Chapter 10 Chapter 10 Eating Meat
Perhaps because he had made some money, Miao Ying's heart knot eased a little, and his fever subsided in the afternoon. He worked up a sweat, changed his clothes, and walked out of the room. He saw Huo Xiaobao playing in the yard with a shuttlecock on his waist. It was the one Miao Ying had made for him earlier, but his grandmother had reinforced it again.
Seeing Miao Ying, Huo Xiaobao ran up and hugged his legs: "Sister-in-law."
Miao Ying shuddered and squatted down to look at him: "Call me brother."
Huo Xiaobao was also a sweet-talker and immediately changed his tone: "Brother, eat." He took out a piece of cake from his purse and stuffed it into Miao Ying's mouth. It was a piece of osmanthus cake.
Miao Ying hadn't eaten anything sweet since he traveled through time. When he took a bite, he found that sugar had never tasted so good. At that moment, Miao Ying almost cried.
Seeing Miao Ying didn't say anything, Huo Xiaobao fed him another mouthful, but Miao Ying quickly pushed it away: "Xiaobao, eat it yourself."
Huo Xiaobao sat down and ate his cake in small bites. Miao Ying also sat down next to him: "Xiaobao, why don't you go out and play?"
"They don't play with me," Huo Xiaobao said. "Dad is always drinking and making trouble in the village. They don't like me."
Miao Ying's face darkened. He hated people who drank and acted crazy the most. It was one thing to do when they were drunk at home, but he brought shame upon himself outside. It was even because of him that the whole village isolated his child. It was really too much.
He reached out and hugged Huo Xiaobao: "It's okay. I'll send you to school later. There will be more friends there."
Although Huo Xiaobao was only four years old, he knew that studying was not an easy task and would cost a lot of money. Since his family was broke, Huo Xiaobao said, "I won't study anymore. I'll go hunting with my brother."
Miao Ying rubbed his head and said, "How can you hunt with your little arms and legs? Go study."
Huo Xiaobao then looked at Miao Ying and pursed his lips: "It costs a lot of money. You've worked hard, big brother."
Miao Yingxin said that the child was quite considerate of the adults, so he patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, Xiaobao, I will make a lot of money so that you can go to school."
Huo Xiaobao looked at him with shining eyes, then nodded heavily: "Then I will study hard and get the top score in the exam!"
Miao Ying clapped his hands at him: "Good boy! You have great ambitions."
After they finished talking, Li Hongying came back from outside. Seeing them sitting together, Miao Ying's face looked okay, so she breathed a sigh of relief: "Will you cook dinner or should I?"
Li Hongying also knew that her cooking skills were not very good, so she would ask him when cooking.
Miao Ying thought of the meat they had bought and swallowed his saliva: "Let me cook it? Is the lard refined yet?"
"not yet."
Miao Ying followed Li Hongying into the kitchen. Li Hongying started to light the fire. Miao Ying washed his hands and started to cut pork fat.
The piece of lard he bought today is very good. The temperature is low and the lard is a little hardened, so it is easy to cut. He cut the oil into cubes, put the lard into the pot with cold water after the fire is lit, and put some ginger in it. As the temperature gets higher and higher, the oil gradually becomes clear, and finally the oil residue becomes brown. The whole kitchen is filled with the aroma of lard.
Huo Xiaobao sat on Li Hongying's lap, looking at Miao Ying eagerly. Miao Ying scooped up all the lard residue, then scooped the oil into the lard jar. After seeing that the temperature of the lard residue was not high, he took a piece and gave it to Huo Xiaobao.
The lard residue just out of the pot was still very crispy. It didn't have any salt, but it tasted delicious when chewed. Huo Xiaobao enjoyed eating it very much.
Miao Ying looked at the bowl of lard scraps. In the past, after he boiled lard, he would dip the lard scraps in salt and chili powder and eat them as snacks. He couldn't eat too much or he would feel sick of it. Now, if he had the conditions, he would definitely finish the whole bowl.
Li Hongying looked at the bowl of lard residue and said, "When Ah Xing comes back, we can use the lard residue to make buns or dumplings."
Miao Ying swallowed his saliva and nodded: "Okay."
After the lard was ready, they prepared to cook dinner. Miao Ying was really craving meat, so today he planned to cook the pork belly that Li Hongying bought for him. He wanted to make braised pork and eat a lot of meat tonight.
In fact, the quality of pork belly is very good, but it is not well received at the meat stalls. Miao Ying thinks that it may be because people are too short of oil and water at this time, so fatty meat sells so well, and pork belly with lean meat or lean meat is not so popular.
The pork belly comes with skin. Miao Ying should first blanch it in a hot pan with the skin on to remove the floating hair on the surface of the meat, and then cut the pork belly into neat cubes.
If the meat is fresh enough, there is no need to blanch it first. Just put it in the pan and fry off the excess fat. When it is almost done, scoop out the meat pieces. However, there is no sugar at home, so you can't make sugar color, but this way will work for now.
After coloring, start stewing. The basic ingredients are only some star anise, which Miao Ying found from a pile of herbs. Simmer over low heat until the juice becomes thick and the meat breaks when poked. Only then does Miao Ying remove the meat from the pot.
Li Hongying had been in the kitchen, watching Miao Ying's skillful cooking posture, and thought of Miao Ying before he was injured. He couldn't even pick up a fallen broom. Even if he hit his head, could his temperament change so much?
Miao Ying waited for the meat to be cooked, then looked at Li Hongying and said, "Mom, you must have kept all the money." He was really worried. Looking at Huo San's drunkard look, if he knew that the family had money, he would definitely spend it all on buying alcohol.
They didn't come back last night. My grandmother said Huo San cursed all night and went out in the morning, so he didn't know there was money at home.
Huo San knew where she hid the money, and it would be almost the same if she gave it to her grandmother. In such a big house, there was no place to hide the money. Huo San didn't dare to go to Huo Xing's room, but now there was a Miao Ying in Huo Xing's room, but it didn't seem safe to keep the money with Miao Ying.
Miao Ying naturally knew that he had a criminal record, but he looked at Li Hongying and said, "Mom, let me be frank. This money was earned by me. If I had any ideas, I would have discussed it with the shopkeeper privately."
Li Hongying sighed: "Then put the money in your room."
For dinner, there was a bowl of braised pork and shredded radish fried with a little bit of lard. The staple food was still coarse flour steamed bread.
Miao Ying went out to see that the village was growing a lot of grains, just like modern times, with winter wheat and summer and autumn rice. They were clearly growing grains, so why did they still eat brown rice and coarse flour? He had been here for such a long time and had never eaten a meal of rice.
He had questions, so he asked them naturally.
Li Hongying sighed, "Taxes are heavy. Every year, the harvest is barely enough to pay the taxes, and after that, there's basically nothing left."
"Don't we have much land?" Miao Ying asked again.
Li Hongying nodded. Their family was not born and raised in Nankouba Village, but fled here. Huo San originally had two brothers, but the two elder brothers did not survive on the way to escape, leaving only Huo San and his mother here. The court arranged for them to go to Nankouba Village and divided some land among them. Later, Huo San married Li Hongying, and the family settled down here.
The land was divided into very small pieces, and at the beginning there was enough to store some food, but as the family population grew, the harvest was only enough to pay taxes.
"Can that land be bought?" Miao Ying said.
"To buy land, a piece of land would cost more than ten taels of silver," said my grandmother. "The land in the village isn't very good these days."
Miao Ying sighed. In the end, they were still poor.
The dinner was very sumptuous. Huo San didn't know how he got lucky and rushed back to eat. He didn't drink any wine today. He ate the meat with big mouthfuls and said that he regretted not having any wine today. Then he asked Li Hongying for money. He also knew that they had sold handkerchiefs, so there was meat at home, so he asked Li Hongying to give him the money from selling handkerchiefs quickly.
Miao Ying just listened and picked up some meat for Huo Xiaobao's grandmother and Li Hongying. If he didn't move faster, Huo San would have eaten all the meat.
Li Hongying put down her chopsticks. "What else do you have? How much can a few handkerchiefs sell for? Didn't you eat meat for free today?"
Huo San's face was long: "I don't even have money left to buy wine."
Miao Ying really couldn't stand it anymore. He had never seen such a man. He did nothing but drink. There were old and young people at home, and he didn't know how to go out to earn money even though he was young. Even his grandmother and mother were trying to make money, but he only knew how to spend women's money. What a coward.
"If you want to drink, earn your own money!" Miao Ying patted the butt of Huo Xiaobao, who was already full, and told him to go out and play.
Huo San opened his eyes wide. He didn't expect Miao Ying to dare to challenge him. He threw down his chopsticks and pointed at Miao Ying's nose: "Say it again, how dare you talk to your elders like that!"
"I'll say it again, you're a coward! You spent your mother and wife's money, how come you didn't die from drinking that wine!" Miao Ying didn't tolerate him, "What kind of elder are you?"
Huo San originally thought that Li Hongying and his mother also disliked Miao Ying, but he didn't expect them to be silent at this moment.
"Okay! You guys," Huo San stood up, "are you starting to control me now?"
Miao Ying was not afraid of him at all: "Wait until I get better, and then you'll see how I'll deal with you!"
When he gets better, I'll see how he can make this old guy obedient.
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