Chapter 219: 218: Fortune and Blessings
The old lady stepped over the threshold, paused, looked back at the direction where Li Wu was standing, and said angrily: "You are such a stubborn person, you believe everything others say.
I see you working so hard carrying coal in the coal mine every day just to help Zou Cuifen raise the baby!
Go back and ask the neighbors next door what the girl from the Xue family wears and eats. Look at my Xiaoping, he is worse than the beggars on the street. If I hadn't saved some food for him, he would have gone to his mother long ago."
Li Xiaoping pulled the old lady and said, "Grandma, don't tell him. He doesn't believe us!"
Li Wu looked at the old and the young who walked into the house hand in hand, stood in the yard for a while in a daze, and returned home with a gloomy face. When he entered the house, he saw Zou Cuifen lying on the bed and Li Hui crawling all over the bed.
Looking at the room that looked like a pigsty, I recalled the time when Xiaoping's mother was here. When I came back from work, I saw her and my mother busying around, chatting and laughing...
Thinking of the injuries on her son's legs, she could no longer suppress her anger and turned to go to Xue Jihong's room next door.
There were two wooden beds inside. Xiaoping used to live in this room alone, but since Xue Jihong came, she lived in the same room with Xiaoping.
He opened the cabinet at the foot of the wall and searched out all of Xue Jihong's clothes and pants. He looked at the floral skirt and the Dacron shirt, and then at the old clothes and pants on Xiaoping's bedside table. They were all bought when his mother was still alive...
He was so angry that he picked up the clothes on the ground and threw them out of the main room. He went back to the room, opened the cabinet, grabbed Zou Cuifen's clothes, and saw rice candy and cloud cake under the clothes. He was stunned.
Zou Cuifen waited for a long time but Li Wu didn't come to comfort her. She turned around and saw the clothes in his hand. She jumped off the bed and pointed at him and howled, "Mr. Li, what do you want to do?"
Li Wu grabbed all the cakes and pastries in the cabinet and threw them at him. "Get out of here, you evil woman. Take Xue with you and get out of my house right now!"
Zou Cuifen was stunned for a moment, her eyes rolled, and she hugged Li Hui and said, "Get lost if you want. Who the hell is coming to find me..."
"You black-hearted woman..." Li Wu cursed loudly and grabbed the frightened Li Hui, "You and the guy named Xue, get out!" After that, he grabbed Zou Cuifen and pulled her out.
Zou Cuifen grabbed the door frame and cried, "Mr. Li, you are a short-lived ghost with no conscience. I gave birth to a son for you, and you turned your back on me..."
Xue Jihong ran back home and saw the clothes in the yard. She rushed into the room shouting, "Mom! That bastard Li Xiaoping threw my clothes away..."
Li Wu looked at Xue Jihong, who was white and plump in a skirt, and the skinny Li Xiaoping appeared in front of him. He grabbed Zou Cuifen's hair and said, "You vicious woman, get out of here..."
"Let my mom go! Don't hit her!" Xue Jihong stepped forward, grabbed Li Wu's arm and bit him, "I'll bite you to death!"
Li Wu pushed Xue Jihong away, and the little girl fell on her buttocks and squatted, "Mom, he hit me, beat him to death!"
"Take the man named Xue and get out of here!" Li Wu threw Zou Cuifen to the door of the main room, closed and locked the door, then walked out of the yard carrying Li Hui.
Xue Jihong cried and hugged Zou Cuifen, "I want to go home, I don't want to be here!"
"Pa~" Zou Cuifen slapped her on the back of her vest, "Why did you argue with this burden? Now you know what happened! They are going to chase us away..."
*****
When Yang Chunyan and Zhao Huifang got home, they saw the grandmother and her grandchildren harvesting rapeseed and herbs in the yard.
"Xiao Ru, have you guys peeled the green beans?"
Zhou Xiaoru: "I peeled it out. My grandma cleaned the grinder."
Mother Zhou looked at the two of them and said, "You cut down all the trees and brought back two baskets of corn?"
"Hmm!" Yang Chunyan wiped her sweat with a handkerchief, "Are you going to make other dishes besides tofu pudding tonight?"
Mother Zhou put the herbs into a sack and said, "The third child bought some pig intestines. I have packed them all. You can cook them as you like."
Yang Chunyan looked at Zhao Huifang and asked, "How about making some pork intestines and tofu pudding?"
Zhao Huifang smiled and said, "I haven't eaten it before. I'll help you."
Yang Chunyan smiled and nodded, "Okay, I'll go fry the pig intestines and put them in the pot first, and then we'll go grind the beans."
Zhao Huifang looked at the sky and said, "We have been delayed for so long. Why don't you go and cook the pig intestines while I grind the beans? This way it will be faster."
"Okay, I'll put the pig intestines in the pot and help you grind the mill!"
Yang Chunyan took the apron hanging on the bamboo pole, tied it around her waist and went to the kitchen. She saw that what was covered with a colander on the stove was the pig intestines, which had been washed and blanched.
Sorghum rice was soaking in a ceramic basin. Yang Chunyan scooped out a few bowls of rice from the rice jar, washed it twice, and put it into the pot together with the sorghum rice. After boiling, she filtered out the rice soup with a colander, took out the steamer, and began to prepare the braised pork intestines.
She took out two pieces of ginger and some aniseed, and found a few onions from under the cupboard. After washing them, she scooped two scoops of water into the pot. Since there was no cooking wine, she poured some white wine into it. She put soy sauce, aniseed, ginger, onions, and pork intestines into the pot, put the steamer in the pot, poured in the half-cooked rice, and covered it with a lid.
He went to the stove and lit the fire. When the fire was burning well, he added two more pieces of firewood into it. Then he got up and went to the backyard. He saw that Zhao Huifang had already started grinding beans.
"So fast?" Zhao Huifang said with a smile.
Yang Chunyan stepped forward, held the handle of the stone mill, and helped to push the mill. "It's very simple. First, braise the pig intestines, scoop them out, add fermented bean curd and seasonings to stir-fry until they are tasty. Then, use the sauce from the braised pig intestines to scoop the tofu pudding into it and cook until it is tasty. Then pour the pig intestines on top and it's done."
She paused, "Let's make two flavors, one of which can be eaten with water as before."
How could Zhao Huifang disagree? She nodded repeatedly, "Let me see how you do it later. I'll learn from you!"
Yang Chunyan: "It's very simple, almost like cooking fish with tofu pudding."
The two of them ground the beans in the basin, scooped up clean water to rinse the millstone, and then carried the soy milk to the kitchen.
Add some water to the pot and pour the soy milk in to boil. Yang Chunyan took out the gypsum powder and Zhao Huifang also took out the tofu towel. After the soy milk in the pot boiled, filter out the soy milk, wash it and pour it back into the soy milk.
After the soy milk boiled, Zhao Huifang mixed gypsum water and slowly poured it into the soy milk spoonful by spoonful, stirring constantly until the tofu pudding was formed.
After the tofu pudding is formed, bring it to a boil over high heat, place a colander on the tofu pudding and gently press it into shape, and scoop out the excess water, and the tofu pudding is ready.
Zhao Huifang took a kitchen knife and cut a few horizontal and vertical cuts in the pot, then took a porcelain basin and scooped the tofu pudding into the basin, and then scooped out a bowl of bean paste.
He said to Yang Chunyan who was frying pig intestines, "Chunyan, I'll go pick some erqingtiao and chili peppers. While you're frying the seasoning, fry the bean paste and prepare the dipping sauce later."
"Okay!" Yang Chunyan put the fried pig intestines into a ceramic basin, washed the pot, added lard and rapeseed oil, poured in the bean paste, stir-fried for a few times, and when the red oil appeared, scooped it back into the bowl.
After stir-frying other seasonings on the chopping board, scoop half of the tofu pudding in the porcelain bowl into the pot, bring to a boil, remove from the heat and divide into two bowls, scoop out the fried pork intestines and pour them on top, sprinkle some coriander and chopped green onions, and the tofu pudding and pork intestines are ready.
Zhao Huifang came in with a colander, chopped up the erqingtiao and chili peppers, and rolled them into a small ceramic bowl. "Chunyan, light a fire. I'll heat some rapeseed oil and pour the hot oil over the chili peppers."
"Okay!" Yang Chunyan stoked the fire in the stove and added a handful of firewood.
Zhao Huifang poured a spoonful of rapeseed oil into the pot, then put a few onions in it, fried them for a while and took them out of the pot. Then she thought she couldn't bear to throw them away, so she put them in the fish intestines.
Use a spatula to scoop up the hot oil in the pot and pour it on the chili peppers. You will hear a few "chi~chi~" sounds, and a fresh and spicy smell will come to your nose. Pour in the fried bean paste, some pepper powder, salt, a small amount of sugar, chopped ginger and garlic, chopped green onion, coriander and soy sauce, mix well.
Zhou Huaian walked in carrying an old vegetable basket. In the basket lay two blue-haired dogs with triangular eyes, black noses and big mouths, looking at the strange place curiously.
"Wow, wow, a little puppy!" Zhou Xiaoru and the others gathered around and looked at the puppy that had shrunk back into the basket. "Dad, where did this little puppy come from?"
Zhou Xiaolin stopped playing catch and said, "Dad, I want to see the puppy!"
"Come up to the steps and Dad will show you." Zhou Huaian walked towards the steps carrying a basket.
Zhou's mother gave him a sidelong glance and said, "Youngest, one is enough. Why did you catch two?"
Zhou Huaian took them out of the basket and said, "Don't worry, I will send them to the forest farm when I come back from Ning'an tomorrow, and let them learn to hunt from Dahei and Dahuang."
After hearing this, Zhou's mother said angrily, "You don't need to eat or drink after you send him to the forest farm? Do you want Yiding to help you raise the dog?"
Zhou Huaian patted the heads of the two dogs and said, "The wild boar we caught last time was found with the help of the dogs. Once they learn how to hunt, they can catch a few rabbits and sell them to buy more food than they can eat."
After hearing this, Zhou's mother thought about it and said, "It's none of your business. If there's nothing to eat, give them your own rations."
Zhou Jiaming and his friends stopped doing their homework and gathered around the puppies. You petted them, and I petted them. "Dad, what are their names?"
Zhou Huaian thought for a moment, pointed at the one with a tuft of yellow hair on its neck and said, "Your name will be Wangcai from now on." Then he pointed at the puppy with a tuft of yellow hair on its legs and said, "Your name will be Laifu."
Several children began to shout affectionately, "Wangcai, Laifu..."
Seeing the children couldn't let go of the toys, Zhou Huaian said hurriedly, "Be gentle, be gentle, I'm counting on them to go into the mountains to find treasures!"
After hearing this, Zhou's mother's lips twitched and she couldn't help but smile, "That's a nice thought."
"Mom, you have to have ideas in life so that your life can get better and better." Zhou Huaian lay on the recliner and stretched comfortably. "I'm so tired. I have to find a way to buy a tractor. Otherwise, how long will it take to plow more than a hundred acres of barren hills!"
Zhou's mother sneered, "You haven't even learned to walk yet, and you want to run away."
Zhou Huaian: "I'm not the only one in my family who wants to buy a tractor. Ask your brothers, who doesn't want one?"
Mother Zhou curled her lips and said, "There are so many things I want to buy. I also want to buy the radio from your grandfather's house. Why didn't I buy it?"
Zhou Huaian thought of Yang Chunyan's words, "I won't argue with you anymore. I'll go see if Chunyan and sister-in-law have finished cooking."
Yang Chunyan came out with the steamer and saw him, "Why are you back alone?"
Zhou Huaian: "They are behind me. I am going to Xu's house to pick up the dog."
"Oh, let me see!" Yang Chunyan put the steamer on the wooden rack in the main room, came out and looked at the dog surrounded by several children, "Wow~ He is quite brave."
Zhou Xiaolin turned her head and looked at Yang Chunyan, "Aunt, it licked my hand."
Yang Chunyan nodded and warned Zhou Jiakang, who was poking the dog, "Don't poke its mouth, or it might get angry and bite you."
"Oh!" Zhou Jiakang retracted his hand, "Aunt, Dad gave them names, Wangcai and Laifu."
(End of this chapter)
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