After hearing what Xu Huaiqian said, the three of them really looked forward to the next visit to the county town, and they were not so concerned about the braised pork in the Lai Ke Lou.

They are and drank to their heart’s content.

On the way back home, Xu Huaiqian thought about it and went to the meat stall to buy two pounds of fresh pork. If he couldn’t eat the meat in the restaurant, he could always eat his own meat.

Pork is thirteen wen a pound.

If you only want fat, you have to pay one more wen.

Pork is expensive, and ordinary people don’t eat meat often. If they eat it occasionally, they will pick the fat to taste meat so the fat is a little more expensive than pork.

Xu Huaiqian felt that their family was small, sick, and injured, so it was better not to save money on food. He bought a pound of pork belly, a pound of fat, and picked some cleanly shaved bones for three wen.

Unfortunately, he came too late, and the pig fat had been bought by someone else, otherwise he could buy a board to go back and refine lard.

 Lard is also fragrant when cooking.

When Xu Huaiqian was buying meat, Chen Xiaomei blinked her eyes, thinking that if she didn’t speak up, she would go home soon. If there was anything she needed to buy, she would have to wait until the next time she came to the city. She hardened her heart and went forward to pull Xu Huaiqian’s clothes.

Xu Huaiqian lowered his head and asked her: “What’s wrong?”

She raised her head and asked the doubts in her heart: “Is it true that you said you can hatch chicks?” She had been holding this in her heart for two days. If she didn’t ask again, she would almost get internal injuries.

Xu Huaiqian didn’t expect that she was still thinking about this. No wonder she suddenly became so clingy to him and stayed by his side wherever she went. After a change of mind, he replied to her in a vague way: “What do you think?”

Think, I thought, I can’t guess!

Chen Xiaomei ignored him angrily. She felt that Xu Huaiqian was teasing her on purpose. If he could, he could. If he couldn’t, he couldn’t. He should just say it directly. Why did he tease her like this?

 Let her guess. If she could guess, could she ask him?

Xu Huaiqian didn’t care about Chen Xiaomei’s little mood. He chose and bought some more things. Finally, when the sun was about to set, they drove back home.

The chickens, ducks and geese at home hadn’t been fed for a day, and they were all hungry. As soon as they got home, they stretched their necks and cried hard.

Chen Liejiu, Chen Xiaomei and Wang Wanwan hurriedly got some water and rice bran to feed them.

Xu Huaiqian was not idle either. He took off his veil and sorted the things he bought today.

Finally, he looked at the two pounds of meat he bought, was silent for a while, and went into the kitchen with it. He rolled up his sleeves, and prepared to go into battle himself.

It’s not that he thinks Wang Wanwan’s cooking skills are poor, but the farmers of this era don’t have many cooking skills. Wang Wanwan, a half-grown girl, can manage the daily life of the family in an orderly manner. It’s already very impressive, so don’t be too harsh on other things.

 It would be better if she could cook with a little more variety instead of just stir-frying and boiling.

After eating boiled vegetables for several days, Xu Huaiqian couldn’t wait to improve his diet.

He had to hurry up before Wang Wanwan entered the kitchen, otherwise he would have no chance to speak once she came in.

Until now, Xu Huaiqian still felt resentful that Wang Wanwan had snatched his kettle.

Obviously, he was also very virtuous. Before he traveled through time, he had been introduced to many people by his appearance and cooking skills. Now he has traveled through time and space and has gone from being a popular commodity to being hated by everyone. He has also felt a gap.

Wang Wanwan hurriedly finished all the chores at home, wiped her sweat, and walked into the kitchen without stopping, preparing to cook dinner.

As a result, when she entered the door, Xu Huaiqian had prepared everything and was now standing by the stove preparing to cook.

 Her heart skipped a beat, and she hurried forward to take over: “Second brother, I’ll do it.”

“No need,” Xu Huaiqian quickly poured oil and started cooking when he saw her come in, “I’m almost done.”

Wang Wanwan looked at the oil and sugar he had poured into the bottom of the pot, and her eyelids twitched.

Is second brother planning to not live anymore?

We’ll go our separate ways after a meal?

 “Braised pork should be cooked like this to make it delicious.” Facing Wang Wanwan’s heartache and hesitant expression, he thought that she didn’t see any oil when cooking, he added, “Just this meal. I didn’t let you eat the braised pork in Lai Ke Lou today. Second brother will make it up to you tonight.”

There was a wooden sign hanging on the counter of Lai Ke Lou. A plate of braised pork cost 38 wen. It was not clear how much it was. He bought the meat himself, plus seasoning, it only cost more than a dozen wen. He saved more than 20 wen at once. Isn’t it more delicious than eating in a restaurant?

Wang Wanwan was still worried about the oil and sugar. After hearing what Xu Huaiqian said, she felt relieved and turned to be surprised: “Second brother can also cook restaurant dishes?”

Xu Huaiqian made up a random excuse: “I was sick at home and had nothing to do. I read two cookbooks and figured out how to cook. It may not be as authentic as the ones in the restaurant.”

“Oh.” Wang Wanwan nodded, knowing that scholars are different from them after all. Ordinary people can’t even read the words in the cookbook. If they want to learn something, they just read the book.

Why else is there the saying that everything is inferior except reading.

Wang Wanwan was fooled by Xu Huaiqian, and Xu Huaiqian could cook his dishes with peace of mind.

Farmhouse kitchens are all built with thatch, which has no insulation. Xu Huaiqian put enough ingredients in the braised pork, and soon, the fragrance floated out through the gaps in the thatch.

Chen Liejiu and Chen Xiaomei, who were busy with housework in the yard, were so surprised that they put down their work and ran to the kitchen to see what Wang Wanwan was doing. When they saw that the chef was Xu Huaiqian, they were as surprised as Wang Wanwan, not to mention the neighbors of the several families near Chen Liejiu’s house. 

 It was dinner time. People had already set up the table and were ready to eat. But when she turned around, she found her own children standing behind the kitchen of Chen Liejiu’s house, sniffing and drooling. She couldn’t call them back.

“Erwa, Sanmei, go home to eat.” There was no other way, so she had to come out and call them back.

“Mom, it smells so good!” Chen Erwa and Chen Sanmei shook their heads. They pointed at the kitchen of Chen Liejiu’s house and said they would never go back.

“It smells good but it’s other people’s food, go back!” Chen Zhu, who also smelled the fragrance, swallowed her saliva. But this was Chen Liejiu’s house, the home of the village bully, and the two families were close to each other. Usually, she told her children to stay away from their home, for fear that they would annoy them if they didn’t pay attention. How could she ask them what they were doing to make it smell so good?

 “Exchange, mother, exchange!” Chen Erwa and Chen Sanmei were only three or four years old, and they were not very eloquent. They may have seen Chen Zhushi exchange food with others before, and knew that they could get food this way. They pulled Chen Zhushi’s clothes and kept shouting.

“How can we exchange this?” Chen Zhushi’s face was so embarrassed. The villagers were all relatives. If anyone made delicious food, they could shamelessly exchange other food from other families to bring back some to moisten the mouths of their children. But this was Chen Liejiu’s house and they cooked meat. Their family had not been to the county for a long time, and they could not bring out anything to exchange. How could they be so embarrassing?

Coincidentally, Chen Liejiu, who had been listening to the noise from inside the house for a long time, pushed the door open and came out, which embarrassed her to death. He smiled and said, “My children are ignorant, we will leave now.”

All the people living in this area of ​​Chen Liejiu’s house were members of the Chen family. Originally, Chen Liejiu should have had a good relationship with them. Unfortunately, because Chen Liejiu came back from escorting three years ago, and started a debt collection business in the village, he became a well-known bully in the village. When families with girls and gers were approached for marriage, they immediately refused to do it when they heard that there was a bully in this area.

They are from the same village and live together. Who knows if the girls and gers in this area have the temperament of bullies and have unclear relationships with those debt collectors? They are here to find wives and husbands, not to cause trouble for their families.

In order to let their girls and gers get married smoothly, the families in this area can only stay away from Chen Liejiu. When others come to look for them, they can say that they are not familiar with them, have no contact, and have no relationship.

Chen Daqing’s family, to whom Chen Zhu married, has a younger ger who is waiting to get married. Because of Chen Liejiu, they have not looked for him yet. Therefore, the family has a lot of opinions about Chen Liejiu, and they don’t even nod to each other.

 At this moment, Chen Liejiu saw her family’s embarrassment, and Chen Zhu’s face was almost buried in the ground. She picked up the two children and rushed home.

Seeing Chen Zhu, Chen Liejiu had no sense of embarrassment or avoidance, and greeted Chen Zhu warmly: “It’s okay, sister-in-law Zhu, today my husband figured out a way to cook and is learning to make it. If you don’t mind, bring a bowl over to serve.”

Chen Liejiu didn’t know about other things. He only knew that when he was escorting outside, this sister-in-law Zhu helped him look after his sister. Although the relationship between the two families faded after he returned to the village, Chen Liejiu always remembered this kindness in his heart.

“Mother, mother, mother!” Chen Erwa and Chen Sanmei, who were drooling. They pulled Chen Zhu’s clothes and shouted all kinds of things when they heard that the other party was willing to give it to them, fearing that his mother would refuse.

 Chen Zhu was so annoyed by the two children that she had to bite the bullet and thank Chen Liejiu: “Mm, thank you.”

Chen Zhu went home to get a bowl, but she didn’t have the nerve to bring an empty bowl. She was quite good at making pickled vegetables, so she served Chen Liejiu a bowl of her pickled vegetables and said embarrassedly: “This is the only thing we have at home, don’t despise it.”

“No, my husband happened to cook meat tonight, so we’ll eat this to relieve the greasiness.” Chen Liejiu took the bowl into the kitchen and gave her a few pieces of braised pork.

 Chen Zhu looked at the meat in the bowl, which was shiny, greasy and fragrant. She knew it was delicious as soon as she smelled it. She couldn’t help but say a few more words: “The husband you found is a good one. Although he is not in good health, he has studied, can read and cook. Live a good life with him in the future.”

Chen Liejiu nodded, his eyebrows flying: “I know!”

For some reason, he was very happy to hear others praise Xu Huaiqian. It was as if he was listening to others saying that he had such a good vision and found such a good person.

Chen Zhu saw that he didn’t look disgusted with Xu Huaiqian’s poor health. She took the bowl and left with peace of mind. The villagers said that Chen Liejiu was unwilling to bring back a sickly husband and would secretly torture him to death. It was pure nonsense. The couple was fine!

But some people didn’t think so.

 Opposite Chen Zhu’s house, there is another family on the left side of Chen Liejiu’s house. The head of the family is called Chen Gui, and his wife is stingy. The aroma of meat from Chen Liejiu’s kitchen not only drifted into Chen Zhu’s house, but also into his house. His youngest son hid by the door and saw Chen Zhu taking a bowl of pickled vegetables to exchange for a bowl of meat, so he also shouted to Chen Gui’s family to take something to exchange for a bowl of meat.

“Mom, you should also bring a bowl of vegetables to exchange for a bowl of meat, it smells so good!”

“Exchange, exchange, exchange!” Chen Guijia threw the bowl on the table, his face was long, “You think our things were blown by the wind, so you know how to exchange them!”

“It’s meat,” his youngest son continued with a sniff, “He exchanged it for Aunt Zhu’s bowl of pickled cabbage, it’s not a loss.”

“Exchange for shit!” Chen Guijia was not moved at all, “If you eat something that shortens your life, whoever wants to exchange it can go and exchange it. Anyway, I won’t go.”

Chen Gui’s family are all sons, there are no girls or gers waiting to get married. At the beginning, when Chen Liejiu was doing debt collection business to lead the Chen clan, he had a very close relationship with Chen Liejiu. 

Every day, whatever food they made would be eagerly brought to Chen Liejiu. If Chen Liejiu had any work, their whole family would go to help. They just asked Chen Liejiu to take care of his son, and they could also earn a few copper coins to help the family.

 As a result, Chen Liejiu said directly: “I am leading Fifth Chen’s family now, so I don’t need so many people. If I need people in the future, I will ask the Dazhu and Erzhu brothers.”

Chen Gui’s family was unhappy on the spot. They had been flattering him for two days, and they only got a word of “later”. Everyone knew that “later” was just a polite word. If they really wanted to, they should send Chen Wu’s family away and take their family with them.

Chen Wu’s family was so poor, what could they give him? Their two families were so close, and they could help him with anything. They really didn’t know what was good for them!

From then on, Chen Gui’s family looked at Chen Liejiu with eyes that were not eyes and noses that were not noses.

 The other sons of Chen Gui’s family had heard from their younger brother that other families could exchange a bowl of pickled cabbage for meat. They had been craving it for a long time, waiting for their mother’s approval. When they heard what their mother said, they looked at her with wide eyes: “Why will you die soon after eating it?”

“Didn’t you hear Chen Liejiu say that the meat was made by that sick person?” Chen Gui looked at him with contempt, “How dare you eat something made by that sick person?”

“Who knows what disease he has? Even if you don’t have a disease, you will have bad luck when you go up the mountain. There are so many people collecting firewood, why did the wolf bite his parents instead of others? You see, Chen Liejiu will be in big trouble if he takes this sickly boy home as his husband! If any of you want this bad luck, go quickly, and don’t come back to this house after you go!”

When he heard what his mother said, he thought of Xu Huaiqian’s terminally ill and dying body and the rumors in the village that Xu Huaiqian was about to die. He felt that eating his meat was like eating meat made by a dead person, and he was so scared that he dared not make any more noise.

Chen Liejiu’s family had no idea about the villagers.

At this moment, their family was gathered around the eight-immortal table in the main hall, watching the dish of braised pork with delicious color, aroma and taste, and eating it with a lingering fragrance.

 “It’s delicious!”

“It’s even better than the food at Lai Ke Lou in the county!”

Because she often goes to Lai Ke Lou for a feast, Chen Xiaomei is very familiar with the taste of Lai Ke Lou. When she tasted the food made by Xu Huaiqian, her black eyes lit up and she immediately praised him.

Wang Wanwan nodded in agreement. She was always gentle, but she kept eating. The reason she didn’t speak was that she couldn’t speak while eating.

 The family of four, two of them gave high praise. Xu Huaiqian, who was very confident in his cooking skills, picked up a piece of the best-cut braised pork and gave it to Chen Liejiu: “What do you think?”

“It’s delicious!” After tasting it, Chen Liejiu’s eyes lit up. He looked at Xu Huaiqian and smiled: “It’s the most delicious braised pork I’ve ever eaten in my life!”

He had been escorting for seven years. Occasionally he would catch up with some wealthy families having a banquet at home and be invited to have a meal. He had eaten a lot of ordinary and affordable dishes like braised pork, and he had to admit that Xu Huaiqian’s was the best.

 After making Chen Liejiu happy, Xu Huaiqian began to persuade him: “I will cook many more delicious dishes like this. Let me be in charge of the family’s meals in the future.”

When Chen Liejiu heard this good thing, he immediately agreed: “Okay, but you are not in good health. Don’t work too hard, and let Wanwan help you.”

“Mm,” Xu Huaiqian was happy, and put some meat into Chen Liejiu’s bowl, “You have worked hard too, eat more.”

When Chen Xiaomei heard that there would be many more delicious dishes in the future, she was also very happy. She was so happy that she forgot to be angry with Xu Huaiqian.

Only Wang Wanwan, who was eating, paused and looked at Xu Huaiqian with a strange look.

Why is second brother lying?

Didn’t we agree to just one meal?

The author has something to say:

Qianqian:

Financial power [√]

Food power [√]

Speech power [?]

Household power [?]