Jiang Hua counted out ten copper coins from the pile and placed them in front of Jiang Jingyi.
"Stepmother, is this for me?" Jiang Jingyi asked, looking at the copper coin in front of him.
"Yes, you helped your stepmother collect money today, so you deserve it," Jiang Hua said, patting his head.
"Stepmother, what about Father?" Jiang Jingyi nodded and asked again.
"I'll owe him for now. I'll pay him back tomorrow when I've earned more money," Jiang Hua said earnestly, glancing at Jiang Xingzhou.
“Stepmother, I’ll help you later too,” the little guy said immediately.
"I'm going up the mountain to check out the game traps later," Jiang Xingzhou said. He hadn't checked them this morning, and he could go take a look before it got dark.
“No!” Jiang Hua immediately objected, then met Jiang Xingzhou’s probing gaze and said with a dry laugh, “Can you not go today? I had a dream last night that you would be in danger if you went up the mountain today.”
Jiang Hua herself didn't believe this reason.
"I'm a bit overwhelmed, could you help me?"
"Father, you shouldn't go today."
Whether Jiang Xingzhou believed it or not, Jiang Hua didn't know, but Jiang Jingyi, that little guy, already believed it completely and was currently tugging at his sleeve and begging him.
"Okay," Jiang Xingzhou agreed.
At the same time, the system's cursing voice appeared in Jiang Hua's mind: "You heartless and vicious female supporting character! You just wait!"
Jiang Hua moved a stool to the yard to wash the pig offal, while Jiang Xingzhou drew water from the well for her. Following yesterday's cleaning steps, the pig offal was cleaned in half an hour.
After cleaning the pig offal and salting it, Jiang Hua then began processing the twenty catties of chicken feet she had bought.
It wasn't until she saw Jiang Xingzhou washing clothes on the other side of the yard that Jiang Hua belatedly realized that he had been washing her clothes for the past two days.
“Stepmother, let me help you wash.” Jiang Jingyi said, pulling up a small stool and sitting down next to Jiang Hua.
“Okay.” Jiang Hua did not refuse him.
I then used a kitchen knife to chop off the toenails from each chicken foot one by one, and then put them in the wash.
An hour later, after processing the chicken feet, wisps of smoke were already rising from the village chimneys, and dinner was being prepared.
"Every day is like this. When I have money, I'll buy ten or eight maids to serve me," Jiang Hua said, looking at her hands, which were peeling from being soaked in water.
Jiang Jing listened from the side, seemingly understanding but not quite, but he still kept her words in mind.
Jiang Hua carried the cleaned chicken feet into the kitchen, where Jiang Xingzhou was already rendering lard, filling the kitchen with the aroma of lard.
"What do you want for dinner? I'll cook," Jiang Xingzhou asked Jiang Hua.
"Let's make some bone broth and stir-fry some cabbage with pork cracklings," Jiang Hua suggested.
"Okay," Jiang Xingzhou nodded in agreement.
Dinner wasn't complicated; I just made a pot of bone broth and a plate of stir-fried cabbage. The last dish, braised pork, was cooked by Jiang Hua at Jiang Jingyi's request.
After dinner, Jiang Hua went into the kitchen to cook pork offal. The braising liquid was ready-made, so there was no need to cook it in advance. She stayed in the kitchen for an hour before coming out.
When they came out, Jiang Jingyi had already been taken for a walk in the village by Jiang Xingzhou, and there was a bucket of hot bathwater in the house.
I'll talk to Jiang Xingzhou about building a bathroom in the yard tomorrow. It's not convenient like this all the time. Once the door is closed, she can go into her space and take a bath.
After Jiang Hua finished taking a bath in the space, Jiang Xingzhou and the other person also returned.
"Stepmother, I want to hold you while I sleep." Jiang Jingyi suddenly said to Jiang Hua.
Before Jiang Hua could speak, Jiang Xingzhou interrupted her, saying, "Men and women should be different. Your stepmother is tired today, so you should listen to me."
Since his father had said so, Jiang Jingyi lowered his eyes in disappointment, climbed into bed, and covered himself with the blanket.
"It's alright, your stepmother sleeps next to you, doesn't she?" Jiang Hua coaxed as she got into bed.
The little guy finally responded with a satisfied sigh, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.
After dawn, Jiang Hua finished practicing swordsmanship with Jiang Xingzhou and went into the kitchen to prepare salt-baked chicken feet, which she had bought the day before.
She vaguely remembered that in modern times, salt-baked chicken feet were a famous snack in Meizhou, Guangdong, and it wouldn't be too difficult to replicate.
Jiang Hua took out a jar of salt-baked chicken powder from her spatial storage. Last night, she had the little white snake in her space convert packets of salt-baked chicken powder into a jar so that it would be easy to take out and wouldn't attract attention.
First, put the chicken feet in a pot of cold water from the wooden basin, add ginger slices, rice wine, and peppercorns taken from the space, and blanch the chicken feet.
While waiting, Jiang Hua took a bucket to the well to fetch water. The well water was icy cold, which was just right to replace the ice water. If she wasn't worried about being discovered by Jiang Xingzhou, she would have taken out ice from her space to soak the water.
After the water in the pot boils, cook for two minutes, then take them out and soak them in well water in a wooden basin until they are completely cooled. Then take them out and rinse them clean with water.
After drying the chicken feet, pour in an appropriate amount of salt-baked chicken powder and salt and mix well. Separately, boil water in a pot. Jiang Hua remembered that among the spices that Mingdetang brought back, there was gardenia.
After searching around, I found several gardenia fruits. I crushed them with the back of a knife, put them in a pot and boiled them to extract the color, which I will use to color the chicken feet later.
After the water boiled, I added an appropriate amount of salt-baked chicken powder and two small spoonfuls of salt. The water was bubbling and bubbling when I added the chicken feet. I cooked them for two minutes and then immediately took them out.
Pour the water from the pot used to boil the salt-baked chicken into a wooden basin. After it cools down, pour the salt-baked chicken feet into the basin to soak and let them marinate.
After having breakfast, Jiang Hua took the soaked chicken feet out, drained them, and added roasted white sesame seeds and sesame oil.
"Try it, salt-baked chicken feet." Jiang Hua handed one to Jiang Jingyi, who was following her around like a little shadow.
"Stepmother, this is even tastier than your offal!" she said, then ran out to find Jiang Xingzhou to share it with him.
This time, they went directly to the town's market without stopping. After paying the stall fee, they returned to their original spot to set up their stall.
As before, we cut out the samples for tasting first.
This time, there was no need to shout; those who had eaten yesterday and those who hadn't bought anything had already gathered around when they saw the stall open.
The first person to be affected was the man who bought the braised pork offal yesterday.
"Young lady, how do these chicken feet taste? May I try some?" the man asked, looking at the golden-yellow salt-baked chicken feet.
Jiang Hua then handed him the sliced chicken feet for him to try.
"Salt-baked chicken feet are six coins a pound, two pounds for ten coins," Jiang Hua said.
When the price was announced, many people thought it was too expensive, saying that chicken feet were even less valuable than pig offal. Most people would still choose to buy braised pig offal, as the leftover broth could be used to mix with rice. Chicken feet only have a layer of skin, and once you finish eating them, that's it.
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