Chapter 23 023. Is he interested in you?
When Lei Li and Zhou Yi arrived, Mr. Zhu was killing a chicken, and the scarlet liquid dripping from the kitchen knife was chicken blood.
"I didn't know your family wanted to eat chicken before I came, otherwise I would have brought you some galangal inso, my husband's special sauce, it tastes strange but very fragrant."
Lei Li turned his head and said while dealing with the chicken feathers.
"Hey, you can bring me next time. You only come every two or three months anyway. If it's nothing serious, Zhuge'er and I can go to the countryside to visit you in the summer."
Mr. Zhu said indifferently.
He was a butcher, and one of the better earners in the county and town. Although he didn't enjoy the best food every day, he had tasted all kinds of delicacies from land and sea and had seen the world. He didn't understand how exclusive the "exclusive" that Lei Li was talking about was.
——Except Zhou Yi, probably no one would use that weird-smelling thing that is comparable to houttuynia cordata and soy milk to make sauce.
For people who don't like it or haven't eaten it, these things are really weird.
Zhou Yi was dealing with the grass snake at the other end. He heard what they said and nodded.
"When I was planting rice a few days ago, I saw quite a few snails in the fields. After a while, when the snails are fatter, I'll pick some false basil and stir-fry them together. It's delicious too."
"If there are chili peppers, stir-fried snails would be even better. If you add them to duck feet and pickled bamboo shoots, you can also make a duck feet stew."
When Mr. Zhu heard this, his fierce face revealed an expression of admiration. "You also know about food?"
Zhou Yi shook his head. "It's not really research, I just know some home cooking methods passed down from my ancestors, especially the stewed snails and duck feet. It's spicy, sour, and appetizing. It's also a good dish to go with wine. Every year, people like it."
Mr. Zhu was a foodie and a wine lover, so he became excited upon hearing this. He smiled widely, and his ferocious face seemed inexplicably kind.
"At first, Brother Li said you were educated, but I didn't believe you. But now, after hearing what you're saying, I've never heard of the names of these dishes I've eaten in all these years."
"Next time you come back, remember to bring me some of those false pickled bamboo shoots you mentioned, and some snails. I'll buy you a jar of good wine, and we can have a few drinks together."
Mr. Zhu disagreed and threw the vegetable he was picking at Mr. Zhu's head. "Dad, didn't the doctor say you can't drink anymore? Are you still drinking? Are you going to ruin your health?"
"When I was in my twenties, your little dad was in charge of me. Now when I'm in my forties, it's Zhu Ge'er who's in charge of me... I don't know when I'll be gone. How can I not drink more while I'm still alive?"
Mr. Zhu blew his beard and glared.
When a man and a boy get married, their children call the man "Dad" and the boy "Little Dad."
Zhu Zhuer snorted, "I'm still pregnant with your grandson, stop saying these unlucky words."
"Hey, that's all I said."
Mr. Zhu waved his hand.
Lei Li noticed the key words and looked at Zhu Zhu'er, "Grandson? Zhu Ge'er, you're pregnant?!"
"yes."
Zhu Zhuer blushed a little. "I've only been pregnant for a little over a month, and the baby isn't stable yet. I thought I'd tell you next time you come... Will you be the godfather of my child?"
"When you and Zhou Yi have a baby, I will be your baby's godfather. If you are a brother and a man, we can even arrange a baby marriage."
Lei Li glanced at Zhou Yi dimly, making Zhou Yi's neck feel cold, and then said, "I'll be your child's godfather. Zhou Yi and I... we don't know when we'll have a baby yet."
They are of the same age. Liu Xiaocao is pregnant, Zhu Zhuer is pregnant too, but he is the last one to get married. Zhou Yi is not even there yet. When will he be able to have a child?
Thinking of this, Lei Li's eyes became more resentful and sharp. He glanced coldly at Zhou Yi's neck and then at his lower body.
The desire to force someone to have sex and to castrate her was pounding in his heart, becoming stronger and stronger.
If you can't get it, just castrate it.
So that he won’t be unable to resist and have to cheat on other women later.
Zhou Yi: “……?”
Why do you suddenly feel murderous?
Zhou Yi and Lei Li exchanged a glance, then silently lowered their heads, threw the cleaned and chopped snake meat into the clay pot, and added some medicinal herbs.
Codonopsis pilosula and Astragalus membranaceus.
Fresh wild yam.
Doctor Niu said that medicinal herbs can also be used to make soups and dishes.
Mr. Zhu is a person who can spend nine taels of silver on food if he has ten taels. His biggest hobby is studying how to eat, so Lei Li will send him some medicinal ingredients for stewing soup.
But at that time, most people did not have much awareness of food supplements. One reason was that medicinal materials were expensive, and the other was that there were few people who could identify the materials and medicines. In addition, they could not afford meat and did not have spare money to study.
Only a few people know about it, but they won't spread the knowledge.
The aroma of snake soup slowly wafted out.
Mr. Zhu came up to the clay pot and smelled it, and his eyes suddenly lit up. "How come this is much fresher and sweeter than what I make? Zhou Yi, how did you make it?"
"Kill the snake, remove the skin, head, and internal organs, soak and clean the herbs, peel and cut the fresh yam into pieces, and soak them in clean water. I saw some pork bones, so I used a few pieces, blanched them, and stored them for later use."
Zhou Yi said, "Put the sliced ginger and water in a clay pot and bring to a boil. Add the remaining ingredients except the yam, bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer on low heat. Add the fresh yam and simmer for 15 minutes. Add an appropriate amount of salt and turn off the heat."
After thinking for a moment, he added, "If you use chicken broth, adding a little chicken broth can also enhance the flavor, but some people like to eat it original flavor and don't like to add it."
Mr. Zhu shook his head with emotion. "I just told you to only put in a tiny amount of herbs. I used to just grab a handful and put everything in..."
Zhu Zhuer looked at his father dimly, "No wonder the soups you used to cook were always bitter..."
Mr. Zhu laughed awkwardly, patted Lei Li and changed the subject, "Brother Li is so lucky. It's hard to find a man who can cook and cooks for his husband."
Others believe in Buddhism.
Mr. Zhu believed in the rice gate.
He himself likes to cook very much, but his daughter Zhu Zhuer can't cook at all, and his brother-in-law doesn't know how to cook either. The whole family depends on him as their father for food.
Lei Li also looked satisfied, "Luckily I picked it up, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to cook for myself after I went to the Dead Mountain."
"My mother used to be worried. She even said that I was a twenty-year-old boy and my cooking was still so bad. I wondered if I would starve to death after she and my father were gone in a hundred years."
Lei Li laughed and said, "I'm going to find a husband who can cook and have him serve me every day. If he doesn't want to, I'll beat him up."
"If that doesn't work, just give it a couple of beatings. There's nothing a couple of beatings can't solve."
Mr. Zhu laughed heartily. "You, boy, are much better than my brother Zhu. You're quite fierce. If your husband doesn't obey, you can let me beat him. My beatings hurt a lot."
Zhou Yi: “…”
Although it was a bit immoral, he really wanted to ask, Zhu Da Hu and Lei Li were the father and son, right?
It's just a virtue.
Snake soup.
Chicken stewed with potatoes, stir-fried chicken offal, and egg drop soup with wild vegetables.
Zhu Zhuer's husband didn't come back for lunch, so she left a portion for him. Otherwise, three of the four people had big appetites and couldn't even finish a sip of soup.
What Zhu Zhuer ate was almost negligible.
After dinner.
Lei Li and Zhou Yi left Zhu Da Hu's house in an ox cart. Zhu Da Hu gave them two strips of wild yam, but he refused to take them for free and packed a few pounds of pork for Lei Li to take home.
On the way to the county government office, Lei Li talked about how he knew Mr. Zhu.
"I became an apprentice to Doctor Niu at the age of 12, and started delivering herbs to Doctor Cao at 17. But not every time he needed a lot of herbs, so sometimes I would go to the town market to sell vegetables and baskets of eggs."
"Mr. Zhu was selling pork at the town market. There were a lot of people around his stall, so I liked to sell vegetables near him. My family was poor, so I rarely sold meat. I never thought Mr. Zhu would be interested in me."
Zhou Yi was stunned for a moment, "He likes you?"
"What are you thinking about?"
Lei Li rolled his eyes at him and continued, "Mr. Zhu has a brother named Zhu Zhuer. He's attracted to me and wants me to be his son-in-law."
"Didn't I tell you that boys all have pregnancy moles? Usually boys' pregnancy moles are between the eyebrows or behind the ears. They are red and very conspicuous, but mine is on my chest."
"Mr. Zhu didn't realize I was a boy, and thought I was a man. He saw that although I was a little pale, I was tall and strong, and looked honest, so he wanted me to marry Zhu Ge'er."
Zhou Yi: "What happened next?"
"I didn't know Mr. Zhu had this idea. He tried to get close to me and even asked me to learn how to butcher pigs, saying it was a good skill to earn money to support the family."
"I thought he had some bad intentions, so I didn't agree at first. But later I was attracted to him and wanted to learn his skills and then run away. It was Zhu Zhuer who felt something was wrong and guessed that I was a brother."
Mr. Zhu was very surprised and said, "No wonder I'm so pale, like a pretty boy..."
Lei Li felt like laughing and sighing as he spoke, "Mr. Zhu didn't look down on me just because I was his brother, nor did he think I was rough or rude. He told me many times that it would be fine if I was his brother, and if I couldn't be his father-in-law, he asked me to acknowledge him as my godfather."
"Zhu Zhuer was also happy. He said that he had no brothers or sisters, and with me, he would have a great brother. He told his friends very proudly."
However, his buddies didn't think Lei Li was a good person, because he was a boy, but he did the bloody work of slaughtering pigs like a man, and even castrated pigs...
This is not the right way.
It’s better for you to find a good man and marry him early.
Zhu Zhuer gradually distanced herself from them. After getting married, the person she had the closest contact with was Lei Li, and she even asked him to be the godfather of her child.
"Did Mr. Zhu introduce you to the job of butchering pigs?"
"Yeah, didn't Mr. Zhu move to the county town?"
Lei Li nodded and said, "There was no one in the village to slaughter pigs, so he asked me to do it. At first, those people didn't know I was a brother, but they praised me for my good skills."
Then, a little angrily and proudly, "Later, when they found out I was their brother, they didn't want me to go and do the killing. But no one else knew how to do it, so they had no choice but to pay me to do it."
"If you kill and slaughter pigs, how can you collect and deliver herbs?"
Zhou Yi was a little puzzled. "I haven't seen you slaughtering pigs these days. There are also people selling pork at the town market. Which butcher has taken your market share?"
"What goose?"
Lei Li didn't understand the last word and frowned, not wanting to think about it any further. "That pork seller doesn't even raise pigs himself, and he doesn't know how to slaughter or castrate a pig."
"But he had an ox cart, and the town market was not far from Sanlihe Village. Besides, people in the town market didn't eat much pork, so he bought pork from the county and brought it back to the town to sell."
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