Chapter 170
After the New Year holiday, when things are less busy, Yao Chunnuan goes home for lunch.
The main reason was that it was too cold. If I had eaten at the City Lord's Mansion, the hot dishes would have been cold by the time they were served. It would have been better to go back home and eat in a hot pot, with a saucepan, some meat, and some small vegetables from my own heated kang. It was so delicious.
As soon as she returned and took a sip of hot tea, the little guy came running over, squeezed into her arms, arranged himself to sit, and took her free left hand in his arms, "Mom, Xiaoxi wants to tell you something!"
"What's up?"
"The city lord's husband, Yin, came to our house today."
Yao Chunnuan already knew that the City Lord's wife and Xing's mother had come to visit their home early this morning, but as a child, she needed more praise and encouragement. "Yes, mother knows. Thank you Xiaoxi for telling me."
Sure enough, upon hearing her words, little Yao Xi smiled happily, happy that she had helped. Then she waved her hand and said generously, "You're welcome."
The next day, Yao Chunnuan brought some homemade bacon and took little Yao Xi to the Xing Mansion.
Chinese people value reciprocity, and this applies even to visiting each other. You can't just have people come to your house every time and never return the favor, right? And with the involvement of various forces, there are more issues to consider, and it's definitely no longer as simple as before.
As for the bacon, she had mentioned it a few days ago, wanting to eat some, so her father went to the slaughterhouse and ordered thirty or forty kilograms of top-quality pork belly to make it.
As the year draws to a close, slaughterhouses have to kill a lot of livestock every day to meet the needs of people in the market.
Yao's father went to the slaughterhouse and people recognized him as Lord Yao's father. The next day, the best pork belly was cut for him.
To prevent sick pigs from entering the market, all pigs released from farms are taken to the slaughterhouse. Once confirmed healthy, they are slaughtered en masse before being shipped to various locations for sale. Privately-raised pigs that wish to slaughter their own animals must also have a government official inspect them before slaughter to confirm they are healthy and stamp them with a large red seal. While this additional procedure is a bit more inconvenient, the people understand it's for their own benefit. After all, this extra step is free, and it saves the City Lord's Mansion officials and staff from the hassle.
After getting the pork belly, cut it into strips, then fry it with salt. Put the bay leaves, cinnamon, star anise and other spices and coarse sea salt into the pan and stir-fry. After the aroma comes out, let it cool.
Finally, take a small jar, spread the cut pork belly strips, a layer of salt and a layer of meat, cover it tightly and press it firmly, then put it in a corner. Wait for ten days or half a month. When the pork belly is well-seasoned, you can hang them on the stove and smoke them with the remaining smell of smoke.
Although the bacon is black after being cooked, it tastes very delicious. Whether it is used to make soup or stir-fry, it is particularly delicious and fat but not greasy.
Look, the bacon has just been smoked. They just tried it last night and it tastes great. This time when they were visiting, Yao Chunnuan specifically asked her mother to wrap two strips in oil paper.
Yao Chunnuan's visit surprised and delighted Huo Wei. Fang Yunzhi wanted to follow her cousin and meet the famous Yao Gongcao, Lord Yao! But Huo Wei thought about it and sent her away to do something else, not letting her follow.
As soon as he stepped through the door, the little guy couldn't wait to say, "Grandma Xing, Mommy and I are here to see you."
The arrival of the mother and daughter made Xing's mother smile from ear to ear, "Great, great!"
"Oh, and bring some black, good-looking Qi's meat!" Little Yao Xi pointed at the basket with her little hand and said in a baby voice, "Grandma Xing, remember to take Qi."
"You still know that this meat is delicious?"
"The tied duck."
Yao Chunnuan explained, "Don't mention it. This little girl is just a greedy cat. Last night, she saw us eating bacon and insisted on eating it. She got mad when we didn't let her have it." The bacon was made of pork belly. It was fatty but not greasy for adults, but too greasy for a child. If she really ate it, she would have diarrhea.
"In the end, I had no choice but to tear off some lean meat for her to try. Fortunately, she only had four little baby teeth, but she still enjoyed the meat."
The little girl also knew that her mother was talking about her. She turned around, climbed on top of her using her hands and feet, then kissed her, hugged her neck and said, "Be good, Xiaoxi, don't be angry, mother."
Mother Xing was so adorable by the little guy that she cried out "oh oh" and wished she could hold the little guy in her arms and cherish him as much as possible.
After chatting and laughing for a while, Huo Wei arrived.
Upon seeing her, Yao Chunnuan made a blessing gesture, but was quickly stopped by her, "Ah Nuan, can I call you Ah Nuan like my mother-in-law? We are about the same age, you can also call me Ah Wei."
Yao Chunnuan smiled and said, "Sure." The name is just a title.
"Ah Nuan." Huo Wei called her, and then looked down to see little Yao Xi lying on Yao Chunnuan's thighs, curiously listening to their conversation. Huo Wei touched the small tuft of hair on her head and said, "Little one, call me Aunt Wei from now on. Lady of the City Lord is too formal."
"Aunt Hui!" the little guy called out sweetly and loudly.
"It's Aunt Wei—" Yao Chunnuan corrected her.
"Gray-Gray Auntie!" The little guy tried very hard to pronounce the name, but still couldn't pronounce it correctly. Forget it, let's just call her Gray Auntie. The child is still in the developmental stage, so it's normal for the pronunciation to be incorrect.
After playing with the child for a while, the two moved to the warm room in the flower hall, while little Yao Xi was led by the maids to play nearby.
The little girl is quite easy to coax. When someone plays with her, she looks up and sees her mother within her sight, and the little girl is very satisfied.
"Ah Nuan, I have a deep connection with you. You are a woman who started from humble beginnings, but you have made it to where you are today, holding a high position. You are truly a great honor for us women."
In response to her compliment, Yao Chunnuan just smiled and said, "That's too much praise. In fact, it's all a matter of time and luck." She could only say that heroes are made by the times. She has the ability, but if it were a peaceful and prosperous time now, she probably wouldn't be able to climb so fast.
"No, no, no. Your rise may have been due to luck, but your personal ability is definitely the most important factor."
That's true.
"Ah Nuan, I can see that you are a sincere person, so I won't play tricks on you. There is something I would like you to give me some advice or suggestions on, is that okay?"
"Awei, if you have something to say, just tell me."
"Then I'll be frank. I want to go out and do something. I don't want to stay in the inner house all day, doing nothing. I want to do something for Yichun and the people within my ability, just like you did. I don't have to work in the city lord's mansion, and I don't have to hold any official position. Do you think I can do something?"
Yao Chunnuan raised an eyebrow at her words. This straightforward approach, and this personality, matched the information she had gathered; he was a broad-minded person. Then Yao Chunnuan fell into deep thought. What could she do...
"Of course, if you feel it's too presumptuous, you can tell me directly. I really want to help. You are so smart, I don't want to go around in circles..." Huo Wei explained.
Yao Chunnuan nodded in understanding, "There is something suitable for you to do."
Huo Wei was overjoyed when she heard this. She asked curiously, "What's the matter? Tell me."
Yao Chunnuan said, "Open a girls' school."
Yichun Public School accepted both male and female students. While the elementary school had no gender-separated classes, the university had separate classes. Even so, there were still complaints from the outside world. She had originally planned to open a girls' school after the following year and move the girls out of Yichun Public School. Now that Huo Wei had mentioned wanting to do something for the people of Yichun, she felt that she was a suitable candidate for the position of headmaster.
She also guessed that Huo Wei's most urgent task was to get pregnant as soon as possible and give birth to their city lord's child, which was the major event that the entire Yichun faction was looking forward to. In other jobs, pregnancy might not necessarily require someone to be present, but running a girls' school and being the headmaster was different.
Huo Wei's eyes lit up when she heard about this job, and she admired Yao Chunnuan deeply. This was a noble job that was easy to build reputation for. She could tell that Yao Chunnuan's suggestion was tailor-made for her.
Her suggestion was really good, which showed that she was a sincere person, just like the compliment she just gave. Moreover, she suggested doing it herself, which showed that she was very confident and had no fear that I would steal her limelight if I did it well in the future.
Suihua, Hui'an Town
A group of people were busy as hell. Some elderly people even came out of the house and waited for the results tremblingly in their not-so-thick winter clothes.
"Come on, light a fire and see if this kang is warm!"
"I'll do it, I'll do it!"
Many people rushed to the kitchen to light the fire, and more people stayed where they were.
"A Shen, is it okay for you to make the kang like this?" People couldn't help but worry when they didn't get any results.
The two young men surrounded answered their questions in the affirmative.
"Don't worry, it will be possible."
"Yes, when we both arrived in Yichun, we were taught by experienced craftsmen. They all made kangs this way."
"Is it true that Yichun doesn't charge us tuition?"
"As the saying goes, cheap goods are not good, and good goods are not cheap." If I don't charge money, I will always worry that others have not taught me completely.
Shi Guangzhu happened to hear what was said in the crowd, and he immediately scolded him, saying in a bad mood, "Okay, stop taking advantage of others. The people in Yichun are too rich to look down on the small amount of money we give them. Besides, Lord Yao is the Gongcao of the Yichun City Lord's Mansion. He means what he says. If he says he will teach you for free, he must have taught you everything he can, and he won't hide it." It's not necessary for them to do that.
Finally, he added, "If there are any mistakes or omissions, it must be because Ah Shen and the other two didn't learn well!"
As soon as he finished speaking, there was an exclamation from inside the room, "It's warm, it's warm, the kang is starting to get warm!"
Hearing this, a group of people rushed into the house and were delighted to touch the warm kang.
Some even encouraged the homeowner, "Uncle Chen, try lying down on it!"
“Hey!”
With everyone's help, the old man named Uncle Chen lay down, covered with a not-so-thick quilt. At first, everyone could see him shivering unconsciously from the cold, but soon he stopped shivering and felt at ease.
"How about it?"
"Comfortable and warm!" Uncle Chen sighed comfortably. It had never been so warm in this winter.
"That's what I said. Lord Yao actually asked us to send two people to learn the skills of making a kang. How could he not teach us?"
After confirming that Ah Shen and the other boy had mastered the kang-rolling technique, they now needed to consider how to quickly roll out the kang. Shi Guangzhu frowned and said, "It's still a bit slow with just the two of you. The weather is getting colder. If we had a few more people, it would be much faster. I just wonder if Master Yao would mind if you took on a few apprentices?"
The man named Ah Shen shook his head. "Uncle, the issue you're worried about has already been taken into consideration by the Yichun City Lord's Mansion. Before we returned after learning, we were told that they didn't mind us teaching others the kang-making technique."
Everyone was very happy to hear this.
Some elderly people were even more deeply touched. "It's really righteous. This unique technology can be used to make money."
"But it seems that the Yichun City Lord's Mansion has never used it to make money." In Yichun, many families' first kang is free, and only the second and third ones are charged.
"What a good official."
"Yes, this is what a good official should do to plead for the people."
Shi Guangzhu nodded in agreement. He was truly a good official with a broad mind and great compassion. After all, Hui'an Town wasn't even under his jurisdiction, yet they had been able to put aside their differences of opinion and position, and even had someone teach them how to make a kang. This winter, fewer people would freeze to death in Hui'an Town than in previous years, right?
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