After Liu Guihua left, Tian Cai realized something was wrong. Yes, Qin Ling had been coming here more frequently recently.
In the past, Luo Daqiang would come to chop firewood and fetch water for her. Sometimes, when he met Huaihua Niang by the well, he would help her wash clothes. Even if Tian Cai didn't let her help, she would snatch the shoes away and wash them. After a few times, she was unwilling to go and wash clothes during the day.
So for all this time, she didn't notice anything wrong with Qin Ling coming home to help her with housework. Tian Cai's scrutinizing gaze fell on the person standing in the kitchen.
Qin Ling's heart skipped a beat when he heard Liu Guihua say that. Seeing that Tian Cai was fine at the time, he felt relieved. But now, feeling the gazes on him, his heart was in suspense again.
"What's wrong?" Qin Ling pursed his lips and looked at her.
Tian Cai shook his head thoughtfully but didn't say anything. What if he was overthinking it and the other person didn't mean that?
"Just take these, and I'll leave the rest for you." After saying that, Qin Ling lowered his eyelids and tidied the basket on the ground.
Tian Cai didn't notice anything unusual about Qin Ling, but thinking that they were both young men and women, it would be bad for both of their reputations if they were seen together once or twice, so he decided to try not to let him come over in the future.
So when Qin Ling said he was going out for a while, Tian Cai didn't ask anything, but just nodded to show that he understood.
Qin Ling stood there silently, his dark eyes seemed to be covered by something, making it difficult to see clearly.
As Tian Cai expected, old man Ding and his wife were buried on the third day, as usual, in Xiaoyang Mountain. That day, apart from the filial sons and grandsons of the Ding family, only the men in the village followed them.
It was just after the beginning of autumn, and the cool breeze was blowing gently on my face, making me feel relaxed and happy. The weather was hot and humid a few days ago, but it suddenly turned cool after a heavy rain.
Tian Cai slaughtered the half-grown roe deer. This time she had no intention of selling it. She wanted to try making some dried meat to eat slowly.
Mimi had been greedy for the roe deer since she slaughtered it, and had been staring at it eagerly. Occasionally, she went forward to grab it, but was slapped away by Tian Cai. Her round eyes never left the roe deer. Tian Cai had no choice but to peel off the skin, cut off a leg and hand it to her.
The little guy immediately took it aside and started eating it.
Tian Cai did not restrict the cat from eating raw food. After all, she had lived in modern times and knew too well the protected status of lynx in the future. It was impossible for her to keep it in captivity for its entire life. These were secondary. The most important thing was that if it could not hunt and had to rely entirely on Tian Cai to feed it, she might not be able to afford it. She was so poor that she did not have the spare money to raise a big cat that loved meat.
Just remember to deworm regularly and eat raw meat!
Tian Cai soaked the roe deer meat in cold water repeatedly until the blood was completely washed away, and then cut the meat into strips.
There was no one to guide her on this, so she divided the meat strips into two portions and marinated one portion with homemade seasoning, which she also randomly mixed. She added salt, onion, ginger, garlic, chili powder, peppercorns, some star anise and Sichuan peppercorns, and even poured some rice wine that she had exchanged from Hu Cuihua's house. In short, she put in everything she could think of, mixed it all together, and set it aside to marinate.
This time was just right for processing the other part of the meat. She would be simpler and rougher with it. She just smeared some salt on it and steamed it directly. After steaming for about twenty minutes, Tian Cai picked them out one by one and placed them on a clean bamboo dustpan. In order to prevent flies from landing, she took a bamboo cover and put it on it. After everything was done, she took it to the bamboo rack behind the house to dry.
This place is away from the sun, cool and ventilated, which is a good place to dry meat. Otherwise, the meat dried in the sun will be too tight and dry and not tasty.
When she returned to the kitchen and saw Mimi still gnawing on the roe deer leg, Tian Cai felt that in addition to being on guard against flies, she could not let her guard down against this more dangerous thing.
It was not until noon that Tian Cai put the marinated dried meat into the pot for steaming. Thinking that the first pot had already been cooked in its original flavor, he decided to make the second pot spicier. So Tian Cai sprinkled some peppercorns and chili powder on it before putting it into the pot for steaming.
She vaguely felt that this method was not right. She remembered that when she ate beef jerky before, it was always roasted beef jerky. So beef jerky should be roasted. Was it wrong for her to steam it in a pot? But how should she roast it? She didn't have an oven or a stove.
"Ah!"
Tian Cai's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a cat, and he turned around to look.
The roe deer leg had been eaten clean and there was no meat left. The little guy squatted on the ground and looked at her. Seeing that Tian Cai was unmoved, he moved his paws, stood up and patted her arm twice.
Tian Cai: “…”
Tian Cai had no choice but to give it another one.
After steaming for about fifteen minutes, Tian Cai opened the lid of the pot and took out the meat strips and placed them on a plate to dry. She had a sudden idea to steam the meat first and then bake it, which would make the meat softer and more tender.
Tian Cai built a small fire in the backyard and got a few pieces of wood to make a simple grill. Not long after the fire was lit, the aroma wafted out.
She sniffed. The smell was a bit too strong, but she thought that since there were not many people living here, she could still eat it once in a while.
After grilling for a while, the meat strips looked much firmer. Tian Caizheng took one and was about to try it when someone suddenly knocked on the door.
Because she was going to slaughter a roe deer at home, Tian Cai closed the door in advance. Now she opened the door, and standing at the door was the wife of old man Feng, with her little grandson, who seemed to be called Dapao.
Old Mrs. Feng smiled shyly, "Doctor Tian, I'm sorry. I just took Da Pao to the river to play, and I smelled the delicious food coming from your house. The child was so greedy that he insisted on asking for some food, so I brought Da Pao here."
In fact, Tian Cai didn't like the Feng family very much. Look at what happened at Zhao Dagen's house that day. Old man Feng and his daughter-in-law cooperated to squeeze Huaihua so hard that she almost died to prove her innocence. Moreover, old lady Feng was a notorious old bastard in the village. She loved to take advantage of others. She said nice things but never failed to take advantage of others. The key point was that after taking advantage of others, she would turn around and scold you for being stingy.
This Dapao is currently the youngest grandson of the old couple in the Feng family. Because he has the support of his grandparents, there is almost nothing that he cannot achieve by crying.
Old Mrs. Feng said, "Bring the children here," but she didn't say what they came here for. Could it be that they came here to watch her eat?
Besides, the dried meats she grilled were all spicy and numbing, which was not suitable for children. I hesitated whether to get a plain one from the backyard.
Seeing Tian Cai didn't say anything, the smile on Old Lady Feng's face froze. Then the child plopped down on the ground and started to throw a tantrum, howling at the top of his lungs, "I want to eat, I want to eat, I just want to eat, woooo ...
Tian Cai frowned and immediately felt disgusted. She hated such naughty children the most. She tried her best to convince herself not to argue with a little kid and not to scold the child in front of his parents.
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