Chapter 31

Xu Ran was very fond of spicy food. Liu Tong was the same. Xu Ran poached a few potatoes on purpose and waited for the sauce to be ready so that he could dip the potatoes into the sauce. Obviously, this was their first time trying this recipe.

Following Xu Ran’s advice, Liu Tong put the seasonings into the pot. After he smelled the savory scent, he poured the oil into the bowl of chili powder. The chili powder immediately sibilated when it was poured on with oil. At the same time, the spicy flavor came out.

The temperature was perfect. Xu Ran couldn’t wait to put the bowl on the side of the bamboo table, where they already put some potatoes.

Xu Ran took a small wooden spoon, dug some chili sauce and spread it over the potato. The reddish chili oil, coupled with some fermented soybeans, made the food look so appetizing.

After the potatoes cooled down a little bit, Xu Ran couldn’t wait to taste it.

Liu Tong was standing on one side and looking at him nervously.

The chili sauce was really spicy. After finishing the whole potato, Xu Ran’s mouth turned red and he couldn’t even speak for a while, which made Liu Tong even more nervous. “Ran, how’s it?”

Xu Ran was still trying to savor it. It was exactly the taste of the sauce that his mom used to make, which he hadn’t tasted for a long time. Xu Ran was so happy that he could finally taste it again today.

He gave Liu Tong a bear, who was still nervous right now, and said, “Tongtong, thank you. You are so sweet.”

Liu Tong was extremely nervous, and now he was held in the arms of Xu Ran. This made him quite confused.

Xu Ran hugged him for a while and then let him go. “Tongtong, you are awesome! You made it.”

“Really?” Liu Tong was shocked.

“Of course, you can try it yourself.” Xu Ran responded. With that being said, he took a potato with chili sauce and handed it to Liu Tong.

Liu Tong took it and tasted it carefully. Then he opened his mouth wide in astonishment and said, “Ran, it’s so yummy. I made it.”

“Yes, you succeed. Tongtong is awesome.” Xu Ran was generous with his compliments.

Feeling extremely excited, they two began to cook nonstop.

At night, the family gathered around the table, happily eating potatoes dipped with chili sauce.

The next day, Xu Ran and Liu Tong gave the chili sauce to Wu Mei’s and other friends’ families and got their compliments.

Although the chili sauce was quite tasty, it was not good enough to be sold. It would taste better after a period of time.

They finally finished cooking the chili sauce. It was already September now, which was the time to harvest rice.

Wu Mei’s family as well as some other families had several acres of land grown with rice. Now it was time to harvest rice. After discussing with Liu Tong, Xu Ran decided to help the three families. Without their help, they would have died of starvation.

There were no tools at home, so Xu Ran and Liu Tong went to Wu Mei’s house empty handed with the kids. The three families agreed that they would help Wu Mei with the harvest first. Then, it would be Liu Qing’s family, and Wu Lan’s at last. Given that they had many people, it shouldn’t take too much time to get it done.

To harvest crops was competing with the weather. It was all about speed.

Given that Xu Ran was not familiar with crops and farming, he stayed at home to look after the kids. He also took care of cooking, feeding pigs and collecting pigweeds, which undoubtedly made him a househusband. Xu Ran got a little upset because of this.

When it was the busy season for farming, it was of great importance to ensure that everyone was fed properly, otherwise they would not have the strength to do farming. Xu Ran finally got a chance to visit the town.

The last time Xu Ran went to the town was 7 years ago, so he didn’t quite have a clue what the town was like now.

Liu Tong was worried about Xu Ran going to the town alone, so he asked Xu An to drive an ox cart to go with Xu Ran together.

He came to the town to buy some meat. Although there was a habit of smoking some bacon here, one pig was still not enough for a family to eat for a year, so people still had to buy some meat when it was busy in the farming season.

Fat meat was much more expensive than lean meat. However, Xu Ran didn’t like fat meat because it was too greasy. Xu An, in contrast, always favored fat meat and asked the owner of the meat stall for five Jin (1 Jin=0.5kg) of fat meat. One Jin of fat meat would cost ten copper coins. Altogether, the fat meat cost fifty copper coins. Xu Ran also bought some inner organs of the pig, such as the intestine and the pig bones. Because the hot weather was not favorable for the storage of the meat and people in this era didn’t want it, the stall owner altogether charged Xu Ran thirty copper coins.

Xu An looked at those things that Xu Ran had just bought and felt quite upset. “Xu Ran, these are not tasty at all. Why would you spend so much money in vain?”

Xu Ran laughed. “Brother Xu An, don’t worry! I’ll show you how to cook a gourmet with these. You’ll see. ”

Given that Xu Ran already said so, Xu An consoled that thirty coins was not that much. He could still afford it. However, deep in his heart, he still felt that Xu Ran was badly spoiled by Liu Tong.

After that, Xu An bought some white flour. Most people could only eat white flour twice a year, once in the harvest while once in the New Year.

Xu Ran didn’t buy anything else. Even if he wanted to, he was too poor to afford any other stuff.

Finally, when they were about to leave, Xu An still bought some candies for the kids. No matter how poor the family was, rhe children should deserve all the best things.

Xu Ran knew that the life of Xu An’s family was already relatively good compared to others’. However, Xu An was still poor. Xu Ran was so eager to change such a life.