“Oh right, System, you haven’t mentioned the paper yet. I remember there’s a saying, ‘Paper is expensive in Luoyang,’ meaning that paper in ancient times was not cheap. What’s the price range of the paper in the reward?” Pei Yuezhi suddenly thought of something.
Upon hearing Pei Yuezhi's question, the system coldly replied, "Ordinary paper, the kind that costs a few coins."
"No, with such fine writing brushes, ink, and inkstones, why didn't they provide expensive paper as well?"
"For the host's convenience, the system has thoughtfully prepared ordinary paper."
Pei Yuezhi complained, "Doesn't that mean the reward has been slightly reduced?"
The system remained silent for a long time, and just when Pei Yuezhi thought it was going to play dead again, the system spoke up again.
"The prizes are not commensurate with their value, which is due to a lack of consideration in the system. Paper will be upgraded to unlimited quantity."
"System! You are my one and only system!"
"......"
Last night I spent a long time discussing the rewards with the system, and I almost overslept this morning.
Fortunately, Liu Yuanyuan called out to her at the crucial moment, which prevented her from messing things up.
Today is the first day of sending the child to school, and Pei Yuezhi and Liu Yuanyuan are as nervous as if they themselves are going to school.
This amused Fan Chao and Li Nian'an, and the two children even had to comfort their mother, which made them feel quite embarrassed.
Pei Yuezhi specifically asked Mr. Wu yesterday what she needed to bring. Mr. Wu told her that the school provides all the daily necessities, so there was no need to bring anything else.
After dropping my sons off at school, it's time to get ready to go to the shop.
Today, Pei Yuezhi brought Fan Mu and their dog Benben to the store, and also moved the recliner from home over.
I plan to put it in the small courtyard so that Fan Mu will have a place to rest, and to prevent the kitchen fumes from choking my precious daughter.
Let's start cooking!
Without adding oil to the pan, put the pork belly slices you cut yesterday into the pan and fry them until the fat is rendered and both sides are golden brown. Don't let them get too dry, then you can set them aside for later use.
The oil rendered from frying the pork belly was used to fry the eggs until they were golden brown and had a tiger-skin pattern. The eggs were then set aside with the pork.
The remaining fried green peppers, once softened and blistered, can also be removed from the oil.
One pot wasn't enough, so we used a smaller one.
Fortunately, when Granny Liu came in the morning, Pei Yuezhi told her to go home and steam rice first, otherwise there wouldn't be enough pots.
Add scallions, ginger, garlic, bay leaves, star anise, dried chili peppers, angelica root, cardamom, Sichuan peppercorns, and some rock sugar to the pot.
Add light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and oyster sauce, then add water and simmer for one to two hours.
Pei Yuezhi cut the meat slices into larger pieces, so she planned to stew them for an hour and a half.
The other two dishes were served relatively quickly, so you can take a break first.
When it's almost time, we can start stir-frying the chicken.
Put the chopped chicken pieces directly into the pot, fry them for a while, then stir-fry until they change color. Add star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, and ginger slices, and stir-fry until the chicken turns golden brown. Then add light soy sauce, aged vinegar, and dark soy sauce.
After stir-frying until the sauce is fragrant, add water and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn up the heat to thicken the sauce, then add scallions and garlic slices and stir-fry until fragrant. Add a little chicken bouillon, along with green and red peppers, and stir-fry until just cooked. The delicious stir-fried chicken is now ready.
The braised pork belly has been stewing for an hour and a half. Now you can add the green peppers and stew for another fifteen minutes.
Since I added a lot of green peppers to the braised pork, I plan to make it into a separate vegetarian dish. So today, the only vegetarian dish I'm going to stir-fry is stir-fried cabbage with vinegar.
First, prepare the sauce for the stir-fried cabbage: sugar, vinegar, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, chicken bouillon, cornstarch, and water.
Heat oil in a pan, add scallions, ginger, garlic, and dried chili peppers, and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the cabbage stalks and stir-fry over high heat, adding salt halfway through to help the cabbage release water quickly. Once the edges of the cabbage are slightly browned, add the cabbage leaves.
Continue stir-frying over high heat until the edges of the vegetables are browned, then pour in the sauce from the bowl, stir-fry quickly and evenly, and it's ready to serve.
At this point, the braised pork belly can also be taken out of the pot. Before taking it out, add salt and MSG to taste, and the whole house will be filled with its aroma again.
When Pei Yuezhi soaked the rice, she deliberately increased the amount so that even if it wasn't sold by noon, she could keep it for herself or use it to make fried rice in the afternoon.
When Liu Yuanyuan got home, she and her mother-in-law brought out the rice bowls together, while she slowly served herself the dishes.
Pei Yuezhi couldn't move the large dish by herself, so she waited for Liu Yuanyuan and the other person to come back before moving it together. By then, the house was already full of guests.
"Oh, Yueyue, when Mom and I brought the food over, all the guests outside saw that it was time to eat and squeezed in after us." Liu Yuanyuan put down the rice bowl and quickly came over to help serve the dishes.
All the dishes were served, and the guests lined up in an orderly fashion.
"Oh my! This huge slice of meat! It's wobbling as I put it down. What is this dish, ma'am?"
"Five dishes today? That should be enough."
Pei Yuezhi introduced today's dishes one by one: "This pork is braised pork, with alternating layers of fat and lean meat, fatty but not greasy, and lean but not dry; this stir-fried chicken is also fragrant and spicy, with firm meat."
The braised green peppers with tiger skin were also tender and flavorful, perfect with rice; the stir-fried cabbage with vinegar was refreshing and helped cut through the richness, as everyone knows. And then there were the tiger-skin eggs, only two cents each.
After Pei Yuezhi finished introducing the dishes, the guests couldn't wait any longer and started ordering.
Today was the busiest noon of the past few days. We prepared a lot, and with the power of the braised pork belly, customers came in waves until we sold out.
Many people weren't satisfied and bought an extra serving of meat or rice with the broth.
In short, the guests enjoyed the meal immensely, while Pei Yuezhi, Liu Yuanyuan, and Granny Liu were exhausted.
After finally seeing off the last customer, the family, who had been busy all day, could finally sit down and have a meal. They were so hungry, they decided to eat at the restaurant.
They sold out very quickly today, there wasn't even any broth left, but thankfully they kept some vegetables.
The aroma and the sight of the guests eating so heartily made the group incredibly hungry.
Pei Yuezhi left twelve eggs behind, two for each of them. After all, she was a big glutton and it would be really upsetting if she didn't get to eat them.
Exhausted from work and already starving, the four of them devoured the food on the table, eating in silence, finding it incredibly delicious.
After eating and drinking her fill, Liu Yuanyuan suddenly remembered that she still had two children who were away at school.
"Yueyue, we've finished eating already. That's so unfair! Those two brats are gone!"
Pei Yuezhi reassured her, saying that she had already prepared it.
Just as everyone was getting ready to clear the dishes, more customers arrived at the shop.
"Auntie! What brings you here!" Fan Mu exclaimed in surprise.
The person who came was none other than Fan's cousin-in-law, whom I had met a couple of days ago; she actually came to the store today.
"Oh, Mu'er's here too! Auntie's here for dinner, are you closed?" Cousin squatted down and touched Fan Mu's little face.
Pei Yuezhi said with some surprise, "Sister-in-law, you're here. I sell food at noon, and there's nothing left after lunchtime. If I had known you were coming, I would have saved some."
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