Chapter 234 Buying Meat
On the first day of the third lunar month, the ice and snow in the north melted, the ground thawed, and every household in the village planned to take advantage of the time before the busy farming season to repair their houses.
When it came time to build a house, Lin Yuesha and her eldest brother drafted a plan and hired more than a dozen craftsmen in town to ensure the house would be sturdy and warm.
Because of the clan's land, the clan members were no longer envious. Instead, they were calm and expressed their willingness to help before the spring planting season, hoping to finish building the courtyard before then.
"Little girl, we're building a house, so we need to invite the people who came to help to eat. What dishes do you think we should prepare?"
When villagers help with chores, those who are better off prepare meat and vegetables, which worries Chen.
"Mom, it's still cold now, and the meat and vegetables you make will get cold quickly. Why don't you set up a big iron pot in the yard and stew some vermicelli?"
Stir-fried dishes are not as satisfying as stew, and steaming a big pot of buns will fill everyone's stomachs without interfering with work.
Lin Yuesha isn't good at cooking large batches of food, but she's tried a mixed stew and found it quite delicious. It just goes to show that the culinary world is vast and complex; more refined doesn't necessarily mean better.
Make a big pot of stew with pork, potatoes, wood ear mushrooms, vermicelli, and tofu, so that the people who come to work can also have something hot to eat.
"That's a good idea."
Mrs. Chen immediately nodded. She would go back to the village first and leave the task of buying meat and vegetables to her daughter. The journey to Chenjia Village was long, and she would have to take an oxcart or horse-drawn carriage there.
"Mom, you go back first. Xiaohua and I will go to the market and bring the meat over as soon as we buy it."
Lin Yuesha readily agreed, pocketed her purse, and pulled Chen Xiaohua out the door.
Some time ago, Granny Wang was thrown into jail by the government for tax evasion, and Wang Tiezhu was also implicated and received dozens of lashes, after which he fell ill and never recovered.
Fearing being implicated, the Wang family discussed the matter and, without paying any attention to Granny Wang and Wang Tiezhu, packed their belongings and fled.
Lin Yuesha hadn't expected the punishment for tax evasion to be so severe. It wasn't just a matter of a few dozen lashes; if the amount was huge, it could be a capital offense.
The village women hated Wang Tiezhu's family with a passion because their undergarments had been stolen from them. Having suffered the same fate, they were united in their hatred, and no one mentioned Wang Tiezhu's bullying of Chen Xiaohua anymore.
"Little sister, I really envy you."
Chen Xiaohua sighed. Even though she was older than Lin Yuesha, her parents didn't feel comfortable letting her go out to run errands. For example, when they came to buy pork, they would need to buy dozens of kilograms, and the whole family would have to help, leaving her no chance.
"You're envious of this too?"
Lin Yuesha was stunned. She covered her mouth and laughed, "You didn't see it. I'm the one who does all the cooking at home. My mother handed over the responsibility of preparing the ingredients to me a long time ago."
The family consisted of four people: the father and the eldest brother were scholars but knew nothing about farming; the mother was always busy, so they had to rely on her to take the lead.
Furthermore, as a former international chef, selecting ingredients is a piece of cake for her.
"Once the shop opens, I'll have to work hard and try to put my parents at ease as soon as possible."
Chen Xiaohua clenched her fist. Her parents didn't know about the honey trap she was setting up. She still owed her younger sister ten taels of silver. If she weren't in charge of the household, how long would it take her to pay it back with her meager allowance of a few dozen copper coins?
"Haha, so you were planning to embezzle from your own post!"
Lin Yuesha gave Chen Xiaohua a nudge, and the two sisters ran towards the market laughing and joking.
Lin Yuesha had already made plans for her business. Once things settled down in the prefectural city, her family's high-end snack shop would open.
She thought for a long time about why she opened a snack shop instead of a restaurant, and in the end, she benefited from the Eight Treasures Box that Mr. Jiang gave her as a gift. It made her a fortune easily and solved her family's financial difficulties.
The prefectural city is different from the county and town. There are rich people and bigwigs doing business everywhere. The food in the north is poor and there are few varieties. As long as you find the right direction and position, you don't have to worry about not being able to sell your money.
Food is the most important thing for people, and the food business will never be outdated.
Furthermore, the city is directly connected to three other cities, placing it in a pivotal position.
She could research the shelf life of some spicy snacks, and if the storage time could be guaranteed, she could also transport them to surrounding cities for sale.
In the initial stage, Lin Yuesha did not want to open too many shops, but rather to gain a foothold and establish a brand.
"Those pork slices were delicious and chewy, but they were too expensive."
Chen Xiaohua swallowed hard. She only got to eat two slices; her mother couldn't bear to eat any herself and forced one of them on her.
"Sister Xiaohua, are you talking about pork jerky?"
Because the cost was too high, Lin Yuesha didn't make much. She shared it with her uncle's family, just so they could try something new.
These days, pork is a luxury for ordinary people. Some poor families look forward to the New Year to eat their fill, and for that reason, they endure not eating meat for half a year or even longer.
Dehydrating and drying pork to make pork jerky limits the target audience.
Yes, that's the one.
Chen Xiaohua laughed and said, "If you asked me, I could never come up with this way of eating in my entire life."
Poor people only thought about making the meat bigger so they could eat more; who would have thought that roasting it into dried meat would be so delicious?
"Little sister, you really don't seem like a girl from our village."
Chen Xiaohua sighed, while Lin Yuesha's face stiffened. Yes, she hadn't expected this, but she already had an excuse: "It's all thanks to Master Jiang. If it weren't for him, how could I have this ability?"
Unfortunately, since the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, there has been no news of Jiang Huai after he was arrested, and Jiang Baozhu in the prefectural city has not sent any messages.
There is still a distance, and now that there are only orphans and widows in the household, Jiang Baozhu's life is also difficult.
Lin Yuesha calculated that she would be going to the prefectural city soon, and then she would visit Jiang Baozhu.
The two sisters chatted as they walked to the market, where they saw a large crowd gathered, all watching the spectacle with great interest.
"Sister Xiaohua, what happened?"
Lin Yuesha stood on tiptoe, only to find that she wasn't tall enough; the man's head blocked her view. She remembered she had stopped taking her herbal medicine recently and realized she had to start again.
"There's a fight going on in front of the pig's head stall."
There was an older woman standing in front of Chen Xiaohua. She found a gap in the crowd and got a general idea of what was going on.
There's only one pork vendor in each market, who's practically the local boss. Often, when people buy pork, it depends on the vendor's mood.
The person selling meat is usually a butcher, and he smells strongly of blood.
Being short has its advantages. Lin Yuesha wanted to buy meat, so she had to squeeze to the front to watch. Fortunately, she and Chen Xiaohua were agile and weaved through the crowd, quickly reaching the front row.
In front of the pork stall, a burly man, holding a knife for chopping pork bones, looked fierce. He threw the knife down onto the cutting board, immediately startling the onlookers who screamed.
"ah!"
Chen Xiaohua was also startled. This posture and movement, if the chopping board were a person's head, wouldn't it have chopped the person off?
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