Chapter 16： Pork belly and chicken soup

Chapter 16 Pork Belly and Chicken Soup

On the second day, as usual, Shutong and Dong’s mother had already gone out to set up a stall before five o’clock, leaving breakfast in the pot.

At six o'clock, Su Yanli and his son washed up and had breakfast. After eating, it was almost half past six. He went to work, Su Dalang went to the study to study and practice calligraphy, and Su Ruojin tidied the kitchen while adding food to her mother.

Cheng Yingzhen eats the same breakfast as everyone else - fried dough sticks, soy milk, steamed dumplings and siomai. She also eats red dates and longan porridge, Codonopsis and Angelica pork loin soup, and assorted chicken porridge. God makes up for it.

Today is the turn of small wontons. Su Ruojin originally wanted to make small wontons with shrimps, but unfortunately Bianjing is in the north, and it is not easy for ordinary people to find prawns, so she had to give up.

The freshly wrapped wontons are piled neatly on the dinner plate, and they can be cooked after Cheng Yingzhen wakes up and feeds her fourth brother. Su Sanlang is young, only three years old, and Su Ruojin will also give it to him when he gives his mother a confinement meal. Bring a copy.

Hearing a noise in the master bedroom, Su Ruojin quickly went in, "Mom, wake up!"

“Hmm.” Cheng Yingzhen was feeding her youngest son. She raised her head and looked at her daughter: “Is Sanlang awake?”

“Not yet.” Su Ruojin asked, “Have you finished eating?”

Cheng Yingzhen nodded: "That's almost it."

Su Ruojin stood at the head of the bed and saw that Su Silang's chubby little face was so cute. She couldn't help but reach out and touch it gently, "Mom, his little face is bulging. Looking from the side, it really looks like a little butt. , no wonder people call you a brat...a brat, it turns out that’s really the case!”

It’s so cute!

Cheng Yingzhen had a motherly smile on her face: "Silang is luckier than Sanlang. He eats well and is chubby. This little face doesn't look like a little butt."

The mother and daughter teased Su Shilang for a while, until the little boy closed his eyes and fell asleep again.

“Mom, let me get you some wash water.”

“No, I’ll do it myself.” Cheng Yingzhen did her best to prevent her six-year-old daughter from doing anything.

"fine."

Su Ruojin sneaked out and brought a small copper pot over soon. At this time, Cheng Yingzhen had already put on her clothes and got out of bed. She quickly took the copper pot and walked to the washstand to pour it and wash it herself.

“Go and bring Sanlang over, I’ll wash him, and we’ll have breakfast together later.”

“Okay.”

Cheng Yingzhen took Su Sanlang to have breakfast in the bedroom. After finishing the meal, Cheng Yingzhen continued to lie back on the bed, taking care of the child while half-squinting her eyes to relax.

Su Ruojin sent Su Sanlang to the study and asked Su Dalang to take care of him. She went to the kitchen to do some housework she could do, and found that the soy sauce was gone. She put on her hat and gloves, carried the small jar and left the house, carrying the north wind on her back and carrying the sweet-scented osmanthus. Lane, and then across two alleys, there is a grocery store selling soy sauce.

Just when she came out of the alley, she was almost hit by someone. She quickly ducked aside. The middle-aged woman pulled an eleven or twelve-year-old girl straight into the alley. While running, she did not forget to plead to Su Ruojin: "If anyone is chasing me, Come here, please tell me you didn’t see us.”

Su Ruojin ran away deeper into the alley before she could respond.

It was too cold, so Su Ruojin pulled off the scarf under her hat and continued to the grocery store. After walking for four or five minutes, three or five people, both men and women, ran towards her, running like robbers: "Don't let them run away, quickly... don't Let them run away..."

Su Ruojin quickly stepped aside again. In broad daylight, could the people from the Military and Horse Division just ignore it? “Brother, there are three alley entrances here, which one should we enter to chase?” A few people stood at the entrance of the criss-crossing alleys and worried.

This area of ​​​​Xiqiao Lane, if you have not lived there for a long time, is like walking through a maze. Newcomers will have no one to guide them, and they will be like a ghost fighting against a wall and unable to find the exit.

Even if the five of them were divided into three groups, it would still be very scary. Six-year-old Su Ruojin was not meddling in other people's business, and was even very wary of a few strangers. She quickly pulled up her legs and went to make soy sauce.

It is cold in winter, and before the sun is at its warmest in the afternoon, there are usually not many people in front of the grocery store, but today it was full of people, groups of three and five, chattering non-stop.

Su Ruojin put the small jar on the counter: "Boss, make ten yuan of soy sauce."

The boss kept looking at the alley in the distance, looking very worried, as if he didn't hear anyone asking for soy sauce. Su Ruojin had to remind him again, "Boss..." He was not interested in doing business at all.

Su Ruojin had no choice but to wait patiently for her to react, while listening to the gossip. After a while, she heard everything.

It turns out that the mother and daughter who just ran away came from the north. The man in the family died. Not only did the clansmen seize the family property, but they also sold the mother and daughter to share the money. The mother and daughter fled to the capital to find their distant cousin who ran a grocery store. The cousin took pity on the cousin, so she The mother-in-law settled the mother-in-law at home, but her cousin's mother-in-law could not tolerate the mother-in-law and her son, so she secretly sent the news about the mother-in-law to her cousin's husband's house. However, the tribe came to arrest them.

You can just let others go if you can't tolerate it, so why push them into a pit of fire? What is this human heart made of?

Su Ruojin shook his head, picked up the small jar and walked back.

When we entered Osmanthus Alley, the tribesmen were standing in front of the soldiers and horses patrolling the street. They bowed their heads and bowed extremely flatteringly, chattering. You knew what they were talking about without even thinking about it.

Su Ruojin sighed deeply, lowered her head and walked into the alley to go home.

Su Yanli was a scholar and had a lot of books at home. Uncle Shu Tong was often tricked by Su Ruojin into bringing back gossip from the market, so she knew that in the Dayin Dynasty, which was similar to the Song Dynasty, it was tacitly accepted that people would be exterminated, and it was considered family property. , widows and daughters who will be married in the future have no right to enjoy it.

Under normal circumstances, on the surface, the clan members can take possession of the family property, but they have no right to sell the widowed daughter, and the widow can remarry. But in fact, in ancient times, when productivity was extremely low, once the clansmen caught a destitute family, how could they easily let the widow go? They sold people in various ways to divide the money.

It's simply ugly.

Su Ruojin returned home in a depressed mood. She first went to the door of her mother's bedroom and listened. It was quiet inside. The mother and son were probably asleep. When they arrived at the study room again, Su Dalang was leading Su Sanlang to play Jiu Lianhuan. When the two saw her coming back, they hurriedly greeted her.

"I'm going to prepare lunch, are you going?" The weather was cold, and Shutong went out to buy enough food for three or four days.

There was a fire in the stove and the kitchen was warm. The two brothers of the Su family hurriedly followed Su Ruojin.

Su Ruojin has already thought about what to eat for lunch today. Stir-fried mung bean sprouts, pan-fried tofu, Chinese cabbage stew, and pork belly chicken soup. Three vegetables and one soup, both meat and vegetable, rich in nutrients.

Let’s first make the pork belly and chicken soup, which requires the most heat. This is one of the famous Hakka dishes in Guangdong.

The ingredients include chicken, pork belly, wolfberry, etc. It would be better if it had ginseng. Unfortunately, the Su family cannot afford ginseng due to the current situation. Su Ruojin can only add more red dates, salt, sugar, green onion, ginger, garlic cooking wine, etc. are must-haves. of.

After all the ingredients are prepared, take out the pork belly and chicken that Dong’s mother had prepared last night. First put the pork belly into a pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Take out the blanched pork belly, and then stuff the chicken pieces into the pig. In the belly, add onion, **** and garlic at the same time, then use a toothpick to **** the opening and put it into the pot to simmer over low heat. At the same time, add salt, sugar, cooking wine and other seasonings, then add red dates and wolfberry and stew together.

(End of this chapter)