some meat during the New Year.
Although my family is not greedy for these things, Zhou Yimin is always so honest. If it gets out, it will make the girl from the Zhang family seem ignorant.
Zhou Yimin saw her concerns, scratched his head, and smiled honestly: "Aunt, please don't be polite with me. These are specially instructed by grandpa and grandma. They said that the New Year is coming soon, so let Yan'er and Lulu take care of their bodies."
He deliberately lowered his voice, as if he was talking about something confidential. "I didn't want to take so much, but my grandparents threatened me that if I didn't send it, they would break my legs with a rolling pin."
This was half true and half false, but it made Aunt Zhang burst out laughing, and the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes smoothed out.
She knew that this was Zhou Yimin's excuse, but she also understood that this kindness was as heavy as a thousand pounds.
If he refused again, it would seem awkward, so he sighed and said, "You are such a real kid."
Just as Zhou Yimin was about to thank her, Aunt Zhang patted his arm and said in an unquestionable tone, "You have to stay for dinner tonight. Yan'er's father just bought a piece of pork belly from the market yesterday, so it's just right to stew some pickled cabbage and pork for you."
Zhang Yan heard this and her face turned red again. She turned around and walked towards the kitchen, her steps becoming lighter.
Zhang Lu rubbed her back after being beaten and joined in the fun: "Yeah, brother Yimin, my mom's pickled cabbage is so delicious!"
Zhou Yimin felt warm in his heart as he looked at the busy figures of the mother and daughter.
He smiled and replied, "Then I won't be polite. It's a good opportunity to try my aunt's cooking."
As soon as Aunt Zhang's footsteps disappeared in the direction of the west wing, Zhou Yimin caught a glimpse of a hint of bright red emerging from the cloth bag in the corner of the wall.
He bent down and took out two strawberries covered with ice from the bag. The ice crystals reflected tiny lights under the light. He handed them to Zhang Yan who was tidying the tablecloth: "Yanzi, have some strawberries. I brought them here specially."
The two words "especially" were like a small stone thrown into Zhang Yan's heart, spreading circles of sweetness.
As soon as she stretched out her hand, a figure like a gust of wind snatched it away first - Zhang Lu appeared out of nowhere, snatched the strawberry and stuffed it into her mouth. The cold flesh mixed with the sweet juice exploded on the tip of her tongue. She shouted incoherently: "Strawberry! My favorite!"
He had long forgotten the pain from being beaten just now. He rummaged in the cloth bag even more vigorously with his hands, and even picked up the strawberry stems that had fallen on the ground and blew on them.
Zhang Yan's cheeks turned red, and when her fingertips touched the cold glass jar in the cloth bag, her heart suddenly skipped a beat.
It turned out that he really remembered that he had said that he loved eating strawberries. It was a casual remark he made while washing clothes by the river last year, and he still remembered it until now.
She bit her lip and joined in the search, her hair hanging down to cover the red corners of her eyes. She and Zhang Lu's hands bumped into the cloth bag several times, and finally touched a round pottery jar.
The moment the lid was opened, the sweet fruity aroma filled the room. Zhang Lu grabbed the strawberry and stuffed it into her mouth like a cat, the red juice dripped down the corners of her mouth and dripped onto her floral apron, leaving small red spots.
Zhang Yan just picked up one and saw that her sister had already swallowed five or six. She stamped her feet anxiously: "Zhang Lu, you've eaten enough, you can't eat any more!"
"I don't want to listen, you bastard." Zhang Lu puffed up her cheeks and made a face, still holding three strawberries in her hand, with fruit pulp stuck in the cracks between her fingernails.
Zhang Yan looked at the rapidly decreasing number of strawberries in the jar, and felt as if she was being pricked by a needle - these were specially left for her by Brother Yimin. She turned around abruptly and pretended to leave, and saw Zhang Lu's instantly stiff back out of the corner of her eye.
"Sister! Sister, don't go!" Zhang Lu was indeed panicked. She grabbed Zhang Yan's arm with such force that she almost pulled off her hairpin.
"Dear sister, is it okay if I was wrong? It was just a joke." She stood on tiptoes to give Zhang Yan a back massage. Her ponytail brushed across the back of her hand, making Zhang Yan so ticklish that she couldn't help laughing out loud.
"Wouldn't it have been better if you did this earlier?" Zhang Yan raised her eyebrows, slowly sat back at the table, picked up a strawberry and took a sip, watching her sister take out the White Rabbit milk candy from the cloth bag with grievance.
Zhang Lu tore open the candy wrapper and stuffed the candy into her mouth. Although it had a strong milky flavor, she always felt that something was missing compared to strawberries. She could only stare at the strawberries in her sister's hand while chewing the candy with her cheeks puffed up.
Zhou Yimin leaned against the door frame, watching the two sisters bickering, his Adam's apple rolling slightly.
Zhang Yan's slightly raised chin when she bit the strawberry, Zhang Lu's embarrassment when she was caught eating secretly, and the gradually empty jar of strawberries on the windowsill, all looked like a warm painting.
He suddenly felt that having brothers and sisters seemed to be a good choice, unlike himself, who usually had no one to discuss things with.
Smoke soon rose from the kitchen chimney, and steam mixed with the smell of coal smoke squeezed out from the cracks in the wooden windows and condensed into fine droplets on the glass.
Aunt Zhang was wearing a blue apron and was about to add more firewood when she saw Zhou Yimin standing at the door, rubbing his hands. The sole of his military boots scraped off a piece of mud on the threshold. "Aunt, let me give you a hand. I can chop firewood or light the fire."
As he spoke, he was about to go in, with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing his strong forearms. Those were the muscles he had developed from helping with housework, but now he looked a little clumsy in front of the stove.
The tongs in Aunt Zhang's hand fell to the ground with a clang. She quickly reached out to stop them. The flour on her apron rubbed against Zhou Yimin's military coat. "No, no! How can we let guests cook for us?"
As soon as Zhou Yimin's hand touched the pile of firewood, he was pushed and shoved out by Aunt Zhang.
The firelight from the stove reflected her face, and her tone was full of unquestionable seriousness: "Yimin, you don't know the rules here - men work outside and women work inside, and the kitchen is the women's stronghold. Your uncle Zhang hasn't got off work yet, you can sit in the main room and rest for a while, and wait for the food to be ready."
Aunt Zhang turned back to the kitchen and added a few pieces of firewood into the stove. The flames licked the bottom of the pot with a crackling sound, making the iron pot hot.
She scooped clean water from the jar and poured it into a coarse porcelain basin, then took out the pork belly that Zhou Yimin brought and placed it on the chopping board.
The hard frozen pork belly slowly softened at room temperature. Aunt Zhang scraped off the fine hair on the skin with a knife and then cut the pork belly into even-sized cubes. Each piece was fat and lean, and looked very appetizing.
The chopped meat was put into a pot of cold water. Aunt Zhang sprinkled a handful of ginger slices and green onion segments into the pot, covered the pot, and brought it to a boil over high heat.
After a while, white foam appeared in the pot. She lifted the lid and carefully skimmed off the foam with a spoon. Then she took out the meat, rinsed it with warm water, drained it and put it aside.
Then she brushed the iron pan clean, put it back on the stove, and after the pan was heated, poured in a little oil.
After the oil was hot, Aunt Zhang grabbed a handful of sugar and put it into the pot, stirring it continuously with a spatula.
The white sugar slowly melts in the hot oil, changing from white to light yellow, and then from light yellow to dark brown. Fine bubbles emerge, emitting a sweet burnt aroma.
At this time, she quickly poured the drained meat into the pot and quickly stir-fried it with a spatula, so that each piece of meat was evenly coated with sugar color. The meat instantly turned into an attractive amber color, and the fat was also fried out.
Aunt Zhang added star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, as well as the ginger slices and scallion segments she had just picked out into the pot. After stir-frying until fragrant, she poured in an appropriate amount of soy sauce, and the aroma of the soy sauce immediately spread.
She added enough hot water to cover the meat, then covered the pot, turned the heat to low, and let the meat simmer slowly in the pot.
While the meat was stewing, Aunt Zhang started preparing other dishes.
She took the cabbage out of the basket, peeled off the old leaves on the outside, washed the tender leaves inside, and cut them into wide strips.
She then took out the pickled cabbage from the jar, squeezed out the water, and cut it into thin strips. She cracked the eggs into a small bowl and quickly stirred them with chopsticks, so that the yolk and white were fully blended and many fine bubbles appeared.
The fire in the stove kept burning steadily, the braised pork in the pot was bubbling, and the rich meaty aroma came out through the gaps in the pot lid, filling the entire kitchen and even reaching the main room.
Zhou Yimin sat on a chair in the main room, smelling the tempting aroma, his stomach couldn't help but growl.
Aunt Zhang looked at the braised pork in the pot. The soup had been reduced a lot and the color of the meat became brighter red.
She opened the lid of the pot, picked up a piece of meat with chopsticks, and poked it gently. She was able to penetrate the skin, which showed that the meat was stewed very well.
She nodded with satisfaction and turned up the heat to thicken the soup further.
Then, she took another pot, poured in a little oil, and when the oil was hot, poured in the beaten eggs.
The egg liquid expanded rapidly in the pot and turned into golden egg blocks. Aunt Zhang used a spatula to cut the egg blocks into pieces of appropriate size and placed them on a plate.
Then, she added some oil to the pan, added chopped green onions and stir-fried them, then poured in the chopped cabbage strips and stir-fried quickly.
The cabbage strips slowly softened in the pot and exuded moisture. Aunt Zhang added a little salt and soy sauce to the pot, stir-fried it evenly and then it was ready to be served.
The last step was to stir-fry the sauerkraut. Aunt Zhang added some lard to the pot, and after the lard melted, she added the shredded sauerkraut and stir-fried it.
The sour taste of sauerkraut is stimulated by high temperature and mixed with the aroma of lard to form a unique taste.
She added a little bit of sugar to the pot to enhance the flavor, stir-fried it a few times, and then served it.
At this time, the braised pork is also cooked. The rich soup tightly wraps around each piece of meat, with a bright red color and a fragrant aroma.
Aunt Zhang put the braised pork into a large celadon bowl and brought it to the table in the main hall. Then, scrambled eggs, stir-fried cabbage, and stir-fried pickled cabbage were brought up one by one. The table was full of dishes, and the sight of them made people's appetites grow.
Aunt Zhang took off her apron, wiped the oil off her hands, and said to Zhou Yimin, "Yimin, the food is ready. Let's eat when your uncle Zhang comes back." Zhou
Yimin looked at the sumptuous dishes on the table and said with a smile, "Auntie, your cooking skills are really good. They smell delicious."
The braised pork in the celadon bowl was still shaking slightly, with drops of oil rolling down the edges of the meat and forming a small golden pool at the bottom of the bowl.
Aunt Zhang had just put the stir-fried sauerkraut on the table when there was a creaky sound of a door opening outside the courtyard, accompanied by heavy footsteps. Zhang Jianshe walked in, wrapped in cold air, with snow particles still on his army green cotton hat. He took off his frozen gloves as soon as he entered the door, revealing cracks on his knuckles.
"Uncle Zhang!" Zhou Yimin stood up first, and the hem of his military coat swept across the stool leg, making a slight collision sound.
He had just taken half a step forward when Zhang Jianshe held his shoulders.
"Yimin, why are you here?" Zhang Jianshe's voice was hoarse from the cold wind, but his eyes were bright. He looked at Zhou Yimin and then back at the food on the table, "This is..."
"Dad! Can you please stop talking!"
Zhang Lu's chopsticks had already turned three times in her hand, and her nose was almost touching the hot steam of the braised pork. "I'm hungry!"
"Zhang Lu, you just ate so many strawberries, you must be so hungry!" Aunt Zhang tapped the back of her hand, and the oil spots on her apron shook with the movement.
"Girls should eat in a more elegant manner. Can't you see Yimin is here?"
Zhang Lu's neck shrank, but she still stiffened her neck and muttered, "Strawberries are fruits, they can't make you hungry!"
Her Adam's apple moved noticeably, and her eyes were fixed on the trembling piece of meat in the bowl. If Aunt Zhang hadn't stopped her with her eyes, her chopsticks would have been poked into the meat.
Only then did Zhang Jianshe notice the dishes on the table. The braised pork in the celadon bowl was piled high, the scrambled eggs were dazzlingly golden, the cabbage strips still had green edges, and even the sauerkraut was shiny with oil.
He was stunned for a moment, then looked back at Aunt Zhang: "What day is it today? This dish is more sumptuous than the Chinese New Year."
"Yi Min brought some New Year's goods. I thought you would get off work late, so I made a few more."
Aunt Zhang stuffed a hot towel into Zhang Jianshe's hand and said, "Hurry up and wipe your hands. Let's eat."
"Okay, let's stop chatting!" Zhang Jianshe sat down in the main seat with a smile. As soon as he picked up the chopsticks, he saw that Zhang Lu's egg was already in mid-air.
He deliberately coughed twice, and watched his little daughter put the eggs back into the bowl angrily, then turned to Zhou Yimin: "Yimin, don't be polite, just treat it as your own home."
Zhou Yimin had just picked up a piece of cabbage when he heard Zhang Lu swallow the egg in one gulp. The egg yolk flowed down the corners of her mouth. She didn't even bother to wipe it off and aimed her chopsticks at the braised pork.
Zhang Yan touched her arm gently and her face turned red. She felt ashamed of her sister just now, but now her heart beat faster when she smelled the aroma of meat.
Zhang Jianshe picked up a piece of braised pork, blew on the hot air before putting it into his mouth. The aroma of the oil instantly exploded between his teeth.
He squinted his eyes and chewed for a few times, then suddenly looked at Zhou Yimin: "Did you bring this meat?"
Seeing Zhou Yimin nod, he picked up another piece and put it into Aunt Zhang's bowl: "Your aunt's cooking skills are getting better and better. The sugar color she makes is ten times better than the chef in the cafeteria."
Zhang Lu stuffed her mouth with meat and mumbled incoherently, "Brother Yimin brought good meat, just the right amount of fat and lean!"
She used her chopsticks to search in the bowl, trying to pick the fattest piece, but Aunt Zhang hit her on the back of her hand with her chopsticks: "You eat like that!"
Everyone enjoyed the meal very much.
(End of this chapter)
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