Chapter 13: Chicken Popcorn

Opening the safe, Lin Nuo found it filled with gold, jewelry, and other valuable items. She thought that since she needed money to build the house and didn’t have any current way to earn income, the only option was to pawn some gold.

She went to the pharmacy and found a ginseng root that was probably around 300 years old and already processed. She decided to sell it first. Later, if anyone asked about the house, she would say she found the ginseng on the mountain and sold it.

Relaxing on the sofa, Lin Nuo opened her computer and searched for ancient house blueprints and structures. After browsing through a few options, she decided on a traditional courtyard house. She would make the rooms larger, so seven rooms would be enough, and it wouldn’t be too conspicuous.

She sketched out the house structure in the space and planned to visit the town soon to find a construction team.

Later in the evening, the village chief brought the land deed over.

“Girl, here’s the land deed. Take it.”

He handed the document to Lin Nuo.

“Thank you, Uncle. With this, I can finally settle down,” she said with a smile.

Lin Nuo was genuinely grateful to the village chief. After all, a man who had no blood relation to her, yet took her in under the guise of being his niece, had been sent here by the county magistrate to look after her, and she didn’t even know his background.

“Girl, what are your plans for the construction workers? Do you need me to help find some people?”

The village chief wasn’t one to shy away from helping when he could, especially since he was the village chief.

“Uncle, not for now. I’ll go to the town tomorrow to ask around for a construction team. After all, as a woman, I can’t chop wood on the mountain, so it’s better to hire a team that handles both the labor and materials. However, I may need your help later to find a few workers for small tasks. I’ll pay 30 coins a day, without meals. Would that be alright?”

Lin Nuo thought 30 coins was reasonable.

Upon hearing this, even Old Man Li, who had heard that 30 coins a day was a good wage, quickly responded.

“Alright, alright, we have two sons who are excellent workers. I’ll find a few people for you. It’ll be well taken care of.”

After a few pleasantries, they agreed on a rough schedule, and the village chief headed back home. Before he left, Lin Nuo gave him a bottle of wine, which made him incredibly happy.

The previous day, she had promised Lin Lei to make some good food, so today she was preparing fried chicken popcorn and vinegar-braised pork.

Yesterday, she had used half of a chicken to make soup, and now there was half left. She took it out of the space, washed it clean, then used a knife to remove the skin and cut out the tender parts.

After cleaning the chicken and removing the excess water, she added some fragrant powder, ginger powder, salt, and green onion segments, mixing everything well. She then set the chicken aside to marinate for about 20 minutes.

Lin Nuo usually cooked enough rice in the morning to last the day, so now she just had to reheat the leftover rice.

After the chicken was marinated, she took it out and coated the pieces with flour and egg wash. Normally, she would coat it in breadcrumbs, but such things didn’t exist in this era.

She heated oil and carefully placed the chicken pieces in the pan, frying them until golden brown. The savory aroma soon filled the courtyard.

Just then, Lin Lei came back. The little guy ran towards her with his short legs, rushing into the kitchen.

“Sis, sis, what are you cooking? It smells so good! I could smell it all the way at the village entrance!” he exclaimed, leaning over the stove and sniffing deeply, his little mouth slightly open as small beads of saliva sparkled on his lips.

This sight made Lin Nuo laugh uncontrollably.

Seeing that the chicken popcorn in the pot was almost ready, she took a bowl, filled it generously, and handed it to Lin Lei.

“Lei’er, take this to Gouzi’s house first. We’ll have dinner after you come back, okay?”

“Sure, Sis! I’ll go right now!” he replied, then ran off with the bowl.

Lin Nuo scooped the remaining chicken out of the pot and began preparing the next dish—sweet and sour pork.

She cut the pork into chunks and cleaned it, soaking it for a few hours, then squeezed out the water. She added a pinch of salt, a small spoon of cooking wine, some cornstarch (in a 1:1 ratio with the pork), and a little water, mixing it all together. Next, she added some oil to seal in the moisture.

Using the same oil from the chicken popcorn, she fried the pork pieces until they were golden and crispy.

After frying, she took them out and double-fried them for extra crispiness.

Then, she heated more oil in the wok and added the pork back in.

She mixed up a sauce with soy sauce, salt, sugar, Sichuan pepper powder, cornstarch, and water. After sautéing some scallions to release their fragrance, she added the sauce, simmered it until thickened, then tossed in the fried pork, a few vegetables, minced garlic, and aged vinegar. She stir-fried everything until evenly mixed and then served it up.

Next, she quickly stir-fried some wild vegetables and made an egg drop soup, getting ready for dinner.

When Lin Lei arrived at Gouzi’s house, they were preparing to eat. The family was seated at the table with a plate of wild vegetables, a bowl of radish soup, and corn porridge as the main dish.

“Auntie, Uncle, Brother Gouzi, this is the chicken popcorn that my sister made. She said you should try it and see if it’s good,” Lin Lei said, sniffing the air. At that moment, his heart was racing; he was eager to taste it himself.

Aunt Shen went to the kitchen, grabbed an empty bowl, and transferred the chicken to their bowls.

“Ah, thank you, Lei’er, and thank your sister for us. We’ve been eating so much good food ever since you moved next door. You’re always sending over meat.” She smiled, feeling grateful. Sending meat was a common and precious gift, especially in their village.

Lin Lei took the bowl and left.

The remaining three members of the family stared at the golden chicken popcorn on the table.

Gouzi was the first to grab a piece and eat it. He chewed silently, one after another, shoveling them into his mouth without saying a word.

“Mom, Dad, hurry and try this chicken popcorn!” he called out while eating, barely pausing for a breath.