Chapter 70 What kind of money are they swindling for with chili sauce? That Chen Zhelan took my daughter...
"Chen Zhelan? Where did you see her?" After many days, Chen Mian heard this familiar name again, along with her two hundred yuan.
Li Hongmei didn't stand on ceremony. She sat down on the sofa as soon as she entered and greeted Lin Huijun, "Hello, Aunt Lin."
"I was minding the shop today, and I was getting bored when I saw a woman walk past the door. She was dressed exactly the same as last year."
A sudden thought struck her: her friend had been scammed. She immediately chased after them. But a group of middle school students appeared out of nowhere and blocked her path.
"By the time I got past that group of middle school students, Chen Zhelan had already disappeared, but I'm certain that what I saw was definitely her," she said confidently, taking a few sips of water from her cup.
Li Hongmei: "You know, she's really a bad person. It's lucky you're alive that you were only cheated out of two hundred yuan. Otherwise, if she had sold you to some remote mountain village, you might have lost your life."
"What money are you trying to scam? What did that Chen Zhelan do to my daughter?" Lin Huijun was about to go back to her room to sleep and let the children play by themselves when she heard these words that tugged at her heartstrings.
Li Hongmei moved closer to Chen Mian and gestured with her eyes, "You didn't tell your family?"
No. Chen Mian smiled wryly. She hadn't mentioned it at first, and later she simply couldn't find an opportunity to bring it up.
Lin Huijun stared at her daughter and Li Hongmei. The usually mild-mannered woman was unusually angry, her gentle eyes filled with fury. "What happened? Tell me."
Seeing that something was wrong, Li Hongmei quickly got up and fled the scene. "Aunt Lin, I have something to do at home, so I'm leaving first. You can ask Mu Mian for details. I heard it from her."
Chen Mian smiled ingratiatingly, "Mom, don't worry, it's nothing serious." She got up and pulled her mother to sit down beside her.
So much time has passed since then. Back then, 200 yuan was almost all she had, but now she has far more money than that.
If Li Hongmei hadn't suddenly brought it up, she would have forgotten. She and Ji Yu actually met because of this incident.
Chen Mian pondered for a few seconds, then quickly explained the whole story in a few words, comforting her mother, "Don't be too angry, it's all in the past. Besides, she didn't do anything to me."
"Look, I'm perfectly fine." Chen Mian got up and turned around. "Don't be angry. You don't look good when you frown."
Lin Huijun said irritably, "You're always talking nonsense." She reached out and patted her daughter lightly, scolding her, "You dared to keep such a big thing from the family. You're too bold."
Chen Muhe, who was sitting quietly to the side, also remembered that woman. She had seen her at Wu Wei's shop when she and her parents went to visit her sister.
At the time, she felt that this woman and Wu Wei seemed to be behaving too intimately, but she never expected that such a thing would happen.
I just don't know if Chen Zhelan and Wu Wei are actually having an affair.
"I remember this Chen Zhelan is some kind of relative of the village chief. She took so many young and pretty girls to Xinjiang. Could they have all been sold off?" Lin Huijun felt a chill run down her spine at the thought.
She was a pampered girl at home, and when she finally went out to work, she was almost abducted. What parents could bear such a thing?
The two daughters are too young to know that a few years ago, the daughter of a family in a neighboring village was abducted and sold.
Two or three years later, when the girl returned on her own, she was covered in injuries, emaciated, and pregnant.
That was awful; I have no idea how she escaped. I heard that after she was abducted, she was kept in a pigsty and became mentally unstable.
Chen Mianmian: "No, not really. Hongmei and I talked to each other, and she only fooled me in our batch. We don't know anything else."
"Maybe it's because I'm good-looking."
Lin Huijun: "Pah, pah, pah! Is it wrong for my daughter to be beautiful?"
“No, I have to call the village chief. 200 yuan is still money. It’s money that my family worked hard to earn. I have to get it back for you.”
"And this Chen Zhelan, can't the police do anything about her?" Lin Huijun became increasingly angry. "People like her should be arrested and imprisoned!"
Chen Mian: "I reported it to the police. Ji Yu was the one who received me at the time, but now I just can't find her."
“And aren’t we going to pick chili peppers tomorrow? We were planning to make chili sauce, weren’t we?” Chen Mian said.
"Alright, I'll call when I'm done with this and take Hehe to the train station." Lin Huijun pinched her troublesome daughter's cheek hard and went back to her room to talk to her husband.
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The next day, Chen Mianmian, still thinking about the chili sauce, went to find Ayili early in the morning and said she wanted to buy a few pounds of chili to make sauce.
Ayili waved her hand generously, "Take whatever you want. It's just making chili sauce, it won't cost much. Just leave me a small jar to try."
"Never mind, it's fine if I don't try it. It's probably about the same as what I made."
Chen Mian smiled and said, "That's not necessarily true. My mother's chili sauce is made with a secret recipe."
"That's all, thanks Acha, I'm going to get back to work now."
With Ayili's permission, Chen Mian and her sister took out the cloth bags they had prepared in advance and picked peppers along the path. Before long, the bags were full of bright red peppers.
Lin Huijun went in another direction and picked some green and yellow peppers, thinking that the sauce made with them would definitely taste better.
Chen's Kitchen.
Lin Huijun is kneading dough. The dough for pancakes needs to be kneaded to the right consistency, and eggs, oil, and sugar need to be added. If possible, milk can also be added.
This method produces soft and fluffy pancakes that won't harden even after being left out for a long time.
Chen Mian is washing the chilies, removing the stems from each one and then chopping them finely. However, she can't chop them too finely, as that would affect the texture.
Chen Muhe was roasting peanuts nearby. She put the washed, dried, and peeled peanuts into the pot and roasted them at a low temperature, which quickly evaporated the moisture in the peanuts.
After scooping them out of the water, rub them with your hands and the peanut skins will come off easily. Then chop the peanuts into large pieces; this is one of the secret weapons of Lin Huijun's chili sauce.
The refreshing aroma of chili peppers complements the rich flavor of peanuts perfectly.
With everything ready, we began making the chili sauce.
The chili sauce in Northwest China isn't pickled; it's actually stir-fried. The oil used for stir-frying the chilies must be authentic sesame oil.
To make the sauce delicious, you need plenty of oil. Heat the sesame oil, which is already fragrant, and then add scallions, garlic cloves, cilantro, onions, star anise, and other seasonings. Fry until dry and then remove from the oil.
Use this oil to stir-fry the chili peppers over medium heat, and finally add the crushed peanuts.
This method will make the chili sauce fragrant but not greasy. If you like meat, you can also add some minced beef.
The chili sauce is ready, and the pancakes are done too. While they're still hot, cut the pancakes into pieces, break them apart by hand, and stuff them with freshly made chili sauce.
The aroma of soy sauce and fermented bread intertwine to create a unique flavor that is a taste that belongs to the memories of people in Northwest China.
Chen Mian ate in such a hurry that she almost burned her throat.
Lin Huijun chuckled: "Why are you still so careless... It's not like Mom only cooks this one meal. She can cook it again when she wants to eat it later."
Chen Mian swallowed the delicious food in her mouth: "It's different. This chili sauce only tastes good when made with fresh chilies grown at home. Other chilies just don't have the same flavor."
“That’s right,” Chen Muhe agreed, “and it has to be made by our mother herself.”
Lin Huijun was so flattered that she couldn't stop smiling: "You guys only know how to be sweet-talking at times like this."
The family stood in the kitchen and finished their dinner.
.
A few days later, Chen Mianmian and her parents went to send Chen Muhe back to Yuanning City to study.
Looking at her quiet and reserved younger sister, Chen Mianmian said with concern, "I'm really doing fine now. The dreams you had before were the opposite of reality. Now that you're back, just focus on your studies, okay?"
"Remember to call Aunt Yu's house when you arrive to let her know you're safe. You know the number." She went up and hugged her younger sister. "Be careful on the road."
"Okay, sister, I will. Don't work too hard." Chen Muhe said.
Chen Mian: "When I make a lot of money, I'll install a telephone at home so it will be easier for us to stay in touch."
Chen Muhe nodded silently. Listening to her sister and parents' words of advice, she thought to herself that it didn't matter that she didn't have a phone; she would be able to come to Xinjiang soon.
Then the family will continue to live together, and no one will be able to separate them.
After dropping off Chen Muhe, the family went to the farmers' market. Chen Yongliang rode a bicycle with his wife on the back, while Chen Mianmian rode another bicycle.
They planned to buy corn seeds, half sweet corn and half glutinous corn. Corn has a short ripening period and can be harvested in a few months, which is very suitable for the transition of the Kapok Peach Orchard.
Recently, Chen Mian has spent too much on building the house and purchasing supplies for the farm. She has decided to save the remaining money after spending the last bit of it, in case of emergency.
The work at the chili farm brought some income back to their family; otherwise, with only expenses and no income, even Chen Mian, with her good attitude, would have been unable to control her anxiety.
Meanwhile, Ji Yu was in his office reviewing documents. Since being transferred to the Municipal Bureau, he no longer needed to work shifts, but he still couldn't finish reviewing all the work-related materials.
Sometimes he wondered whether he had joined the Municipal Public Security Bureau or the Archives.
Does someone with a military background look like he's good at writing documents?
A leader from the municipal bureau said: "I was in the army longer than you are. Do you think I can write it just because you can't?"
"Xiao Ji, here's another set of materials to review. Remember to put together a report after you're done, we'll need it for tomorrow's meeting." A middle-aged man in his forties pushed open the door and brought Ji Yu another stack of materials.
Ji Yu smiled wryly: "You can just call me Ji Yu, or even calling me Little Fish is better than calling me Little Chicken."
"Oh, the name doesn't matter, get back to work." The man put down his things and turned to leave.
Ji Yu had no choice but to put her current work on hold and look at the urgent task that was needed for tomorrow.
The first file contains records of several reports received by the Jiangjin Road Police Station.
Another child has gone missing in Ebony City...
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Author's note: I feel like I'm writing about the best of food, haha.
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