Chapter 175 Preparing for the New Year

Chapter 175 is preparing for the new year

Haitang, the pigeon soup is ready. You can take it upstairs now. The second sister-in-law's nose is much sharper than the third sister-in-law's. If she smells it later, she might have to drool here. Then you won't be able to give her face to eat. This is good food from your teacher. You can eat it alone. Don't share it with others. Go ahead." Liu Fen had already picked up the large bowl of steaming gastrodia pigeon soup and wrapped it in an insulated cloth and placed it in her hand.

Li Haitang smiled lightly. Aunt Fen was also interesting. He nodded and took the bowl upstairs to eat.

The pigeon didn't have much meat and was stewed with gastrodia elata. The soup was light and delicious. Li Haitang liked the stew. He ate the pigeons in a few minutes and drank up all the warm soup.

As soon as she returned to the kitchen with the bowl in hand, two familiar footsteps came from the hall. She exchanged a tacit look with Liu Fen and smiled tacitly.

"Oh, sister-in-law, haitang, our family just happened to want to make some braised meat, so we came with the third sister-in-law. I'm going to trouble you." Zhao Chunhua was wearing a dark green cotton-padded jacket today. She was short and plump. The thick cotton-padded jacket looked like a dumpling she made last night.

Li Haitang had just flipped over the meat in the pot and was almost done cooking. He turned to her and asked, "Second aunt, what are you marinating?"

"We only weighed some meat and big stick bones yesterday, but this morning we killed a chicken and two ducks. Your uncle said to take a duck to marinate." While speaking, Zhao Chunhua also picked up the ducks that had been cleaned up. They were very fat ducks.

Li Haitang took a clean dustpan from the side and gave it to them, "Put it here and drain some water first. Our pork head is almost ready. We'll help you marinate it when the pot is ready. Just leave it here. Come back for lunch."

"Sure. We're just preparing something else at home, so let's go back and pick it up at noon." The sisters-in-law put the things in the dustpan and walked away with another twist of the bucket.

Tomorrow was new year's eve. Today, most people were preparing all kinds of delicious food at home. Few people came out to visit. Li Haitang closed the door in the hall and went back to the kitchen to prepare some big dishes like pork with Liu Fen.

The two of them were busy preparing ten bowls of pork buttons. Looking at the neat dishes on the chopping board, Li Haitang chuckled, "Ten bowls of pork buttons are quite decent to entertain guests in the countryside."

"That's right. There's no such thing as being polite in the city. My mother's family has more relatives and friends, and only five or six bowls a year. In the past, at jin qiao's grandparents'side, ah, they were all petty people. There were at most two bowls of meat for the new year, and the children couldn't eat a piece of meat. They often fought over a piece of meat, which made the neighbors very unhappy." This was the first time Liu Fen had told her about the past.

Li Haitang could understand that the past few years had been more difficult for everyone. In the past, when Deng Wenfang was in charge of the family, there were only two or three bowls of pork for the new year, and she could eat at most one piece of meat.

She looked at her watch and it was exactly 11: 30, "Aunt Fen, they should be coming back soon. Let's start preparing lunch."

"Lunch is simple. I'll make it. I'll make a big bowl of marinated meat, cook half a piece of braised fish, and fry a bowl of cabbage. There was just a big piece of pork left here. You can help me chop up the meat filling for the dumplings tonight." Liu Fen handed the piece of meat to her. She was familiar with the job, so it was safe for her to do it.

"Sure." Li Haitang, who had not stopped for half a day, continued to work with a kitchen knife.

When the sound of the truck came from outside, Li Haitang had just finished all three stuffing, poured some hot water to wash his hands, and walked out, rubbing his sore arm.

"You're back?" Li Haitang asked with a smile when duan jinqiao pushed the door open and walked in with a red face.

Duan Jinqiao smiled and said, "Yes, I could have come back earlier. It took me a lot of time to buy things in the county."

Zhou Chunmei and Li Tao followed in, carrying two large packages in their hands, and strode straight into the small living room.

There were warm water bottles and teacups in the small living room. Li Haitang made a pot of tea for each of them and put it on the table. He opened the lid of the coal stove under the table and asked them to roast the fire to get rid of the cold.

Li Jianguo came in, took off his gloves and threw them on the cabinet. The car keys in his hand were also thrown on the cabinet. He said to her, "Haitang, I met deputy mayor liu in town just now. He said that his cousin and friends have decided to come to your house later in the afternoon."

"Okay."

"I just called old he at the wholesale market in town. He's been wanting to buy a car. He just asked him and he's sure to get one. You can apply to jiang Instructor for two." Li Jianguo finished a long string of words, picked up the hot tea on the table and took a big sip.

"Okay." One car is for sale, and two are for sale. It's a phone call.

After a while, Li Yang and Li Ya came bouncing over with a basin. They came into the house and called out "Uncle." Then they looked at Li Haitang, "Sister hoi tong, is the meat in both our families ready?"

"Well, it's already out of the pot. Come with me to the kitchen and get it." Li Haitang took the lead and the two of them immediately followed. He put the food from the two families into their pots and gave them two bowls of marinated pork heads that had already been mixed.

After lunch, the family was busy again. With the help of four other people, big and small, the two of them were much more relaxed.

At two o' clock, deputy mayor liu and Mr. Tang, along with their cousin Liu Yu and another middle-aged man, came over. As soon as they entered the door, they saw their family working in the hall, and all walked in with smiles on their faces.

Mr. Tang wore the red down jacket that Li Haitang sent her from the provincial capital today and a black belt around her waist. She was slim and looked especially good. "What's your family doing?"

Li Jianguo had already got up to welcome the guests. Liu Fen quickly poured water and washed his hands. He smiled and replied, "Mr. Tang, we are making dumplings. I heard that it is my mother-in-law's only skill. Last night, my sister-in-law taught me how to cook. Today, our family gathered around to make more for the new year."

"Oh, I see." Mr. Tang saw a lot of round snow-white dumplings in the dustpan. She had never seen them before. "It's really good to eat this kind of round food during the chinese new year. It means reunion."

"Hehe, yes." Liu Fen smiled, dried his hands and said, "Come on, Mr. Tang, come and sit in the next room. Haitang, come and invite the guests. Aunt fen will cook some dumplings for everyone to try."

"Sure."

Li Haitang had already washed his hands. He took Mr. Tang's arm affectionately and said with a smile, "Teacher, you look really good in this dress. It's almost as if it was tailored for you."

"Hehe, you have a good eye. When I first left the house, Qianqian insisted that I put this on. He said it looked great. Let me show it to you." Mr. Tang patted her hand and followed her into the small living room next door.

Li Jianguo told them to sit down, sent out a circle of cigarettes, and brought out a pot of good wine to entertain them. This was the way men treated them. Normally, the women in the family were responsible for making tea and serving fruit candies. Liu Fen went to cook dumplings, so naturally, the task was handed to Li Haitang.

Liu Yu's partner was also a very knowledgeable person. He stayed at the wang family for half a day this morning and looked carefully at the various parts inside and outside the car. He was also very satisfied. When she didn't come, she smiled and asked Li Haitang to do it for them. She also handed her a portion of the deposit.

Li Haitang accepted the matter and wrote him a receipt. They naturally understood and agreed to what he said yesterday.

Ten minutes later, the men had just finished one round of wine, and Liu Fen came over with a large tray and greeted warmly, "Come on, everyone, try our new dumplings. It's also my first time doing it. It may not be very good, so don't be disgusted."

"What did sister-in-law say? You guys are too polite." Liu Yu and the rest of them were sports cars, and naturally, they were very generous. They served cigarettes and alcohol nonstop, and fruits and sweets were laid out on a large table, which was very warm in the countryside.

Li Haitang helped bring the bowl in front of everyone and also brought a bowl for Li Jianguo. "Dad, try it and see if it's as delicious as aunt's cooking?"

Li Jianguo scooped up a spoon from the bowl, blew twice, then bit it down, chewed and said, "Not bad. There's a little more sugar in it, it's sweeter than last night. You don't like sweets. Tell Taoer and the others to put less sugar in them."

Li Haitang grinned, "Okay."

Deputy mayor liu and Mr. Tang saw that their father and daughter were getting along really well, just like their own father and daughter. They both smiled happily and picked up the spoon in their bowls to eat.

"Mmm, it's delicious. It has the aroma of broth, sesame seed, and onion. It tastes good. It's a rare delicacy at dinner." Liu Yu's partner was also a frequent wanderer. Naturally, he had eaten a lot of good food and had a good family background.

Mr. Tang nodded with satisfaction, "It's really good. This bowl is so big that it's worth a bowl of rice."

Seeing that they were satisfied with their food, the people who made it were also very happy. Li Haitang walked into the hall and asked the three of Li Tao to pack more quickly. Later, he also packed some for them to take away. This is the process of kneading a little troublesome, the cost is not high, it is the ordinary rice and glutinous rice flour at home, and add some jujube sesame candy, it doesn't cost much money, everyone likes to eat some, when the chinese new year festival picture a happy reunion.

After eating the dumplings, the men were very curious about the car. They all went outside to look at the car in the sun valley terrace. Liu Yu's partner also drove the car around the road to try to feel it. Li Haitang accompanied Mr. Tang in the house to chat over the fire.

Around 3: 30, Mr. Tang and his party were going back to town. Li Haitang packed a bag of dumplings for each of them and took them away.

They all came here by bike. Li Haitang was going to town to call Jiang Chuheng, intending to go there together. Li Jianguo didn't let her ride her bike and drove them to town. As for their bikes, they were all in the car.

After Li Haitang came back from the winter vacation, she had not visited her home in town. She bought some couplet window flowers at the shop in town and planned to go back to dress up. Li Jianguo parked his car at the door of Li Jianhong's shop. He went to visit some old friends and friends in town.

It just so happened that Wang Li and Wang Tiao were also cleaning up the house in the town. Their family would celebrate the new year in the old house in Wang jia village this year, and they would move back to their new house after the spring festival. Li Haitang quickly cleaned the house, pasted on the couplet, added some festive atmosphere, and then went to the wang family to borrow the phone.