Chapter 67: Stir-fried bamboo shoots with pork belly, braised bamboo shoots...
Lin, with her sharp eyes, whispered to Qiao Mancang after they turned out of the alley, "I just saw Xu Xiucai and his mother crying."
"Why are you crying?" Qiao Mancang asked.
"How would I know? I realized something was wrong and rushed out. Could I have stayed there and watched? That would have been so embarrassing!" Lin said this now, but she was actually very curious. "Do you think it's possible that Scholar Xu had a conflict with his family? Or perhaps he doesn't want to go to the academy?"
Qiao Mianmian leaned closer and said, "It's not easy to not go to the academy after all this hard work. Fourth Brother-in-law said that it's not easy to get into Songshan Academy; it costs at least several dozen taels of silver. You also have to pay tuition, buy writing materials, and pay for meals—it costs money everywhere. Besides, Scholar Xu has studied hard for many years; how could he give up just because he's been tired for a few months? Uncle Xu going to set up a stall shows that the Xu family is struggling financially, so Scholar Xu should cherish the opportunity to study even more."
She understood the people's dedication to education at that time. If she were reborn as a man, she would most likely also pursue education. She didn't need to reach the highest official rank; even being a low-level hoodlum would suffice, since the status of an official was entirely different.
"Oh dear, you've learned a bit of writing from Lord Lu, and now you speak with so many words that no one else can understand," Madam Lin clicked her tongue. "I was just guessing. We have nothing else to do on the road, so we might as well chat. Anyway, it's someone else's business, it has nothing to do with us. Let's hurry up, we need to be back before dark."
They met up with the second branch of the family at the city gate, and together they headed to the ancestral graves. At the gravesite, Qiao Manhua was leading her son in weeding and cleaning.
Qiao Mancang gave his two sons a look, and they silently went to Qiu's side, while he went to fetch water to wipe the other tombstones.
Sweeping graves is hard work, and Lin was reluctant to let her daughter pull weeds and work so hard. She pulled Qiao Mianmian to the shade of a tree and said, "So many men have come. We women don't need to do this little bit of work. You and Huanhuan play here. I'll call you over when we're going to pay our respects later."
As she spoke, she took out a water bottle and two fried dough twists, saying, "You must be hungry after walking all this way. Eat quickly."
Qiao Mianmian was waiting for these words. After finishing the fried dough twists, she pulled her cousin to find a large rock. As they were about to sit down, they saw bamboo shoots of varying heights sprouting from the small bamboo grove by the river, and their interest was piqued.
She broke off a bamboo stick and explained to the church girl how to use it: "When you walk forward, you can swing the bamboo stick to prevent spider webs from getting on your face. You can also use the bamboo stick to kill any insects you see."
Qiao Huanhuan was at the age where she loved to play, and with her older cousin leading the way, she immediately followed suit.
The two walked into the bamboo forest, and Qiao Mianmian began to pick bamboo shoots. With a series of crisp "snap" sounds, the bamboo shoots were broken off from the root. One after another, Qiao Mianmian couldn't stop.
Picking wild vegetables can be so enjoyable! Qiao Mianmian thought to herself.
Even when her hands were overflowing, Qiao Mianmian didn't stop. She piled the bamboo shoots she had picked together, saying, "Yes, you put them here too, we'll come back for them later. Huanhuan, you're great, you picked so many!"
"Cousin Mianmian, can we eat these after we pick them?" Qiao Huanhuan was most curious about this.
“Of course you can. After boiling it in water, you can stew it with big bones, or you can slice it and stir-fry it with pork belly, or you can make salted bamboo shoots. They’re all delicious.” After Qiao Mianmian finished speaking, she saw her cousin swallowing her saliva, and she laughed and pinched the child’s cheek. “I’ll make it later, and we can eat it together.”
"good!"
The two sisters completely forgot why they came, until they saw the Qiao brothers not far away. Qiao Huanhuan exclaimed, "Why are Brother Jiawang's eyes so red?"
The child has never experienced death, so asking her to commemorate ancestors is rather naive and unlikely to evoke feelings of sadness or grief. She's simply doing whatever the adults tell her to do.
But Qiao Mianmian is more mature and knows that this will pass and her brothers will feel awkward.
She made a shushing gesture and changed the subject, saying, "Let's go this way, there are more bamboo shoots here."
The two women were busy exploring the bamboo forest when Lin shouted for help, at which point they heard her and hurriedly ran out.
"Oh dear, where have you two been? Look at the grass on your heads, you don't look like girls at all." Madam Lin patted her daughter's head, then looked at her niece, "Haha, our Huanhuan has turned into a little gray cat. Hurry up and come with me, don't be late."
Qiao Huanhuan was thinking about the bamboo shoots, "Auntie, mine..."
"We'll go get it later. It's a remote place; no one will steal this." Lin said, leading her niece. Neither Zhou nor He came today, so she was responsible for taking care of her niece. When they arrived at the ancestor's grave, she offered incense to the two girls. "Pray earnestly, and the ancestors will bless you with good health."
After saying that, seeing the two Qiao brothers coming over, Lin called out, "Jiawang and Jiaxing, come quickly and offer incense to your great-grandfather and great-grandmother."
Qiao Youfu was the first to offer incense, followed by Qiao Mancang and his brothers, and then Qiao Mianmian's generation, with everyone offering incense one by one according to seniority and age.
After the tomb sweeping, everyone was hungry, so they sat down and ate their dry rations.
Qiao Youfu took a sip of water, looked at the steamed bun in his hand, but couldn't eat it. He kept rubbing his knees.
When Qiao Manyu saw this, she went over and said, "Next time we get to the foot of the mountain, let Jiawang and the others carry you up. Your legs have rheumatism, they must be hurting now, right?"
Qiao Mancang nodded and said, "Yes, Dad, the mountain isn't very high, but you come every year. In the future, your grandchildren will carry you on their backs."
"What do you know?" Qiao Youfu disagreed. "My father and mother are buried here. It's not like I'm crippled and can't walk. I already took an oxcart on the way here. If I don't walk this road myself, won't I become an unfilial son?"
He told his sons to stop talking, saying it was just a knee ache for two days, nothing serious.
Qiao Mancang and the others exchanged glances, realizing they couldn't do anything about Qiao Youfu.
However, when going down the mountain, Qiao Jiawang and his brother took turns carrying Qiao Youfu on their backs.
They parted ways at the foot of the mountain, and Qiao Manhua had to take his sons back to the village.
Madam Lin quickly instructed, "Third brother, after the spring planting season, come to the city for a visit, and I'll cook for you then!"
"Okay, sister-in-law." Qiao Manhua waved to her family and headed home with her son. "Let's hurry up, your mother can't manage everything in the garden by herself."
Qiao Jiasheng turned around and looked in the direction of his uncle and the others, and whispered, "Dad, Uncle's family is going to open a food shop."
“Yes, your uncle has had a very hard life. Don’t think that just because your grandparents lived with him, he’s the one who’s benefiting. On ordinary days, whenever your grandparents have a headache or fever, it’s them who take care of them. By the time we in the village find out, they’re already better. To be honest, I haven’t been filial enough.” Qiao Manhua sighed helplessly.
Qiao Jiasheng envied his uncles' families, which were both large households. He lived in Hejia Village, and although there were Hejia people there, he could sometimes sense that things were different.
He suddenly had a thought, "Dad, why don't we move to the city?"
"What about the garden? Who will take care of it? How will we make a living?" Qiao Manhua had thought about this before. Moving to the city would allow them to be closer to their family and take care of each other, but how would they make a living?
“Even wealthy families in the city need someone to manage their gardens. I’ve been learning from you for so many years, I’m sure I can find something to do. Do you think I’ll starve to death?” Qiao Jiasheng was very confident in himself.
Qiao Manhua laughed, "You're young and arrogant, thinking you're very capable, huh? Wait until you go to the city next time, and you'll see what it means to be outmatched!"
He sighed and quickened his pace. "Jiasheng, life isn't as easy as you think. Back then, I learned a trade from your maternal grandfather. Later, after marrying your mother, I thought I'd graduate and try my luck, maybe I could give my family a better life. Do you know what happened next?"
"What happened next?"
"Later, I went to the city alone to find work. At first, I ran into walls everywhere. Everyone else was a master and apprentice, one introducing another to work. But I didn't believe in fate and insisted on persisting. Later, I found a job pruning in someone's garden. After working for a month, the employer was very satisfied, but I didn't get paid. I went to find the manager, only to find that the foreman had taken my money and said that I was just his apprentice."
Speaking of the past, Qiao Manhua still feels that he was young and impetuous. "I went to confront him because I was not related to him and I had never been his apprentice. Why should he take my money?"
"Didn't you tell the boss?" Qiao Jiasheng asked angrily.
"How could you not have said that?"
Qiao Manhua said, "But the owner doesn't care about such things. As long as the garden is well-maintained, he doesn't care who did it or who gets paid. I went to the manager, and he said that it has always been the rule that newcomers have to pay three months' worth of tribute. He also told me to apologize to the head gardener. Just think about it, I was only in my early twenties back then. How could I swallow this insult?"
"I fought with the leader, but there were too many of them. In the end, I was thrown out the door and went home with a bruised and swollen face."
Qiao Jiasheng clenched his fists. "They went too far! How could they do this? You're just going to let it go like this? You didn't report it to the authorities?"
Hearing his son's innocent question, Qiao Manhua thought of his brothers' words. He and He Shi looked at Jiasheng like this, wondering if Jiasheng could really support a family and become a strong and upright man in the future.
"Dad, why are you looking at me like that?" Qiao Jiasheng touched his face. "Is there something on my face?"
"No."
Qiao Manhua continued walking home, “The government wouldn’t care about such a trivial matter; they might even beat you up first. But I was beaten like this, and your uncle and his family couldn’t swallow it. A group of them went to find the other party, but they said that’s the rule, and it doesn’t matter who comes. After all that, the landlord reported it to the authorities, and they had no choice but to give up.”
He paused, then laughed, "But we were both young back then. We camped out for a few days, put a sack over his head, beat him up badly, and got my money back."
Thinking about things from when we were young makes me laugh. After laughing, Qiao Manhua sighed, "Later, your maternal grandfather and your mother came to pick me up. Seeing your mother heavily pregnant, I knew I was a man and had responsibilities to bear. I helped your maternal grandfather manage the garden. Now, more than ten years have passed, and our family's life has become stable."
As for moving and finding a new way to make a living, he had lost the fighting spirit he had in his youth.
However, seeing the confusion on her son's face, Qiao Manhua's mind wavered. "Let's go. Your mother must be worried about us. Let's hurry."
When Qiao Manhua and his son arrived home, Qiao Mancang and his family had just entered the city.
"Manyu, didn't you say you were coming to my house for dinner? Why aren't you coming?" Qiao Mancang frowned.
Qiao Manyu said softly, "My brother-in-law's child is at my house, I have to go home. Let's get together another day, since we're both in Lin'an City anyway. If you need anything, have Jiawang and Jiaxing come to me. I'll definitely come to help you once I'm done with this busy period."
Her brother-in-law passed away at the end of last month, leaving behind a widow and her children. Remembering her brother's kindness, Zhou helped raise her nephew from her maternal family.
Hearing his younger brother mention this, Qiao Mancang remembered it. "I was wondering why my sister-in-law didn't come today. It turns out Zhou Shan and Zhou Qun came instead. By the way, you know my family needs help with delivery. If they want to earn some money for food, they can come and help. They're just teenagers, they can eat a lot. If they can earn some money themselves, it will make things much easier for you."
Qiao Manyu had also considered this idea, but knowing that his sister-in-law's nephew was also there, he hesitated and asked, "Does your family need so many people?"
“Yes, we’ll definitely need more people once the shop opens. Let them come and help out. The wages will be the same, so they can all support themselves,” Qiao Mancang said. “Alright, go back and tell your sister-in-law. We’re brothers, don’t be shy.”
As he spoke, Madam Lin, who had been listening nearby, chimed in, "Yes, Second Brother, let them come."
"Okay, I'll tell you when I get back." Qiao Manyu breathed a sigh of relief. He had to support his family, and now there were two teenagers coming along, which put him under a lot of pressure.
After the two families parted ways, they each went home.
Hu Qianqian cooked dinner again today. She doesn't know how to cook complicated dishes, so everyone ate a simple meal and then went to rest.
Qiao Mancang went to the clinic to get some plasters and asked Lin to send them to his father.
"If you bought it, why don't you deliver it yourself?" Lin asked, puzzled.
"Oh, I told you to go, so go." Qiao Mancang grumbled as he put down the plaster and turned to go to the outhouse.
Lin took the plaster to her parents-in-law, saying, "Father, Mother, Mancang knew that Father's knees hurt, so he specially went to buy it."
She placed the plaster on the table. "It's getting late, everyone should get some rest. Father, you should rest at home tomorrow and not go to the shop." It had been agreed that Qiao Youfu would not go fishing these two days, but would go to the shop to help out.
"I'm not that delicate, I'll be fine after a good night's sleep." Qiao Youfu waved his hand and said, "Alright, you go back and rest, I'm fine here."
After Lin left, Qiao Youfu asked Zhang to immediately apply the plaster to him.
Zhang snorted, "You and your son are really something. One of you went out of your way to buy the plaster, but you're too embarrassed to bring it to us. You feel sorry for your son and insist on helping out. You can suffer in pain, but don't make a sound tonight."
Qiao Youfu chuckled, "My son is filial, so I, as a father, can't be completely useless."
As night deepened, the Qiao family members all went to bed.
The next morning, Qiao Mianmian and her two older brothers went to set up their stall, while Lin Shi and Qiao Mancang went to their shop.
Qiao Mianmian was busy for a while in the morning. After she had some free time, she put the bamboo shoots in a pot to make braised pork.
Use bone broth and braising liquid as the soup base, add some chili and salt to enhance the flavor, add half of the bamboo shoots, simmer for 25 minutes, let it soak for a while before eating.
The remaining bamboo shoots were boiled last night, and now they will be sliced and used to stir-fry with pork belly.
When Lu Zhao and Qingjiu arrived at noon, Qiao Mianmian recommended today's new dish, "The bamboo shoots have been soaked for half an hour after being cooked, so they are especially flavorful. The pork belly today is quite oily, so it's best to stir-fry the bamboo shoots with it. The bamboo shoots will absorb the oil from the pork belly, making them crisp and tender. Lord Lu, Qingjiu, would you like a bowl?"
"Okay, I'll listen to you." Lu Zhao sat down familiarly.
Qingjiu, abandoning her master, huddled by the stove, rattling off what she'd seen and heard in the past two days. "Fifth Miss Qiao, you didn't see it, my master was quite the hero. Your fourth sister encountered some thieves at the temple, and they were caught. At first they tried to run, but my master held them down and dislocated their arms. And..."
Qingjiu was very talkative, and Qiao Mianmian listened to her while cooking.
Slice the pork belly thinly and fry it in a pan until the fat is rendered. Pour off the excess oil to prevent it from being greasy later. Add the bamboo shoots and season with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, cooking wine, and a small amount of sugar to enhance the flavor.
Finally, add a little hot water and simmer the bamboo shoots and pork belly together, allowing them to complement and blend with each other.
When it's done cooking, you could add a bunch of garlic sprouts if you have them, but unfortunately, there aren't any garlic sprouts this season.
Qiao Mianmian served the stir-fried bamboo shoots with pork belly and handed it to Qingjiu, saying, "You can eat now. Serve yourselves some rice. I have guests again."
"Alright, we can do it ourselves." Qingjiu put down the dishes and then went to serve the rice.
The master and servant started eating together. The pork belly was a beautiful amber color. They took a sip of the green wine and then two slices of meat. The aroma of the fat whetted their appetites. Then came the crisp and tender bamboo shoots, with a delicate and refreshing taste. "Miss Qiao, this is delicious today too!"
Hearing the positive feedback, Qiao Mianmian was even happier. "Lord Lu, what do you think?"
"Mmm, it's delicious." As Lu Zhao spoke, she would subconsciously put down her chopsticks, a result of her upbringing. "Miss Qiao, could you pack one for me? Ouyang Yi was also coming to eat, but he suddenly had something to do and asked me to bring him one."
"Okay, I'll make it for you right away." Qiao Mianmian went to look at her older brother. "Big brother, cut another portion of pork belly and bamboo shoots."
Qiao Jiaxing came over and said, "Cut it into three portions; there are still two customers who want it."
Qiao Jiawang's knife skills are comparable to Qiao Mianmian's. He has a background in butchering pigs and cutting meat, and he is skilled with a knife, cutting each piece of meat to a uniform thickness.
Qiao Jiaxing is now able to cook more and more dishes. With him cooking together, they can simultaneously cater to both dine-in and delivery needs.
After packing a serving of stir-fried bamboo shoots with pork belly for Lu Zhao, Qiao Mianmian said, "There aren't many customers left. Big brother, take this meal to the shop for our parents. Second brother, tidy up, we're getting ready to eat."
She made several servings of stir-fried bamboo shoots with pork belly today, and she was craving it herself. When she saw her sister-in-law arrive, she invited her to eat, saying, "Sister-in-law, don't bother. Let my brother take care of it later. You don't need to do this little bit of work."
Hu Qianqian insisted on helping, saying, "I'm just pregnant, it's not like I can't move. Mianmian, don't think of pregnant women as too fragile. It's just cleaning the table, I can manage."
"Then be careful, watch your step, and don't slip." Qiao Mianmian gave her instructions repeatedly. Just as her second brother was wiping the table clean and bringing the dishes to the table, her eldest brother returned. "It's just the four of us today, hurry up and eat, I can't wait!"
She picked up a braised bamboo shoot, stuffed it all into her mouth, and the braising sauce burst in her mouth, the spicy aroma making her mouth water and wanting more.
Qiao Jiawang served Hu Qianqian rice first, then sat down to eat.
Qiao Jiaxing quickly finished half a bowl of rice.
Qiao Mianmian told her second brother to slow down, "Don't rush, eating so fast is bad for your stomach. I'll go check on the shop after we close up." She was curious about how the shop looked today.
But no sooner had she finished speaking than another customer came to order food. Just as she was about to get up, her second brother pressed down on her shoulder.
"I'll go, you take your time eating." Qiao Jiaxing wiped his mouth and stood up. "Hello, what would you like to eat?"
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