noffsinger Chapter 46 Uncle
Chapter 46 Uncle
In the apocalypse, the two had no family and grew up relying on each other. Seeing Jiang Shi come to help, Gao Mengli and Lin Xi suddenly felt a surge of warmth in their hearts.
Gao Mengli didn't say anything, but simply poured the black beans into the winnowing basket, preparing to pick out the small stones and broken branches and leaves from among the beans.
"Sister-in-law... let me help you pick them up." At this moment, Yang Qing from the third branch of the family, looking nervous, mustered all the courage she had ever had and walked into the yard, taking the winnowing basket from Gao Mengli's hands. She sat on the steps under the eaves and began to help with the work.
Gao Mengli and Lin Xi looked at each other, smiled, and then went about their own business.
"Mengli, what are you using this for?" After washing the large vat, Jiang helped wash the black beans with water. After washing them clean, she soaked them in two large basins.
Gao Mengli picked at the black beans in her philtrum, looked up at Jiang Shi and smiled, "These are for making soy sauce, to add color and flavor."
"soy sauce?!"
Jiang and Yang Qing found it intriguing. Although they didn't know what it was, they couldn't help but watch Gao Mengli's every step with curiosity.
Lin Xi steamed the soaked beans in a pot until cooked, then poured them into a dry bowl. She mixed the yeast and flour evenly, then poured the mixture into the black beans and stirred it well to ensure that each bean was coated with flour.
Then, line a large vat with a layer of gauze, pour in the mixed black beans, seal it, and place it in the kitchen for constant temperature fermentation.
Black beans need to ferment for two days, and then they need to be dried in the sun.
After being partially dried, they are put into a large vat, salt water is poured in, and they are left to dry in the sun and dew for a period of time.
During this process, the ingredients in the raw materials will slowly dissolve, and as time goes by, the color will gradually darken, thus forming soy sauce.
With many people working together, things get done faster. Seeing that it was still early, she and Lin Xi carried baskets on their backs and prepared to pick some locust flowers.
"Mengli... I want to ask... do you still buy eggs?" Jiang rubbed her hands together, and seeing the two about to leave, she nervously stepped forward to ask.
Gao Mengli turned around and looked at Jiang Shi with some doubt. "We bought the same number of eggs as yesterday. We're going to have Da Niu go to the village to collect them later."
Jiang's eyes lit up when she heard Gao Mengli's words.
However, a hint of hesitation and unease appeared on her face, because the two families had fallen out, and she didn't know if the two men from her eldest son's family would accept her.
She bit her lip, mustered her courage, and looked at Gao Mengli and Lin Xi: "Mengli, it's like this, my younger brother, who is your uncle, has also accumulated a lot of eggs. Do you think we could buy some from them too? Your uncle's eggs are guaranteed to be fresh, all laid by his own hens."
Gao Mengli and Lin Xi exchanged a glance. What was so difficult about that? They were going to collect eggs anyway.
The two nodded to Jiang.
"This, this means you agree?!" Jiang was overjoyed, her eyes shining as she looked at the two of them.
"Mother, since they're from my uncle's family, they're family. What's wrong with that?"
Lin Xi was full of questions. Even Da Niu knew the principle of "the best resources go to one's own family," so how could they not understand? Why was his mother asking them so cautiously? Did they perhaps have a history of hitting their uncle?
Although Lin Xi was internally complaining, it has to be said that Lin Xi was right.
"Okay, okay! I'll tell your uncle to bring it to you!"
Jiang hurriedly and excitedly agreed, wanting to go back and pack her things to go to her parents' home, but then thought better of it, afraid that the two of them would regret it.
He didn't even go back to the old house's courtyard; he ran straight out of Lin Xi's yard and went to Jiang Yuandao's house.
Anyway, it's not far, just two villages apart!
Watching Jiang rush out, only Yang Qing, the third brother's wife, remained, unsure of what to do after finishing her work.
Seeing that she hadn't left, Gao Mengli raised an eyebrow, assuming she was also going to sell chickens, and kindly asked, "Third brother's wife, does your family also have eggs to sell?"
Yang Qing was startled when she heard Gao Mengli's question. She quickly waved her hand and said, "No...no, brother and sister-in-law, I'll go back now."
After saying that, he ran back to the old house next door.
Gao Mengli touched her nose; she really meant well and didn't mean to send her back.
So he turned to Da Niu and instructed him, "Da Niu, cook some rice at home first, cook a lot, and have your grandma and third aunt come over for dinner tonight."
"Eh!"
Da Niu excitedly agreed and went to the kitchen to get busy.
His parents asked him to do this, and he was happy to do it!
After all, he eats delicious food every day, but his grandparents eat coarse food and vegetables, and he feels guilty about it.
So whenever there's "fertile water" at home, it's poured into the old house.
Cooking, so satisfying!
Gao Mengli and Lin Xi picked some locust flowers and elm seeds and came back, busying themselves for dinner for quite a while.
I made some locust flower and egg pancakes, steamed a basket of elm seed dumplings, and added some white rice—that should be enough to eat.
Lin Xi also stewed a pot of radish and pig's trotter stew, stir-fried pork belly with garlic sprouts, shredded pork with green peppers, and a bowl of cabbage and meatball soup.
The aroma of that meat wafted for miles!
The people in the old house suffered the most.
Fu, Lu, and Lin, the three little devils, squatted at the door of Da Niu's house, constantly sniffling and looking completely blissful.
When Lin Yong, a carpenter, smelled the fragrance and saw the wood shavings, he realized he couldn't plane any more wood.
He stopped shaving the wood, squatted in the corner, looked left and right, and when he saw that no one was paying attention to him, he took a couple of deep breaths of the fragrant aroma from the neighboring yard!
"What delicious food are those two short-lived bastards making now? It smells so good!"
Just as he was complaining about his neighbor being "inhuman," Jiang returned with her younger brother Jiang Yuandao, her face beaming with smiles.
Jiang Yuandao was also carrying a basket of eggs on his back.
As he approached the gate, he hesitated to enter the courtyard.
He looked at Jiang Shi with some hesitation, "Sister, are you sure the two men from your eldest son's family will give me money after they accepted my eggs?"
Please don't let it be like before, where you throw hot buns at a dog and never get them back...
"Oh, you don't trust those two 'spendthrifts,' but you can trust me! They're not as ignorant as before, and they're not lazy anymore. They earn money with their own hands. Don't worry, they'll definitely give you money!"
Jiang had complete confidence in the two of them, after all, the malt candy she gave her three grandchildren today was worth more than the cost of a hundred eggs.
In addition, when she helped them, she saw that they worked quite efficiently, and there was no trace of their previous "bastard" behavior.
She was willing to give them a little bit of trust.
Lin Xi heard a noise outside the courtyard gate; it must be Jiang Shi returning.
Hurry up and go outside to open the courtyard gate.
There were two people at the door, one refusing to go in no matter what, and the other pulling and tugging at him so that he would insist on going in.
"Mother, Uncle... Uncle?" Lin Xi looked at the two people. The man was unfamiliar, but he looked about five parts like his mother. He was thin and weak.
This must be the younger brother his mother mentioned, his uncle.
Upon hearing Lin Xi's voice, one of them was overjoyed, while the other was frightened.
Jiang Yuandao was still somewhat intimidated by Lin Xi. He felt that the places where he had been beaten before started to ache again as a conditioned reflex when he saw Lin Xi.