"Mom, open the door."
Hearing the knock on the door, Yu Shan dropped what she was doing and came out. "Auntie, wait a moment, I'll be right there."
Upon entering, one is greeted by a steaming kitchen. The living room table is laden with ducks. Yu Shan, Yu's mother, Yu's second sister-in-law, and Yu's third sister-in-law are gathered around the table, sifting out the duck down. The triplets and twins are nearby, picking sunflower seeds.
After saying hello and putting the oil in the locker, I went to help, not by plucking the down.
"Mom, where did you put the things in the living room?"
"In my bedroom."
"Sister-in-law, your third sister-in-law and I are thinking of buying some more chickens, ducks, geese, and the like. Do you think that's okay? Don't worry, you won't be shortchanged." As soon as Yu's second sister-in-law saw Liu Yun return, she quickly said, "Let's play a little longer before we finish killing them all."
"It's alright, just take what you want. I won't overcharge you. The prices I get are: chicken is two yuan a pound, duck is one yuan eighty cents, goose is two yuan, rabbit is one yuan fifty cents, chicken eggs are two mao, duck eggs are three mao, goose eggs are six mao, and fish are six mao. Just take as much as you want. Those quails are for Dangdang and An'an. If you want to eat them, just take a few each."
Upon hearing this, the two realized that the price was indeed not arbitrary, but rather the usual black market price. They reasoned that the price had already increased due to the year-end, and that they had gotten a good deal.
After peeling the down, the two went to choose their sunflower seeds, while Liu Yun and the five little ones also finished peeling them.
The two sisters-in-law each chose three rabbits, one duck, two grass carp, and some small crucian carp. Liu Yun also caught four quails for each of them.
It's already past four or five o'clock. While Yu's mother and the others are busy, Liu Yun is preparing dinner. With so many people, it's important to start early.
We have plenty of ingredients tonight, so it's easy to cook, but feeding twelve adults and five children is no small task.
We slaughtered so many ducks today, there's plenty of duck blood, but Liu Yun doesn't like to eat it, so we'll cook it all tonight. We'll make duck blood and duck intestine soup, and the rest will be given to Sister-in-law Yu and the others to take back.
We chose a grass carp weighing seven or eight pounds to make a pot of sauerkraut fish. It was sour, spicy, and appetizing. We also made sour and spicy rabbit offal, which was like killing a hen and then making a mushroom chicken dish. For the children, we even specially stewed a big pot of quail in a clay pot on the coal stove in the living room. The aroma made the twins peeling chestnuts in the living room drool. The triplets are a bit older now, so it's much better. At least when they drool, it's not so obvious.
The main dish was sweet potato rice. When steaming the rice, I put two bowls of cured meat on top. The steamed cured meat was very fragrant. It's a pity we didn't have a pressure cooker. It would be even more fragrant if we used one. I'll see if Yu Qian can get some next time he goes on a business trip.
Pickled fish, spicy and sour rabbit offal, braised chicken with mushrooms, quail soup, cured meat, and stir-fried cabbage—six dishes are enough. Because there are many people, we prepared two tables, but the portions were still quite generous.
Yu Qianhe didn't return until 6 o'clock, but dinner wasn't ready until 5:30, so it didn't take long.
It got dark after we finished eating; there's nothing we can do about it, it gets dark early in winter.
"Take the sunflower seeds and stuff yourselves. There are also longan, red dates, dried fruit, and peanuts over there. There aren't many, just six pounds. Take whatever else you want. They also have dried vegetables and mushrooms over there, and you can take chestnuts too."
There's not enough room for all two families here, so they'll have to go back. But even if they could stay, they'd still have to go back, since there are so many people during the day, and it wouldn't be easy to explain all that stuff.
The two picked out quite a lot more, and the sacks that filled the room were less than half empty. They even left her only a tiny bit of scallions, ginger, and garlic. They took all the eggs, since Liu Yun said they could still buy them. They then went home with bags and bags of things. Because they had so much stuff, Liu Yun, Yu Qian, and Liu's father's bicycles were all taken. Luckily, they had plenty of flashlights at home, and they left one for them.
Today, the fish, ducks, rabbits, and geese were all processed. Those that weren't finished were taken away. There are still more than ten chickens left, but they're not as troublesome as the ducks and geese. My parents should be fine with them tomorrow. It's true that you need many people to get things done; many hands make light work. If it were just the four of them, I don't know how long it would have taken.
Because her bicycle was taken, Liu Yun had to take the bus to work today. This didn't bother her much, since she only needed to deliver goods to Liu Jing again on the 28th and everything would be fine for the year. Yu Zhang was getting married on the 28th, which meant she was supposed to take the day off anyway.
On the 28th, Liu Yun and Yu Qianhe both took leave and went to Yu Qianwen's house early to help. Actually, there wasn't much to do; the main thing was to make a good impression, since having many people at home at this time was considered a sign of family prosperity.
It was clear that Second Sister-in-law Yu was very satisfied with her daughter-in-law; her smile never stopped throughout the entire visit. The house here was small, and Yu Zhang wasn't eligible for a separate room, but since he was their only son, Yu Qianwen and his wife paid for a small courtyard for him. They bought it after being inspired by Yu Qianwen and his family.
It was only a little past three o'clock after the banquet, and she didn't have much to do. Although she had to accompany her relatives, it was Yu Qian and his group's job, so Liu Yun made an excuse to leave first. She still had to prepare things for Liu Jing.
Ever since their last conversation, Liu Jing had been on a money-making spree, but seeing how energetic she was, she didn't say much. Her business was much bigger than before, and she even secretly shared her tips with Liu Yun on how to hide her secret stash of money more safely. Liu Yun was speechless; it seemed like she was the one who had hidden it first!
The year before the Lunar New Year is the best time to sell goods. Even the most frugal families will buy some meat to improve their diet during the New Year. After all, if you can't even eat well during the New Year, what hope can you have for the following year?
Liu Jing asked for quite a lot this time. She wanted 120 rabbits, 100 roosters (it's a local custom to kill chickens for the New Year, and they have to be roosters), 40 hens, 100 fish, and 500 eggs.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
