Guan Baiyu really didn't like his little grandmother.
His grandmother's generation had a very hard life, and many of them had some quirks. For example, his grandmother was particularly possessive of her food. As she got older, she would hide away any good food she could find and eat it herself.
As for his second grandmother, Guan Jianguo's mother, she was very stingy and wouldn't spend a penny on a daily basis.
His youngest grandmother, however, loved to take advantage of others.
However, if she only liked to take advantage of others, Guan Baiyu wouldn't dislike her... Guan Baiyu's dissatisfaction with her was related to her constant use of the word "Kai Kai".
Kai Kai's full name is Guan Kai. He is two years younger than Guan Baiyu and the same age as Guan Baiyu's younger sister. He is thirteen years old this year.
They were from the same clan and lived very close to each other. Logically, they would have played together since they were little. However, because Guan Kai was born during the one-child policy, and he was their only child, this great-grandmother doted on Guan Kai.
Guan Kai was spoiled growing up, so he has a bad temper. When he was little, he would cry if they didn't do what he wanted when they played together, and then he would go to his grandmother to complain.
Then Guan Kai's grandmother took Guan Kai around to cause trouble for people and argue with their parents.
Later on, no one in their area wanted to hang out with Guan Kai anymore.
Guan Kai got upset again and went to his grandma to complain that others wouldn't let him play. Guan Kai's grandma then started to make trouble for him, making him play with Guan Kai. After that, if he didn't go along with Guan Kai, for example, if he won against Guan Kai in a card game, Guan Kai would get upset, and Guan Kai's grandma would scold him.
His grandmother took him in and raised him, but he wasn't a member of the Guan family after all. His grandmother didn't really like him and wouldn't stand up for him in these matters. He didn't know how many times Guan Kai's grandmother had scolded him since he was a child.
This young lady also liked to gossip behind people's backs, always telling them that he was a jinx to his father, mother, and the whole family, which was why no one wanted him.
They even falsely accused him of treating Guan Kai badly and hitting Guan Kai.
He never fought it.
There were many similar incidents, and Guan Baiyu didn't know where to begin. Finally, she told Shi Zhen about a recent incident: "During the Spring Festival, the river in front of the house was drained. I picked up some crucian carp from the river, but she said that her grandson had found them and took all my crucian carp away."
Guan Baiyu seemed a little depressed when he talked about this.
Now that everyone's lives have improved, they will buy some meat and fish to eat during the Chinese New Year. But apart from eating meat at his adoptive father's house for the New Year's Eve dinner, he doesn't have many opportunities to eat meat at other times.
The small crucian carp I caught had many bones and little meat, but it was still meat.
Shi Zhen was unaware of these matters. In his previous life, Guan Baiyu rarely spoke of these relatives, and when he did, he generally did not speak ill of them.
That's true; once people reach adulthood, they generally stop holding grudges over such trivial matters.
Shi Zhen put his arm around Guan Baiyu and patted his back: "I'll buy you a big fish next time. As for your little aunt, we'll never give her any more meat again."
"Hmm." Guan Baiyu responded. Actually, he had wanted to stop Shi Zhen from giving out the meat, but he was afraid that if he did, his little grandma would talk badly about Shi Zhen all over the village.
After the pig's head meat was stewed, Shi Zhen kept some of the braising liquid and meat for breakfast the next morning. He processed the rest as before and put it in the large basin.
The next day, Shi Zhen, carrying a basin of pig's head meat, a domino-shaped stool, a small stool, and small items such as a knife and scales, walked towards the town with Shi Xinghuo.
Upon arriving in town, Shi Zhen found a spot outside the vegetable market, placed a stainless steel basin on a raised domino-shaped stool, and prepared to sell pig's head meat.
He and Shi Xinghuo arrived early, at only six in the morning, but there were already quite a few people at the market buying vegetables. Shi Zhen didn't stand on ceremony and called out, "Want some pig's head meat? Cold-cut pig's head meat is two yuan a pound!"
Nowadays, there are many food shops in the town, but they mostly sell steamed buns, mantou, sesame cakes, and fried dough sticks. There are very few cooked food shops, only three in total, and these three are all like Shi Zhen's, setting up stalls outside the market.
Their stalls are larger and have more items, including roast chicken, braised chicken, braised duck, and tofu skin cooked in brine, as well as vegetarian chicken and tofu skin, among other things—a total of more than a dozen items.
But nobody sells pig's head meat.
In addition, the things sold at those stalls are not cheap. Shi Zhen had seen many people go there to buy deep-fried and then braised tofu, which was soupy and not much in total, but cost one yuan.
His pig's head meat isn't expensive, and it's unique.
The town's residents weren't very interested in pig's head meat; many of them didn't like fatty meat. However, some farmers who rarely came to town to buy vegetables were quite interested in it.
The key is that it's cheap.
These days, most people buy cheap food rather than delicious food.
People gradually came to Shi Zhen's place to buy pig's head meat.
Shi Zhende admitted that doing business in this era was much easier than in later generations. Putting aside everything else, if he set up a stall with no business license, no equipment, and no salesmanship twenty years later, no one would come to inquire about it.
But here, a pig's head sells out in less than an hour.
Shi Zhen rounded down the price for the twelve jin of cold-cut pig's head meat, selling it for a total of twenty-one yuan.
What he lacks most now is a tricycle. Without a tricycle, he can't bring too much stuff to town to sell, so he can only bring pig heads one by one...
Shi Zhen went to the market and bought three pig heads. He left the stool with Zhu the butcher before going home.
Shi Zhen got home at eight o'clock. He cooked a pig's head and went out at eleven o'clock to sell it in town.
Before he left, he put a pig's head in a pot, added seasonings, and filled it with firewood to stew it. By the time he returned, the pig's head should be almost cooked.
While doing this, he also steamed the leftover rice from last night on the steamer rack—since he only goes to school for half a day on Saturdays, Guan Baiyu will be going home soon.
Today is Saturday, and there are more people in town than usual. The pig heads that Shi Zhen brought this time sold out in no time.
He didn't delay and went home immediately.
When Shi Zhen returned this time, Guan Baiyu was adding fuel to the fire behind the stove, and the pig's head in the pot was almost cooked.
Shi Zhen sat down to rest and said to Guan Baiyu with a smile, "Baiyu, I've already sold two pig heads today, and I can sell another one later! I can earn ten yuan for each pig head I sell, so I can earn thirty yuan a day from now on."
These days, an ordinary worker earns just over two hundred yuan a month. If he could earn thirty yuan a day, he could earn a thousand yuan a month.
Then... there will be tricycles.
Guan Baiyu's eyes lit up.
Shi Zhen was in a good mood, but he was also really tired.
He barely had any rest time throughout the day, especially since it took him half an hour to walk to town each time he carried a basin, which was exhausting even for someone in good health.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Shi Zhen and Guan Baiyu took the third pig's head to town.
This time, instead of setting up a stall, they went to the place where Shi Xinghuo was digging river mud and sold the whole pot of pig's head meat there.
This time, Shi Zhen still sold it for 1.5 yuan per jin, but he didn't round down the price for the workers. Even so, Wang Chengfa and the others weren't dissatisfied. The town was still small at this time, and there weren't many outsiders. They already knew that there were people selling pig's head meat at the market, and they also knew that Shi Zhen was selling it for 2 yuan per jin outside. Since that was the case, they had already gotten a good deal.
After selling out, Shi Zhen bought a pack of noodles, planning to celebrate with noodles that evening.
Wheat is not widely grown in the south, so wheat-based foods are considered quite precious.
For example, dumplings are eaten as a dish here.
A few years ago, some families would cook a bowl of noodles, mix it with soy sauce and lard, and place it in the middle of the table as a side dish to eat with rice.
For all these reasons, when people go to town, they always make sure to eat noodles, whether it's steamed buns, mantou, sesame seed cakes, fried dough sticks, noodles, or wontons. It's not like you've been to town if you don't eat some noodles.
However, Shi Zhen bought noodles mainly because Guan Baiyu liked to eat noodles.
When the two of them lived together, if he didn't come home for dinner, Guan Baiyu liked to cook all sorts of noodles, but the one he ate the most was dried noodles.
"Shall we have dry noodles or soup noodles tonight?" Shi Xinghuo was also very interested in dried noodles.
Shi Zhen said, "Just mix the noodles with the braising liquid I saved earlier." The braising liquid for the pig's head meat is very flavorful, making it perfect for mixing with noodles. Add some sliced pig's head meat on top... Guan Baiyu and Shi Xinghuo will definitely love it.
Shi Zhen bought noodles because they cook faster than rice; he was tired and hungry and wanted to eat something hot as soon as possible.
He put the noodles in the pot, added some greens, and when the noodles were done, he scooped them out, mixed them with the gravy, and ate two big bowls in one go.
Shi Xinghuo ate two large bowls, and even Guan Baiyu, who had the smallest appetite, ate much more than usual.
After finishing his meal, Shi Zhen continued stewing pig's head—he wanted to earn money as soon as possible.
Last night, when Shi Zhen was stewing pig's head, Guan Baiyu's great-grandmother came over, and tonight...
Not long after Shi Zhen started stewing, several people arrived.
Guan Baiyu's family has been stewing pig's head for almost a whole day. Many people have come by because of the aroma, and they want to see what this delicious food is all about.
Many people want to buy some to take home.
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