Siheyuan: I am different He Yuzhu

Three days after the courtyard dinner, the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill officially closed for the holiday. On the first day after the holiday, He Yuzhu went to the courtyard of Qudeng Hutong alone, under the pretext of going out. He wanted to go into the blessed land and kill a big fat pig, a sheep and three chickens. As a big eater, the meat coupons he received every month were not enough for his family's dumplings. At the same time, he could also share some meat with his cousins ​​Cai Quanwu and Zhang Hu as a New Year's benefit. Just like last year, everyone who worked with him would get 3 kilograms of pork, a chicken and a fish for the New Year.

He Yuzhu skillfully killed the pig in the blessed land cave, and then cut the pork into appropriate pieces. He Yuzhu rode his bicycle with the cut meat to deliver to his master Guan Xuezong. As it was difficult to explain the source of the pork, Wu Baotian had to bear with not sending it, and would talk about it when he visited during the New Year.

He Yuzhu brought pork to Cai Quanwu's home in Daqianmen. After pushing his bicycle into the house, he happened to run into Cai Quanwu in the yard. He Yuzhu said, "Uncle, how are the New Year's goods prepared?"

Cai Quanwu smiled and said, "We are almost ready. Zhuzi, how is your family preparing?"

"My family has almost prepared everything." After saying that, He Yuzhu walked to Cai Quanwu and whispered, "Uncle, I have prepared some things for everyone at the house in Qudeng Hutong. Go and share them with everyone, and take your portion back as well. Each person will get 5 jin of pork, a fish, and a chicken."

Cai Quanwu nodded to indicate that he understood. He Yuzhu said loudly: "Then I'll go first, uncle. I have to go to Master's house." After that, He Yuzhu pushed his bicycle and walked out.

He Yuzhu rode his bicycle to Guan Xuezong's home. Guan Xuezong was sitting in the yard basking in the sun. He Yuzhu said with a smile: "Master, you are so free."

Guan Xuezong opened his eyes and glanced at He Yuzhu, then said unhappily, "You are on holiday now. Why aren't you at home with your wife? Your wife is already pregnant."

"It's okay, I'll be back soon. I'm here to bring you some New Year's goods. I've put them in the kitchen for you. When Shao Zeng comes back, ask him to prepare them. You don't need to ask him to buy them again for the New Year." After saying that, He Yuzhu walked towards the kitchen.

He Yuzhu put the pork, fish and chicken in the kitchen and returned to the yard, "Master, I'm leaving first."

Guan Xuezong waved his hand to signal He Yuzhu to leave quickly. Seeing this, He Yuzhu pushed his bicycle and left quietly. While walking on the road, He Yuzhu found a secluded corner and entered the blessed land. He put all the mutton, pork, chicken and fish reserved for him into the backpack, then returned to the outside world and rode his bicycle back home.

After He Yuzhu left, Guan Xuezong, who was sitting in the yard with his eyes closed basking in the sun, opened his eyes, stood up from the chair and walked towards the kitchen. He Yuzhu didn't know that since last year, because Guan Xuezong opposed Guan Shaozong's marriage, their father-son relationship has become very tense. Guan Shaozong moved to the dormitory of the unit and seldom went home. This year, he might spend the New Year alone.

As he walked on the road, He Yuzhu was thinking about the group of yellow sheep, sika deer and robed deer raised in the blessed land. Because there had been no natural enemies for so many years, the populations of these animals had basically formed a considerable scale. It was a pity that there was no refrigerator at home, and he could not preserve the animals if he killed one and could not finish eating them. He Yuzhu could only bear it. However, he could consider killing one when he had time in the winter. After all, food had to be rationed starting this year. In the winter, he could use the excuse of hunting to go out of the mountains and get one, and then go home to eat it slowly. Anyway, the winter in the old city was no worse than that in the freezer of a refrigerator. He just had to find a village to rely on, and it would be best if he could get a hunting license to avoid trouble.

He Yuzhu returned to the Siheyuan in Nanluoguxiang with a basket full of things on his back. The Siheyuan's gatekeeper, Uncle Sanye Yan Bugui, saw the basket He Yuzhu was carrying and a big fish hanging on the handlebars. He smiled and greeted him: "Zhuzi, you went out to buy New Year's goods. This fish is not small. Where did you get it?"

Seeing Yan Bugui's eyes almost falling on the fish, He Yuzhu smiled and said, "It's really luck. I just came out of the vegetable market, and I met a man carrying this big fish and preparing to go into the vegetable market. I stopped him and asked him where he got the fish and whether he wanted to sell it. The man said he caught it, but thought it was too big, and it takes more oil to cook the fish, so he wanted to take it to the vegetable market to sell it. I directly paid 3 yuan to buy the fish. I estimate that the fish must weigh more than 6 kilograms. By the way, uncle, I heard from that man that this fish was caught from the Yongding River. Can such a big fish be caught in the Yongding River in winter? I remember that the surface of the Yongding River is covered with thick ice in winter?" He Yuzhu asked pretending to be ignorant.

After listening to He Yuzhu's words, Yan Bugui said with envy: "That person is so lucky that he can catch such a big fish in winter. The Yongding River and the Haihe River are connected, and there are fish bigger than this one. By the way, Zhuzi, did you ask that person where he caught it?"

He Yuzhu shook his head and said, "I was in a hurry to come back, so I didn't ask. What's the matter, Uncle?" Yan Bugui must have wanted to ask for a place to go fishing, but it was a pity that Yan Bugui's wish was doomed to fail. How could He Yuzhu know where to catch big fish in the Yongding River? The fish was caught by He Yuzhu in the lake inside the blessed land.

Yan Bugui said with a look of regret: "That's fine. I like fishing. The place where he caught fish must be better. I want to go there and cast a few rods too."

"I'm sorry, but I guess you can't catch this fish, Uncle." After saying that, He Yuzhu walked towards his home in the central courtyard with a smile.

He Yuzhu pushed his bicycle to the middle courtyard. Jia Zhang, who was sitting in the courtyard basking in the sun, saw the fish hanging on He Yuzhu's bicycle. She ran to He Yuzhu with a lick on her face and said with a smile: "Zhuzi, your fish is so big. I guess your family can't finish it. Why don't you share some with Auntie's family?"

He Yuzhu laughed and said, "Aunt Zhang, have you forgotten that I have a big appetite?" After that, He Yuzhu pushed open the door of his small kitchen and ignored Jia Zhang.

Just as Jia Zhang was about to mutter something curse at He Yuzhu under her breath, He Yuzhu turned his head and glanced at Jia Zhang, who immediately said guiltily, "Look, my memory is so bad. I forgot." After saying that, Jia Zhang returned to the stool at her door in dejected manner and continued to hit the soles of her shoes hard.

He Yuzhu looked at Jia Zhang who ran away in disgrace, smiled and shook his head and went straight into the small courtyard of the kitchen. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and we have to prepare food for the New Year. He Yuzhu opened the kitchen door and put the backpack on the table. He Yuzhu took the mutton out of the backpack first. He would simply eat lamb chops at noon today and chop dumpling stuffing in the afternoon.

He Yuzhu cleaned the lamb chops, chopped them into small pieces and put them in the iron pot. While blanching the lamb, He Yuzhu found the clay pot at home and cleaned it, then added clean water to the clay pot and put it on the coal stove. After a while, He Yuzhu cleaned the blanched lamb chops and put them in the clay pot. If you want the lamb soup to taste good, you just need to stew it for a little longer.

He Yuzhu took out all the things in the backpack. Next, he was going to make the egg rolls ordered by his sister He Yushui. When He Yuzhu had just finished the first egg roll, He Yushui, who was reading with Lou Xiaoe in the room, twitched her nose a few times and said, "Sister-in-law, do you smell a special fragrance?"

Lou Xiao'e took a few deep breaths, shook her head and said, "I don't smell anything. The windows and doors in the room are all closed. How can there be any fragrance?"

He Yushui said seriously, "No, sister-in-law, I'm sure I didn't smell it wrong. There is just a fragrance." He Yushui thought for a while and said, "I remember that this smell is the smell of the egg rolls made by my eldest brother. My eldest brother must be back. He must be making egg rolls in the kitchen." After that, He Yushui opened the door and ran to the kitchen.

He Yushui ran to the kitchen and saw He Yuzhu making omelet. He Yushui said happily, "My nose was right. Brother, you are really making omelet."

He Yuzhu looked at the crazy He Yushui in confusion and asked, "Yushui, what are you mumbling about?"

He Yushui ignored He Yuzhu's question, grabbed two egg rolls, turned around and ran out of the kitchen to the main house. Lou Xiaoe looked at He Yushui who had come back and asked curiously, "Yushui, what did you do when you ran out just now?"

He Yushui took out the egg roll hidden behind her back like she was offering a treasure, and said proudly, "Sister-in-law, look what this is?"

Lou Xiao'e took the egg roll handed over by He Yushui, looked at it and asked, "What is this? It smells so good."

"Just now I said I smelled a fragrance, and it came from this thing. My eldest brother was making this in the kitchen just now, and I smelled the fragrance. This thing is called egg roll. Sister-in-law, you take a bite and try it. It's delicious." After saying that, He Yushui took a bite of the egg roll and demonstrated it to Lou Xiao'e.

Lou Xiao'e took a bite of the egg roll, which melted in her mouth and was full of sweetness. After finishing the egg roll, Lou Xiao'e smiled and said to He Yushui, "Yushui, you have a very good nose. You can smell your brother making egg rolls in the kitchen several rooms away. Your nose is almost as good as a dog's."

He Yushui said proudly, "I have a very good nose. My family is a family of cooks after all. It's just that I'm a girl. Otherwise, when I grow up, my cooking skills will be better than mine. Come on, sister-in-law, I'll take you to see how to make egg rolls. Sister-in-law, are the egg rolls delicious?"

Lou Xiao'e nodded and carefully sat up from the chair. He Yushui saw this and quickly supported Lou Xiao'e's arm. After Lou Xiao'e stood up, He Yushui asked curiously, "Sister-in-law, why is your belly so big when you're pregnant? I remember that the sister-in-law of the Jia family across the street didn't have a bigger belly than yours when she was pregnant!"

After hearing this, Lou Xiao'e smiled and said, "I heard from your eldest brother that I might be pregnant with two babies, which are what people usually call twins."

He Yushui was pleasantly surprised when she heard this and said, "Then I will have two nephews all of a sudden, and people will call me aunt from now on."

He Yushui helped Lou Xiao'e to the kitchen. He Yuzhu saw He Yushui bringing Lou Xiao'e to the kitchen and said with a smile, "Yushui, why did you bring your sister-in-law to the kitchen?"

He Yushui said seriously: "I brought my sister-in-law to see how to make egg rolls. She has never seen it before."

"Then you guys watch carefully. Your sister-in-law will get tired of watching the rain in a while. Be careful when you help her back."

Lou Xiao'e came to He Yuzhu and curiously watched him making egg rolls. He Yushui, who had nothing to do, asked, "Brother, why do the egg rolls I eat this time taste different from the last time? There is a light milky aroma."

He Yuzhu laughed and said, "This time when I made the egg rolls, I added some goat milk. Yushui, you have a good mouth. You can taste it. It seems that you are a senior foodie in our family."

He Yushui chuckled, "By the way, what's in the casserole, brother? It's still early for noon."

"The casserole contains lamb chops. If you stew it for a while, the lamb soup will turn into a milky white color and taste better. By the way, will you eat the staple food at noon during the rainy season?"

He Yushui tilted his head and thought for a while before saying, "Brother, why don't you steam some rice? I want to soak it in mutton soup. Sister-in-law, what do you want to eat?"

"I'll just eat rice like you."

"Okay, sister-in-law, have you seen enough? Why don't we go back to the house? The kitchen is a bit cold."

"Okay, Brother He, I'm leaving now."

"Then walk slower, Yu Shui, hold on to your sister-in-law."

"Ah."

Perhaps because He Yushui and Lou Xiao'e did not close the door after leaving the kitchen, the aroma of the egg rolls made by He Yuzhu slowly spread throughout the courtyard. When Banggeng, the eldest son of the Jia family, smelled the aroma of the egg rolls, he immediately started making a fuss, demanding to eat that fragrant thing.