novelraw Chapter 340 - 337: A Harmonious Family Prospers
Chapter 340 - 337: A Harmonious Family Prospers
Yang Zhigang rolled his eyes. "You’re the big winter melon! Go look in a mirror. Your face is as round as one of the old pumpkins at home. How are you ever going to get married?"
"My mom says that even if a woman is blind, crippled, or has a scabby head, she won’t have trouble getting married. But if a man is short and stout..." Tong Xinglan looked at him and shook her head. "Tsk, tsk. I’d say that’s tough!"
Qiaohui piled on, deadpan, "Exactly. Even the village idiot found someone. As for guys like my second brother, he had to marry into his wife’s family."
"Hmph!" Yang Zhigang shot them a glare. "Plenty of girls like me!"
Lin Lan watched the three of them, smiling and shaking her head.
Just then, someone called out, "Hello? I’d like to buy some pumpkin patties."
"Nyah, nyah, nyah~" Tong Xinglan stuck her tongue out at him, made a face, and then went out carrying a tray of freshly baked honey buns.
That afternoon, while Yang Zhigang helped out at the shop, Lin Lan took some money and the restaurant’s business license. She went to the Bureau of Industry and Commerce to pay the management fee, then to the tax office next door to pay the taxes. After that, she headed to the restaurant on the east side of town.
When she arrived, she saw the sign was already hung. The restaurant was named "Home-Style Cooking," an idea of Lin Changyou’s that Xu Ming had helped write out.
Zhao Xiaohui, who had on an apron, was wiping down the tables. When she saw Lin Lan, she greeted her with a smile. "Everything’s ready. We open tomorrow."
Lin Lan smiled. "It looks great. Clean and bright. Customers will feel at ease when they see it."
Lin Changyou and his wife came out from the back.
Wu Shufen looked at her with a worried expression. "Little Lan, everything else is fine, but the meat is a problem. It’s hard to buy. If we get too much, I’m afraid it’ll spoil, but if we get too little, I’m worried we’ll run out."
Lin Lan handed the business license to Lin Changyou and said to Wu Shufen, "Uncle Da has a refrigerator. When he and Xiangyang get back, we’ll buy one to freeze the meat."
Wu Shufen remembered the tall metal box she had seen at the department store last year. "A refrigerator? Those are so expensive, and they use electricity! It’s not worth it!"
"It is worth it!" Lin Lan said, putting an arm around her mother and guiding her to a seat. "With a refrigerator, we can stock up on meat. If we find some good game, we can buy that and freeze it, too. When a customer places an order, we won’t have to rush out to buy ingredients. We can cook it immediately, and we won’t have to worry about anything spoiling."
After listening, Lin Changyou chimed in to persuade her. "Wife, we can’t skimp on something like this. Let’s listen to Little Lan and have Xiangyang help us buy one."
Wu Shufen thought about it and realized Lin Lan had a point. ’We can’t have customers show up and then have to run all over town buying meat to cook for them!’
"Alright. And we can buy it without needing any ration tickets or coupons." As she said this, Wu Shufen remembered that Li Xiangyang still wasn’t back. She looked at Lin Lan with concern. "Xiangyang has been gone for quite a few days. Why hasn’t he returned?"
Lin Lan smiled. "Uncle Da had some business to take care of in Yangcheng City. He mentioned before he left that they might be delayed by a couple of days, so they probably won’t be back in time for the grand opening."
Wu Shufen was relieved to hear that. "The opening isn’t a huge deal. As long as Xiangyang is safe out there, that’s all that matters."
Lin Lan nodded and looked at Lin Changyou. "Dad, the coal is arriving tonight. Should we have it delivered here, or over at the Lexing house?"
Lin Changyou smiled. "It’s a whole truckload, so we’d better keep it at Lexing. I was planning to have your first and second brothers weave a large bin for the coal. We can just haul some over whenever we need it."
Seeing they had it all planned out, Lin Lan felt reassured. "Okay. I’m going to head over to Limin Road and see how the shoe store is coming along. It should be almost ready."
"We’ll pick up Douzi, Little Jun, and the others from school. You be careful on your bike," Lin Changyou said.
Lin Lan nodded, then went outside, hopped on her bike, and rode off.
Wu Shufen watched her ride into the distance before going back inside the shop to hang up the business license. Zhao Xiaohui went to the backyard to help clean the pork intestines and pig stomach.
These ingredients had to be prepared in advance. The intestines would be red-braised, and the stomach would be used for a cold salad or a quick stir-fry.
Once they had prepared all the ingredients for the next morning, the three of them closed up the shop and returned to Lexing. As they reached the gate to their courtyard, they heard the SHH-SCRAPE, SHH-SCRAPE of a wood plane against a board.
It was almost time to prepare the rice paddies, so Lin Guoliang and Lin Guodong were at home helping Lin Lan build a threshing tub. When the grain ripened, they would need the tub to thresh it, since they didn’t have a machine.
The planks of wood had been taken from the family’s old pigsty, and Lin Guoliang had carried the woodworking tools all the way from Shilian on his back.
As the three women entered the courtyard, Wangcai, the dog lying there, lifted his head for a look before flopping back down.
Lin Changyou told his two sons to clean up the wood scraps and then go to the backyard to cut bamboo for the coal bin.
Wu Shufen didn’t see Zhang Xiuqing, so she headed out to the family’s private vegetable plot.
Zhang Xiuqing was out in the plot, harvesting the overgrown mustard greens. She planned to take them home, clean them, and make pickled mustard stems, or *zha cai*.
Wu Shufen walked over and asked, "Are many of them overgrown?"
Zhang Xiuqing held one up for Wu Shufen to see. "Look, they’re already starting to bolt. If we don’t harvest them now, they’ll be inedible."
"We’ll use the old leaves for pickled greens and the stems for *zha cai* to eat with congee." Wu Shufen started picking them up off the ground and putting them in her carrying basket.
A short while later, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law carried the basket back to the courtyard. They washed off the mud, peeled the tough outer skin from the stems, and cut them into clean strips about the thickness of a little finger. They placed the strips in a basin, added a suitable amount of salt and white liquor, and let them sit for two to three hours to draw out the excess water.
By the time they had washed and blanched the leaves and packed them into a pickling crock, the mustard stems, which had been salting for over two hours, had softened considerably.
The three women—Wu Shufen and her two daughters-in-law—squeezed the excess liquid from the salted stems, packed them into a cheesecloth bag, and tied the opening shut with a hemp rope.
Zhang Xiuqing found two wooden planks and laid them across a large wooden basin. She placed a steamer rack on the planks, put the cheesecloth bag of mustard stems on the rack, added another steamer rack on top of the bag, and then placed a large, water-filled basin on the very top to press out the remaining moisture.
Wu Shufen dry-toasted some Sichuan peppercorns, then crushed them and sifted out the husks to make a fine powder. She also ground some dried chilies and mixed both powders with five-spice powder, setting the blend aside.
Zhang Xiuqing waited until the children were home from school before she lifted off the basin of water. She untied the hemp rope on the bag, took out a handful of the pressed stems, and inspected them. The water had been thoroughly squeezed out.
Zhao Xiaohui smiled. "Eldest Sister-in-law, it would be best to sun-dry them for a couple of days while it’s sunny. Too much moisture will make the pickles go sour."
Zhang Xiuqing shook her head. "That won’t be necessary. They’re dry enough. We’ll mix in the spices and let them marinate for a few days."
Wu Shufen emerged from the kitchen holding an earthenware jar that could hold about two pounds and carrying a large bowl. "Little Hui, go get a few more jars."
"Okay!" Zhao Xiaohui headed to the kitchen.
Wu Shufen and Zhang Xiuqing poured half of the pressed stems into a porcelain basin. They tossed them with the spice blend, kneading it in forcefully before packing the mixture into the jars. They pressed it down firmly, covered the top with a piece of oiled paper, and sealed it tightly with thin bamboo strips.
Zhang Xiuqing put the lid on the jar, straightened up, and smiled. "There. It’ll be ready to eat in a few days."
Wu Shufen nodded. "Tomorrow morning, have Little Lan take a jar over to her grand-uncle and grand-aunt, and another to Xu Dong and his brother."
Zhang Xiuqing glanced at her mother-in-law. "Ma, I was thinking we should plant some more seeds and make a bigger batch of these pickles. We could serve a small dish to every table for free."
Wu Shufen immediately understood what she was getting at and smiled. "What a great idea! We can make plenty of other pickles, too. We’ll prepare them nicely and serve a complimentary dish to every table."
Zhao Xiaohui quickly chimed in, "I don’t know how to make any of that. I’ll just stick to sweeping, washing dishes, and cleaning."
Zhang Xiuqing smiled. "Little Hui, Liying said washing dishes is exhausting work. We’ll all pitch in together when the time comes."
Nearby, Lin Changyou, who was weaving the coal bin, looked at his wife and daughters-in-law with a gratified smile. "Good. When a family works together, everything prospers."