Chapter 40: Braised Chicken Innards

This morning, Jiang Liyun indeed earned thirty yuan.

This afternoon, she planned to sell eight chickens!

The chickens were arranged with Jiang Yuxian yesterday, and as soon as they returned home in the morning, Jiang Yuxian brought the freshly killed chickens.

Considering she needed to conserve energy for selling fried chicken, lunch was kept simple. They made a big pot of dumplings, meatballs, wood ear mushrooms, oil tofu, and a variety of small green vegetables, placing it directly on the table to finish the meal.

Uncle Jiang and the brick and tile workers enjoyed it; ingredients like wood ear mushrooms were something they seldom encountered. At this time, rural folks typically ate the vegetables they grew in their fields, and the variety was quite limited.

In Jiang Liyun’s memory, even common northern vegetables like Chinese cabbage were rarely eaten during her childhood. Even scallions, during the 1960s and 1970s, weren’t commonly grown in their region.

Of course, now they don’t lack scallions.

After eating, Jiang Liyun said to Wu Xiaochun and Jiang Qiezi, “Mum, Dad, I’m going to rest. Can you help me cook some tea eggs and clean the chickens?”

Jiang Qiezi and Wu Xiaochun went to bed early at night and didn’t take naps during the day, so Jiang Liyun handed over miscellaneous tasks to them.

Although the chickens Jiang Yuxian brought were plucked, the internal organs were still intact, and cleaning them would take some time.

Jiang Qiezi and Wu Xiaochun agreed and went to work separately.

Since Jiang Liyun started selling fried chicken, they became busier, but strangely, their spirits were better than before.

Firstly, what they did wasn’t physically demanding, and secondly, they earned a salary!

Jiang Qiezi and his wife had toiled in the fields their whole lives and had never earned money before.

But a few days ago, Jiang Liyun gave them one hundred yuan as wages!

At that time, holding the money, they were a bit at a loss, but at the same time, they were determined to help their daughter with more work.

Now, helping to cook tea eggs and clean the chicken… really wasn’t a big deal.

When Jiang Liyun woke up from her nap, Jiang Qiezi and his wife had already cleaned all the chicken internal organs.

They were so busy with this task that they even forgot to wash the dishes from lunch.

“Mum, Dad, thanks to your help. Otherwise, with eight chickens, I don’t know when I would finish everything!” Jiang Liyun smiled and spoke. “You both are meticulous, and you cleaned the internal organs very thoroughly.”

Jiang Qiezi and his wife, much like Feng Yi, were rarely praised by others. Even Jiang Ershu, as their younger brother, usually treated Jiang Qiezi like a son rather than an equal. Therefore, receiving recognition from their daughter made them both very happy.

Jiang Liyun poured the tea eggs into a basin to soak and began braising the chicken innards in the pot used for boiling the tea eggs. She added soy sauce, salt, star anise, bay leaves, cinnamon, and monosodium glutamate to the pot, threw in the chicken innards, and let it cook without much attention.

Taking advantage of this time, Jiang Liyun began cutting chicken meat and preparing the batter.

Fried chicken smelled great, and so did the braised chicken innards.

In the countryside at this time, cooking usually involved only a few types of seasoning, and hardly anyone used spices. Even though Jiang Liyun only used the simplest spices to braise the chicken innards, the aroma was considered overpowering by the villagers.

When Jiang Ershu’s wife smelled the aroma, she wanted to nag at her husband, complaining that Jiang Qiezi didn’t care about his elder brother. They could smell it from next door yesterday, but they didn’t receive any!

Jiang Ershu and his grandchildren had eaten chicken innards at Jiang’s house a few times before, but those innards weren’t as fragrant as these!

However, Jiang Ershu was not at home.

Suffering from the scent wafting from next door, Jiang Ershu’s wife called her grandchildren, who were playing outside, back home and then led them to Jiang’s house.

“What are you cooking? It smells so good!” Jiang Ershu’s wife asked as soon as she entered.

Jiang Liyun and Jiang Ershu’s wife weren’t very close, as Jiang Ershu’s wife had always kept her distance from them. Still, Jiang Liyun replied, “I’m braising chicken innards. They’re ready now. Let me serve you some, Auntie.”

Jiang Ershu’s wife was satisfied only then: “How could I accept?”

But her grandchildren were more straightforward: “Auntie, I want to eat chicken hearts!”

“I want to eat chicken hearts too!”

Jiang Liyun smiled and picked out four chicken hearts for them, along with two pieces of liver, two pieces of gizzard, and quite a few chicken intestines.

“Auntie, these braised chicken innards can be sliced and stir-fried with garlic leaves. They taste delicious,” Jiang Liyun suggested. She didn’t give them much, but sliced and stir-fried, it would still make a tasty dish.

Satisfied, Jiang Ershu’s wife left.

On the other side, the Feng family also smelled the aroma, but their relationship with the Jiang family had always been poor, so they couldn’t come asking for food.

Actually, the Feng family had chicken to eat today—early in the morning, they found another chicken dead.

But the meat of the undeveloped White Feather chickens wasn’t tasty. Zhou Qiaoxia always boiled the chicken meat in plain water and dipped it in soy sauce.

If it were home-raised chickens, making them into white-cut chicken and dipping them in soy sauce would be especially fragrant, and the meat would be tender. But white feather chickens, especially undeveloped ones, were a different story…

The smell was indeed peculiar!

“I heard Jiang Liyun and Feng Yi went to town again to sell fried chicken,” Feng Lao Tou said.

“They’re really money-minded. They’re not satisfied with just morning stalls; they have to go in the afternoon too!” Zhou Qiaoxia grumbled.

Both of them were not very happy, but in the end, they could only hope for the income from the chickens they raised at home. Feng Lao Tou said, “For those who raise chickens, raising one can earn at least one yuan. We have raised over two hundred chickens, so we can definitely earn two hundred yuan. Chicken prices are high during the New Year, and we might even earn three hundred yuan… definitely more than them!”

Zhou Qiaoxia agreed wholeheartedly.

It took quite some time to divide the eight chickens, but Jiang Liyun woke up early today and was done with the preparations by around two in the afternoon.

The chicken innards had already been braised, and Feng Yi had returned. Jiang Liyun started packing up and also told Feng Yi how to sell the chicken innards: “Chicken gizzards, chicken liver, and chicken feet are one penny each. You can sell them later.”

“Okay,” Feng Yi replied.

Jiang Liyun picked up a chicken heart with chopsticks and put it in Feng Yi’s mouth. “Try it. The chicken innards I made are delicious.”

There were eight chicken hearts in total, and she didn’t plan to sell them. Her family could easily finish them off with a casual meal.

Actually, everyone in their family could finish all the chicken innards, but eating chicken innards every day wasn’t very healthy.

Braised chicken hearts were indeed delicious, especially since Jiang Qiezi and his wife were very meticulous in cleaning them, removing all the dirty stuff inside, making them even more flavorful.

“Sister Liyun, it’s really delicious,” Feng Yi said.

Jiang Liyun smiled and said, “I didn’t think much about it before, but now I think… in the future, when braising chicken innards, we can also braise some tofu and eggs together and sell them together.”

Preparing for fried chicken required much less work than frying dumplings. Feng Yi used to do the wrapping work, but now Jiang Liyun could do it, allowing Feng Yi to sell braised snacks on the side.

Although the income was less, it was still some extra income.

“You’re really smart, Sister Liyun!” Feng Yi exclaimed.

Jiang Liyun smiled. “Of course. So you better cherish me as your partner.”

Of course! Feng Yi looked at Jiang Liyun and felt that she was glowing.

The situation in the Jiang family had never been very good; they were quite poor. But from childhood to adulthood, Jiang Liyun always had an indomitable spirit, full of vitality.

She always found ways to make her life better.

She was like a sapling growing in the cracks of a rock. Now, she had pushed apart the cracks and grown even bigger.

Feng Yi didn’t have much love for life, but being with Jiang Liyun made the future bright and filled him with anticipation.

The two of them went to town and set up their stall as usual at the kindergarten gate.

The fried chicken business was still very good, and the braised chicken innards sold out quickly too.

Spending a few cents to buy some and then having it as a dish at home—how nice!

Seeing the situation, Jiang Liyun felt even more inclined to braise some dried tofu or other items for sale.

Although her braised dishes were average, people at this time were not too picky.

However, selling braised pork, chicken, or duck was out of the question. Her cooking skills weren’t that great, and she didn’t have much time either.

In business, you must make choices. Trying to do everything will only exhaust you.

If it weren’t for the initial accumulation phase, she wouldn’t want to work so hard.

In her previous life, if she and Feng Yi had died early, it might have been because they were too tired in their youth.

After Jiang Liyun and Feng Yi went to town, Jiang Qiezi went to wash the dishes. Then he picked some vegetables and came back, cleaned them, and prepared for dinner.

He still needed to fetch water, cook, wash clothes, and so on.

As for Wu Xiaochun, she found Aunt Jiang and planned to make quilts for Jiang Liyun and Feng Yi.

“Our Liyun and Feng Yi’s cotton-padded jackets are not in good condition, especially Feng Yi’s cotton-padded jacket; it’s all lumpy inside,” Wu Xiaochun said.

The cotton-padded jackets here were made of silkworm silk, as each household raised silkworms.

Over time, the silkworm silk inside the cotton-padded jackets would clump together or even form strips, locally referred to as “lumpy.”

Such cotton-padded jackets hardly kept them warm!

“Then, besides making quilts, we can also use cotton pockets to make a new cotton-padded jacket for him,” Aunt Jiang suggested.

Wu Xiaochun nodded.

Their family seldom bought fabric to make clothes, but she loved her children. Every year, she would check their cotton-padded jackets and add some silkworm silk to them, ensuring they wouldn’t feel cold.

Feng Yi’s cotton-padded jacket… It couldn’t even be called a proper one.

As the weather became colder, it was better to replace the worn-out silkworm silk inside his clothes.

They got busy.

Making quilts and clothes didn’t take much time. All they needed to do was open the cotton pockets.

So, when Jiang Liyun and Feng Yi returned home that day, they saw new quilts and new cotton-padded jackets.

Of course, the term “new” referred to the silkworm silk inside; the outer fabric was still old. Feng Yi’s cotton-padded jacket still had patches, and it was still a bit short for him, not fitting well.

Recently, Jiang Liyun indeed earned money, but if she earned money and immediately spent it on this and that, she would never be able to expand her business.

Apart from personal clothes, she hadn’t bought any new clothes. The whole family was still wearing old clothes.