The happy little days of the Ye family

We are almost out of lard at home, probably only enough for lunch today.

Yesterday, when Butcher Zhang’s son came to deliver meat, Mother Ye specifically asked him to bring two more kilograms of pork suet when delivering meat today.

After lunch, Ye Mu started boiling lard.

After cleaning the pork suet, cut it into small pieces of similar size.

While Ye Mu was cutting pork suet, she said to Ye Qingqing:

"The pork suet must be cut into similar sizes. If the sizes are different, the smaller ones will be burnt and the larger ones will not be cooked properly."

Ye Qingqing stood aside and watched Ye Mu cut the pig suet. Ye Mu moved very quickly and finished cutting it in a short time.

"Mom, how about I give it a try?" Ye Qingqing looked at Ye Mu expectantly, eager to give it a try.

Although Ye Qingqing has learned how to cook, he has never been able to survive lard.

The main reason is that Ye Qingqing is careless and young, and Ye's mother is afraid that Ye Qingqing will burn herself.

"See how I do it first, and I'll let you try it next time." Mother Ye thought that her daughter would be getting married in two years, and it was time for her to learn a lesson.

Ye Mu has been cooking for more than [-] years and is very familiar with cooking lard.

Ye Mu poured the cut pork suet into a large iron pot, and then added half a bowl of water to the pot.

"Qingqing can start the fire now. Let it boil over high heat first, and then boil the lard over low heat."

"okay."

When boiling lard, it depends on the heat. After boiling, you must use low heat to slowly boil out the oil.

After a while, the pot boiled. Ye Qingqing took out the excess firewood, leaving only a large piece of firewood as thick as a wrist, and slowly boiled the lard over low heat.

The water in the pot slowly disappeared, the lard fat gradually became smaller, and the amount of pork in the pot began to increase.

The milky white lard is boiled at high temperature and slowly shrinks into golden lard residue.

Mother Ye carefully scooped out the lard residue, and then poured the boiled lard into a small clay pot specially made for lard.

While Ye Mu was filling the oil tank with lard, the greedy cat Ye Qingqing was secretly eating the lard residue.

The lard residue just out of the pan was so fragrant and crispy that Ye Qingqing couldn't stop eating it and ate several pieces in a row.

Ye Qingqing thought to himself that it would taste better if he put more salt in it.

Ye Xilin, who was still taking a nap, smelled the smell of lard residue and was awakened by the fragrance.

Ye Xilin was so greedy that he couldn't sleep, so he simply stopped sleeping and came to the kitchen to eat secretly with Ye Qingqing.

Mother Ye looked at the two greedy cats with both amusement and helplessness.

In addition to the little greedy cat, there are also old greedy cats such as Father Ye and Mr. Ye. This lard residue will not be put away tomorrow anyway.

Ye Mu simply took a large bowl, filled half a bowl of lard residue, and then sprinkled a little salt and home-grown sesame seeds into it.

After mixing the lard residue, Mother Ye handed the lard residue to Ye Qingqing, "Please give me your milk and eat it with your sister-in-law."

"Okay." Ye Qingqing happily took the lard residue.

Ye Qingqing greeted Ye Xilin, and the two siblings walked out quickly with smiles on their faces.

Mother Ye smiled and shouted to the two of them: "Don't eat secretly anymore. Call grandma and your sister-in-law to eat together again."

Ye Qingqing's voice came from outside the door, "Mom, come here quickly, let's eat together."

After Ye Mu packed up the kitchen and came to the hall, several people were already eating lard residue.

Seeing Ye Mu coming over, Ye Qingqing quickly shouted: "It's delicious, Mom, come over and eat it."

The lard was cooked just right, so fragrant and crispy that Ye Qingqing couldn't stop eating it.

Wang Chunyu pushed the bowl of lard residue towards Ye Mu with a wink.

"Mom, let's eat lard mixed with rice tonight, and the rice will also be mixed with lard residue."

While still eating lard residue, Ye Xilin had already arranged dinner.

"Okay, let's eat lard mixed with rice tonight, and mix the lard residue into the rice."

Mother Ye knew that with a room full of greedy cats in the Ye family, it would be impossible for this lard residue to be released tomorrow.

Half a bowl of lard residue was eaten in just a few pieces per person. Ye Qingqing and Ye Xilin looked at Ye Mu eagerly, still wanting to eat.

Mrs. Ye poked Ye Qingqing and Ye Xilin's little heads and cursed lightly:

"Just taste it. If you still want to eat until you're full, wait until your father and the others come back tonight to eat."

After eating lard residue, Ye Xilin went to the pig pen on the homestead next door.

There is a sow that is expected to give birth to piglets in the next two days. Apart from going out to collect pigweed, Ye Xilin spent the rest of the time guarding the pig pen.

The sow's belly was so huge that Ye Xilin estimated that there were at least 8 or 9 piglets in this litter.

Now that there are more people raising pigs in the village, the price of a piglet has risen to 225 cents. This litter alone is worth two taels of silver.

Although the little piglets in the family do not sell to takeaways and raise their own big pigs to sell bacon, it is all money, so Ye Xilin takes care of the sows in the family very carefully.

Ye Qingqing and Ye Mu went back to the house to continue doing embroidery.

Wang Chunyu did not go to Mrs. Ye to listen to gossip today, but was making clothes in the house.

Wang Chunyu wanted to make the clothes early and then start making wood carvings.

People in the Ye family are very good at making money. Although everyone is very kind to her, the gap between the two families is too big, and Wang Chunyu lacks confidence.

Wang Chunyu also wanted to stand up on his own.

In the morning, Wang Chunyu was at the market and observed the stall selling wooden gadgets for a long time. The wooden hairpins were selling well.

According to the difference in wood material and workmanship, wooden hairpins are divided into three grades: 15-wen, 20-wen and 25-wen.

The 25-wen hairpin is made of fine workmanship and uses good wood. However, there are many people looking at it, but not many people actually buy it.

On the contrary, the cheapest hairpins sell best, followed by the mid-range hairpins priced at 20 cents.

25 Wen’s hairpins are similar to those made by her father. Currently, Wang Chunyu’s craftsmanship is not up to this level.

But Wang Chunyu can make those simple hairpins of 20 and 15 cents.

Ye Donglin happened to find several pieces of good wood for her, and Wang Chunyu planned to make a batch of wooden hairpins worth about 20 yuan.

There is not much housework in the Ye family. Wang Chunyu only needs to cook and clean the yard, and the remaining time is used for wood carving.

Ye Mu and Ye Qingqing worked on embroidery all afternoon. It wasn't until the sun set halfway up the mountain that mother and daughter walked out of the room.

"Mom, if we eat lard mixed with rice tonight, why don't we cook vegetables?" Ye Qingqing closed the door and asked Ye Mu who was walking in front.

Mother Ye thought for a while, "Let's cook two dishes of green vegetables. The rice mixed with lard will be a bit greasy."

"How about cooking Chinese cabbage stir-fried with lard residue and stewed radish with lard residue?"

"Can't you just let go of that bit of lard residue and save it for tomorrow?" Mother Ye pinched Ye Qingqing's plump and juicy little face.

"It tastes delicious with lard residue." Ye Qingqing said confidently.

Ye Mu couldn't resist Ye Qingqing, so she made stewed radish with lard residue and stir-fried Chinese cabbage with lard residue at night.

The rice served in the evening was pure rice without sweet potatoes. Fearing that it would not be enough, Ye Mu specially cooked a little more rice.

To a pot of steaming rice, add two tablespoons of lard and lard residue that was just boiled today, then add soy sauce and chopped green onion, stir, and the fragrant lard rice is ready.

The remaining lard residue was also mixed with salt and sesame seeds and served to the table.

Anyway, after eating, the little greedy cat at home no longer thinks about it.