Chapter 115 Pig Stomach and Chicken
Pei Jing's expression faltered slightly. He looked at Lin Chuntao, unsure whether these words were Lin Chuntao's or Pei Ying's. If it was Pei Ying's, then it meant that Pei Ying would not go home.
Qin Suyun glanced at Pei Jing, who was lost in thought, and immediately knew what he was thinking. She smiled and said, "We're all about the same age, so let's just call each other by our names."
As the two were talking, Lin Chuntao glanced back at the room. Outside, the sunlight was blazing, but from this sudden look, the room seemed somewhat dark, and she couldn't make out the expressions of the people inside.
After thinking about it, she realized she didn't need to worry. Pei Ying was free to make any decisions, and he would follow his true feelings.
Thinking of this, Lin Chuntao led Qin Suyun and Pei Jing to stroll in the courtyard.
Inside the house, Pei Ying sat facing her father and mother. They were family, yet they felt like strangers. Pei Ying looked at her mother and wondered if she hadn't recovered from the long journey or if she was ill. She seemed to have lost a lot of weight and looked much more haggard.
I met someone I thought I would never see again in this lifetime.
Pei Ying thought that this was perhaps fate's arrangement; his relationship with them could not be easily severed.
All three wanted to speak, but they didn't know how to begin, especially Pei's mother, who had many questions for Pei Ying.
"Have you been feeling unwell lately?" Pei Ying asked.
He looked at Pei's mother and asked, but did not call her father or mother. Pei's mother was a little stunned. Pei's father said from the side, "After Jing'er got married, your mother fell ill. Later, the journey to Yizhou was arduous, and your mother's health has never recovered."
Mr. Pei originally wanted to say that it was because of his departure from home that Mrs. Pei fell ill, but after thinking it over, he realized that Pei Ying had already started a family and settled in Yizhou, which was close by. Even if they didn't reconcile this time, things would get better with time and they would get to know each other better. There was really no need to say those things and cause unnecessary trouble.
Upon hearing this, Pei Ying asked, "Are you used to the climate in Yizhou?"
Mother Pei nodded. "Adapt."
Pei Ying said, "I also think Yizhou is nice. Chun Tao said it's warm here in winter. If you rest well for a while, you should be able to recover."
Mother Pei nodded repeatedly as she listened, then replied, "I know, how about you? How have you been these days?"
Pei Ying turned his head and glanced at the courtyard. The warm sunlight fell into the courtyard. He smiled slightly and said to his mother, "I'm fine. I got married to Chun Tao and found a job as a pig butcher in the county town."
When Pei Ying mentioned Lin Chuntao, Pei's mother thought of the popular sauces and the soup noodles that Qin Suyun loved, both made by Lin Chuntao. She was quite a capable woman.
But at this point, everyone fell silent.
Pei's mother wanted to call Pei Ying back, but they hadn't asked why Pei Ying had left home before. They just guessed it was because of Pei Jing and them. If they asked Pei Ying to come back, they would break the ice and everyone would start arguing.
Pei's father naturally had this concern in his heart. He looked at the house, which was still very new.
"Your courtyard looks quite large; it must have cost a lot of money, right?" Pei's father asked.
"It should have cost around forty taels. Chun Tao paid for the construction, but I didn't calculate it in detail."
Upon hearing this, Pei's parents looked up at Pei Ying in disbelief, but fell silent after meeting her gaze. Pei Ying noticed their thoughts and continued, "I had saved up some money before, but Chun Tao refused it."
At this point, Pei Ying changed the subject, "Oh right, I forgot to tell you, my household registration is here, so I'm considered to have married into the family."
Pei's parents' expressions changed slightly, but what could they say? What could they say?
All the words could only be stuck in my throat.
Pei Ying said, "Although it doesn't sound good to marry into a family, I don't care about such empty titles. Besides, Chun Tao is a very good person, so you can rest assured."
These words can be seen as Pei Ying telling them that they can acknowledge their relatives and neighbors, but he will not go back with them.
Pei's mother took a deep breath and said, "You live your own life, so as long as you feel comfortable, that's all that matters."
Pei Ying nodded. "Yes, that's right."
Pei's mother was extremely distressed. In this world, people were so poor that they had to eat tree roots and wild grass. Even then, few families sold their sons. They were not poor, but they still sent their son to marry into another family, and to this rural area no less.
But who caused all of this? She had no way of saying it.
She thought and thought, but the more she thought about it, the more she couldn't calm down. Her nose stung, and she couldn't help but ask Pei Ying directly, "Have you been blaming us all along?"
Upon hearing this, Pei Ying's face gradually darkened.
"What do you mean?" Pei Ying asked in return.
Pei's mother said, "It's our fault for adopting Pei Jing, it's our fault for taking your place."
Hearing this, Pei Ying lowered his eyes and said after a long while, "I don't blame you for adopting Pei Jing. He has his place, and I have mine. I just don't like the atmosphere of that family, and I'm not used to that kind of life. Someone like me would be content to beg for a living in the city. I can't be the eldest son of the Pei family."
Hearing Pei Ying's words, it was actually their fault.
The Pei family was wealthy, and when they moved to Yizhou, they dismissed many servants. Pei Ying was indeed not used to life in the Pei family. He ate and slept every day, doing nothing and feeling lost.
Even if he didn't care about the Pei family's small fortune, Pei Jing did.
The servants had long regarded Pei Jing as the next head of the household and were full of hostility towards him, an outsider.
Watching the two of them carefully balancing his relationship with Pei Jing made him feel superfluous.
It would be a lie to say I'm not disappointed, but to say I'm disappointed now would be pretentious.
He was glad he came to Yizhou. He was satisfied with his busy and fulfilling life. Let bygones be bygones. He had found a new home and a new life.
Seeing the expressions on the two elders' faces, Pei Ying said frankly, "I'm fine now, you don't need to worry."
Pei's mother felt a tightness in her chest, but since Pei Ying had already said that, she couldn't send Pei Jing away and take Pei Ying back, so she fell silent.
Pei's father looked at Pei Ying and remained silent for a long time before nodding.
He took a sip of water from the bamboo tube, stood up, and said out of the blue, "Yizhou is a nice place. It has mountains and rivers, and it's neither too cold nor too hot."
As he spoke, he took a lotus bud out of his sleeve and handed it to Pei Ying.
Pei Ying frowned slightly and didn't answer for a while. Pei's father said, "We gave it to Pei Jing when he got married. We weren't there for your wedding, but we've left you what we should have."
Pei Ying was not about to take it, but her father said, "Take it and give it to Chun Tao."
He then took it, opened it, and saw five silver notes from Baoyuan Money Shop, each worth one hundred taels. He instinctively wanted to say that this was too much, but remembering that the mansion in Guangling cost more than that, he swallowed his words.
He had just accepted the lotus buds when Lin Chuntao and the others returned.
As Qin Suyun walked, she said to Lin Chuntao, "When you have time, plant some flowers and plants, and build a fish pond."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "I will plant flowers and plants, but I'll pass on the fish pond, it's too difficult to manage; I'll dig some up and plant them when I'm done with my work."
Qin Suyun and Lin Chuntao walked ahead, with Pei Jing following casually behind.
Seeing Lin Chuntao return, Pei's mother also got up and went to the door. The things they brought had not yet been unloaded from the carriage. She waved to Pei Ying: "This is the first time we've met Chuntao. We brought her some things. Come and take them inside."
Pei Ying came over, and just then Pei Jing and the others returned. Pei's mother called Pei Jing and Pei Ying to help carry it.
Lin Chuntao watched them take the gifts without saying anything polite. These were gifts from Pei Ying's parents. Judging from the three of them, they seemed to have finished talking, so she followed them back into the house.
When the Pei family arrived, Lin Chuntao had to stay home to entertain the guests and couldn't go pick beans.
Lin Chunxing said she had nothing to do at home, so she took Lin Jiaye and the others with her.
After the belongings were moved into the house, everyone followed them inside.
Madam Pei took out the two boxes containing the jewelry and jade ornaments, looked at Lin Chuntao and said, "Chuntao, we weren't there for your wedding with Yingge'er, this is just a small token of my appreciation, please accept it."
Lin Chuntao glanced at Pei's mother, then at Pei Ying. Pei Ying said somewhat stiffly, "Your mother gave it to you, so just keep it."
Lin Chuntao laughed and said, "Am I receiving a gift for changing my address?"
Upon hearing this, Pei's mother laughed and quickly took out a red envelope from her sleeve, continuing Lin Chuntao's words: "The gift for the change of address is here."
Lin Chuntao accepted the things without ceremony, saying, "Then I'll thank you, Mother."
Madam Pei smiled and nodded repeatedly. Lin Chuntao tilted her head slightly and looked at Father Pei. This red envelope was for one person and two people, one for Pei Ying and one for Lin Chuntao. Looking at Lin Chuntao's eyes, Father Pei smiled and handed her his envelope, saying, "I hope you and Ying-ge'er live a harmonious and happy life together until you grow old."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Thank you, Father. We will."
Lin Chuntao accepted it, and then the two of them handed the remaining one to Pei Ying, who also accepted it without hesitation.
This incident eased the tension in the room considerably.
It was already afternoon, so Lin Chuntao invited them to stay for dinner. Since she happened to have both pork tripe and chicken, she prepared a stew and decided to have pork tripe and chicken hot pot for dinner.
Pei Ying went to wash the pig's stomach and other things, while Lin Chuntao, Pei's mother, and Qin Suyun sat and chatted.
Pei's mother also inquired about the Lin family's situation and learned that they were living on their own. She said, "There's no elder to help you."
Qin Suyun smiled and said, "Mother, what are you saying? From now on, won't we have you and Father?"
Pei's mother and Qin Suyun had a good relationship and were both straightforward in their speech and actions. Since she didn't know Lin Chuntao very well, she had to be a little more polite to her.
Pei Ying couldn't do anything about her parents since she didn't have an omniscient perspective, but she did know that Pei Ying wasn't their biological child, and her getting lost wasn't intentional; it was just a series of coincidences.
Given Qin Suyun's relationship with her, Lin Chuntao chimed in, "We're fine, we can all take care of ourselves. Mother, if you have time, you and Suyun can come and play anytime."
Upon hearing the news, Madam Pei's expression relaxed considerably.
If Lin Chuntao were as cold and hard as Pei Ying, then she really wouldn't know what to do.
After chatting for a while, Pei Ying killed the chicken. There were quite a few people, but luckily he had only bought two.
Knowing that Pei Ying had killed the chicken, Qin Suyun said she wanted to go and help, so the two went together.
The pig intestines had been washed almost completely. After rinsing them twice, Lin Chuntao started a fire and put them in a pot with braising spices to cook.
As for the pig's stomach, after cleaning it, Lin Chuntao first marinated it. She poured wine, coated it with flour and pepper, added some water, and also added some dried ginger slices.
Pei Ying removed the chicken feathers, cleaned it, and gave it to Lin Chuntao, who then chopped the meat into chunks.
Two chickens, and Qin Suyun was very efficient at work, helping her with the task.
Lin Chuntao removed the chicken's internal organs and gave them to Pei Ying to process.
After both chickens were chopped into pieces, Qin Suyun asked her, "Is the pig's stomach almost ready?"
Lin Chuntao washed her hands, stood up, and said with a smile, "That's about enough. I'll rinse them one more time and start blanching them."
As they were talking, Lin Chuntao had already brought over the pig's stomach.
Qin Suyun scooped water to rinse her, then blanched her stomach. After blanching, Lin Chuntao cut the pig's stomach into strips.
If you're just making soup, you can wrap the chicken in a pig's stomach and stew it together to make a milky white soup. The soup is rich and delicious, but the chicken itself won't taste as good. Lin Chuntao thinks that would be a bit bland.
They mainly eat meat, so whether it's pork tripe or chicken, it has to be delicious; the soup is secondary.
So, as usual, she first stir-fried the chicken pieces and then stewed them. After the chicken was almost cooked, Lin Chuntao added the chopped pork belly and stir-fried it together until it was fragrant. Then, Lin Chuntao added scallions and ginger slices, a small amount of peppercorns and salt, covered the pot and started cooking.
If we're having hot pot at night, we have to cook it while we eat. When we were building the house, Sun Hu and the others helped us make a few mud blocks. We just moved them over, placed them on the pot, and started cooking. Even though we didn't have a stove, it was still quite convenient.
Two fires were lit, one for cooking pork tripe and chicken, and the other for cooking pork intestines. Lin Chuntao also went to get some rice to soak.
Qin Suyun didn't stand on ceremony at all and followed Lin Chuntao into the kitchen, asking, "Do you have any more flour at home?"
Lin Chuntao raised her chin, indicating, "There should be enough to cook a few more bowls."
Qin Suyun said, "Do you have any chives? We can cook some noodles with chicken broth tonight."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Yes, I'll take you to the vegetable garden in a bit. You can pick whatever vegetables you want to eat, like pea shoots and water spinach."
Qin Suyun: "I envy you, having a vegetable garden is so liberating."
Lin Chuntao said, "Take some soil back home and plant it."
"I got the soil back, but my mother-in-law planted it all as flowers and plants. I tried my best and managed to get some mint planted in it, so I can pick some to make tea."
Lin Chuntao laughed upon hearing this.
"If you don't care about that restaurant, you can come stay at my place. I have some spare rooms."
Qin Suyun looked at the room and smiled, "I'll probably have to keep an eye on the restaurant for a while longer. I'll come and stay with you when I'm less busy."
But that might just be talk. According to the plot of the book, if Pei Ying's biological parents come looking for her in the future, it's uncertain whether Lin Chuntao and the others will continue to live here.
Lin Chuntao soaked the rice, then took out the tofu and sliced it thinly, filling a whole bowl. Qin Suyun stood beside her and asked, "How are we going to eat this later?"
Lin Chuntao said, "Fry them up, then put them in the hot pot. They're very similar to fried tofu skin."
"How did you do that?"
Lin Chuntao said, "A few days ago, when we were building a house, we slaughtered a pig. The meat was soaked in the brine from the curing process. Apart from being a little salty, it was actually quite delicious."
Speaking of cured meat, Qin Suyun asked, "Are you going to make cured meat this year?"
"Go ahead and get it, do you want it?"
"Yes, do you want it smoked or air-dried?"
Hearing Qin Suyun's words, Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "I should be able to air-dry, but I can also smoke."
Qin Suyun laughed upon hearing this, "Call me whenever you're making some, I'll do it with you, and I'll make some to keep for next year."
The two chatted back and forth, their voices never ceasing.
Pei's mother and father went for a stroll outside the courtyard, while Pei Jing and Pei Ying remained inside. They listened to Qin Suyun and Lin Chuntao talking inside the house, something they would never have dared to imagine before.
But this has now become a reality.
Lin Chunxing and Lin Jiaye returned carrying bean sprouts and saw Pei Ying and Pei Jing standing awkwardly in the yard. Lin Chunxing called out, "Brother-in-law, help us carry them."
Pei Ying went over to help. Lin Chuntao and Qin Suyun peeked out from inside the house and saw Pei Jing's condition. Qin Suyun called out, "Pei Jing, aren't you going to lend your brother a hand?"
Pei Jing: "..."
He nodded and followed Pei Ying over.
After the bean sprouts were poured out, Lin Chunxing and the others left, leaving behind a pile of bean sprouts. Pei Ying planned to take them upstairs to hang them up, and now only Pei Jing could cooperate with him.
The two brothers, Pei Ying upstairs and Pei Jing downstairs, were holding a bamboo pole with bean sprouts strung on it and handing it up to Pei Ying.
They had a good understanding of each other when it came to working together, but neither of them spoke; they just remained silent.
After Lin Chuntao finished cutting the tofu, she also soaked some wood ear mushrooms and dried daylily buds, and called out to Qin Suyun.
"Let's go to the vegetable garden and see what vegetables we want to eat."
After saying this, the two went out of the house, saw Pei Ying and Pei Jing working, smiled, and left.
Lin Chuntao and Qin Suyun carried vegetable baskets, picked some chives, some chili peppers, a few cucumbers, some pea shoots and water spinach, and pulled up two cabbages. Lin Chuntao asked, "Do you want some corn? Pick a few to take back."
Qin Suyun nodded, and Lin Chuntao led her to break it.
After she had picked all the corn, Qin Suyun asked in confusion, "When I came here, everyone else had already picked all their corn. How come your corn is still so tender?"
Lin Chuntao said, "I planted my corn late."
Qin Suyun suddenly remembered that Lin Chuntao had arrived after the spring planting season.
"Do you want to break off a few more to take back and cook?" Lin Chuntao asked. Qin Suyun waved her hand and said, "No need, no need, a few are enough for me."
The two returned from the vegetable garden. Pei's father and mother were strolling along the mountain path when they spotted Lin Chuntao and Qin Suyun. Pei's mother stopped and stared at them in a daze.
"Many things seem to be predestined."
Her words seemed somewhat abrupt, and Mr. Pei frowned slightly, about to press for an answer, when Mrs. Pei smiled and said, "Let's go back."
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