Courtyard Houses: Starting with the principle of hard work paying off

Chapter 37 Cooking
"Hongbing, you've really gotten yourself into big trouble this time!"

"If anything happens to the old lady, you'll be in big trouble."

"Sigh! Why were you so impulsive?"

"This old lady is getting on in years and has a bad temper, just bear with her!"

"Exactly, why bother arguing with an old woman who's half-buried in the ground?"

"..."

As Wang Guihua carried the deaf old woman to the hospital, the people in the courtyard started talking all at once.

"What are you afraid of? If an enemy comes, we will fight him; if a flood comes, we will block it with earth!"

Li Hongbing remained calm, looked at everyone, and said, "I'll take responsibility for whatever happens. This has nothing to do with you."

Hearing Li Hongbing's words, Aunt Yan explained somewhat awkwardly, "Hongbing, that's not what we meant."

Seeing this, the others echoed his sentiments.

“Aunt Yan, this matter has nothing to do with you. You don’t need to worry about me. If anything happens, just have them call the police to arrest me.”

Li Hongbing wasn't really worried.

I didn't lay a hand on anyone.

He was at most acting in self-defense; he didn't even fight back.

In Li Hongbing's opinion, the deaf old woman was probably scared, and the remaining 20% ​​was just an act.

This deaf old woman has been pretending to be crazy and scamming people out of food and drink in the yard for quite some time now.

Moreover.

Was he wrong to resist oppression?
If the deaf old lady is really so unlucky and passes away prematurely, at most I'll just get a scolding, what can he really do to me?

The deaf old woman's past disrespectful behavior towards her elders was thoroughly investigated and confirmed.

Even if Yi Zhonghai comes forward and uses today's incident as an excuse, he won't be able to completely clear his name.

Let alone Yi Zhonghai, he's no longer the big shot in the compound. Even if he were, he couldn't possibly have absolute power.

When it comes to escalating political tactics, Li Hongbing has seen far more of the world than Yi Zhonghai, and he's in no way inferior to him.

Whether the old deaf woman's secrets are true or false, we'll expose them all to her when the time comes.

Who knows who might be the unlucky one then!

"It's getting late, Aunt Yan, Aunt Li, you should hurry back and cook, don't stay here together."

The deaf old woman and Wang Guihua had both left, and there was no more excitement to be seen. Even if people wanted to gossip, it wouldn't be appropriate to do so in front of Li Hongbing. With Li Hongbing taking the initiative to speak, the crowd quickly dispersed.

Seeing this, Aunt Yan sighed and turned to go back into the house.

Like most people in the hospital, she felt that Li Hongbing was in big trouble.

Actually, nobody likes having an ancestor with a different surname, but nobody wants to be the one to stick their neck out. Only Li Hongbing, this hothead, is fearless like a newborn calf.

Li Hongbing knew what these people were thinking, but he didn't care; he simply wouldn't indulge them.

As for the deaf old woman's room in the backyard, Li Hongbing had no interest in it whatsoever, and naturally wouldn't fawn over her for it.

Even if they're after the deaf old woman's house, they should at least take care of her first. This little old lady is very long-lived; she'll have to play the grandson for at least another ten or twenty years.

Not worth it!

Li Hongbing refused to tolerate this humiliation.

Moreover.

My family has three rooms, which is more than enough for us, and houses are "worthless" these days.

It's not that they're really worthless, but rather that houses nowadays basically only serve a residential function and have little liquidity or investment value.

If we really want the value of courtyard houses in Beijing to appreciate, it will be at least until the 1980s or 1990s after the reform and opening up.

If Li Hongbing can't even afford a well-located courtyard house by then, he'll have wasted the past twenty or thirty years.

At this age, private property sales are not prohibited, and house prices are not outrageous, but Li Hongbing has no intention of buying one. Hoarding houses now makes no sense.

In a few years, the houses under your name that exceed the prescribed standards will become managed rental properties, and at that time you will only receive a small amount of rent, which is better than nothing.

Pulling his thoughts back, Li Hongbing stopped thinking about these things and continued processing the carp that he hadn't finished processing earlier.

He wasted a lot of his time because of that deaf old lady.

Today, Li Hongbing plans to make a braised fish dish with this carp.

The main reason for choosing this dish is that the ingredients are simple and it's easy to make at home.

Some processes are complicated, technically demanding, and have strict requirements, so they are not very suitable for Li Hongbing to do at home.

After thoroughly cleaning the carp's fins, gills, and scales, gut it, wash it with clean water, and the initial processing of the fish is complete.

After taking it back, Li Hongbing followed the steps he had secretly learned from the kitchen of Fengzeyuan and made horizontal cuts on both sides of the fish, about five centimeters apart, down to the fish bone, without cutting through the belly.

Next.

Li Hongbing then grabbed the fish by the tail and briefly scalded both sides of the fish in boiling water. The scalding time should not be too long, about two or three seconds on each side, so that the cuts made earlier would split open and the fishy smell would be removed.

Then add lard, sugar, and sweet bean sauce, pour in two ounces of water, mix well, and then add about two pounds of water. After it boils, put the carp that has just been processed into the pot.

The next steps are to wait for the soup to boil again, then simmer it over low heat until about one-third of the soup has evaporated. Then bring it to a full boil over high heat, remove the fish, continue to reduce the sauce, pour the sauce over the fish, sprinkle with minced ginger, and it's completely done.

only.

The stove at home has limited firepower, making it difficult to control the size of the fire, and the need for a strong fire may not be met, so we have to make do.

During this period, Li Hongbing was not idle. He processed the other ribs and tofu, and planned to use them to make braised ribs and pan-fried tofu respectively.

Braised pork ribs are a fairly common dish in later generations, but pan-fried tofu is less common.

First, cut the tofu into slices that are 1.5 inches long, 8 fen wide, and 2 fen thick. Arrange them on a plate and sprinkle with chopped green onions, chopped ginger, salt, and cooking wine to marinate in advance.

Actually, we should add MSG as well.

MSG, although it has been around for decades, is not widely produced in China and is currently only available in high-end restaurants. Ordinary households cannot easily buy it.

Fengzeyuan's kitchen has it, but it's not used much. They use specially prepared broth to enhance the flavor, rather than MSG as their first choice.

Li Hongbing didn't have either of these two things, so he had to omit them.

There's another step of frying, but that would be too wasteful of oil, so Li Hongbing plans to change it to pan-frying.

It might be a little lacking, but it's fine for practice and for home cooking.

Not long after.

The aroma of the live fish in the sauce wafted out of the pot as steam rose.

"Hongbing, did you make this?"

"Wow! It smells so good?"

"It has to be Fengzeyuan! You've only been there for two months, and you've already developed this skill?"

"What do you do in the kitchen? When you first come in, aren't most people doing odd jobs?"

"This craftsmanship..."

"..."

Following the aroma of Li Hongbing's cooking, many people in the front yard and even the nearby middle yard were drawn over, discussing and praising it.

At first, they couldn't believe that Li Hongbing had done it, but the facts were right in front of them.

This fragrance doesn't lie!
Faced with everyone's amazement, Li Hongbing was not complacent. It wasn't because he was a great cook, but because the person who invented and improved the dish was awesome.

As long as you follow these steps, the taste will not be too different.

Another crucial point is that Li Hongbing was generous with the ingredients; he used two and a half ounces of lard alone.

(End of this chapter)