New Year's Eve Dinner
"Boss, what are you going to do with such a big pot of water?" Nighthawk couldn't help but feel his hair stand on end when he saw the boiling hot water. There were two people plucking chickens over there, and the scene scared the eagle.
"What do you think?" Li Xingzang looked at him with a malicious smile. "The chickens are almost cleaned up, but there's still a 'big chicken' here, right?"
Nighthawk widened his eyes. Is Boss Li so cruel?
“Hahaha…” Xiao He, who was helping to pluck the pork skin nearby, burst into laughter. “Uncle Nighthawk, how could Sister Zang eat you?”
"Why not?!" Nighthawk retorted, "She even drank the blood of the boss, so she's sure she won't want to taste the blood of me, the top student!"
The north wind blew by, and everyone looked at him silently and gossipingly, glancing at the two men out of the corner of their eyes.
Li Xingzang choked on his saliva. This guy! Why is he bringing up this matter out of the blue?
"You're right! How about we just drain your blood and stuff it into blood sausage?" Boss Li said with a forced smile.
Ye Ying shrank his neck at her threatening gaze. There was no other way. Guo Yi had to work for Boss Li to pay off his debt. It was Boss Li who saved him at that time.
"We have a lot to do, but it's not easy to get together. It would be boring if everything was done with spiritual power." Boss Li said so, but the scene of her lightly picking up the large iron pot with twelve seals filled with water was still very shocking.
"The hot water is ready for you to use. It will make hair removal and washing more convenient."
"Boss, can't we use spiritual power?" Isn't this just asking for trouble?
"Of course," Boss Li said with a smile, "but let's make it clear in advance: if I find bird feathers, spider webs, bloody flesh shrouded in yin energy, or other inedible food while cooking, don't blame me..."
Threat, this is definitely a threat!
Yu Sishi raised his eyebrows, "Boss Li, what if we can avoid what you said?"
Li Xingzang shrugged at his confident look and said, "That's no problem. If you can complete the task quickly and effectively..."
Everyone's eyes sparkled, "Give out red envelopes for the New Year."
"Wow!" Zhu Wang raised his hands and cheered excitedly.
Incentives are more effective than threats. Li Xingzang looked at the enthusiastic crowd and couldn't help but give a thumbs up to the "Preschool Education" book on the bedside.
"Four major dishes, pig's trotters, braised beef in soy sauce, roasted lamb legs, and braised lamb chops..." Li Xingzang wrote down the New Year's Eve dinner menu. After a moment's thought, he crossed out the last two dishes. "How about just roasting the whole lamb?"
"I think it's okay." "Me too." When she looked up, everyone in the yard was looking at her with green eyes.
"What? Didn't you have breakfast? Auntie Guan made every big bun she made!" The capitalist pointed with a pen, "Look at Officer Yu, how hard he works! Learn from him!"
Nighthawk muttered softly, it would be strange if he didn't work hard!
"Officer Yu, can you choose a dish, sweet and sour pork or sweet and sour pork?" Verbal encouragement alone is not enough, there must be some practical action.
"Hmm..." The Wolf King squatted in front of several large pots of meat, as if he had already seen how they were being plated. "These two dishes... are evenly matched!" Worried...
"Then go all in!" Boss Li simply added it to the menu.
You can even choose your dishes! Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier? Everyone looked at Yu Sishi, who was laughing secretly, with envy. “Auntie, I want to eat roasted roe deer!” Wu Fei raised his hand first.
"You look like a stupid roe deer!" Li Xingzang rolled his eyes. "That thing is a protected animal! There are police in the yard, so be careful!"
"...I'm also a protected animal..." Wu Fei said unconvincedly, "Then...let's roast the whole lamb..."
"Okay, I can give you a stewed goose as a gift."
Li Xingzang counted the ingredients in the yard and continued to name the dishes, "Maoxuewang, beer shrimp, steamed crab...pork jelly, red sausage, and preserved vegetable braised pork?" She was a little confused.
"Boss Li, are there so many?" He Yishu asked in surprise. There must be more than twenty dishes, right?
"It's the Chinese New Year! Of course I have to prepare a few more dishes!" Boss Li usually prepares very good meals for his employees, so he certainly can't let down on a big day like the Spring Festival!
"Start preparing!" She carefully folded the menu filled with words in her hand and put it in her pocket. Although she could type on her mobile phone, or she could simply order food with a tablet, this way of handwriting the menu created a more atmospheric atmosphere. Boss Li still attached great importance to the sense of ceremony.
Cold water was poured into the pot again, and Li Xingzang put the pork skin cleaned by the chores team into the pot to blanch it.
"I know, the boss is making jelly!" Shi Si raised his hand first.
The little stones usually have different personalities, but unexpectedly, after Shi Er showed her talent in cooking, the other three seemed to be interested in cooking. Perhaps in the near future, the store can add three more chefs, and then she can completely become a hands-off boss.
Li Xingzang nodded and said, "It's hard to clean the pig hair on the skin. Sister Wei, you did a great job."
Wei Chunhua smiled and nodded. She had initially felt a little uncomfortable adapting to this unfamiliar era. Time passed relentlessly, but the traditional culture of the Chinese people connected her to the past.
"Conditions were not good in the past, but everyone had to make good preparations during the Chinese New Year, just like now." Looking at Xiaohe's curious eyes, Wei Chunhua fell into memories.
"But I think the New Year atmosphere was better in the past." Aunt Guan walked out of the house and said with a smile while looking at the children in the yard.
"Yeah, at least I could still set off firecrackers when I was a kid." Li Xingzang propped his chin with a pen. "My dad took me to set off firecrackers and I broke a big gash on my hand."
"Don't talk about your glorious past." Aunt Guan put the blanched pork skin aside and used her spiritual power to clean the pot and replaced the water. "When you were a kid, you loved playing with firecrackers. You accidentally threw one into your mother's shoe, and you were chased around the yard during New Year's Day."
Everyone in the yard was having a hard time suppressing their laughter, except Xiao He and Wu Fei, who were laughing wildly. Wei Chunhua smiled and continued, "Boss, were you this naughty when you were a kid?"
"Then there's the bully on Baishan Street, known as Hero Li."
"Hahahaha..." The people in the yard couldn't hold back any longer, and their laughter was heard even by passers-by outside.
"Hey, Boss Li's roasted meat is here." A pedestrian glanced at the place and said to other passersby, "We should hurry up too."
"Yeah, it's Chinese New Year!"
Li Xingzang touched his ear somewhat embarrassedly, and raised his eyes to meet Yu Shishi in the corner, who was smiling gently.
Looking at his expression, Li Xingzang was stunned for a moment, thinking back to what he had just said on the phone, and silently decided to add another candied sweet potato dish to the menu.
Everything is ready, just waiting to fire!
I closed my eyes and opened them again and again, and several days passed.
At dawn, Boss Li had already put on his apron and set up the pot. The ingredients had been laid out the night before, and now all he had to do was get started.
"Boss Li, you only want the officials to set fire and not allow the people to light lamps!" Yu Shishi's laughter came from behind.
Li Xingzang casually took a glutinous rice ball from the bamboo basket he was carrying and said, "After all, I'm the boss."
That's right, Boss Li now has five large pots working together. One pot is blanching water, and another pot is adding seasonings. Under the mobilization of spiritual power, the jumping ingredients seem to be dancing in the bright lights.
Before the holiday, Nighthawk, Zhuwang and some other little monsters in the yard had hung small colored lights in every dormitory and yard. They even put festive light strips on the red pine tree. Now, the whole yard was ablaze with light.
"And (chew chew chew) there are so many dishes (chew chew chew), how can I eat them at noon without using spiritual power?" Li Xingzang took another pumpkin pie.
"New Year's Eve dinner, New Year's Eve dinner, why do you want to eat it at noon?" Yu Sishi looked at Li Xingzang's eyes, holding a bamboo basket in one hand to feed Boss Li, while using his spiritual power to pick out the shrimp thread not far away.
"It's called 'rushing for it.' Whoever eats it first will have good luck!" Li Xingzang said mysteriously, and even laughed after he finished speaking. "Actually, I'm not exactly sure. Anyway, my family has always eaten it at noon, but customs vary from place to place. In addition to these dishes, we mainly eat dumplings in the evening."
"Officer Yu, what about you?" Li Xingzang felt a little regretful after asking. He had always been in the habit of interacting with people, and he always subconsciously asked others after he finished speaking, but the situation might be different at this time.
"Me? There's nothing special about me." Yu Sishi was cleaning up the food, not noticing Li Xingzang's expression. "We do eat this meal at noon, but it's always at the old house. My father, his brothers, and their families celebrate the New Year with grandparents."
"Oh~ Then you said before that you monsters have nowhere to go except the Special Intelligence Bureau." The old man's name sounded like he was a rich man.
Yu Sishi raised his eyebrows and said, "I didn't say that. Is this just something Boss Li made up?"
Li Xingzang tilted his head and thought for a moment, "Okay, I remembered it wrongly."
"Huh..." Yu Sishi patted his chest in a strange manner, "You almost wronged me. If I lie to Boss Li again, you won't kick me out today, right?"
"Am I that stingy?" Li Xingzang glared at him. "Don't worry, I'll pack you up even if I have to kick you out."
"Thank you, Boss Li." Yu Shishi said solemnly. The two looked at each other and laughed.
"But spending the New Year at the old house is definitely not as good as spending it at the Special Intelligence Bureau," Yu Sishi sighed. "There are more people and more rules. It's actually more comfortable to be with the monsters in the Special Intelligence Bureau."
Li Xingzang asked with a smile, "What about this place? Are you celebrating the New Year here because there are so many monsters here?"
Yu Sishi was silent for a while with a smile on his face, "Yes, there are monsters here too." Blood-sucking monsters.
The people living in the yard are not ordinary people. The New Year is a very lively and fun event for them. Look, they all ran out when they heard the two people's voices.
"Go away, stop messing around here." Li Xingzang shouted, "Shi Yi, come and watch the fire! Ye Ying, you and the boys go put up the Spring Festival couplets."
The present times are good, and the ancient landscape is new today.
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