"You dare not go?" Lin Aijun hissed as he answered, enduring the pain.
No woman has ever beaten him like that, not even his mother.
His current pain feels like being roasted next to a giant stove.
"Her?" Li Datu wanted to say "her" as a woman, but then he realized that it was this woman who had them completely suppressed, leaving them no power to fight back. He sighed, a sense of powerlessness welling up inside him.
"So we're just going to follow her from now on? She's too ruthless." Qi Mufei rubbed his waist, covered his mouth, and looked miserable with a swollen face.
"From what I hear, she means she wants us to do business for her," Li Dapao interjected.
"Doing business is good, but what if we have to work for free?"
“Even working for free is better than going to jail. I don’t want to be arrested and imprisoned.” Li Dapao looked at the small courtyard getting further and further away with lingering fear, feeling as if he had been given a second chance at life.
“It’s better than going to jail. Let’s see what she wants us to do first. If we can stick with it and it seems okay, then we’ll follow her. If she wants us to risk our lives for her, then we’ll run off to the south. At worst, we won’t come back; we can just send money home. That’s the same thing.” Lin Aijun gritted his teeth.
"Brother, it's easy for us to go south, but what if she finds my house? She was dragging me by one hand, and it felt so easy for her. She threw me around like a pebble, just like that. If she throws me around like that at my house, how many good people will be left?"
Li Dapao wiped away his tears. He had a vivid imagination, and as he spoke, he could picture the scene. He couldn't help but tear up when he thought about how that woman had cruelly thrown his child ten meters away.
"How about we go back now, get some drugs, knock her out, and then break her legs?" Lin Aijun was unwilling to be controlled like this for the rest of his life.
"Brother, we finally escaped with great difficulty, and I don't want to do such dangerous things again. Don't just think the worst; they might not let us work for nothing. Besides, who knows if she'll be drugged? What if you bought fake medicine? If she realizes what's happening, will we even survive if we do it again?"
Li Dapao's words resonated with the others.
They didn't think it was dangerous when they fought before, so they did it without hesitation.
This time they truly experienced what it means to be outmatched, and how vast the gap between people can be—it's not something that can be solved by mere threats.
Lin Aijun was eventually persuaded, and the six of them went to the fried chicken shop to start work the day after tomorrow.
Xia Baozhu tidied up the bedroom again, wondering if the gunshot had attracted attention.
She wrapped the gun in plastic sheeting and tied it to the beam of the main room. The beams here were higher than those in the side rooms, so most people wouldn't look up, and even if they did, they wouldn't notice it.
After lying down, she reconsidered the events of the evening, wondering if there was anything she had overlooked.
Furthermore, she wanted to bury shards of glass in the courtyard wall and string up barbed wire.
The next day, Xia Baozhu noticed that her neighbor was looking at her strangely.
"Xia, I heard some noise at your house last night? What happened?" Aunt Chen was standing at the door making insoles when she saw Xia Baozhu come out and quickly asked.
"Oh, last night when I was sleeping, a few big rats crawled out from the corner of the wall, which startled me, so I made a lot of noise."
"So it was a rat. I have rats in my house too. It would be much better if I got a cat."
“I’m usually at work and don’t have time to keep cats, so I’m planning to buy a few packets of rat poison and put them in the house.”
"Rat poison is fine, but it costs a lot of money. It's more cost-effective to keep a cat."
"I had no choice. I was busy with work, and there were too many rats. Rat poison works quickly."
“You really can’t handle everything by yourself. You should find another man so you can have a companion.”
When she first arrived, Xia Baozhu told her neighbors that she was divorced.
"That depends on luck."
After talking for a while, Xia Baozhu left to go to work.
Today, Xia Baozhu hired someone to build a five-square-meter asbestos tile shed in the backyard, bought a gas stove and placed it there, using a second-hand writing desk as the stove base.
"Sister Xia, what are you doing?" San Gou came to the backyard after finishing his work and looked at the newly built shed.
"I've hired a few apprentices; they'll be here tomorrow."
"We have enough people in our store." More people mean more wages, and San Gou felt that hiring too many people was not worthwhile.
“They don’t sell in the shop. I told them to set up a stall outside and sell only in this area, but there are still not enough customers.”
Do you sell fried chicken too?
"We also sell fried chicken, roujiamo (Chinese hamburger), and congee."
Nowadays, as long as the food tastes good and the price is right, food stalls do good business.
The reason for considering roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) is that the ingredients are prepared in advance, it can be made on-site without any mishaps, it's easy to make, the service is fast, and it tastes good.
Roujiamo comes in vegetarian and meat versions. The vegetarian version includes braised eggs, tofu skin, cilantro, and fresh chili peppers; the meat version includes braised pork and fresh chili peppers. Both versions can be served with or without cilantro and chili peppers.
There are countless snacks in the world, and roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) has always held an important place among the most popular snacks. It is simple, convenient, and filling.
As long as you occupy a good position and do it on time every day, even a simple roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) can enable you to buy a car and a house.
Of course, in Xia Baozhu's plan, roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) was only the first step.
Xia Baozhu plans to make braised meat today.
She prepared more than a dozen kinds of braising spices: orange peel, licorice, cinnamon, cardamom, galangal, fennel, dried ginger, bay leaves, hawthorn, Sichuan pepper, star anise, spices, chili, and angelica.
You will also need to prepare rock sugar, white wine, scallions, ginger, soy sauce, and salt.
Xia Baozhu cut the pork belly into chunks, put it in a pot of cold water, and poured in the local specialty liquor. She didn't drink alcohol, so she just bought a cheap bottle.
Bring to a boil over high heat, remove the sugar, then heat oil in a wok, add a handful of rock sugar, stir-fry until it turns a dark red color and bubbles, then pour in hot water.
This is how you caramelize sugar. The key to this step is controlling the heat. If the heat is too low, the sugar will caramelize slowly, resulting in uneven heating and a bitter taste. If the heat is too high, it will be even more bitter if you're not careful.
If you are a beginner, be sure to taste it after adding hot water. If it tastes bitter, just pour out the whole pot of water and start over. Don't risk losing more than you gain.
Put the pork belly in a pot, add scallions and ginger, wrap the braising spices in a white gauze and put them in together, pour in white wine, soy sauce, and salt.
The flavor of braised meat comes from the braising spices, and the taste varies from place to place depending on the amount of spices used.
Xia Baozhu's recipe was undoubtedly her family chef's secret recipe; she should now call him master.
The best state for braised pork is when it has a good balance of lean and fat, is translucent, has a glossy color, and a rich flavor; when you touch the fatty part with chopsticks, it should tremble slightly.
It tastes rich but not greasy, and lean but not dry.
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