To entertain his guests, Jiang Youliang specially brought out his family's treasured old tea cakes.
Like the people in Banligou and Hongnigou, the Jiang family were originally mountain dwellers. In the past, the income of mountain dwellers came from hunting, gathering herbs, and making tea.
In spring, tea is picked and tea cakes are made. The tea cakes, which are durable and can be stored for a long time, are then transported out of the mountains, which is the biggest source of income for the mountain people every year.
Later, perhaps because beverages became more popular, novel milk teas replaced traditional tea cakes. Especially after the reform and opening up, the younger generation went to work in the city, or like Jiang Xiaoman, went to university and left the mountains. They basically never came back, let alone learned how to make tea cakes. In any case, Jiang Xiaoman didn't know how.
However, he still knew how to brew tea, because his father loved to drink tea brewed from tea cakes. Since there were guests today, Jiang Xiaoman also made a pot of tea eggs with tea leaves and served peanuts, melon seeds, rice candy, and other treats to the guests.
"Xiaoman, you're too kind." Jiang Yu was a little embarrassed because the last time Jiang Xiaoman visited their home, they only had herbal tea and hadn't prepared anything else.
"Aren't you all being polite to me? You even brought fish and meat when you came to help with the work. Don't bring any next time," Jiang Xiaoman said with a smile.
"Next time I won't be so polite with you either. This time is different. It's the first time you've come to visit. If I don't prepare anything, my dad will beat me up."
The three of them sat down to drink tea and eat snacks. Jiang Xiaoman was going to prepare the fish, and Jiang Yu rolled up his sleeves to help. Killing fish was a family tradition passed down among the people living along the river!
Even Shan Yan wasn't idle. Seeing a pile of firewood that had just been carried back under the wall of the Jiang family's courtyard, he asked Jiang Xiaoman for an axe and helped him chop and stack the bundles of firewood so that they could be used directly for cooking after drying.
"Hey? Xiaoman, why is there a pile of manure under your yard wall? Are you going to plant flowers?" Jiang Yu asked curiously when she saw a neat line of manure piled under the Jiang family's yard wall while she was cleaning fish.
“Where? My dad’s going to plant konjac both inside and outside the yard.” Jiang Xiaoman laughed as she said this.
“I helped the village sell konjac online a while ago, didn’t I? You don’t know, the konjac that we buy for a few cents here can sell for more than three yuan online.”
“My uncle Jiang Baichuan is the principal of the village primary school down the mountain. Last year, they planted a row of konjac twigs along the wall, and this year they made about 10,000 yuan just from selling konjac twigs! My dad wants to follow my uncle’s example and plant konjac twigs inside and outside our yard. Our yard is big, and we can make a lot of money from the konjac twigs next year.”
"Really? Konjac is that valuable? Then we'll plant more of it. Your yard wall is bare, planting konjac would definitely make it look nicer, and we can even sell it." Jiang Yu was very interested when she heard about making money.
He and Shanyan will never have children in this lifetime, so he plans to save as much money as possible for retirement while he is still young, so that he won't have to worry about food and drink when he gets old.
“Sure! I think the road over there is alright. We can just spend a few thousand yuan to build a zipline down to the village. It will be convenient to transport things up the mountain.”
Jiang Xiaoman thought this was something she could really do.
Putting everything else aside, there is a lot of mountainous land in the old mountain valley, and a lot of land has been abandoned after the villagers moved out. If Jiang Yu really wants to do this konjac business, he can completely contract all the abandoned land at the foot of the mountain.
Furthermore, konjac can be intercropped with other economic tree species in forests, which means that one piece of land can generate two sources of income.
The two money-grubbers couldn't stop talking about making money, and their hands were busy too. Jiang Yu helped kill the fish and chop it into pieces, while Jiang Xiaoman went into the kitchen and took out the cutting board and seasonings. She also took out the largest wooden basin in the kitchen, mixed the seasonings, stirred the fish pieces evenly, and put them in the basin to marinate. They could be smoked tomorrow.
The remaining six large fish heads couldn't fit in one pot, so Jiang Xiaoman thought for a moment and decided to keep the largest one to make chopped chili fish head. She also picked out three more fish heads with more meat, soaked some sweet potato starch sheets, and prepared to make fish head stew with starch sheets.
These rice noodle sheets are made from sweet potatoes grown by his own family, and they taste especially delicious.
There were also two fish heads to stew with tofu, plus braised duck with dried bamboo shoots, braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens, and finally two stir-fried vegetable dishes. That was enough for the four of them.
Jiang Youliang went out to set wild boar traps and didn't return for quite a while. When he got home, he looked very upset: "I set the traps too late! The wild boars have eaten a large patch of the tender beans on the hill behind our house! Those wretched beasts!"
As he spoke, he took down the soybean seedlings he was carrying on his back. Seeing that the guests had arrived, he greeted Shan Yan and Jiang Yu and asked them to stay at his home for a few more days. Jiang Yu then moved two small stools over and, together with Shan Yan, helped Jiang Youliang pick the remaining soybeans that had not yet been eaten from the soybean seedlings.
These soybeans have turned from green to yellow, but they are not fully ripe. They won't keep even if they are picked and dried. No wonder Jiang Youliang is so angry.
"Don't worry, Dad, when the weather gets cooler, I'll buy some honeysuckle and daisy seedlings. Then we'll plant all the flowers on the back hill and start beekeeping! Wild boars won't eat these flowers, will they?" Jiang Xiaoman comforted her father.
"You child! Who plants flowers on perfectly good land?" Jiang Youliang couldn't help but scold.
"Dad, can you be reasonable? How much can these beans sell for in a year? Even if you combine all the plots of land in that area behind the mountain, it's at most two thousand yuan a year, and that's assuming they're not ravaged by wild boars."
“Growing flowers is different. Honeysuckle and wild chrysanthemums can be dried and sold for money. Add to that the money from selling honey, and you can easily earn at least ten thousand yuan a year. Dad, we still need money to renovate those two floors upstairs.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Youliang immediately fell silent.
Yes, beans are nowhere near as valuable as honey.
Things are different now. Before, as long as he and his son didn't starve, they could plant whatever they wanted.
There will be many more expenses for the family in the future. After the house is renovated, and with my son getting older, I will have to save a lot of money for his wedding.
Sigh! It seems that when it comes to making money, I still have to listen to my son.
Speaking of beekeeping, Jiang Youliang happened to be there with professional technicians, so he pulled Shan Yan aside and asked him why he couldn't attract bees to his several beehives.
Seeing that there was nothing more for him to do here, Shan Yan decided to go into the mountains with Jiang Youliang.
Jiang Yu seized the opportunity to learn how to cook from Jiang Xiaoman—no, how to make spicy soup.
"This is really super simple!" Jiang Xiaoman said helplessly. He wanted to complain about why people drink hot and sour soup on such a hot day, but he couldn't help it. The guests loved it, and as the host, he couldn't say he didn't have anything else, but he couldn't very well say he didn't have a bowl of hot and sour soup.
As she spoke, Jiang Xiaoman took out the bag containing the base of hot and sour soup, scooped out four spoonfuls, and put them into the soup pot.
"You must add cold water; that's how you make delicious hot and sour soup," Jiang Xiaoman said, as she began slicing the meat again.
After slicing the meat into thin slices, add shredded ginger, a little cooking wine, white vinegar, light soy sauce, and cornstarch, and squeeze it a few times. Once the water in the pot boils, sprinkle the meat evenly into the pot.
“My dad doesn’t like thin, runny soup, so whenever I make it at home, I add ingredients for him. You can add sliced meat or other vegetables that you like. If they are difficult to cook, you have to cook them first before adding them.”
Thin slices of meat were dropped into the pot and cooked in no time. Jiang Xiaoman quickly cracked three eggs, scrambled them, and poured them in. The bright yellow egg flowers instantly floated to the surface. Then, she quickly poured in a spoonful of sesame oil, sprinkled on some chopped green onions, and a pot of hot and sour soup was ready.
"It's really simple." Jiang Yu nodded, indicating that he had learned it.
As for whether he has learned how to use his hands?
He plans to borrow Xiaoman's stove and pot tomorrow to try it out.
The remaining dishes and river fish weren't of much help. Actually, learning to cook isn't difficult, but people in the mountains usually have a lot of work to do at home and don't have time to think about food. So their cooking methods are rather simple and crude, like braised pork with potatoes or braised fish with tofu. They basically only make a few dishes.
Unlike Jiang Xiaoman, who has a whole row of various seasonings for cooking!
At noon, Jiang Xiaoman prepared a table full of delicious dishes. In the center was a shallow ceramic plate containing a fish head with chopped chili peppers. The bright red chopped chili peppers were evenly spread on the fish head, the fish meat was white and tender, and the soup was delicious.
Jiang Xiaoman used a handful of fresh lettuce leaves to line the bottom of the plate when the fish head stew was ready. It looked beautiful and tasted delicious.
The fish head stew with tofu is different from the braised fish they usually eat. It has Sichuan flavor with the addition of Sichuan peppercorns. Jiang Xiaoman learned this from a chef from Sichuan in the cafeteria when she was in college. It is fragrant, spicy and goes very well with rice!
Braised duck with dried bamboo shoots uses dried bamboo shoots made from moso bamboo shoots. The bamboo shoots are tender and have absorbed the duck's broth, making them even tastier than the duck itself.
Braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens. The preserved mustard greens are very oily and look greasy, but they taste really delicious.
For the remaining vegetarian dishes, Jiang Xiaoman made a plate of cold tomato salad, a plate of stir-fried amaranth, and a dish of cold houttuynia cordata salad, all of which are seasonal dishes for this time of year.
Jiang Yu really enjoys the cold-dressed houttuynia cordata that Jiang Xiaoman makes. He often eats it at home, but he always feels that it doesn't taste as good as the one Jiang Xiaoman makes.
Jiang Xiaoman smiled and opened her phone to recommend a cooking app to him: "Actually, I just follow the recipes and experiment randomly, but some experts online really teach you a lot of secret recipes. I learned how to make this sauce for cold dishes online. The blogger said that this sauce is even good for mixing with shoe soles. I've tried it, and it's quite delicious for cold dishes like houttuynia cordata, preserved egg tofu, and arugula."
Jiang Youliang also took out a bottle of wine and poured some for Shan Yan and Jiang Yu. Jiang Xiaoman was not used to drinking strong liquor, so she opened a bottle of beer to accompany them. The four of them ate and drank, and before they knew it, they had finished the whole table of food.
Actually, although fish heads look plentiful, there isn't much meat to eat. They're only eaten fresh during the off-season. When things get busy, let alone stewing fish heads, people can't even get a hot meal.
Jiang Xiaoman enjoyed the meal with her guests, but it was tough on her fans who were scrolling through short videos late at night. The table was full of delicious farm-style dishes!
Impatient fans have already paused the video to order takeout, and even casual viewers who stumbled upon the video through automatic recommendations couldn't resist following the account.
I don't know why, even though Jiang Xiaoman's videos have no technical sophistication, no script, and no so-called "explosive" moments, everyone still watches them with great interest.
Many fans who stumbled upon his videos and became fans said: This rural guy Xiaoman is absolutely addictive! Once you see his videos, you can't help but want to watch all of his previous videos, and you can watch them two or three times without getting tired of them.
Chapter 101
The next day, the Jiang family got busy. Early in the morning, Jiang Xiaoman steamed four layers of meat buns!
This kind of meat bun is actually just a meat and vegetable bun without pleats.
Fresh pork belly is chopped into minced meat and stir-fried with soaked preserved mustard greens to make the filling.
After rolling out the dough, wrap the filling inside, shape it into a large steamed bun, let it rise for twenty minutes, and then steam it until cooked.
These steamed buns, locally known as "meat buns," are an essential staple food for many families working in the mountains during the busy farming season.
With a few meat buns stuffed in his pocket, he had vegetables and staple food, plus a large bottle of water, so he didn't need to go home for meals.
Besides the meat buns, Jiang Xiaoman also brewed a large pot of herbal tea, found two extra-large sports water bottles, filled them with herbal tea for Shan Yan and Jiang Yu, and also filled her own and Jiang Youliang's usual water bottles.
After a simple meal of meat buns, the group shouldered their baskets, took their sickles, and headed into the mountains to work.
Harvesting soybeans in the morning is the most comfortable time because the dew wets the soybean seedlings, and the fuzz on them won't prick your skin. Also, it's not hot in the morning, so they plan to take advantage of this time and harvest the crops on the eastern hillside first.
This mountain land belongs to another neighbor of Jiang Youliang's family. That family moved to the city more than ten years ago. The houses and land in the mountains are not worth much, so they were all abandoned here and no one cared about them.
Jiang Youliang took over someone else's land to grow soybeans, and also planted dozens of pepper trees on the side of the land. These things can be sold for some money when they mature. Jiang Youliang really doesn't want to waste a single bit of land!
However, to Jiang Youliang's anger, as soon as they arrived at the field, they heard something darting around in the soybean vines, and could vaguely see dark figures jumping up and down.
"Damn it! It's those bastards again!"
Jiang Youliang became furious and picked up a few stones from the ground, throwing them forcefully.
These wild boars often come down the mountain to steal food. They are very clever and will retreat into the mountains as soon as they hear someone approaching.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Youliang had just set up wild boar traps yesterday, and now he's caught two of them in one go!
“This is worth much more than soybeans,” Jiang Yu murmured.
Now we don't need to harvest soybeans anymore.
Shan Yan helped Jiang Youliang deal with the two wild boars, and the group carried the two half-grown wild boars down the mountain.
I weighed them on the scale at home. One weighed 63 jin (31.5 kg) and the other weighed 48 jin (24.5 catties). They weren't big, but they were definitely enough for my family to eat for a while.
"Great! I don't have to go down the mountain to buy meat these next few days!" Jiang Xiaoman rubbed her hands excitedly and carried the pig's blood to the kitchen to process it. Pig's blood stir-fried with sauerkraut is also a good dish to eat with rice.
Jiang Youliang kept one of the two wild boar stomachs for himself, intending to offer one to the guests and the other two pig legs for Jiang Baichuan.
This kid has a full head of white hair at such a young age; he really needs to take good care of himself. Wild boar stomach is a very nutritious food.
Set aside the remaining pig liver, lungs, heart, and large intestine.
Wild boar offal has a stronger odor than domesticated offal, and if not prepared properly, it is simply inedible.
Their usual practice is to clean the internal organs and then marinate them for a few days with salt, Sichuan peppercorns, chili peppers, ginger, cooking wine, and the like.
After the flavors have fully penetrated, take them out and drain the water. Then soak them in a brine made with dark soy sauce, soybean paste, dried chili peppers, etc., for a day. Finally, take them out and dry them in the sun before eating.
When eating, you can slice it and steam it, or stir-fry it with chili peppers. It's fragrant, spicy, and goes perfectly with rice!
Moreover, offal treated in this way has absolutely no fishy or gamey smell.
Jiang Yu squatted to the side, originally intending to learn from Jiang Xiaoman, but unexpectedly Jiang Xiaoman took out a large pile of seasonings, adding this and that in a dizzyingly fast manner. Jiang Yu decided to give up after a short while.
It's too much trouble, I might as well not eat it!
If you're really craving it, just have Shan Yanlie carry one over and have Xiaoman help you make it.
Because the weather was too hot, the slaughtered wild boar meat could not be stored, so Jiang Xiaoman asked Shan Yan to help chop off the ribs and pork belly into small pieces, pack them in plastic bags according to the amount needed for each meal, and freeze them in the refrigerator.