Chapter 97 Chapter 97-Two-in-one building a house, start construction...
When she came back, Pei Ying and Lin Chunxing were already cooking.
Lin Chuntao was running around all day today, and she felt a little dizzy because of so much going on.
Pei Ying chopped some minced meat and made a steamed egg custard with minced meat. Lin Chunxing stir-fried some Chinese cabbage with oil residue. There were still some pea tips from the morning. Lin Chunxing cut two tomatoes and cooked a dish of tomato, pork skin and pea tips. Finally, she stir-fried the pork with garlic.
Lin Chuntao sat down to rest while Lin Chunxing stood by the stove and asked, "Sister, did you need to stir-fry the meat a little longer this morning to make it a little more crispy?"
"Well, stir-fry until it's slightly golden, then you can add the sauce and salt."
Lin Chunxing smiled and said, "Okay, I think the twice-cooked pork from this morning is even better. I'll try to make it."
Lin Chuntao said: "This is simple, I can definitely do it."
Lin Chunxing curled the corners of her lips. It was strange to say, they had seen what Lin Chuntao made, the same process, the same ingredients, but it was still difficult to make the same taste and texture, at best they could make it about 70% similar.
There is not much difference between the soup noodles because the soup base is fixed and the meat filling is also fixed.
After a busy day today, Lin Chuntao was already feeling hungry.
Seeing that the dishes were almost cooked, she stood up, took the bowl and chopsticks, scooped up the rice and started to eat.
After dinner, Lin Chunxing asked, "Sister, are you going to the county town to buy vegetables and grain tomorrow?"
"Um."
"We don't have much rice and noodles at home." The main issue is providing food. Rice is too eye-catching. Yizhou is rich in buckwheat, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc., which are mostly the daily rations of the people. Although rice is also grown, the yield is not high and not much is harvested. People can't eat rice for every meal, and they only steam rice occasionally during festivals.
Lin Chuntao could exchange rice from the system, but she was feeding so many people, and if she ate rice every meal, the news might spread throughout the neighborhood in a few days. Building a new house was already likely to attract jealousy, and doing so would only cause more trouble. So she decided to make buckwheat rice and corn rice as staple food for everyone.
The staple food is easy to determine, and the rest are the dishes. If there are many people eating, you have to cook a big pot of food.
There are few types of dishes, and Lin Chuntao feels that this is the dish that is difficult to decide.
After dinner, Lin Chuntao went to digest the food. Coincidentally, Aunt Guizhi was also about to come to her place, and the two met halfway.
"Chun Tao, I was just about to go look for you at home." Aunt Guizhi said, then asked, "I didn't have time to ask you during the day. If you start work tomorrow, you will have to cook for others. Have you asked someone to help you?"
"I originally wanted to ask my aunt to help me, but I already invited my uncle and the others, and she still has to take care of the children at home, so my aunt and the others came to help."
Aunt Guizhi said, "That's good. I was thinking that if there aren't enough people, I'll call your Sixth Grandma to pick vegetables for you."
"Sixth Grandma has to take care of Sister Shuilian. Is she feeling better? I've been so busy lately that I haven't been able to visit her."
Aunt Guizhi said, "You're feeling much better, and you seem to be in a much better mood too."
Lin Chuntao nodded slightly. "With fewer worries, people will naturally feel more relaxed. Once my body recovers, everything will be fine."
As they walked and talked on the country road, Lin Chuntao asked, "Aunt, I'm unsure about something. Could you give me some advice?"
"How do I prepare the dishes for everyone, both meat and vegetables? I'm thinking of one meat dish, two vegetable dishes, and a soup. Do I need to prepare soup?"
When Aunt Guizhi heard her words, she thought of the dishes Lin Chuntao made when they were growing corn. The meat was meat and the vegetables were vegetables.
"When you say one meat dish and two vegetable dishes, do you mean one dish made entirely of meat and two stir-fried vegetables separately?" Aunt Guizhi asked. Lin Chuntao nodded naturally, "Yes."
Aunt Guizhi said, "You don't really need to make soup. No one usually makes much soup. If you really want to make soup, you can make a pot of sour soup for everyone."
"It's just that your dish can't be separated so clearly. How much would it cost to make a big pot of pure meat? Then you can add some other side dishes to the meat dishes, and cut some meat into the vegetarian dishes as well. Then they will all look like meat dishes, which will look good and you can save some money."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Then I'll go back and think about the menu. I don't think I can come up with any dishes."
Aunt Guizhi said, "You should make more rice. People who do manual labor can eat more or less dishes, but the rice cannot be less. If you make two dishes, it's enough. Two dishes on top of the rice will be enough."
"By the way, you want to use the big steamer, right? I just forgot to bring it. I'll bring it to you later."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "I'll go get it with you when we get back. Thank you, Auntie."
Aunt Guizhi patted her arm and said softly, "Why are you thanking me?"
The two chatted for a long time before they came back. Lin Chuntao followed them to Aunt Guizhi's house to get the big steamer. The two children were playing around the old lady in the yard. It was getting dark, and Uncle Lin Shan was packing up.
At Lin Cunzheng's house, everyone sat in the yard to rest after dinner.
Chen Dongniang smiled and said, "Tomorrow I will be the only one at home with these little ones."
Sun teased her, "Why don't you be the leader of the children for a few days? Chuntao originally wanted to ask you to help with cooking, but that would mean your father and Changzong would be sent away."
Lin Chuntao told her that Lin Changzong and others would help her dig the yellow clay, and they would be paid. It would probably take ten days to half a month, and during this period of time, her family would save a lot of money.
Chen Dongniang said, "I'll go over and help after I finish my housework."
Sun nodded and said, "Chun Tao was very busy today. Madam Meng stayed after finishing the accounts and helped her make steamed beans."
"Come to think of it, Chunhe is not bad. I used to think she was sullen and silent, but today Chuntao went out and she's the one taking care of all the housework."
Mrs. Hu said, "I feel Chunxing and Chunhe are both capable of handling things. Duo'er is a little smaller, but she is also obedient and follows her sisters in doing things."
Lin Cun was sitting in the corner smoking his pipe, vaguely thinking of the time when his sisters came to him with their bedding to seek justice.
"It's Chuntao who has the idea to help them live a normal life."
The old man suddenly interrupted and Sun next to him smiled. She looked at her children and thought about letting them learn some skills from Lin Chuntao later.
Lin Chuntao carried a large steamer back on her back. Pei Ying was stunned for a moment and hurried to take it down.
"Why didn't you ask me to go with you when you went to borrow the steamer?"
Lin Chuntao said, "I didn't go to borrow a steamer. I was just digesting my food and I met Aunt Guizhi. After chatting for a while, I borrowed her big steamer."
"By the way, I asked about cooking."
Pei Ying asked, "How do you say that?"
"My aunt said that two dishes, one meat and one vegetable, would be enough, and asked me to steam more rice. People who do manual labor need to eat more to feel full."
Pei Ying smiled and said, "Auntie, what you said makes sense. For those who do heavy labor outside, one spoonful of vegetables can be matched with two bowls of rice. Rice is more filling than vegetables."
"That's fine, I don't think I can handle so many dishes."
Pei Ying washed the steamer and hung it out to dry. Lin Chuntao said, "Then I'll go early tomorrow morning and come back early to buy some meat and grain."
Pei Ying said, "I'll also tell Shopkeeper He to come back early."
"You see, if Shopkeeper He comes late, you'll have to look after the stall first."
As she was talking, Lin Chuntao went to find four pieces of cloth to sew four small cloth bags to be used when digging the foundation tomorrow.
Pei Ying sewed quickly, and only when he was almost done did Lin Chuntao fill it with rice and copper coins. After they were done, she gave it to Pei Ying to seal the hole.
After the things were put away, they prepared the vegetables and meat that Lin Chunxing would use tomorrow, and then started to wash up and prepare for bed.
Before going to bed, Lin Chuntao and Lin Chunhe said, "If uncle and his family arrive early tomorrow morning, they will bring some people to help us dig the yellow clay. I have also invited great grandfather and uncle Changzong to help us dig with them."
"I'll try to get back as early as possible. If Sister Yu and the others who came today also arrive early, then you can ask them to clean up the homestead first and start work after I come back."
Lin Chunhe nodded obediently, and Lin Chuntao said, "Everything else is normal. Give Jiahui some money and make breakfast for yourself."
Lin Chunhe smiled and said, "You don't need to tell me, I will cook."
Lin Chuntao couldn't help laughing, "I was worried you'd be so busy you'd forget and end up missing out on food."
"That's impossible!"
Her firm tone made Pei Ying beside her unable to help but laugh. Construction of the new house will start tomorrow. Even if they are busy or tired, they are still very happy!
The sisters were tired after a day of work and fell asleep quickly after lying down.
At the hour of Yin on August 28, the system kept yelling for a long time, shouting about the green-headed mushrooms and pine-hair mushrooms. Lin Chuntao thought that she would pick them up today and not sell them. She would bring them back as a vegetable on the first day of work.
In the morning, Lin Chuntao carried a backpack and a bamboo basket into the mountains, while Lin Chunxing and the others led Aunt Guizhi's mule into the city.
She was so busy that she picked the mushrooms quickly. It was still dark before she finished picking up the mushrooms pointed by the arrow.
When she arrived at the county town, the sun had not yet risen. This was the earliest time she had arrived.
Liuzi and his friends haven't returned from delivering the meat yet. Lin Chuntao needs to buy a lot of meat today and take it back for tomorrow. That way, if she's busy tomorrow, she won't have to rush to buy meat early in the morning.
A slab of rib meat, including meat and bones, weighed about thirty pounds. Lin Chuntao bought one directly. She also took away a bucket of pig blood and a bunch of pig liver. Helan had not come yet, so Lin Chuntao left the money to Pei Ying. Zhang Dayong looked at the weight and waited for Helan to come before calculating the money for her.
Lin Chuntao took a wooden barrel to hold the meat. She divided the meat into two pieces and put them directly into the barrel. She wrapped the pig liver in lotus leaves and put it next to it.
The bucket of pig's blood and the mushrooms in the backpack were neatly placed on the mule cart.
Lin Chuntao went to buy a few wooden basins to store vegetables.
After buying vegetables, she went to the grain store and bought some buckwheat noodles and some cornmeal. She simply went through the motions, walked out of the grain store for a while, and when she saw that there was no one around, she opened the control panel and exchanged one and a half stone of buckwheat noodles, one stone of cornmeal, and one stone of rice, filling the entire mule cart.
When she was about to go home, Lin Chuntao went to the dry goods store and bought some dried bamboo shoots, dried beans, and some dried black fungus.
The old lady in the dry goods store was preparing to dry the sauerkraut. Lin Chuntao looked at the sauerkraut she took out of the jar. It was a big one and looked very sour.
She didn't have much left from the previous batch, so she had to make it again when she got home.
She asked tentatively, "Boss, are you selling these pickled vegetables?"
The old lady waved her hand and said, "No, I'm keeping it for myself."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Sell me a few. I see your pickled cabbage is very sour. I've pickled it before, but it wasn't sour. It was a waste of my vegetables."
The old lady frowned slightly when she heard this. "What did you do wrong? Pickled cabbage is always sour no matter how casually it is pickled."
Then she looked at a young girl and the old lady asked, "How many do you want?"
"Sell me fifteen or sixteen." Lin Chuntao said as she took down a wooden basin and scooped some clean water from the old lady to wash the basin. The old lady put sixteen trees in her basin and also scooped a few spoonfuls of sour soup into it for her.
"Don't pour out this soup. Go get some vegetables and continue cooking with this soup. It's guaranteed to be sour!"
Lin Chuntao quickly thanked her, saying that the old lady was really kind-hearted.
"The vegetables are four cents a pound. I'll charge you for the vegetables, and you give me twelve cents."
"Okay, thank you, Auntie!" Lin Chuntao said as she counted the money and handed it over. She put the wooden basin on the mule cart, washed the other wooden basin and covered it with it. After she was done, she pulled the mule cart back home.
At this time, the sun had just risen. Yu Meixi, Sun Hu and their group of more than ten people were in a large group. Two bare carts were carrying people, and there were three mule carts that were helping Lin Chuntao to transport yellow clay.
My uncle and aunt were also a group of people, all carrying straw and holding hoes.
When we left the village, the villagers asked us what we were doing. My aunt and the others replied with some pride, "A Xiu's daughter Chun Tao is building a new house, and we are going to help."
The person asking the question thought that Xu Xiu had passed away for many years, and something had happened to the Lin family, leaving only some children. How could they have the money to build a new house?
People thought about it and asked, and the aunt-in-law said, "The sisters are good at cooking. They make some food and sell it in the county town."
"Oh, that's incredible."
My aunt said, "It's hard work, getting up early and going to bed late every day."
After they left, a woman nearby said, "A Xiu's daughter seems quite amazing. I was eating potatoes at Tian Zhu's house earlier, and Tian Zhu's wife brought out some sauce that tasted really good. She said it was made by A Xiu's daughter."
"Does it taste better than the ones bought in the county?"
The people around him were a little unconvinced, "Is it so delicious?"
"It's really delicious, fragrant and spicy, and delicate. Dipping a little bit on potatoes is delicious." She swallowed and said, "Ask Sun Qin in a couple of days if I can have some."
Someone else laughed and said, "Don't ask for it empty-handed, or Sun Qin might get upset and scold you."
The man's cheeks flushed slightly. "I can give her eggs in exchange."
They were all people working in the fields cutting grass for pigs. They walked away while chatting.
Lin Chuntao had a lot of things to carry today, so she didn't sit on the mule cart. She led the mule and came back a little slower.
When she got home, the house was bustling with activity. Great-grandmother and Aunt Guizhi were already working. Lin Cunzheng and his uncle had just chatted for a while and were about to go digging yellow clay together. Yu Meixi and Sun Hu had also just arrived and greeted everyone.
Before Lin Chunhe had time to follow the arrangements Lin Chuntao had made yesterday, Lin Chuntao came back.
Seeing her pulling the mule cart full of food and meat, everyone's eyes widened, especially the workers. Getting paid was one thing, but they were also very concerned about what to eat every day. If the employer was stingy and didn't provide any food at all, they would be so hungry and dizzy in the middle of the work that they would not be able to work at all.
Looking at the meat and food in Lin Chuntao's bucket, they felt that they would not go hungry while working here.
Yu Meixi looked at the pig liver, meat, and pig blood pickled cabbage. She didn't have time to say it yesterday, but on weekdays they only needed to make two dishes for the workers, with some meat and a little oil.
She lent a hand to help carry the things, and when she entered the house, she talked to Lin Chuntao about the dishes. Lin Chuntao said bluntly, "Sister-in-law, cooking two dishes shouldn't be too little, right?"
Yu Meixi said: "No more, no less, just two will do."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Yesterday I forgot to ask you what everyone likes to eat. Today I bought some buckwheat noodles and cornmeal."
"That's all. For buckwheat noodles, you can make pancakes, and for cornmeal, you can steam rice."
Lin Chuntao nodded slightly, then said, "I made two buckwheat dumplings a few days ago. They were delicious. I'll share them with everyone."
Yu Meixi smiled and said, "Sister, you can make the arrangements."
Lin Chuntao put the things away, went out to greet everyone, said a few polite words, and called for work to begin.
Everyone then went about their own business.
Lin Chuntao would not go to see the digging of yellow clay. Lin Cunzheng and Lin Changzong would help him look after it. His uncle and others were also there, so he didn't have to worry too much.
She had to watch over the digging of the homestead.
There were a lot of thorns and weeds next to the homestead, so Yu Meixi and the others planned to cut all of them first.
The aunts helped with the cooking. For lunch, Lin Chuntao prepared a stew of meat with dried potatoes and beans, and a stir-fried pork slices with cucumber. Both dishes would have some meat and some vegetables.
Lin Chuntao asked her aunt and others to help soak the dried beans, peel the potatoes and cut the meat.
She quickly scooped out the buckwheat noodles, sprinkled water on them and stirred them in a winnowing basket, making half a basket of buckwheat noodles.
The big steamer was washed clean, and she poured the liquid into it after she finished cooking.
There were fifteen people in total with Yu Meixi. Her uncle and his group brought three people with them, and with the six of them, there were nine people in total. There were also seven people including Lin Changzong who were digging the soil, so there were thirty-one people in total. They were so busy that they ate whatever the workers ate. Including the five of them and Sun and her group, there were almost forty people eating.
Lin Chuntao took a deep breath, looked at her aunt, and asked, "Aunt, this should be enough for forty people, right?"
The steamer was a big one and was almost full. My aunt-in-law nodded.
"That's certainly enough."
Lin Chuntao steamed the rice, went back to the house to get the four money bags, and said to her aunt, "Aunt, please keep an eye on them for me. I'll go check on the homestead."
"Go ahead, we'll get it for you."
There were too many people and it was a mess. Lin Chunhe hadn't started steaming the beans yet. Lin Duoer followed Lin Chunhe. Lin Chuntao was going to the homestead. They actually wanted to see it too, but if they went too, it would be inappropriate for no one to be at home.
Lin Chunhe had no choice but to pull Lin Duoer to prepare to rub the beans together, make them first, and steam them later.
When Lin Chuntao arrived, Sun Hu and his group were already cleaning the homestead. Many villagers were standing not far away, watching.
It's always lively when anyone builds a new house, but it's especially lively when Lin Chuntao and her family are together. There are about 20 or 30 people busy at work. They have never seen such a big scene before.
Niu Hongxi, Lin Miaomiao and others were also there.
Yesterday, Sun Hu said that they would be back in a few days. Niu Hongxi didn't expect that they were here to build a house for Lin Chuntao.
Today, when he saw more than a dozen workers coming to work, he finally reacted.
He walked to the edge of the homestead, looked at Sun Hu and asked, "Brother, we have two fir trees to sell. When can we cut them down?"
Sun Hu looked up and saw Niu Hongxi, and said with a smile: "Wait for about twenty days."
Niu Hongxi frowned slightly, "Can't we cut it down in the next two days?"
Sun Hu: "I've been too busy these past two days and haven't had time."
Niu Hongxi glanced at Lin Chuntao who was not far away and said, "Brother, there are so many of you. You can cut down the trees in an hour without delaying anything."
Lin Chuntao had her back to Niu Hongxi, and Yu Meixi was standing in front of her.
As Niu Hongxi finished speaking, Yu Meixi saw a trace of disgust in Lin Chuntao's eyes. She raised her voice and said, "Brother, we have all been paid for our work today. Do you want to pay us two hours' wages to chop down trees for you?"
"Besides, we only buy trees, we don't cut them down. You have to hire someone to do it."
After hearing Yu Meixi's not-so-polite words, Niu Hongxi turned and left.
Yu Meixi asked, "Sister Chuntao, does this person have a grudge against you?"
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "No, in theory. He is a migrant from another place and is now my cousin's husband. However, our family relationship is not good. My sisters and I severed ties with our elders a long time ago and don't keep in touch with them."
Yu Meixi was stunned for a moment, and Lin Chuntao said, "The old house we live in upstairs was lent to us by Muramasa, so I'm in a hurry to build a house and move in as soon as possible."
Yu Meixi never expected such a thing to happen. She said, "Don't worry, sister. We will rush the work for you and try to finish it as soon as possible."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Thank you, sister-in-law, for your concern."
After the homestead was cleaned, Sun Hu carried half a bucket of grass and wood to draw the line, and the workers began to drive piles and pull lines.
The first foundation to be dug was that of the main house. After digging, four small cloth bags were buried. Only after burying them did they begin to tamp the soil.
Lin Chuntao looked for a while and then came back. She had to come back to cook.
When she came back, her aunt and the others had already peeled half a basin of potatoes and soaked the beans in water, but they had not yet started cutting the meat.
Lin Chuntao went to cut the meat into pieces. The square pieces of meat were used to stew the potatoes, and the meat slices were put in the cucumbers, with less meat slices in the cucumbers.
After cutting the meat, she scooped some cold water and cut some ginger slices into it to soak the blood and remove the fishy smell.
Lin Chuntao went to the field to pick cucumbers. She picked some from her own field and also picked some from Aunt Guizhi's field. She made a sample and her second aunt took over and continued to cut it.
Lin Chuntao went to prepare the ingredients for the stew.
The big steamer on the stove was steaming. Lin Chuntao opened the lid and took a look. The color of the buckwheat lumps had changed. Lin Chuntao went to get a big winnowing basket, and her aunt-in-law came to help her pour it out.
Lin Chuntao used a rice spoon to break it up, sprinkled some water on it, and poured it back.
"How long do you need to steam it?" asked the aunt. Lin Chuntao said, "Steam it for another quarter of an hour. I don't have a set time, so I'll just check and taste it. If the top is cooked, the bottom will be ready too."
Rice was steaming on the stove, so Lin Chuntao had to light another fire in the yard and take out the big iron pot.
The dishes can be stir-fried later, it won’t take long to cook two dishes.
But the oil at home was almost gone, so she had to cut and boil the lard first. There were two kitchen knives, the aunt-in-law cut the potatoes and Lin Chuntao cut the lard.
She worked quickly, and before long, the whole yard was filled with the aroma of boiling lard.
At this time, at the meat stall, Pei Ying gave Helan the money to buy meat today, and also said that he had to come back early because he had to build a house today.
Helan looked at the money in his hand, feeling a bit amused and helpless.
"You can kill a pig yourself. If you need a lot of meat to build a house, can't you get a pig and kill it? It's still cost-effective!"
When Helan finished speaking, Pei Ying was stunned. As if he suddenly realized something, Helan asked, "Are you and Madam Lin too busy to notice anything?"
Pei Ying held his forehead helplessly, "I was so anxious about the date. I just saw it yesterday and started work today. I didn't expect this at all."
Helan said, "Go to the pen in the backyard and pick one. I'll charge you a fee for my work, but I won't make any money from you."
Pei Ying nodded, gave today's meat money to Helan, and then went to the backyard to weigh the pig. Helan charged ten cents per catty for the live pig. The pig weighed 213 catties, and the meat was estimated to be 150 or 160 catties. However, there were a lot of miscellaneous items, so it was definitely more cost-effective than buying meat every day.
Pei Ying didn't bring any money today, so he will give Helan the money tomorrow.
He tied the pig with a rope and drove it back.
When Pei Ying drove the pigs home, Lin Chuntao was stunned.
Pei Ying relayed He Lan's words to Lin Chuntao, who smiled and said, "I've been so busy that I've lost my mind. Shopkeeper He is such a nice person."
Pei Ying nodded slightly. The Helan people were indeed good people.
Lin Chuntao didn't put the pig into the pen, but tied it to the bamboo fence behind the house and threw some pig grass to it.
Lin Chuntao had just poured the boiled lard into the oil tank.
It seemed like the time was almost up and the dishes were ready.
Lin Chuntao heated the oil in a pan and was just about to start cooking when she heard Yu Meixi's voice coming from outside.
"Sister Chuntao! Sister Chuntao! Great news! We found water!"
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