In order to confirm the authenticity, Ruan Changgui and Sun Xiaohui stretched their heads out and saw Liu Xinghua and Ruan Xi standing outside the door of the opposite room. Liu Xinghua was holding half a chicken and Ruan Xi was holding a dollar in her hand, both of them with smiles on their faces.
Ruan Xi reached out and put the one dollar in his hand into Liu Xinghua's pocket. He was so happy that he almost flew away. He smiled and said, "Master said that if you work, you will get money, so he gave me one dollar and half a chicken."
The wage for making clothes at home was two dollars a day, but the woman in the plaid shirt only paid three dollars because she gave her a chicken. The old tailor kept two dollars for himself and gave one dollar to Ruan Xi.
As for how the old tailor and their team settled the wages, Ruan Xi, as an apprentice, naturally did not ask about it. The time spent working is roughly the same as earning work points for other members, and the payment is settled once a year.
The old tailor had an account book that he stapled together with needle and thread, in which all these accounts were recorded.
Before traveling through time, Ruan Xi had never imagined that one day he would be so happy just because he earned a dollar.
Liu Xinghua was so happy that her granddaughter was able to earn money with her skills so quickly. She took out the money that Ruan Xi had stuffed into her hand and stuffed it into Ruan Xi's hand, saying, "What are you going to do with the money you earn? Save it for candy."
Ruan Xi still stuffed the money back and said, "Grandma, you are the head of our family, so of course I have to give you the money I earn."
As she was talking, she suddenly thought of something and turned around to see Ruan Changgui and Sun Xiaohui sticking their heads out of the kitchen door, staring at her and Liu Xinghua. So she changed her tone and said, "I'm not like some people who are selfish."
After hearing this, Liu Xinghua realized something and turned around to look.
Ruan Changgui and Sun Xiaohui could no longer hold back their pride and quickly retracted their heads.
Liu Xinghua retracted her gaze and deliberately said loudly: "Then grandma will help you keep it and save it for your dowry! Let's eat this half chicken tonight. How do you want to eat it? Grandma will make it for you!"
Ruan Xi's eyebrows curved and her voice was clear: "Stir-fried chicken with peppers!"
In the small kitchen, Ruan Changgui was filling the bottom of the stove with straw. He felt mixed emotions and felt as if he was being scratched by dozens of cats' claws. When he heard Ruan Xi say "fried chicken with chili peppers", his mouth started drooling again.
Sun Xiaohui sat there chopping chicken food with a knife, her face feeling hot and burning.
The atmosphere was as dry as ice. Both of them stopped talking. The only sound in the small room was the thumping of the kitchen knife against the chopping board.
Sun Xiaohui chopped up the wild vegetables, mixed them with rice bran, and went out to feed her five old hens.
Ruan Jie came back from outside carrying firewood. Seeing her, she deliberately went around her and carried the firewood to the kitchen in the side room.
Seeing her actions, Sun Xiaohui was furious, but because Liu Xinghua was at home, she did not dare to vent her anger at Ruan Jie. She could only swallow her anger and curse in a low voice: "You stupid girl, wait until I have time to deal with you!"
Ruan Jie entered the house carrying firewood and saw Liu Xinghua chopping a chicken.
She looked extremely surprised and asked Liu Xinghua, "Grandma, why did you kill the chicken?"
Liu Xinghua smiled and said, "Who would kill a chicken to eat if they don't have something serious to do? Don't you want to do it? Xiaoxi went out with the old tailor to make clothes, and someone gave it to the old tailor, and the old tailor gave her half of it."
Ruan Jie put down the firewood behind the stove and saw Ruan Xi coming out of the room.
She was surprised and happy and said with a smile: "Sister, you are so amazing."
Ruan Xi also laughed, "It's just average."
The three generations of grandparents and grandchildren chatted and laughed while you washed the rice, I lit the fire, and she chopped the chicken, and we cooked dinner together.
Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie were busy steaming the rice in one pot after another. Liu Xinghua deftly chopped the rooster into pieces and washed off the blood. She then went to the field to pick a handful of red and green chili peppers, as well as a handful of red millet peppers.
It had been a while since she had picked the fruits and vegetables grown in the fields and taken them home to eat. In order to save fuel and save money, she picked them and sent them directly to the vegetable purchasing point, exchanging these vegetables for some money. She also saved the eggs and did not eat them, but took them to the supply and marketing cooperative to exchange for money.
I plan to have a good meal today, so I won't be stingy anymore. So in addition to two handfuls of peppers, she also picked two cucumbers and plucked two green onions, planning to make smashed cucumbers and steam a bowl of eggs.
After picking the things and putting them in the basket, Liu Xinghua put the peppers, cucumbers and green onions in a basin and washed them with water. After washing, she walked to the table and put it on the chopping board when Ruan Xi suddenly reached out to her waist and pulled away her apron.
Ruan Xi tied the apron around her waist and said, "Grandma, I'm going to cook for you today."
Liu Xinghua reached out to grab it, "You just got home after working so hard, you should sit down and take a rest. I'll cook the dishes. Just listen to me and wait for the food to come, don't do anything else."
Ruan Xi dodged her hand and smiled, "I'm young and I don't get tired. These peppers are very spicy when fried. You can take a rest and wait for them to be ready. Xiaojie and I are already so old, can't we let you enjoy yourself?"
Liu Xinghua felt comfortable after hearing this, so she didn't insist on doing it anymore. But she did not rest. Instead, she sat behind the stove next to Ruan Jie, stuffed straw into the bottom of another pot, and helped to light the fire.
Ruan Xi still had to cut peppers, so Liu Xinghua didn't rush to light the fire. She just sat there and smiled and said, "Girls are still the best."
Ruan Jie's face was red from the fire in the stove, and she smiled and asked, "Then I will never marry, okay?"
Ruan Xi had said this before, and Liu Xinghua glared at him again and said, "Nonsense."
Ruan Xi listened to them talking with a smile. She put on an apron and cut the red and green taro and chili peppers into circles at the table. She smashed a few cloves of garlic and cut a few slices of ginger. She then took a bowl and scooped a spoonful of homemade pickled bean paste.
After all the preparations were done, Liu Xinghua started the fire and Ruan Xi cooked in the pot.
Cooking with a wood stove is probably different. Ruan Xi feels that it tastes better than cooking with a gas stove. Pour a little oil into the iron pan, add garlic and ginger slices when the oil is hot, then add the raw chicken pieces. The fragrance will instantly fill the house.
She had never eaten a single bite of meat since she traveled through time. She stir-fried the chicken in the iron pan, smelling the fragrant aroma and watching the chicken slowly turn golden and the skin slightly charred. She couldn't help but swallowing her saliva.
When the chicken is almost done, pinch a handful of peppercorns and continue frying until fragrant, then add a spoonful of bean paste. After the red oil is fried, the color of the whole pot will make you drool.
Add soy sauce, salt, MSG, pepper and other seasonings, stir-fry and add chopped green pepper rings. The chicken and peppers will collide with the seasoning to create a richer aroma that fills the house.
The fragrance drifted out from the edge of the door frame along the smoke and straight into the small kitchen opposite.
Sun Xiaohui was sitting behind the stove, making a fire and steaming rice. She couldn't help but sniff and swallow a big mouthful of saliva.
She had been making a fuss about splitting up the family property because she hadn’t had a single hot meal at home for a long time, and there wasn’t even a drop of oil to be seen. Her wish was to avoid being dragged down by the two prodigal sons, Ruan Changsheng and Ruan Xi, so that her family of four could eat more good food.
Who would have thought that after the family was divided, Ruan Changsheng and Ruan Xi not only did not become a burden, but one changed his personality and suddenly started working hard to earn work points, while the other directly provided meat for his family to eat.
Not only meat, but also money!
Sun Xiaohui felt so suffocated that she couldn't utter a word, and her face was still burning.
Ruan Changgui was even more frustrated than her. He sat by the door of the small kitchen and did nothing but blink his eyes and took deep breaths. He took a deep breath to swallow the fragrance into his stomach, and then exhaled a long breath to exhale it.
He wanted to speak, but he couldn't utter a word.
He had never done such a stupid thing in his life, he just wanted to slap himself hard!
Just when he was feeling depressed, his two sons came back tired from playing outside. The two men started sniffing from a distance, all the way to the door of the opposite room. Instead of coming to the small kitchen, they lay down at the door of the room and looked inside.
Seeing Ruan Xi cooking, Ruan Yuehua asked, "Sister, what are you cooking?"
Ruan Xi didn't look at him and said directly: "Chicken."
Ruan Yuehua wanted to say something else, but before he could finish his words, Ruan Yuejin suddenly grabbed his collar from behind and dragged him directly to the kitchen.
Ruan Yuejin said that after the family split up, he would not eat the food from his grandmother's house. He is quite stubborn and still remembers it.
Ruan Yuehua was very unhappy when he was dragged outside the kitchen. He frowned and waved his fist to push Ruan Yuejin away. He looked at him angrily and said, "Brother, what are you doing?!"
Ruan Yuejin said with some disdain: "You are drooling!"
Ruan Yuehua was very angry, "Don't you want to eat?"
Ruan Yuejin opened his mouth, but no matter how strong his nerve was, he couldn't utter a word.
Ruan Changgui was sitting inside the door watching them like this, and he finally found a place to vent his frustration, so he said with a gloomy face and a heavy voice: "What are you two doing? Look at your useless appearance, get out of the house!"
The room he was talking about was the main room. This small kitchen couldn't accommodate four people.
Now their family shared the pot and the house with Ruan Changgui and Liu Xinghua. Ruan Zhigao bought them a new table and four benches, which was not as big as the original table, and were placed in the middle of the main house for them to use. The big table was moved to the kitchen in the side house.
Ruan Yuehua pouted after being scolded and followed Ruan Yuejin into the main room. He turned his head three times every time he took a step, and each time he looked towards the side room, his heart, eyes, mouth and stomach were all filled with the delicious smell of chicken.
As the brigade secretary, Ruan Zhigao always has some extra things to do. He came back a little late today. When he and Ruan Changsheng arrived home carrying baskets and farm tools, it was already dark.
Before they reached the door of the side room, they smelled a fragrance.
Ruan Zhigao sniffed hard and said, "Whose cooking smells so good?"
Ruan Changsheng also sniffed and used his sensitive sense of smell to identify it, "It seems to be our home."
Ruan Zhigao looked puzzled and hurriedly quickened his pace towards home. He walked to the door, put down the farm tools in his backpack, and looked into the house. He saw Ruan Xi taking the fried chili chicken out of the pot.
The aroma in the room became even stronger, going straight into the depths of the spleen and stomach.
Ruan Zhigao opened his eyes wide in shock and bewilderment, walked into the room, looked at Liu Xinghua and asked, "Did you get rich?"
Liu Xinghua looked at him and smiled, then said jokingly, "I told you to guess right!"
Ruan Zhigao still had a puzzled look in his eyes, and Ruan Jie immediately said, "I went to make clothes with the old tailor and earned half a chicken and one dollar. How's that? Isn't that great?"
Hearing this, Ruan Changsheng exclaimed: "Half a chicken? One dollar?"
Ruan Jie nodded, "Yes."
Ruan Changsheng turned to look at Ruan Xi, "You're talking nonsense, I heard that the old man is very stingy, and never gives a penny. In the past, when people wanted to learn skills from him, they would throw things at him, and I never saw him bleed."
Ruan Xi smiled and said, "You have eaten other people's grapes before."
Ruan Changsheng blinked and was speechless—Yes! He ate the old tailor's grapes!
He was no longer so surprised. He reached out to take the plate from Ruan Xi, put it on the table and said, "Xiao Xi, you are amazing. You can even influence the old tailor. I admire you from the bottom of my heart!"
Ruan Xi shook her head, "I don't rely on persuasion, I rely on strength."
Ruan Changsheng laughed, "Strength? What strength do you have? I remember you mended my clothes before, and they looked like they were gnawed by a dog."
The Ruan Xi of the past is not the Ruan Xi of the present. The Ruan Xi of the present deliberately snorted at him, "The past is the past, and the present is the present. Don't let me wake up."
Ruan Changsheng took a bench and sat down, still smiling, saying: "Then you must let me see how much you have learned if you have a chance. Since you can be recognized by that old tailor, your skills must be extraordinary."
Ruan Xi smiled confidently, "I'll let you see it sooner or later."
As we were talking, the rice in the pot was almost done, the steamed eggs were just tender, and the smashed cucumbers were seasoned. Liu Xinghua and Ruan Jie got up to wash their hands and serve the rice. Ruan Changsheng got up and moved all the benches and placed them next to the table, then went to wash his hands and get the chopsticks.
The food was served and everyone picked up their chopsticks, but no one reached for the plate of chicken.
Ruan Zhigao turned around and looked at everyone, then looked at Ruan Xi and said, "Xiaoxi, you earned this, eat it quickly."
Ruan Xi pursed her lips and said, "Grandpa, you and grandma eat first."
Scarcity makes things valuable. Only after experiencing how difficult it is to eat meat can you truly appreciate the happiness of eating meat. Ruan Xi once thought that she would not be so eager to have a bite of food, but now she finds that she can't do it at all.
Even if you have eaten a lot of delicacies from the mountains and the sea, if you are in a poor environment, you will still become a part of the environment.
But even if she really wanted it, she wouldn't act so cowardly.
Ruan Zhigao smiled, stretched out his chopsticks to pick up a piece of chicken and put it into Liu Xinghua's bowl, saying, "We are a family and you are being polite. Eat quickly. If you don't, you will only be able to eat the chili peppers."
Ruan Jie smiled, "Chilli fried with chicken is also delicious!"
After Liu Xinghua finished the first bite of chicken and told them to eat quickly, the family stopped being polite and reached for their chopsticks to eat from the plate together. Although they were all a little impatient, they still restrained themselves in the end, hoping to let others eat more.
Ruan Changsheng picked up a piece of chicken dipped in red oil and put it in his mouth. His eyes lit up and he said, "Wow, the skin is crispy and the meat is firm, spicy and fresh..."
He gave Ruan Xi a thumbs up, swallowed the chicken and continued: "Delicious!"
Ruan Jie put a piece of it into his bowl and said, "Eat more."
Ruan Changsheng ate two pieces of meat in a row and mixed some chili rings into the rice. The spicy and fresh aroma made him finish half a bowl of rice directly.
He felt that he had nothing worth saying. After thinking about it, Ruan Xi had only asked him to do one thing, so he asked Ruan Xi: "I warned Gao Haiyang before, are they still bothering that little fool?"
Ruan Xi knew that the little idiot he was talking about was Ling Yao, and shook his head and said, "Not recently."
Ruan Changsheng nodded, "That's good."
Liu Xinghua didn't understand what he said, so she asked, "What little idiot?"
Ruan Changsheng: "It's just that little idiot in the stilt house. He was always bullied by Gao Haiyang and his gang before, and he didn't even know how to run away."
Liu Xinghua thought for a moment and nodded, "Oh, that kid from the big city."
Then he looked at Ruan Xi and asked, "Do you know him?"
Ruan Xi nodded, "Just before I fell into the valley, he rescued me."
Ruan Changsheng finally understood, "Oh, no wonder you want to help him."
Speaking of the Ling family, Ruan Zhigao also had something to say. While eating, he said, "They are estranged from us. They have basically not interacted with anyone in the past few years. They go to work every day without saying a word and just focus on their work."
Ruan Changsheng ate the rice in his bowl and said, "They are from the city, what do they have to say to us country folk?"
Hearing this, Ruan Xi looked at Ruan Changsheng seriously and said, "Fifth Uncle, don't talk nonsense. Their family is not that kind of people. They feel discriminated against in the village and can't hold their heads up straight, so they don't interact with others. Let's not talk about other people, isn't Teacher Jin the same? He has a bad background, so he keeps his tail between his legs in the village and rarely interacts with others."
This is one of the reasons. Another reason is that they are afraid that after making friends, they might say something wrong and then be used as a story.
Ruan Changsheng just said it casually without thinking about anything else, but he didn't expect Ruan Xi to take it seriously. He blinked and froze for a moment, then quickly raised his hand and slapped himself on the face, admitting his mistake readily: "I said the wrong thing."
Ruan Xi picked up two peppers with chopsticks and stuffed them into his mouth, "Eat."
Ruan Changsheng held the chili in his mouth, pursed his lips, and smiled at Ruan Xi in a nonchalant and flattering manner.
Ruan Xi looked at him and laughed, then continued eating.
In the middle of the main room, Ruan Changgui, Sun Xiaohui, Ruan Yuejin and Ruan Yuehua were also sitting at the table eating. The expressions on the faces of the four members of their family were even uglier than the pickled vegetables on the table.
I was smelling the aroma of fried chicken with peppers and chewing the pickles in my mouth, but I could hardly swallow them.
Ruan Yuehua tapped the edge of the bowl with his chopsticks and snorted at Sun Xiaohui, "Mom, I want to eat chicken too."
Sun Xiaohui raised her eyelids and looked at Ruan Changgui, but didn't dare to say anything.
Ruan Changgui took a deep breath and said unhappily, "If you don't want to eat, get out."
Ruan Yuehua was unhappy, and suddenly put down his chopsticks and said loudly: "It's because you want to split up the family that grandma is angry. That's why I don't have grapes to eat. Now grandma's family eats chicken, and I don't have chicken to eat. I want to eat chicken!"
Ruan Changgui was so angry that he raised his chopsticks to hit him, but he jumped up and hid behind Sun Xiaohui.
Sun Xiaohui protected Ruan Yuehua, looked at Ruan Changgui and whispered, "What are you doing? We haven't eaten meat in a long time. Is it possible that you don't want to eat meat when you smell it? Don't you want to eat it?"
Ruan Changgui took back his chopsticks and said unhappily, "How dare you say that!"
Sun Xiaohui felt that there was nothing to be embarrassed about. It would be a lie to say that she didn't want to eat the meat after smelling it. What's wrong with wanting to eat meat? Who doesn't want to eat meat? It would be fine if I couldn't smell it, but who can stand the smell of meat lingering around my nose?
She also felt that she couldn't stand it, so she cleared her throat, reached out to take an empty bowl and stuffed it into Ruan Yuehua's hand.
Ruan Yuehua understood what she meant instantly and looked at Ruan Changgui with the bowl in hand. Seeing that Ruan Changgui didn't say anything, he didn't hesitate for a minute, rushed out of the main room with the bowl, and rushed into the side room.
Rushing to the middle of Ruan Zhigao and Liu Xinghua, he hurriedly said, "Grandma, I want to eat chicken too!"
The five people at the table all looked up at him, chewing their food, and no one spoke.
It was Liu Xinghua who swallowed the food in her mouth and said, "Yuehua, you are late. All the chicken has been eaten."
The smashed cucumber and steamed eggs were already finished.
Ruan Yuehua had already seen that there was only some red oil and red and green chili rings left on the plate of chicken.
The expression on his face fell instantly, and he looked like he was about to cry. He didn't say another word, swallowed his saliva, and walked away again with the bowl in his hand. Looking at that figure from behind, it seemed as if the whole world had collapsed.
Ruan Changsheng watched him leave the house, smiled, turned back, poured the remaining chili into his bowl, mixed it with rice, and ate it in a few bites. After finishing my meal and putting down my bowl and chopsticks, I felt extremely relaxed all over.
Ruan Yuehua went back to the main room with a droopy face, tears streaming down her face and sniffling. She walked over to Sun Xiaohui and cried, "There's no more. It's all been eaten. There's not a single piece of chicken left."
Sun Xiaohui was calm and hurriedly whispered, "What about the vegetable sauce? It has chicken oil and seasonings, and the chili is delicious too."
Ruan Yuehua was stunned for a moment before he reacted and hurriedly took the bowl back to the side room.
When I went to the side room, I found that the plate that originally had some vegetable juice and chili rings was now empty, as clean as a mirror. He felt desperate, stood by the table with an empty bowl in his hand, and burst into tears with his head raised.
Then she turned around and went back to the main house, crying.
After entering the main house, he howled, "Nothing! Nothing at all!"
Hearing Ruan Yuehua's crying and what he said, Ruan Changsheng and Ruan Xi, who were sitting at the table, looked at each other and couldn't help but burst out laughing.
They were laughing quietly at first, but later neither of them could hold back and they laughed louder and louder.
It’s not that they are gloating, it’s just that Ruan Yuehua is really funny!
When Ruan Changgui and Sun Xiaohui heard the laughter from the side room in the main room, they were so angry that their faces turned green!
Ruan Changgui's face turned green as he scolded Ruan Yuehua: "Sit down and eat!"
Ruan Yuehua pursed his lips and wiped his tears, then sat down at the table, sobbing while eating rice, pickled vegetables and stir-fried green vegetables. Tears hung down his face, and his mind was filled with the fried chicken with peppers that he hadn't been able to eat...
Fragrant, spicy and numbing...
Fried Chicken with Chili Peppers...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
