Song Sanniang's Journey to Wealth

Mrs. Song washed all the meat, chopped the duck meat into pieces, and had the pig's trotters chopped by the butcher, so she saved the effort of chopping them. She then sliced ​​the pork belly and peeled and cut the taro into pieces.

Song Sanniang peeled the lettuce, sliced ​​it, and then washed it together with the amaranth.

Then take the garlic and peel it, wash the onions, and wash and cut the ginger.

After finishing all this, she saw that Song Ersao was still busy. She asked how much rice to cook, then washed the rice and steamed it in a pot.

Here, Mrs. Song has already started cooking. She has blanched the duck meat and pig's trotters.

Heat the pan and add lard. When the lard melts, add the scallions and ginger and stir-fry until fragrant. With a sizzling sound, the fragrance wafts out instantly.

Mrs. Song poured the duck meat in, stir-fried until the oil came out, then poured cooking wine on it and continued to stir-fry. She then added dark soy sauce, sugar, and boiling water and began to simmer.

Thinking the fire was too small, she sat down and added some straw to make it bigger.

After a while, there was a bubbling sound coming from the pot. She opened the lid, put the taro in, covered it with the lid and continued to simmer.

When Song Sanniang and Song Laoer smelled the fragrance, their stomachs began to growl.

After adding firewood twice, Mrs. Song took out a piece of duck meat, tasted it, and served it out when she thought it was cooked enough.

Clean the pot, pour oil into the pot, put the pig's trotters in and stir-fry, then add ginger, onion, star anise, bay leaves, a spoonful of cooking wine, a spoonful of light soy sauce, a spoonful of dark soy sauce, then stir-fry evenly to let them color.

Then add boiling water to cover the pig's trotters, bring to a boil over high heat, then add the soybeans and let it simmer slowly.

When the pig's trotters are almost cooked, Song Ersao puts them in a casserole and stews them instead.

Wash the iron pan, put in the pork belly, stir-fry until oil comes out, then pour the lettuce slices in and stir-fry.

When the lettuce is cooked, add appropriate amount of soy sauce and salt, stir-fry them evenly and serve.

This time I didn't wash the pot. I scooped some lard into it, waited for the oil to melt, poured in the minced garlic, let the garlic aroma come out, then put the lettuce in, stir-fry until it changes color, added salt and served.

There is one amaranth egg drop soup left. Wash the pot and pour water in. Wait for the water to boil, pour in the amaranth. Slowly the soup turns red. Beat the eggs in, stir, add salt, watch the egg drops solidify and change color in the boiling water, then boil it again and serve.

When the last vegetable soup was being cooked, Song Ersao asked Song Sanniang to go to the field and call the four people back for dinner.

When Song Sanniang went to the field, the four of them washed their hands and feet and prepared to go back.

Although Si Niang and Wu Niang also washed their hands and feet, there was still mud on their faces, so Song San Niang had to help them clean it off.

When I got home, five dishes were already on the table, emitting tempting aromas.

Everyone had worked all day and was already starving. When they saw these dishes, they couldn't help swallowing their saliva.

Mrs. Song had prepared the meal and asked everyone to come to the table and eat.

The table is square and the stools are long, enough for nine people to sit.

Song Sanniang, Siniang and Wuniang sat in one seat, Song Ersao and Song Laoer sat in one seat, Liu Dajiu and his two brothers sat in one seat, and Song Lao Da and Song Dazhuang sat in another seat.

As soon as everyone sat down, Song Lao Er greeted everyone, "Come on, come on, everyone, eat quickly. You have worked hard today."

He was the first to pick up the chopsticks and started eating. The others followed suit. Everyone praised the food. Si Niang and Wu Niang were too busy, so Song San Niang picked up the food for them.

Boss Song picked up a piece of pig's trotter, took a bite of it, and the meat and bones separated. The soft, glutinous and fragrant taste filled his mouth, making him unable to help but take another mouthful of rice.

Song Dazhuang picked up the duck meat in front of him. Before he put it in his mouth, the aroma of the duck meat rushed into his nose.

When the duck meat enters the mouth, the rich fragrance of taro wraps the duck meat. When biting into the duck meat, the duck meat is not stewed, and the fibrous texture is retained, which makes people feel chewy.

Uncle Liu ate half a bowl of rice with the crispy and refreshing lettuce.

No one was busy talking and just focused on eating.

Only the childish voices of Si Niang and Wu Niang

"Sister, I want to eat taro."

"Sister, I want to eat pig's trotters. Help me pick them up."

"Wow, the food my mother cooks is so delicious."

After finishing the meal, even the amaranth soup was finished, everyone sat in the yard and started chatting in the evening breeze.

Song Lao Er did not go to the fields to check, so he asked Song Lao Da, "Brother, how much rice did you harvest today?"

"We mowed two acres of your land today. If we have two more people, we can probably mow four acres a day. That way, we can finish mowing in three days. Do you want to hire two more people?"

Song Lao Er thought for a moment and asked, "Are we the only family that starts harvesting rice today?"

"Several other families have also started harvesting, including Song Daniu's, Song Hailin's, and Dazhi's families. It would be better if we harvest first, so that there will be enough space in the drying ground and we don't have to fight over the grain."

"Brother, what are Zecheng and the other two doing at home?" After listening to what the eldest brother said, the second brother asked Uncle Liu.

Uncle Liu knew that he might want them to help, so he replied, "A little bit of the grain I collected some time ago was rice, but it wasn't milled yet. They are helping to mill the rice. Do you want them to help?"

"Yeah, if they can't spare the time I'll find someone else."

Uncle Liu stroked his chin and said, "Let them come and help. There is no rush for rice milling."

Song Lao Er nodded and agreed. Uncle Liu Er suddenly asked curiously, "Why didn't Da Lang and Er Lang come back this time? Didn't the private school give a holiday during the busy farming season in the past?"

Boss Song suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to say, "They will take the imperial examination next year, and they have been studying hard recently. They sent me a letter not long ago saying that they would not be coming back."

Uncle Liu was very interested when he heard this. "It ended so soon? How is it? Are you sure you can pass the exam and become a student?"

Boss Song laughed and said, "Do you think it's that easy to buy a cabbage? They are not very confident either. Let them go down and see their level first. If they can continue to take the test, then they can take it. If not, let them come back and learn a skill."

When Song Lao Er heard this, he said, "Brother, please don't discourage them. Children need more encouragement to have confidence."

Boss Song nodded and said, "Okay, okay, I won't say anything more."

Suddenly, Uncle Liu said to Song Sanniang, "Sanniang, I heard that you have been learning to read from Zuen recently. How is your learning going?"

Song Sanniang suddenly felt like she was at a family gathering and her relatives asked her to show off her talent. She replied a little embarrassedly, "Well, I'm currently learning the Thousand Character Classic. I've learned a few characters, and I've also learned arithmetic, so I can do some calculations."

Uncle Liu praised him, "Not bad, not bad. Girls should also learn to read and do accounting, so that they will have confidence when they get married. Second brother, do you think Zexi should learn it too?"

Uncle Liu shook his head when he heard about his daughter. "That girl just plays all day long. It would be hard to teach her to read."

Song Sanniang became anxious when she heard this. In this era, for girls, more skills meant more opportunities for survival. She wanted all the girls around her to be literate.

She hurriedly said, "Second Uncle, you can't make the decision for my cousin. Anyway, I will teach my fourth and fifth aunts to read in the future. You can let my cousin come and learn with me. I won't charge tuition."

Uncle Liu felt a little helpless when he heard this. "Then I'll go back and ask that girl Zexi. Her three brothers learned calligraphy for two years before and came back to teach her. But she just wanted to play and didn't like to learn. It's not that I don't want her to learn."

Song Sanniang didn't know there was such a reason, so she laughed and said, "Maybe my cousin would like me to teach her. After all, she has the company of the fourth and fifth mothers, and it's more fun to have company."

"Okay, okay, I'll go back and tell her that you, the female teacher, just wait." Uncle Liu looked like he was defeated by Song Sanniang.

It was getting late at night, and Song Lao Er brought money to everyone. Everyone took the money and went home without hesitation.