It took Er Gouzi ten days to harvest the several acres of land of An Dashan's family. An Dashan kept his word and paid Er Gouzi two hundred coins. Er Gouzi accepted the money and left gratefully. What An Dashan didn't know was that Er Gouzi didn't go home with the two hundred coins, but used the money to buy some groceries and worked as a peddler.
An Ning was very impressed by the speed of infrastructure construction in ancient times. In just ten days, the framework of the house was already built. According to An Ning's requirements, the house was built very large, with five main rooms, two side rooms on the east and west sides, the east side room was used as a kitchen and firewood room, and the west side room was used as a warehouse. There were three side rooms on the east and west sides, the east side room was reserved for An Yong, and the west side room was for An Ning to live in. Every room was paved with floor heating.
The next day, the beams were to be put up, and An Dashan wanted to ask the villagers to come and help, so the food couldn't be too bad. So he hitched up a mule cart and went to the town to buy things. Seeing this, An Ning wanted to go with him. An Dashan was used to taking An Ning with him wherever he went, so the father and daughter set off in the mule cart.
When he arrived at the market, An Dashan thought about buying some flour for the beam raising ceremony the next day. In that dynasty, people would eat steamed buns when raising the beam, so An Dashan decided to be generous and eat the flour steamed buns.
An Ning saw An Dashan entering the grain store, so she got off the car, found an empty corner, and took out the two large bamboo baskets of eggs that she had prepared long ago. She estimated that An Dashan was about to come out, so she laboriously carried the two large bamboo baskets of eggs over.
An Dashan had just put the flour in the carriage when he saw An Ning carrying two large bamboo baskets of eggs towards him. He quickly took them and asked, "Daya, where did you buy these eggs?"
An Ning said casually, "It was over there. I saw an old woman buying eggs. The eggs were big and clean, so I bought both baskets of eggs."
When An Dashan saw this, he didn't say anything. He just wanted his daughter to be happy.
The two of them didn't go anywhere else, but went directly to the pork shop. An Dashan was now a regular customer of the pork shop. When the owner of the pork shop saw An Dashan coming, he smiled so hard that his mouth almost reached his ears, and said, "Brother An, what do you need to buy today?"
An Dashan looked at the remaining pork and pig head and said, "Tomorrow we will put up the beams at home, and I see you don't have much meat left, so why not sell it all to me at a lower price!"
When the pork shop owner heard this, he smiled and said, "Hey! Congratulations, Brother An. I see that you are a regular customer, so I will give you a discount of one cent per pound. What do you think?"
A penny saved per pound may not sound like a lot, but this piece of pork weighs at least 70 or 80 pounds, which makes it a lot when calculated.
An Dashan smiled and said, "Okay, brother, you are so generous. From now on, I will buy all the meat from you. Can you weigh the meat for me?"
An Ning looked at the many shaved bones on the chopping board, so she said, "Uncle, we want these bones too. Can you help weigh them?"
The butcher looked at the bones with almost no meat on them and said, "There's not much meat on these bones. If you want them, just give me twenty coins and take them away."
After hearing this, An Ning quickly nodded and said with a smile, "Thank you, uncle."
After paying the silver, An Dashan spread a sack on the carriage and put the pork on it. An Ning also got on the carriage, and the two of them headed home.
After dinner that day, An Dashan went to each household to ask his fellow villagers for help. They were all from the same village and were warm-hearted. Not to mention that the food at the An family was so good, so they all agreed.
The next morning, the villagers came with their tools to help. When the auspicious time came, under the command of Master Mo, they began to put up the beams. While the men were busy putting up the beams, Gao and An Ning were at home preparing meals.
Aunt Liu from next door and the daughter-in-law of Uncle Liu's family at the west end of the village, Gensheng's mother, also came to help Gao prepare meals. Uncle Liu's family had no able-bodied men, and Uncle Liu was not very mobile, so Gensheng's mother came to help with the cooking.
When the two arrived, An Ning had already prepared the pig's head, put it in a big pot, and lit the fire. Gao had also served two large pots of noodles. Seeing the two coming, she quickly greeted them warmly, "Come in quickly. I was just worried that I would be busy for a while to prepare food for so many people. I didn't expect you two to come. This is really timely!"
Gensheng's mother said, "You are the kind of person who can handle anything if you are too busy. Anyway, I have finished the work in the fields and have nothing to do at home."
Gao was just listening to this. She knew the situation of Gensheng's family. How could Gensheng's mother have time to spare?
Aunt Liu also joked, "I think she's afraid that we'll eat too much and go bankrupt." After she said that, everyone in the room burst into laughter.
Gao pretended to be angry and said, "Okay, you dare to say that to me, I'll starve you to death today." Several people laughed again.
The few of them were talking and laughing while working, and they seemed quite happy. When Gensheng's mother heard Gao say that all the pork had been cut up, her eyes widened in shock and she said, "This piece of pork must be more than 30 kilograms! Do you want to cut up all of it?"
The piece of meat that An Dashan bought yesterday weighed 69 kilograms. Gao thought it was too much, so she cut off half of it and put it in the well to keep it for later in the evening. Gao smiled and said, "Cut it all. The villagers are coming to help, so we have to let them eat well!"
After hearing this, Gensheng's mother said nothing more, nodded, and began to cut the meat. She felt distressed while cutting, and Aunt Liu felt the same way.
Aunt Liu, who was picking leeks, looked at An Ning beating eggs into the basin without any pity. Aunt Liu couldn't help but said, "That's enough, Daya, you've already beaten twenty eggs. Just add some more leeks and stir-fry them."
Seeing Aunt Liu’s distress, An Ning thought that twenty eggs would be enough, so she stopped beating the eggs and said, “Okay, I’ll listen to Aunt Liu.”
Aunt Liu's mouth twitched. She started talking from the tenth egg, but the girl acted as if she didn't hear her and didn't stop until she had beaten the twentieth egg.
For lunch, Gao and An Ning didn't plan to cook many dishes. They would just stew some braised pork, stir-fry some leeks and eggs, stir-fry some cabbage, and cut a pot of pork head. There weren't many dishes, but the quantity was large.
Gensheng's mother, who was chopping meat, smelled the aroma coming from the pot and said, "Daya, what are you cooking in this pot? Why does it smell so good?"
An Ning smiled and said, "The pig's head stewed here, you can try it when it's cooked, it's delicious." Gensheng's mother and Aunt Liu were stunned again. In this village, having a meat dish was already very good. They didn't expect that the An family was really rich.
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