Chapter 133 Cold Noodles
The cocks crowed three times, the sky turned blue, and the smoking chimneys in the military settlement were like stars before dawn, sparse and countable.
The wooden door creaked, and Uncle Niu took Ah Shui out of the door, turned around to lock the door, and then he took the child out of the alley.
Dawn and dusk are the times when people are at their lowest. Ah Shui looked at the drowsy road and whimpered, "Dad, when will my mom come back?"
"When you grow up, she will come back." Uncle Niu said skillfully.
"The bad little sheep said my mother ran away with someone and doesn't want me anymore."
The bad lamb she was talking about was the son of the neighbor on the right. He liked to provoke Ah Shui whenever he saw her and always made her cry.
"That bad boy knows nothing, just ignore him." Uncle Niu said loudly, then turned to soothing him: "How can I lie to you? You'd be a fool if you believed him."
"I'm not a fool." A Shui was not convinced.
Uncle Niu chuckled.
"I'm not a fool." A Shui emphasized.
Uncle Lao Niu still pretended not to believe it. He let go of her hand and walked quickly in front, causing Ah Shui to jog behind him, laughing and trying to catch him.
After leaving the military settlement, Ah Shui was tired from running. Uncle Niu slowed down his pace, squatted down and said, "I'll carry the little fool on my back."
Ah Shui walked around him and continued walking.
Uncle Lao Niu smiled and followed slowly behind. He waited until Ah Shui could no longer walk before he squatted down again.
Ah Shui leaned forward obediently. She reached out and held Uncle Niu's ear, muttering, "Ah Shui is not a little fool."
"Well, you're not."
Ah Shui swung her legs, tilted her head to look at the high wall, and slowly felt sleepy again.
Hearing the breathing behind him steady, Uncle Niu turned around and avoided the market where vendors were setting up their stalls. He took a long detour through the alleys, and just before daybreak, he carried Ah Shui on his back and walked into the smoky shop.
The two baskets of buns in the steamer were already steaming hot. Sui Yu and Zhao Xiaomi worked together to take the steamer down. When the steamer was taken off, the mist in the pot rushed out and filled half of the room.
He carried two more baskets of buns and put them on the steamer. Sui Yu wiped the flour off his hands and walked out through the mist. He saw Uncle Lao Niu carrying Ah Shui into the room where dried vegetables were stored.
"A Shui, are you still asleep?" She walked over and asked in a low voice.
"He fell asleep on the road again. He was awake when he went out with me." Uncle Niu shook out the mattress and put it on A Shui. He walked out clutching his patched clothes and closed the door behind him.
"I was in a hurry to go out this morning and didn't have time to cook porridge." He looked at Sui Yu and said.
Sui Yu laughed. She went over and handed him two buns, saying, "Is that enough?"
"That's enough, that's enough." Uncle Niu smiled with his toothless mouth and said, "Ah Shui doesn't make trouble. She doesn't cry when she wakes up. You just need to pay more attention to her. You don't need to worry about her or pay too much attention to her. She doesn't run outside very often. She can play with a chicken feather for a long time."
Sui Yu nodded and said, "Yesterday afternoon, I gave her a piece of dough and she spent half a day kneading it. She's not a troublesome child."
"Yes, she's not the kind of kid who would cause trouble." Uncle Niu laughed and said, "Then I'll leave her with you. I'll go over and keep an eye on her and come back to pick her up in the evening."
Sui Yu saw him out and happened to see a boy carrying a bowl. She smiled and asked, "Are you alone? Your parents didn't come?"
"No, Sister Yu, please make me a bowl of braised soup noodles."
"Okay, come in."
The stewed vegetables were freshly cooked, and the radish was still a little hard. Sui Yu scooped two more pieces of tofu for the child and said, "Bring your own bowl, eleven cents."
"Is breakfast ready? Bring me a plate of buns." Another customer came in.
Zhao Xiaomi handed him a plate of buns and took back the fifteen copper coins and threw them into the coin box.
Four baskets of steamed buns were sold out early in the morning, and a total of 37 bowls of flatbread and soup noodles were sold. By then, the sun had risen and the heat on the earth was getting longer.
The soldiers were scattered on the training ground, and their clothes were all soaked with sweat after training, and the ten captains were no exception.
Captain Gu saw Zhao Xiping put down his martial arts stick and was about to leave. He asked in surprise, "Not practicing today?"
"I don't want to practice anymore. Come over early in the evening and practice for a while longer." Zhao Xiping opened his clothes and shook them. His chest and back were wet and sticky and uncomfortable.
"Go to your shop for dinner? I didn't eat anything when I went out this morning." Captain Jiang strode over.
Zhao Xiping waved his hand and said, "Just go ahead. I won't go. I have other things to do."
Captain Jiang looked at Captain Gu and asked, "Are you going?"
Gu Qianhu was moved, and the two of them went over together.
Zhao Xiping returned home. Mrs. Yin opened the door for him and saw several big chickens flying into the front yard. She chased them back to the livestock pen.
Turning back to the front yard, she saw Zhao Xiping walking out in a hurry again. She followed him, closed the door, and went back to the kitchen to continue cooking millet rice.
Zhao Xiping, carrying eighteen strings of cash, went to the site of the house. He first inspected the foundation, which had been completed yesterday, and then the trench being dug. With about forty people, a foundation was dug in the time it took to drink a cup of tea. Their speed was quite impressive.
When the sun was high in the sky, Gan Da and Gan Er put down their tools and walked back. In less than half an hour, they came back carrying two loads of food.
People who do heavy work consume a lot of physical energy and have a big appetite. Mrs. Yin cooked camel oil, radish and vegetable rice. The millet rice was mixed with radish, bean sprouts, vegetable leaves, and the residue from refining camel oil. Although it was not delicious, it was oily enough to satisfy hunger.
Four large buckets of rice fell to the ground, and the diggers put down their shovels and took up bowls and chopsticks to serve the rice. Taking advantage of this free time, Zhao Xiping distributed yesterday's wages.
"From now on, I'll pay you the previous day's wages every day when we serve lunch." Zhao Xiping reassured them, saying, "I'll pay you on time, and you'll work hard for me."
"Don't worry, sir. We won't be lazy or do anything treacherous."
"Yes, sir, you don't have to come and watch every day. Come back in ten days or half a month. Then you will see that the wall has been built for you."
Zhao Xiping looked at the two people who were talking and said, "Okay, I'll trust you this time. I'll ask Uncle Niu to pay you later. I'll come back in half a month."
"Okay, okay, I'll make sure you see the wall then."
Zhao Xiping looked at Uncle Niu and said, "Go get the money from Sui Yu later."
"Are you really not coming?" asked Uncle Niu.
Zhao Xiping nodded. His family was short of money, so he planned to go somewhere far away, or work in the fields to hunt some wild animals and sell them for money.
After leaving here, Zhao Xiping went to the shop to have lunch, and in the afternoon he went out with a bow and arrow on his back and the largest camel.
Sui Yu had some free time and started thinking about making cold noodles. It was easy to turn hot noodles into cold noodles by just rinsing them with water twice. The difficult part was the topping, how to make it taste good, and how to create a flavor that only she could make, which other food shops or food stalls could not learn from.
As for side dishes, soybean sprouts are a must, as well as shredded cucumbers and pickled radish strips. After deciding on these three, Sui Yu took advantage of Sister La Mei coming to deliver the dishes to ask her to help collect more pickled radishes and cucumbers.
"Has the pepper tree I gave you two years ago produced peppers?" asked Sister Lamei.
Sui Yu nodded and said, "It's blooming this year, but I haven't seen it yet, so I don't know if it's producing peppercorns."
"Then when the pepper tree has grown roots, please transplant a sapling for me. The one in my house was stepped on by a cow and it probably won't survive." Sister Lamei instructed.
"Okay, if they sprout, I'll dig one or two for you." Sui Yu agreed.
In the afternoon, Sui Yu went back. The pepper tree was planted in the yard where Zhao Xiaomi lived. Most of the pale white flowers had already withered, and clusters of fine fruits had grown where the flowers had originally bloomed. It was not yet time to eat them.
Sui Yu went to the street to buy some leeks and some garlic. Seeing that garlic was still being sold in this season, she went to ask the price and bought a handful. She then went to Hu Shang's shop to ask about Sichuan peppercorns. She learned that the clinic sold them, so she went to ask for the price. It was not cheap. Using Sichuan peppercorns in the oil would increase the price of her cold noodles by several wen.
After walking out of the clinic, Sui Yu stood on the side of the road kicking the stones at her feet. After hesitating for a long time, she turned around and went back to the clinic.
"What's wrong with you?" The old doctor let go of his pulse and said, "Judging from your pulse, you're not sick."
Sui Yu didn't move his hand and said, "Take my pulse again to see if I have a cold body."
The old doctor ignored her and said, "Your liver fire is quite strong. Stop worrying and don't need to take medicine."
After that, he called another waiting patient forward.
Sui Yu walked out clutching a handful of garlic. She knew what was going on. Since there was nothing wrong with her body, she was completely relieved.
Back in the shop, Sui Yu started making the topping. He picked and washed the leeks and put them in the sun to dry. He peeled all the garlic, smashed and diced them, and put them in half a bowl.
There was not much meat oil left in the oil tank, so Sui Yu went to the street to buy pork fat. She happened to meet someone selling camel meat, so she stopped him and asked him to buy five pounds of camel fat.
"Have you kept all the camels you brought back alive?" asked the stall owner.
Sui Yu then looked over and found that the man looked familiar. He should be the person who had harnessed the camel with him before.
"I raised it, but you didn't? Aren't camels easy to raise?" Sui Yu wondered.
"This is a male camel we brought back. It was wild and difficult to tame. I sold it to someone but it was returned and I slaughtered it," said the man.
It's a pity for Sui Yu. The camel's skeleton is not small. It will definitely be a strong helper when pulling or transporting cargo.
"Maybe it's anxious. Give it some time to adapt. The animal may be dumb and can't speak, but it knows what's good for it. If you treat it well and provide it with food and water, it won't be afraid and will naturally stay." Sui Yu handed over the money and said, "What a pity, I didn't know that. If I had known, I would have bought it."
"If this happens again, I'll ask someone to tell you?" the man asked.
Sui Yu weighed it up and decided that she would have to wait until the beginning of next spring to harness the camels again. By then, her inn would be profitable and she might have some extra money.
She nodded in agreement.
"Oh, right," the man called to her. "That incident in the desert where the bull camel bit through the rope and escaped was a misunderstanding. No one wanted to hurt you. It was Lao Qi who was hit by a hoof when he was tripping the camel, and when he was tying the rope, his arms didn't give him enough strength, so the rope came loose."
"That was my misunderstanding." Sui Yu quickly corrected himself, "It's okay, I didn't take it to heart."
The man watched her walk away, thinking that he was so happy to have two more camels that he didn't even have time to bear any grudge. It was purely because Uncle Wan and his nephew were too worried.
Sui Yu returned to the shop to refine oil, first refining lard and then camel oil. He cut the Sichuan peppercorns into two halves, and after removing the oil residue, added the Sichuan peppercorns and stir-fried them until fragrant. Then he poured in the wilted and cut leeks and garlic sprouts, fried them until they were charred, and then sifted them out. He poured boiling hot oil into the bowl of garlic cloves, and stir-fried the garlic cloves in the bowl until the spicy taste was removed by the hot oil, but the color remained clear, not yellow or burnt.
Two and a half bowls of garlic oil were prepared one after another. Not only the whole yard, but even half of the alley was filled with the fragrant and pungent smell.
The old bald man sneezed and poked his head in. He asked in a muffled voice, "What are you doing? There's almost no room in the alley."
"Uncle, come in. I'll make you a bowl of cold noodles to try. Please give me some suggestions."
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