Candies of all kinds are indispensable for the Chinese New Year, so An Ning also bought a lot of candies. After buying these things, An Dashan said, "Let's buy some wine. Your uncle and your uncle also like to drink."
An Ning smiled and thought that her father probably wanted to drink, so she nodded and said, "Then let's go to the wine shop!"
An Dashan smiled and led the way to the wine shop.
An Ning had always thought that the winemaking technology of this era was not well developed and there was no good wine. But after entering the shop, he realized that he was ignorant.
The most common type of liquor in the store is turbid wine, which is the lowest grade of wine that An Dashan often drinks. In addition to turbid wine, there are several large wine jars in the store, with the names of the wines written on them, including sake, rice wine, yellow wine, Zhuyeqing, Fen wine, Dukang wine, chrysanthemum wine, and Shaodaozi, which is unique to the frontier.
An Dashan thought about it and bought two jars of sake, two jars of rice wine, and a jar of Bamboo Leaf Green Tea. An Ning didn't understand these things, so she didn't get involved. But An Ning knew that rice wine was needed to make fermented glutinous rice balls, so An Ning bought a jar of rice wine.
An Dashan didn't ask An Ning what she wanted to do, and just paid the money. After buying the wine, the father and daughter felt that they had bought enough things, so they went to the place where they stored the carriages and horses, caught the mule cart and went home.
When they arrived at the city gate, Zhao Meng insisted on keeping them in the county town for dinner before going back, but An Dashan declined. The father and daughter rushed home without stopping, and when they got home the sun had just set.
Gensheng's mother was cooking dinner. An Ning washed her hands and came to help. After a while, two dishes and a soup were ready.
An Ning said, "Aunt, eat first and then go back."
Gensheng's mother shook her head and said, "No, there are two people at home waiting for dinner."
An Ning did not force him to stay, and only said: "Aunt, the New Year is coming soon. You don't need to come over to cook from the 20th of the twelfth lunar month. You should prepare at home and have a good New Year. Come back to help after the 15th."
Gensheng's mother had earned about one or two taels of silver during this period, and was very content. She said, "Okay, if you need any help, just call me anytime."
An Ning nodded and said, "Aunt, you see, we have so many pig heads at home that we can't eat them all. Take one and let the family have a taste."
Gensheng's mother declined, "That won't do. I usually bring a lot of food home. You should keep this pig's head and eat it slowly!"
An Ning smiled and said, "Aunt, you know that my family has been eating pig heads almost every day recently. We are tired of it. Please help us share the burden!"
Gensheng's mother smiled and thought to herself, "Will I ever get tired of eating this pig's head? I won't get tired of eating it even if I eat it every day!" Although she thought so in her heart, she did not refuse and said, "Thank you, auntie." After that, she took the pig's head and went home.
After An Ning saw Gensheng's mother off, she put the food on the table and the family of three began to eat dinner.
The next day, An Ning and An Dashan went to the town to deliver rabbits to the restaurant. Because they had given two rabbits each to the county magistrate and Zhao Meng, they only sent six rabbits to the restaurant this time.
The restaurant owner said, "Oh, Brother Dashan! There are too few rabbits. Your rabbits are tender and fresh. Many people have come to the restaurant to order rabbits recently."
An Dashan laughed and said, "Boss, our family has given birth to two more litters of rabbits, and three female rabbits are pregnant. I think we will have more rabbits to supply after the New Year."
The shopkeeper nodded and said, "Okay, then you must give priority to supplying me."
An Dashan agreed, then took the five hundred and forty coins given by the shopkeeper and left the restaurant with An Ning.
The two of them came to the town mainly to sell rabbits, so there was nothing else to do after selling the rabbits. An Ning thought about the rice wine she had just bought yesterday and wanted to eat rice dumplings made with fermented glutinous rice, but there was no glutinous rice flour at home, so she said to An Dashan, "Dad, I want to eat rice dumplings made with fermented glutinous rice, let's go buy some glutinous rice flour!"
An Dashan always listened to his daughter, so he nodded and said, "Okay."
The two of them went to the grain store and bought five kilograms of glutinous rice flour. The family had already bought sesame seeds and red beans last time, so An Ning didn't buy any this time. After buying the glutinous rice, the two went home.
When I got home, I found that my uncle Gao and my aunt Cui had come to give me New Year gifts.
Gao's family earned a lot more money this year because of the settlement, so the New Year gifts they sent were also quite generous. Two tied up old hens that had not yet been slaughtered, a large basket of eggs, and a large pot of meatballs fried by Wang.
Wang's fried meatballs are a specialty, and An Ning's family all likes them very much. Anyway, it is winter now, and the fried meatballs can be kept for a long time, so this time Wang simply fried a large pot of them and asked Uncle Gao and his wife to deliver them.
An Ning quickly said, "Uncle and aunt, please stay home for dinner. I'll go prepare it right away."
Gao said, "Please try to persuade them. I've been talking to them for a long time, but they insist on leaving."
An Ning listened to Gao's words and said, "Everything is ready at home. It won't take half an hour. Let my father take you back after dinner. It won't take any time."
An Dashan also said: "Yes, our two villages are not far away, and it won't take long to get there by mule cart."
Seeing that they couldn't refuse, Uncle Gao and Auntie could only nod and agree. Seeing that they agreed, An Ning went to the kitchen. Because it was not dinner time, Gensheng's mother didn't come, so An Ning started cooking by herself.
Just as An Ning lit the fire, her aunt came in and said, "Ning Ning, let me help you cook."
An Ning knew her aunt's temper, so she didn't refuse. She nodded and said, "Then aunt, please help me light the fire." After that, she took out a piece of cooked pork head and pork elbow from the meat jar.
An Ning had cooked the pork head and pork elbow in advance because she felt that it would waste too much firewood to cook only one at a time, so it would be better to cook a few more and keep them for later consumption.
An Ning added some water to the pot, then put a steamer on it, put the pork head and pork elbow in a large bowl, and took out two sections of Chinese sausage, washed them and put them in. Then she added another steamer on top, kneaded the dough that had been fermented in the morning into buns, placed the buns neatly on the steamer, covered them with a lid, and asked her aunt to light the fire.
My aunt is used to working, so An Ning didn't give her too many detailed instructions.
While the buns and meat were steaming in the pot, An Ning washed the bacon and cut it into thin slices, planning to stir-fry it with garlic sprouts later.
These garlic sprouts were grown by An Ning herself. An Ning asked An Dashan to make a few large wooden boxes, put soil in them, and then planted garlic. Now An Ning's family has eaten them several times.
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