Chapter 81 Little New Year (Part 3)
"Master Xue is becoming more and more polite. Just come if you want to. Why bring anything? Look, they didn't bring anything."
Hearing the familiar polite words, Xue Yongan smiled.
"It's just some candies and rice cakes. They're not worth much. I just want to celebrate the occasion."
Of course, he wouldn't be stupid enough to take Diao's words seriously.
The two old men who were pointed at looked at each other, bent down, and were about to run away to the kitchen.
"Mr. Xue is here, dinner is ready. I'll help serve the dishes!"
"Let's go together! Let's go together!"
"Hey, how come your hands are faster than mine? Don't you mind the heat?"
"Hiss, this glutinous rice cake... smells so good!"
Diao glared at them angrily, knowing that it was useless to say anything.
This newcomer, Old Wang, really doesn’t consider himself an outsider!
While eating and drinking for free at Doctor Chang's house, he also did not forget to add oil and water from his home from time to time.
If it weren't for his diligence and the way he always thought of ways to help his fellow villagers, Diao would have kicked him out long ago!
"Did you two wash your hands?"
Seeing the two men coming to the stove under the pretense of serving dishes and eating with gusto, Diao finally couldn't help it.
Kicked each one out.
The old man was still holding half a cake in his hand, and he opened his mouth wide to receive it, for fear that the stuffing would leak out.
“Is it really that delicious?”
Diao muttered to herself and picked up one as well.
The white dough is steamed until it is soft and slightly sticky when eaten. The pickled mustard greens and dried tofu are served with diced pork belly. It is oily but not greasy, and has a moderate salty taste with a hint of spiciness that stimulates the taste buds.
It's so delicious that once you take a bite, you can't help but take a second bite until you swallow the whole thing.
“This thing…”
Diao licked the corner of her lips, looked at Xue Yongan and praised.
"It's surprisingly delicious. At first I thought it was northern food, and I was worried that everyone wouldn't be used to it, but I didn't expect it to suit our southern tastes. Do people in the capital like it too?"
Xue Yongan glanced at Chen Chunxing.
The little girl immediately went to the kitchen and said, "Serve the dishes, serve the dishes. It's not nice to eat standing in the yard. The pork elbow should be stewed until it's melted."
Wang Youcai rushed over.
"Let me do it!"
Braised pork elbow!
God knows how long it has been since he last ate!
Life as a ghost is not easy!
"Actually, I also heard about this dish from someone else." Xue Yongan answered irrelevantly, speaking fluent Southern Anhui dialect, reciting a few sentences as if reading a book, and then switching back to Mandarin, "I haven't tasted this flavor for a long time, and I miss it very much."
Diao nodded woodenly and didn't ask any further questions. "Then eat a few more later."
But when Chen Chunxing passed by her, he vaguely heard a murmur.
"What are you talking about..."
The little girl tried hard to suppress her laughter.
In fact, Xue Yongan just said some meaningless nonsense.
For example: What are you doing today? Eating, doing something weird...
Well, she taught him these word by word, and he didn’t know the Southern Anhui dialect at all.
It’s a relief that I can pronounce it so fluently.
Before you start eating.
Diao found a stack of papers from the things Xue Yongan brought and opened it in confusion.
It turned out to be a picture of the Kitchen God.
She suddenly became energetic!
There has always been a custom among the people to worship the Kitchen God on the eve of the Chinese New Year in order to pray for "enough food and clothing" in the coming year.
Usually the old Kitchen God statue is taken down and replaced with a new one.
But the Shen family had only been here for a short time, and there was no old portrait at all. In addition, due to the wind and snow for several days, they had forgotten about it.
"Master Xue is thoughtful."
The Kitchen God statue and stove sugar, like two hot stones, smoothed out some of the dissatisfaction in Diao's heart.
Hearing the unusual tone in the old woman's voice, Xue Yongan's eyes gleamed, and he quickly said with a smile, "Since it's the Little New Year, we naturally have to follow tradition. The old lady blames me for being polite, but aren't you even more polite? Just call me Xiao Xue from now on."
Diao was silent for a while before she entered the house carrying the steamer.
"You guys eat first. I'll go make some rice cakes. We're from Lin'an, how can we celebrate Little New Year without rice cakes?...Xiao Xue, do you like it fried with bacon, or boiled with sugar?"
"He likes fried food!" Chen Chunxing rushed to squeeze in front of Diao, "Grandma, why don't you ask me? You already have Xiao Xue, not Xiao Chun..."
He was slapped away by Diao.
"This kid! How could I not know what you like to eat?"
After saying this, he left the room as if embarrassed.
"Actually, I like both of them..." Wang Youcai smacked his lips.
Doctor Chang looked at him sideways, not wanting to hurt the newcomer's self-esteem so early in the evening.
But there was a brat squatting next to him who was about to explode with anger.
"It's good enough to have something to eat, but you still want to order dishes? Do you want me to find you a mirror so you can see what you look like? You have a messed up mind, thinking about things you shouldn't be thinking about all day. What kind of future can such a person have? You deserve to be single for the rest of your life!"
Anyone could see the problem with Shen Mingqiu's weird look.
Wang Youcai was not angry. He picked up a piece of boiled mutton with his hand, put it in his mouth, chewed it twice, swallowed it, and then turned around and asked Doctor Chang in a low voice.
"Is he talking about me?"
Doctor Chang... was too lazy to answer, and followed Wang Youcai's example by picking up a piece of mutton and putting it in his mouth.
The meat is firm and elastic, and only when you chew it to the end can you taste the faint smell of mutton, which shows that it has been processed very well.
"It's a pity that the taste is a little bland."
Chen Chunxing rolled his eyes and put down the dipping sauce dish. "It's bland, isn't it? You need to dip it in something else."
Chen Yandong, who was drooling at the table, stood up immediately.
"Listen to big sister and eat delicious food!"
Seeing that the two old men didn't move, he ran over and pulled them.
"Stand! Stand!"
Everyone in the room was so happy.
Chen Chunxing patted Xiao Laosi's butt and asked Zhixia to keep an eye on him.
You will be fined for using puns!
After offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God and replacing the new statue, everyone sat down in a circle, looked at each other, and finally looked at Diao.
"Would you like to say a few words?"
Diao felt uncomfortable. She glanced at Xue Yongan and saw that he looked calm... which made her even more uncomfortable.
Although they were polite in words, how could they really not take the county magistrate seriously?
But these idiots in front of her didn't understand her feelings.
Diao Si had nothing to say. He picked up some green vegetables and put them in his bowl. "Stop being so polite. Eat your vegetables!"
Everyone picked up their chopsticks in response.
No one is polite.
Today's dishes may seem rich at first glance, but in fact, they don't take much thought.
When I first came to the north, many places were different from the south, and there were few supplies at the border.
Therefore, Diao only made one major meat dish, braised pork elbow, and a few home-cooked stir-fries, which were all delicious and fragrant.
Plus, I saw glutinous rice cakes and fried rice cakes for the first time.
Everyone was very satisfied with the meal.
Even the angry Shen Mingqiu didn't care to be angry with Xue Yongan.
He is not stupid!
The two old men were so excited that they danced with their chopsticks. They felt like they were missing out if they didn’t eat a bite of their own food!
They were talking and laughing.
There was a knock on the door.
"Who is this? He comes at dinner time..."
Shen Mingqiu was pushed out to open the door, grumbling in dissatisfaction, only to find an old woman standing outside.
The man had a sallow complexion, dark circles under his eyes, and blue-gray lips full of cracks.
He looked like he was about to die.
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