EBE Chapter 162 Preparation
Chapter 162 Preparation
"Okay, that's solid enough."
Shang Wan grabbed the thick hemp rope and shook the newly built swing. Feeling that there was no problem, he picked up Yuanyuan and put her on it.
It was Yuanyuan’s first time sitting on a swing. She held her mother’s arm tightly with her little hands, and her two short legs hung down and swayed.
Shang Wan coaxed her to let go, holding the clothes on her back with one hand and gently rocking the swing with the other.
The little guy first widened his eyes in surprise, his pink cheeks puffed up, and his little hands were clenched into two fists nervously, for fear of falling.
After swinging twice and finding that he would not fall, his tense little body gradually relaxed. He found the fun of swinging and started clapping his hands with joy.
Shang Wan played with her for a while, and when she heard Shitou calling her in the kitchen, she gave the task of playing with her to Chu Xu.
She rubbed the child's head and reminded him, "Be careful when you play with Yuanyuan. Don't let her fall."
Chu Xu curled his lips. Swings are for children to play with. He is going to be a general in the future, so he doesn't want to play with them.
Yuanyuan was having fun when she suddenly realized that the swing had stopped. She quickly waved her little hand towards Chu Xu and said in a soft and tender voice, "Brother, let's play swing—Ah, Qiu!"
After sleeping for a long time, he suddenly opened his mouth and sneezed, and due to inertia, his little body fell forward.
"Hey, sit still!" Chu Xu took two steps forward and held the baby.
She looked at him with sparkling eyes, "Play!"
"I know, I know. Just sit tight."
Chu Xu wanted to learn Shang Wan's method, holding Yuanyuan with one hand and pushing the swing with the other. But when he really tried it, he found that it was not as easy as it seemed, and he almost let Yuanyuan fall.
Looking around, no one was paying attention to him. Chu Xu picked up the unused hemp rope nearby, tied Yuanyuan to his chest, and the two of them swung on the swing together.
The swing swung higher and higher. Chu Xu, who was also swinging on a swing for the first time, experienced the joy of it. When he stopped, Yuanyuan had fallen asleep on his chest, her saliva soaking a part of her clothes.
Chu Xu: “…”
Who do you want to play?
·
Shitou was the chef for dinner. After Xiaohuan tasted the dish which had no taste except saltiness, she decided that it was not necessary to heal her injury.
"Starting tomorrow, I'll cook."
The proposal was unanimously opposed by the whole family.
"No, you need to rest for two more days." Shitou poured her a bowl of carrot soup, "Drink more soup, it will heal faster."
The radish was produced in the space, and it was the only dish on the table that tasted good. After all, this dish only required the chopped radish to be put in, and then water was poured to cook the radish until it was soft and then salt was added.
Xiaohuan drank a sip of the carrot soup, and her taste buds, which had been tortured by the salty taste, relaxed again.
She thought for a moment and said to Shitou, "I'll just watch from the side, and I'll tell you to do it."
It didn't take much effort to talk, and Shitou agreed.
Shang Wan felt that he could also be a tool.
Everyone: “No, you can’t.”
Shang Wan: “…”
Shitou asked: "Everyone in the village has to invite guests to dinner when they move into a new house. When should we invite them?"
"Let's wait until Xiaohuan recovers from her injury."
The chef is still recovering from his injuries, so why invite such a guest? Shang Wan didn't want to make enemies with the villagers because of a meal.
·
The days of recuperation were peaceful. Shang Wan took Lu Chengjing into the city twice and discussed buying a lot of things for the new home.
She also went to a pawnshop and wanted to pawn a jade ornament, but she thought the price offered by the shopkeeper was too low and changed her mind and decided not to pawn it.
As soon as the ox cart left the pawnshop, a man dressed as a servant walked in.
In just a moment, the man left the pawnshop and hurried through the streets towards the Lu family.
On the other hand, Shang Wan learned from the gossipmonger that Lu Chengyuan had already gone to Beijing, and it was said that he brought a lot of things with him, filling up three horse-drawn carriages.
After giving the gossip money, she went to the escort agency and learned from the old man that Sang Qi, the escort, had not returned yet and it would take another two or three days.
After thanking the old man, Shang Wan drove the ox cart to the county government office to find Shan Dajun and invited him to come to his house for dinner two days later.
She also invited Qiao Yu'an and the four members of the He family.
When passing by the market, Shang Wan took a fancy to two piglets. After some intense bargaining, he bought them for four cents of silver.
There was limited space on the ox cart, and it became even more crowded after the piglets were loaded, so Lu Chengjing could only go to the front and sit with Shang Wan.
Fortunately, both of them are thin, so they can still sit together if they squeeze together.
Shang Wan turned around and counted the things in the ox cart. "Have you bought everything you need? Is there anything missing?"
Lu Chengjing took out a list from his sleeve and checked each item one by one. "I bought everything on the list."
"That's good!" Shang Wan waved the whip, "Go home."
·
The lively preparations for the housewarming party began the night before.
The two piglets were raised for the New Year, and the pigs for the housewarming party had to be bought again.
Shang Wan adopted the principle of proximity and bought pigs directly in the village. Since they were from the same village, the price was affordable.
The pig was bought in the morning and Shang Wan personally killed it after bringing it back. He collected two large basins of pig blood.
The meat was slaughtered in the afternoon, and the different parts were separated and neatly stacked in a basin.
Clean all the internal organs, together with the pig's head, and stew them in a large pot using Xiaohuan's special marinade recipe.
Keep cooking over low heat, taking out the pig's head halfway through, and the rest can continue to braise until tomorrow morning.
The aroma of the braised meat was so overbearing that it drifted throughout the village. Many people ate their meals while swallowing their saliva, wishing time would fast forward to tomorrow.
Seeing that it was almost cooked, Xiaohuan scooped out some for her family to try first.
While recovering from her injuries, she was only thinking about the recipe. This time, the braised pork recipe was improved on the original one.
Everyone ate in silence, it was so delicious that they almost swallowed their tongues.
Chu Xu had never eaten offal, especially large intestines, which were not considered worthy of being eaten in formal dining halls and were never seen on his dining table.
At first he was reluctant to eat it, but as he saw the amount of braised food on the plate getting less and less, he ignored his hesitation and quickly put two pieces into the bowl. Once he started eating, he couldn't stop and kept praising the food for being delicious.
Seeing that everyone liked it, Xiaohuan went to scoop out some more to cut.
Yuanyuan was drooling with greed, but the stewed food was too strong and not suitable for a little baby, so no one let her eat it. The little one could only drink milk from the milk pot with a wronged look on her face.
Seeing that she was really pitiful, Chu Xu secretly took a clean chopstick and dipped it in the marinade, letting the little one lick it and taste it.
The brine is a bit salty, Yuanyuan spat it out and felt that goat milk was more delicious.
Chu Xu touched his round belly and burped in an ungraceful manner.
"Sister Xiaohuan, you can open a restaurant in Beijing. With this kind of food, I guarantee it will be full every day."
Xiao Huan shook her head. "The food of the nobles is very expensive, how can they look down on something like this? At most, they just want to taste the new flavor."
She pointed at the sliced braised large intestines and said, "It takes a lot of time and effort to wash this thing, and the spices are expensive. If I sell it cheaply, I won't lose money, but I won't make much money either. If I sell it expensively, no one will buy it, so I can just eat it at home."
Shang Wan put down his chopsticks and said, "If we open a restaurant, we will definitely need other dishes. Luzhu can be sold together with them."
Xiaohuan heard the voice and turned to look at Shang Wan. Did her sister want to open a restaurant?