Jiang Yuwei and Aunt Zhou exchanged a few more pleasantries at Aunt Zhang's house before leaving together.
"Aunt Zhou, you know a lot of people. When you see someone has puppies, please keep an eye out for me. I want to keep a guard dog in the yard."
Aunt Zhou pondered for a moment and then spoke:
“Okay, I see that Uncle Ning’s family has a fierce dog that’s pregnant with puppies. It’s been wandering around the village all day with its big belly. I’ll ask around for you later, and you can pick one after the puppies are born.”
Jiang Yuwei said happily:
"Alright, thank you very much, Aunt Zhou."
Aunt Zhou opened the door when she arrived at her own door and waved her hand, saying:
"Why are you thanking me? You've had a long day, go home now!"
Jiang Yuwei said goodbye to Aunt Zhou and headed towards her own courtyard. From afar, she saw a crowd gathered at the entrance. She quickly walked over and saw that a wild boar had fallen into the pit she had dug a few days ago.
At this moment, the fool was slaughtering a pig in the pit. Ning Huaizhi saw Jiang Yuwei coming over and said with a smile:
"Just now, when the idiot pushed me back, we saw a wild boar coming down the mountain and wreaking havoc on the crops. Then the idiot drove the wild boar into the pit."
Jiang Yuwei nodded. To be fair, this fool was quite useful. Having such a helper in the family saved her a lot of trouble. Now that there were more people in the family and a wild boar had arrived, it was a good time to slaughter the pig and eat meat.
Seeing the simpleton intently slaughtering the pig, Jiang Yuwei ignored him. She was exhausted after a long day, her back aching, and she needed a good soak in the spiritual spring. So, Jiang Yuwei said to Ning Huaizhi:
"Huaizhi, I'm tired. I'm going back to my room to get some sleep. Don't bother me. I won't eat dinner yet, so don't call me."
Ning Huaizhi looked at Jiang Yuwei with concern:
"Okay, you should go inside and rest. I'll take care of things outside."
Jiang Yuwei nodded and went back inside, closing the doors and windows. She entered her spatial dimension, where many of the vegetables had ripened. Looking at the yard full of vegetables, Jiang Yuwei felt a pang of worry. Even the peanuts were ripe! Sure enough, the crops in the spatial dimension didn't discriminate by season. Irrigated by the spiritual spring water, they ripened earlier than the vegetables and fruits outside. These must be off-season produce…
While taking a bath to recover her strength, Jiang Yuwei pondered how to deal with the vegetables she had grown in her space. Her family couldn't possibly eat them all, but it wouldn't be unusual to give them to her neighbors and fellow villagers. Nowadays, everyone's vegetable gardens have more vegetables than they can eat and they have to take them to the market to sell.
Jiang Yuwei pondered for a while and suddenly had an idea: she could make mala tang! A wild boar had just come by; she could use the bones to make broth, render lard from the pork fat, and then slice the pig's offal and meat to use as side dishes for the mala tang. Add to that the vegetables she grew using spiritual spring water, and it was sure to sell like hotpot. Oh, and the peanuts could be ground with a stone mill to make peanut butter—that would make a sticky, gooey mala tang!
Jiang Yuwei got right to work. She first picked a lot of various vegetables from the space, then gathered a lot of peanuts, and also took out some of her homemade chili sauce. All she needed to do was prepare chili powder and chili oil.
Jiang Yuwei handed the peanuts to Ning Huaizhi and asked him to peel them so they could be ground into peanut butter later.
He then gave all the garlic to Ning Wan, instructing her to peel it and chop it into minced garlic to use as a dipping sauce for hot pot.
Ning Daya had already prepared all the crayfish for the market the next day before Jiang Yuwei even gave her instructions. She then went to soak the beans to make a "Tofu Pudding Grand Slam". Jiang Yuwei had also taught Ning Daya the ingredients and recipe for the "Tofu Pudding Grand Slam", so she was very confident in entrusting these tasks to her.
Jiang Yuwei was busy processing pork with the fool. She removed the pork bones to make bone broth, then sliced the pork belly thinly. After cleaning and processing the pork offal, she sliced and packed it all up. Only then did she process the vegetables she had brought from her space, washing and drying them all.
Seeing that the bone broth was almost ready, Jiang Yuwei put the prepared ingredients into bowls and stir-fried a large pot of spicy hot pot base. Meanwhile, Ning Huaizhi had already peeled the peanuts, and Jiang Yuwei asked Ning Daya to grind peanut butter.
Soon all the ingredients were ready. Jiang Yuwei then had Ning Wan, Ning Huaizhi, and Shazi each choose their favorite foods and put them in small bamboo baskets. She also had Ning Daya and Ning Huaizhi watch her cook the spicy hot pot.
Jiang Yuwei first put the side dishes that everyone had chosen into the pot to cook in order. After they were cooked, she seasoned them on the condiment station. Soon, several large bowls of fragrant mala tang were ready. The key to this mala tang is to prepare all the ingredients in advance so that it can be cooked fresh at the market.
Jiang Yuwei prepared a sweet and sour flavor for Ning Wan, a slightly spicy flavor for Ning Huaizhi, a medium spicy flavor for Ning Daya, and an extra spicy flavor for Shazi. Everyone sitting around the stone table couldn't help but drool as they looked at the spicy hot pot in their bowls. Even Shazi, who was particularly picky about food, had nothing to say this time and directly picked up his chopsticks and put the hot pot in his mouth.
Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei was about to remind him to be careful of the heat when she saw him wince and pant in pain from the burn. Helpless, Jiang Yuwei quickly got up and took out the centella asiatica and sugarcane she had picked from her space. She planned to make some centella asiatica and sugarcane juice to take to the market to sell the next day. The sweet herbal tea would be a perfect match for the spicy hot pot.
Jiang Yuwei first cut all the sugarcane into small sections, then mixed it with the cleaned centella asiatica and poured it into the large stone mortar in the yard. She then used a hammer to forcefully pound it to extract the juice. When she got too tired, she called the idiot over to help pound it. Soon, she had a large basin full of centella asiatica and sugarcane juice.
Jiang Yuwei then used a gauze to filter all the juice again before drinking it. Because of the sugarcane, the centella asiatica was very sweet even without honey. Drinking it in the summer can whiten the skin, clear acne, and reduce internal heat, making it very suitable as a herbal tea.
Jiang Yuwei thought that if some guests didn't like herbal tea, they could order a bowl of chilled tofu pudding with spring water and eat it with spicy hot pot, which would be a good option.
Jiang Yuwei was thinking that she should prepare more stools and tables for her stall tomorrow, so that customers who didn't like takeout could eat directly on the street.
With that in mind, Jiang Yuwei asked Ning Daya to find all the small bamboo stools that had been made at home before, and then, based on her memories from her previous life, she directed Ning Huaizhi and the idiot to work together to make several small foldable bamboo tables.
After everything was finished, it was almost midnight. Jiang Yuwei closed the courtyard gate and told everyone to go back to their rooms to sleep.
She had to get up early tomorrow to go to the market. There were a lot of things to sell, and she was worried that the people would be too busy to handle it. She considered taking the idiot to the market, but she was also afraid that the man looking for the idiot hadn't left yet. If they ran into him, her family would suffer too. It was safer to leave the idiot at home tomorrow to work with Ning Wu and Tie Zhu.
We can only wait until this storm passes before considering the idiot's work arrangements. After all, Jiang Yuwei adheres to the principle that no one is idle in the family, and even an idiot has to work.
With these thoughts in mind, Jiang Yuwei fell into a deep sleep.
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