Hunting

After burying Fang Sheng, both uncle and nephew were relieved. Fang Zeng paid four strings of copper coins to the Feng Shui master and the eight men, which made Fang Zhiyuan’s eyes hurt. This was a time when one big coin could buy two eggs, but it cost so much money to dig up the grave. No wonder his younger brother said that funerals in the countryside were the most expensive.

Fang Zeng took Fang Zhiyuan back to eat. He came back late today, and the two of them had the coarse grain cakes left over from yesterday for lunch. Fang Zhiyuan thought of his large intestine, pig’s trotters and pig bones that had not been cleaned up yet, so he hurriedly urged his uncle to go to the well to take out the hanging pig large intestine and other things.

Fang Zeng doted on Fang Zhiyuan very much, and did whatever he was asked to do without saying a word. Fang Zhiyuan was a single man in his previous life, and his cooking skills could only be said to be mediocre, but he was much better than Fang Zeng, a man who only knew how to stew meat and make cakes.

Fang Zhiyuan took the large intestine first. This thing was difficult to handle, and Fang Zeng had also seen his mother do it. After all, when his mother was around, the family would raise two big pigs every year, waiting to be slaughtered and sold during the Chinese New Year. For example, mother Lin was reluctant to give away pig intestines, so he took some time to prepare them himself. Unfortunately, every time he made the intestines, he was reluctant to use spices to flavor them, so the intestines he made were not very delicious.

Fang Zeng himself watched his mother clean the pig intestines, and because he was afraid of the strong smell of the pig intestines, Fang Zeng went to the river not far from home. Fang Zhiyuan asked his uncle to split the pig bones, put in ginger slices, add half a pot of water, and asked his uncle to cook them on high heat.

He himself roasted the two pig trotters one by one in the pot and removed the pig hair. Fang Zeng looked at his nephew’s cooking and said with a smile: “Good boy, this is a good trick, almost catching up with your mother. Now, uncle will have a good taste in the future.”

When Fang Zhiyuan was doing this, he had thought of a reason. He laughed and said, “That’s right, uncle, don’t underestimate me. I have learned a lot from Auntie Xue. It’s just that mother thinks I waste things and doesn’t let me cook. Otherwise, you can also try it.” He said and fell.

Fang Zeng knew Auntie Xue. He was a widowed ger who came from another village and lived alone in the Li Village. His brother was kind and often brought him water and vegetables. After a while, they became familiar with each other. When his brother went out, he took Fang Zhiyuan to Auntie Xue.

Before, Fang Sheng said that Auntie Xue was very capable and cooked delicious food. So Fang Zeng was not surprised when Fang Zhiyuan said that it was Auntie Xue who taught him.

 Seeing Fang Zeng didn’t ask any more questions, Fang Zhiyuan breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t want to be bound by his hands in the future. Now that he had a reason, he could be more relaxed in the future. He should be thankful that although Fang Zeng loved him, he was a careless man. If Auntie Lin was still alive, he would not have gotten away with it so easily.

Soon the water boiled, Fang Zhiyuan skimmed off the blood on the water, and then burned the firewood himself. He said to Fang Zeng: “Uncle, help me cut the pig’s trotter into pieces, it will be easy to use later.”

Fang Zeng took the axe and cut the pig’s trotter into pieces in two or three times, and then Fang Zhiyuan went to burn the firewood himself. Fang Zhiyuan was not polite. The rice still tasted good in his hands, but if it was in his uncle’s hands, it would probably be inedible.

He marinated the pig’s large intestine with wine, salt and some other seasonings. After boiling the pig’s trotter, he took it out and put it in cold water to cool it down. Then he started to cook the pig’s trotters, and after putting the seasonings in, he asked his uncle to cook them on high heat, and then stew them on low heat after they were boiled.

As for the pig’s large intestine, Fang Zhiyuan planned to wait until the pig’s trotters were cooked before cooking them, so that they could be more flavored. Fang Zeng smelled the fragrance while the fire was burning. He didn’t expect his nephew to be so capable. The taste was much better than his mother’s.

The bone soup was stewed until it turned white. Fang Zhiyuan added salt and sprinkled chopped green onions, served two bowls and cooled them, and then served them to his uncle to taste. Fang Zeng had an appetite when he saw the soup, and when he drank it in one gulp, he found that it was really no worse than meat soup. After drinking a bowl, he felt hungry and warm.

Fang Zhiyuan asked Fang Zeng proudly, “Uncle, how is it? Is it delicious?” He looked very proud and playful, as if asking for praise.

 Fang Zeng patted Fang Zhiyuan with his big hand and praised him, “It’s delicious. You are worthy of being my nephew. You can cook pork bones so deliciously. In the future, when uncle hunts game, I will let you cook it. We will have a good time in the future. Huzi, you are really capable. If your mother were here, he would be so happy to know.”

Seeing Fang Zhiyuan’s face was a little gloomy, Fang Zeng regretted his gaffe and quickly changed the subject and asked, “Huzi, you have stewed the pig’s trotter for so long. Let uncle see how you cook it. The smell is tempting.”

Fang Zhiyuan cooperated very well and went to see the braised pig’s trotter. He picked a piece of pig’s trotter, put it in the bowl and handed it to Fang Zeng. He said, “Uncle, try it. Auntie Xue said that this pig’s trotter is not worse than meat when it is cooked. It is chewy and delicious.”

Fang Zeng picked it up with his hands and started eating. In less than a while, only bones were left.  He smiled and said, “It tastes really good. No wonder your mother said that Auntie Xue’s cooking is delicious. You can tell not cooking skills from this pig’s trotter. You are lucky. This skill is no worse than that of the vendor who specializes in selling stewed food.”

Fang Zhiyuan was very happy to receive Fang Zeng’s praise. He also cooks in modern times, but a small shrimp like him would never show off his chef-level skills like Ah Nan. But now Fang Zeng’s words gave him confidence again. It turned out that it was not that he was too bad, but that Ah Nan was too mean.

Fang Zhiyuan’s confidence increased, and he fried the pig’s large intestine again. The staple food in the evening was still rice mixed with coarse grains cooked by Fang Zeng. Just like that, two dishes and one soup made them full again. The rest was left for the next day. Fang Zeng also carefully told Fang Zhiyuan that he would go hunting in the mountains tomorrow, and asked him to stay at home and not walk around.

When Fang Zhiyuan heard this, he finally got the qualification to go to the mountains with him after a lot of pestering, so he went back to his room and went to sleep with satisfaction. As for Da Zhuang repeatedly reminding him yesterday that he must take Da Zhuang to pick fruits in the mountains, well, it’s the nature of children to have a bad memory.

Fang Zeng returned to the room but was a little annoyed. He walked under the bed, took down one of the bricks, and took out a pottery jar. He poured out all the silver in the pottery jar and counted them. All the silver and money he sold for prey and mountain delicacies over the years were here. This was first with his mother, and this year his mother passed away, so he kept it.

 It’s true that you don’t know how expensive firewood and rice are if you don’t manage the household. First, the house and then the funerals, all the money was spent. Fang Zeng calculated that he still had a ten taels worth of silver and copper coins. These ten taels of silver seemed to be a lot, but he hadn’t married yet. His nephew would have to set up a household in the future, and all these would cost money. Besides, he saw Da Zhuang being sent to Zhao Village to attend a private school, and he had some thoughts in his mind. His nephew looked smart. If he learned to read, no matter what he did in the future, it would be better than digging for food in the soil.

Studying is the most expensive thing. He couldn’t move the ten taels of silver and winter was coming soon. It didn’t matter what he wore or ate, but it did matter what his nephew wore. He was growing up, so how could he not eat well. If he really lost his health, it would be bad, and he had to prepare clothes and other things.

These were all money. At this time, Fang Zeng understood why his mother lived so frugally. It was really hard to raise children. His family didn’t have good farmland yet, so he had to buy some fine grains and buy some household items. He had to go to the mountains to find some wild delicacies and hunt some prey before the weather got colder.

Fang Zeng fell asleep while thinking about it.

The next day, Fang Zhiyuan got up early, made porridge with bone soup, heated up a few coarse grain cakes and waited for Fang Zeng to get up. When Fang Zeng got up, he saw that his nephew had prepared breakfast. He was impressed by his nephew’s understanding and felt more sorry for him.

After breakfast, Fang Zeng took his bow and arrows and axe, and carried a backpack with a cloth bag and lunch. Fang Zhiyuan also followed suit and carried a smaller backpack, followed Fang Zeng into the deep mountains behind his home.

Fang Zeng was afraid that Fang Zhiyuan would be tired, so he slowed down on the road.

On the outskirts of the mountain, Fang Zhiyuan saw a lot of fruit trees, including dates and pears, and more persimmons. Fang Zeng saw his nephew looking at those wild fruits. He thought that his nephew was still a child after all, thinking about the fruits, so he said to him: “Huzi, uncle tells you that there are large areas of persimmon trees further up the mountain. Although they are small, they are very sweet when ripe. If you like, uncle will take you to pick them later. Here, let the children and gers in the village have snacks, we won’t fight with them.”

Fang Zhiyuan asked: “Uncle, don’t they want those in there?”

Fang Zeng smiled and said, “Silly child, is it easy to enter the deep mountains? Your uncle has some skills, and he will be fine even if he encounters a wild boar, but those children and gers dare not go in. Every year, the fruits in the deep mountains are rotten, and no one will take the risk for a few fruits. If you like, your uncle also knows that there are many sand apple trees in the mountains, and I will take you to see them later.” Fang Zhiyuan suddenly felt that he was too rash to follow Fang Zeng here, which was causing trouble for him. He was a little burden and dragged down his uncle. Thinking of this, he said to Fang Zeng: “Uncle, am I causing you trouble? If I follow you like this, won’t it delay your hunting? Uncle, I…”

Fang Zeng smiled heartily, waved his hand, and said: “It’s okay, there are no big prey at this time. Besides, this time uncle is mainly going to see if there are any harvests in the traps he set before, and then pick some mountain delicacies. There are many mountain delicacies in the mountains at this time. There are hazelnuts, pine nuts, walnuts and so on. These can be sold for money. You just need to follow uncle closely and don’t run around.”

Fang Zhiyuan felt better after hearing what his uncle said. He was immediately interested in looking at the surrounding scenery, but unfortunately there was nothing special except big trees. Fang Zeng went to see the traps he set and recovered a pheasant and a rabbit.

 As they walked, Fang Zeng suddenly said to Fang Zhiyuan: “Look, nephew, those are the persimmon forests, all small persimmons. If you like them, your uncle will pick more for you.” Fang Zhiyuan looked in the direction of Fang Zeng’s finger, and sure enough, there was a large area of ​​persimmon trees, and they were all full of persimmons.

Fang Zeng walked up to take a look, picked a persimmon that looked relatively red, and handed it to Fang Zhiyuan: “Look, you can’t eat it now, but it will be sweet after it is put in some air and softened, but it will be a little smaller.”

Fang Zhiyuan looked at the persimmon trees and had an idea. He thought he could do something with persimmons. Suddenly, he had a flash of thought. Yes, when his grandmother was still alive, there were two persimmon trees at home. He didn’t like ripe persimmons, so his grandmother made persimmon cakes for him to eat. Persimmon cakes are easy to make, can be preserved for a long time and taste good.

 Moreover, in Fang Zhiyuan’s memory, he seemed to have seen red cakes in the grocery store in the town, but they were shipped from the south and cost three big coins for each one. In the countryside, only families with children and the elderly would buy a few sweets, but when the New Year came, the persimmon cakes became a decent gift for visiting relatives and friends. Ten persimmon cakes were a heavy gift, and they also looked decent.

Fang Zhiyuan thought that since he had this persimmon tree and he knew how to make persimmon cakes, the New Year would come in a few months, and he would make money as long as he made them. Isn’t this ready-made money delivered to the door?

Thinking of this, he asked Fang Zeng: “Uncle, is there really no one who wants these persimmons?”

Fang Zeng listened strangely, but didn’t think much about it, and said casually: “This is not a rare thing, just a snack for the children to eat. Who has nothing to do to go into the mountains to pick it, if you have this time, you can work more in the fields and pick more pig grass to add some income to the family.”

Fang Zhiyuan quickly said to Fang Zeng: “Uncle, let’s take them all back. Auntie Xue used to make persimmon cakes, that is, red cakes are made of persimmons. And even if it is made with hard persimmons, I remember how to make it. Can’t we go back and make it and exchange it for money?”

Fang Zeng was also surprised when he heard it. He didn’t expect that his nephew actually knew how to make red cakes. Although he knew that red cakes were made of persimmons, he didn’t know how to make them. There was a skillful ger in their village who also wanted to make it with persimmons, but he couldn’t make it after steaming and boiling it. How could his nephew really do it?

 Fang Zeng hurriedly asked, “Huzi, you really know how to make it. This red cake looks like a rare thing, why would Auntie Xue teach you for no reason?”

Fang Zhiyuan pretended not to understand and said, “Auntie Xue said that I was like his grandson, and he liked to cook for me. At that time, I wanted to eat red cakes, but mother didn’t buy them for me, and I cried. Auntie Xue made them for me to coax me, and asked me to keep it a secret and not tell mother. Mother usually doesn’t let me ask Auntie Xue for food, and I didn’t tell him because I was afraid that mother would scold me.”

Fang Zeng felt that Fang Zhiyuan’s words made sense. He seemed to have heard from his brother that Auntie Xue had fled from the south, so it would be normal if he could really make red cakes, and he had no children, so his life was not tight. If he really made red cakes, he, an old widow, would not be looked down upon by others.

His brother was very good to Auntie Xue, and he taught his nephew just to pass on the skills to his brother so that he could earn more money in the future. But his brother was the last person to take advantage of others. If he really had to hand it over to him openly, he would definitely not want to do so. It made sense to do it through his nephew.

Fang Zeng automatically helped Fang Zhiyuan make up a story with his imagination.