As the sun set, Xu Lai's shadow stretched long. She looked at the two frolicking puppies in front of her, her eyes full of smiles. What's wrong with this kind of life, working at sunrise and resting at sunset?
Xu Lai caught up with Xiao Hei and gave it a light kick. Lai Fu was so scared that it quickly dodged, but ended up crashing into the neighbor's gate with a bang.
Xu Lai laughed so hard she couldn't stand up straight. After being bumped, Lai Fu became obedient and returned to her feet, nuzzling her affectionately.
She looked at Xiao Hei, as if to say, "Look, even your brothers have turned against you, what about you?"
Little Black took off running. It was smart enough to know it couldn't run home, so it ran into the neighbor's house.
Xu Lai fell silent. Was she that scary to dogs?
She stood at the door and called out, "Little Black! Get out here!"
Whether the dog heard her or not, Grandma Jiang came out, holding a spatula, and asked, "Xiao Lai, what are you shouting for? The dog is gone."
Xu Lai was a little embarrassed, but still said, "Xiao Hei ran into the house. I asked it to come out, but it acted like it didn't hear me."
Grandma Jiang looked into the house but couldn't find the dog at all. However, seeing Xu Lai's anxious expression as she looked for the dog, she said, "Why don't you come in and look for it?"
Xu Lai rushed to the living room, but after searching around, she couldn't find it. She put her hands on her hips and thought, "Where could it have gone?"
Grandma Jiang's bedroom door was closed, so Xiao Hei shouldn't be inside. She went to the kitchen to check again. While cooking, Grandma Jiang said, "He shouldn't have come in. I've been in the kitchen the whole time and haven't seen Xiao Hei. Why don't you go upstairs and check?"
Seeing Zhao Qingyun's car parked outside, Xu Lai guessed that he must have returned and was probably upstairs, so she felt embarrassed to go up.
But then she thought, what if Xiao Hei doesn't come out? Xu Lai hesitated for a moment, then tiptoed upstairs.
She searched the living room upstairs but didn't see Xiao Hei. Zhao Qingyun's bedroom door was slightly ajar, and she wasn't sure if the dog had gone in.
Xu Lai knocked on the door, but there was no answer. She said, "Shall I come in?"
As soon as she entered, Xiao Hei was indeed lying on the floor. When he saw her, he crawled under the bed.
Xu Lai whispered, "Xiao Hei, come out. I promise I won't scold you."
She was so focused on persuading the dog that she didn't even notice the bathroom door in the bedroom was open. Zhao Qingyun was wearing a bath towel around her waist and was drying her hair with a towel in her hand.
As soon as he came out, he saw Xu Lai squatting by his bedside, muttering something to herself. Zhao Qingyun hissed. Why was she in his room? Breaking into a private residence in broad daylight?
As he picked up the T-shirt, he called out, "Xu Lai, what are you doing?"
Xu Lai turned around and saw only a sea of white. She immediately turned back and asked, "Why aren't you wearing a shirt?"
Zhao Qingyun dried herself off with her clothes, then chuckled at the comment, "Is that an appropriate thing to say? This seems to be my room, doesn't it?"
Xu Lai's face turned bright red. Just then, Xiao Hei darted out. She was furious and hurriedly said, "I'm looking for the dog. Sorry to bother you."
Zhao Qingyun watched her fleeing figure and chuckled, "Now you know how to run away?"
Grandma Jiang brought out the dishes, just as Xu Lai came downstairs. She asked, "Did you find it?"
Xu Lai grunted in agreement, then chased after the dog and ran out.
When she got home, she fanned herself with a fan and scolded Xiao Hei: "Well done, Xiao Hei, I'm not giving you any more food."
Little Black obediently lay on the ground, looking at her with its big, watery eyes.
Xu Lai turned her face away, "That won't work, you've made me look bad."
Grandma brought out the porridge and overheard the second half of the sentence. Curious, she asked, "What embarrassing thing happened?"
Xu Lai recalled what had just happened, shook her head, and said, "It's nothing."
For dinner, I had mung bean porridge with pickled radish, which was refreshing and helped cut through the richness.
Seeing that the green beans were starting to grow again, Xu Lai said, "I'll go pick some green beans tomorrow morning and make some pickled green beans."
Grandma nodded: "That's good. There's no more left in the jar, and not many pickled peppers either. I'll pick some with you tomorrow."
Every summer, when green beans and peppers ripen, my grandma would pickle them into sour green beans and peppers. In winter, she would take them out and stir-fry them with cured meat, which was especially delicious with rice.
As soon as the sun rose in the morning, Xu Lai got up, took a basket with her grandmother, and went to the field to pick green beans.
She disliked doing this the most when she was a child because there were worms on the green beans, and they would crawl onto her if she wasn't careful. Xu Lai was most afraid of soft-bodied animals, especially caterpillars.
Even now, she is still afraid, so she wears gloves and wraps herself up tightly to prevent any insects from getting close to her.
Overnight, the green beans sprouted. They were just small stalks before, but now they've grown a lot. If they're not picked today, they'll be too old by tomorrow.
Even old green beans are edible. Just peel them, keep the beans, and boil them with some salt water for a unique flavor.
She picked green beans, and her grandmother picked chili peppers. The peppers are still green now, which is suitable for pickling. When they turn red in July, they can be made into chopped chili peppers and chili sauce. The dried peppers can also be ground into chili powder.
Xu Lai thought of a recipe: roasted chili sauce, a specialty of Chengdu. She had bought it before and found it to be a great accompaniment to rice.
As the sun slowly rose, she picked half a basket before finishing picking all the green beans she could.
The loofahs can be picked now. Xu Lai picked four, and the others will be left to grow a bit bigger.
After picking the peppers, she cooked some noodles and stir-fried them with the freshly picked peppers. Once the noodles were cooked, she added some lard, chopped green onions, and then the stir-fried peppers and pork. The taste of the noodles was elevated.
After breakfast, Xu Lai went to the market to buy groceries. She had all kinds of vegetables at home, so she didn't need to buy those, but she had to buy meat.
When she was scooping out lard in the morning, she found that the lard basin was almost empty. Luckily, the butcher had a whole piece of pork fat left, so she bought it all. She also bought a piece of pork belly to make braised pork.
She ran out of pickling jars at home, so she bought two more.
When I got home, Grandma had already washed the chili peppers and green beans. Once they were dried, they could be put into the jar to pickle.
She washed the pork fat, cut it into small pieces, blanched it, then put a small amount of water (about a small bowl) into a pot, added the pork fat, and slowly simmered it.
Stir constantly during the rendering process. When the oil comes out, add ginger slices. When the lard turns yellow and becomes cracklings, the lard is ready.
She scooped out the cracklings and put them in a bowl. Cracklings can be turned into a delicious dish; it would be a waste to throw them away.
Rendered lard is dark yellow, and it will solidify into white after being left for half a day.
At noon, she stir-fried some greens with pork cracklings, but there were still a lot of cracklings left. Xu Lai remembered seeing someone use pork cracklings as filling for steamed buns, so she decided to make some dough that evening and try it herself.
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