Chapter 33 Chapter 33 Jinjiang exclusive, plagiarism will be investigated (catch...
"You can pay me back next time."
Zhang Mengzhi turned around and shouted.
"Forget it, let my family have a taste of this spicy hotpot too!"
The young man had no choice but to take the bowl home.
"Why did you come back with a bowl? Didn't you go to deliver the oranges?"
the young man asked in surprise, looking at the bowl in his hand.
"It's a long story..."
The Zhang family was not aware of the conversation between the mother and son. When Zhang Mengzhi got home, he pushed the car into the yard first. It was winter now, and there was only a piece of land left for planting pea seedlings and spinach. The rest of the land was empty, just right for placing tricycles and carts.
It used to be placed under the eaves at night, but now it is more convenient to place it in the yard.
After the Chinese New Year, when the shop is renovated, the tricycle and cart can be placed in the shop at night. Although there is no need to set up a stall with a shop, the tricycle can be used to buy vegetables, and the cart can be placed outside the shop to sell braised food.
Yes, Zhang Mengzhi has thought of another way to make money for the restaurant.
Braised dishes are very famous in Sichuan Province. Many people buy them to take home every day.
The shop Zhang Mengzhi bought is in a great location. Not only is it close to the school, but it also has a dense flow of people, making it a perfect place to do business.
However, there are too few people who can take out a large amount of savings to buy or rent a shop. If Zhang Mengzhi's family had a little more money, he would buy all the shops in this row.
Yes, there is a whole row of shops opposite the school, but only a few of them are open, some selling stationery, some selling books, and they are the only one selling food for the time being.
"Brother, let's just use the leftover spicy hot pot soup to cook some noodles tonight."
Zhang Mengyu took leave to stay at home to take care of her children and her mother.
"Okay, I'll go cook some noodles for mother with basil and old pickled radish, and you feed her."
Zhang Mengzhi was bored, so he took the hot pot to the kitchen and poured out the soup. Of course, he used a colander to scoop it out before pouring it into the pot until there was no residue left.
Wash the perilla, put it in a pot with water and boil it on fire. Then take out an old sour radish, cut it into pieces and cook it with the perilla.
Wait until the water boils and cook for a while longer, take out a handful of noodles and throw them in. Cook for about three or four minutes, and a portion of basil noodles is ready.
Yes, this noodle does not contain any salt and is very light, but the taste is not bad at all.
First of all, salt is not added because the old sour radish is salty by nature. If you don’t want to be killed by the saltiness, don’t add salt.
When he was sick as a child, Zhang's father cooked this for him. It doesn't taste bad, but it's not particularly delicious either. In short, it tastes about the same as ordinary cooked noodles.
"Brother, is the noodles ready?"
Zhang Mengyu walked in.
"It's ready. Just pick it up from the pot and scoop some soup into a bowl and bring it to mom."
Zhang Mengzhi was adding water to another large pot. He was going to boil the bone soup for tomorrow's spicy hot pot. His family now goes to set up the stall every day, unlike in the beginning when they followed the students to and from school.
After they became famous, even if they didn't go there for a day, people would still ask to come to the Zhang family, so the Zhang family tried not to take leave to rest. Otherwise, just because Zhang's mother was sick today, they could completely not go to the stall.
In order not to disappoint everyone's expectations, Zhang Mengzhi went to the stall on behalf of her mother.
"Grandma, take a rest. The chicken soup my brother started cooking at noon is ready. I'll go get you a bowl."
Zhang Mengyu brought the noodles to her mother, then came out and quickly served Zhou Guilan chicken soup.
Every week, the family would buy two chickens and kill them to nourish Zhou Guilan's body, and they would put the tonic medicine the doctor had ordered in the chickens.
Only Zhou Guilan can drink this chicken soup. If anyone else drinks it, they will get too much nourishment, including the two children.
"Leave it here. I'm tired of eating two chickens a week."
Zhou Guilan sighed.
It's not that she doesn't know what's good for her, but she eats chicken so often, eating a whole chicken at a time, that she must be tired of it.
"Instead of eating chicken tomorrow, we'll eat fish tomorrow."
Zhang Mengyu spoke quickly.
"I know, I take turns eating chicken and fish!"
Zhou Guilan sighed again. Actually, she was tired of eating fish. But Zhang Mengzhi would buy more fish so that the whole family could eat it.
Who says chicken is more expensive? Zhou Guilan’s food expenses have always been calculated separately and not mixed with the Zhang family’s living expenses.
Fish was cheap, so the Zhang family could buy more. Chicken was more expensive, so they used the living expenses that Zhang Deshuang left for his mother.
"Can you talk to your brother? I don't want to drink fish soup, nor do I want to eat steamed food. Can I eat braised food? I don't mind eating onions and ginger, so why should I avoid spicy food?"
Zhou Guilan's food has always been light. Even though she sells spicy hot pot with Zhang's mother every day, she actually never eats a bite and just smells the flavor.
It wasn't that the Zhang family abused her. Even though the spicy hotpot was changed to a non-spicy version by Zhang Mengzhi, that was only for people from Shu Province. For someone like Zhou Guilan who was sick and weak, spicy food should be avoided.
"Then I'll go ask. You eat the chicken first, Auntie."
Zhang Mengzhi couldn't answer her eldest wife's question, so she left quickly to ask her brother.
"Brother, my wife wants to eat braised fish."
Zhang Mengyu dutifully relayed Zhou Guilan's request.
"I see. Go and have a rest. We'll have dinner later."
Zhang Mengzhi was still boiling the soup base when he took the time to answer his sister's questions.
"yes."
Zhang Mengyu knew that her brother would take care of it, so she left the kitchen and continued to take care of her nephew.
Braised fish, not impossible. Actually, Dapo didn't really want to eat braised fish, she just wanted to change the taste. It's just that her health is not very good, and other fish dishes with a lot of seasoning are not good for her health.
Okay, braised fish is braised fish.
The next morning, Zhang Mengzhi planned to ask Zhang's mother to buy a big grass carp when she went shopping for groceries.
In fact, silver carp has fewer bones and is the best for grilling. But this era was not like later generations where fish farms were everywhere. A few decades later, in addition to seafood, other fish were farmed in the mainland.
With no other options, the fish they can eat are all wild fish from local rivers and lakes. The size of the fish is not controlled by humans, it all depends on luck.
"Mom, are you really okay?"
Zhang Mengzhi was still a little worried when he saw his mother, who was in good spirits, stretching in the yard. But he had classes today and couldn't help her set up the stall.
"I'm really fine, don't worry!"
Zhang's mother waved her hands, indicating that she was in good health now.
After eating noodles last night, I wrapped myself in a quilt and slept all night. I woke up this morning feeling relaxed.
"Then you should put on more clothes, and don't carry the vegetables back by yourself today. You can ask someone to bring them back. Also, bring back a big grass carp! My wife wants to eat braised fish."
Zhang Mengzhi gave her mother some advice.
"I will take care of myself, don't worry! Don't put chili peppers when braising, your wife can't eat it."
Zhang's mother was a person who listened to advice. It was not worth it to make herself sick for a few dollars. As for her son's request to bring a fish, that was even simpler.
So we asked someone to pick up the vegetables and meat for the day. The person was very strong and picked up all of them at once.
At noon, Zhang Mengzhi came back to cook. By the time he finished cooking, Zhang's mother and others had also returned from setting up their stall.
"Brother, did you buy the fish?"
Zhang Mengyu poked his head in from outside the kitchen.
"What time is it now?"
Zhang Mengyu asked her sister.
"It's only eleven o'clock. Mom and the eldest wife just went out a while ago."
Zhang Mengyu took two days off and will go back to school tomorrow.
"Okay, I'll kill the fish and marinate it first. Call me at twelve o'clock and I'll cook the fish."
"Okay, brother."
Zhang Mengyu went to the main room to watch the clock.
Zhang Mengzhi took the fish out of the basin, knocked it unconscious, removed the gills, scales, gutted it, and cleaned it. He then used a knife to cut several cuts on both sides of the fish, smeared it with salt and light soy sauce, and marinated it.
Wash the ginger and divide it into two parts, cut one part into slices and the other into strips, cut the pepper into small sections, cut the green onion into sections, cut the celery into sections without leaves, and slice the garlic. Heat the pan with cold oil, add the sliced ginger, and then put the fish in;
Fry over high heat for about three minutes, then switch to low heat and fry for two to three minutes, turning the fish over frequently during this time;
After frying, set aside to dry the meat, add the previously cut ginger, garlic, and celery into the pot and stir-fry for a while, then add dark soy sauce, sugar, cooking wine, and finally put the fish in and cook for a few minutes;
When the soup is almost dry, add MSG and green onions and serve.
Because of Zhou Guilan, Zhang Mengzhi didn't add any chili peppers. Otherwise, the fish dish would be cooked differently. Not only would dried chili peppers be added, but also some green and red chili peppers would be added before serving. I wonder how good it would look.
Not only is the color bright, but the taste is also great.
In addition to fish, Zhang Mengzhi also made a dish of Mushu pork at noon today.
This is also a northern dish, Confucius Mansion cuisine among Shandong cuisine.
Slice the lean meat, wash the soaked black fungus, cut off the roots and tear it into small pieces. Beat the eggs and set aside. Since there was no cucumber, he used carrots instead.
The lean meat needs to be marinated. If there is no cooking wine, use Zhang's white wine. Add a spoonful of white rice, a spoonful of starch, and half an egg white, then mix well and marinate for ten minutes.
Pour a proper amount of oil into the pan, pour in the egg liquid after the oil is hot, fry the eggs over low heat and then serve.
Continue to pour oil, this time add the marinated lean meat and stir-fry. When the meat turns white, add onion, ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant. Next, add fungus, cucumber, and salt in turn and stir-fry, and finally add eggs and stir-fry.
Don't fry it for too long, or the lean meat will get tough. When it's done, place the Mu Shu Pork on a plate.
By the time Zhang's mother and eldest wife came back, Zhang Mengzhi had already cooked the last dish.
The green vegetables were spinach he cut in the field. When cutting the spinach, he cut half and left the other half so that the spinach could continue to grow.
There are two meat dishes and one vegetable dish, with few dishes but large portions.
Especially the grass carp, Zhang Mengzhi estimated that it weighed about 5-6 kilograms. Because the grass carp was so big, he didn't dare to prepare too much of the other dishes, fearing that he would not be able to finish it.
It is best to eat fish on the same day and not leave any leftovers, otherwise the fish will become more unpalatable as it gets hotter.
"Grandma, my brother specially cooked some braised pork today, you should eat more."
Zhang Mengyu gave the two best pieces of fish head to Zhou Guilan.
"Thank you, Xiaoyu. You can eat some too. Dapo will choose for herself."
Zhou Guilan ate the braised fish happily, showing no sign of her aversion to fish from yesterday.
Zhang Mengzhi and the others were relieved to see that she was enjoying her meal.
Although Zhou Guilan will continue to eat chicken and fish, she won't be so sick of it now that she can try a few different flavors.
In a blink of an eye, Zhang Mengzhi and Zhang Mengyu's winter vacation came.
As for the final grades, both the brother and sister did very well. Zhang Mengzhi was still the first in the department, and Zhang Mengyu also got good grades that were among the top five in the school under the guidance of her brother.
As for Xiaoyu and Xiaoxia, they also did well in the exam and the teacher even gave them red flowers as rewards!
When Zhang Mengzhi stopped going to school, the Malatang was also stopped.
They can't keep cleaning, it's always raining outside and the New Year is coming soon. Zhang's shops have been renovated, and now a group of people have to clean not only Zhang's house, but also the shops.
Zhou Guilan was in poor health, so she could only pass things around for everyone. She was not allowed to do any hard or dirty work.
"Okay, let's stop cleaning here today!"
Mother Zhang straightened up and threw the rag in her hand into the basin.
Looking at the bright shop, I can’t believe that this is the Zhang family’s shop.
"Mom, we're not going to cook dinner tonight. Can we go out for some noodles?"
Zhang Mengyu was so tired that she sat on the stool and didn't want to move.
"No one is running it now, right? People who sell rice noodles only sell in the morning, when will they sell in the evening?"
Mother Zhang didn't refuse directly, she was just worried that the noodle shop would be closed and everyone would make a wasted trip.
"Open. I asked. They are open all day now! Because it's almost Chinese New Year, people are willing to spend money. Besides, it's cold and rainy now, so a bowl of rice noodles will warm you up."
Zhang Mengyu blurted out that she had found out clearly a long time ago.
"Okay, then, we won't cook dinner tonight. Let's go drink noodles."
Mother Zhang agreed.
“Ohhhh.”
Zhang Mengyu and his two nephews jumped up.
Xia Yu and Xia Shuang came today, too. They certainly didn't come to do anything. What could a four or five-year-old do? It was good enough that they didn't make things worse.
But Zhang Mengyao and Xia Dayong were also busy moving.
The house that Zhang's father and mother bought for their eldest daughter has been transferred to the owner. It is fully furnished and they can move in with just a few daily necessities.
Like Zhang's house, it has a yard, but it has one less room than Zhang's house, only three main rooms, a kitchen and a toilet.
But it doesn't matter if the house is small, I can expand it later when I have more money. The yard is not small, so there is room for expansion.
The two children are still young, so it's fine for them to live in the same room temporarily. Of course, Zhang Mengyao and Xia Dayong are still very reliable. Although their children live in the same room, they separate the middle with a wardrobe, with the son sleeping outside and the daughter sleeping inside.
When the Xia family found out that Zhang Mengyao and her family had bought a house, they started to quarrel. But this house was given to the eldest daughter-in-law of the Xia family by her parents, so it was useless for Old Lady Xia to quarrel.
"Your brother hasn't married yet, so what's wrong with lending him your house to get married? They say the eldest brother is like a father and the eldest sister-in-law is like a mother, but you don't care about your brother at all."
Old Lady Xia was scolding her eldest son and his wife in the yard.
She went to see the yard quietly. It was a little bigger than the Xia family's. The three main rooms were all brick and tile houses, and even the kitchen and toilet were brick and tile houses, but they were just a little smaller and shorter than the main rooms.
Old Mrs. Xia and her youngest son fell in love with the house at first sight, so when she came back she asked her eldest son to give the house to her youngest son for his marriage.
"You are still alive, how dare I be Xia Facai's mother. Besides, this house was bought by my family because they loved me. Anyone with a bit of shame wouldn't say such a thing. Mother-in-law, if you keep arguing, I will go home to find my brother and ask him to have a good talk with you."
Knowing that Mrs. Xia was afraid of Zhang Mengzhi, Zhang Mengyao directly carried her brother out.
"…It's okay if you don't want to lend me the house. But when your brother gets married, you should at least show some appreciation, right? Don't worry, it won't be too much. Five hundred dollars will be enough."
Old Lady Xia spoke directly in a loud voice.
"My God, Old Lady Xia can say that. Does she think five hundred dollars is fifty? She wants that much. She can buy two houses."
Before Zhang Mengyao could say anything, the person who was lying on the wall watching the fun shouted out first.
"Yes, yes. Not only is this old lady Xia partial, she also wants to squeeze out her eldest son's family to support her younger son. This is really outrageous. How can a mother be like this?"
An elderly person said.
Even if most people are biased, they are not biased to this extent. Xia Dayong was also born from her belly, so why doesn't this old lady Xia like this son at all?
There are actually people who don’t know the truth and asked about it.
"Hey, we have to mention Mrs. Xia's mother-in-law. Because she was not liked by her mother-in-law, Xia Dayong was taken to her mother-in-law to be raised as soon as he was born. Except for feeding, he stayed in Grandma Xia's room all the time. Mrs. Xia didn't like her mother-in-law, so naturally she hated the son who was raised by her mother-in-law."
The neighbors around told the truth.
"If you ask me, it's her own fault. What daughter-in-law would go against her mother-in-law as soon as she gets married? That's what Old Lady Xia did. If it were me, I wouldn't like a daughter-in-law like that either."
The neighbors peeled off Old Lady Xia's face to let everyone know what kind of person she was.
"Mother-in-law, you heard it all. It's not that I, as a daughter-in-law, am unfilial. Everyone thinks you're going too far. Even if we are the brother's sister-in-law, it's not our turn to take care of the brother-in-law! He has hands and feet, and he's not disabled and doesn't need us, the brother and sister-in-law, to support him. Okay, Dayong and I have discussed it. After we leave, the room you gave us will be given to the brother-in-law."
Zhang Mengyao said helplessly.
Logically speaking, since the house was divided between her and Xia Dayong, it became their private property, and no one would say anything even if they sold it.
But now they are giving the house to their brother-in-law (younger brother) for free. Who wouldn't have to praise their generosity?
Zhang Mengzhi came up with this idea for her sister. It's easy to sell the house, but it's troublesome to sell it later! Mrs. Xia is not a particular person. Instead of letting her keep pestering her, it's better to give the house to her and the younger brother of the Xia family.
As a result, Zhang Mengyao and Xia Dayong's reputation improved, and no matter how many bad things Mrs. Xia said about them, no one believed it.
After all, no matter how small a house is in the city, it still costs one or two hundred dollars!
In this case, who would still believe the rumor that Xia Dayong is unfilial?
When Mrs. Xia heard what her daughter-in-law said, she almost died of anger. Because Zhang Mengyao didn't give this house as a gift, she also regarded it as her own house.
But now that Zhang Mengyao said this, she accepted the favor. From now on, when people chat with her, they will only say that Zhang Mengyao is a filial daughter-in-law.
But she couldn't say that the house originally belonged to her, because it was clearly written when the family was divided that the house was given to the eldest son, and even the name of the eldest son was written on the house title.
So now Old Lady Xia felt very uncomfortable, unable to breathe either up or down.
Seeing her like this, Zhang Mengyao was delighted.
She took out the house deed and placed it in Old Lady Xia's hand, "Mom, keep the house deed. My brother-in-law is getting married, and it's just right for the new house."
See if I can disgust you to death.
"Dayong, let's go!"
Zhang Mengyao placed the last pot on the cart, covered it with a waterproof sheet, and got on the tricycle with her husband.
We are moving today and I borrowed both the cart and tricycle from my mother's house so that we can move everything at once to avoid moving back and forth repeatedly.
"Xia family's eldest daughter-in-law, come back and play when you have time!"
Someone who had a good relationship with Zhang Mengyao shouted.
"Okay, I'll come back to play with you guys then."
Zhang Mengyao turned around and responded, and soon the tricycle disappeared. "Xia Dayong married a good wife. Her family even bought a house for them."
At this moment, I don’t know how many people envy Xia Dayong, especially those men from poor families, who all want to marry a wife like him.
Isn’t there a saying that goes, 'A virtuous wife helps me achieve my ambitions, and I repay her with ten thousand taels of gold'?
Of course, they have it in The Legend of Chusen, but it’s hard to say about the ten thousand taels of gold.
Bang.
"Someone come, Old Lady Xia has fainted."
The Xia family was in chaos, but none of this had anything to do with Zhang Mengyao and his wife who had left early.
Zhang Mengyao and Xia Dayong came to their new home and looked at the three spacious main rooms and the large yard. The smiles on their faces never faded.
"My mom and dad are good to me?"
Zhang Mengyao said to her husband proudly.
"good."
Xia Dayong had to admit that compared to his family, his parents-in-law really loved their children.
It was the first time he had seen a man treat his daughter so well even though he already had a son.
The total cost of this house is at least a thousand yuan. Who can say that my parents-in-law are not good to their daughter when they spend it like this? My brother-in-law's future marriage is even easier to predict. I'm sure everyone around them is eager to marry their daughters to the Zhang family.
"Okay, move everything down. I have to treat my parents to a housewarming dinner tomorrow!"
Zhang Mengyao patted her husband on the shoulder. She didn't tell him that four hundred yuan out of the one thousand yuan was left by her biological parents.
What's the use of saying it? Six hundred yuan is not a small amount! Her parents were very good to her. When she got married, they gave her three hundred yuan as a dowry, which Xia Dayong didn't even know about. And the bicycle was also given by her parents.
All in all, she received benefits of over a thousand dollars from her mother's family.
In fact, Zhang Mengyao was also surprised that the Zhang family had so much money, because no one in the Zhang family worked except Zhang's father, and it would be impossible to save so much money relying solely on Zhang's father's work.
However, the Zhang family has so much money, so Zhang Mengyao is very curious, where does the money come from?
"Mengzhi, as our son, it's time for us to tell you something."
Zhang's mother and her husband called their son to their room, when everyone else in the house was asleep. Everyone was very tired from cleaning the shop during the day, so as long as they didn't make too much noise at home, they wouldn't wake them up.
"Mom, tell me!"
Zhang Mengzhi knew that his parents’ next words might surprise him, but he never expected that it was related to his mother’s life experience.
"I am not your grandparents' biological daughter."
Mother Zhang gave her son a big surprise.
"What?"
Zhang Mengzhi shouted in a low voice. If he hadn't remembered that it was almost midnight and everyone was asleep, he would have shouted loudly.
"My biological parents left, but I was too young to take them with them. They also didn't know if they could leave China safely, so they gave me to adoptive parents."
Mother Zhang's tone was very calm when she mentioned her biological parents.
"No wonder grandpa and grandma got a small house from the big boss, it seems it's because of you, mom!"
A big boss was too good to the housekeeper. Not only did he give her money but also a house when she left. It was really too good. But if it had something to do with Zhang's mother, then it made sense.
"Yes, there are some gold bars besides the small building."
Mother Zhang took out a cloth bag from under the bed and opened it to reveal a few small gold bars.
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