Sunday 23 April 2023

WLAEF 13




Chapter 13


At this side, Jiang Yun Zhu and Mrs. Chen cleaned up the stall and returned home.

At 9a.m., they went to town to buy things for the afternoon.

"Today's meat is really good." Mrs. Chen looked at the piece of pork belly and remarked with satisfaction. She felt this piece should be enough for Deputy General Zhao and the others to eat tomorrow.

However, Jiang Yun Zhu was staring at another piece of meat on the meat stall as her mind spun.

"Boss, is this beef?" She asked.

"Yeah. Why? Do you want it?" At first, the meat stall owner was surprised. Then he asked in delight.

The Xia Dynasty attached great importance to farming and didn’t allow people to kill cattle in private. So most of the beef on the market was the meat of some old cattle. Not to mention that it was twice as expensive as pork, it was also difficult to cook with. So except for restaurants, ordinary people rarely bought it.

Jiang Yun Zhu wanted to buy a piece, so she asked for the price.

The meat stall owner gave a very affordable price.

Jiang Yun Zhu immediately decided to buy two jins.

Mrs. Chen watched from the side. Although she didn't know what she was going to do, she now chose to believe her.

"Then this piece of pork belly?" she asked.

"How about buying two jins?" Jiang Yun Zhu said.

"Is two jins enough?" Mrs. Chen was surprised. Deputy General Zhao trio ate a jin or so of meat this morning. Other people also wanted to eat a little. Going by yesterday's figure, they should buy three jins. How did it become two jins!

"I won't be selling meat pancakes tomorrow." Jiang Yun Zhu answered, "I sold meat pancakes before because I wanted to attract customers with the aroma of stewed meat and make the soup better to sell. With our place, there were few rich people. Not suitable for selling meat pancakes. You can see apart from the three people this morning, there are a few people who buy meat pancakes these days.

Now that we have more customers, we don't need to make stewed meat. "

"Then the three customers this morning..." Mrs. Chen was anxious. She didn't want to lose those three customers.

"They ate so many meat pancakes this morning, will they still want to eat them tomorrow?" Jiang Yun Zhu asked.

Mrs. Chen was stumped. That’s right, no matter how delicious it was, one can't eat it every day.

"Then what should we do?" She hurriedly asked.

Jiang Yun Zhu shook the beef in her hand, "I'll make this tomorrow."

Seeing her confident appearance, Mrs. Chen was a little relieved. Shortly later, it came to her. Wait a moment. Since they won't be making meat pancakes tomorrow, why were they still buying meat?

"Mother, it’s about time for our family to eat meat." Jiang Yun Zhu held Mrs. Chen's hand and said earnestly.

Though they stewed meat and boiled bones every day these days, no one in the family ate a bite. Although Jiang Wu and the others were sensible and didn’t throw a tantrum, their round eyes eagerly stared at Jiang Yun Zhu every day. Jiang Yun Zhu almost couldn't stand against it.

Moreover, she also wanted to eat meat!

Of course, Mrs. Chen wished her family could eat meat. Every time she saw the children’s expectant eyes, her heart felt like it was bathed in acid water. But the meat was goods to be sold. So she could only harden her heart and pretend not to see it.

Since Jiang Yun Zhu exposed it today, she firmed up her heart, "Okay, let's eat stewed meat."

Soon she convinced herself and added, "We made a lot of money today, so it should be enough to eat."

Jiang Yun Zhu smiled. She knew that Mrs. Chen still loved them.

At this time, Mrs. Chen spoke, "Why don't we invite Village Chief, Father Xu, and Auntie Feng over. Our family can live here safely thanks to their help."

In order to register the household registration for their family, the village chief personally provided a package of tea leaves. While old Mrs. Feng was willing to rent the house to them at such a low price. Last time she went to bring her soup, she gave her a good few big mantou. And Father Xu. He and Xu Qing Shan helped them throughout the journey. When they arrived at Changshi Village, he put in good words for them to the village chief. Only then, they could smoothly settle down.

Each and every matter, Mrs. Chen remembered it all in her heart.

"We moved to a new house. So we should invite everyone to have a meal and have some liveliness," she said.

Jiang Yun Zhu had no objection.

"Okay, then let's buy more groceries." Mrs. Chen didn't care about money this time.

After returning home with a full load, the whole family prepared the food to be sold the next day as well as preparing dinner.

Their family didn't know many people here and it was a rented house, Mrs. Chen didn't want to make a big deal. Just took this opportunity to liven things up.

Taking time out, she went to the village chief's house and old Mrs. Feng's house to invite them.

Gu Yong De and old Father Xu had no objection, just said that they would be there in the evening.

At old Mrs. Feng's house, Mrs. Chen had repeatedly emphasized, "Everyone comes over tonight. If you don't come, I will come over to escort you."

Old Mrs. Feng had two sons. Both started a family. There were six people in their family.

Old Mrs. Feng agreed.

After Mrs. Chen left, she squinted at her two daughter-in-laws, "What do you think?"

At that time, she felt Mrs. Chen and the others were pitiful and rented the house to them at a low price. Though her two daughter-in-laws didn’t voice it out, they felt they were losing out.

Now?

She knew that Jiang Family looked kind and down-to-earth. Everyone has troubled times. If they can help, it is better to lend a helping hand.

The two daughters-in-law were ashamed.

"Then do our whole family really go?" The second daughter-in-law asked. With so many people, they were feeling shy.

"Go. I can see that they are sincerely inviting our family. Bring two of our family’s chickens." Old Mrs. Feng replied.

Two chickens weren’t cheap anymore, the two daughters-in-law thought to themselves. But when they arrived at Jiang's house and saw the meals prepared by Mrs. Chen and Jiang Yun Zhu, they felt that they brought too little chicken.

Only then did they truly believe in old Mrs. Feng's eyesight. Jiang Family were good people and they underestimated them.

This family was worth knowing!

Tonight, Mrs. Chen and Jiang Yun Zhu simply cooked two tables of feast.

The ingredients Mrs. Chen bought included chicken and fish. After going through Jiang Yun Zhu's skillful hands, the two tables of food made broad-eater Gu Yong De speechless.

How was this chicken made? It tasted so flavorful. And that bowl of emerald green soup. The radish in it was carved?

The two tables of meals made by Jiang Yun Zhu were actually just average. In the dream, what was in the Marquis of Anping was called a tireless amount of delicate and fine food.

"Whose cooking is this?" Gu Yong De asked in amazement.

"Yun Zhu made it. I helped out." Mrs. Chen answered with a smile.

"Younger Sister actually has such skills? Where did she learn it?" asked old Mrs. Feng's second daughter-in-law.

"We are ordinary people. What skills are there? Just do more and you learn it."

Mrs. Chen's words were true. Which ordinary people would go out of their way to learn how to cook? If they do it every day, they will grasp it.

Of course, Jiang Yun Zhu's cooking level had improved a bit quickly. And this was the result of her deliberate holding back.

"Oh, it’s also cooking. Some people cook it and it’s delicious. Even with a bowl of mixed wild vegetables, they can pull out flavor. Someone can't do it and waste good stuff." Gu Yong De said.

"What do you mean? I ruined things?" His wife immediately snorted jokingly.

"I didn’t mean that."

Everyone laughed and it passed. Still, everyone felt that Jiang Family’s girl wasn’t bad. She was good-looking and her skills were great.

"Hurry up and eat. If not, it won't taste good when it gets cold." Jiang Cheng spoke.

"Yes, yes. Quickly eat." Mrs. Chen followed suit and warmly urged.

Everyone sat down one after another. One side, Gu Yong De, old Mr. Chen, old Father Xu, Jiang Cheng, and old Mrs. Feng's three sons exchanged cups and drank to their heart's content. This side, old Mrs. Feng and the others also ate with full praise.

Everyone ate, drank and chatted. The relationship was suddenly pulled a lot closer.

Life should be like this. Lively and bustling.

After dinner, old Mrs. Feng's two daughter-in-laws offered to stay and help clean up. They were feeling embarrassed as they were a big family and had such delicious food.

Besides, after chatting with Mrs. Chen just now, they all felt that she was a good person and were willing to help her.

"You are customers. How can that do!" Mrs. Chen hastily replied.

"Let them help. Otherwise we won't feel at ease. You have to set up a stall tomorrow, so don't delay the important matter." Old Mrs. Feng made the final decision.

People's hearts were made of flesh. If you treat me well, I will naturally treat you well.

Old Mrs. Feng's two daughters-in-law were nimble-handed. Shortly later, they had cleaned up everything.

"If there is any matter in the future, just give us a shout." Old Mrs. Feng said before leaving.

Her two sons and daughter-in-law also nodded.

Mrs. Chen cheerfully agreed.

Everyone dispersed.

In the evening, Mrs. Chen was calculating how much money she spent today. After the calculation, she was even more eager to make money. If it wasn't for the fear of tiring Jiang Yun Zhu, she would have wished to get up at once and cook.

Oh right. She remembered a very important thing. Jiang Yun Zhu hadn't told her what she plans to make tomorrow to keep the god of wealth, Deputy General Zhao!

Naturally, Jiang Yun Zhu had it all planned out.

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1 comment:

  1. Thank you for the chapter! Assuming the raws are using “ke ren”, “guests” might be a bit more suitable than “customers” in this context

    ReplyDelete