Chapter 68 - A Better Move (1/2)
A dense and flavorful pork bone soup was made by gently simmering pork bones an entire night. The staple food for the banquet was steamed rolls made from a mix of wheat and millet flour.
Every table had eight vegetarian dishes, four meat dishes, and a tureen of the rich soup. Out of all the banquets that had occurred in the village, this feast was considered one of the best. In addition, some of the dishes had never been tasted by any of the villagers before. Although the raw ingredients were simple, they were prepared in a way that was exceptionally refreshing and delicious. Everyone who ate at the banquet praised the food endlessly.
Some of the married women who had a good relationship with Madam Liu surreptitiously asked her how she managed to make so many different and delicious types of dishes using just radishes and cabbages. Madam Liu gazed fondly at her daughter and replied with pride, “Most of these dishes were thought up by Cao’er. She told me and Eldest Sister-in-law what to do.”
All of the villagers were familiar with the story of Madam Liu’s second daughter, Yu Xiaocao. After getting knocked unconscious the past summer, she had forgotten a lot of things. However, none of them would have expected that she would become more clever and lively despite losing most of her memories. In addition, she had a natural gift and talent at cooking. They couldn't help but praise her over and over.
Madam Li had appeared right when the food was ready to be set out. Jealousy surged into her as she inspected the completely new old residence and she remarked in a sour tone, “We’re not as fortunate as second sister-in-law. Your whole family occupies an entire courtyard and gets to live in a giant house.”’
The kitchen bustled with activity. Several of Madam Liu’s friends from the village had come over earlier to help. Despite Madam Zhang’s disapproval, Yu Caidie had also come over to help wash the vegetables and set the tables, and was cheerfully busy.
Madam Li, on the other hand, didn’t even help them to bring out the food. Instead, she pulled her son to a table and sat heavily down. When they were eating, they gobbled down the food as if they had been starving for a long time. Madam Li’s chopsticks flew at light speed and quickly snatched away prime mouthfuls of meat and vegetables into her and her son’s bowls. Their tablemates could only watch her with disapproval and shake their heads.
A total of ten tables were at the banquet. Madam Liu had prepared more than enough food for it and there were plenty of leftovers for each dish. After Madam Li ate and drank to her fill, she didn’t leave immediately and lazed in the courtyard under the sun. Generally speaking, the leftovers were given to the people who had helped prepare the food and everyone would get a share to go home.
Madam Li balked the tradition and didn’t help to either prepare or clean up the food. Instead, when it was time to dole out the leftovers, she brazenly squeezed in and said, “Ah, Second Sister-in-law, you guys can’t possibly finish all of this leftover food. Give me some to bring home so Mother and Third Brother-in-law can try your culinary talent…”
“Dashan’s wife, it’s not like you haven’t tried her food before you guys split off. Did you miss her cooking so much after just a few days?”
The next door neighbor to the Yu Family, the wife of Hai Xing, was a quick-witted woman and had a relatively good relationship with Madam Liu. The two of them often gathered firewood and cut fishwort together. From time to time, she would also ask Madam Liu’s advice on embroidery. At this time, she was obviously satirizing Madam Li.
Madam Li pretended not to hear her and grabbed an already cleaned basin and started to fill it with food. She specifically chose the dishes that had meat, such as the rabbit meat and chicken pieces. In the end, almost half of the meat-containing dishes had gone to her. The amount of food in the basin was piled into a small mountain. She avariciously looked at the soup pot and reluctantly left, her fleshy waist swaying as she walked.
When Heizi heard his mother calling for him, he scuttled out from the rear courtyard. In his hands was a small pheasant whose wings were bound together. He shamelessly said, “Second Aunt, your rear court still has two hares and a pheasant, give one to me to bring home, ok. I haven’t tasted meat for more than a month!”
Yu Xiaocao almost wanted to laugh out of fury, ‘Who was the person who took almost half of the chicken dish? Also, did the hare and chicken meat disappear down some other person’s stomach?’
Madam Liu was well familiar with this mother-son pair’s temperaments and didn’t want to bother with those two. She only wanted these two demons to leave faster. All of the other women who helped could only shake their heads in disbelief. Yu Hai had an injured leg, Madam Liu couldn’t do heavy work, and their children were still small. As the eldest sister-in-law, Madam Li didn’t even help them and only came to take things from them. Madam Liu was quite unlucky to have relatives like her.
After sending off a couple people who had helped, Madam Yao could tell it was getting late by the color of the sky. She also left with her eldest daughter-in-law. That night, Yu Xiaocao and her two other siblings squeezed onto their parents’ kang bed. The five of them were counting their expenses together.
“Although the construction of the house didn’t require us to spend much money for the labor, but when you add on the materials and furniture we bought, we spent around five taels. Building a house is tiring. Even though everyone brought their own food, Xiaocao had proposed we give each of them a steamed roll and a bowl of porridge at lunch. The steamed rolls were made with a combination of wheat flour and millet flour or sweet potato powder. Buying all of those grains cost another tael.” When the house was getting built, Yu Hai’s leg was still injured, so he spent his days recuperating at the main residence. Madam Liu was telling him their expenses right now.
Yu Hai ruffled Xiaocao’s hair and smiled, “Cao’er did the right thing. Although we don’t have a lot of money, we can’t let other people starve when they’re helping us out. Most villagers don’t get to eat much. In the morning they’ll probably have some mixed grain flatbread which is not enough to last until noon, so it is necessary we add a meal for them. I heard Older Brother Li complimenting our family for being sincere and honest as our rolls all contained half wheat flour. He said he always brought an extra flat cake made from bean flour as he couldn’t bear to eat our steamed roll. Instead, he would bring the roll back for his children to eat to their heart’s content!”
Dongshan Village was a small fishing village next to the sea. Most of the villages relied on fishing to make a living. The surrounding land was mostly sandy and only a limited variety of crops could be grown there. The majority of families only ate bean flour, sweet potato starch, and millet flour as their source of carbohydrates. It was only during the New Year celebrations that they would be willing to buy some wheat flour to eat. Thus, even a steamed roll that was composed of half wheat flour was considered something delicious to eat in the villagers’ eyes.
Madam Liu looked at her second daughter who was becoming more and more clever and witty with every passing day. She smiled and continued, “Most of the ingredients for today’s banquet was given to us by Older Brother Zhao. As for the pork, we spent about three hundred copper coins, if we add the amount we spent on grain and vegetables, about one tael was spent in total. Originally we had twelve taels on hand and now we have around five taels left.”