163 Aunt Hui Has Enough
Li Xiaoqing and the other two children did not play anymore. Instead, they went to the kitchen to help Li Xiaoran.
Little Huzi’s grandmother and Zhao Xiu rubbed the selected pork pieces with salt before marinating them in the ceramic jar.
The men were packing up pig brains, pig trotters, pig tails, and pig intestines.
The pig’s skull had the most fur, so they had to remove the fur with tongs and then burn the pig skin.
This was a meticulous task that was handed directly to Luo Cheng.
Guan Dongshan and Li Shun took the wood ashes to the stream to wash the pig intestines.
It couldn’t be helped. This thing was delicious, but it smelled too bad.
If they really washed it at home, it would consume a lot of water and make the entire courtyard stink. That was why the two of them chose to wash it by the river.
When the two of them returned with a stench, Li Xiaoran had also finished preparing lunch.
There were two large tables of dishes. There were meat and vegetables, as well as Little Huzi’s grandmother’s favorite big bone radish soup.
“I remember that we haven’t eaten tofu pudding in a long time!” Zhao Xiu looked at the big table of dishes and suddenly thought of something. “I suddenly want to eat tofu pudding!”
“If you want to eat it, let’s make the arrangements! It’s too late today. Let’s eat it tomorrow!” Li Xiaoran craved it a little as well after hearing her mother’s words.
“If you want tofu pudding, go to my house!” He Hui thought of something and said, “Our families haven’t had a good gathering yet. Come to my house to eat tofu pudding tomorrow night. Just treat it as a reunion! Fifth Aunt, bring Little Huzi along!”
“Alright, I can’t do anything else, but I can give you more beans when you grind them!” Little Huzi’s grandmother agreed with a smile.
“That’s great. Little Huzi can play with me again tomorrow!” Guan Kang said happily.
Guan Dongshan was happy to see that his son was much more cheerful than before.
“That’s right. Come to my house tomorrow night! I know you guys have to set up the noodle stall at noon, so I’ll treat you to dinner!”
“Sure! Li Shun agreed happily!”
“It just so happens that I want to try this tofu pudding too!” Luo Cheng said with a smile.
“Yes, yes, yes. I want to try it too!” Luo Ziyang said.
As soon as the brothers said this, the others looked over.
“Don’t tell me you haven��t eaten tofu pudding before?” Li Xiaoran asked.
Luo Cheng and Luo Ziyang nodded at the same time, indicating that they had really never eaten it.
“Sigh, you guys have really missed out on so many delicious things!” Li Xiaoran teased with a smile, “It’s fine. Let’s go to Aunt Hui’s house to eat tofu pudding tomorrow so you guys can try delicious food too!”
“Yes, come tomorrow. I have enough for everyone!” He Hui said with a smile.
After that, everyone chatted and laughed as they ate.
After eating and drinking, everyone did not rest and continued to help.
It was the women’s business to cut the meat. The men would do the moving of the pots and the filling of sausages.
There was strength in numbers. It only took a day for the meat in Luo Cheng’s house to be marinated and the sausages to be filled.
After that, the group sat around again.
Some people kneaded the skin of the dumplings, while others made filling for the dumplings.
When Luo Han arrived, the flat lid in the courtyard was already filled with round dumplings filled with chives and pork.
“It’s not the new year yet, but you’ve already wrapped the dumplings in advance?” Luo Han said with a smile.
“Stop joking. Hurry up and wash your hands!” Luo Cheng waved at Luo Han and said.
Luo Han felt that making dumplings was something he had never experienced before, so he quickly washed his hands and came over to make dumplings together.
At first, the dumplings that Luo Han made were too ugly, but he gradually became proficient in making dumplings.
“Look, it’s not difficult to make dumplings! If I live in a foreign country in the future, with such good skills, I think I can survive!” Luo Han said proudly.
When Luo Cheng heard this, he couldn’t help but rain on his parade.
“Who would hire someone to make dumplings?!”
Luo Han was feeling smug when he heard Luo Cheng’s words.
“Hey, can’t you say something nice?!” Luo Han complained.
“I know how to say nice things, but not to you!” Luo Cheng said in disdain.
As soon as he said this, everyone couldn’t help but laugh and look at Li Xiaoran teasingly.
Li Xiaoran felt that she was innocent!
At night, the food was even more sumptuous.
They all showcased their specialties. The dishes looked much better than the ones they had at noon.
The most popular food was actually the dumplings filled with chives and pork.
Of course, there were a lot of dumplings, so there were still a lot left.
At night, Li Shun and Zhao Xiu gave some dumplings to Little Huzi and his granddaughter.
“By the way, I remember that Yuan Cheng lives alone in the shop now! Why don’t we get someone to send some cooked dumplings over?!” Li Xiaoran suddenly remembered that they had neglected someone.
Luo Cheng thought for a moment and said, “Send these wrapped dumplings to Yuan Cheng directly! If he wants to eat them, let him cook them himself. There’s a pot over there!”
Li Xiaoran nodded and packed some dumplings for her father to send to Yuan Cheng.
“If there was an ice cellar, these dumplings could have been frozen!” Li Xiaoran looked at the remaining dumplings and couldn’t help but sigh.
“It’s not snowing outside. If we can save some ice after it snows, we can make an ice cellar! However, it’ll only be useful for a short time. It won’t work in the summer!” Luo Cheng said.
Li Xiaoran suddenly thought of something and asked, “Husband, can you find saltpeter?!”
When Luo Cheng heard Li Xiaoran’s words, his eyes narrowed.
“Saltpeter? Are you talking about the kind of saltpeter used in alchemy?”
“Yes, that saltpeter! As long as you get some saltpeter, I can get you ice!” Li Xiaoran said firmly.
“Are you sure that’s all?” Luo Cheng was shocked and asked anxiously.
“If you don’t believe me, give me the saltpeter. I’ll show you!” Li Xiaoran said when she saw that Luo Cheng did not believe her.
“Wait, I might not have anything else, but I do have saltpeter!” With that, Luo Cheng went to look for Luo Ziyang.
The buddies left the house together and returned a moment later with some saltpeter.
After Li Xiaoran carefully identified everything and confirmed that it was the saltpeter she needed, she asked Luo Cheng and Luo Ziyang to get two buckets of water.
Soon, the water was ready.
Li Xiaoran did not know how much saltpeter was needed, so she could only add it in small amounts.
Soon, the saltpeter dissolved in the water and the surrounding temperature decreased.
And the bucket of water froze into ice in front of Luo Cheng and Luo Ziyang.