Chapter 111 Chapter 111 - Two-in-one tacos
Listening to this person, Lin Chuntao thought for a moment. Wild mushrooms depended on the season and the amount of rain, but many could actually be cultivated. She could exchange mushroom strains, which wasn't difficult. When there were no more mushrooms to be found, could she try artificially cultivating them? Shiitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms, and so on.
But the autumn harvest is coming up soon and we are very busy, so we have to wait until we are done with that before we can plant anything.
After selling noodle soup with Lin Chunxing for a while, Lin Chuntao went to Chai Xingyu's shop. There were a lot of people in the shop. Chai Xingyu was not there. Zhang Qingqing and Lin Qingqing were busy weighing sauce for customers. Sanbao and two others were mixing a jar of sauce from the warehouse.
He looked up and saw Lin Chuntao, and asked with a smile, "Mrs. Lin, you're here. The shopkeeper is not here now."
Lin Chuntao said, "I don't have anything to do. I just came to take a look. Is this sauce enough?"
After Sanbao put away the jar of sauce, he came over to talk to Lin Chuntao about the price and then asked, "Madam, is the new sauce ready? This sauce is selling too fast."
Lin Chuntao roughly estimated how many days the goods could be sold.
"Shin-chan is almost done and can be connected."
Hearing Lin Chuntao's words, Sanbao chuckled. Chai Xingyu's shop was almost supported by Lin Chuntao's sauce. Although the other types of sauce were also acceptable, the quantity was much smaller. Fortunately, there were many varieties, and the combined sales of the several types could bring in a lot of money every day.
"Then I'll tell him when the shopkeeper comes back."
Lin Chuntao nodded. "Where's your shopkeeper?"
"I'm looking for pickles. Yesterday a woman came to ask the shopkeeper if he would buy pickles. The shopkeeper was busy at the time, so she left her address and the shopkeeper went over today."
"He's alone?"
Sanbao shook his head: "No, Wu went with him."
After he finished speaking, he added, "I'll stay and look after the shop."
Some people were queuing up to weigh the sauce, Zhang Qingqing and Lin Qingqing were busy, and Sanbao was called away by the customers before he could even chat for a few words. Lin Chuntao said hello to Lin Qingqing and the others and left.
On the way back, Lin Chuntao exchanged some candy from the system and some dried chilies to take back.
Around the village, the fields were full of people. Some of the corn had not been harvested yet, some were cutting corn stalks, and some had already started digging the ground.
At this time at home, Aunt Guizhi and the others were already working in the backyard. After Meng Yun finished keeping track of the accounts, she joined them in picking beans and preparing peppers. Lin Duoer went to cut grass for the pigs, and Lin Chuntao was cooking pig food.
The piglet has gained a lot of weight since it started eating potatoes, and the speed of its growth shocked Lin Chunhe.
Grain was precious and people were reluctant to sell it, let alone feed it to pigs. Therefore, no household had ever fed pigs with grain, and no one had ever imagined that pigs would grow so fast after eating grain.
She had just boiled and crushed the potatoes, preparing to let them cool before feeding them. When she came over to wash her hands, she saw Lin Chuntao coming back.
"Sister, what did you buy?" As she spoke, she followed Lin Chuntao over and lent a hand to help carry the backpack.
Lin Chuntao said, "I bought some dried chilies and two cans of sugar. Aren't we going to make tortillas today? We're almost out of sugar at home."
Lin Chunhe pursed her lips and smiled when she heard that. She liked eating corn tortillas, and she preferred the sweet ones.
"Sister, our pigs have gotten a lot fatter. We're almost out of potatoes. Should we continue to buy potatoes to feed them?"
Lin Chuntao said, "No, our corn is almost ready for harvest. We'll use cornmeal as feed later."
Lin Chunhe nodded. "Grind it into flour and feed it to it?"
"Well, grind it into flour. After we harvest the corn, plow the land and plant more radishes. When there's no more grass for the pigs, we can pick radishes to feed them."
It is difficult to cut grass for pigs in winter, and pigs do not like to eat hay. Many people will find that the pigs become thin during this season.
Lin Chunhe was still worried about what to do if she lost weight in a while, but when she heard Lin Chuntao's arrangement, she felt relieved.
After putting down the backpack, Lin Chunhe took down the sack and asked, "Should we send this to the back?"
Lin Chuntao nodded and said, "Give it to Meng Yun."
She packed the peppers in a sack and prepared to go to the backyard. After a few steps, she suddenly turned back and asked, "Sister, how much is this per pound?"
"Six cents." Lin Chuntao said.
Lin Chunhe responded and left.
Lin Chuntao carried the sugar jar and honey jar into the house and placed them there, leaving only two jars in the cabinet in the kitchen.
After putting the things away, Lin Chuntao went to the backyard. Lin Chunhe had already called Aunt Guizhi and the others to move out the jar of soy sauce that needed to be dried in the sun. She called Meng Yun to weigh out the beans and wash and soak them first.
Rinse the beans is not an easy task, mainly because there are too many of them. It is very heavy to scrub them in a basin and change the water.
Meng Yun and Lin Chunhe worked with her, and it took a long time before they washed it clean and soaked it.
Lin Chuntao thought of making a water drain, putting water on it, and placing a dustpan underneath to scrub the clothes. After washing, the water would be drained directly down. This way, the process would be faster and save effort.
But this matter had to be put aside. Lin Chuntao soaked the beans and went to cook the beans that she had peeled last night. She asked Lin Chunhe to watch the fire while she carried a basket to the field to cut corn, and brought back the corn along with the corn stalks.
When she got home, the beans were not cooked yet. Lin Chuntao directly carried the corn to the backyard, broke off the corn husks, tied up the corn stalks, and turned back to Aunt Guizhi and said, "Aunt, please take these corn stalks back to feed the mule later."
Aunt Guizhi responded, looked at her large winnowing basket of corn husks, and asked with a smile, "You cut so much corn, are you going to make tortillas?"
Lin Chuntao said, "Well, Chunhe and the others wanted to eat some, and I thought the corn would be tender now, so I made some and set it aside."
Aunt Guizhi smiled and said, "We haven't done it this year."
Lin Chuntao: "I'll make more and take some over to eat when the time comes. It's troublesome to make this, so I'll make more at once."
As she was talking, Lin Chuntao took a stool and sat next to her. She took out a knife and cut off some of the ends of the corn. After she cut the leaves wrapped around the corn in this way, each piece was neatly peeled off.
After the corn is cooked into paste, it will be scooped onto the husk leaves and steamed, which is very convenient.
Lin Chuntao put the peeled leaves into a clay basin and the corn into a winnowing basket beside it.
Grandma and the others were picking beans, a job that required careful eyesight, so they didn't really look at her corn. It was Mrs. Hu who picked up a winnowing basket and saw the corn in it when she picked it up to empty the sack.
"Wow, Chuntao, why is your corn husk so big?"
She exclaimed in surprise, and Aunt Guizhi and Grandma all turned around to look at her. The corn in the winnowing basket looked a lot bigger than theirs, at least an inch longer, and the grains were very full.
Lin Chuntao peeled out more than a dozen of them, and almost every one of them was about the same size.
Mrs. Deng also took a deep breath and said, "Chun Tao, are you picking the big ones to chop?"
"No, I cut it from the edge of the ridge."
The great-grandmother said, "A few days ago, your great-grandfather said that the corn husks in your field were good, and they all looked quite big." As she spoke, she came over and took one, took a look, and peeled off a few corn kernels. "The buds of these corn kernels are quite deep, and the kernels are quite big." She peeled a circle and saw the corn husks inside, which were very thin.
"Have you eaten this corn?"
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Not yet." She then added, "They're still very tender. Grandma, you can take some home and stir-fry them later."
The grandmother and the others took a few without hesitation, and Lin Chuntao took a few for Aunt Guizhi and Meng Yun.
Lin Chuntao's corn variety is different from the ones they grow, and the harvest will be better. Moreover, the climate in Yizhou is very suitable and the growing period is short. If they want to grow this, Lin Chuntao will save some more seeds and everyone can plant it together when the time comes.
After the beans settled down, Lin Chunhe brought them to the backyard. Lin Chuntao washed the millstone and ground the beans into mud.
Lin Chunhe steamed the rice, cut a bowl of meat and put it aside, and washed the cabbage that Lin Chuntao brought back last night and put it away.
There were not many beans, and they were cooked, so they were ground quickly. Lin Chuntao finished grinding in just a short while. She cleaned the millstone and carried the ground bean paste back to the front yard.
As soon as she entered the house, Lin Duoer came back.
Lin Chuntao chopped the cabbage and cooked a pot of vegetables without oil or salt. She also got some wild garlic, chopped it up and stir-fried half a pot.
The appearance of this thing after it was fried was a bit ordinary, but it was inexplicably fragrant. Lin Duoer pursed her lips and wanted to slurp a bowl of it right now.
Lin Chuntao looked at her and smiled, "There's so much. If you want to eat, just grab a bowl and scoop it out."
"Wait until my second sister and the others come back before eating."
As soon as she finished speaking, Lin Chunxing and Pei Ying came back. They walked into the kitchen one after another, carrying baskets on their backs. Lin Chuntao helped to take the baskets and put them down. Lin Chunxing sat down to rest, and Pei Ying went back to the house to change clothes.
Lin Chuntao heated up the oil in a pan and started stir-frying the meat and vegetables.
Pei Ying changed his clothes and washed his hands before coming over. The dishes were just cooked, so everyone picked up their bowls and chopsticks and started eating.
Lin Chuntao said, "I've picked the corn. After lunch, we'll start making tortillas."
The sisters nodded as they ate. They had made a new dish today. Although it didn't look very good, the bean paste made from wild garlic smelled delicious when mixed with rice. Lin Duoer ate a bowl of rice and also took out half a bowl to eat separately.
Eating too much beans may cause gastrointestinal discomfort, so you can cook them occasionally. The bean paste will make the dishes fragrant, but it also helps digestion when there are too many dishes.
After having a satisfying meal, they sat down to rest for a while and then went to get some corn.
After the corn was shelled, Lin Chunxing washed the shells, and Lin Chuntao took a knife and cut off the corn kernels. They needed to be ground anyway, so it didn't matter if the kernels were incomplete. It didn't take long to get all the corn kernels off.
This cake is not difficult to make. Get the corn kernels and grind them into a thick paste. However, you need to filter out the husks on the corn kernels, and the paste will be difficult to filter out. If you add too much water, it will be too thin.
But there is no way. If the skin is not filtered out, the pancake cannot be made tender. It will taste rough and irritate the throat.
Lin Chuntao had no choice but to add water and filter it through coarse gauze to get a fine corn pulp, then add a small amount of flour and sugar, stir evenly and start steaming the cakes.
From getting the corn kernels to grinding them into juice and filtering them, Lin Chuntao and her team worked for two hours to finish. Fortunately, they had a large steamer, which was unused today, so they lit the stove and put the steamer on it. They could steam more than a dozen corns in one tray.
As the steamer starts to emit steam, the whole backyard is filled with the sweet smell of corn.
Lin Duoer was gasping for air beside her, and the two children from Lin Shuilian's family were playing with her and were also sniffing beside her.
When the first pot came out, Lin Chuntao picked up a few for them and put them aside to cool. Lin Chunhe thought it tasted better when it was hot, so she ran to get a bowl and chopsticks, and picked up a piece for each of them.
The peeled corn tortillas look smooth and translucent on the surface, and taste even more delicate and soft. Although they use little flour, the corn flavor is still very strong. Lin Chuntao also added malt sugar, so it is not too sweet and the taste is just right.
After taking out one pot, Lin Chuntao continued to steam the second pot.
It was a little cool, so Lin Chuntao gave one to Aunt Guizhi and Grandma, and they all sat together to eat. The corn was a little sticky, and the inside of the cake was also soft and sticky, but not too sticky. It tasted great.
Grandma smiled and said, "With Chuntao's craftsmanship, no matter what it is, it becomes extremely delicious in Chuntao's hands. Take these corn tortillas, for example. Who doesn't have a pile of corn husks when they make them?"
Lin Chuntao smiled when she heard this, "But everyone is busy, so it's troublesome. There are so many people in the family, and no one has the leisure to cook so much food. I'm the only one who's slacking off."
Mrs. Hu laughed and said, "How can this be called dawdling? Actually, we wanted to do it, but looking at the half-empty pot, we thought we'd just steam it like this. I'm so lazy."
They discovered that Lin Chuntao was quite meticulous in cooking, and she was willing to spend time and do it carefully.
She is a good cook and is also very generous when it comes to food.
While eating cornbread, the great-grandmother looked at her and said, "Your beans and corn are almost ready to be harvested, right?"
Lin Chuntao nodded and said, "We're going to pick the beans in the next two days. There are so many that Chunhe and I feel like it'll take many days, so we'd like to ask a few people to help us pick them together."
Sun didn't know what Lin Chuntao was planning, but even for such a simple job as pulling bean sprouts, the villagers could ask her to do it for two or three days without any payment. However, the adults might weigh the pros and cons and not come to help her directly. However, the adults would probably let the young boys who spent all day fighting cocks and walking dogs do it.
Thinking of this, Sun said, "It's easy to pull out bean sprouts. You can ask Lin Jiaye and the other young men to pull out a lot for you in a day."
Lin Chuntao laughed when she heard this, and Mrs. Hu agreed, "That's right. There are so many young boys in this village who need to eat a few bowls of rice. They don't have much to do now. They either run up and down the mountains or fight cocks and walk the dogs. If you give them two meals and ask them to do a day's work, the adults will be very happy."
Hearing what they said, Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Then I'll go and call a few tomorrow morning."
"After dinner, they'll all be playing in the village. Call a few of them and ask them to come early tomorrow morning. They'll have more energy to work before the sun goes down."
After hearing what Aunt Guizhi said, Lin Chuntao went to the village with Pei Ying after dinner. Sure enough, there were four or five half-grown boys from Lin Jiaye chasing each other in the village.
Seeing Lin Chuntao and Pei Ying, Lin Jiaye stopped and greeted them.
"Sister, brother-in-law, what are you doing?"
Lin Jiaye greeted him, and the young boys next to him also shouted, "Sister, brother-in-law."
Lin Chuntao asked with a smile, "Have you eaten yet?"
Several people nodded. Lin Jiaye said, "We've eaten."
Lin Chuntao asked, "Do you have anything to do tomorrow or the day after tomorrow?"
Lin Jiaye shook his head: "It seems nothing happened."
Lin Chuntao looked at them and asked, "Where are you guys?"
Normally, there was nothing to do. The crops at home were almost harvested, and the next two days were just carrying grass and cutting grass. Seeing that they had no idea, Lin Chuntao said, "Ask the adults. If you have time, please help me pull the bean sprouts for two days."
The boys were stunned for a moment. It was the first time someone asked them to do work, and their minds were still confused. But they quickly reacted and said with a smile: "Sister Chuntao, wait here for us, we will go home and ask."
Lin Chuntao nodded and said, "Go ahead. I'll wait for you here."
They were clearly told to do the work and were not paid, but they were all very happy on the way home. This was probably the effect of Lin Chuntao's moving banquet. The children who had attended the banquet exaggerated and told everyone about it after returning home, causing the half-grown children who had not eaten to be extremely greedy.
These half-grown children asked the adults who went to eat, and the adults, who were in a good mood, would also praise Lin Chuntao.
This made them even more greedy, but unfortunately, they only had one meal for the moving party, so they didn't have the chance to eat the food cooked by Lin Chuntao.
When Lin Chuntao invited them just now, they all thought quickly. If the adults agreed to let them go, wouldn’t they be able to eat?
When a few people went back and told the adults about it, the adults were also a little confused.
Who would hire someone to do work without an adult? Hiring a few young boys? They might be able to eat, but they might not be able to do the work well.
Two of the people who followed Lin Jiaye were from Uncle Shitou's family. After hearing what the two brothers said, Uncle Shitou didn't believe it, "Are you sure you are invited?"
Lin Jiayang and Lin Jialiang nodded and said, "They invited us. Sister Chuntao also invited Jiaye."
Aunt Shitou asked, "Is this true? What do you want me to do?"
Lin Jiayang replied: "They said it was about pulling out bean sprouts."
When he heard about pulling out bean sprouts, Uncle Shitou said, "Pull out bean sprouts, then go ahead."
The two brothers smiled happily and said, "Then let's go and tell Sister Chuntao."
After saying that, the two of them ran away.
Uncle Shitou frowned, "These two brats, are they so happy to work? Is there less work to do at home?"
Aunt Shitou burst out laughing when she heard that and rolled her eyes at Uncle Shitou. "We were picking corn a few days ago. It was so much work, but why didn't they look so happy?"
Uncle Shitou: "Yeah? Why don't they look so happy?"
Aunt Shitou: "That's the meal that Chan Chuntao made. Everyone said it was delicious at the banquet that Chuntao held when she moved a few days ago. It made those guys who didn't get to eat it want it so much. Now if they go to work for Chuntao, they can eat the meal that Chuntao made, right?"
Uncle Shitou: “…”
When Lin Jiaye returned, everyone in his family was sitting in the yard. Because Lin Qingqing had not been found, the atmosphere in Uncle Lin's house was very depressing. Wang seemed to be sick and lay in bed all day. Lin Changhua only worked, ate, slept, and smoked, and he became very silent.
Lin Jiaye walked up to his parents and whispered about this.
Although the voice was low, everyone in the family heard it. His mother raised her eyebrows slightly: "Did they ask you to do anything?"
Lin Jiaye: "They said it was about pulling out bean sprouts."
"Then go ahead. There's nothing I want you to do at home."
After hearing what his mother said, Lin Jiaye left with a smile.
The other two are Lin Jiatong and Lin Jiachong, who are cousins. When they told their parents about this at home, they thought they were being asked to do some work for money. But when they heard the kids say it was to pull bean sprouts, they were a little disappointed. But they had to stay at home anyway, so since Lin Chuntao called them, they might as well go. In case the kids are good at doing things, Lin Chuntao will definitely call them first when she needs work in the future, so she remembers them.
They don't have as many thoughts as adults, they only think about food.
Lin Chuntao and Pei Ying waited there, and not long after, Lin Jiaye and the others came running back.
Seeing that all five people were welcome, Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Then come early tomorrow and have breakfast."
Several people were a little confused. Lin Jiaye said, "Sister, which one do you want to pull out first? We'll go over there when we get up in the morning."
Lin Chuntao was stunned for a moment, then thought that everyone didn't eat breakfast, so they usually had two meals a day, lunch and dinner, so she just said breakfast and dinner. Several people thought Lin Chuntao wanted them to eat lunch at noon and then go back to work.
"Get up early and come home first. We have backpacks at home, but they come in different sizes. If the backpack at home is more comfortable to carry, just bring it with you."
"Okay."
After the agreement was made, Lin Chuntao prepared to go home. When they were about to part, Lin Chuntao suddenly asked, "What do you guys like to eat? Noodles or rice noodles?"
Several people were stunned. They liked all kinds of noodles and rice noodles.
"It will be all right."
Lin Chuntao nodded slightly and picked some pea tips on the way home. She could cook some meat sauce noodles for them at her butcher shop tomorrow morning, and adding some pea tips would make it very fragrant.
Seeing Lin Chuntao and Pei Ying coming back, Lin Chunxing hurriedly asked, "Sister, have you invited anyone?"
Lin Chuntao nodded. "I've invited everyone, including Lin Jiaye and Lin Jiayang. I've invited five people. Tomorrow, when you come back from the county town, you can buy two ribs of pork and five pounds of vermicelli."
Lin Chunxing agreed.
As dusk fell, Lin Chunxing and the others boiled water, and Lin Duoer was ready to take the water to take a bath. On the first day of moving into the new house, she was still thinking that she was not used to sleeping alone, but after only two or three days, she had already gotten used to it.
Not only did she get used to it, she also liked it. She could sleep in a big bed by herself and roll around without her sister scolding her. Besides, the cushion was so soft, what was the point of sitting? It would be better to lie down comfortably.
After they finished washing, Pei Yingcai took water into the house, mixed the water, tested the temperature, and found that it was just right. Then he took Lin Chuntao's clean clothes and put them aside, put the handkerchief away, and then went to call her.
"The water is ready, go wash."
Lin Chuntao asked, "Why don't you wash first?"
Pei Ying: "You go first, I'll fetch some water later."
Lin Chuntao thought of the water he had prepared last night, and without saying anything else, she got up and left.
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