CH 77

Aug 21 2023

Do You Care or Not

“Hey, everyone, let’s disperse, let’s disperse. Delicious dim sum are waiting for all of you…” Seeing Yu Qingze turn around, Brother Chang quickly dispersed the onlookers.

“Ah, that son from the Shi family has no sense of shame.”

“No kidding, openly confessing to a man in front of everyone, knowing that person already has a fiancé. I wonder how the Shi family raised their son!”

“Tsk tsk, such malicious words. Did you hear how he described Brother Le?”

“Ah, what a mess this is!”

“People watching shook their heads and returned to the shop to continue eating dim sum. Originally, they didn’t know what was happening outside. It was the loud shout from Shi family’s ger that caught the attention of the customer sitting by the window. They said something had happened outside, so everyone came out to see, only to find out that Shi family’s ger had taken a liking to Boss Yu.

After Brother Chang dispersed the crowd, he glanced worriedly at Brother Le, who seemed calm on the surface, but with Young Master Shi shouting so loudly and so many people hearing it, who knew what Brother Le would be thinking? However, there was no use comforting oneself at this time. It had to be Boss Yu. With a sigh, Brother Chang returned to his post.

Yu Qingze turned around and saw Brother Le at the entrance. His heart skipped a beat, and he quickly walked back. However, as he moved, Brother Le also moved and turned back inside.

Yu Qingze rushed back to the shop and caught up with Brother Le before he entered the kitchen. He grabbed his hand and led him into his own rest area.

Closing the door, Yu Qingze turned around and held Brother Le’s face with both hands, forcing him to look up at him. Then he carefully observed his expression.

Seemingly calm?

But it was precisely because of this calmness that made Yu Qingze somewhat worried. Shouldn’t a normal person be angry upon hearing such words?

“Don’t listen to unrelated people’s nonsense, hmm?” He kissed Brother Le’s lips and said.

Brother Le blinked, taking Yu Qingze’s hand off and gesturing: He was telling the truth.

Yu Qingze frowned and replied, “We’ve discussed these things when we confessed our feelings to each other. You know I don’t mind, right?”

Brother Le glanced at him and nodded.

“Then don’t get angry at unrelated people. It’s not worth it.”

Brother Le blinked, shook his head, and gestured: I’m not angry.

“Really not angry?” Yu Qingze confirmed once again.”

Brother Le nodded and gestured, saying: “He’s stating a fact. I’ve heard it countless times before, it doesn’t matter. But, do you not care about what others say about you marrying a wife who can’t speak and can’t have children?”

“…” So Brother Le was worried about that? Yu Qingze let out a sigh of relief, then gently embraced him, kissing the top of his head, and said, “I’m not spending my whole life with them. If I cared, I wouldn’t have liked you in the first place.”

Upon hearing this, Brother Le pressed his lips together, curved his eyebrows and eyes, wrapped his arms tightly around Yu Qingze’s waist, and buried his face in the crook of his neck, quietly enjoying the warmth of the embrace.

After cuddling for a while, Yu Qingze finally released Brother Le and prepared to go out and busy himself.

Before opening the door, Brother Le turned around, looked at Yu Qingze, and smiled, gesturing: I heard the words you reprimanded Young Master Shi. Thank you for defending me, I’m happy.

“That’s natural. You’re my fiancé. If I don’t defend you, who will?” Yu Qingze replied.

Upon hearing this, Brother Le smiled, tiptoed, and kissed Yu Qingze on the lips. Yu Qingze deepened the kiss, pressing Brother Le against the door and continued for a while.

When the two finally went out, Steward Zhao had been waiting for a while.

Yu Qingze invited him to the stone table under the osmanthus tree in the backyard and brought a few plates of snacks and the newly introduced dim sum.

“Boss Yu, is your fiancé okay? I saw that he also heard what Young Master Shi said,” Steward Zhao asked.

Yu Qingze shook his head and said, “He’s fine. Steward Zhao, did you see it too?”

Steward Zhao nodded and replied, “I happened to be passing by when I saw Young Master Shi… Sigh, you’ve had a hard time.”

Speaking of Young Master Shi, Yu Qingze frowned and said, “I just hope he won’t come to disturb us again in the future.”

“I hope so too.”

Thinking that he would be away from the shop for a few days, Yu Qingze said to Steward Zhao, “By the way, Steward Zhao, I have something to attend to in the village for a few days. I won’t be in the shop. If you need any dim sum, just ask Brother Le.”

“Alright, focus on your work, I’ll talk to him when I go back,” Steward Zhao said.

Yu Qingze sincerely thanked him, saying, “Thank you, Steward Zhao.”

“You’re welcome,” Steward Zhao waved his hand, indicating that there was no need to worry.

After seeing off Steward Zhao, Yu Qingze went to the blacksmith’s shop to check on the progress of the flatbed handcart they were making. He found that they had already finished making two or three of them, with iron frames and wooden load-bearing surfaces.

He gave it a push and found it to be good. He discussed with them, telling them to pull this thing and carry heavy loads on the street for a round, and they agreed on the price. After that, Yu Qingze returned.

The next day, Steward Zhao relayed the news that the Shi family had forbidden Young Master Shi from coming out until he got married. Yu Qingze finally felt relieved.

The following day, Brother Chang and his mother brought over the packed clothes and other items. Once Yu Qingze had settled the matters of the shop, he bought the necessary materials, pork, and pig intestines from the market and returned to the village.

Different regions have different methods of making preserved meat and sausages, and Yu Qingze used the simplest method from their hometown.

Since this was an experimental batch, he made two types of preserved meat, with five pieces of each type. One type was simply cured with salt, resulting in a salty flavor, while the other type was cured with a mixture of spices before being smoked.

He ground the spices and mixed them, then rubbed enough salt and spices onto the meat strips, vigorously kneading them to ensure the seasoning penetrated. Then, he placed them in a basin to marinate for two days. After two days, he washed them clean, air-dried them, and hung them up for smoking.

Making sausages was a bit more complicated. First, he minced the moderately fatty and lean meat, added salt, a bit of sugar, a bit of white wine, and five-spice powder, and mixed them evenly. For those who liked it spicy, he could add chili powder to the meat mixture and marinate it for an hour.

After washing the pig intestines, he filled them with the marinated meat mixture, tying them tightly with string at regular intervals, and continued filling until all the meat mixture was used.

Then, he used a bamboo skewer to poke small holes evenly on the stuffed pig intestines and hung them up to dry for a few days before smoking them.

The process was quite simple, and Yu Qingze explained it once, and Brother Chang and his mother understood it for the most part. The two of them worked hard for a day, completing all the preserved meat and sausages, and then they would wait a few days before smoking them.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

Afterward, Yu Qingze started preparing sweet potato noodles.

Since he had never made them before, Yu Qingze couldn’t guarantee that he would do a good job, so he decided to start with one wooden basin of sweet potatoes.

He washed and chopped the sweet potatoes, then ground them into a paste using a stone mill. Afterward, he filtered out the coarse grains and impurities and let it settle for two days.

While waiting for the sweet potato starch paste to settle, Yu Qingze went to the river with Grandpa Chang to catch fish. They split the fish in half, salted them, and prepared them for smoking along with the preserved meat and sausages.

Smoked fish was also delicious, as were smoked chicken and smoked duck.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Yu Qingze went to the town and bought two chickens and two ducks. He also checked on the snack shop and found everything to be in order before returning home with peace of mind.

After two days, once the starch had completely settled and the water on top was poured out, what remained was a block of starch. He took out the starch block and dried it in the sun. During the drying process, he also ground it into a powder. When it was completely dry, it became sweet potato starch.

Next, he could make sweet potato noodles.

According to Yu Qingze’s master, there were two methods for making sweet potato noodles by hand. One was steaming the starch in a plate, and the other was the draining method.

The steaming method was simpler but not suitable for large-scale production. The draining method required a lot of effort to knead the dough, but the advantage was that a large quantity of noodles could be made at once.

He tried both methods, and the steaming method was easier to master, but it took him five attempts before he finally succeeded with the draining method.

By this time, eight or nine days had passed.

Looking at the preserved meat and sausages smoking in the kitchen and the long thin noodles drying on bamboo poles, he wore a satisfied smile.

Finally, tomorrow he could return to the shop and see Brother Le.

However, while he was busy at home, something happened at the shop.