Seeing Sister Ning'er like this, Xu Qinyu was startled. She didn't even bother pushing the cart into the yard and hurried into the house, holding up the hem of her skirt. "Sister Ning, what happened?"
"Fourth sister-in-law." Pei Jianing wiped away a tear. "Someone came to my house to make trouble. She said the fish she bought from you yesterday wasn't tasty and asked me to return the money to her."
It turned out that after Pei Jianing and his fourth brother and sister-in-law left with Wen, they took Feng Ge'er and Yan Jie'er to write and draw on the snow in the yard, teaching them to read and write.
After a while, someone knocked on the door in a hurry, slamming it loudly.
Pei Jianing went to open the door and found an old woman with slanted eyes and high cheekbones.
The old woman started yelling at her the moment she saw her. "Yesterday afternoon, your young lady was selling braised herring in the alley. She even said I could get a refund if it didn't taste good. But when I bought that fish yesterday, it was so fishy that it was unpalatable. I'm going to ask your young lady to give me a refund right away."
Pei Jianing was stunned when he heard this, but he quickly reacted.
She knew exactly how the food Fourth Sister-in-law cooked tasted. Even she, a former princess accustomed to fine dining, couldn't find fault with it. Yet this old woman said Fourth Sister-in-law's fish tasted bad. It was clearly just a nitpicking. She immediately said, "Aunt, don't talk nonsense. I know exactly how my Fourth Sister-in-law's food tastes. Everyone in this alley who bought fish yesterday knows it too. You're the only one here making trouble. You just want to eat for free!"
"Oh, I'm already old, how can I cheat you out of this little money?"
The old woman's eyes rolled around and she saw that the kitchen door was open. Without saying a word, she pushed Pei Jianing aside and walked towards the kitchen.
Pei Jianing was a little dumbfounded. Even when he was on the road to exile, he had a conflict with the people from the Wen family, but they had only had a few heated arguments. He had never seen such a shameless old woman from the market.
She was so angry that she followed him immediately.
When the old woman entered the kitchen, she began to look around, rummaging through the drawers and cabinets, and found all the spices that the fourth sister-in-law had placed in the cabinet. When she saw these spices, the old woman's eyes lit up and she wanted to reach out to take them.
Pei Jianing immediately shouted, "If you dare to touch our things, I will report you to the police immediately! Especially these spices. Spices are expensive and only available in pharmacies. If we report them to the police, we can find out whether it was your family that bought the spices or ours. Stealing or robbery can be a serious crime!"
When the old woman heard this, she felt a little scared. Nowadays, no one is not afraid of being a servant.
But she saw that the spices were all placed in the cupboard, and knew that the young lady must have added spices when cooking the fish.
Thinking she already knew why Miss Xu’s fish cooking was so delicious, the old woman was in a good mood and turned back to ask Pei Jianing for the eight cents she had paid for the fish yesterday.
Pei Jianing was so angry that her face turned red, and she began to defend herself by saying that her fourth sister-in-law cooked delicious fish and it was she who was being unreasonable.
The old woman refused to listen and kept asking her to hand over the money.
Feng'er and Yan'er were so scared that they burst into tears. Feng'er was a mute and could not make any sound even when he cried. Yan'er had witnessed the great changes in her family with her own eyes and watched her mother hang herself with a white silk silk. She had not spoken a word since then. Now seeing the two children crying, Pei Jianing felt so distressed that she could only go and take care of the two children first, but the old woman pulled her clothes and asked for money.
The noise here was so loud that two families nearby heard it and came over to see what was happening.
When he found out that it was Mrs. Luo from the house at the end of the alley causing trouble, he immediately went forward to help.
Pei Jianing had never suffered such humiliation before. With red eyes, she recounted the whole story and added, "You sisters-in-law and aunts should know best how the food cooked by my fourth sister-in-law tastes. She is just making trouble."
The two women immediately pointed at Old Lady Luo and cursed her, "The fish that young lady cooks is so delicious! It's even better than the ones in the big restaurant in the east city. They sell it to us cheaply just because we're neighbors. We're getting a great deal, but you're just trying to eat for free. Old Lady Luo, we've been neighbors for so many years, everyone knows what kind of person you are."
Old Lady Luo sneered, "You sound just like you've tasted the food in that big restaurant."
The two women were so angry that they pulled Old Lady Luo out. Then they turned back to comfort Pei Jianing, asking her to close the gate and take good care of the two children until the adults came back.
After everyone left, Pei Jianing closed the gate, held Fengger and Yanjieer in her arms, and cried softly.
After hearing what happened, Xu Qinyu was so angry that her face turned red. She turned and went into the kitchen, came out with a big kitchen knife, and walked towards the gate of the yard, intending to settle the score with the old woman at the end of the alley.
There were only about ten households in Guihua Lane, and she remembered who the old woman at the end of the lane that Ning Jie'er mentioned was.
The old woman whose eyes were rolling around when she was selling fish yesterday kept pestering her to taste the fish.
This was the first time Pei Jianing saw her fourth sister-in-law so angry, and she was so angry that she took a kitchen knife to help her vent her anger. She was stunned.
Before Xu Qinyu even reached the gate, Pei Weixuan grabbed her and said, "Yu Niang, there's no need to go. Wait for her to come."
Xu Qinyu paused holding the kitchen knife, and after thinking for a while, she knew that the old woman had two purposes for coming to her house today. One was to eat for free and get back the eight cents she spent yesterday. The second reason was that she must be jealous of how much money she could make selling delicious fish, and she was thinking about the recipe for cooking fish. She deliberately came to cause trouble when the adults were not at home, just to look through her kitchen. She guessed that when she cooked fish, the old woman Luo would definitely show up.
It is indeed not a good idea to go to her house now. What if this old lady Luo has strong laborers at home? I won’t be able to defeat them if I go there.
Even if my cheap husband followed them and beat them up, the government would just think that they were causing trouble.
It’s indeed better to wait for Old Lady Luo to come over.
Xu Qinyu turned back to comfort Pei Jianing, "Don't be afraid, Sister Ning, your fourth sister-in-law will help you vent your anger later."
In fact, Pei Jianing didn't feel anything at this moment. For some reason, when she saw her fourth sister-in-law protecting her so much, she was not angry anymore, and her heart felt a little warm.
Xu Qinyu could only put aside the matter of Old Lady Luo and start to process the fish she bought.
Pei Jianing hesitated for a moment, then took the initiative to help his sister-in-law move the two basins of green carp to the well, and began to help scrape the fish scales.
Xu Qinyu couldn't help but pursed her lips and smiled. It was great that Sister Ning was also growing up slowly.
When I first entered the house, the courtyard gate was open. Now Xu Qinyu didn't allow the courtyard gate to be closed, so it was left wide open.
She was very skillful in killing fish. She scraped the scales off seven or eight fish, while Ning Jie'er only scraped the scales off one. Her cheap husband was also quite good and scraped the scales off three.
She was the one who gutted the fish because she was afraid that the two of them would break the gallbladder in the fish's belly. If the gallbladder in the fish's belly was broken, the bile would seep into the fish's head, and then no matter how the fishy smell was removed or stewed, the fish would still taste bitter and unpleasant.
And there was only one kitchen knife, so she was the only one who could do it.
In fact, chefs are very particular about their kitchen knives. She has dozens of kitchen knives, all of which are custom-made.
But now the conditions are not so good, she can still cut flowers with just a kitchen knife.
The fish was quickly processed, and as usual, it was marinated with salt, ginger slices and a little Huadiao wine to remove the fishy smell.
When the fish was almost marinated, Xu Qinyu started to stew it.
This time she also took the spices out of the cabinet and placed them on the chopping board.
After a while, the fragrance spread from the kitchen, and the whole alley was filled with the aroma of stewed fish.
Old Mrs. Luo at the end of the alley also smelled the fragrance and immediately followed the scent to Pei's house.
When Old Lady Luo arrived at Pei's house and saw the gate open, she was delighted and went straight into the yard.
Pei Jianing was playing in the snow with her two children in the yard. When she saw Old Lady Luo, her face turned cold, "How dare you, an old woman, come here?"
Old Mrs. Luo ignored the little girl and went straight to the kitchen.
When she entered the kitchen, she saw the young woman who sold fish yesterday busy at work. There was a pot of herring stewing in the pot, covered with sauce, and the house was filled with the tempting aroma.
There were five or six kinds of spices on the chopping board next to her, all of which she had seen in the cabinet that morning.
Old Lady Luo was delighted, thinking she had mastered the young lady's secret recipe for making delicious fish. She also thought, no wonder this family's food was so delicious, it turned out they added spices, and now she knew spices could be used as food. Her visit today to ask for the eight cents was just an excuse: she wanted to see if she could find the recipe for this family's delicious fish.
If she knew how to cook fish, she would set up a stall or sell the cooked fish to big restaurants. She definitely wouldn't sell it so cheaply. With such good taste, she would make a lot of money if she sold it at a higher price.
Now she thought she had learned the young lady's secret recipe for cooking delicious fish, and she didn't want to let the young lady get away with the eight cents, so she planned to ask for it back soon.
But she never thought that if she really used these spices to cook fish, how could it be sold for only five or eight cents per piece.
And these spices were indeed put out to deceive Mrs. Luo.
The secret to Xu Qinyu's delicious braised black fish is not the spices.
These spices are only used for braising pig intestines. The main reason why she cooks delicious fish is that she kills the fish and marinates the fish to remove the fishy smell, and also fries the fish well. Of course, the prepared sauce is also very important, but it only contains soy sauce, vinegar and a little star anise powder. Even if she uses star anise, it is very little. The fish she cooks has no fishy smell and retains the freshest taste of the fish.
Even if spices are used, they cannot be given casually. Otherwise, your mouth will be full of the taste of spices, which will only make the food more unpalatable.
When Old Lady Luo saw the spices, she immediately memorized several of them and then yelled at the top of her lungs, "Young lady, you said yesterday that if the fish you bought wasn't tasty, you'd have to give me your money back. Your fish wasn't tasty, and everyone in my family said it was unpalatable. Give me your money back now."
Xu Qinyu held up the kitchen knife and asked angrily, "Since Auntie said that the fish I cooked was unpalatable, then it must be unpalatable. Auntie, give me the uneaten fish, and I will give you the eight cents."
Old Mrs. Luo was speechless. How could she have any fish?
Yesterday, we took the pot of fish home and added some side dishes. The son and the old man said it was delicious. Even she only took a few bites. Almost the whole fish went into the mouths of the old man and son, while the daughter-in-law and two granddaughters didn't taste a single bit.
Mrs. Luo immediately said, "That fish is not tasty. I threw it away to feed the stray dogs on the roadside."
Xu Qinyu was so angry that she laughed. This old woman was really talking nonsense with her eyes open. She was so shameless!
She has been in the catering business for many years and has encountered many strange customers. She is very good at handling them. She doesn't care about such customers who make trouble. "Okay, I can refund you the money."
"Then retreat quickly."
While they were talking here, the neighbors around could also hear Mrs. Luo's yelling.
When they smelled the fragrance, they knew that the lady next door had returned and was still making braised green fish. She would definitely sell it to them in the evening. Naturally, they didn't want the lady to be bullied by Old Lady Luo. When they heard Old Lady Luo's voice, they hurried over and greeted Pei Jianing in the yard before entering the kitchen.
As soon as they entered the kitchen, the fragrance became even stronger, and the two neighbors didn't dare to look at the stove.
Chefs hate it most when others steal their skills. Such people can be reported to the authorities and arrested!
One of the two neighbors was a woman in her twenties, and the other was an old woman who looked about the same age as Mrs. Luo.
Seeing this, the two of them said angrily, "Old lady Luo, do you still have any shame?"
Old Lady Luo rolled her eyes at the two of them and said, "She herself said she was willing to return the money to me."
Both of them couldn't help but look at Xu Qinyu.
Xu Qinyu twisted the kitchen knife and said, "Did you push my sister this morning? If you apologize to my sister, I will return the money to you." She then called Ning Jie'er into the house.
Pei Jianing entered the house and glared at Old Lady Luo.
Old Lady Luo curled her lips and said, "Sister, I was wrong this morning. I'm going to apologize to you right now."
After saying that, she grinned and looked at Xu Qinyu. However, she didn't lose anything by talking a few words. Instead, her fish cooking recipe was seen by her. This young lady must not know what she lost.
Without saying a word, Xu Qinyu took out eight copper coins from her purse and threw them to the old woman. A few copper coins were scattered on the ground. Old woman Luo squatted down to pick them up, blew away the non-existent dust on them, and left happily.
After she left, the two neighboring women felt a little embarrassed.
The older woman looked apologetic and said, "I'm sorry, young lady. I should have told you something when I saw Old Lady Luo buying fish from you yesterday. She is a scoundrel. I didn't expect that after you sold us such cheap and delicious fish, she would still make trouble and eat for free." She really didn't expect that the young lady sold the fish to them at a low price because she was doing a good deed, but Old Lady Luo would actually ask for a refund on the pretext that the fish was not tasty.
Old Lady Luo was very famous in the alley. She had only one son and one daughter. She sold her daughter to a brothel a few years ago to marry her son. After staying in the brothel for a few years, the daughter could not bear it and died by hitting her head against the wall.
The old woman used the money her daughter earned from working hard to marry a wife for her son. The wife was also a poor person, who was sold by her parents' home.
After marrying into the Luo family, she gave birth to two daughters.
Old Mrs. Luo was very mean to her daughter-in-law, beating and scolding her all day long, and she did the same to her two granddaughters.
The one who has a stutter at home is also taking care of her son and her old husband. When she bought the fish yesterday, her daughter-in-law and two granddaughters definitely didn't eat a single bite.
After hearing this, Xu Qinyu frowned, feeling uncomfortable. Finally, she said, "Don't blame Auntie. No one thought she could do such a thing. But from now on, we won't sell her any food."
The woman said, "Of course I can't sell it to her anymore."
Even so, the aunt did not dare to look at the stove, and said, "Young lady, remember to lock the courtyard door when you cook, and don't let anyone learn your recipe."
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Okay, thank you for the reminder, auntie."
She had deliberately let Old Lady Luo see it. If Old Lady Luo had apologized sincerely and not used the refund to steal the recipe, then the matter would have been over. However, if she had any bad intentions and wanted to make money with the recipe she saw, she would be the one in trouble.
Xu Qinyu sent the two of them out and continued stewing the fish.
Pei Jianing felt completely relieved after receiving the apology from Mrs. Luo, and came over to thank Xu Qinyu.
Xu Qinyu said gently, "I'm glad Sister Ning is okay. From now on, Sister Ning, don't open the door to anyone at home."
After she finished speaking, she still felt unsafe, so she said to Pei Weixuan, who was sitting by the stove helping to watch the fire, "Fourth brother, I want to get a dog to guard the house. What do you think?"
Otherwise, all the adults in the family go out to work, leaving only three children at home. Ning Jie'er is only eleven or twelve years old, and is also a half-grown child. If bad guys really come to the house, Ning Jie'er can do nothing but be bullied, and she can't protect the two younger children.
Pei Weixuan nodded, "Okay."
Xu Qinyu immediately added, "Fourth brother, remember to find one that can be raised to be fierce, big, and know how to protect its master."
It is big and fierce, and can protect its master.
"Okay, I'll go look for it." Pei Weixuan lowered his eyes and kept Yu Niang's request in mind.
Ning Jie'er always felt a little uneasy when listening to the conversation between her fourth brother and his wife. She remembered that when she was in the palace, everyone thought that her fourth brother was a loner and liked to raise some strange and ferocious pets, but those pets were very obedient and protected their masters.
No way, that shouldn't be the case. This isn't the palace, where can we find those ferocious things?
Ning Jie'er also felt more at ease, thinking that Fourth Brother would at most find Fourth Sister-in-law the offspring of a wolf and a dog, that is, a wolfdog. It is said that they can be raised to be very big and are very protective of their owners.
Xu Qinyu quickly put aside the matter of Old Lady Luo and concentrated on stewing the fish.
She is most focused when cooking and never distracted by other things.
Pei Weixuan's eyes fell on Yu Niang's face. When she was cooking, her whole body seemed to be radiating brilliance and shining, making people unable to help but move their eyes to her.
…
The three pots of fish were stewed quickly. They were lifted onto a cart, and Xu Qinyu pushed the cart and started selling them in the alley.
When the dozen or so households in Guihua Lane heard the young lady's voice, they consciously came out with their pots and silver. When they saw Xu Qinyu, they called her "young lady" with smiles on their faces. Some women even brought their children out. The children also held onto the corners of their parents' clothes, hiding behind the adults and showing half of their faces to Xu Qinyu, just like a cat hiding in the dark and secretly watching people.
There were also some children around eight or nine years old who smiled shyly at Xu Qinyu.
Xu Qinyu also smiled at the children.
The three pots of fish sold very quickly, and were all bought by people in Guihua Lane.
The door of the old woman Luo's house was closed and she didn't come out to buy fish.
The two families next to Xu Qinyu took the opportunity when the neighbors were buying fish to tell everyone what Old Lady Luo had done in the afternoon.
The people in the alley were very angry and scolded Old Lady Luo. Finally, they said to Xu Qinyu, "If you are busy during the day, the children can come to our house. We have two children at home, and it would be nice to play together. If the children don't want to come, if there is something at home, let them shout a few times. We can hear us and will definitely come to help immediately."
Xu Qinyu naturally agreed and then thanked him.
After selling the fish, Xu Qinyu and Pei Weixuan returned home.
This time, Wen still waited until dusk before returning home, and she still earned thirty cents that day.
Xu Qinyu also told Wen what happened today.
When Mrs. Wen heard that her daughter was almost bullied, she was heartbroken and decided not to go to her employer to wash clothes tomorrow, but to stay at home to look after the children.
Pei Jianing was no longer afraid, but she knew that her fourth sister-in-law loved her mother and didn't want her to go out to wash clothes for others, so she didn't say anything, which allowed her mother to stay at home.
…
Old Mrs. Luo took the eight coins and went home. She was very happy, but when she saw her daughter-in-law and her two granddaughters working, her face immediately fell and she cursed, "You damn bitch, what are you doing? I'm upset to see you. Go to the back."
Although Lin was scolded by her mother-in-law, she just lowered her head and said nothing. She got up and went into the kitchen to light the fire and cook.
She gave birth to two daughters, one eight years old and the other six years old. She injured her body when giving birth to the youngest daughter and has not been pregnant again in the past few years. Her mother-in-law disliked her more and more and beat and scolded her at every turn.
Old Mrs. Luo was cursing and seeing her daughter-in-law enter the kitchen and her two little granddaughters trembling with fear, she rolled her eyes at them and called them over to massage her shoulders and legs.
Her two granddaughters are only eight and four years old. She plans to raise them a little longer. When they grow up, they can be married off and earn money. If she can't get a dowry, she might as well sell them to a brothel.
When I get the money later, I can let my son divorce this bitch who doesn't lay eggs, and then find him a wife and have him have a son.
The daughter-in-law is busy cooking in the kitchen.
Soon, her husband and son also came back from outside.
Mrs. Luo's son is a peddler, and the old man drives a donkey cart around the city all day long, looking for anyone who needs the cart.
The weather has been cold recently, and their business has plummeted. They only make twenty dollars a day. Fortunately, their business was good before, and the family has some savings, which is enough to live on.
As soon as Old Man Luo entered the house, he said to his son, "The alley is full of the aroma of fish. I'll put some bean sprouts and tofu in it later. We've had enough radish and cabbage."
Then he called out to Old Lady Luo, "Old Lady, I told you this morning to remember to buy fish this afternoon. Did you buy it? I can smell the fragrance all over the alley, and smoke is rising from every household. The fish cooked by that young lady is really delicious. It's a good thing that we are neighbors in the alley, so we can get a bargain."
Old Mrs. Luo came out and said happily to Old Man Luo and his son, "Old man, my sons, you don't know, I learned the recipe for cooking fish from that young woman. I didn't buy any fish today, and I even got back the money I paid for yesterday. Don't worry, I'll go out and buy fish with spices tomorrow and come back to cook it for you. If it tastes good, we can set up a stall and sell it in the east and west of the city. We can sell a fish for dozens or even hundreds of coins. Wouldn't that be a huge profit?"
"What did you say?" Old Man Luo thought he had misheard. "How did you learn the recipe? Are they willing to teach you?"
Old Lady Luo naturally didn't say she had gone to someone else's house to play dirty. She just said, "I saw this at the young lady's house this afternoon. Don't worry, old man. We'll just make do with it tonight and have some boiled tofu."
She felt that Miss Xu not only used those spices to stew fish, but also used them to boil pig offal to make roujiamo, which sold for eight cents each. When she learned how to do it, she would also sell it.
She planned to buy some spices and bring some fish and pigs into the water to try.
Old Man Luo and his son frowned but didn't say much. It would be great if they really had the recipe. They could cook it at home and sell it for a lot of money.
If I sell it for a lot of money, I will move into a bigger house and never live in this shabby house again.
Lin, who was in the kitchen, heard it and looked at him with mockery. She knew exactly how her mother-in-law went to other people's houses to make trouble at noon and in the afternoon. She knew that the old woman must have deliberately gone to other people's houses to peek under the pretext of returning the money.
The next day, Xu Qinyu continued to set up a stall at the dock.
This time she braised a lot of pig intestines, almost enough for one hundred and ten roujiamo (Chinese roujiamo).
In the morning, Mr. Xia bought seven of them, Shao Ge'er got one, and they ate six themselves, so there were still more than ninety left, which should be enough to sell.
When they arrived at the dock, the roujiamo sold out very quickly. Even the guys on another merchant ship with a big "Shen" character on its flag could not resist the aroma and wanted to buy some to try. However, there was a long queue in front of the stall. Each person bought three or four, and by the time it was their turn, they were sold out. So these "Shen" guys asked the guys on the other merchant ship and shamelessly wanted to buy one to try.
Unexpectedly, when these people heard that they wanted to buy what they had in their hands to try, they immediately ran onto the boat with their roujiamo in their hands.
Seeing that they were unwilling to sell one, Shen thought it would be okay to just have a taste, so he continued to shamelessly negotiate with the people who bought it, asking if he could let them have a taste.
In the end, these people still reacted the same way and ran away while covering their roujiamo.
What a joke! The young lady only sold twice as much as yesterday, barely enough for the people on the merchant ship. If the people on the Shen family merchant ship get involved and find out how delicious this roujiamo is, won't they snatch it from them tomorrow? The young lady also said that today's 90-odd roujiamo is the limit. She can't make more, let alone let others taste it.
However, they didn’t know that the more they didn’t give the food to the people on the Shen family merchant ship, the more curious they became, and the more they couldn’t resist the fragrance. They all planned to get up early tomorrow and run to line up early!
I still don’t believe that I can’t beat the people on the Han family merchant ship!
Today we close the stall early again.
Xu Qinyu closed her stall and bought some vegetables to go back. She didn't know that the old woman from the Luo family also went to buy fish and a set of pig offal today, and then went to the drugstore to buy those spices.
Although those are spices, they are also medicinal herbs and are generally sold in pharmacies.
Old Mrs. Luo did not dare to buy too many spices at once. She bought a little bit of each, but it still cost her almost one or two taels of silver, which made her feel very distressed. But when she thought about making a lot of money in the future, she felt very proud.
In order to show off, she waited until her son and the old man came back in the evening before starting to prepare the evening meal.
She can cook, but her skills are very average and the food has no flavor.
In order to make it more delicious this time, I added more lard, added a pot of water, threw all the ingredients into the pot, added spices, ginger, soy sauce and salt and started cooking.
She bought five fish at once and stewed them in one pot, because she saw Miss Xu stewing them in one pot at a time.
Stewing fish in a home-made iron pot or stewing pig offal on a small stove is similar to stewing fish.
After buying the pig intestines, she suppressed her nausea and washed them twice with clean water, then threw them into the casserole and started cooking.
At this time, other families in Guihua Lane had already eaten the fish stewed by Miss Xu.
For some reason, the alley is always filled with a very unpleasant, fishy, and strange medicinal smell.
Someone couldn't help but ask, "What's that smell? It's too bad. Could it be medicine?"
But even when decocting medicine, it only smells like medicine, unlike this smell which has a fishy stench and makes my stomach churn.
As for the Luo family, both Old Man Luo and Luo Dagen looked unhappy. Old Man Luo couldn't help but scold, "Old woman, did you read the recipe correctly? Did that young lady really cook fish and pig offal like this? Why does it smell so bad? When they were cooking, the whole alley was filled with the aroma of meat."
Old Lady Luo looked embarrassed and said, "Maybe it smells bad when it's cooking, but tastes good after it's done. Let's try it when it's cooked."
Old Man Luo had a dark face and said nothing.
When the pot starts to gurgle and the sauce begins to collect, the smell becomes even worse.
Old Man Luo’s face turned even darker.
Finally, the juice in the pot was almost dried up. Old Lady Luo couldn't wait to lift the lid of the pot, but the smell became even stronger. She was the first to be hit, and the fish in the pot made her vomit. At this moment, Old Lady Luo finally realized that the fish she cooked was not right. When she picked up a piece of fish with chopsticks and tasted it, her face turned green.
This fish tastes bitter and fishy, and has a hint of medicinal flavor. It feels very uncomfortable in your mouth.
It was even more disgusting than what she usually made, and much more disgusting.
Seeing the old woman's expression was off, Old Man Luo also walked over, took a bite with chopsticks, chewed it twice, and spat it on the ground. He punched the old woman in the face, "Is this what you said about learning the recipe and making it yourself? You can set up a stall and sell it to restaurants to make a lot of money? Just try this and see what it tastes like. If you feed it to stray dogs, I'm afraid even stray dogs won't eat it! You've wasted a tael of silver from me. Do you know how long it would take Da Gen and I to run for that tael of silver?"
Old Lady Luo was punched in the eye and screamed, trembling, "No, isn't there still a pot of pig offal? Tell me, maybe..."
Without waiting for her to finish, Old Man Luo walked to the stove and opened the lid. He felt that the smell was even stronger than the fish in the pot. He suppressed his nausea and picked out a piece of large intestine, cut a piece and stuffed it into his mouth. This time he couldn't hold it back and vomited directly from the fumes.
Old Mrs. Luo was completely dumbfounded.
Old Man Luo couldn't stand it any longer and beat up Old Lady Luo.
Old Lady Luo cried and shouted, "Old man, stop beating me. I will go and talk to that young lady and ask her to compensate me with the money."
"You idiot!" Old Man Luo cursed. "You're probably thinking of going to jail, aren't you? How did you get this recipe? You stole it from someone else!"
Old Lady Luo was completely speechless. Yes, what right did she have to ask for the silver? What if the other party reported her to the authorities? How could she tell the officers that she had secretly looked at the other party's recipe and ended up learning it poorly? Stealing someone else's skills would get you thrown into jail.
The reason why she was able to get back the eight cents she spent on buying the fish was because the young lady had promised to do so. It was not the young lady's promise that she had secretly learned the recipe.
Old Mrs. Luo was very depressed.
"Oh." Luo Dagen sighed, "Does that mean our family will never be able to eat such delicious fish again?"
Old Lady Luo covered her swollen eye and said, "Don't panic, son. At worst, I can ask your wife to go buy fish from Miss Xu tomorrow. I know I was wrong. I'll go apologize to Miss Xu when my eyes get better."
She was thinking that Miss Xu looked soft-hearted, so she would go and apologize sincerely to ease the relationship. When the relationship between the two families improved in the future, she would ask her how the braised herring and braised large intestine were made.
…
The Pei family had already finished their evening meal, and Xu Qinyu was just preparing to braise the large intestine. The sooner she finished, the sooner she could rest.
As soon as I put the large intestine into the brine pot, I smelled this unpleasant smell.
Xu Qinyu had a strange look on her face. She probably guessed what was going on. The old woman from the Luo family must have seen the spices she placed on the stove, secretly memorized them, and then went to buy spices and ingredients. She didn't know how to cook them, so she thought it was just like cooking ordinary dishes, so she threw everything into the pot and cooked them all. She didn't clean the fish and pig intestines, and added the wrong spice formula proportions, so the taste turned out like this.
If she were to say, this old woman deserved it. How could there be such a weird person!
Fortunately, the other neighbors are very nice and easy to get along with. Today, several families were afraid that Old Lady Luo would come to their house to cause trouble, so they came out to check several times. However, Mrs. Wen was at home today, and she was also worried that her daughter, son, and granddaughter would be bullied at home.
Pei Weixuan sat by the stove, looking at the fire, and his expression remained indifferent as he smelled the unpleasant smell.
Fortunately, not long after, Yu Niang started to braise the pig intestines, and the whole kitchen was filled with the aroma of meat again.
Smelling the familiar aroma of meat, every household in Guihua Lane finally felt at ease and fell asleep accompanied by the fragrance of braised pork intestines.
Early the next morning, Xu Qinyu went to the dock to set up a stall.
Before she even got to the stall, she saw a long line forming where the stall had been set up these days.
It turned out that the crew on another merchant ship hadn't been able to buy Roujiamo for two days, so they came down early today to line up.
Most of the guys on these merchant ships are strong laborers in their twenties or thirties, who are good at eating and full of energy. They seem to be arguing with each other while queuing, pushing and shoving each other.
But when they saw Xu Qinyu and Pei Weixuan, they immediately stopped and started shouting, "Young lady, you are finally here."
The people in the queue behind also started shouting, "Miss, is there any roujiamo for us today?"
Xu Qinyu looked at the long line and had no choice but to say, "There are still only about a hundred roujiamo today, but each person can only buy two today." This way everyone can basically buy one.
There was a wail from the front of the team, and those at the back applauded.
Today, all the roujiamo were sold out in less than half an hour.
The officers and soldiers on the official ships also figured it out. They used to think the people on these merchant ships had never eaten good food and treated pig offal as a delicacy, but now they have been eating it for several days, why are they still not satisfied? They even look like they are enjoying it while eating.
But is this thing really delicious? It does smell really good.
But before, they said that even dogs wouldn’t eat pig offal, and they couldn’t be so shameless as to line up with the people on these merchant ships.
In the afternoon, Xu Qinyu was also selling braised fish in Guihua Lane at about the same time.
Every household was familiar with Zhang Cheng, and as soon as the young lady called him, they would come out with a basin.
Xu Qinyu only makes more than a dozen braised fish every day. She has no plans to increase the amount of braised fish for the time being. The pot is not big enough, and she has to make three pots each time. If she increases the amount, she will be too tired.
As soon as Xu Qinyu shouted twice, every household opened the gate and came out holding basins.
When Xu Qinyu was almost done and most of the fish had been sold, a thin woman with a sallow complexion stammered, "Young lady, I want a braised herring for eight cents too."
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