Chapter 163 162: Delicious
The nights in the mountains are much cooler than those at the foot of the mountain. Yang Chunyan has already put on her spring and autumn clothes. "Peas, broccoli, eggplant, chili peppers... It's a little cold in the mountains, so their cowpeas and green beans are blooming, and garlic sprouts are growing."
Zhou Huaian entered the vegetable garden and pulled up a radish. "Wow~ Ding Ding Mao's radish is so hard and juicy."
Zhou Yiding came out carrying a bucket of water. "These vegetables are watered with the water from the cave. The vegetables taste better after they grow better than those grown down the mountain."
Seeing that he was going to fetch water, Zhou Huaian handed him the flashlight and said, "You are still at ease here. Not only are there delicious foods to eat here, but there are also natural ice caves and spring water to drink!"
"I can't even see a single person every day. What a peaceful life!" Zhou Yiding walked outside with a flashlight.
Yang Chunyan carried a vegetable basket and Zhou Huaian carried radishes, and they went to the kitchen at the corner.
There were two pots, one with a lid, apparently cooking rice, and the other with boiling water. The mutton on the large wooden chopping board had been chopped into small pieces.
Yang Chunyan heard the bubbling sound in the pot and quickly opened the lid. She saw that it was filled with white rice and she spatulated a few times to prevent it from sticking to the pot.
When the water in the pot boiled, pour the mutton into the pot, "Huaian, wash two nests of green onions and two pieces of Polygonatum for me."
"Yes! There are still some mushrooms that haven't been washed!" Zhou Huaian found a basin, sat in front of the stove with a knife, and started to clean up.
Zhou Yiding came back carrying water and saw that the two were busy. He smiled and took down a bamboo basket from the cupboard against the wall, "Sister-in-law, here are some spices for you."
Yang Chunyan took it and saw that it contained cardamom, grass nut, cinnamon, bay leaves, peppercorns, and red orange peels. "Did you find these in the mountains?"
Zhou Yiding nodded, "Yes, they are all. There is a ditch in front of the yard. There are tiger ginger and grass bandits beside the ditch. There are also grass fruits on the slope. There are cassia trees in the woods to the south. Those trees are also peeling trees. If you want to use them, just peel a piece, and it will grow again in a few years."
"But the big trees are gone. There are only small trees as thick as calves. Also, this tree is like Magnolia officinalis. After it is cut down, small saplings will grow from the stump."
After hearing this, Zhou Huaian looked at Yang Chunyan and asked, "Yan'er, can the skin of cinnamon be sold for money?"
Yang Chunyan drained the bloody mutton and poured it into a basin. "Yes! Cinnamon is also a traditional Chinese medicine. As Yiding said, it's only as thick as a calf. The tree is still a little small. It's better to wait until it grows bigger."
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian suddenly remembered that there was a piece of pork in the basket, "Oh! We all forgot that my mother also brought us a piece of pork belly and rations."
Zhou Yiding was not polite and said with a smile: "Pork belly is great! Go pick some garlic sprouts and stir-fry them and it will be very comfortable!"
"Yes, there are mushrooms in the basket. Let's take them, wash them, and hang up the ones we can't finish." Zhou Huaian walked towards the main room with him.
Zhou Yiding hugged him and said, "Brother, you have really changed a lot during this period of time."
Zhou Huaian: "Brother, we have to change! I just found out the other day that Lian Erchun has saved up several hundred yuan in private money, not to mention your family.
My family is the poorest among us, but Chunyan didn’t mind marrying into my family, and I drove Lao Xiong’s cow off a ridge and killed it.”
He still felt a little pain when he thought of the old man's appearance that day. "I almost died of anger after paying the old Xiong family's money. Although my elder brother and his friends were angry with me, they were not like Cai Ermei's brothers.
Especially my Chunyan, who never despised me and even tried to help me make money. If I were still like before, I would not be a human being. "
Zhou Yiding patted him on the shoulder and said, "That's right, you can't be a heartless person. My third sister said that those incompetent men in the team would ask for a second wife after their wives died. She said that when my mother passed away, I was young and a worker. If he wasn't worried that the stepmother would treat me and my younger sister badly, he could have found a girl who had never been married."
Zhou Huaian said admiringly: "My third brother also said that there are really few men like Uncle Daqing."
"So since I knew that the old man rejected those matchmakers' marriage proposals, I didn't go against him and agreed to go to the forest farm to help take over the shift."
Zhou Yiding looked at him and said without hiding anything, "You know I make 30 yuan a month as a substitute here. I go up the mountain with the logging team and my salary is much higher. With the subsidy, I make about 100 yuan a month."
"It's better to be a worker. When Uncle Daqing retires, you can take over."
"My husband said that when I get married, he will file a report to retire and stay at home to help with farming and raising the kids."
"Uncle Daqing really has nothing to say about you."
Yang Chunyan scooped two scoops of water into the wooden basin and found that the water in the tank was indeed cold enough to chill the bones. She added another scoop of hot water, washed it clean and poured it into the pot, then scooped two more scoops of water into the pot.
Wash the Polygonatum odoratum and cut it into pieces as thick as a finger. Add the scallion, red orange peel, tangerine peel, bay leaves and cinnamon into the pot and start stewing the mutton.
He walked to the stove, added two pieces of firewood, and began to pick the mushrooms that Zhou Huaian had not picked.
Zhou Huaian and Zhou Yiding walked in laughing, holding a handful of garlic sprouts and a handful of chili peppers.
When the mutton was almost cooked, some radishes and mushrooms were put into the pot, and Yang Chunyan began to stir-fry the meat with salt.
Zhou Yiding brought out a clay stove and lit the charcoal fire, then placed an iron pot on top and scooped the mutton in the pot into the iron pot.
Yang Chunyan chopped some chili peppers, prepared the dipping sauce, and brought it to the table.
Two spoons of dried chili powder, two spoons of finely chopped bean paste, a little bit of Sichuan pepper powder used for eating beef and mutton, a little salt, a pinch of coriander and chopped green onion, and a spoonful of steaming and oily mutton soup, and a bowl of dipping sauce is ready.
Zhou Huaian took a look and said, "Yan'er, give me one more pinch of chili!"
Yang Chunyan paused for a moment, "It's very spicy!"
Zhou Huaian said with a smile: "No spicy, no comfortable!"
"Sister-in-law, please scoop a big spoonful, it's just right for us to eat!"
“Yes!”
Zhou Yiding picked up a few pieces of mutton, scooped up a small bowl of leftover mixed-grain rice, mixed it with mutton soup, and sent it to Dahuang and Dahei. The three of them ate around the small stove, sweating profusely.
Dip a piece of mutton in it and put it in your mouth. The deliciousness of the mutton, the unique numbing aroma of the Sichuan peppercorns, the salty and spicy taste of the sea pepper powder and bean paste, and the fresh fragrance of coriander and green onions will fill your mouth.
Yang Chunyan felt that the mutton she ate today was the most delicious mutton she had ever eaten in her two lifetimes. "The mutton from the mountains is still the best."
Zhou Huaian: "This is rock sheep meat. Uncle Daqing sent it down from Pulin. I ate it once before at Ding Dingmao's house."
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "No wonder it tastes so good!"
She knew that the blue sheep was later listed as a national second-class protected animal. In ten years, it would be hard to see it even in the mountains. Only people these days can have the good fortune to eat such delicious mutton.
Zhou Yiding: "My old man said there are no more on the cliff here, and there are not many on the Pulin side."
Zhou Huaian: "My old man said that during the years of the Great Famine, there was nothing to eat. Everyone secretly went up the mountain to hunt wild rabbits, wild sheep and pheasants and roasted them for food. A lot of food was eaten up."
Zhou Yiding: "Many of them were taken away by big bears and cats."
Zhou Huaian and Zhou Yiding put a lot of chili peppers in their dipping sauces. They grimaced in the spiciness and kept saying, "It's so spicy and satisfying!"
Zhou Yiding glanced at him and said, "You've had enough of your mouth. You'll suffer when you go to the toilet tomorrow."
Zhou Huaian understood what he meant and laughed, "Your mouth tastes bad and your asshole suffers!"
Zhou Yiding rolled his eyes at him and said, "My sister-in-law is here, and you are not being polite at all!"
Zhou Huaian: "Haha, those gossipers in the team all say that we are the famous second-rate people in the Funiu Brigade. We are not civilized. Have you forgotten?"
"That's you. I don't admit it! Hehe..."
Yang Chunyan looked at the two people who were laughing so hard that their teeth were showing, shook her head and put some green mullets in the pot. She couldn't eat chili peppers because she thought they were too spicy and made people feel uneasy.
(End of this chapter)
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