"I will be the head chef for the banquet, and my eldest sister-in-law, second sister-in-law, and Mingqi will help out by washing and chopping vegetables.
Then we invited six people from the brigade to be responsible for serving food, passing around dishes, and washing dishes.
There are nine hot dishes and three cold dishes.
Three cold dishes: braised pig's head, pig's tongue and pig's ears. When I return to school tomorrow, I will ask my classmates if they can sell us a few pig's heads. The price of pigs has been set at the end of the year, so there should be no shortage of these things.
For hot dishes, there is mushroom and pork soup, sour cabbage, stir-fried lettuce, scrambled eggs with leeks, shredded red and white radish, steamed fish, braised pork with preserved vegetables, stir-fried pork head with chili peppers, and fried tofu.
"That's all the dishes we have. There's also two taels of wine on each table." Zhang Qiurui was considering the dishes for the banquet.
As for asking their family members to be responsible for washing and cutting vegetables, they are afraid that outsiders will come and secretly take away a piece of meat or a handful of vegetables, which will cause a lack of ingredients when preparing the banquet, and it will be a joke.
It's always more reassuring if you do these jobs yourself.
"Okay, the dishes are rich and will not disappoint Wenmin and Yangyang. I will go back tomorrow and ask the eldest brother to make two trips first to invite my nephew and your nephews from your mother's side." Zhang Ercheng nodded in agreement.
"Wenmin, if Yangyang brings a lot of dowry, you should consider borrowing a few bicycles to move the things." Zhou Guihua said.
"Also, on the wedding day, please ask the team leader to keep the accounts." Zhang Ercheng added.
The Zhang family sat together in the main hall, everyone's face was filled with joy and anticipation for the upcoming happy event. They discussed for more than two hours, one after another, discussing the various details of Zhang Wenmin's wedding.
Each person was assigned specific tasks.
..........
The next day, Zhang Qiurui came to the school and went straight to Wang Shi to explain his purpose: "Wang Shi, my family is having a wedding, and I'd like to ask you for a favor. Can you get three pig heads, ten pig tongues, and ten pairs of pig ears from your father?"
"Leave it to me. I'll tell my dad when I get home. They're just a few pig heads, not valuable things. With our relationship, how can I not get them for you? Don't worry, I'll bring you a letter tomorrow." Wang Shi patted his chest, indicating that he would take care of it.
The next day, Wang Shi brought him good news, saying that his father had agreed to leave some good pig heads, pig tongues and pig ears for her, and told her to just go and get them when the time comes.
As for the price, no meat coupons needed, just 30 cents per pound.
In those days, pork cost 75 cents per pound, and you needed a meat ticket to buy it. Wang Shi's father was able to give this price, which showed that he was very considerate of Zhang Qiurui's family.
........。
"Classmates, before class, the teacher wants to tell you two things.
First of all, today is December 31st, and tomorrow is the first day of 1976, which is also New Year's Day. We have a day off. The teacher wishes you a happy New Year's Day. You are one year older.
The second thing is that the final exams will be held on the first and second days after returning from New Year’s Day. We will have a day off on Sunday. After we go to school to get the transcript on Monday, the school will be on winter vacation.
This winter vacation is from January 5th to February 7th." After hearing the teacher's words, the students cheered in the classroom, especially those who were particularly excited about the news of the winter vacation.
"Teacher, do we have homework during the winter vacation?" a classmate raised his hand and asked.
"There will definitely be homework during the winter vacation, and teachers of each subject will assign it to you according to the situation." Then, Li Xin explained in detail the precautions for the final exam, reminding everyone to carefully review the questions and check carefully to achieve good results.
The final exams were coming soon. After Zhang Qiurui finished the exams for two days, he went back to the production team that night.
Zhang Mingqi stayed in the county for one night and went back only after receiving his report card and homework assigned by his teacher.
........。
January 5th was only three days away from her third brother's wedding.
Early in the morning, Zhang Qiurui got up and made breakfast, and the whole family started to get busy after breakfast.
The two married sisters also returned to their parents' home today. Since their younger brother is getting married, they naturally have to come back to help.
As the chef, Zhang Qiurui took inventory of all the ingredients prepared at home and felt relieved when he saw that there was no problem.
"Mom, I'm going to start braising the pig's head, pig's ears, and pig's tongue. Should we kill the pigs we raise?" Zhang Qiurui had ordered the pig's head and other things from Wang Shi. Her second brother also brought them back yesterday, and now they were waiting for her to process.
"I've asked your eldest brother to ask the team leader to beat up the pig-killing cop. When your eldest brother comes back, I'll let your father, eldest brother, and two uncles kill the pig.
The knife has been sharpened, and the pig has been tied up and placed on the bench." Zhou Guihua said as she walked out of the kitchen and pointed to everything that had been prepared in the backyard.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Qiurui nodded and admired Zhou Guihua's arrangement very much.
She knew that Zhou Guihua always managed to arrange everything in an orderly manner, no matter how big or small the family affairs were.
Zhang Wenguo came back soon, holding the pig-killing order issued by the brigade in his hand, and his face was full of joy.
He handed the note to Zhou Guihua to take a look at, then joined in the preparations for slaughtering the pig.
The four men acted quickly. Zhang Ercheng and Zhang Wenguo, father and son, each grabbed one of the pig's hind legs. The second uncle held a shiny pig-killing knife, and the eldest uncle prepared a basin to collect the blood.
"One, two, three!" Accompanied by a loud slogan, the butcher knife was accurately inserted into the pig's neck. Blood gushed out instantly and flowed into the large basin that had been prepared long ago.
After the pig let out a shrill howl, the sound gradually died down, leaving only the weak twitching of its body.
Mingren, Minghua and several nephews watched the pig slaughtering with great interest.
After the pig's blood has drained out, set it aside. Once it solidifies, you can use it to stir-fry or make soup. It's a delicious dish.
The pig was hung upside down again, and her second aunt took the butcher knife and began to dissect the pig.
After removing the wild boar's head, Zhou Guihua immediately asked Ming Ren to take it to the kitchen.
Zhang Qiurui began to braise pig heads, pig ears and pig tongues.
She skillfully set up a large iron pot, poured clean water into the pot, added the spice bag bought from the trading supermarket, poured in light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, soy sauce, and salt.
Make sure the water can cover the food.
As the fire continues to burn, the kitchen is filled with an enticing aroma during the braising process. The unique deliciousness of the pig and the aroma of the braising are intertwined to form an indescribable tempting aroma.
Time passed minute by minute, and Zhang Qiurui used chopsticks to test the doneness of the pig's head from time to time, until she nodded with satisfaction, knowing that the ingredients had been braised to perfection, retaining the tenderness of the meat and fully absorbing the mellow flavor of the braising liquid.
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