Chapter Eight Braised Pork
After finishing the bowl of noodles, Teacher Li felt much better, and the frustration from being criticized by her superiors in the meeting was completely gone. After all, there's nothing a good meal can't solve.
She scanned the code to pay, and before leaving, she was still reluctant to leave the shop, so she hurriedly asked, "Boss, will you keep it open forever?"
Teacher Li has already made plans: she'll come here to eat if she gets criticized in a meeting, she'll come here to eat if she gets angry with her students, and she'll come here to eat if she's tired from work.
Food gives you strength!
"If nothing unexpected happens, it will stay open." Yu Miaoyin said, holding Xiao Tangbao's hand.
Hearing this, Teacher Li felt a little relieved and nodded, "Okay, thank you, boss. Your food is really delicious."
"Welcome to come again next time," Yu Miaoyin said.
Little Tangbao imitated Yu Miaoyin and said goodbye to Teacher Li, waving her arm and saying, "Come again next time!"
He Li came out of her shop wearing an apron. At first, she felt sorry for Yu Miaoyin for having to work so hard when she saw her running the shop with a child. But now that Yu Miaoyin was making money, she was happy, though she couldn't explain why.
"Many people like your cooking, and I like it too. I don't know why, but the aroma of your food gives me a lot of energy!" He Li said with a smile.
It's a pity I missed it again!
After exchanging a few words with Yu Miaoyin, He Li took out several strings of longan from the bag and handed them to Xiao Tangbao, saying, "Xiao Tangbao, right? Eat more."
Little Tangbao's voice was sweeter than a longan: "Thank you, sister."
"You're welcome. I need to tidy up the shop and then go back to have dinner with my child. See you tomorrow," He Li said goodbye to the two people.
"Okay, see you tomorrow." Yu Miaoyin also had to go back to tidy up. Fortunately, the shop was already half-finished, and the remaining finishing work was relatively quick to complete.
As we came out of the shop, the moon had already quietly risen, and the sky was a pale blue, gradually deepening in color, serene and gentle. Little Tangbao kept her head tilted back, gazing at the sky.
As I walked towards home, the sounds became a little more lively. It was dinnertime, and the neighbors were all cooking. The clattering of pots and pans created a warm and inviting atmosphere.
Grandma Chen came out of the house, fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan. "Xiaoyin, Xiaotangbao's back?"
Yu Miaoyin nodded. "You're back, Grandma. Have you eaten?"
“Yiling isn’t coming home for dinner, and I don’t know what to do by myself. I’ll cook some noodles later,” Grandma Chen said.
After hearing this, Yu Miaoyin took her hand and said, "Then you're in luck today. I'm making braised pork. Come and eat here."
"How could I possibly accept this?" Grandma Chen quickly refused. "How could I possibly take advantage of you?"
"This is nothing. You've helped me a lot and given me so many things. I'm so grateful to you." Without waiting for a reply, Yu Miaoyin took Grandma Chen's arm and walked towards her home.
Little Tangbao held out the longan to Grandma Chen, saying, "Here, Grandma, you should try some too."
"Thank you, Xiaotangbao." Grandma Chen sat on the sofa with Xiaotangbao watching TV, murmuring, "Both children are so good."
In the kitchen, Yu Miaoyin cut the remaining pork belly into equal pieces, put them in a pot of cold water, added a few slices of ginger, a few sections of scallion, and some cooking wine to remove the fishy smell.
Heat the wok over high heat. Once the oil and sugar have turned an amber color, add the drained pork belly pieces and stir-fry briefly until they are coated with the enticing caramel color. Then add ginger slices, scallion segments, star anise, and cinnamon sticks, stir-frying until fragrant. Add some light soy sauce for flavor and dark soy sauce for color, stir-frying evenly until each piece of meat is a beautiful reddish-brown.
Pour in hot water and simmer for a while.
Yu Miaoyin put the lid on the pot, then immediately sterilized the glass jar with white wine, stuffed the cleaned and drained green beans into the jar, added millet peppers and salt, and poured in water.
Yu Miaoyin screwed the lid on and put the jar aside.
Given enough time, they will become tangy, spicy, and crunchy green beans.
"Dinner's ready!" Yu Miaoyin called to them, opening the pot lid to reveal the sauce bubbling and the pork belly stained a reddish-brown.
"It smells so good!" Little Tangbao's mind was no longer on the TV. She ran to the kitchen to scoop out rice. Three ceramic bowls were piled high with fluffy rice, the surface glistening with a warm sheen, and a faint aroma of rice wafted out.
"One bowl for Grandma, one bowl for my sister, and one bowl for me." She distributed the chopsticks to everyone, then jumped onto a chair and waited for her sister to bring the dishes over.
Yu Miaoyin sat down and used her chopsticks to place a piece of braised pork on each of their plates. "Eat up."
Little Tangbao swallowed hard and couldn't help but lean closer to smell it: "This braised pork smells so good, it makes me hungry."
Grandma Chen agreed. Even at her age, having eaten many delicious foods, she was still impressed by the food made by Yu Miaoyin.
Although Xiao Tangbao had eaten a braised pork belly and green bean noodles at the shop, she had saved a big belly to eat the braised pork her older sister made for her. Now, smelling the aroma, she was even hungrier.
The meat chunks were glistening with broth and smelled wonderful. Little Tangbao first took a small bite; the skin was soft and chewy. Then, as she chewed the marbled part, the aroma of the fat mixed with the soy sauce spread in her mouth. The lean meat wasn't dry, and with the soft, chewy fat, the flavor became richer and more mellow with each chew.
"It's so delicious!" Little Tangbao was so happy eating that she started shaking her head.
—
The first evening self-study session at Yuncheng No.1 Middle School has ended.
As soon as the bell rang, the sound of books being closed filled the air.
"Damn, I'm so tired and hungry. I want to take a vacation and sleep." It's unclear who started this, but it reflects the feelings of most people. They also really want to take a vacation and go home to sleep.
Xiao Du patted his stomach, slowly pulled a tea egg from under his desk, and then dashed out of the classroom.
The hallway after class was even more lively than the classroom, with many people chatting. In high school, everything seemed fun except studying; even chatting with a few friends while sharing a bag of cucumber-flavored potato chips could make you happy.
Xiao Du found a quiet corner, quickly peeled the eggshell, and a strange and pleasant tea aroma wafted out, drifting into everyone's noses on the wind.
"It smells so good, can you smell it?" a voice said.
"It smells so good, could someone have smuggled themselves in here by ordering takeout?" a voice said curiously.
Xiao Du knew everyone was talking about the tea egg, so he turned his head and carefully prepared to put it in his mouth to eat it all by himself.
The next second, a boy rushed up and grabbed his neck. Luckily, Xiao Du reacted quickly and caught the tea egg, preventing it from falling.
A loud, boisterous boy came along. "What are you doing, acting so suspiciously?"
The person who came was Zhou Yi, the one who was known in the group as the most handsome man in the city.
Zhou Yi glanced at Xiao Du, "What good food are you having?"
"Let's eat tea eggs!" Xiao Du quickly stuffed the tea egg into his mouth. It was as delicious as ever, with a rich tea aroma. He really felt that this egg could surpass the status of fried chicken, hamburgers, and big chicken legs in his heart.
"Is it really that bad?" Zhou Yi let go of him, touched his nose. Although the tea egg smelled quite good, it was still just an egg. How delicious could it be?
Then, Zhou Yi said again, "You didn't come to play basketball today because of the food at this restaurant, did you?"
Is there another place that tastes better?
Xiao Du hummed in agreement, "Anyway, I won't be playing next time. I need to go eat first, and we can talk about it after we finish eating."
Xiao Du returned to the classroom, took out a tea egg, and gave it to Zhou Yi, saying, "Try it."
Seeing how serious he was, Zhou Yi didn't refuse. He wanted to say something more, but the class bell rang soon after, shooing him downstairs. As he went down the stairs, he thought, "Let him try it and see what it tastes like. Is it really that delicious?"
There were six tea eggs in total. He ate one, gave one to Zhou Yi, and had four left. When he got home, he ate two, and his parents each had one, which was just right.
Xiao Du was happily calculating in his mind.
A note from the author:
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