Chapter 53. A Nest of Rabbits. Sausages.
The next day, Qiu Xuan got up very early.
In addition to lamb ribs yesterday, she also bought pork and offal, which are now in the kitchen waiting for her to cook.
Qiu Xuan thought of making some sausages, which could be a dish for the Chinese New Year. They would be delicious whether steamed or fried.
She brought the wooden barrel containing sewage into the yard and brought a large wooden basin. Originally, the sewage should have been washed in the river, but it was cold and a thick layer of ice had already formed on the river surface.
Rather than wasting time breaking the ice, it was better to clean it at home with well water. This wasn't the first time Qiu Xuan had gotten into the water; she grabbed a handful of wood ash and sprinkled it on the ice, then began to rub it.
Zong Xiao got up earlier than her. Before daybreak, he went to the backyard to feed the animals. It was cold today and the hens were even less willing to lay eggs. He searched for a long time today and only found one in the corner.
But it’s better to have something than nothing. If I save for a few more days, I will have at least ten by the New Year.
When Zong Xiao came out of the backyard with the egg in his arms, he saw his third brother squatting next to Qiu Xuan, and he didn't know what they were talking about.
Zong Xiao walked forward and kicked Zong Anji on the butt. "What's the wind like that today? It's blowing you here so early in the morning."
"Hey, second brother." Zong Anji stood up and said with a smile, "I saw that the weather was nice today, so I thought of asking you to take me into the mountains. I wonder if you forgot about my rabbit?"
Speaking of rabbits, Zong Xiao couldn't help but think of what Qiu Xuan said last night. If they could catch a wild rabbit and bring it home to raise, it would also be an income.
"Second brother, go ahead. Look how nice the weather is today. There's no wind at all." Zong Anji opened his arms as if to hug Zong Xiao.
Zong Xiao took two steps back, a look of slight disgust on his face. "I didn't say I wouldn't go with you. It's just a little early. Wait until after breakfast before going out."
Seeing that he agreed, Zong Anji happily went forward and hugged him: "Then I will come over after dinner. Let's go early and come back early. Second sister-in-law, I'm going home first."
Qiu Xuan had both hands occupied, and she nodded in response.
As soon as he left, Zong Xiao rolled up his sleeves and squatted down. There was a whole bucket of sewage, which was very troublesome to clean up by one person. He thought that one more person would mean more help.
Qiu Xuan saw this and quickly stopped him. "There's no rush for this. I'll be home today anyway. Go heat up the food first. We still have to go into the mountains later."
Qiu Xuan was thinking about the rabbits. She knew rabbits could reproduce, giving birth to whole litters at a time. If all of them grew up, they would have nothing to worry about. When the time came, she could kill one if she wanted to eat it, and sell one if she ran out of money.
What a wonderful life.
"Then I'll go heat up the food first." Zong Xiao got up and went to the kitchen. Now that they were the only two people in the yard, breakfast was a little lighter.
A dry bun with pickles and a bowl of rice soup for two people is enough.
After dinner, Zong Xiao put on his backpack and took his slingshot and left home. Zong Anji had been waiting for him for a long time, and the two headed straight for the mountains as soon as they met.
The clan mother only found out that they were going into the mountains early in the morning, but the weather was good today and not very cold, so they decided to go into the mountains.
"Mom, I want to go and see my second sister-in-law." Liu Yueyang just heard Zong Anji say that his second sister-in-law was preparing pig offal, and asked her if she was afraid of getting dirty. If not, she could go over and help.
Thinking of how good Qiu Yun was to him, Liu Yueyang was willing to go over and help even though he had never done any rough work.
The clan mother was naturally willing when she heard this. She said, "Go ahead. I'll go over and help after I've cleaned up Huaixue."
In the yard, Qiu Xuan was using scissors to cut the washed offal. It was her first time making sausage casings, and she was afraid of doing it wrong, so she wanted to do it one section at a time.
As she was doing that, she heard a soft call from outside the door. It was Liu Yueyang.
"Sister-in-law, just come in." Qiu Xuan's hands were busy so she didn't get up to open the door.
Liu Yueyang pushed the door open and walked in. She had just changed into some old clothes because she wanted to help.
"Sister-in-law, is there anything I can help you with?" Liu Yueyang took a look at the sewage. The original dirt had long been washed clean and had no strange smell. Now they were all cut into pieces, which looked good.
Qiu Xuan herself had never made sausage casings before, and she wasn't sure how to teach Liu Yueyang. After a moment's thought, she said, "Does my sister-in-law know how to chop stuffing? There's two pounds of pork in the kitchen that we'll use to stuff sausages."
Cutting meat and mincing stuffing is not difficult. Liu Yueyang has seen her family do it before. She nodded and rolled up her sleeves.
"Then I'll go prepare the meat filling, and my sister-in-law will take a look at it later." After all, it was her first time, and Liu Yueyang was still a little unfamiliar with cutting. Fortunately, she was careful and washed each piece of meat first, then cut it into pieces, and finally cut it into strips and chopped it into filling.
Two pounds of meat may not seem like a lot, but it took her half an hour to chop it into stuffing.
By the end, Liu Yueyang's hands were sore and his palms were red.
Qiu Xuan was not idle in the yard either. She used the back of a knife to cut all the pig intestines into a thin layer of casings. However, two of the middle ones were broken, but the rest could still be used.
In order to clean it, Qiu Xuan tied one end of the casing and poured water into it from the other end. She rinsed it twice and finally soaked it in wine.
With the casing, you can make sausages. If you want to keep it for a longer time, you can make it into sausages.
Qiu Xuan plans to make two dishes. If her family likes them, she will make more while the weather is cold. These dishes can be stored for a long time and can be brought down the mountain to sell after the New Year.
"Sister-in-law, I'm done. Do you think this is okay?" Liu Yueyang came out of the kitchen carrying a pot of meat stuffing. She saw the sausage casing at a glance.
"What is this? Going into the water?" She looked at the thing in surprise, somewhat unbelieving. They looked like two completely different things.
Qiu Xuan brought all the prepared sausage casings to the table. She pointed to the bench and motioned her to sit down. "These are sausage casings, made from pig intestines. I'll teach you how to stuff sausages later."
The size of the stuffing chopped by Liu Yueyang was just right. Qiu Yun took the seasoning jar and added it to the meat stuffing little by little in front of her.
"We need wine to make sausages, so add some of it. Salt and powdered sugar are also essential. If you like spicy food, you can add chili powder." Qiu Xuan took a spoon in her hand and added it one spoonful at a time.
Liu Yueyang watched and took notes in his mind. This thing looks easy, but if he tries it himself, he may not succeed in one try.
Qiu Xuan used a thin bamboo pole to push the seasoned pork into the casing little by little. When it was full, she took out some white thread and tied a knot on it every few sections.
"Sister-in-law, is this ready?" Liu Yueyang followed suit. She was eager to put the other meat filling into the sausage casing.
Qiu Xuan saw what she was thinking and smiled as she explained, "We can just poke a few more holes in this with a needle and hang it under the eaves to dry. We can eat it after a few days. But these meat fillings are different. We'll make sausages with this. We can eat it right away after we make it today."
Qiu Xuan started to prepare the filling again, but this time she didn't add wine. Everything else was similar, except that there were some more dough balls.
"Sister-in-law, this is also raw. Should we steam it?" Liu Yueyang tied the last knot and looked at her puzzledly with blinked eyes.
"Cook it. Let it air dry for an hour first. Once it's dry, we can cook it directly and eat it at noon." Qiu Xuan hung the stuffed sausages in the yard. Two pounds of meat actually only made six sausages, which didn't look like much.
Pork is expensive now, costing thirty copper coins per pound. If we take these to the foot of the mountain to sell, it will cost at least fifteen coins per piece.
The price is indeed not cheap, and I don’t know if it will sell well.
On the other side, Zong Xiao was walking among the mountains and forests.
It hasn't snowed in the past few days, the sky has gradually cleared up, and more creatures have come out of the mountains to look for food.
Not long after they walked, they saw a wild rabbit, but Zong Anji made a lot of noise, and the rabbit ran away as soon as they made the noise.
"Second brother, I can't do it anymore. You should do it." Zong Anji was deflated and returned the slingshot in his hand to Zong Xiao.
Zong Xiao took it and opened his mouth but didn't say anything harsh.
It was rare for him to go hunting with his family, so today he was really enlightened. If everyone was like his third brother, they would probably starve to death.
"You just watch here carefully, you still have to learn." Zong Xiao held his breath, raised his slingshot and shot towards the area where the hare had just appeared.
With a puff, something fell to the ground. When I got closer, I saw that it was the rabbit from before.
Zong Anji's face was filled with joy, and he said admiringly, "Second brother, you are really amazing. How did you know that the rabbit would come back?"
Zong Xiao rubbed his brows and took him to the place where the hare had just passed by. He pointed at the dirt slope and said, "This is a nest. If I'm not mistaken, it should belong to the rabbit."
"A rabbit hole?" Zong Anji walked quickly forward and peeped inside through the hole.
"What can you see..." Zong Xiao tied up the rabbit and threw it into the backpack. The rabbit had a wound in the abdomen and it was probably going to die.
What a pity, otherwise he would have thought of taking it home to raise it.
Zong Anji squatted on the ground, reached his hand into the hole and kept groping around, but he didn't really touch anything.
Three gray little rabbits, each the size of a palm, were staring at him with horror.
Zong Anji held it up to show him, "Second brother, it's a little rabbit, so small, not even big enough to fill the gaps between my teeth."
Zong Xiao didn't expect that there was something in the rabbit's nest. However, it would be difficult to raise such small rabbits at home, but if he left them here, these three would definitely die.
He took off his outer garment and handed it to Zong Anji, "Use this as a cushion and take it home first."
Perhaps because they had robbed the rabbit's nest, the two men never saw any more rabbits. However, they did find two pheasants that had fallen into the hunting pit.
They are not big in size and were not pierced by the bamboo tips when they fell, so they are all alive now.
Zong Xiao went down the pit and caught the two chickens. Two chickens and a rabbit, that was quite a lot of game. Seeing this, they didn't go any deeper.
On the way home, Zong Anji always glanced at Zong Xiao secretly, and he immediately lowered his head when the two of them met.
After this happened several times, Zong Xiao finally couldn't help it. He frowned and asked him, "What's wrong with you today? Why are you so hesitant? If you have something to say, just say it. Why are you hiding it?"
Zong Anji raised his head slightly and responded, "Second brother, I'm embarrassed to open my mouth."
I got on with it, Zong Xiao slapped Zong Anji on the head, "Tell me, if you don't tell me, I'll throw you into the hunting pit and you won't be able to go back tonight."
"I'm telling you," Zong Anji said quickly, holding a nest of rabbits. "Brother, I just shot a rabbit today, and I want to ask you for it. I'm thinking of making spicy rabbit meat and sending it to my father-in-law."
Zong Xiao patted his shoulder and nodded slightly, "Just take it, it's just a rabbit. It's such a small matter, why are you taking so long to open your mouth? You and I are brothers, you can say whatever you want to say."
Zong Anji grinned and quickly followed. He knew that his second brother was always so good.
As noon approached, bursts of fragrance wafted from the Zong family courtyard.
Qiu Xuan stood by the pot and scooped out all three cooked sausages with bamboo chopsticks.
Several people gathered around the pot and watched.
Liu Yueyang pointed and asked, "Sister-in-law, is it ready now?"
The meat must be cooked after being cooked for such a long time, but it looks white and it must not taste good.
"Not yet, just wait." Qiu Xuan rinsed the sausages with cold water, then took them out to dry.
At this time, she heated oil in a pan, and when the sausages were completely dry, she used bamboo chopsticks to pick up the sausages and put them in the iron pan.
Originally she wanted to use an iron plate, but unfortunately it was in the next yard and it was too troublesome to move it back and forth, so she just put it on the pan to save trouble.
"It smells so good, and the color has changed too." Huaixue hugged Qiuxuan's waist and poked her head into the pot.
It was the first time they had seen this thing and they found it very strange.
It was Qiu Xuan’s first time making it, and she didn’t expect it to be so successful. She took it out and cut it into slices with a knife.
One section is almost a whole plate, and the aroma of meat is so fragrant that you can smell it just by smelling it.
Qiu Xuan had an idea in mind. She turned her head and asked Liu Yueyang, "Sister-in-law, you have eaten at a restaurant before. If a plate like this were sold at a small restaurant in town, how much would it cost?"
"How much?" Liu Yueyang stretched out his hand and gestured, "Sister-in-law, this plate will cost at least twenty copper coins. If my father sees this in a restaurant, he will definitely order a plate to go with the wine."
Snacks to go with wine.
Qiu Xuan repeated it twice, and the smile on her face deepened.
If people attending the wedding like this food, how can it not sell well?
Thinking of this, a new way of making a living gradually emerged in her mind.
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