Goudan shook his head. He was not that stupid! He held the cake in his left hand and the clay spoon in his right hand, eating the cake and drinking the porridge without any delay.
"I saw many people in the family compound drying bacon and sausages these days. Should we start preparing?" Zeng Wenjuan asked.
"Let's dry them too! People in the family compound will visit each other then, so we should start preparing now. But I can't do much for you." Zhao Jianguo said, looking at his legs.
"It's okay. It's good for the family to be together. Besides, your legs are recovering slowly. You can't be lazy once you're well. I'll take Goudan to exchange for some meat today." Zeng Wenjuan said to Zhao Jianguo.
Zhao Jianguo nodded: "Goudan should stay at home! You will have to look after him and buy things at the same time, which will be so tiring! I will just look after him at home. After dinner, ask Wang Hui next door if she wants to go and exchange meat."
"Okay." Zeng Wenjuan also felt that it was a good deal.
After breakfast, Zeng Wenjuan went out with her special backpack. When she arrived at the door of Wang Hui's house, she shouted, "Is Wang Hui home?"
"Are you looking for my mother? She's washing dishes!" The person who opened the door was a tall, dark and thin young man, who should be Wang Hui's eldest son.
"I came here to ask if your mother went out to exchange meat for making bacon and sausages today?" Zeng Wenjuan asked.
"I'm going too. I was just about to finish washing the dishes and come find you! And then you're here. Please wait for me for a moment! I'll pack and then go out with you." Wang Hui wiped her wet hands on her apron.
After Wang Hui had packed up, the two of them took Wang Hui's eldest son Zhao Huanyu to the trading market.
"During this period, everyone is preparing for the New Year's goods. Basically, every day they bring things that need to be exchanged at home to exchange with everyone for what they need." Wang Hui knew that Zeng Wenjuan had just arrived to join the army and didn't understand many things, so she explained to her.
"That's great too. If someone has extra things at home, they can take them out and exchange them with others. Then everyone can eat different delicacies. I even exchanged some cloth yesterday!" Zeng Wenjuan said with a smile.
Zhao Huanyu followed quietly behind, carrying the things, and the three of them soon arrived at the exchange market.
The exchange market was bustling with people, with all kinds of stalls selling home-grown vegetables, chickens and ducks, hand-woven baskets and clothes, etc. Everyone's face was filled with joy and anticipation.
Zeng Wenjuan and Wang Hui shuttled among the crowd, stopping from time to time to carefully check the goods on the stalls and talk with the stall owners. Zeng Wenjuan felt that everything here was new, and she earnestly asked Wang Hui about the rules and techniques of exchange.
"Sister Wang Hui, what do you think of this piece of meat? It's quite fresh, right?" Zeng Wenjuan asked, pointing to a piece of hanging pork.
Wang Hui looked at it carefully and nodded: "Well, it looks good, the meat is firm and the color is fresh. It is very good for making sausages."
Zeng Wenjuan thought the same thing. She took out a bag of brown sugar from her backpack and said, "Can I trade this brown sugar with you? Or I have some milk powder. Or tell me what you need?"
The stall owner was a simple and honest middle-aged man. He took the brown sugar and said with a smile: "This is good. My daughter just gave birth to a baby and needs some nourishment. I'll exchange it with you for pork."
In this way, Zeng Wenjuan successfully exchanged for the meat she wanted. She and Wang Hui continued to shop and exchanged for more New Year goods. Zhao Huanyu followed them silently and helped carry the things they exchanged.
After a morning of shopping, the three returned to the family compound with a full load.
After Zeng Wenjuan returned home, she boasted about her achievements to Zhao Jianguo: "Today I exchanged 20 kilograms of pork, 5 kilograms of spareribs, and 3 kilograms of wool. It just so happens that I knitted you a sweater before, but I still need the wool to knit you woolen pants. This is just enough to knit you a pair of pants."
"That's amazing! You can exchange so many things in just this morning, it's really remarkable. What are you going to do now? Let me help you!" Zhao Jianguo said.
"Let's make lunch first! Is Goudan hungry?" Zeng Wenjuan said, touching Goudan's little face.
Goudan shook his head: "I'm not hungry. My dad just made me some milk powder. I'm full now."
"Okay, it will take me some time to cook. What do you want to eat today?" Zeng Wenjuan asked again.
"I like to eat anything my mother makes." Goudan said sweetly.
Zeng Wenjuan didn't even pack up her backpack and went straight into the kitchen to make lunch.
Lunch consisted of three dishes and a soup. After Zeng Wenjuan brought the dishes to the table, the family of three sat around and ate together.
"Let me tell you! There weren't so many people on the street yesterday, but today is different. There are a lot more people today. I even exchanged a sewing ticket. Tomorrow I plan to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy a sewing machine, and then spend all the cloth coupons you gave me during this period of time. Today, our whole family will make new clothes."
"Okay, I'll listen to you. I'll arrange two people to help you tomorrow. You know where the money is at home, so just buy whatever you want. This is the first time our family of three will be reunited for the New Year, so it must be grand." Zhao Jianguo never refuted Zeng Wenjuan's words.
Goudan was eating happily beside him and smiled sweetly: "Great! I can also wear new clothes for the New Year this year."
After lunch, Zeng Wenjuan started making bacon and sausages.
She first cleaned the pork carefully, cut it into strips of moderate length, and applied a special marinade. The marinade is a mixture of salt, sugar, five-spice powder, pepper and other seasonings, and it smells delicious. Zeng Wenjuan hung the marinated strips of meat in a well-ventilated place under the eaves to let them dry naturally.
Then, Zeng Wenjuan began to prepare Chinese sausages, chopping the pork into fine meat paste, adding appropriate amounts of salt, sugar, cooking wine, minced ginger and other seasonings, stirring evenly and stuffing them into sausage casings.
The casing is made of pig large intestine. Clean the pig large intestine with wood ash and remove the lard in the pig large intestine. The pig large intestine casing is ready.
After each section is stuffed, it is tied tightly with a string to ensure that the sausages do not fall apart when drying. The stuffed sausages are also hung under the eaves to be baptized by the sun together with the bacon.
Zhao Jianguo sat in a wheelchair. Although his leg injury had not healed, he tried his best to help with what he could, such as tying the stuffed sausages one by one with white cotton thread. Goudan also ran over from time to time, curiously watching the process of his mother making bacon and sausages, and asked a few questions from time to time.
"Mom, can we eat the sausage like this? How do we make this bone?"
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