The grass is growing and the birds are singing. The villagers who have been idle for a winter gather in the fields again. Children and villagers are coming and going in the alleys and village roads.
Du Jiang, who has been married for almost three months, has already adapted to life in the Huo family. It must be said that the old couple in the Huo family are very easy to get along with, and they are very kind and tolerant to the younger generations.
With the help and connivance of Old Mrs. Huo, the Huo family's yard has now been renovated into neat rows. In addition to vegetables, they also grow purslane, shepherd's purse and other green plants that were found in the mountains and moved from Du Jiang's original house.
It is worth mentioning that Du Jiang's house was also sold. The buyer was none other than Xu Zhizhou. However, after buying it, he exchanged it with Bai Yongjun. So now the structure of the educated youth site remains unchanged, except that there is one more person, Du Yingying, who works in a primary school.
Du Yingying, who lived next door to Xu Zhizhou, was now getting married. Du Jiang, who was weeding, looked back at the red invitation on the table in the house and smiled, "It's a happy event."
"What are you talking about?" Huo Yang, who couldn't come home yesterday due to the rain, hurried back carrying a big pig's head. As soon as he entered the yard, he heard Du Jiang's words and asked again curiously.
"Where did you get this pig's head?" Du Jiang was dumbfounded when he saw the huge pig's head which was estimated to weigh more than ten kilograms. He quickly stood up and went to meet it.
Unexpectedly, Huo Yang dodged and said, "Let me do it. We've been riding all the way and it's all muddy. I'll wash it off later and you can clean it up." As he spoke, he turned and walked towards the kitchen, not forgetting to ask about the sentence he had just heard, "What were you mumbling about just now?"
"It's an invitation from Yingying and Brother Xu." Du Jiang followed Huo Yang into the house, looked at the mud spots on Huo Yang's trouser legs, turned around and went back to the water pressurized well in the yard, and started pumping water out. When Huo Yang came out with a pig's head in one hand and a basin in the other, clear water flowed out from the well mouth. "The water pressurized well is very convenient, much better than drawing water."
"It's good that it's convenient. It's worth asking for help." Huo Yang placed the pig's head in the basin, and then splashed water to wash the mud off his feet. Seeing that Huo Yang's trouser legs were about to be soaked by the cold water, Du Jiang hurriedly stopped him, "Okay, go into the house and change into clean pants. You're going to run for a while."
"I know, don't move, pighead. This thing is heavy. I'll come out and clean it up later."
Although he said this, by the time Huo Yang came out, Du Jiang had already cleaned all the mud spots on the pig's head.
"Okay, it's almost washed, but I don't know how to do this. Huo Yang, go to the pig house opposite to find grandma." Yes, the pig house. Thanks to the grouping, the pig house can now raise both pigs and sheep, and the sheep pen in Huo Yang's yard has become a chicken coop.
"Okay, I'll go first. Although it's April, the weather is still a bit cold." Huo Yang saw Du Jiang preparing to press the water and hurriedly reminded him, "Your life will start in a few days. Don't touch the cold water, or you will suffer."
"Don't worry, I know."
Despite hearing Du Jiang's promise, Huo Yang was still worried and could only go and come back quickly.
After Old Mrs. Huo and Old Man Huo came back, Du Jiang was ready to go to the pigsty to change shifts, but was stopped by Old Man Huo, "Jiang Jiang, don't go. The pigs smell strong today. I can go over there." As he said this, he left in a hurry for fear that Du Jiang would rush over. He was in such a hurry that he didn't even have time to drink a sip of water. Seeing this, Du Jiang was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. He hurried back to the house and poured a pot of water for Huo Yang to bring over.
"Okay, don't worry about the father and son," Old Mrs. Huo shook her head. "Jiang Jiang, come here, I'll teach you how to braise a pig's head."
Although spices are hard to find nowadays, since Mrs. Huo understands Chinese medicine and is very familiar with green plants, her home often has some wild peppercorns and other things that can remove odors. Although they are found in the mountains, they are still very effective.
First, heat the iron stick in the stove, then roll it up and down on the pig's head to remove the hair, then scrape it with a knife to clean the sticky areas.
The pig's head itself has a fishy smell, so Mrs. Huo prepared more seasonings, including Sichuan peppercorns, cinnamon, angelica dahurica, radix dahuricae, and a handful of wild peppercorns. Looking at the seasoning in the bowl, Mrs. Huo scraped the burnt parts of the pig's head while saying, "Now the green plants on the mountain have grown, and we've brought back a lot of shepherd's purse and purslane from the yard. Let's go to the mountain to get some more in a couple of days. Yangyang will take a break in a couple of days to check on the condoms, so let's go for a walk in the mountains. Not only the medicinal herbs but also the wild vegetables are growing very tenderly now."
"Okay, grandma, then I'll free up a bigger basket in the next two days," Du Jiang nodded happily.
"Jiang Jiang, go find an axe and I'll chop the pig's head into pieces so it can be cooked later." Looking at the pig's head that filled the entire basin, Old Mrs. Huo directed Du Jiang to go into the house to find an axe. After they came back, the two of them worked together to chop the pig's head into several small pieces and then threw them into the iron pot filled with water.
"Gudong gudong~"
When the water boiled, a lot of white foam appeared with the bubbling. Du Jiang turned it over with a spoon. Looking at the white foam accompanied by blood, Du Jiang quickly scooped out the pig head meat with a colander, washed it, and then started to cook it again. This time, after changing the water, he could finally add the prepared seasonings and onions, ginger, and garlic to remove the fishy smell. During the process, Du Jiang also sprinkled some soy sauce to color it, and turned it over every half an hour.
With repeated turning, the soft, glutinous and fragrant pig's head meat was ready. Du Jiang sniffed and was very satisfied with the aroma. Mrs. Huo was also satisfied. "Jiang Jiang, I'll cut out a pig's ear first. You go to the pig house and call for help."
"Okay, grandma, I still have the steamed buns from yesterday. I'll bring one over later." Du Jiang nodded, turned around, took out a steamed bun from the bamboo basket in the cupboard, and put it on the lid of the pot to steam it.
After Mrs. Huo had cut the pig ears and the steamed buns were warm and soft from the smoke, the two of them stuffed a few pieces of pig ears into them and then carefully wrapped them with oil paper.
"Forget it, I'll go," Mrs. Huo said worriedly. Unexpectedly, Du Jiang was one step ahead of her and stuffed the oil paper into the large pocket of her coat. "Grandma, you cook. I'll be back soon."
"be safe"
"I know," Du Jiang said and walked out of the room.
The pigsty was just across from the Huo family's house, now divided into two courtyards. Perhaps out of taboo, the door to Huo Ze's courtyard faced the mountain, not this side. Du Jiang walked towards the pigsty without raising her eyebrows. As soon as she entered the door, she saw Huo Yang and Yu Chunxiao cleaning the pigsty with their backs to her. She immediately threw the oil paper over the wall with her hands and feet, and shouted loudly, "Grandpa, it's time for dinner."
While calling Old Man Huo, he was also reminding the people next door.
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