056, Sauce
056, Sauce
Their family moved out of Tongshu Street seven years ago and moved to Chunxi Road where they live now.
The living environment here is slightly better. There's a main road right outside the door, and a small pond next to it, with a few willow trees planted beside it. In spring, the lotus roots in the pond sprout and grow lotus leaves. In summer, the pond is filled with lotus leaves, each with buds. Many birds alight on the leaves or on the nearby willow branches, chirping and making a lively scene.
But it is winter now, and the lotus leaves in the pond have withered. At a glance, all that remains is a pond of withered leaves.
Most of the people living nearby were businessmen who had come to Beijing to do business, or students who had come to Beijing to study or take the imperial examinations. As a result, the people around them were much better-educated than those who had originally lived on Tongshu Street. They didn't bother each other and lived their lives in seclusion.
The yard they rented here also had one entrance, but it was a little bigger.
The main house has a main hall and two bedrooms, two rooms in the east wing, a kitchen and a small woodshed to the west, and a separate bathroom and toilet in the southeast corner. There's also a small plot of land next to the kitchen, where they plant climbing fruits and vegetables in the spring, and harvest a large harvest in the summer.
There is also a well in the yard for their use of water.
Before moving in, they hired craftsmen to clean up the house inside and out. A fireplace was installed in each bedroom to provide them with heating in winter.
Lu Mingfei now sleeps alone in the east wing, with one room as his bedroom and the other as his study. His younger brother is still young and still sleeps with his parents, but sometimes he comes to sleep in his room.
The extra room in the main house was used to store grain, pickled vegetable jars, and other miscellaneous items. The firewood room outside was filled to the brim with firewood. Before winter this year, they had bought a large amount of firewood, and when the firewood room was full, they piled it in the kitchen, under the eaves, and inside the main hall.
He made use of the space between the kitchen and the main house and built a shed as a handicraft room for his father. This was where his father worked, and occasionally Lu Mingfei would come here to do some handicrafts himself.
It’s such a small yard, but every bit of the space here has been clearly arranged by their family.
The housing prices in Kyoto are very high. They can't afford to buy a house at the moment, so they can only rent. But in fact, if you calculate it, the rent they have earned from renting houses for so many years is actually enough to buy this house. It's just that they can't come up with so much money at once, so it's difficult to buy a house here.
There is no such thing as buying a house with a loan in this era. Otherwise, if they had taken out a loan a few years ago, they would have paid off the loan over the years and the house would have been theirs.
However, these landlords are not stupid. As long as they own a house, they can rent it out and collect rent. Although selling it will bring more money at once, it is not as profitable as raising a golden goose to lay eggs. Not to mention the imperial examinations held every three years, many students from other places come to Beijing to take the exams, and during that time, rents in Kyoto Prefecture will rise significantly.
Fortunately, the person in charge of renting out the house didn't raise their rent because of this situation, so they've lived here for seven years and the rent remains the same as originally agreed. Previously, it was paid every six months, but now it's paid annually. Every December, the person in charge would come to collect the rent, and their family would prepare the year's rent, and they never defaulted on the rent.
Perhaps it is because they never default on rent that the landlord has never thought of changing the tenant.
As for who the landlord was, they didn't know because it was the manager who came to collect rent from them every time.
“Brother, brother…”
As soon as they finished packing their things, the two little kids in the house ran out to look for him.
Lu Mingfei turned around and looked at the two little kids running towards him and asked, "What are you calling me for?"
"Brother, come and play with us." Tanggao grabbed one of their eldest brother's hands, and Doubao grabbed the other hand.
With his hands being grabbed by his two younger brothers, Lu Mingfei asked with a puzzled look, "What do you want me to play with you?"
"You go and play with them. There's nothing much to do here." Lu Youtian said.
"Okay, Dad, you go and have a rest for a while. I'll take care of them two." Lu Mingfei said to his father.
"Why don't you go read a book and I'll take care of them." Lu Youtian said, worried that the two children would affect his eldest son's studies.
"No need, I just want to take them to play for a while. It won't interfere with my studies." Lu Mingfei talked to his father while discussing with his two younger brothers what to play, and then took the two children to the handicraft room to find materials.
Otherwise, if I don't find some work for these two little ones, they will bother him for the whole afternoon.
"Okay, then you keep an eye on them and don't let them play with saws and knives." Lu Youtian now gets up before dawn to help his wife wash and cut vegetables, and help with braising meat. In the morning, he also goes out to set up his own stall to sell things. He has been busy until now and has just returned home with his wife and children. He is indeed a little tired now.
Since Lu Mingfei started school, he no longer gets up too early in the morning to help with the braised meat. He now sleeps a little later before getting up to study. On weekends, he stays home to wait for his younger brother to wake up, then takes him to South Street to meet the adults. As a result, he is more energetic in the afternoon and has the energy to play with his two younger brothers.
"Okay, I know." He responded after hearing that.
Lu Youtian came back into the house, said hello to his wife, and went back to the bedroom to lie down.
After Liu Sanniang tidied up the things in the house, she went out and discussed with her eldest son about trying to make some meat sauce.
They basically have all the ingredients for meat sauce at home, so Lu Mingfei said, "We have the ingredients at home, why don't we make some meat sauce to mix with noodles tonight?"
"Okay." Liu Sanniang had no objection.
Seeing the three children playing in the drafty shed, she said, "Mingfei, take them inside to play. It's too windy here."
"Okay, let's grab some things and go inside." Lu Mingfei was looking for ingredients with his two children. Seeing that his mother looked like she was going to continue working, he said, "Mom, why don't you take a break? It won't take long to make the meat sauce. We can do it later."
"Okay, okay." Liu Sanniang heard the concern in the child's words, and she herself was indeed a little tired. Hearing this, she obeyed the child and turned back to the house, not going to the kitchen to work anymore.
The two adults in the family were resting in the house. Lu Mingfei found some weaving materials in the handicraft room and took his two younger brothers back to his bedroom to play.
"That's not the case!"
“That’s it!”
"no!"
"that is!"
“…”
The two boys were playing happily one moment, but started quarreling the next.
Lu Mingfei didn't interfere with the two boys' conversations, because it wouldn't help either of them. If he intervened, the other one who didn't help would definitely feel wronged, and would definitely cry. So usually when the two boys argued, he would just stand by and wait for the two little guys to come to an end on their own.
If she cries, it’s not too late for him to comfort her.
After they played in the house for a while, he heard the sound of a door opening in the kitchen. He knew that it must be his mother going to the kitchen to cook dinner for their family.
Glancing at the two children who were already playing together, Lu Mingfei didn't tell them that he was going to the kitchen, because once he told them, the two children would definitely go with him. So he quietly got up, opened the door and went out.
What Lu Mingfei didn't know was that when he opened the door and went out, his younger brother turned around and looked at him.
Doubao just glanced at their brother, and his eyes revealed a look of "I understand everything, but I won't expose you", then turned around and continued to play with the silly second brother next to him.
Liu Sanniang, who was in the kitchen, heard footsteps and looked up to see her eldest son coming in alone. She peeked outside and asked him, "Why did you come out? Where are the other two?"
"Playing in the house. Do you want to make meat sauce now?" Lu Mingfei asked.
"Well, let's do it. How much meat is needed?" Liu Sanniang had never made this kind of thing, so she was not very clear.
"Make three or two pounds, and we'll take some to let our adoptive parents try tomorrow." Lu Mingfei said.
"That's fine." It just so happened that there was some meat at home, so cutting a few pounds of meat wouldn't hurt. Hearing that, Liu Sanniang took the knife and went to cut the pork.
Lu Mingfei took a clean dustpan and went to look for dried mushrooms and spices for the sauce. Over the years, their family had been making braised food, and they had always had a steady supply of spices and various sauces and vinegars.
So you don’t need to go out to buy these things, you can find them all at home.
After the mother and son found the ingredients, they came over and started washing and cutting the meat. Lu Mingfei was responsible for cleaning the mushrooms and chopping them and green onions.
After preparing these things, the next step is to make the sauce.
"Let's fry these spices first, then pick them up and put the meat in to stir-fry until fragrant..." Lu Mingfei first explained the cooking method of making meat sauce to his mother.
After listening to it once, Liu Sanniang understood a little.
However, when frying the sauce, she still needs her child to remind her.
When Lu Youtian woke up from a nap, he smelled the fragrance coming from his kitchen. He walked to the kitchen door and asked the people inside, "Hmm, it smells so good. Are you guys making something new?"
"Let's make some meat sauce and have noodles with meat sauce in the evening." Liu Sanniang said with a smile.
"That's good." Lu Youtian also laughed. Author's words: Thank you Bole 9492239 (9492239) for your support, mua! To know more exciting content, please leave me a message on Liancheng Reading.
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