Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 72 Celebrating the New Year

When Li Yongfu was leaving the mountain farm, Shui Laowu asked him to visit his home when he passed by Maoer Mountain.

Send a message to Lin Ruolan, telling her that everything is fine in the mountains and asking her not to worry about it.

Li Yongfu was a serious man. When he passed by Maoer Mountain, he bought some things and went to visit Lin Ruolan.

Lin Ruolan was relieved to learn that her husband and apprentice were doing well in the mountains.

She also asked Li Yongfu to come to her house whenever he passed by Maoer Mountain. Lin Ruolan wanted to bring some things for Shui Laowu and Qu Shaoyang.

"These are all brought by my sister-in-law, including clothes, shoes and socks for you and Shaoyang, as well as dumplings that my sister-in-law made specially for you.

Look, it's a sack." Li Yongfu led the water crow to the sled team and pointed at some of the things.

In the cold winter, the Yalu River has already been covered with a thick layer of ice.

When Li Yongfu and his companions came back, they specially drove a few horse-drawn sleighs loaded with a lot of food.

The Chinese New Year is coming soon, and no matter how demanding the shop owner is, he or she must buy some New Year's goods for the children so that they can have a good time.

Anyway, these are all deducted from the wages, not the money for the flower cabinet.

Be more generous, make the bosses happy, do more work, and everything will come out.

Qian Xiucheng and Li Yongfu are both very good people, and they handled this matter very clearly.

Li Yongfu spent a lot of money to buy flour, rice, chicken, duck, fish, meat, etc. along the way, and loaded four or five sleds with them.

It was also thanks to these personal escorts, otherwise, it would have been robbed halfway.

The water crow called for people, and everyone worked together to bring all the food to a separate room, tied it up with ropes, and hung it on the beams.

In addition to the clothes, the food that Lin Ruolan sent was also hung up.

When you have time, take it out and eat it together. No matter how much each person can get, it’s good to share it with everyone to satisfy your craving.

Although Guan Shoushan was no longer in the mountain field, the people arranged by the wood planting company could not go back, so they were arranged to live in a house near Lengchang.

These people were all carrying guns, so Li Yongfu arranged them to be responsible for the safety of the mountain area.

We patrol around the mountain area every day, and if we see any wild animals, we kill them and eat their meat.

In the blink of an eye, the New Year's Eve is here.

On the morning of the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, Xiao Banlazi, who was cooking, put all the dumplings made by Lin Ruolan into the pot and steamed them according to Shui Laowu's request.

Not everyone can cook this frozen dumpling. If you are not skilled, it is easy for it to turn into a pot of soup.

Even though Lin Ruolan had specially covered the dumplings with a layer of ice when freezing them, there was no guarantee that these small dumplings could be cooked well.

Therefore, Shui Laowu specifically instructed to steam it in a pot.

A sack of dumplings may seem like a lot, but don’t forget that there are many people in the mountain area.

In the end, each person got four or five dumplings, which made everyone very happy.

"Oh, delicious! These dumplings stuffed with pickled cabbage have meat and oil inside. They smell really good.

Boss, you are so lucky. Your sister-in-law is virtuous and capable. You can enjoy your life from now on."

The wooden masters praised the dumplings while eating them.

"You all should work hard and get married in the future. How nice it would be to have someone at home who understands you and cares about you?"

Water Crow held the bowl and ate dumplings happily while smiling.

There were not many dumplings, so everyone just ate them to satisfy their cravings, and mainly ate the pancakes.

Fortunately, I made potato soup in the morning, and after drinking two bowls of hot potato soup, I was full. After breakfast, everyone carried their tools and went into the mountains to work.

During the Little New Year, Li Yongfu said that we should only work half a day and rest in the afternoon.

So everyone worked very hard, waiting to go home and have a good meal in the afternoon.

"Shaoyang, don't go up the mountain to work today. Stay here and lead those little guys to prepare food in advance.

It’s the Little New Year, so don’t worry about it, just cook a few dishes and let everyone have a good meal.”

Li Yongfu stopped Qu Shaoyang who was about to go out and said.

The main reason is that Qu Shaoyang’s cooking is delicious, and Li Yongfu doesn’t trust the half-baked cooking skills of those others.

When Qu Shaoyang heard this, he thought, what's the big deal? It's just cooking.

"Okay, then I won't go up the mountain today." He put down his tools and went back to the house to discuss this afternoon's menu with Li Yongfu.

Winter in Northeast China is actually not easy to get through. Apart from radishes, cabbages, and potatoes, there are only sauerkraut, pickles, and dried vegetables.

Unlike the south where the winter is warm and there is an abundance of vegetables, you can eat whatever you want.

Not to mention the mountain areas. It takes a long time for me to go down the mountain to buy things. It's good enough to have something to eat. What's the point of having so much fun?
Qu Shaoyang discussed with Li Yongfu for a long time before finally deciding what to eat today.

Pork belly stewed with cabbage and frozen tofu, large bones stewed with sauerkraut, pork stewed with vermicelli, and pig head and trotters stewed with dried beans.

Didn't we kill a black pig when we opened the mountain? The pork has been eaten up gradually these days.

The remaining pig heads, pig trotters, pig tails, and various offal, etc., were packed up and frozen by the little guys who didn’t know how to deal with them.

Qu Shaoyang was just worrying about what to do when he suddenly remembered these things. He quickly asked someone to find them and prepare them so that everyone could have a good meal.

"Uncle, four dishes, right?

Let's not make too many choices, just give Hui'er a larger portion so that everyone can eat their fill, what do you think?" Qu Shaoyang asked Li Yongfu.

"Okay, that's great. I'll do as you say. It's up to you today." Li Yongfu nodded in agreement happily.

So Qu Shaoyang took a few young men and started to get busy.

The other dishes are easy to prepare, at most it takes some time to cut the sauerkraut, but the most important thing is to prepare all the head and trotters properly.

Qu Shaoyang and his men worked hard all afternoon and finally managed to get all the pork ribs and other offal into the pot, then began to prepare the meals one by one.

At noon, the workers returned to the big house one after another, carrying their belongings.

Before they even entered the house, they smelled the tempting aroma. Everyone sniffed and expressions of surprise appeared on their faces.

"Oh my, what delicious food did you make? It smells so good."

When everyone returned to the big house, they saw that the table, dishes and chopsticks had been set up, and Qu Shaoyang was leading people to bring the food into the house.

The turtle stove in the room was burning very hot. Everyone hurriedly took off their sheepskin coats and cotton trousers, washed their hands, and jumped onto the kang in a hurry.

The food on the table gave off an enticing aroma, but the waiters were in no hurry to eat. They all looked at the second cabinet manager and the big boss.

Li Yongfu and Shui Laowu looked at each other, then Li Yongfu coughed twice to clear his throat and reached out to pick up the wine bowl.

"Come on, everyone, pour the wine first. Most of us are old friends, so there's nothing else to say.

Today is the Little New Year, so I prepared a few dishes as a little gift for everyone to enjoy. "

Li Yongfu was a straightforward person. He didn't say any empty words. He just said a few simple words, then picked up the wine bowl and drank half of it.

(End of this chapter)