in2ebook Chapter 253 The Appearance in My Memory
Chapter 253 The Appearance in My Memory
Chapter 253 The Appearance in My Memory
Meng Jiuhe was still a little worried and intended to follow them, but kept persuading them, "Wife, it's getting late, it's not safe for you to go out."
Xu Chaoyan pointed outside with a look of disgust: "It's only around 5 PM, a round trip to the street will only take a few quarters of an hour. We'll be right back after we finish shopping."
Zhang Xuyang glanced at Yue Niang beside him and insisted, "Sister, I'll go with you. After what happened last time, you shouldn't go out alone. It's risky for two women to go out alone."
After what happened last time, they were all extra careful and basically didn't let them go out alone, especially since it was already late.
Moon Lady also felt that he was making a mountain out of a molehill and said helplessly, "Brother, you should go back first. You are busy with your studies all day. You don't need to stay with us. My sister and I will go to the rice shop to buy a bushel of rice and come back soon."
Meng Jiu and the two exchanged glances but still wouldn't budge. Xu Chaoyan finally had to resort to coaxing and cajoling: "It's just around the corner from here, through an alley. My sister and I will be right back. Why don't you two take your baskets and go to the back of the yard to cut some vegetables? I'll need them later. We'll be back in a quarter of an hour."
Having finally gotten rid of the two tails, Xu Chaoyan breathed a sigh of relief and began to complain, "This person is really like a piece of chewing gum. He added a tail for no reason, which made us have to hide our private conversations from them."
Moon Lady muttered a few words as well: "It is indeed a bit annoying, but they are only thinking about our safety. Let's hurry back. My mother often goes to Zhou's Rice Shop ahead to buy coarse rice and noodles. I heard the owner is a nice person. Why don't we go and take a look?"
Xu Chaoyan weighed her money pouch before speaking: "Sister, as the saying goes, you have to compare prices from three different shops to know which one is the best. Let's ask about the price of a peck of rice at the nearby rice shop and check the quality of the rice. Not just any rice can make this hot and cold jelly."
The Moon Goddess was completely bewildered by what she said: "This thing has to be selected as carefully as marrying off a daughter."
Xu Chaoyan chuckled twice and explained, "That's not it. It's because different varieties of rice produce different results when making hot and cold rice noodles. In some places, the rice is grown in paddy fields. In others, it's grown in dry fields on the mountains where the water source isn't very good. People in the mountains basically rely on the weather for their livelihood. They can only start planting rice seedlings after it rains. Paddy fields are different because they are close to the river and have a convenient water source. They usually have sweat-proof pools to store some water, so the water particles are fuller, and there's more sunlight."
Yue Niang nodded and said, "Sister, I didn't expect you to be unfamiliar with farming, but you know quite a lot. I really underestimated you before. Back in my hometown, my family didn't have any fertile land, only a few plots of mountain land, which couldn't grow rice at all, so I didn't know much about these things." After saying that, she admired her even more.
In the end, if Xu Chaoyan hadn't been worried about Meng Jiu and the others urging her, she would have liked to find a few more rice shops to compare prices. Indeed, as her sister had said, the first two shops were charging thirty-five coins per dou of rice. Xu Chaoyan talked to the shop they frequented, saying that she would come back often to support their business, and the owner gave her a two-coin discount, making it twenty-eight coins per dou.
When the two of them excitedly took the rice back, Meng Jiu and the others had already returned with two baskets of chopped vegetables. Seeing their beaming faces, they couldn't help but ask, "What good thing happened to you two?"
Xu Chaoyan said with a proud look, "I was really good at bargaining just now, I managed to cut the price down by two coins."
Moon Lady also looked approving: "Sister Xu is so eloquent. The owner of Zhou's shop has bought from her so many times and she always gets the same price, but she managed to cut the price down by two coins."
Xu Chaoyan looked very proud of herself. Looking at the vegetables all over the ground, she suddenly remembered, "Oh dear, you've all finished. I'm so sorry, we were a little late."
Meng Jiuhe smiled indulgently and said, "It's okay, we can do the same thing." Then, when everyone's attention was elsewhere, he gently took her hand and stroked it a few times, his voice as gentle as jade.
"My wife is amazing, she can even bargain."
Xu Chaoyan immediately shook off his hand. It would be very embarrassing if the siblings saw it; she also had her pride.
Although it was still March, the vegetables had to be washed clean of dirt one by one and then cut into thin strips. The water drawn from the well was cold and pungent. Yue Niang and Xu Chaoyan were driven away by them, who said that they should do such rough work.
Now that all the preparations are complete, we can start soaking the rice. There's a trick to soaking rice, though. Xu Chaoyan plans to make sauerkraut first, but since it's her first time, she's worried about not having any starter water.
The Moon Goddess couldn't help but sift out the ashes and set them aside for later use.
Well, whether it works or not, it's just a waste of time. Consider it an experiment. Looking at the boiling water in the big iron pot, Xu Chaoyan didn't hesitate to pour all the vegetables into it. She used a spatula to stir them all over, blanching them thoroughly. Finally, she used a slotted spoon to scoop them out little by little and put them into a clean wooden bucket.
Zhang Yueniang had never seen anyone look so surprised before: "Sister, can this be eaten? Will it taste good?"
While quickly scooping out the vegetables, Xu Chaoyan said to her, "This pickled cabbage must not be touched by oil, especially when I just used the spatula. Make sure there is no oil on it, and there is no oil in the pot either, otherwise this whole pot will be wasted, and all our work will be for nothing. Also, don't blanch it for too long, or the vegetables will become mushy."
Yue Niang nodded from the side: "I understand, I will learn from it."
After all the pickled cabbage had been scooped into a wooden bucket for later use, Xu Chaoyan took out the rice she had bought that day and cooked a large pot of rice porridge. Finally, she filtered out the rice and poured all the rice porridge into the wooden bucket until it submerged the pickled cabbage, and then covered it with a wooden lid.
Watching its actions, Yue Niang raised her doubts again: "Will this taste good? The rice porridge is sweet and delicious, but will it taste good mixed with this pickled cabbage?"
She didn't know what to say, afraid of hurting Xu Chaoyan's pride.
Xu Chaoyan smiled and said, "Sister, please feel free to speak. It does look a bit messy now, but the temperature has been a bit low these past two days. In a couple of days, you'll see that the vegetables have turned golden yellow and smell so delicious that it will make your mouth water."
The wood ash had already been sifted out, and the cloth bag used to sew the mosquito net had been scalded with boiling water several times for disinfection. The rice was put into the bag, the rope was pulled tight and tied, the wood ash was poured into the wooden bucket and boiling water was poured on it, and immediately a smoke filled the air and the smell of wood and ash wafted over.
After stirring it slightly with a stick, Xu Chaoyan put the cloth bag back in.
"Alright, sister, you've been busy with me for a long time. I've just cooked some porridge, so I'll have a bowl with some pickled vegetables and dumplings. I'll also make a cold dish of shredded vegetables, which will go well with rice."
Zhang Yueniang glanced at the contents of the wooden bucket: "What about this? Should we just leave it alone?"
After putting the bag in, Xu Chaoyan didn't bother with it anymore: "It's okay, this needs to soak overnight and then be ground into rice paste with a stone mill tomorrow."
An hour had passed by the time all these preparations were completed.
Xu Chaoyan instructed Zhang Yueniang to soak the soybeans when she got back, so she could make some tofu pudding and set up a stall the next day.
Xu Chaoyan had been busy like a spinning top all this time. When she finally got a break, she realized that her back and legs were sore. She sat there and rubbed her aching back intermittently.
She silently counted in her mind that her period was due in a few days, which explained why she felt a bit of back pain and irritability.
When Meng Jiuhe came in, he saw her tired face and quickly sat down by the bed, gently massaging her shoulders.
"Wife, let me massage your feet. I'll have my little sister boil some hot water for you to soak your feet. Didn't I tell you to rest a little longer? What are you busy with? Please use just the right amount of pressure. I'll massage your back in a bit too."
Xu Chaoyan felt the pressure from his fingertips. To be honest, the pressure was quite comfortable. These days, she had been getting up early and working late, getting up before dawn, and her shoulders were indeed starting to feel the strain.
Meng Jiu was busy with her studies, so she didn't want to bother her too much. She asked Meng Jiu to massage her shoulders and neck, which didn't feel as heavy as before.
She waved her hand to stop them: "You should rest early too. I'll bring you some food tomorrow at noon."
Meng Jiuhe wasn't surprised: "Is this what you were fiddling with tonight?"
Xu Chaoyan yawned as she took off her outer garment: "How about you guys try it tomorrow? This stuff tastes best when it's hot."
The next day, Xu Chaoyan opened the bag, took out a few grains of rice, and easily broke them with a gentle pinch. She nodded in satisfaction: "Hmm, this time it's done well, I succeeded on the first try."
Looking at the slightly yellowish rice, the Moon Goddess asked in bewilderment, "It was snow-white yesterday, how did it change color?"
Xu Chaoyan pointed to the wood ash: "It's because of this that it can't be made without it. Sister, I just looked at the pickled cabbage from yesterday. Some of it has turned yellow and can be used at noon. Can you lend me a hand later?"
The two of them spent another half an hour grinding all the soaked rice into rice paste and then pouring it into the iron pot. Xu Chaoyan added two ladles of water.
Turning to Meng Jiuxia, he instructed, "Sister-in-law, you don't need to start the fire here for me. Go to Auntie's house and borrow the rolling pin. Our rolling pin is too short and not suitable."
A moment later, Xu Chaoyan took the rolling pin and began to stir the rice paste in the iron pot clockwise. Fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, but she dared not let go. This was the first time she had done this, and she dared not relax at all, following her grandmother's method from memory.
At this moment, her arms ached and sweat beaded on her forehead. Yue Niang, standing to the side, felt powerless to help. She wanted to lend a hand, but Xu Chaoyan refused, explaining that she had never done this before and that if the pot burned, everything would be ruined.
When the last large pot of rice paste turned into a thick paste, Xu Chaoyan asked them to turn down the heat, put the lid on the pot, and start simmering it little by little. Looking at the pot of something that looked quite presentable, she couldn't suppress the smile on her face.
She actually managed to recreate it based on her memory of how her grandmother used to look, and she felt a great sense of accomplishment.
Then I scooped out some pickled cabbage, picked a few garlic sprouts and scallions from the vegetable garden behind, added ginger and melted it with lard, put all of these in and stir-fried them, then boiled them in water, added various seasonings, and put the hot mung bean jelly in to dip and eat. The reason for using lard is that it makes the stir-fry more fragrant and appetizing.
Today's dose of happiness—