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Chapter 16
The Chen family is actually a slightly larger farming family in the city. The dozen or so members are actually just like village households.
Later, he got along well, and with the help of his neighbors, Mrs. Chen became the head of the village, and then used his power to successfully make the eldest son of Chen the head of the village.
The second son was an idler, unwilling to plan food in the fields. Relying on this relationship, he only did some tricky work when the county government recruited helpers.
Although the chief's family still has a lot of benefits received when entrusting others to do things, the elders in the family are used to being extravagant, not to mention that Chen Ming had to study and take the imperial examination at that time, and every female member of the Chen family had toWorking to help support the family, life is still tight. After Chen Ming was admitted as a scholar, he shared the financial pressure of the family.
When the Liu family knew the truth about the Chen family, their only daughter had been married for three years, so every year and festival, they would drive their donkeys all the way to send some things from the countryside and money to their sister.
Of course they didn't know that it would be a waste of money to send that little thing to the Chen family.
After Chen Ming's death three years ago, Liu's mother's family moved more diligently to support their daughter. Who knew that the family changed later, pirates invaded the coastal villages, fled into Liujia Village in exile, and the soldiers sent by the county government were late.Yes, when the pirates were expelled, more than a dozen people in the village were killed, two of Liu's four brothers were lost, one nephew was injured, Liu's aunt and third sister-in-law were also depressed and died successively.
The life of the Liu family became difficult, so they came to Funing County less.
It was at this time that the members of the Chen family thought that Liu's mother's family was failing, and began to dislike them, beat and scolded them wantonly, and finally found excuses to drive Liu's mother and daughter out of the house.
Mrs. Liu also wanted to bring her two daughters back to her mother's house, but she knew that going back would only add three more mouths to eat for the family. The elder brother's life was already difficult, and she didn't dare to trouble them any more, so she stayed in the courtyard.
Uncle Liu only found out about the fact that the girl was kicked out of the Chen family. At that time, he was so angry that he wanted to make a theory with the Chen family. He was beaten up by the Chen family and thrown out. His arm could not twist his thigh, so Uncle Liu had to swallow it.In this tone, he found his sister in the courtyard and wanted to take his niece back to the countryside, but the girl stubbornly refused to go back and cause him trouble.
Uncle Liu had no choice but to leave the only few dozen coins he had with him for his sister, and went back to Liujia Village by himself.
This time he took advantage of the Mid-Autumn Festival to visit his sister's family and went to the courtyard, only to find out that the Liu family had moved away, and it was the wife of the Wang family who told him about this place in Yanlai Lane.
Seeing that the girl's life has improved, Uncle Liu sighed in his heart.
Seeing Chen Nianguan goodbye, had mixed feelings and couldn't say anything for a while.
Yuanshen was very close to this uncle, and from Yuanshen's memory, Chen Nianguan knew that this uncle was very kind to A Niang and them, and he felt a sense of intimacy both by blood and people.
Immediately asked Uncle Liu to stay overnight and gossip about family affairs.
Uncle Liu refused.
Now only he and his fourth younger brother are left in the Liu family, a large group of women and children are waiting to be looked after, and there are fields, which are in autumn harvest, so he dare not delay.
It takes two hours to go back to Liujia Village from Funing County, but if you stay too long, you may not be able to leave the city before the city gate of Funing County is closed. Chen Nianguan regrets that he did not come back sooner.Uncle Liu wrapped up the fish curd that I ate at home, and I also brought the fifty brown rice, twenty catties of polished rice and the leftover chicken in the stored grain that I bought back to Uncle Liu, and finally sealed it generously.Four taels of silver to bring back to him.
The Liu family, the only one who was kind to them, lived so hard and never disliked them. Chen Nianguan felt that since he had money in hand, he should treat such generous relatives better.
Uncle Liu was shocked with a huge sum of money, and he was still in a daze when he rode a fully loaded donkey cart out of Yanlai Lane.
He wanted to help his sister, but he didn't expect to be helped instead.
Chen Nianguan took a curious look at the local products that Uncle Liu sent over, and found that besides a bag of sweet potatoes and a bag of potatoes, there was also a basket of newly harvested corn, a jar of sauerkraut and a jar of spicy peppers.
Almost all of them are the staple food that can satisfy the hunger, which is very practical.
When Chen Nianguan helped Mrs. Liu move these stored grains into the small cellar in the kitchen for storage, he chatted with Mrs. Liu about the situation at Uncle Liu's house, feeling pity in his heart, and then he naturally talked about buying a donkey.
"What did you order outside? How much money did you spend? I gave your uncle another four taels of silver today. Is there a lot of money left? Can I still buy a donkey cart?"
Chen Nianguan silently calculated, after the last transaction, after Liu's money left for daily expenses, she took the remaining thirty taels of silver, and now there are only less than twenty taels left.
Money is not enough.
Chen Nianguan, who spends money like water, blames the preparatory work for the next money-making project for spending too much money, but he doesn't say anything, nodding repeatedly: "Enough, enough."
In order to be a car owner, he gritted his teeth and bought a donkey.
Liu Shi thought for a while and said, "That's fine."
After all, the benefits of buying a donkey cart were listed in front of her one by one. What attracted her most was that the work she would do after buying a donkey was related to her new livelihood after she could not sell fish rot.
For this reason, she also supports her daughter in buying a donkey cart.
So got up at Yinshi the next day and used the soybeans soaked last night to grind soybean milk with a stone mill for the first time.
After boiling, add some sugar and taste it, it's really good.
After returning from the stall, Chen Nianguan and Mrs. Liu took Xuan Xuan to the market.
Today was the day to tell the bamboo craftsman to get the custom-made nest baskets. Chen Nianguan quickly found the bamboo craftsman's stall, took the four flat nest baskets he made, and gave him twenty-four pennies.
Then they went to the horse market in the city.
Whether buying cattle or mules or donkeys, it is a horse market for selling horses.
In the horse market, those who sell horses are on one side, and those who sell cattle, donkeys and mules are unified on the other side, and the superior and inferior are distinguished.
The white horse, the black horse, and the red-brown horse on the horse selling side are BMW Mercedes-Benz Maserati.
The side that sells cattle, donkeys and mules is Chery Baojun Wuling Hongguang.
Although they are all carts, they are really different. Chen Nianguan said he wanted to buy a donkey, but his eyes always drifted to the side of the horse seller, and his eyes shined brightly.
Ah, really want to buy a carriage.
"Wan Wan?" Seeing Chen Nianguan's delay in picking a donkey, Liu asked suspiciously. When she saw her glance at the horse shed on the other side from time to time, she immediately understood, "You don't want to buy a horse, do you? Our family can afford it."Is it?" Whether you can afford it is one problem, and whether you can afford it in the future is another problem.
"Just, just take a look."
It’s like Hyundai going to a 4S store to buy a car. Although it’s too shy to afford cheap ones, there’s always a heart ready to move, and it’s only reconciled to go to the expensive ones.
After all, Chen Nianguan couldn't resist the temptation of BMW, wiped the drool that didn't exist in the corner of his mouth, pretended to go to the nearest stable?Bai immediately touched it, praised the BMW as a good one, and then asked the price.
Thirty-two starting price.
Chen Nianguan was seriously injured immediately, and quickly jumped back to the side selling cattle, donkeys and mules.
I'm sorry, it's her who can't climb high, so bother you.
All of her net worth does not exceed twenty taels in total.
Can't afford it can't afford it.
After taking a last look at the white horse with sad little eyes, Chen Nianguan chose the most handsome donkey among the donkeys, which cost eight taels, and he was equipped with a bridle bit, whip and reins, and a two-wheeled carriage frame, which cost two dollars.two.
Hmm, ten taels of silver can have a Chery that belongs to me, not bad.
On the way back, Mrs. Liu and Xuan Xuan were sitting in the car. Chen Nianguan couldn't ride a donkey, so she had to lead it. With a flick of the whip, she wanted to sing a song: "I have a little donkey, and I never know how to ride a donkey."don't ride..."
The depression of not being able to afford a BMW is gone.
But wait, sooner or later she'll be able to afford a Maserati.
After returning home, he unloaded the frame of the cart, led the donkey to the jujube tree, tied it up, fetched water, and washed it clean.
As for feeding and how to drive the donkey to pull the mill, Mrs. Liu had seen it when she was at her mother's house. She took a piece of cloth and covered the donkey's eyes, connected the rein to the stone mill, and patted the donkey's back with her hand, and the donkey took it for granted.Walked around in circles.
Chen Nianguan was surprised to see it. After stopping the donkey, he washed the nest baskets in his hand, called Liu Shi, and then took out the iron pan that was fried in the kitchen and put it on the earthen stove, and put the four nest baskets into the openPut it on your mouth.
Hey, some are a circle larger than the pot, some are much smaller than the pot, and the last two just fit in and sink half a centimeter, just right.
Chen Nianguan kept these two, and kept the biggest one, and the other one was used by Mrs. Liu to dry things.
There were still two catties of brown rice bought yesterday. Chen Nianguan washed and soaked one catty as soon as he came back, and now he just used it for experiments.
Put the rice and a certain proportion of water into the stone mill, let the donkey start to work, and use a wooden bucket to continue the milled rice milk.
After pouring water into the pot and turning it on, Chen Nianguan went back to the kitchen and poured out a bowl of lard, took out a large bristle brush that had been soaked for half a day and washed it clean, and used the old fish farming brushA large wooden tub filled with well water was set aside.
When the rice milk has been ground to a similar amount, Chen Nianguan takes it out, adds fresh ingredients and stirs well.
When the water in the pot boiled, she scooped up a ladle of rice milk with a gourd ladle, put it into the nest basket, shook it lightly and scattered it to the size of the nest basket, then uncovered it and put it into the pot, counting the amount of rice milk when it was formed., uncovered, and took out the nest basket.
Liu, who was in charge of lighting the fire, couldn't help standing up and taking a look: "Wan Wan, what is this?"
Chen Nianguan didn't have time to explain, so he put the nest basket on the water basin and let it stand for a while, then put it on the Sifang platform, peeled off the steamed rice milk skin, and finally peeled off the intact round powder skin completely.
She is indeed a talented cook.
Satisfied, Chen Nianguan asked the donkey to continue pulling the mill until a pound of brown rice was finished.
After putting the pink skin in the large nest basket, continue to the next round.
Then Chen Nianguan didn't stop, and the two baskets took turns. When one basket was put into the wooden basin to cool down, the other basket was mixed with rice paste and put into the pot for steaming.
When the six sheets were finished, Liu Shi on the side also watched it, so she did the steaming, Xuan Xuan was in charge of lighting the fire, and Chen Nianguan brushed soybean oil on each sheet of vermicelli, stacked them, and put them on the rootstockOn the top, cut into strips of wide vermicelli with a knife.
This is the pho that Chen Nianguan loved to eat in modern times.
When it comes to imagining new projects, Chen Nianguan began to think about his favorite, original, easy-to-make, and popular snacks.
It's better to be acquainted than a raw one. When I really think about the snacks I am familiar with and like, I realize that this era is too unfriendly to her.
What are her favorite snacks that are popular where she lives?
Offal.Beef brisket skewers.Fried beef river.
Do you see clearly?That's right, there is a word "cow" in every snack.
In this era, cattle are not allowed to be slaughtered casually. When there is beef for sale, most of the cattle die due to old age, illness or accident.
Beef is also super expensive, more expensive than mutton.
Besides, what she wanted was not beef, but offal.
There is only one set of offal for slaughtering a cow. How can there be so much offal in this era?
The livelihood I want to do, first of all, I can't guarantee the ingredients.
When he was soberly aware of this, Chen Nianguan almost burst into tears.