Joe's Farming

The weather was not good the next day and it drizzled in the morning. Fortunately, there was a cobblestone path in the yard and a layer of stone slabs on the ground near the kitchen, so we didn't have to step on mud.

Qiao Yu asked Xu Yuan to come over in the afternoon, and after breakfast she went to the town with Gu Feng to shop.

Qiao Yu asked Wen Ge'er to come directly to his house for dinner when he returned today. His thatched house was built quickly and he had already moved in. Recently, there was nothing else to do except preparing wedding clothes, so he invited Wang Jie to come as well.

Since his family stopped asking Lin Da to send meat, they hadn't eaten fresh pork for a long time. Today, they bought half a pig and spent 1.56 yuan. The weather was cold, so it was okay to put the leftovers in two days. If that didn't work, they could make bacon or jar meat.

I bought 50 kilograms of rice and flour each. I used up rapeseed oil quickly, so I filled a large can. I also bought some sesame, peanuts, walnuts, and glutinous rice flour, planning to make my own glutinous rice balls.

Because of the rain, there were very few people selling vegetables at the market outside the town. Thinking that he had a cellar at home, Qiao Yu saw that someone was selling particularly good vegetables, so he bought a large basket.

There were two young men with a row of fish in front of them. Although they were dead, they still looked fresh. Qiao Yu ordered two of the largest grass carps. The young man also gave him a small crucian carp.

There were also people selling ducks, and Qiao Yu bought two since the ones at home couldn’t be eaten yet.

I originally wanted to buy some more cotton and fabric to make cotton-padded jackets for my family. But the fabrics in Qingyuan Town are more expensive than those in Taoyuan Town, and there are fewer patterns and colors. So Qiao Yu planned to go to Taoyuan Town to buy them another day.

The couple returned with a full load.

When Gu Feng got home, he first helped his husband to chop the pork, separate the ribs, and cut the pork belly into long strips. Qiao Yu put all the meat in a large winnowing basket and cut it directly when needed later.

Then Gu Feng killed the ducks, and all the children gathered around. Rural children were not afraid of this, and then Qiao Yu cleaned up the fish.

Their family had a lot of household garbage. Qiao Yu placed an unused bamboo basket outside the kitchen to hold the garbage. The children would regularly pour it into a garbage disposal pit in the backyard, and burn it when it was full. It was all green garbage, so there was no risk of polluting the environment. As for leftovers, there were basically none.

After the duck was killed, the feathers needed to be plucked. When Qiao Yu saw Gu Feng was about to pour boiled water on the duck, she hurriedly stopped him.

Because ducks often go into the water, there is oil on their fur to help isolate water, and ducks have a lot of down, so boiling water directly cannot remove it. Gu Feng saw Qiao Yu bring the salt shaker over and was ready to give the duck a coarse salt massage (Thai massage).

Gu Feng stopped him: "You tell me, I'll do it."

Qiao Yu asked him to wash the duck feathers with clean water first, then rub salt all over the ducks, and then rub the salt into the feathers vigorously, and then she continued to watch the fire, making sure the water was boiling. After the ducks were rubbed with salt, Qiao Yu asked Gu Feng to pour boiling water on them, covering the two ducks, and also pick up the wings to scald them.

After the duck was done, Qiao Yu asked Gu Feng to take it out and pluck its feathers. Because they were doing it in the yard, Qiao Yu and the children took out the only three umbrellas in the house and held them for her husband.

"Is it much easier to pull out, like taking off clothes?" Qiao Yu only knew this method before but had never put it into practice.

Gu Feng nodded: "Yes, it's much better. My husband is really smart." But salt is so expensive, and only his husband could come up with such a solution.

Gu Xiaoxue saw that it was easy for her father to pull out the weeds, so she wanted to do the same.

Gu Feng: "Be good, it's very hot."

Gu Xiaoxue said angrily: "Oh."

Seeing that Xuebao really wanted to help, Qiao Yu said, "Xuebao, Daddy wants these duck downs. Can you go find a dustpan and pick them up?"

Gu Xiaoxue then happily went to get the dustpan and collect the duck down. Qiao Yu had wanted to collect duck down before and make a duck down quilt for the winter. After that, the Gu family always remembered to collect duck down when they ate duck, and finally they had enough duck down for a duck down quilt during the Chinese New Year. Of course, this is a story for later.

We had a quick bite at noon because dinner was the highlight of the day.

At this time, it was still raining. Qiao Yu was a little worried about Xu Yuan and Xu Ning, and would look at the mountain road in front of her house from time to time.

He first put out a plate of the dried persimmons he had dried until they were edible, then fried some chestnuts and brewed some hawthorn and pear tea before starting to prepare the afternoon dishes.

I haven’t eaten the pickled vegetables I made before, so today I used them to make braised pork with pickles. The braised pork needs to be steamed for a longer time, and the fat and skin need to be steamed until they are soft and rotten, so that it tastes good.

Cut a large piece of evenly fat and lean pork belly into slices, add a little old wine, ginger, and a little soy sauce to marinate, then pickle some pickles and cut them into strips. Because it is a bit salty, Qiao Yu washed it with water. Stir-fry the pickles with green onions, ginger, garlic, and dried peppercorns. Place the pork belly skin-side down evenly in a large bowl to be steamed, pour the pickles on top, cover with a lid, and steam over low heat for two hours.

Just as the meat was steamed, Xu Yuan and his wife arrived. The servant and the coachman held an umbrella for them, and both of them were holding gifts in their hands.

Xu Ning held a large basin of kumquats, which were full of golden fruits and looked very festive.

Xu Ning handed the pot of kumquats to Qiao Yu: "My husband said that giving kumquats can bring you good luck and fortune."

Qiao Yu took the potted plant, which weighed a full 20 kilograms, and said with difficulty: "Thank you... Thank you. I like it very much. Brother Gu, help me hold it for a while."

Gu Feng immediately went to pick up Jinju. Xu Ning looked at Xu Yuan embarrassedly, and Xu Yuan smiled to indicate that it was okay.

Xu Yuan brought a box of cakes for the children, and a box of good tea for the Gu couple.

Xu Yuan now looked ruddy, just like an ordinary person, and Qiao Yu was really happy for this brother. Xu Ning should be living well in the Xu residence, as he seemed to be whiter than the last time they met, and the red mole on his forehead was brighter.

When Gu Xiaoyan saw Xu Ning coming, she ran over and hugged him, saying that he hadn't been here for a long time.

Xu Ning had to blush and say that he was married and couldn't go out easily, and he would come often in the future. Xu Yuan smiled and gave each child a gift, which made the children feel very good about this kind uncle.

Because it was raining, they mainly visited the interior. Xu Ning and Gu Feng also told Xu Yuan some interesting stories about the construction of the house. After the four of them sat down, Xu Yuan told Qiao Yu a good news.

"Brother Qiao told me to keep an eye out for coconut oil. Someone found it in the city. I've asked the soap factory to try it out. It's better than lard. The cost is also lower than before."

"That's great. How's business?" After Qiao Yu gave the soap recipe, he never cared about it again. Only now did he remember to ask.

Xu Yuan looked at Xu Ning, and Xu Ning said shyly, "Okay...Okay, my husband is teaching me how to run the business. I brought the account book, Brother Qiao, take a look."

Xiaoshan hurriedly brought the account book to Qiao Yu. Qiao Yu looked at the income one by one and realized that it was true that it was good to lean on a big tree for shade. In just half a month, the gross profit was five hundred taels!

Xu Yuan smiled and said, "There is another piece of news. Fu Man Lou is going to collapse."

"Fumanlou's current daily revenue is less than 10% of Yipinxuan's. I don't think it will last until the end of this month and it will have to close down."

Qiao Yu still remembered the disgusting look on Fu Man Lou's Master Cao's face, and couldn't help but praise him, "That's great. Tell me, what's going on?"

Xu Yuan glanced at Xiaoshan, and Xiaoshan sensibly took the children out to play.

"There is a young man in the backyard of Fu Man Lou, whom he bought last month. I believe Brother Qiao and Brother Gu have also heard of this man."

Qiao Yu gritted her teeth and said, "Remember, it was he who caused Wen Ge'er's foot injury."

Xu Yuan nodded: "Well, as the saying goes, evildoers will be punished. Mr. Cao has a wife at home, who gave birth to a daughter who is exactly sixteen years old this year. The boy is about the same age, and somehow he met Miss Cao. Miss Cao fell in love with him at first sight. The boy was often tortured by Mr. Cao and was often covered with bruises. Miss Cao secretly sent someone to treat him, and after a while, the two of them made a vow to each other. In order to save her lover, Miss Cao listened to her lover's advice and opened a restaurant in Taoyuan Town, poaching all the chefs from Fu Man Lou. Mr. Cao was so angry that he has been lying in bed for several days."

Qiao Yu sighed: "Even the storybooks don't dare to write this, how do you know it so clearly?"

Xu Yuan took a sip of tea and smiled, "That guy was originally a famous prostitute in Tianxiang Tower. He had no choice but to give himself to Cao. After he went in, he spent some money to pass on information and wanted to escape. It just so happened that I was looking for a way to deal with Cao, so I helped him."