是夜，林彦窝在赵时云怀里，夫夫俩商量着铺子开业的时间。
"Let's open the business on the first market day after Qingming Festival. Prepare everything we need in the next few days. When we set up the stall tomorrow, tell our customers and the uncles and aunts on West Street about it."
Of course, Zhao Shiyun agreed to whatever his husband said. He held Lin Yan's mischievous hand and said in a hoarse voice, "Okay."
Lin Yan was exhausted today and fell asleep quickly. Zhao Shiyun got up in the dark and took a quick cold shower to calm himself down. He dried himself, put on his clothes, and calmed down before going into the house. Afraid that Lin Yan would be cold, he lay aside for a while, and only turned over and hugged his husband to sleep after he warmed up.
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"Brother Yu, are you ready? It's time to go." Lin Yan placed the last plate of tofu and urged.
"Here we come!" Yu Ge'er ran out of the house quickly, climbed onto the donkey cart, and the three of them drove towards Zhou Chunlan's house together, picked her up, and then went to the town together.
Today, they brought five plates of tofu. Lin Yan stayed at the stall to sell them, while Zhao Shiyun and Yu Ge'er went to the blacksmith shop to bring back the iron pot and put it away.
As Qingming Festival approaches, the streets are full of people selling incense, candles, gold ingots, glutinous rice, and dyeing plants. Lin Yan also puts the leaves he has sorted on Amo's stall. When the women and husbands who come to buy vegetables and tofu see that they are for sale, they will take one or two handfuls if they need them.
"Aren't there any Buddleja buds?" a man asked as he looked through a few bunches of yellow gardenias.
"No, I picked the yellow gardenia but not the safflower." Lin Yan replied with a smile.
"Okay, I want one too." Although he prefers to use Buddleja buddhist, all other colors are available here, and he is too lazy to look for it elsewhere.
Lin Yan collected the copper coins and put them in the cash box and put them in the basket for him.
The dyed plants were sold out in just half an afternoon. Many people asked Lin Yan if he would make and sell glutinous rice. Lin Yan took the opportunity to promote his shop: "No, I'm too busy this year, so I rented a new shop on South Street. I will make it next year and sell it here."
"Yeah, congratulations then. What are you selling? When will it open? I'll be there to show my support."
"We sell food. We have breakfast and lunch. We have soy milk, tofu, tofu, noodles. There's always something you'll like. We'll open on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year. Come and try it then."
"Oh, I'll definitely come."
The woman was a regular customer. She responded, took the tofu she had bought and left.
The tofu was sold out by 5 p.m., so Lin Yan packed up his stall and walked back to the shop.
Zhao Shiyun and Yu Ge'er had almost finished tidying up the shop. They'd bought everything they needed, from large iron pots to small bowls and chopsticks, and everything was in perfect order. The tables were polished to a shine. When Lin Yan entered the shop, Yu Ge'er was still polishing them, and he didn't know how many times he'd done it. Lin Yan felt that everything was perfect, and he couldn't keep up.
"Brother, everything is almost ready. Can you see if there's anything missing?" Yu Ge'er asked for credit. He had been busy for a long time and only had two buns for lunch, so he was already hungry.
"No, it's very good, Brother Yu is awesome." Lin Yan praised.
Yu Ge'er was very proud and laughed.
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I'm going to cook lamb ribs today. Yu Ge'er didn't have time to pick radishes this morning, so as soon as he came back he took a basket and ran to the vegetable garden.
Lin Yan had cleaned and soaked the remaining lamb ribs before going out in the morning. Now it would be enough to change the water and soak them for another quarter of an hour.
The black sugarcane was finished, but there was still more than one piece of green sugarcane left. Green sugarcane is hard to chew, so Lin Yan and Yu Ge'er don't like it. Zhao Shiyun has good teeth, so let's leave it for him.
Lin Yan asked Zhao Shiyun to cut a piece of the remaining half of the green sugarcane to cook mutton for him. Although he was cooking radish today, adding a little sugarcane would make the mutton soup more fresh and sweet.
As they were talking, Yu Ge'er came back from picking radishes. He squatted in the yard to fetch water to wash them. Lin Yan asked him to wash, peel and cut them into small pieces while he went to blanch the lamb ribs.
My father and mother stayed at my grandmother's house last night and should be back today. Lin Yan prepared to steam some extra rice so that he could use it for fried rice if they didn't come back.
After blanching the lamb ribs, take them out and rinse them with hot water. Pour a little oil into the pot. When the oil is hot, add the lamb ribs and stir-fry until the surface is slightly yellow. Add star anise, bay leaves, and peppercorns and stir-fry until fragrant. Then add white wine and soy sauce and stir-fry evenly.
Add enough hot water to cover the lamb ribs, bring to a boil over high heat, remove a few sticks of firewood, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for about half an hour. Make sure to add enough water, and do not add water during the process, otherwise it will affect the taste of the soup and the lamb will not be easily tender.
It was Brother Hu who taught him how to cook with spices. He hadn't known anything about it before, but the next day, Brother Hu came to the tofu stall to eat some tofu and taught him a lot of cooking methods from the Western Regions. After listening to him, he closed the stall and went to the pharmacy to get some spices. The pharmacist's apprentice kept asking him what illness he had that required these herbs. He gave in and explained that he was using them to make food.
While the mutton was cooking, Lin Yan went to the yard to rest. Zhao Shiyun was chewing on green sugarcane in the yard with his teeth bared. Lin Yan was very happy to see him.
"Don't eat it if it's hard, be careful not to prick your mouth." Lin Yan reminded.
Zhao Shiyun took two more bites of the sugarcane before putting it down. "There's still one left."
Lin Yan wanted to use it to make brown sugar, but he only had one and it was difficult to make. Buying more would be expensive and it would be troublesome to make sugar.
"How about squeezing it into juice and drinking it?" Lin Yan suggested.
Zhao Shiyun glared at him and said, "Why didn't you tell me earlier? My mouth hurts."
Lin Yan chuckled, "Then you do it now. When I cook the mutton, you can eat the meat and drink sugarcane juice at the same time. It's a wonderful thought." Zhao Shiyun agreed.
The lamb ribs were almost done stewing. Lin Yan picked out the spices, added white radish cubes, and continued stewing for about quarter of an hour until the radish was soft.
Finally, add appropriate amount of salt to season and sprinkle with chopped green onions.
"The lamb ribs are here~" Lin Yan brought the lamb ribs to the table. Yu Ge'er rushed to sit down, kicking his feet and eager to try.
It's time for dinner, but my father and mother haven't come back yet. I guess they will still stay at my grandmother's house tonight.
Zhao Shiyun served a bowl of mutton soup to Lin Yan and Yu Ge'er, and then served himself. He blew on it for a while and slowly took a sip.
Lin Yan looked at Zhao Shiyun expectantly, "How does it taste?" Zhao Shiyun showed a satisfied expression, "It's very delicious. The sugarcane is a great addition." Yu Ge'er also hurriedly took a big sip after hearing this. He stuck out his tongue even though it was so hot, but he couldn't stop praising it. Lin Yan quickly took the sugarcane juice beside him and gave it to Yu Ge'er. He drank it and it tasted sweet, "Brother, when did you make this? It's delicious."
"Your eldest brother did it when you were lazy." Zhao Shiyun teased Yu Ge'er. Yu Ge'er was unhappy, "Who was lazy? I was obviously feeding the chickens in the backyard."
Halfway through their meal, the sky suddenly darkened, and it looked like rain was coming. Zhao Shiyun quickly got up to collect the laundry hanging out to dry in the yard. Lin Yan and Yu Ge'er also hurried to eat, and afterward, they washed the dishes together. A light drizzle fell outside, but inside the house, a warm and peaceful atmosphere filled the air. The three of them sat around the table, planning their plans for tomorrow and enjoying this ordinary yet blissful moment.
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