Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

"What's that delicious smell? Who's cooking meat? It's only this month and it's still a long way from the New Year. Will life be meaningless if we don't eat the meat?" Yan Bugui's nose continued to twitch, and he didn't even want to put the bucket away.

His nose was like a dog's, and he quickly found the target by following the scent.

The closer they got to Zeng's house, the stronger the aroma of meat became, and Yan Bugui felt that the fish in his hand suddenly lost its fragrance.

"Brother's wife, brother's wife... uh, it's Wangcai, what did you cook? It smells so good. Your mother is not at home?" Yan Bugui stuck his head through the door curtain of Zeng's house. He didn't go in, but just stood at the door. From Zeng Wangcai's perspective, Yan Bugui now looked a little shifty.

Zeng Wangcai had been stewing the bones for a while. There was too much meat to fit in one pot, so half of it was left covered with a colander on the eight-immortals table.

This means that everything in the pot and what has not been cooked is covered, and Yan Bugui cannot see it at all.

On the other side, the meatless bones that Zeng Wangcai actually bought were soaking in a basin near the door.

Seeing these bones, Yan Bugui understood immediately without Zeng Wangcai's reply: "Wow, you bought pig bones? I'd say your classmate's harvest is not very good this time. There is no meat on the bones. It's not worth it. Look at the harvest of the third uncle today. It's almost one kilogram. The third uncle's family is having fish today..."

Yan Bugui picked up the fish in the bucket and showed it off.

Zeng Wangcai achieved his goal and said with a smile: "Uncle San is awesome. Where did you catch this fish? In the moat? I'll go try it tomorrow."

"You can't do it. Fishing is a delicate job. If you don't have the skills, you'll just waste your time. Let's go. You stew it slowly. I have to say, your cooking is pretty good and it smells really good..." After muttering this, Yan Bugui retracted his head and left.

If Yan Bugui knew that Zeng Wangcai was cooking meat today, or if he didn't have any fish, he might have fiddled with the abacus, but as for the bones, especially the ones Zeng Wangcai placed at the door, forget it.

Yan Bugui's real thought was that Zeng Wangcai suffered a huge loss today. The bones he bought were picked too cleanly, and there was nothing but marrow. There was no oil or water when cooking the soup, and Zeng Wangcai actually used so much soy sauce and seasoning, so he lost a lot of money.

What a prodigal son.

Shaking his head, Yan Bugui opened the door and entered the house, his mind no longer on the bones of Zeng Wangcai's family.

Zeng Wangcai opened the lid of the pot. It smelled so good. He estimated that it would be ready to eat in half an hour. However, it would be better to stew it longer so that the bones would be more tender and easier for the three children to chew.

He expected that the aroma of stewed bones could not be concealed, and someone would definitely come to see it. Putting the bones at the door was to guard against villains rather than gentlemen, and sure enough, Yan Bugui came.

However, although nothing went wrong during Yan Bugui's visit, it reminded Zeng Wangcai and gave him a new idea for cashing in.

Zeng Wangcai's previous idea was to sell wine, which had already been realized, but the channel was too single. Yan Bugui's fishing was a good idea. He could sell fish to those government canteens that had unplanned purchasing targets.

At this time, there seemed to be an instruction that purchasing was not allowed to go to the countryside to make purchases, so as to make life a little easier for the farmers. Zeng Wangcai felt that if the "caught" fish were sold to these units, not only would he not make mistakes, but it would also be a great help to the purchasing department.

As for fishing skills, there is no need for them at all. It is not difficult at all for Zeng Wangcai. He only needs to hang the fish in the warehouse on the fish hook and then take it out.

The only trouble was the type and freshness of the fish. He planned to go to the warehouse to look for it before going to bed at night. In such a large warehouse, he would always be able to find suitable ones.

The bones were almost ready. Zeng Wangcai brought three bowls, picked out three large bones with more meat and placed them on the eight-immortals table. He put the rest in a large washbasin and covered it with a colander. To keep things simple and avoid waste, he didn't bother washing the pot or anything, and continued to stew the next pot with the original soup.

After doing all this, Zeng Wangcai went to the north room and called over the three children who were sweating from playing.

Zeng Xiaoqiang, Zeng Laifu and Zeng Xiaohuan, aged ten, seven and four, saw the huge piece of meat in the bowl and smelled the long-lost meat aroma. They all shouted and ran to the eight-immortals table.

Zeng Xiaohuan was short and failed to climb up the stool, and she almost cried in frustration.

Zeng Wangcai carried his sister to the table, asked her to kneel directly on the stool, and then took out wet towels for the three children to wipe their hands.

"Brother, it smells so good that I'm almost dizzy from the smell. Why are there so much meat on the bones today..." Zeng Xiaoqiang poked the bones in his bowl with his fingers and sipped on the juice. He almost swallowed his tongue with just that one bite.

Zeng Lai Fu was the most direct. He started chewing while breathing out air. His toothless mouth would occasionally break into a silly grin, with a look of satisfaction on his face.

Zeng Xiaohuan took a bite and stopped: "Brother...Brother, can you leave some for Dad? Xiaohuan, have a bite, brother...and Dad, share it."

This child is so pitiful. She still cares about me. She is much better than the ungrateful guy in the Central Courtyard. Even Xiaoqiang Lai Fu can't compare to her.

Perhaps inspired by Zeng Xiaohuan, Xiaoqiang and Lai Fu found that their eldest brother had no meat, so they stopped eating. Lai Fu even pushed the bone that was full of saliva to Zeng Wangcai.

"Laifu, you eat yours. Big brother and I will share. You're drooling all over. Isn't that disgusting?" Zeng Xiaoqiang also pushed the bowl over.

Just from this little episode, Zeng Wangcai felt that the children in his family would not grow up to be bad.

"Okay, big brother loves you guys, everyone can eat as much as you want today, there's more." Zeng Wangcai opened the basket, revealing the enamel basin inside, "Each person can eat two pieces first, and the rest can be eaten together with parents and second uncle when they come back later, there's more in the pot."

"This... is so much?"

"Brother, you are the most powerful brother in the world. I believe it now. I will never play with Banggeng and the others. I will listen to you."

"Big brother, Daddy has meat to eat now, thank you big brother..."

The three children started eating, they were so happy, but after a while they all looked like harlequin cats. For a dish like braised pork ribs, one has to chew it directly with the hands to enjoy it. It is not suitable to eat Tang Monk's meat by blowing and beating it carefully as King Jinjiao said.

Although there was a lot of meat, no one wasted it. Even the youngest, Zeng Xiaohuan, gnawed her piece of meat until there was no meat smell at all. She sucked out all the marrow and licked it inside and out before stopping and eating the second piece.

Zeng Wangcai looked at the bones that the three children had gnawed out and thought that he didn't need to deal with them now. Even dogs wouldn't bother to gnaw on them. They were too clean, cleaner than those scraped by a butcher with a knife.

It was past six o'clock, the sky was not dark yet, but the sun had already set. Yan Bugui's family had sprinkled water at the door early in the morning, so it was cool now.

Third aunt Yang Ruihua was able to cook, and asked eldest aunt Yan Jiecheng and others to set up the dining table outside. They were going out to eat today. Not only would it be cool, but it would also be face-saving. For meat, they had fish head stewed with wild vegetables.

The Yan family's dish tonight was a big pot of wild vegetable soup with a little bit of oil floating on it. I guess the third aunt just dipped some lard with chopsticks and put it in the pot to wash it. There was also a bowl of pickles. The staple food was also rare, so they had dry, steamed corn bread made of mixed flour.

Yan Bugui greeted the neighbors who came back with a smile until he saw Zeng Youqian and his wife and Zeng Youhuo coming back with their bags on their backs.

"Wait a minute, Youqian. Let me tell you something. Your eldest son went to buy pork bones today and lost money. There was no meat on the bones..."