Chapter 174 A sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner
New Year's Eve is here.
There were no horse bandits this year, and the people who had been doing corvée labor had all returned. The autumn harvest was a good harvest, and there was a water mill in the village, so many people earned wages from it.
In the twelfth lunar month, everyone buys pigs together to slaughter them, and stores them until New Year's Eve. Finally, they don't have to be patient anymore, and all the good meat and dishes are taken out. The aroma of meat wafts through every household, and the children are so delicious that they drool.
Early in the morning, Jinbao Jinhua came to deliver tofu to Qin Yao's family. It was made by He and Zhang, using soybeans harvested from the fields this year. It had a particularly strong bean flavor.
What Liu Ji had asked Dalang to buy before was far inferior to what Lao Zhai made himself.
Early this morning, Zhang's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law got up to make tofu. Jinbao covered it with a bowl, wrapped it in a layer of gauze and brought it over. Liu Ji opened the bowl and it was still steaming.
"Da Lang, Er Lang, San Lang, Si Niang, come on, let's eat tofu pudding!" Jin Bao shouted in the yard at the top of his voice.
Jinhua looked at him with disdain, thinking that he was just like what her grandmother said, a noise to the ears!
The little girl came into the main room. Qin Yao had just gotten up and was washing up. On the table was a bowl of meat wontons brought by Liu Ji. She leaned over to smell it, and her eyes lit up.
"Aunt San, are you having wontons for breakfast?" The little girl walked behind Qin Yao and asked curiously, trying her best to pretend that she didn't care, but her eyes couldn't help but glance at the table.
How could Qin Yao not know her?
Putting the washcloth away, he turned around and tapped the little girl's forehead, "Eat if you want."
Jinhua immediately smiled and said, "Thank you, Auntie San, but I've already had breakfast. I'll just try one."
She stretched out a finger with great effort, to show that she was really just trying it.
Seeing Qin Yao nodded, she happily sat down at the table, scooped one with a spoon, blew it to cool it down, and swallowed it in one gulp, her eyes narrowed, "It's so delicious!"
She said she would eat one, put down the spoon, gave her seat to Qin Yao, and said, "I'll ask Si Niang to come to my house to eat tofu pudding. Do you want some, Third Aunt?"
Qin Yao waved her hand, "No, you guys eat it, I don't like it."
"I love it!" Liu Ji rolled out the dough while wrapping the meat filling in it. He added minced beef with soy sauce to the meat filling and cooked it in the pot. It was so delicious.
The mother and her children had already eaten their portions, and it was only his turn as the cook that was last.
But there is one final benefit, which is that he can put all the remaining meat filling into his own bowl and add a handful of vegetables to go with it.
Qin Yao's portion was also the version with added ingredients. After eating one, she immediately put the second one into her mouth. It was so delicious that she didn't have time to talk.
"Jinhua, your uncle loves tofu pudding, which is sweet. Dalang, bring a bowl back for dad!" As he said that, he pointed to the cupboard and asked Dalang to come over and get a bowl to serve it.
Jin Bao's happy face froze immediately. Grandma left a small bowl of tofu pudding for them, saying it was for the kids. If Uncle San brought such a big bowl, they would have nothing to eat!
So, on the way to the old house, Jin Bao kept telling Er Lang, "We don't have enough to eat, so don't give Uncle San some. Just say there's nothing left. It's gone."
Jiro chuckled, "Okay!"
"Let's eat more ourselves." Sanlang added, and thinking of the softness of the tofu pudding, he couldn't help licking his lips.
Seeing his greedy look, Jin Bao said unhappily, "Why didn't you call me when you were having wontons in the morning?"
Sanlang opened his clear eyes and said innocently, "Brother Jinbao, I forgot."
Jinbao was so angry that he wanted to hit him on the head, but Dalang blocked it with his hand and prevented him from hitting him.
"You're just protecting your own kid!" Jin Bao glared at Dalang angrily, but he couldn't win the fight, so he could only turn to look for Erlang.
Dalang told them to watch their way and not to fall and get their new clothes dirty.
Several people responded with "oh". Si Niang and Jin Hua took steps carefully, looking at the identical embroidery on the uppers of their shoes and laughing foolishly.
Liu Ji had finished his breakfast at home and was waiting for tofu pudding as dessert. However, Dalang and his four companions came back and brought him half a bowl of soybeans.
"Where's the tofu pudding? Where's my sweet tofu pudding?" Liu Ji asked in shock.
Dalang stuffed the beans into his arms. Erlang wiped the bean curd on the corner of his mouth and said seriously, "It's not enough, so grandma gave me half a bowl of soybeans and said you can make it yourself if you want."
"Oh, by the way, it will also be delicious if you put it in bone soup as the soup base. Aren't we having hotpot tonight? Dad, why don't you just add it to the soup as the soup base. It will definitely be delicious." Erlang added hurriedly.
Liu Ji looked at the beans in the bowl, then looked at the four "filial sons" in front of him, and almost couldn't help but slap Dalang and Erlang on the butt.
However, Qin Yao was lying behind him digesting the food, so he didn't want to get angry. He grabbed the two older ones and took them to the kitchen, giving them tasks to do in preparation for the New Year's Eve dinner.
The meatballs have been fried in advance, and the tofu is available, but it needs to be cut into pieces and fried in oil first, so that it will not become mushy when cooked and it will taste better.
Liu Ji pulled the wild goat tied to the stable over, holding a knife, but he didn't know where to start and was at a loss.
Seeing the pitiful look of help, Qin Yao showed great compassion, stood up and walked over, waving her hand, "Go get a basin, boil water and pluck the hair."
He also told the twins who were clinging to the main hall door, "Go in and close the door. Children should not watch such bloody scenes, as they may have nightmares."
Sanlang and Si Niang said "oh" and hid in the house obediently.
Previously, when a pig was slaughtered in the village, a group of children ran over to watch out of curiosity. However, Qin Yao didn't pay any attention, and when they came back, three of the four children had nightmares.
After Zhang found out about this, she grabbed Qin Yao and went to the neighboring village without saying a word. She asked a blind woman to roast three eggs and brought them back, saying that if the child ate them, he would stop having nightmares.
Qin Yao still didn't believe it, but the next day after eating the eggs, Erlang and the twins slept soundly and never had nightmares again.
Zhang was very satisfied. "See, I told you that the blind woman was the most powerful, but you still didn't believe me and argued with me."
Qin Yao: "Ah, this." When in doubt, look to metaphysics. The ancients were right!
Dalang and Liu Ji both stayed in the yard and watched Qin Yao kill the sheep with a knife in her hand.
The boiling water was ready, and the father and son were responsible for plucking the hair. After cleaning it, Qin Yao was responsible for cutting open the belly.
She suddenly had the urge to eat lamb rolls, but the weather was not good. It didn't snow, and there was no natural refrigerator to freeze it. It was not easy to cut the soft meat into paper-thin slices.
But driven by the delicious food, Qin Yao still pulled out her steel dagger and slowly sliced the meat on the chopping board.
Although it is not as thin as modern paper, it is still as thin as the yellow paper commonly used here.
The small kitchen with the candles lit was filled with the silver light of knives flashing, so dazzling that Liu Ji and Dalang were almost blinded.
The bloodiest stage was over, and Erlang, Sanlang and Si Niang were allowed to come to the kitchen.
Sometimes he looked at the mutton bone soup being cooked in front of his father, sometimes he went to his mother and looked at the plates of mutton slices cut as thin as paper. He swallowed his saliva countless times.
Finally, Qin Yao lit a string of firecrackers and threw them carelessly into the yard. Amid the chirping of chickens and horses, the New Year's Eve dinner was served on the table.
The family of six had the most sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner ever.