Mrs. Ye tidied up the house for a while, and Qingtian ran back to tell her.
"Grandma woke up from her nap."
Mrs. Ye quickly put aside the half-packed things and went to the main room.
"Mom, I've bought all the food.
"You asked me to make some food to send to the families we helped yesterday. It just so happened that Qingtian's father and I ran into a man selling donkey meat at the market.
"I saw that the donkey meat was tender and fresh, so I bought a few pounds and braised it in the afternoon.
"When the time comes, cut the best shank meat and send it to a few places, and keep the rest for our family to eat."
"Donkey meat?" Old Mrs. Ye had never eaten donkey meat before, but she had confidence in Mrs. Ye's cooking skills, so she nodded and said, "Okay, let's ask your aunts to come over and eat together in the evening."
The families who came to help that night were all close to Ye Juaner's family, and Old Mrs. Ye did not know them.
If I want to go to her house to express my gratitude, I have to ask Ye Juaner. It would be easier to just invite her family of three to come and have dinner together.
Mrs. Ye naturally had no objection to this.
Ye Juaner was the first person in the village to show kindness to her family. They were relatives, so it was normal for them to visit each other more often.
After coming out of Old Lady Ye's room, Sister Ye went to the kitchen to prepare braised donkey meat.
Fortunately, there are many people in my family and the iron pot is big enough, otherwise it would be difficult to fit so much meat in the pot.
Boss Ye helped her light a fire, and the fragrance soon rose up the chimney.
The idle women in the village like to gather under the big banyan tree at the entrance of the village at this time in the afternoon, doing some needlework and chatting.
So this is also the gathering place for all kinds of gossip in the village.
There is nothing they don't know about the Zhang and Li families, as long as they don't want to talk about it.
Seeing the smoke rising from the east end of Du Village, I naturally had to say a few words.
"Who starts cooking at this hour?"
"It looks like the new one from outside the customs."
"If you ask me, people from outside the customs are just weird. What kind of meal is this, cooked neither early nor late?"
"Don't even mention it. I saw his eldest son and his wife going out this morning. The eldest son had to pull his wife on a flatbed cart. Oh, it's really hard to describe."
"Really? Why don't you just let her die of laziness?"
"Tiejun's mother, is her house next to yours?
"Yeah, let's go to your house to do some work, and take a look at what his family is doing!"
…
Mrs. Ye had no idea that the villagers were gossiping about her again. She had already processed the donkey meat and prepared the marinade, put it all into the pot, added a full pot of water and started cooking.
At first, the smell coming out of the pot was mostly of various spices.
But as time goes by, the flavor of the spices is gradually melted into the pot and is not as pungent as at the beginning.
The aroma of donkey meat gradually prevailed.
The puppy in the house has the most sensitive nose. He ran to the kitchen early, sniffing with his little black nose and circling around Mrs. Ye's feet.
From time to time, it would look up at Mrs. Ye with its big wet eyes, as if asking, what did you make that smells so good? Can you let me have a taste?
Mrs. Ye had prepared for this. When blanching the meat, she cooked the minced meat and took it out, then placed it in a small bowl aside to dry.
It’s not hot now, so it’s just right for the puppies to eat.
"You're quite capable, little thing. You can tell I have something delicious just by smelling it!"
Mrs. Ye raised her hand and tapped the puppy's forehead, then placed the cooked minced meat in the dog food bowl at the kitchen door.
The puppy immediately dove in and started eating voraciously.
"Eat slowly, don't choke!" Seeing that it was eating happily, Mrs. Ye reached out and touched its back. It looked like it was an easy-to-feed animal.
There wasn't much minced meat in the bowl, and the puppy finished it quickly, then started pestering Mrs. Ye again.
"No, I've already given you all the food. There's no more." Seeing the puppy's belly was so round, Mrs. Ye didn't dare to give it more. However, she softened her heart and promised, "There are still two corn bones stewing in the pot. I'll give them to you to chew later."
The puppy circled around Mrs. Ye a few more times, but when he saw that she was unmoved, he finally gave up and went out to play with Qingtian.
But as the fragrance from the kitchen grew stronger, not only did the puppies run back to wait, but even the children in the family could not help but stay at the kitchen door and refused to leave.
"Mom, what delicious food did you make?" Qingtian sucked his saliva and asked in a somewhat unclear tone.
The taste was so delicious, even more delicious than any meat she had ever eaten before.
In order to maintain their image as the older brothers in front of Qingtian, the other boys were too embarrassed to speak, for fear that saliva would flow out as soon as they opened their mouths.
So when they heard Qingtian finally ask the question, the five of them pricked up their ears and waited to hear Mrs. Ye's answer.
"Today we're stewing donkey meat. It's not ready yet. Go do whatever you need to do. We'll have it tonight."
Mrs. Ye waved her hand and chased the children out of the kitchen like coaxing chicks.
If it were in the past, the children would not have continued to hang around if they knew they would have meat to eat in the evening.
But today the aroma was so appetizing that even the children's favorite games lost their appeal.
Like the children, several women next door were also captivated by the fragrance.
They had just taken their needlework and moved from the big banyan tree at the entrance of the village to Wang Tiejun's house.
They could smell the fragrance from a long distance away, and it made everyone feel like their stomachs were starting to feel empty.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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