Chapter 14 Braised Pork Belly: I don't sell tap water here!
Six catties of pork is not a small amount. Yao Xiaoyu and her group arrived at the meat stall in the afternoon, and they were prepared not to be able to buy that much. However, they didn't get stuck on the most important ingredient when stewing the meat, but the ingredients went wrong.
"No more soy sauce?"
Zhou Chunhua checked with the shop assistants again, and received the news that the soy sauce wouldn't arrive until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. Finally, she gave up hope, offering a stiff smile to her grandchildren, unsure whether she was comforting the younger generation or herself.
"Boiled meat in plain water is also delicious."
Yao Xiaoyu took a step back. Everyone in her family had only learned to cook in the last few months, and their cooking skills were limited to just getting the food cooked. Zhou Chunhua was an exception, but because she hadn't formally studied cooking, her skills were about the same as the Yao family's. It was fine to just make do normally, but this was meat!
Stop being so dense! Think of something simple and delicious besides soy sauce!
Yao Xiaoyu followed behind Zhou Chunhua, brainstorming rapidly, and finally stopped in front of a hotel.
"Grandma, buy some wine to take home."
The three stopped in their tracks, and Yao Xiaoyu smiled at Zhou Chunhua:
"I read in a book that you can make delicious braised pork without soy sauce, just with wine and salt."
The Suiyuan Menu states: For every pound of meat, use three qian of salt and simmer in pure wine until it turns a deep red like amber. [1]
Shaoxing wine, which cost one cent per pound, was very expensive. Zhou Chunhua originally didn't want to buy it, but her granddaughter was right. Since she was already there, and besides, she still had a few silver coins and seven or eight copper coins left after buying the pork...
"If it's cheaper, I'll buy some."
Zhou Chunhua used her bargaining skills from when she was a young girl. Although she didn't manage to lower the price, she did get some free drinks. Just as she was keeping an eye on the shopkeeper to make sure he didn't add water, a man in a long robe walked in through the door.
"Shopkeeper, bring me a large jug of top-quality tap water."
Six copper coins were pressed onto the counter with a crisp sound. Yao Xiaoyu quietly moved to the side to avoid the man's faint, smoky scent.
"No!"
The shopkeeper's smile vanished, and his usually polite words became harsh.
"Everyone else has them, why don't you?"
The man stretched out his withered hand, and a fierce look appeared on his dark yellow face. Yao Xiaoyu looked at the small black dots jumping around on his long robe, and silently moved away again.
"We don't have any at home. If you want that, go to the tavern across the street."
The innkeeper handed the poured wine to Zhou Chunhua and said coldly, "He is a little shorter than the man, but he looks much stronger. The man also noticed the difference between the two, cursed a few times and left. Yao Xiaoyu saw it clearly - the man really went into the tavern across the street."
"Grandma, what is tap water?"
On the way back, Yao Xiaoyu couldn't suppress her curiosity. Zhou Chunhua didn't want to talk about it, but she was kept asking and was afraid that the two children might have drunk it without knowing, so she gave a brief explanation.
"...tap water is opium."
Opium was ubiquitous in this era, and it was even graded according to its purity: the rich used Indian horseshoe opium, and one tael of opium cost five taels of silver; those with less income bought bottled opium, which usually cost two silver coins to buy one mace; and the poorest people drank tap water.
After the rich man finished smoking opium, the residue left behind was called "dragon head residue." Some people would spend money to buy it, boil it in boiling water, and that would be called "dragon head water." This water was sold very cheaply; a pot could be bought for three or four copper coins, and a large pot could be bought for six copper coins. Even the most addicted person would only spend fifteen or sixteen copper coins a day.
And this water is considered extremely effective by many people:
"Many rickshaw pullers would also buy this water, saying that drinking a pot of it would allow them to pull their rickshaws for several hours without having to eat anything."
Zhou Chunhua was also tempted when she heard this. If Yao Daniu hadn't always said that there shouldn't be anyone in the family who smoked opium, and if she hadn't asked more about the raw materials of the water, she probably would have bought it too.
"You must not get addicted to opium, no matter how much others try to persuade you. Those who get involved with this stuff will never have a good ending!"
Zhou Chunhua said sternly, “Don’t be fooled by the fact that the tavern where I just bought the wine is inconspicuous. More than ten years ago, it was a wealthy family that even the Yao family couldn’t match. It is said that they used pearls the size of longans to shoot pellets. Later, the youngest son of the tavern became addicted to opium and was led to a gambling den. That’s how the family business fell into ruin.”
The owner's son died from opium addiction a few years ago, and he has hated opium ever since. Other taverns thought that tap water was more profitable and sold it alongside liquor, but this owner refused to do so, preferring to earn less money.
"knew."
The two solemnly agreed. Yao Xiaoyu hadn't yet recovered from her near-miss with a drug addict. In her time, while other countries had legalized marijuana in a more abstract way, her country still had zero tolerance for it. Aside from photos and videos, she had never seen a real drug addict in her life.
Opium was rampant during the Republic of China era, and only now does Yao Xiaoyu understand how heavy the weight of those eight words truly is.
Yao Xiaoyu's low mood continued until she got home. After the chopped meat was poured into the earthenware pot, Yao Xiaoyu racked her brains to get Zhou Chunhua to pour more wine and add more salt. After that, she put those heavy emotions aside.
Good pork from Shanghai, chopped into small pieces without water, and good Shaoxing wine, simmered in an earthenware pot over low heat for an exceptionally delicious flavor.
Yao Xiaoyu added a large bowl of rice to her bowl, picked up a piece of braised pork and put it in her mouth, feeling that all the hard work she had done during this period was worth it.
The meat was an amber color. Although it was cut into small cubes, you couldn't feel any sharp edges when you put it in your mouth. With a little pressure on your tongue, the meat would fall apart in your mouth. Even though it was only seasoned with wine and salt, it tasted better than most meats I had ever eaten before.
No wonder her parents always said that the meat they eat now is different from what they ate when they were young. Yao Xiaoyu thought it was because her tastes had changed as she got older, but she didn't expect that there were too many people who were deceiving her. She had hardly ever bought genuine agricultural products.
Thinking about all those years of spending money on organic food, only to get back organic food that tasted similar to supermarket products but cost much less, Yao Xiaoyu almost cried out of heartache.
Her money, that's all her money, money she earned through hard work!
Braised pork and white rice – the family of six ate to their hearts' content, then collapsed in their seats, not wanting to move an inch.
"How about we hang the meat in the well and wash the dishes tomorrow?"
Yao Xiaoyu's suggestion was once again unanimously approved. Everyone quickly tidied themselves up and went upstairs to rest.
The next day, they ate cabbage porridge with reheated braised pork. The meat they ate yesterday was still hard to digest, so everyone ate more slowly today. But by the time they finished breakfast, the leftover braised pork was gone, and even the greasy bits were mixed with the porridge and eaten by Yao Tianrui.
Yao Xiaoyu didn't try to take the bottom of the basin from her older brother, not because she was being polite, but mainly because although she was really craving it, her 21st-century mindset still made her think that the bottom of the basin was greasy and she just couldn't eat it. It was one thing if someone forced it into her mouth, but to do it herself... I just couldn't do it!
Let's wait a bit longer. Once her career is on track and she no longer has to worry about money, she can eat beef, lamb, chicken, and duck in rotation!
Yao Xiaoyu made a vow in her heart, and then took her elder brother to the He family bookstore. She took a job copying books, which cost eight copper coins per thousand characters. It was only slightly more expensive than the previous exam papers, but it was worth it because of the large quantity of books, nearly 100,000 characters. She would get six silver dollars after copying them.
This time, Yao Xiaoyu asked for a two-week deadline, which surprised Manager He. Yao Xiaoyu didn't hide it from him:
"Making a living by copying books is not a very stable job. My older brother and I still want to find a proper job."
The printing industry will only become more and more developed, while the market for copying books will only shrink rather than expand. Her and Yao Tianrui's handwriting can only be described as neat, and they are not competitive in this industry. If they cannot find other ways out, that's fine, but in this era, there is no shortage of positions for people who know their background and have been educated.
The prerequisite is that the gender is male.
"You're absolutely right."
Manager He agreed with the two men's ideas and regretted that Yao Daniu had left too early. If he had held on for a few more years, he might have seen the Yao family prosper again. However, he also understood Yao Daniu's desperate gamble—who would be willing to let such good descendants live a hard life?
"If possible, your older brother should go to high school again."
Graduating from primary school is not a low level of education, but the higher one goes, the better one's future prospects will be. However, looking at the current state of the Yao family, Manager He felt that his words were not quite right and regretted them as soon as they left his mouth.
Yao Xiaoyu particularly agreed with Manager He's words. She knew that people in this era matured early, and sixteen-year-old Yao Tianrui was already of marriageable age, but that didn't stop Yao Xiaoyu from thinking that Yao Tianrui should be studying in school now.
"Once we find jobs and earn money to pay off our debts, we can continue our studies."
Wait a little longer. Once her career is on track, Yao Tianrui must send her to school!
No matter how fierce Yao Xiaoyu was inside, she always spoke very nicely on the surface. Manager He thought Yao Xiaoyu was capable, but at the same time felt sorry for Yao Tianrui.
Carrying such a huge debt on your shoulders, the idea of paying it off and going back to school is nothing but a pipe dream.
Yao Xiaoyu didn't have mind-reading abilities. After happily returning home with her new chores, she began assigning tasks:
"The three of us each have to copy three thousand characters every day."
This number is not small, but compared to the previous eight thousand that were so difficult to recover from, the whole family breathed a sigh of relief.
"Dad, you just need to finish copying it within one day."
Yao Xiaoyu didn't have high expectations for Yao Ping'an; after all, his health was what it was, and completing the mission without getting sick was already helping her. But Yao Tianrui…
"Big brother, you're just like me, you have to finish copying before lunch every day."
Yao Tianrui was somewhat surprised, but still agreed. Wenrou, on the other hand, felt sorry for her eldest son and wondered why Yao Xiaoyu was in such a hurry.
"Copying books is just a temporary job. Setting aside a whole block of time in the afternoon makes it easier for my brother and me to look for work."
Yao Xiaoyu gave the same explanation, only this time deliberately putting her older brother first, and the result...
"Tianrui's thinking is more thorough."
Well, Wenrou really didn't notice that she was also looking for a job.
A note from the author:
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[1] Original text: Some use sweet sauce, some use soy sauce, and some don't use either soy sauce or sweet sauce. For every pound of meat, use three qian of salt and simmer in pure wine; some also use water, but the water must be boiled away. All three methods result in a red color like amber; do not add sugar to caramelize it. — *Suiyuan Shidan*
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