The general's wife knows medicine

Tang Peipei left the store and went straight to the vegetable market.

Because it is the winter solstice, although it is still early, the streets are already bustling.

Before entering the vegetable market, Tang Peipei saw a stall selling mutton, so he hurried forward.

"Uncle, how much is this mutton?"

Tang Peipei took a look and found them quite fresh.

"Which part of the mutton do you want, young lady? Different parts have different prices."

Tang Peipei immediately set his eyes on the lamb leg and pointed at it, "Let's take this one."

"Lamb legs are eighty cents a pound."

"Then please check how heavy it is, uncle."

"Okay, wait a moment." He weighed the lamb leg. "My dear, this lamb leg weighs five catties, and costs four hundred coins in total."

As he spoke, he wrapped the lamb leg deftly.

When Tang Peipei was about to pay, she saw some sheep offal, including sheep intestines, in a wooden barrel next to the stall.

"Uncle, don't we want those?" Tang Peipei pointed at the wooden barrel.

The mutton seller looked at the wooden barrel and then at Tang Peipei.

"No one is buying these, so I'm going to take them home to feed the pigs."

"Uncle, I want that goat intestine, can you give it to me?"

Seeing that Tang Peipei only wanted a few pieces of lamb intestines, the boss generously packed them and handed them to Tang Peipei.

Tang Peipei, who got the lamb intestines, happily paid the money, picked up the lamb legs and lamb intestines in his hands, and went into the vegetable market to buy vegetables.

Maybe because today is the winter solstice, there are many more people selling wild mushrooms on the street, and Tang Peipei also bought some.

After buying all the vegetables, Tang Peipei went to the pharmacy again and bought some spices.

Nowadays, grain and oil shops don’t sell spices, only pharmacies have them, and they are all considered medicinal materials.

After buying all the things, Tang Peipei almost turned into a strong man, but still managed to carry them back home with great difficulty.

Just as he was about to knock on the door, he met Tang's mother who was going out.

"Oh, why did you buy so many things? You didn't even tell me so I could go with you."

Tang's mother quickly took the things from Tang Peipei's hand and walked towards the kitchen while muttering.

"Today is the winter solstice. I went to the store early. When I came back it was still early, so I went to the vegetable market by myself." Tang Peipei shook his numb arms.

"How do you buy so many things?"

"Mom, let's eat hotpot? I saw a way of eating it in a book, which said it is most suitable for the whole family to eat together in winter. It can not only relieve the cold, but also create a good atmosphere." Tang Peipei's eyes flickered, and her eyes were shining when she mentioned hotpot.

Seeing her like this, Tang's mother smiled and nodded, "Okay, I'll do as you say. We'll have the hot pot you mentioned tonight. Do you know how to make it?"

"Of course, it's very simple, Mom, just wait for the food today, I'll make it."

"Okay, then I'll try your cooking today."

"Don't worry, Bao Niang is satisfied." Tang Peipei thought for a while, "Oh, by the way, mother, I invited Brother Zeng and his mother to come to my house to celebrate the festival together today."

"Really? Then I'll go buy some snacks or something and leave them there later."

"Okay."

After the family had breakfast, Nanny Yuan took Little Tuanzi and Tang's mother to the street. Tang Peipei was pickling meat and vegetables at home. The longer the pickling time, the more flavorful the meat would be and the more delicious it would be.

Unfortunately, Tang Peipei couldn't find any chili peppers, so she had to use spicy rice oil instead.

Spicy rice oil is made by pounding and filtering the juice from dogwood picked in August, then adding lime and stirring it.

Tang Peipei marinated all the meat and put it aside, and prepared all the vegetables in the afternoon.

In the afternoon, Tang Peipei prepared the vegetables and started stir-frying.

Without butter, Tang Peipei can only use lard instead. In the future, if he can come across someone selling beef, he will definitely buy more butter. Hot pot will be more fragrant with butter.

However, now cows are all labor force and are not easily slaughtered. Only old cows are allowed to be slaughtered for meat.

After Tang Peipei stir-fries the ingredients, pour in clean water, bring to a boil, and then simmer over low heat.

A small stove was built in the middle of the yard, which was used for warming fire in winter. A small pot was placed on it, and the size of the pot was about the same as a modern frying pan.

Because there was no advance preparation, Tang Peipei had to place the wide benches she used to sit on when eating around the stove, and found a board and put the low stool on it to place the dishes.

Looking at the neatly arranged simple hot pot table, Tang Peipei nodded and said, "Just use it. It still looks like there's some atmosphere."

At this time, there was a knock on the gate and Tang Peipei hurried to open it.

Standing outside the door were Zeng Xiuyuan and a woman who was about thirty or forty years old. I guess this woman should be Zeng Xiuyuan's mother.

The woman had her hair simply tied up and inserted a white jade lotus hairpin. She was wearing a light green brocade skirt with a few lotus leaves outlined with green silk threads. A blooming lotus was embroidered on the hem of the skirt. A green belt was tied around her waist, making her already slender waist seem even more fragile.

What a beautiful woman with a refined and elegant temperament! No wonder Zeng Xiuyuan's father loves her so much.

Tang Peipei quickly invited the person into the yard.

"You are Peipei, right?" Zeng Xiuyuan's mother Mu Qing took the tea handed over by Tang Peipei and took a sip.

"Yes."

Tang Peipei didn't know why, but she felt like she was being treated like a commodity, which made her feel uncomfortable all over.

"Brother Zeng, Aunt, please sit down for a while. I'll go get ready." Tang Peipei smiled awkwardly.

"Do you need help?" Zeng Xiuyuan stood up and prepared to go out with Tang Peipei to take a look.

"No, no, no, just sit and chat with your aunt. I'm almost ready." Tang Peipei hurried out of the living room.

She felt that Zeng Xiuyuan's mother didn't like her, but they had never met before. Besides, if she didn't like her, why did she come to her house? It was inexplicable!

Just at this time, Tang's mother and Yuan's mother also came back.

Tang Peipei quickly asked the two to take out the meat and vegetables. She scooped the soup from the pot in the kitchen and poured it into the pot in the yard.

Waves of fragrance wafted out with the wind.

Zeng Xiuyuan and his mother also smelled the fragrance and came over.

Tang Peipei quickly asked them to sit down.

Because Nanny Yuan used to be Zeng Xiuyuan's servant, she felt a little restrained when meeting her old master.

But Tang Peipei still forced them to take a seat, and everyone sat down around the stove.

Mu Qing on the side just glanced at Tang Peipei and didn't say much.