Chapter 15 Chapter 15 Jinjiang Solo
Shu Nianian and Shu Chengzu left the county train station. It was not yet dark, and the winter sun was hanging obliquely in the northwest. It seemed to be quite high, but experienced old people knew that the sun sets quickly in winter, and it was dark in the blink of an eye.
Originally, Shu Chengzu planned to take Shu Niannian to work on a ox cart, but they were lucky and met a tractor from the supply and marketing cooperative in the neighboring village that was coming out to purchase goods. The driver had seen Shu Chengzu for medical treatment when he was a child and was very respectful to him. He greeted Shu Chengzu from a distance, and the grandfather and grandson successfully got on the tractor.
In less than half an hour, the grandfather and grandson arrived at the village entrance.
Shu Niannian asked Shu Chengzu to go home with her, but Shu Chengzu was unwilling. He had never wanted to live with the younger generations. He liked quietness. After being away from home for several days, he had to hurry home to check on the medicinal herbs in his backyard and had no time to deal with the younger generations.
Shu Niannian knew Shu Chengzu's temper, so she didn't try to persuade him. After she separated from Shu Chengzu at the village entrance, she went straight home. She walked briskly and hummed a little tune, feeling very happy.
But as soon as she reached the door of her second uncle Shu Guoqiang, she was stopped and scolded by Shu Guoqiang, who was standing at the door smoking a pipe.
Shu Niannian felt puzzled, but Shu Guoqiang was relentless, "Who allowed you to go to Haicheng with your grandfather?"
"What's wrong with me going to Haicheng with Grandpa?"
Shu Guoqiang said arrogantly, "What's wrong? We agreed when we split up the family business that your father would get a job as a worker in the county, and I would inherit the prescriptions and pills left by our ancestors. What's the matter? Do you want to take both of them away now?"
Shu Guoqiang became more and more excited as he spoke. "Why didn't I see it before? How could a little girl like you be so calculating? And you asked your grandfather to take you to Haicheng to do business? Why do you think so beautifully!"
In my impression, Shu Niannian is useless except for her good looks. The burden brought by his wife has always suppressed Shu Niannian. Shu Niannian has nothing to do but cry, which is of no use!
He has always looked down on Shu Niannian. Who would have thought that this little girl would actually want to poach him and take a piece of the pie from him?
snort! Quite courageous!
Shu Guoqiang originally wanted to scare Shu Niannian to tears. He said a lot of harsh words, but he didn't expect Shu Niannian to not even frown.
She was frighteningly calm.
The way he was looked at was as if he was looking at a clown.
The business had just started, but hadn't taken off yet. Shu Niannian didn't want to cause any more trouble, so she raised her hand and showed Shu Guoqiang the big gold bracelet on her wrist. "Second uncle, you misunderstood. I didn't go to Haicheng to do business. I'm a little girl and I don't know anything. What kind of business can I do? Aren't I going to marry Jianjun at the end of the year? That's why grandpa took me with him when he went to Haicheng this time. Look, this is the big gold bracelet that Grandma Lu gave me. Grandma Lu said that after some time, when Jianjun and I get married, she will give me another gold bracelet. Second uncle, I just found out today that gold bracelets are so beautiful. They are shining with gold. I asked the master craftsman in the gold shop, and Grandma Lu is going to give me a pair of exquisite bracelets with dragon and phoenix patterns. They are very valuable!"
Shu Niannian watched Shu Guoqiang staring at the bracelet on her hand, her eyes red with jealousy. Shu Niannian smiled more and more happily, "Second Uncle, I'm lucky. The marriage that Grandpa arranged for me is enough for me to enjoy wealth and glory in this life. Why should I still do business? It's so tiring!"
After saying that, Shu Niannian looked at Shu Guoqiang proudly and returned home happily.
Li Guifen, who was preparing dinner in the kitchen, heard the commotion outside and thought Shu Niannian was bullied again. She picked up a rolling pin and rushed out, but only saw Shu Niannian's smiling face.
"What's going on?" Li Guifen looked worried.
Shu Niannian pulled Li Guifen into the kitchen and whispered to her everything that had happened in the past few days, "Second Uncle guessed right. I did make money by doing business in Haicheng, but I was the one who arranged everything. Grandpa didn't know about it."
Li Guifen couldn't believe it when she saw Shu Niannian taking out two brand new bills from her pocket and the big gold bracelet she was wearing. The big gold bracelet was easy to deal with, as the Lu family was rich, and it was not a big deal for an elder to give an expensive gift to his granddaughter-in-law who had not yet married. What surprised her was that Shu Niannian actually started a business with others in a city as big as Haicheng, and even made money? !
Earn twenty dollars a day!
But it’s higher than Shu Guodong’s monthly salary!
Shu Niannian wanted to give the money to Li Guifen, but Li Guifen told Shu Niannian to keep it for herself, "You can keep the money you earned yourself. Buy whatever you want. Mom has money, so she doesn't need your money."
She didn't ask Shu Niannian for money, but she was happier than Shu Niannian. When she was rolling the noodles, she used a lot more strength in her hands. Her daughter had made progress, and she was happier than anyone else.
"But I don't want anyone to know about my business for the time being. After all, I've just started. If I tell people now, I might cause a lot of trouble. It would be hard to get past my second uncle alone."
Li Guifen sneered, "Humph, ignore him, he is just a shallow-minded person, he has no ability at all, and he guards against others like he would guard against thieves!"
Shu Niannian was chatting and laughing with Li Guifen, while Shu Guoqiang returned to his yard and started throwing things around, swearing and throwing things around. He threw things with so much force that he accidentally hit the wall with his hand, and he screamed in pain.
The next day, Shu Niannian got up early for morning reading. She would report to school next week. Since she planned to take the college entrance examination again, Shu Niannian has made use of all the available time. After dinner last night, Shu Niannian unfailingly practiced English test questions for an hour and read a math book for another hour. Before going to bed, she made a complete review plan according to her actual situation.
As long as you proceed step by step, there will be no problem in getting into university.
But after all, I haven't touched the textbooks for so many years, so I will definitely have to work hard to catch up.
After breakfast, Shu Niannian took Li Guifen and Shu Wenhui to the market and bought the pork offal she had always wanted, including a hanging of pork offal, a pig stomach, two pig trotters, an old hen, a pile of large bones, some side dishes, dried mushrooms, kelp, vermicelli and cabbage, etc. She also brought back two full bags of Fuqiang flour.
They hadn't even spent all the twenty yuan, and hadn't even unloaded a cart of things. Of all the food, only the old hen was expensive and the Fuqiang flour was a little expensive. Things like pig offal and pork chop were looked down upon by others in that era, but Shu Niannian was the only one who rushed to buy them because she liked them. Since she bought a lot of offal, the boss didn't charge them for the bones and gave them away for free, asking them to patronize more next time.
When passing by the entrance of the village, an auntie who was familiar with Li Guifen was shocked and said, "My goodness, you are celebrating the New Year in advance!"
Another auntie also agreed, "That's not the case. My family can't buy so many things during the Chinese New Year. At most, we can buy a pound of pork belly to make dumplings. How can we buy as much as Guifen's family?"
At this moment, the sharp-eyed aunt saw the gold bracelet on Shu Niannian's hand, and Shu Meilan happened to pass by. The aunt shouted, "Niannian, that's a big gold bracelet on your hand, right? It's shining in the sun. Is it real?"
"It's real. My husband's grandmother just gave it to me. It was originally a pair of dragon and phoenix bracelets. She said she would give me one first, and then give me the other one after I get married at the end of the year." Shu Niannian raised her hand to lift the strands of hair on her cheek and tuck them behind her ears, deliberately revealing the glittering golden bracelet. In an instant, everyone swarmed over and surrounded Shu Niannian, wanting to see what the legendary gold bracelet looked like up close.
Shu Meilan's eyes turned red with jealousy, but she still tried to smile and nodded to Shu Niannian, then she turned around and left with her fists clenched.
Shu Niannian thought to herself that Shu Meilan was really good at putting on a show. She was so angry that she was shaking all over, but she could still leave with a smile?
It doesn’t matter, she’ll add fuel to the fire at noon!
The Shu family's first and second houses lived next to each other, separated by a half-person-high adobe wall. Shu Guodong really wanted to build the wall, but he had no money in his early years and could not do it. Later, when he became rich, he wanted to save money for his son to get married. He wanted to spend his big money in two, but he was reluctant to do so.
Shu Guoqiang is rich, but he has never thought about building a wall, because he just wants Shu Guodong to see him living a better life than him.
In the past, Shu Guodong's family ate plain noodles and porridge, while Shu Guoqiang's family ate scallion oil noodles with scrambled eggs.
Shu Guodong's family eats scallion oil noodles, while Shu Guoqiang eats chicken soup noodles.
Shu Guodong could hardly have a bowl of chicken noodle soup during the holidays, and Shu Guoqiang started making braised spare ribs, braised chicken, and braised fish.
In short, over the years, no matter what Shu Guodong's family ate, Shu Guoqiang would always be better than Shu Guodong in this regard.
Now, the opportunity for revenge has come.
After Li Guifen returned home with the pork offal, she started to get busy. She first disassembled the pig's offal and cleaned them one by one. She then washed the pig's trotters and pork leg bones, cut the trotters, and broke the pork leg bones in the middle. This ensured that the fat in the bone marrow would be fried out to the maximum extent when stewing it later.
Shu Niannian put cinnamon, peppercorns, chili peppers, ginger and star anise into the pot. She first rinsed the pig lungs with water to remove the fishy smell and foam. Then she changed the water and put the pig heart, lungs, liver, trotters and pig shanks into the pot to cook. This time, not only did she put in some spices, but Shu Niannian also added half a spoonful of grain wine for seasoning.
The earthen stoves in the countryside can burn very quickly as long as there is enough firewood. In just ten minutes, the tempting aroma of meat wafts out and spreads.
Yang Guihua and Shu Meilan, mother and daughter, are lazy and craving for meat. Recently, Shu Guoqiang lost all his money in gambling, and Yang Guihua and Shu Meilan have not tasted meat for half a month.
Therefore, when she followed the smell of meat to the yard and saw that the appetizing meat aroma was wafting from the kitchen in the big room, Yang Guihua was full of disbelief. Why did this stingy big room, which usually cooked bland meals, bear to stew meat today?
In the past, only their family was envied by the eldest wife, but why is the situation reversed now?
However, this is not the end.
After one hour of fast stewing over high heat and two hours of slow stewing, the meat in the pot had been stewed to be soft but not mushy and chewy. Li Guifen took out all the pig offal, pig trotters and pig shanks and divided them into two portions, one for herself to eat at noon and the other for Shu Niannian to send to her grandfather.
Li Guifen cut the remaining pork offal into slices that were neither too big nor too small, neither too thin nor too thick, soaked the dried mushrooms, washed them, washed the cabbage and garlic sprouts and cut them into sections. After all this was ready, Li Guifen brought another pot to a boil over high heat, added lard, and when the lard was heated up, added scallions, ginger, garlic, peppercorns and chili powder, quickly stir-frying until fragrant. She then scooped up the broth that had been simmered for two hours with a spoon and poured it in, brought it to a boil over high heat, put in the chopped meat, and simmered it slowly over low heat.
It's a rare nice day today, without any wind. Although it's winter, I can hardly wear my jacket standing in the sun at noon.
Shu Wenhui moved the table outside, set up the small red clay stove he had just bought at the market on the table, and moved the charcoal fire from the earthen stove inside.
After Shu Niannian brought back the meat, Li Guifen used a casserole to scoop out the broth and offal that were stewing in the stove, and put the casserole on the small red clay stove. The simple rural spicy hot pot (also known as the pig-killing dish) was steaming. Li Guifen buried the dried mushrooms and cabbage in the bottom layer and sprinkled garlic sprouts on the surface. The garlic sprouts rolled in the hot soup. The delicious smell was enough to hook the glutton in one's stomach.
Shu Niannian was already drooling with greed, but she still insisted on waiting for Li Guifen to finish her work before eating together. This was the rule in their family. No matter how greedy or hungry they were, they could not pick up their chopsticks as long as the adults were not at the table.
Li Guifen was obviously very greedy. She hurriedly put out the fire in the stove and hurried over.
After taking a bite of the meat with chopsticks, Shu Niannian's taste buds were greatly satisfied. After taking a spoonful of hot soup, Shu Niannian felt that her whole body was warmed up and relaxed.
Under the warm winter sun, what could be more satisfying than sitting together with the family and eating a steaming and fragrant hot pot?
Here, Li Guifen was happily eating hotpot with her son and daughter, chewing their food slowly. There was plenty of meat anyway, so were the vegetables finished? It doesn’t matter, just grab a handful of vegetables from the basket next to it and put them in. Put in whatever vegetables you want to eat.
Shu Wenhui sighed, saying that from childhood to adulthood, he had never enjoyed a meal as much as he did today.
Over there, Yang Guihua and Shu Meilan were chewing on mixed flour steamed buns that were dry, hard and irritating to the throat. When they couldn't swallow them anymore, they drank some water to get them down. It was not the first time she had eaten mixed flour steamed buns, but she had never felt that this mixed flour steamed bun was so hard to swallow as today at noon.
Shu Meilan ate the steamed bread bite by bite. She finished it silently and then said to Yang Guihua, "Mom, do you know why uncle's family can eat meat at noon today?"
Yang Guihua had been helping her brothers with farm work at her mother's house these past two days. She came back just before lunchtime today and she didn't know anything. "Why?"
"Because she went to Haicheng with her grandfather, Jianjun's grandmother not only gave her a gold bracelet, but also gave her money. Today, she took her aunt to the market and spent money lavishly on shopping. Money is flowing like water."
Shu Meilan's eyes sparkled. She also wanted to live this kind of life. "Mom, I must snatch Jianjun away. I want to marry Brother Jianjun."
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