Do you have pork?
When Su Yun'er asked about pork, the vendor smiled and nodded.
"The lowest price is sixteen coins per pound of meat, and it's from a pig that was just slaughtered today, it's extremely fresh. Would you like some, madam?"
"Sixteen coins?" Su Yun'er hesitated; it was a bit expensive.
I only have thirty coins left in my pocket. Earning money is hard, but spending it is like water flowing away.
Seeing that Su Yun'er didn't speak, the boss probably guessed the reason.
"My lady, do you not have enough money on you? It's alright, I can cut as much as you need."
These days, every household is struggling, so vendors aren't afraid of customers buying too little; they'll sell whatever they can.
Su Yun'er looked around the meat stall and finally chose a piece of pork rump. She weighed half a jin (250 grams), and the owner cut the meat, wrapped it in a large lotus leaf, and put it in Su Yun'er's basket.
Su Yun'er turned her head and saw a piece of pork fat under the cutting board.
"Boss, can I sell this lard?"
"This? This is something to throw away."
Su Yun'er was startled.
This lard can be refined into oil, so it shouldn't be so worthless, right?
But after quickly going through the original owner's memories, Su Yun'er finally understood.
It turns out that the people here don't like to eat pork.
This is somewhat similar to the Wei-Jin to Tang Dynasty period in my previous world, when people didn't really like eating pork.
Because people believe that pigs eat dirty things, pork is also considered dirty and cheap, so people don't really like to eat pork. Since they don't like to eat it, they naturally don't bother to research how to cook it.
"Since you're going to throw it away anyway, why don't you give it to me, boss?" Su Yun'er said.
The vendor sized up Su Yun'er, noticing the patches upon patches on her clothes, which made her look very poor. He sighed and handed her the lard.
I don't want it either way, but since this young lady wants it, I'll give it to her.
"Please take it, my lady."
After thanking the butcher, Su Yun'er felt a surge of joy.
With twenty coins left, Su Yun'er went to the clinic and paid back ten coins for her medical expenses.
Upon seeing Su Yun'er come to pay the medical bills, the young apprentice who had previously criticized Su Yun'er blushed.
Su Yun'er was completely focused on the piece of pork fat, already planning how to eat it.
As soon as Su Yun'er entered the village with her basket, she saw several village women chatting together under a big tree at the village entrance.
"I heard that the young widow from the Chen family has perked up?"
"Absolutely, she almost beat up her brother from her maternal family."
“I heard from my sister-in-law that the young widow went to her parents’ house and beat up her aunt and cousin.”
“It should have been done a long time ago. She takes her anger out on her mother-in-law and children every day. I really can’t stand her.”
"Shh, don't say anything, she's coming."
"Afraid of her? What a coward." Aunt Lan scoffed and rolled her eyes at Su Yun'er.
The original owner of this body had often been ostracized by these people, but she would always lower her head and walk away after hearing their complaints.
But today, Su Yun'er has no intention of tolerating these gossipy women any longer.
"Aunt Lan is always interfering in other people's affairs, but why doesn't she ever manage her own husband?" Su Yun'er's lips curled into a mocking smile.
Upon hearing this, Aunt Lan's eyes widened immediately, and she glared at him fiercely: "What do you mean?"
"Nothing else. It's just that when I went to town today, I saw Aunt Lan's husband in an alley, arguing and pulling at a girl dressed in red and green."
It's common knowledge in the whole village that Aunt Lan's husband is a gambler and a womanizer.
Some of the women nearby chuckled. When Aunt Lan heard that her husband had gone to the city to find her mistress again, she was furious. She glared at the snickering woman, packed her things, and hurried home.
"Aunt Lan's house is going to be lively now." The person who had been chuckling earlier covered his mouth and laughed.
Su Yun'er glared at her irritably.
What are you all up to? You really enjoy meddling in other people's business. Why don't you use that energy to mind your own business first?!
Without wasting time arguing with these people, Su Yun'er went straight home.
She also has to cook delicious meals for her family of four.
As soon as she entered the courtyard, she smelled a strong medicinal aroma; it was Xiaoshu and Xiaocao, the siblings, brewing medicine for Old Lady Chen.
"Mother! Mother is back!"
Xiao Cao had been keeping an eye on the movement at the courtyard gate. As soon as she saw Su Yun'er return, she jumped up happily, clapped her hands, rushed over, and hugged Su Yun'er tightly.
"Little grass, look what delicious things Mommy bought back." Su Yun'er waved to the little tree.
The twins immediately surrounded them.
Su Yun'er opened the basket and took out a piece of pinkish pork fat.
"Mom, what is this?" Xiaoshu stretched out a finger and poked the piece of lard.
"This is pork fat, which can be rendered into oil. The pork cracklings left after rendering the oil can be used for stir-frying or mixed with sugar. They're oily, fragrant, and so delicious that you'll want to bite your tongue off."
"Bit off your tongue?" Upon hearing this, the little grass quickly covered its mouth. "No, no, the little grass can't live without a tongue."
Seeing her like this, Su Yun'er burst into laughter.
Pork fat wasn't expensive when I lived in the past. I would occasionally buy a piece to render lard. The cooled lard would be snow-white in a bottle, and I could just scoop out a spoonful whenever I wanted to eat it. It was convenient and delicious.
She told the twins to continue brewing the medicine, and then Su Yun'er took the things into the kitchen.
Seeing that no one was paying attention to her, Su Yun'er quickly entered her space, did another round of harvesting and sowing, and then went to visit her friend's house.
In addition to the initial ten friends, Su Yun'er has added several new friends in the past few days.
Although my crops will be stolen, my friends are all high-level and I can often "steal" high-level items that I can't grow yet.
For example, this time, Su Yun'er actually stole some star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, and cinnamon.
"Great, this is just what I need to render lard." Su Yun'er happily put the things away.
She also noticed that the space has added a feature to help friends water their vegetables.
"I think there should be a reward for watering my friend's vegetables?" Su Yun'er thought, and clicked on the little watering can. She saw a watering mark appear above the vegetable patch. She clicked a few times as instructed, and sure enough, the little watering can watered the vegetable patch that needed watering.
At the same time, Su Yun'er saw that her points had increased by a few points.
After visiting various friends' homes, Su Yun'er returned with a wealth of experiences.
It was getting late, so she washed her hands and began to render the oil.
This pork fat is very fresh, with a dry surface and a thin film covering it. It is also pinkish-white in color.
First, rinse the pork fat, add a little peppercorn, and soak it in water to remove some impurities and the fishy smell.
After soaking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, cut the lard into small, evenly sized cubes, add it to a pot along with a small bowl, turn on high heat, and start rendering the lard.
When the cloudy liquid began to clear, it meant that the water had evaporated. Su Yun'er found a clean earthenware pot and poured in the clear lard. In the end, only some cracklings and oil remained in the pot.
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