After a lively dinner, the whole village was plunged into the atmosphere of the busy New Year.
Tang Shiyue also asked Qiao Sangyu, and those who wanted to go home in Yuefang could take a holiday early, but as expected, all the ladies were unwilling to go back.
At home, I have to do this and that, and feel bored. How relaxing and comfortable it is here? I have made money and I can speak with confidence at home!
Tang Shiyue didn't want to take a holiday so early, after all, Yuefang's production was slow, winter was the peak season, and she was planning a special sale before the New Year. So she told them that Yuefang would take a holiday on the 22nd of the twelfth lunar month and resume work on the 16th of the first lunar month.
However, those who come to work between the 24th to the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, and the 6th to the 14th of the first lunar month will be paid an extra 100 coins a day.
In order to stimulate enthusiasm, year-end bonuses were also given. Since Yuefang came to learn a craft, it was not necessary to pay wages, so each person was given two golden peanuts, tied with a red string, like a small ornament, which was worth about twelve or thirteen taels of silver.
The girls at Yuefang were even more enthusiastic.
After all, if she gave these little things, any relatively tolerant family would give them to their daughters as dowries. It really was a well-intentioned move on her part.
After finishing her official business, Tang Shiyue went with Mrs. Ye to prepare the meat that her family had received.
The wild boars that she and Qi Jing got were the two largest ones, each weighing more than 200 kilograms. The butcher had already helped to slaughter them. Tang Shiyue asked someone to buy jars and ingredients to prepare Dongpo pork.
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Dongpo pork is also a super famous dish.
Choose thick and wide pork belly, wash it with warm water, and then tie it up with a thin string.
This is mainly to prevent the pork from losing its shape during the cooking process. For Tang Shiyue, this step is essential because only the cross-shaped pork can be considered authentic Dongpo pork!
Heat oil in a pan until it is about 80% hot, but don't wait until it starts to smoke. At this time, put the meat pieces skin side up into the pan.
Use a spatula to slightly press the meat pieces, and slowly fry over medium-low heat to remove the fat in the meat until it turns golden brown. Then take out the meat pieces and drain the fat.
Then put dried lotus leaves or bamboo strips in the pot, add ginger slices and green onion segments, and then place the tied pork belly one by one.
Take another pot, put a bowl of water and rock sugar in it, but Dayan doesn’t have rock sugar yet, so he can only use icing sugar instead.
Bring to a boil over high heat, and simmer slowly until it becomes slightly thick. Turn to low heat, and stir slowly with a spoon in circles until the syrup becomes thick, changes color, and can be drawn into threads.
Mix the syrup and soy sauce, then pour it carefully on each piece of pork. Add water, the water should reach two-thirds of the pork. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add red dates, lotus seeds, etc., turn to low heat, and simmer for about half an hour, until the meat is cooked through and can be poked with chopsticks.
Turn over, simmer over low heat, collect the sauce, and serve.
Mrs. Ye baked some flatbreads and steamed some millet rice, and everyone had a delicious meal. Then, Tang Shiyue kept a few jars, two for the Sifang Restaurant for tasting, and two for Magistrate Lin.
After getting on the carriage, she was still reading the storybook.
The book she was reading was called "The Story of the Ancient Mirror", which was quite scary. As she was reading it, she suddenly heard a woman's voice letting out a long, shrill cry.
Tang Shiyue was so absorbed in reading that he was startled. He dropped the book and patted his chest to calm himself. Then Chen Jiu hurriedly reined in the horse. There was already a commotion outside. An old man shouted, "This is happening in broad daylight. They are trying to force people to death!"
This is a typical opening line for a riot. The meaning of this sentence, translated, is: "Everyone come quickly! I am going to cause trouble!"
As expected, everyone quickly gathered around and asked questions. The girl was still crying. The old man said angrily, "You have slandered my daughter for no reason, and you are still thinking of denying it! You even want to kill someone! Is there any justice in this world?"
A young man angrily said, "You are framing me! You are framing me! My uncle did nothing! It was that young lady who suddenly ran in and tore his clothes herself!"
"What a joke! What a joke!" the father-in-law cried, "Everyone, please judge for yourself. Not to mention that my daughter is very timid, she is also very well-behaved and would never do such a thing... Just look at it, my daughter's collar is torn and her clothes are dirty. How could she have done this herself?"
The boy was so angry: "You...you must have done this on purpose! Who is my uncle? How could he like her?!"
The old man said, "My dear, you have a beautiful wife and concubines at home, why do you treat my Yu'er like this? You have no conscience!"
Another voice said, "When you're out, you don't take care of your thing!"
Several people burst into laughter. Even the aunt who was supporting the little girl couldn't help herself and shouted, "What else can you deny? Look at the wounds on this little girl's face and neck. Did she bite them herself?"
After he said that, everyone went to look. The young lady was crying and covering her face in panic, revealing several obvious kiss marks on her neck.
Everyone exclaimed at once, and saw that the two men's eyes looked strange.
The old man cried, "Yesterday these two people came to stay for the night. I didn't think they were bad people, so I took them in for one night. I didn't expect that they would harm my daughter..."
Tang Shiyue was just listening for fun, but the more she listened, the more she felt something was wrong. She couldn't help but open the car door and go out to take a look.
A large circle had been formed over there. There were two figures, one tall and one short, standing with their backs to her. In front of her stood an old man who looked very old and was leaning on a crutch. Behind them stood two sisters-in-law who were supporting a thin girl whose clothes were in disarray.
At this time, the shorter boy was obviously very angry, but his polite way of arguing was no match for them.
Tang Shiyue listened quietly for a while, and then, from her vantage point, she carefully observed the few people in the crowd who interrupted from time to time... In the end, she was sure that these people were in the same group.
These people should be Nian Yang. The two men were dressed simply but of good quality. It seemed that they were targeted by someone at some point and a trap was set up to extort some money from them.
She was just hesitating whether to get involved in this trivial matter when she heard someone say "ah". Tang Shiyue turned around and saw it was Han Yi, so she smiled and said, "Come, I'll show you a way to make a fortune." She squatted down and whispered a few words in his ear.
Han Yi smiled, nodded and went to make arrangements.
At this moment, most of the conversation had been completed. As soon as the two opened their mouths, they were scolded by everyone. The young man was so angry that he was shaking.
At this moment, someone suddenly shouted, "Here! Here! Catch them!"
The sound is like a loud bell.
When everyone turned around, they saw a dozen men rushing towards them with sticks and swords. Everyone shouted and fled in panic. Even the old man in the middle was shocked and quickly straightened his crutch.
Then one of them rushed over, pointed at the father-in-law's nose and cursed loudly: "God has eyes! So you came here! You cheated me of hundreds of taels of silver by setting up a trap, and beat me to death. Now you actually come to my territory! I will not stop until I kill you today!"
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