Chapter 7.2

In a dimly lit room.

When the silence fell, the man reluctantly put down the phone, pressing it against his ear.

Seeing this, a thin black man nearby grinned, revealing yellow teeth. “Brother, I didn’t deceive you, did I? If you work with us, we’re on the same side. In the future, when we make a lot of money, you can also let your wife live a good life, right?”

Upon hearing these words, Li Xiao chuckled softly, lifted his legs, leaned back, and casually took down the cigarette from his ear and put it into his mouth.

The man beside him, with a keen eye, picked up a matchbox from the table in front of him and obediently lit the cigarette for him.

Li Xiao took a puff, exhaled the smoke from his mouth, and casually said, “On the same side?”

The thin black man confidently replied, “On the same side!”

With such good looks and a tough demeanor, Li Xiao had been brainwashed for two days, and he showed no reaction. Yet, when it came to willingly accepting an underling, he accepted readily. If he were to deceive others, it would undoubtedly be a successful deception.

Li Xiao tugged at the corner of his mouth, appearing indifferent. “Alright then.”

Then he kicked the table in front of him and stood up. The worn-out table couldn’t bear the weight and made a creaking sound. The water cup and bowl containing steamed buns on top of it shook.

He lifted his foot and walked away. “Let me learn how to be on the same side.”

The thin black man thought he had agreed and quickly followed.

There are twenty or thirty people in the room. squatting against the walls. They looked dirty, each holding a bowl of watery porridge with no visible rice grains. Seeing the two leaving, no one dared to steal the buns on the table.

Zhu Qiang in the corner looked at Li Xiao’s back and was very sad. Both were deceived into coming here at the same time, but now Li Xiao had become a leader, while he could only drink watery porridge.

——

Jiang Rou put down the phone, and as soon as she looked up, she saw Aunt Wang smiling at her from across the street, holding a cloth in his hand and wiping something. “Finished chatting?”

“…”

Jiang Rou also smiled and said, “Yes, Aunt Wang, I’m going back.”

She didn’t know if people in this era needed money to answer the phone; she took out fifty cents from her pocket since Aunt Wang went out of her way. “Thanks for today, Auntie.”

“Oh, what’s this for? Answering the phone is free.”

Aunt Wang hurriedly stuffed the banknotes back into Jiang Rou.

Jiang Rou tugged twice and said, “I might need to use your phone in the future. I can’t always trouble you. If you keep this up, I won’t dare to come again.”

Aunt Wang couldn’t resist, but she asked Jiang Rou to wait for a moment. She went to the kitchen and brought out some pig intestines, smiling and saying, “There’s not much at home, just some pig intestines that others don’t like. Your uncle brought them back from the village this morning after slaughtering a pig. They’re fresh. Stir-fry them with chili at home; they’re still edible.”

After all, their family was in business, and good relations often led to good business. Of course, Jiang Rou was polite and considerate, not taking advantage of others. Many people in the neighborhood came to use Aunt Wang’s phone, but only Jiang Rou paid.

Aunt Wang bundled the pig intestines with two straw stalks and handed them to Jiang Rou.

Since she had said so, Jiang Rou felt less awkward. She accepted with a smile, “Thank you, Auntie.”

“Alright.”

After chatting for a while, Jiang Rou supported her stomach and went back. Aunt Wang escorted her to the gate, advising her to walk carefully.

Jiang Rou waved her hand and said, “No need to accompany me; I’m fine.”

Carrying the pig intestines, she returned to her house.

Seeing that it was still early and having nearly finished cooking at home, Jiang Rou decided to take an umbrella and go to the market. In addition to buying vegetables, she also bought some seasonings at the market.

Compared to stir-frying with chili peppers, she still prefers to eat braised pig intestines, and now that it’s hot, even braised pig intestines can last for a longer time.

She knows how to cook, influenced not only by her mother’s excellent culinary skills but also by her own love for good food. With the advancement of the internet in her time, she had collected many food videos and recipes, often spending her holidays cooking at home.

However, Jiang Rou wasn’t just cooking for herself. Aunt Wang’s words had touched her, mentioning that “there’s a lot of pig offal” and “stir-frying with chili makes it somewhat edible.” It was evident that people here weren’t accustomed to, or skilled in, cooking pig offal.

Reflecting on it, since the establishment of the country until now, the entire nation has experienced a period of scarcity. Although there were wealthy individuals with the reforms, most people were either just meeting basic needs or still living in poverty and hunger.

The real breakthrough development happened after the year 2000.

If people couldn’t even eat their fill, not to mention savoring flavors, although there had been twenty years of reform and opening up, the impact radiating to this small county town is that there have been more laid-off workers, and some individual businesses have gradually added to the streets.

Fashionable clothing stores, trendy hair salons, DVD rental shops, noodle shops, and restaurants brought in from the south…

Since that’s the case, she can also do business and earn some money. She didn’t think too far ahead, and she hadn’t planned for the future. Currently, the most important thing is to earn some money to live a good life for herself and her child.

At least, she wants her baby to be able to drink milk powder as soon as she is born.

Jiang Rou didn’t have any other special skills, but she could cook several delicious dishes.

So, in the afternoon, Jiang Rou washed the pig intestines given by Aunt Wang at home. Cleaning pig intestines was a technical task. First, wash them with clean water, then knead the pig intestines with salt, baking soda, and starch in certain proportions. After three or four minutes of kneading, wash them three more times with clean water. After cleaning, cut them short, flip them, and continue washing to remove most of the grease. However, you couldn’t wash away all the grease, or it wouldn’t be fragrant when braised.

After cleaning, Jiang Rou placed the pig intestines in a basin, added yellow wine, white wine, baking soda, and starch, and continued kneading. After several repeated washes, she turned the pig intestines over, put them in cold water, added ginger slices, and blanched them with yellow wine. After fishing them out, she washed them with warm water and set them aside.

Because pig intestines had a strong taste, if you didn’t seriously clean them several times, the fishy smell would overpower the fragrance.

Aunt Wang probably didn’t know how to do this, so she only thought of stir-frying with chili.

The key point is that Jiang Rou didn’t braise them immediately but waited until bedtime to heat the pot in the kitchen. She added oil, and when the oil was hot, she added sugar cubes. After the sugar melted and turned into caramel, she added green onions, shredded ginger, star anise, cinnamon, dried chili, fragrant leaves, fennel seeds, and Sichuan peppercorns. After stir-frying, she added a large pot of water.

Aunt Wang was generous, giving her a lot of pig intestines, so Jiang Rou added plenty of water.

After adding water, she could put the pig intestines into the pot. Two large spoons of soy sauce, two small spoons of salt, and half a tablespoon of oyster sauce.

Oyster sauce was still considered a new seasoning in this era, imported from the coastal areas. As this place was more inland, people didn’t know how to use it, so not many bought it, and consequently, its price wasn’t high.

After completing these steps, Jiang Rou added plenty of firewood to the stove, slowly simmering it, and waiting to see the results the next morning.

Luckily, Jiang Rou’s skills were impeccable. The next morning, a pot of pig intestines had completely transformed. The broth was thick, the color tempting, and when she lifted the lid, the strong fragrance had already covered the heavy fishy smell.

On that morning, Jiang Rou used the braised pig intestines to make a bowl of noodles.

Then, in the morning, carrying the partially sewn child’s clothes and a plate of pig intestines, Jiang Rou went next door.