Cao Jingheng had written to me before saying that he would return to his original unit before the New Year, but the specific time was not determined, so Shen Anning was not in a hurry to reply.
Until two days before the Little New Year, every household was busy preparing delicious food. Shen Anning was finally able to let go this time. The whole village was filled with fragrance, and both her kitchen at home and the kitchen in the space were working.
Grandpa and grandma will return to Beijing in a few months after the New Year, and the family will be less restricted by then. This time, she wants to make some food that can be stored for her parents, second brother, aunt and uncle, uncle and aunt, and Cao Jingheng.
The family often eats canned food and has saved up a lot of cans, so the first thing she started to make was beef sauce. In the summer, she and her younger brother and sister picked a lot of mushrooms in the mountains, which they made into sauce with beef. Twenty kilograms of beef hind legs, three kilograms of dried mushrooms and two kilograms of chili peppers filled twenty cans. Shen Zixi was reluctant to go to the kitchen for the whole morning. Although the beef sauce smelled delicious, it was really choking. Shen Anning wore a mask and shed several waves of tears.
Chop the yam and pork into small pieces, mix them with seasoning and starch, marinate them, add onions and ginger, use a spoon to roll them into balls, and fry them directly in the pan. The pork must be fried until it is cooked through. "An Xuan, turn down the heat a bit, these balls need to be fried for a long time."
"Okay, sis."
After the beef sauce was ready, the children continued to stay in the kitchen. The two stoves were on, so the kitchen was very warm. Several people gathered around the stove. The first pot of meatballs was just right and was almost divided up by several people.
"Hmm, it's delicious, big sister. It tastes crispy with yam. You can make more of this and send it to grandpa, grandma, and parents." Shen Anxuan ate without even raising his head. Although he could eat the dishes cooked by his big sister every night after school, it was nowhere near as happy as the three meals a day he has now.
"Okay, since we bought a lot of meat this year, let's make more."
In the end, it took a whole afternoon to fry the meatballs and radish balls, filling up three basins. Shen Anning's hands were so sore that they almost felt like they were not her own.
For two consecutive days, except for seeing the villagers in the morning and getting them some medicine, Shen Anning and her younger brothers and sisters were busy with food. Steamed buns and steamed corn bread were constantly steamed in the space, and the stove outside was filled with pots and pots of delicious food, from ribs to chickens, from pig's trotters to hairtail. The temperature in the kitchen was high, so the food was stored in the wing room and in buckets outside. In this weather, they could eat for more than a month.
The food was divided into four parts, all of which were to be sent out, including beef paste, meatballs, pork jerky, lard, wild hazelnuts, walnuts, chestnuts. My aunt and great aunt also sent some dried mushrooms and dried vegetables. Cao Jingheng and my second brother were in the army, and it was not easy for them to cook alone, so I just sent some convenient food.
The original bacon and sausages in the space had been eaten up long ago. Although the taste of the ones made by Shen An Ning himself was still a little worse than those sold by others, it was still quite good. He added two pounds of bacon and four sausages to each portion, put the four written letters away and made a note of them. He would go to the town to mail them out after returning from the farm tomorrow.
The next morning, Shen Anning took a few children and the villagers to the farm to buy meat in a bullock cart. The supply needed by the city this year was large. Shen Anning guessed that it was related to industrialization. The pigs in the village had almost been taken away by the commune, but since they were close to the water, they could get the moon first. They could go to the farm to buy it.
The villagers were not surprised to see the family of four going out. They talked and laughed together along the way, which was quite lively.
When they arrived at the farm, Shen Anning separated from the villagers with her younger brother and sister. Everyone knew that she and the daughter of the farm manager were colleagues, so the villagers went to line up first.
Shen Anning went to Liu Jiaman's house first. As expected, she saw Liu Jiaman, who was dressed very casually and unkempt at home. She couldn't help but complain: "You're lying at home on your vacation. Where are your aunt and little brother?"
"They all went to the threshing ground." Liu Jiaman took the backpack handed over by Shen An Ning, opened it, and was happy. She went to the kitchen and took out two steamed buns and said with a smile: "I slept in today, and they only left me two steamed buns and a bowl of porridge, not even pickles. Ah, your beef sauce is really a lifesaver!"
Shen Anning held Xixi and sat beside her, watching her eat voraciously.
After Liu Jiaman finished eating, she took them to the threshing ground to buy meat. There were still quite a lot of people there, and people from several nearby villages had come, but they had to wait in line until the farm staff had distributed the meat first before they could determine how much of the remaining meat would be sold to the nearby villagers. Shen Anning looked at the long line and glanced calmly in the direction of the adobe house where his parents lived.
An Xuan and An Yu reacted quickly. Just then, little brother Liu came over and called Liu Jiaman to help. Shen An Ning hurriedly said, "Jiaman, you go ahead and do your work. An Yu and An Xuan are waiting in line here. I'll take Xixi to the infirmary to sit for a while, so she won't catch a cold outside."
Liu Jiaman took a look. In fact, she had already told Liu's father to keep Shen Anning's meat separately, but with so many people, they still had to line up to buy a kilogram or two as a token of their appreciation, otherwise it would be bad if others reported it.
"Okay, An Yu and An Xuan are here to trouble you. You take Xixi to my office. There is a stove there and it's warm."
"Okay, okay, I got it. Go and help. There are too many people here today, so we'll probably be busy until the afternoon." You know, it's relatively early for them to arrive in their village.
After giving his younger siblings a wink, Shen Anning carried Xixi on his back and walked towards the path. Holding the little girl in his arms, Shen Anning asked, "Xixi, do you know where we are going?"
"I know, I'm going to visit my parents and grandparents."
The little girl was so cunning that Shen An Ning couldn't help but tapped the tip of her nose.
Most of the people on the farm were watching the excitement in the threshing ground, waiting to eat the pig-killing dish. No one paid attention to where they were going. Shen An Ning held Xixi and turned left and right. When she pushed the door open and entered the house, she scared Shen Ma.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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