Do you have something to say to them?
Bai Nuo and A Yu exchanged a glance before Bai Nuo spoke, "Grandma, just say what you want to say. We won't go anywhere today, we'll just stay with you, okay?"
Bai Nuo didn't think much of it, nor did she have any complaints about the old lady's request that they not go out. The old lady had been perfectly fine before, but suddenly she couldn't walk anymore. This was a bit of a surprise for the old lady, and it was normal for her to be emotional and want someone to be with her.
They'll just stay with them.
"There are two taels of silver in my old clothes. Take them and buy some food. I'll tell you then." The old woman lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling, her expression calm. For a moment, Bai Nuo didn't know what the old woman was thinking.
However, Bai Nuo would not take the old woman's money. Seeing that the old woman had said that, Bai Nuo said directly, "I have money. Just tell me what you want to eat, and I will go and buy it for you."
“Use mine…” The old woman seemed to have expected Bai Nuo to say this. “It’s your business if you have money, and it’s my business if I ask you to buy things. You’ve had a hard life, and there will be many more places where you’ll need to spend money in the future. There’s nothing I can do to help you.”
"Alright!" Seeing that the old woman was so persistent, Bai Nuo couldn't refuse anymore. After finding the two taels of silver in the old woman's old clothes, he walked over to her side. "What do you want to eat? I'll go buy it. It might take a while, so you'll have to wait."
The people of Zhedi Village are usually self-sufficient. They grow their own vegetables, grains, and raise their own meat. They rarely go out to buy things unless they run out of essential items like oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. As a result, there are no convenience stores here; they buy everything from the town.
However, it takes two hours to go to town and back, which is why Bai Nuo said that.
“No need to go to town,” the old woman said. “I want to eat chicken, so you can go and buy one from someone else.”
"Oh..." Bai Nuo nodded, glanced at A Yu, and then turned and left.
Seeing that Bai Nuo had left, but A Yu was still sitting on the stool, the old woman said to A Yu, "Go and help your sister. You don't need to watch over me. I'm old enough not to do anything foolish."
They haven't gone out these past few days, aren't they? They're afraid she'll do something foolish or do something drastic. Ha, she's so old, how could she do that? How could she do something to cause them so much distress?
Bai Yu shook his head. Between his grandmother and his sister, he trusted his sister more and listened to her more. He would do whatever his sister told him to do. "I'll just sit here and talk to you. There's nothing much to do at home. My sister doesn't need my help to buy chickens."
"Bai Yu, come out and help..." Soon, Bai Nuo returned, carrying a baby hen and some wild vegetables, and stood at the door calling into the room.
Because Grandma needed to eat, Bai Nuo and her brother didn't dare to say whether to wait until noon or some other time. As soon as Bai Nuo returned, the two siblings quickly got busy, boiling water, killing chickens, and working tirelessly.
On the way back, Bai Nuo had already made a good plan. There were snails and river shrimp at home, and now there was also a chicken and wild vegetables. He could make salt-baked chicken, stir-fried snails, boiled river shrimp, and stir-fried wild vegetables. Four dishes and a soup would be enough for the three of them.
First, we made salt-baked chicken and soup.
The young hen was chopped into four large pieces. Three of the pieces were marinated with ginger, white wine, oil, and soy sauce. The remaining piece was chopped into small pieces, blanched, and then stewed with ginger. The marinated chicken pieces were placed in a separate pot with a layer of coarse salt at the bottom. The chicken pieces were then covered with coarse salt and slowly baked over low heat.
After preparing the chicken, the next step was the snails. The two siblings spent two quarters of an hour scrubbing the snails to clean off the mud. Then they busied themselves cutting off the snail tails. Once the snails were ready, the salt-baked chicken and chicken soup were done.
Bai Nuo first boiled the cleaned snails in cold water for 15 minutes, then took them out and drained them. She then put them in a pan with cold oil, drained them, added Sichuan peppercorns and ginger slices she found in the mountains, and sautéed them until fragrant. After that, she added the snails, stir-fried them evenly, added cooking wine to remove the fishy smell, and perilla to enhance the flavor. After stir-frying again, she added a bowl of water, covered the pan, and let the snails simmer until they were flavorful. Finally, she sprinkled wild scallions on top and served the dish. The spicy and delicious snails were ready.
After stir-frying the snails, Bai Nuo immediately boiled a pot of water to make boiled shrimp. This is the simplest method. After boiling the water, add the river shrimp, cooking wine, and ginger slices to remove the fishy smell. Once the river shrimp boils again and turns red, it's done. This method preserves the freshness of the river shrimp to the maximum extent, and the shrimp meat is tender.
During this time, Bai Nuo also prepared a bowl of dipping sauce—chopped ginger slices, chopped wild scallions, soy sauce and oil as a base, then added ginger and scallion florets, which can be used to dip river shrimp.
Bai Yu started cooking rice at this time.
After preparing the river shrimp, Bai Nuo stir-fried a green vegetable dish. Then, she took out the cooled salt-baked chicken and chopped it into small pieces. Of course, Bai Nuo didn't waste the salt used to make the salt-baked chicken; she put it away separately for later use in stir-fries.
"Alright, let's eat! Four dishes and a soup, and unlimited rice." A-Yu helped Bai Nuo carry the food into the room, making silly faces as he went.
Four dishes and a soup were served. The salt-baked chicken on the table emitted an enticing aroma that made one's mouth water. Bai Nuo first served the soup to the old lady, intending to go over and feed her.
"Help me up, I'll eat by myself." The old woman raised her hand to stop Bai Nuo.
"But it will hurt if you get up now." Bai Nuo looked at her, as if coaxing a child. "What do you want to eat? I'll feed you."
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