After that, Wenxi began preparing the dishes. She chopped the scallions, ginger, and garlic and set them on a plate. She also chopped the pork and potatoes, blanched the pork heart and lungs and cut them into pieces, and took out a handful of pickled vegetables from the pickle jar, washed them, chopped them, and set them on a plate.
Then I heated oil in a wok and started making braised pork belly with potatoes. After that, I continued making pork heart and lungs...
When Shen Jiaojiao and Jiang Yue returned, they saw Wen Xi already busy in the kitchen, so they quickly came over to help. They were both shocked to see that Wen Xi had almost finished preparing.
"Xiaoxi, you're moving way too fast!" Shen Jiaojiao exclaimed.
"I had almost finished preparing this morning, so it's naturally faster now," Wen Xi said with a smile.
We had arranged to have New Year's Eve dinner at noon, so there was no need to worry about everyone arriving early. Several main dishes only needed to be heated up, so it wasn't troublesome. Therefore, Wenxi wasn't in a hurry. She asked Jiang Yue to keep an eye on the pig's heart and lungs in the pot, and then she used a separate iron pot to start cooking the fish.
She first stir-fried the chopped pickled vegetables in a pot until fragrant, then poured in a bottle of hot water. After the water boiled, she added the tender white fish slices.
After the fish fillets were prepared, Wenxi made a braised crucian carp, which was used for plating. Then she made a crucian carp stew with tofu.
After Wang Xinru washed the vegetables and brought them into the kitchen, Wen Xi made lotus root stewed with pig's trotters, cucumber stir-fried with eggs, water spinach with garlic, braised eggplant, stir-fried green peppers with meat, loofah and meatball soup, stir-fried amaranth, stir-fried green beans, and tiger-skin green peppers.
Including the dishes brought out from the system kitchen, there were a total of twenty dishes, but Wenxi did not plan to serve them all at noon, because some dishes were to be saved for the New Year's Eve dinner.
After all the dishes were prepared, the group moved the kitchen table to the living room and combined it with the living room table, so that everyone could sit down for lunch.
Around 11:30, people started arriving one after another. The village officials' families only brought the husband and wife; they didn't bring their whole families.
After all, it's just a New Year's Eve dinner, not a banquet, so it's not appropriate to bring your whole family, or even more than ten people, to eat together.
Since not everyone had arrived yet, Wenxi brewed tea for them and invited them to sit down, chat, and drink tea.
Once everyone had arrived, Wenxi and the other three started bringing the dishes to the table. Zhou Bai, who was also an old friend of Wenxi, didn't wait there when he arrived, but instead came to the kitchen to help Wenxi.
Soon, a variety of delicious dishes were laid out on the table, including lotus root stewed with pig's trotters, potato stewed with chicken, fried meatballs, cucumber stir-fried with eggs, water spinach with garlic, green pepper stir-fried with pork, loofah and meatball soup, crucian carp stewed with tofu, braised crucian carp, fish fillet soup, braised pork, and braised heart and lungs, a total of twelve dishes.
Aunt Meihua and Captain Qian didn't say anything when they saw so many dishes. They must have made so many dishes specially because it was New Year's Eve dinner. They certainly didn't eat like this on ordinary days.
Wenxi served sweet potato rice, steamed potatoes, and steamed sweet potatoes on the table, and then everyone sat down to eat.
"Dear uncles and aunts, thank you all for taking care of us this past year." Wenxi stood up, offering tea instead of wine to express her gratitude.
To be honest, if it weren't for Captain Qian protecting them, the villagers would probably have competed with them for the watermelon planting business.
Shen Jiaojiao and Jiang Yue also stood up and said, "Thank you, Uncle and Aunt, for taking care of us."
Captain Qian said with a smile, "Please sit down. Actually, we should be thanking you. You've led the team to earn so much money, allowing everyone to live a better life. We should all thank you properly."
“We are all from the Fengshou Brigade, and we came to the countryside to contribute to the construction of our motherland, so it is only right that we contribute to the Fengshou Brigade,” Wen Xi said with a smile.
After that, everyone started eating. Wenxi told Wang Xinru and Donghua to help themselves to the food and not to be too reserved. If they were too reserved, they would not have enough to eat and would be neglecting themselves.
Time flies! Donghua not only survived Wenxi's help, but she's also almost twelve years old and starting school. Although she's too young to take the college entrance exam, as long as she studies hard, her future will definitely be bright.
The meal was a great success, with both hosts and guests thoroughly enjoying themselves and all the dishes on the table being devoured.
After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill and left, Wang Xinru and Zhou Bai stayed behind to help wash the dishes, since there were many people eating and quite a few utensils.
After everything was finished, Wang Xinru and Donghua went back.
After having some fruit to cleanse their palates, Wenxi and the others started preparing for the New Year's Eve dinner. The three of them, plus Qin Mi, would be having dinner together that night. They only needed to cook a few vegetarian dishes; the meat dishes were all in the cupboard and could be heated up later.
Qin Mi returned in the afternoon, which surprised Wen Xi. "He's back so early? I thought he wouldn't be back until mid-afternoon!"
"Let everyone go home for their family reunion dinner." Qin Mi nodded and sat down behind the stove. "I'll start the fire."
He didn't say it was to help Wenxi, since he was going to eat New Year's Eve dinner too. How could doing something for himself be called 'helping'?
Isn't that how it should be?
The dishes served at noon—ginger duck, braised goose in an iron pot, stir-fried shrimp, lamb chops stewed with radish, and beef steak hot pot—were not brought out, so they were served in the evening. In addition, there was braised crucian carp, fish head stewed with tofu, fish slice soup, fried meatballs, and a very light loofah soup, which will help cut through the greasiness.
During the New Year's Eve dinner, tea was still served instead of alcohol.
Although Wenxi bought a lot of Moutai liquor, it's best not to drink with one man and three women in the group, to avoid any accidents that could harm everyone.
Before it got dark, they started eating their New Year's Eve dinner. After finishing the dinner and cleaning up the kitchen, Wenxi and Qinmi went for a walk. It was New Year's Eve, and the village was already bustling with activity, with children setting off firecrackers every now and then.
This year, the village has finally made some money, and under the arrangement of the brigade leader, all boys and girls who have turned five years old have been sent to primary school to enroll.
Some of the pampered children went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy small firecrackers and set them off from time to time. Fortunately, no one was blowing up cow dung. The Fengshou Brigade only had two cows, and even a little cow dung was excellent fertilizer. How could they possibly let them mess around with it?
Some people make small lanterns out of wood. Many children in the village run around carrying small wooden lanterns made by their families. The village is filled with the laughter of children, which shows that everyone is doing quite well this year.
The two walked outside for about half an hour before turning back. Before they even reached their doorstep, Wenxi saw a figure flash past in the alley next to her house, but she didn't think much of it.
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