Chapter 25
The amount of stuff they carried on the return trip was no less than that on the way there, but the three of them didn't feel tired at all.
Because every day you can add a little bit of belongings and food, and because you can eat meat right away.
When she got home at about noon, Sang Luo boiled water to wash the newly bought earthenware jar to store lard, then prepared a bowl of clean water and began to boil lard.
The two children who had arranged work for themselves whenever they had time these days did not turn the soil today, but instead watched eagerly by the stove. When Chen Ning first ate the fairy tofu and said it was better than meat, he could no longer remember what meat tasted like.
When the water in the earthenware pot dried up, the pork began to sizzle and its overbearing aroma filled the small room. The two children breathed in the rich meaty aroma in the air and could not move their feet.
“Aren’t you afraid of the oil splashing?” Sang Luo found it funny. She pushed the two children away and carefully controlled the fire in the stove.
Shen An and Shen Ning moved closer again, and waited for two or three quarters of an hour before finally seeing the crispy lard residue coming out of the pot.
The two children could not wait to gather around, their eyes pulled away from the oil residue with difficulty, looking at Sang Luo expectantly: "Sister-in-law, can we eat now?"
Sang Luo wanted to say that she was too angry, but when she saw the two children looking greedy and expectant, she couldn't say it.
"Eat it, but only two pieces first. The greasy residue right out of the pot is too spicy. The most important thing is that we haven't had oily food for a long time. If we eat too much oil now, we will get an upset stomach."
The two children nodded repeatedly, not even bothering to pick up the chopsticks, they just reached out and picked up a piece each.
Sang Luo glared and was about to pat those two pairs of hands, but the lard residue in Shen Ning's hand had already been brought to Sang Luo's mouth with a smile: "Sister-in-law, you eat first."
Chen An, who was a step late, paused his movements and did not put the food into his mouth. He also looked at Sang Luo.
Sang Luo: “…”
The raised hand was silently put down, and he took a bite of the oil residue, which was full of crispness in his mouth.
Well, although this thing may make you get irritated when eaten hot, I have to say it smells best when it’s fresh out of the pan.
She smiled and said, "It smells delicious. Thank you, Aning. Eat it all. Just be careful not to burn your mouth."
The brother and sister then began to chew the food with a crunching sound, their eyes curved, looking so beautiful.
If you enjoy the first piece, you will cherish the second one.
Seeing the two kids like this, Sang Luo pinched a little salt from the salt jar, sprinkled it evenly in the bowl, mixed it with chopsticks, and said, "Okay, after using the salt, it can be stored for a few days if the weather is good. Don't cook it, save it for you to eat slowly."
The brother and sister were stunned. They looked at the small shallow bowl of lard residue and could not believe it.
In the eyes of Shen An and Shen Ning, lard residue is a luxury item that they can only afford a few pieces a year.
In the past, when the family was making lard, the aroma was so strong that it was hard to avoid, so Aunt San would give each of the children in the family a piece to taste.
Of course, this one-on-one group is actually only targeting them, the brothers and sisters. The brothers Shen Jin and Shen Yin can turn around and ask their mother for more, but Shen An and Shen Ning cannot.
For several days in a row, several cousins were able to eat a few pieces from time to time. Shen Yin and the others should have been told by their third aunt to eat them away from him and Aning, but Shen Jin did not. He insisted on stuffing the pieces into his mouth in front of him and Aning, and chewing them until they were all gone.
When Shen An and Shen Ning were three or five years old, they would cry loudly because of greed. Later, when their eldest brother left home, no one cared about their crying. When Third Aunt was refining lard, she even forgot to ask Shen Jin and Shen Yin to stay away from them.
Chen An and Shen Ning gradually became sensible and realized that crying was useless, that there were some things they could not eat just because they wanted to, and that they were different from Shen Jin, Shen Yin, Chen Tie, and Shen Tian. When it came to some things that Third Aunt considered precious and was unwilling to give them, Chen An would take Shen Ning away and not go near them.
Until now, today, before they took those two grains of lard, the brother and sister actually couldn't remember clearly what this thing tasted like. Only the rarity of this thing and their desire for it were deeply engraved in their minds.
"All these are for us to eat as snacks?"
He stared at Sang Luo in a daze.
Sang Luo smiled and nodded, and added as a matter of course: "Of course, there's me too."
Sang Luo has never been a very giving person. She doesn't think that adults should not eat anything and give everything to the children. Not to mention that these two children became her family just by chance. Even if they were her own children, Sang Luo believed that it would be the same for herself.
Shen Ning and Shen An burst into laughter. Shen Ning picked up another piece of lard residue and put it to Sang Luo's mouth: "Sister-in-law, have another piece."
Well-behaved and pleasing.
Sang Luo took it in one gulp without hesitation, and then taught the little girl: "Don't take it with your hands next time."
Shen Ning looked at Sang Luo, then at her own hands, and puffed her cheeks: "Sister-in-law, I will wash my hands when I get home."
"Yes, but if you don't develop good habits, you will accidentally eat it without washing your hands next time, and diseases will enter your body through your mouth."
Shen Ning listened and thought it made sense, so he nodded: “Okay, I’ll remember it.”
What my sister-in-law said is right.
Sang Luo smiled as she added salt to the hot oil and stirred it so that the lard could be stored longer, while Shen An and Shen Ning began to think about where to hide their lard residue.
This thing smells so good that it not only attracts people, but also insects and rats.
Sang Luo let them do what they wanted and used a large wooden spoon to scoop the hot lard into the prepared earthenware jar. When the jar used for cooking was no longer so hot, she picked it up and poured out as much of the remaining oil as possible.
Of course, this is not clean, and there will be some oil left in the jar, but it doesn't matter. When you make sunflower vegetable and pork liver soup for lunch later, all the oil will go into your stomach.
Originally, this residual oil would be best used to cook eggplants, but there was only one clay pot at home and the oil could not be removed, so we could only cook the eggplants first and then make rice. To cook rice, we had to add cold water to the clay pot and boil it, and this was not enough.
A clay pot is not like an iron pot. It will crack after alternating between hot and cold.
If the jars were to cool down slowly, the rice would be edible and the dishes would become cold dishes. Cold dishes made with lard... Sang Luo thought about it and decided to just forget about it and wait until the next meal.
She stood up and said, "Let's go and find some basil, mint and wild onion."
Shen Ning hurriedly got up and followed, but Shen An did not leave: “Sister-in-law, I’ll watch these things at home.”
They now have some possessions, especially food, which they have especially abundant today. There isn't even a cabinet at home to lock things, and the two kids agree that these things are not safe if no one is at home.
Of course, this so-called watching is not to guard against people, but mountain rats and small animals. After all, they live in the mountains, and the fragrance is strong, so it is possible that some small creatures will be attracted.
Sang Luo nodded, picked up a stone hoe and carried a backpack.
The fish basket still needs to be put down, as their current food storage is limited. However, if they go to the county town early tomorrow morning, the fish basket will have to be put away in the evening. As for the other backpack, it will have to be kept for picking fairy leaves in the afternoon.
When Shen Ning saw her taking these, she was a little confused: “Sister-in-law, do you still need a stone hoe?”
Sang Luo: "If you find any, dig them up with the roots and plant them behind the house. Next time you need them, just pick a handful."
When he heard that they were going to dig things up and plant them, Shen Ning suddenly became energetic and took a stone hoe himself: "That's good, I'll dig some back too."
Chen An was also a little eager to try, but when he saw the oil, lard residue and remaining raw meat on the stone platform, he suppressed the thought and stayed there quietly.
For several days in a row, Sangluo and her two little ones had been fishing in the nearby mountain stream. Today, she took Chen Ning a little further away. After the fish baskets were set, they also found four plants of basil and mint that they were looking for. They dug them up with the roots and soil, and then found a few large leaves, wrapped the roots and soil and brought them back.
Chen An, who was waiting at home, heard the noise and came out to greet them. The brother and sister happily went to plant mint and basil together.
After planting and watering, Shen Ning's excitement faded, and he asked uncertainly, "Sister-in-law, this mint and basil grows in the wild, so we should be able to grow it, right?"
The truth is that the last time they planted vegetables, they failed miserably and got nothing at all, which was a huge blow to the two children.
Sang Luo thought about the land behind her house and realized that the soil was not very good.
Especially this area, which was flattened when the thatched houses were built. There is not even a tree in front of or behind the houses, so naturally there are no fallen leaves or the like to feed back to the mountains. The soil quality is not even as good as those areas with dense trees and uncultivated land.
"If you want to grow it well, you can go find some leaf mold from the trees nearby and use it. It should help it grow better."
In fact, the mulberry trees behind the house were going to get some leaf humus from the mountains to use as planting soil. The vegetables they would eat later would have to be grown by themselves, and composting would take time, so moving the leaf humus from the surface of the trees from the mountains was the most convenient. Of course, this would have to wait until she earned enough money to buy two bamboo dustpans for carrying soil.
But Shen An and Shen Ning couldn't wait, so the brother and sister got several large leaves and started collecting them from nearby.
When the sun was almost at its zenith, Sang Luo prepared lunch.
Half a clay pot of sunflower and pork liver soup.
Apart from fish, this was the first time the brother and sister had eaten meat in half a year.
There was no rice, only half a jar of soup with a lot of pork liver. The little brother and sister were so happy as if it was New Year's Day. A bowl was filled with pork lard. There were only two bowls that could be used at home, so Sang Luo used a bamboo tube as a bowl.
To Sang Luo, this pig liver was not delicious. It did not have starch, and she was reluctant to crack an egg and use the egg white to grab it, so it was not as tender and smooth as in her previous life. However, Shen An and Shen Ning kept saying that it was delicious. Sang Luo did not eat much of the half pot of soup. After the little brother and sister were sure that the eldest sister-in-law had enough, they divided the meat and soup.
After taking a nap for half an hour at noon, Sang Luo was about to go to Chen's house.
When they heard about going to Chen's house, Shen An and Shen Ning were very excited. Shen Ning's first reaction was to look at the bowl with the lard residue.
"Sister-in-law, can I get some oil residue for the little girl? She treated my brother and me to some before."
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