Seeing that Er Ya had responded, Jiang's mother was about to let her go. Just as she was about to go out to get some rice, Er Ya fell fast asleep again.
Jiang's mother had no choice. She couldn't bear to wake Er Ya up so early, but Li Taohua, who was impatient, would definitely come over soon. She didn't know how to wash pig offal herself, so Er Ya had to teach her.
"Er Ya, wake up, okay? Your Aunt Peach Blossom will be here soon. Or you can teach her before you go back to sleep."
Er Ya, who was about to give her idol a big hug, felt herself getting further and further away from him. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and woke up completely. Sighing, she reluctantly got dressed.
Er Ya had just finished dressing and stepped out of the house when she heard Li Taohua had already arrived and was talking to Jiang's mother. Envious of Jiang's mother's excellent parenting skills, having such a sweet and caring daughter, Er Ya ran up to Li Taohua and greeted her warmly: "Aunt Taohua, you're here so early! Have you had breakfast yet?"
Jiang's mother glared at her: "It's all because of you, you girl. You didn't explain things clearly last night, which made your Aunt Peach Blossom come over before dawn. She only went back to cook after asking around at our house."
Er Ya immediately felt a little apologetic towards Li Taohua. She really hadn't expected Li Taohua to arrive so early. Because, well, in a farming family, after finishing up the chores around the house, it would be about eight or nine o'clock. She thought that time would be just right, but who knew...
"Auntie, I'm sorry, I made you get up so early. I forgot to tell you the exact time."
Li Taohua laughed heartily: "Oh dear, you're too kind, child. It's my fault, I was only thinking about getting here as soon as possible and forgot that you weren't up yet. Did I wake you up this morning?"
Er Ya shook her head, indicating no: "Aunt Peach Blossom, you see, it's just washing here. Let's go to the river first. I'll tell you how to wash it. It's quite simple, but the weather is still a bit cold for your hands."
"This is the kind of work we do, washing and scrubbing. Our hands are always freezing. Okay, I'll carry the basin, and you follow carefully behind me."
Er Ya, carrying the flour, baking soda, and some salt she needed, followed Li Taohua toward the riverbank, which wasn't far from their house—just a few houses away.
It was still early, and the women who usually liked to gossip about other people's business were still busy with their own chores. Only a few old men were chatting idly while smoking their pipes.
The two arrived at the riverbank, where Er Ya taught her how to turn the pig intestines inside out to wash them, then wash them with lye, and finally rub them several times with flour. Li Taohua noticed that flour was also needed.
"This stuff smells so bad, and you still need to use flour? There aren't many families in our village who can afford to eat flour every day. I wonder if your business is going to be successful. You must have invested a lot of money."
Er Ya knew that one should always be wary of others, so she pretended to be helpless and said, "Yes, take this white flour for example. My family has to scrape it out from between our teeth. We have no choice. We can't get it clean without it. We're just earning a meager living. If my mother hadn't been pregnant and too busy, I would never have asked you for help, Auntie."
Upon hearing this, Li Taohua also gave up the idea of starting her own business in the future, and began to scrub diligently, knowing that her family didn't have the resources to afford such a gamble.
Er Ya then taught her how to wash pig hearts and livers. Seeing that Li Taohua was washing them quite well, she said to Li Taohua, "Auntie, you can wash them here. I'm going back to eat."
"Hey, hurry up and eat, leave this to me," Li Taohua replied, continuing to scrub without looking up. This was the first time, so she had to make sure it was spotless and couldn't be lazy, otherwise they wouldn't come to her next time.
Er Ya went home, brushed her teeth, washed her face, and ate. After she finished eating, Jiang's mother had already fed the pigs and chickens and cleaned the yard. The whole yard was instantly transformed.
He went to the kitchen and boiled a pot of water, urging Lin Jianguo to bring back the washed food to cook first, since there was definitely too much to cook in one pot.
Everything that needed to be used was packed up, and all that was left was to wait for the cleaned pig offal.
After quite a while, Lin Jianguo returned with the things. Jiang's mother asked him, a little puzzled, "Why are you so slow? Did Tao Hua slack off? No, she's not that kind of person. But so much time has passed, she should have washed some out by now."
Lin Jianguo put down his things, waved his hand and said, "Don't mention it. When I went to get the pig offal, those old ladies kept asking me all sorts of questions. It took me a lot of effort to deal with them, which is why I came back late."
Jiang's mother glared at him: "Don't go out and brag about how much money you make from this stuff, or a bunch of people will come to our house asking how it was made."
"Don't worry, I'm not stupid. Would I go around telling everyone about how we make money? Okay, hurry up and cook."
After waiting for so long, the water had already cooled down, so we lit the fire again and boiled it for a while.
Once the water boils, put the pig offal into the pot, add some ginger and white wine to remove the fishy smell. After the water boils again, take the pig offal out and drain it. Then rinse the pot again and boil another pot of water. Put the drained pig offal back into the pot.
This time, we can add the star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, and other spices we bought from the market. Jiang's mother has already prepared all the spices according to the recipe she learned. We just need to pour them all into the pot and wait for them to be braised.
After about an hour and a half, when I lifted the lid, the braised meat was bright in color and glossy, looking very tempting and making me want to take a bite.
Pierce each piece with chopsticks; they're cooked through. Take them out and let them cool in a bowl. Then you can cut them into pieces and skewer them.
Now let's start making the chili sauce. Add a few ladles of water to the pot, along with caramel coloring, chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, oil, ginger slices, and Jiang's homemade sauce. Cook over high heat for about 30 minutes, and the sauce will be ready.
Er Ya had observed at the market that people there usually sold milder foods, such as wontons and noodles. In fact, the people in that area preferred spicy food, but chili peppers were too expensive.
If there were a spicy and delicious meat dish available at an affordable price, they would definitely choose it without hesitation.
Just then, Li Taohua returned after washing the pig offal. As soon as she stepped into the yard, she smelled a wonderful fragrance. "What is this? It smells so good!" she exclaimed.
I took the basket and went to the kitchen. I saw the pot of braised meat. So that's the aroma it was emitting.
"Sister-in-law, is this what you wanted to buy?"
To be continued!
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