Travel back to ancient times and open a Sichuan restaurant

In the kitchen, Zhong Ruyi diced the pickled radish that Zhong's mother had picked up today, washed the dried wild peppercorns, cut the peppers into sections, and smashed a few garlic cloves for later use.

After shredding the pork belly, add salt, soy sauce, a little wine, flour and water, mix well and add some oil. Pour the oil into the pot, and when the oil is hot, pour the pork shreds directly into the pot. When the pork shreds are cooked, take them out and put them aside. Then pour the chopped radish, chili peppers and wild peppercorns into the pot and stir-fry. When the sour taste comes out, add a spoonful of bean paste and continue to stir-fry for about a minute before pouring the pork shreds in. When it is almost done, add a little sugar to enhance the flavor and it can be served.

After the whole chicken is deboned, it is cut into dices, and a little wine, soy sauce, salt, an egg yolk and some flour are added. Mix well and marinate for a while.

Pour more oil into the pot and Zhong Ruyi used the back of her hand to check the oil temperature. When she was sure it was 50% hot, she poured the marinated chicken into the pot. Zhong Ruyi asked Cuicui, who was lighting a fire in front of the stove, not to burn the fire too strongly.

She looked down at the stove and saw that the fire was controlled by Cuicui to medium heat. She said to Cuicui, "Great!" and continued to stir gently with a spatula until the chicken in the pot was slowly fried until it turned golden brown. Then she scooped it up and put it aside.

Cuicui had already smelled the fragrance from her proximity. Seeing her aunt putting the chicken aside, she couldn't help but pick up a piece with her hands. Her sister-in-law glared at her and said softly, "This is for your Uncle Dongzhi tonight. Don't eat it secretly again. It's not good if others see it."

Cuicui stuck out her tongue and made a face, then didn't dare reach out to steal food again.

Zhong Ruyi secretly picked up a piece for Cuicui when her sister-in-law wasn't paying attention. Seeing that she was not unhappy about being scolded, she continued cooking.

Pour the scallions, ginger, garlic, chili segments and wild peppercorns into the pan and stir-fry. When the aroma comes out, pour in the diced chicken. Add half a spoonful of salt and sugar, continue to stir-fry until it is well-seasoned. When it is almost done, throw in the remaining scallions and stir-fry for a few times before serving.

The remaining chicken offal was stir-fried into spicy and sour chicken. While frying, the second sister-in-law came out of the room. She felt a little unwell today. Mother Zhong said that she must be tired from selling braised goods in the town, so she asked her to rest in the room today.

"What's that smell? It's sour, spicy and fragrant. I smelled it from my room." The second sister-in-law came over with a smile.

The eldest sister-in-law turned around and said, "Aunt, you didn't get up just now, so you didn't know that mother killed a very fat chicken."

The second sister-in-law laughed. It was a very fat chicken. She had also fed the chickens at home, so how fat could it be? Seeing that she didn't believe it, the eldest sister-in-law said, "We cooked two large dishes with one chicken, and used the remaining chicken bones to make a soup. Just tell me if it's big or not."

The second sister-in-law was surprised that there was such a big chicken. It happened that Zhong Ruyi had cooked the dishes and asked Cuicui to help her take them out. When she saw Cuicui holding a plate of dishes in each hand, both plates were full, she believed it.

The dishes were ready, and Zhong's father and elder brother also came back and were sitting in the main room talking to Chen Dongzhi. During the meal, Chen Dongzhi happened to sit opposite Zhong Ruyi. Zhong Ruyi felt that even if the food on the table was not delicious, she could still eat three bowls of rice just by looking at this handsome face, not to mention that the dishes on the table were all her favorites, which made her even happier.

"Dongzhi, eat quickly, don't be shy, we are family." Zhong's mother invited Chen Dongzhi to eat. She wanted to serve him some food but was afraid that he would mind, so she let him do it himself.

"Okay." Chen Dongzhi nodded.

Zhong Laosan was concentrating on eating and didn't pay any attention to his good brother next to him. He hadn't eaten the food cooked by his little sister for several days. Today, it was thanks to Brother Dongzhi that he could eat so much at one time.

He didn't notice at all that Mrs. Zhong opposite him was winking at him, asking him to take better care of Chen Dongzhi and not just focus on eating himself. Helplessly, Mrs. Zhong kicked him under the table.

Zhong Laosan then raised his head and saw the look in Zhong's mother's eyes. He forced himself to swallow the food in his mouth. He told Dongzhi brother to eat more food and treat this as his own home. Don't feel embarrassed.

Zhong Ruyi smiled secretly. Her third brother would be like this whenever he saw something delicious. He would only focus on eating and wouldn't notice anything else.

"Brother Dongzhi, eat more. If you don't have enough food, I'll give you more."

Chen Dongzhi nodded. He became nervous when he saw Zhong Ruyi’s smiling face. Moreover, they were sitting face to face and so close that he felt that everyone around him could hear his heartbeat.

When I was in the military camp, the food was average. I didn’t care about the taste, as long as I was full, it was fine. Before I went to the military camp, my mother cooked more often, and my father cooked occasionally. But my father thought my mother’s food was not tasty, and my mother also thought my father’s food was average.

In fact, Chen Dongzhi thought that the food they both cooked was just average. Now that he was back from the military camp, he suddenly felt that the food at home had become very delicious.

And tonight he had the most delicious meal he had ever had in his life. Every dish was red. At first he didn't know what the red thing was, so he picked up a piece to eat, but it was so spicy that he couldn't stand it.

Zhong Ruyi told him that it was a fruit called pepper, which was picked on the mountain.

Every dish had that kind of chili pepper. Although it was spicy at first, he felt that it became more and more delicious the more he ate. The spiciness made his nose sweat, but he felt very satisfied. After they were full, Zhong Ruyi took some hawthorn slices that Zhong's mother had dried half a month ago, boiled some hot water, and poured a cup for each of them to relieve the greasiness.

Chen Dongzhi took the teacup handed to him by Zhong Ruyi with both hands and said thank you in a low voice.

Everyone was sitting quietly on a stool with a cup of tea in their hands, digesting their food. Chen Dongzhi put the cup to his lips, and secretly looked at Zhong Ruyi through the mist from the cup, seeing her sitting on the stool with a comfortable look on her face, and the little girl next to her was talking to her, and she responded to the little girl in a low voice with a smile on her face.

"Brother Dongzhi! How much silver do you think the deer can be sold for?"

Zhong Laosan suddenly asked him, which startled him, but he still looked calm on the surface, "I sold it for 40 taels last time. This one is about the same as last time, so the price should be about the same."

"Wow, so many? Brother Dongzhi, you are so awesome!" Zhong Laosan was full of admiration. Everyone admires the strong. Before Chen Dongzhi went to the army, he often followed his father to the mountains to hunt. The father and son often caught big prey such as wild boars and deer. Every time they pulled them back to the village from the mountains, the children in the village were amazed and admiring.

Chen Dongzhi nodded modestly and said, "But deer are not available every day. They only appear once in a while."

Mr. Zhong and his eldest and second brothers were also listening to them talk, asking a few questions from time to time.

Chen Dongzhi looked at the sky outside the door and saw that it was getting late. He said goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Zhong and got up to go back.

Mother Zhong saw him to the door and looked at his back. She thought that this young man was good-looking, a good person, ambitious, capable and willing to endure hardships. She didn't know which girl would be so lucky to marry him in the future.