Chapter 167: Salted Radish Strips
The old woman was delighted. She had never thought that Lin Xiaoyue would not bargain. After weighing it tremblingly, she said, "Here are ten pounds. Miss, give me twenty coins."
Lin Xiaoyue handed the old woman some small change, took a large bag of vegetables and handed it to Chen Yunyun, saying, "Yunyun, let's go see the price of the chicken and duck."
Chen Yunyun didn't understand why Lin Xiaoyue wanted to buy chicken and duck when she had already ordered so much pork. It was still early for the Chinese New Year!
She quickly grabbed Lin Xiaoyue and persuaded her, "Sister Lin, this is enough! There are some other vegetables in the yard that will go really well with the stewed meat!"
Lin Xiaoyue was not in a position to explain to Chen Yunyun outside, so she held Chen Yunyun's hand and said, "Trust me, these will all be useful! Let's go!"
Chen Yunyun couldn't hold Lin Xiaoyue back, and when the two of them finally returned to the teahouse, the bamboo basket was stuffed to the brim, and both hands were full!
Lin Xiaoyue put down the backpack, panting, and sat down on the stool. "Huh! I finally got everything back! But I have to buy more tomorrow!"
Chen Yunyun asked in confusion, "Sister Lin, are you preparing for the New Year? Isn't it too early?"
Lin Xiaoyue shook her head and said, "No! You don't know that the grain production has decreased this year, and people in many places are starting to have no food to eat! So I bought more. When will the refugees come to our Yangming Town? I can't just watch them starve to death! Besides, there are a lot of people here, and the restaurant is about to open later. How can we not need ingredients?"
Only then did Chen Yunyun understand that Lin Xiaoyue was thinking about these things!
She grabbed the chickens and ducks and said, "Okay! Sister Lin, you take a rest. I'll go take care of these chickens and ducks first!"
Lin Xiaoyue nodded and said, "Okay, go ahead! I'll light the stove!"
As she spoke, Lin Xiaoyue turned around and added two large spoonfuls of water to the earthen stove, then stuffed the firewood into the stove and lit it. Then, she took a knife and scraped the 100 kilograms of pork clean, then put it in clean water to wash and cut it into pieces.
After the water in the big iron pot boiled, Lin Xiaoyue put a full pot of meat in, sprinkled some wine on it, and then started washing the rice and cooking.
After finishing the lunch, Lin Xiaoyue took out the salt and salted the remaining meat to be eaten in the evening.
At this time, Chen Yunyun came in from outside. She smelled the aroma of meat and said in surprise: "Wow, Sister Lin, you are so fast! Let me help you cut the vegetables!"
Lin Xiaoyue nodded and said, "Okay, you take care of this. When the meat is soft and rotten, throw in these vegetables and radishes. Don't forget to add salt! There's no big basin in the kitchen to put these in. I'm going to go out and find a wooden barrel to put the rice and meat in!"
Chen Yunyun put the vegetables into the wooden basin and said, "I understand! Go and do your thing!"
Lin Xiaoyue searched the teahouse inside and out but couldn't find any wooden barrels that could hold rice. Finally, she had to run out and buy four large wooden barrels from the store.
"I'm back! I ran myself to death. I asked in several stores before I could buy it! Mainly because those stores didn't have wooden barrels with lids." Lin Xiaoyue leaned against the door and gasped for breath. She felt so tired!
Chen Yunyun quickly helped Lin Xiaoyue sit down on a chair and said distressedly, "You might as well let Zhan Tian and the others find it. They're much faster! Take a break quickly. I'll go wash the bucket!"
Lin Xiaoyue couldn't sit still for a while. She rubbed her sore calves for a while, then stood up and stirred the stewed meat in the big iron pot. Then she scooped a spoonful and put it in her mouth to taste it. The saltiness was acceptable. It turned out that it was most reliable to let Yunyun do it!
Near noon, Zhan Ying rushed back from the valley, and Liang Jingyao came back with him.
Liang Jingyao originally wanted to come and help Lin Xiaoyue, but he didn't expect to smell the aroma of meat as soon as he entered the yard!
"Yue'er, you've finished it so quickly? I still want to help you!" Liang Jingyao walked into the kitchen and saw that Lin Xiaoyue had already started putting rice into the wooden barrel.
Lin Xiaoyue looked up at the door and said with a smile, "Yes! With Yunyun's help today, I can move much faster! Everyone worked so hard to build the house, I can't let them wait hungry, right? Yesterday was a special case, so it can't be too late to say anything today!"
Liang Jingyao took the large iron spoon from Lin Xiaoyue's hand and said, "I'll do it! You go and rest!"
Lin Xiaoyue glanced at the radishes still lying on the ground. She picked up a few and said, "Wouldn't the meat alone be too greasy? Should I salt some of the radishes to help with the greasiness?"
Liang Jingyao nodded and said, "All right! Zhan Ying, come and help."
Zhan Ying had relatively large hands, so he scooped up most of the radishes on the ground with one handful. "Miss Lin, I'll go wash them!"
Lin Xiaoyue took a kitchen knife and a wooden bucket and walked outside with Zhan Ying. "You wash them and I'll peel them. Can you cut them into strips? Once you're done washing them, take the radish I've peeled and cut it into strips."
Zhan Ying glanced at the round radish in his hand and asked, "Slice it first, then cut it into strips vertically?"
Lin Xiaoyue nodded and said, "That's right! Let's hurry up! Otherwise the rice and meat will get cold!"
Zhan Ying moved quickly, changing the water twice to wash the radish clean. Then he picked up the radish that Lin Xiaoyue had peeled and cut it into strips on the chopping board.
By this time, Chen Yunyun had already filled a bucket with stewed meat. She hugged it tightly with the tattered cotton-padded jacket she had prepared beforehand, and then came out to peel the meat with Lin Xiaoyue. Later, Liang Jingyao also came to help, but he and Zhan Ying were cutting it into strips.
Seeing that there were only a few left in the wooden basin, Lin Xiaoyue stood up and said, "Yunyun, these are for you to peel. I'll go mix the radish strips."
As she spoke, Lin Xiaoyue walked to the stove with a bowl of chopped radish strips, sprinkled a large amount of salt and sesame oil on it, and stirred it evenly with chopsticks.
She picked up a piece and put it in her mouth. "Mmm! It tastes good! So refreshing!"
Liang Jingyao couldn't help but come over and taste a piece, and said in surprise: "This tastes good! I'll save some for the old wine monster later!"
Lin Xiaoyue smiled and said, "Take all the ones you've cut! Yunyun is still peeling a few, I'll mix them for Dad to try!"
Liang Jingyao nodded and said, "Okay! Then I'll go to the valley first! Zhan Ying can stay here, because I won't be coming over at night. When dinner is ready, ask Zhan Ying to bring it over!"
Lin Xiaoyue responded: "Sure! Brother Liang, don't get too tired!"
"Okay!" Liang Jingyao put the three wooden barrels into the carriage, then drove away alone.
Lin Xiaoyue glanced at the remaining rice and stewed meat in the pot. She took the radish that Chen Yunyun had peeled, cut it into strips with a few "crunches", put it on a plate, sprinkled with salt and sesame oil and mixed it evenly.
Although it looks like there are only two dishes, the portions are huge and enough for everyone in the teahouse!
Lin Xiaoyue filled a bowl of rice and a bowl of stewed meat, and put some radish strips on the rice. "Okay, eat quickly, I'll go take food to Dad!"
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