The eldest sister-in-law became rich by farming in the mountains

"It's me, don't shout." Xie Bai lowered his voice.

Xie Li breathed a sigh of relief and nodded quickly.

The brother and sister tiptoed back to the main room, and Xie Li dared to quietly accuse her second brother: "Why did you eavesdrop on the conversation between mother and sister-in-law?!"

Xie Bai glanced at her speechlessly, too lazy to explain.

Xie Li understood the look in his eyes and stuck out her tongue guiltily: "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, it was just a coincidence."

"Yeah, same."

He was originally cleaning wooden barrels in the yard, but was attracted by the strong aroma of boiling lard. Seeing his sister standing outside the kitchen with her ears pricked up, he walked over curiously and heard his mother's grievances.

The brother and sister fell silent. After a while, Xie Li gritted her teeth and said, "I hate grandma!"

Xie Bai lowered his eyes and did not respond, but secretly regretted that he only had one stone in his pocket at the time.

If she had packed a few more pieces, grandma wouldn't have fallen like that.

"Brother, do we still have to go to my uncle's house in the future? I don't want to go, and I hate my uncle too."

Whenever Xie Li thought of his uncle who loved to glare at them with his eyes squinting, he would feel aggrieved and fearful.

Xie Bai raised his hand and touched his sister's head, comforting her: "Don't be afraid, you don't have to go again."

Although his mother didn't say it explicitly, but what happened today has completely torn the two families apart.

Xie Li was relieved and smiled again: "Second brother, do you want some sugar water? Sister-in-law said she left a bowl for us!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she heard Xu Yingtao's voice coming from the kitchen: "Xiaobai, A-li, come over and have some sugar water."

Xie Li's eyes lit up when she heard that. She agreed and went to grab her brother's hand.

Seeing the two siblings walking into the kitchen hand in hand, Xu Yingtao pointed to the two bowls of water on the broken cupboard and said, "Wash your hands first. After you finish drinking, I'll give you some oil residue to eat."

Xie Li felt as if she was walking on clouds, and everything so happy before her eyes seemed unreal.

Sugar water and lard residue are all delicacies that we couldn’t even eat during Chinese New Year in the past!

Xie Bai shook his head: "I won't eat it."

As he spoke, Xu Yingtao poured the chopped fatty pork into the ceramic pot. As the fat came into contact with the heat, it soon began to sizzle and a strong meaty aroma filled the air.

While the meat was frying, she turned around and asked Xie Bai, "Why don't you eat?"

"Leave it for you to eat."

I get it, the twisted kid is online again!

After spending a few days with this family, Xu Yingtao has roughly understood their personalities. She also has her own efficient way of getting along with them, which is to just do it without discussing it.

Seeing that the pork in the pot still needed to be stir-fried for a while, Xu Yingtao took three more bowls and scooped a few pieces of lard into each bowl.

The first bowl was naturally served to Jiang.

Jiang had talked her heart out earlier and drank a bowl of sugar water, which made her feel much better. At this moment, she was concentrating on making the fire.

Seeing Xu Yingtao handing over the lard residue, she waved her hands frantically.

She is such a grown-up, how could she compete with a child for snacks?

Xu Yingtao didn't waste any time talking to her and just stuffed the bowl into her hand. She then did the same thing and stuffed the other bowl into Xie Bai's hand.

As for Xie Li, this little girl didn't need her to worry about anything at all. She had already picked up the bowl and started eating with relish.

That's how it should be!

It not only effectively reduces communication costs, but also makes her feel comfortable.

After all, she worked hard to make money in order to improve her family's life. Seeing her family eating and drinking well, she felt that her hard work was meaningful.

If everyone followed Kong Rong's example of giving away his pears to others, she would just feel upset because of her bad temper.

Of course, the premise of taking care of others is to never mistreat yourself.

After three bowls of lard residue were served, Xu Yingtao also picked up the largest piece and put it into her mouth.

She sprinkled pepper and salt on the lard residue, which made it taste salty, crispy and mouth-watering.

Not bad!

When the pork in the pot was gradually stir-fried to produce lard, Xu Yingtao added the chopped wild onions and ginger into the pot.

In an instant, the rich aroma produced by the combination of scallions, ginger and oil instantly filled every corner of the kitchen, and it was so fragrant that the mother and her two daughters kept flaring their nostrils and swallowing their saliva frantically.

Oh my god, this smells so good!

When Jiang smelled the smell, her saliva was already flooding. She couldn't help but picked up a piece of lard and put it into her mouth.

Once there is a first, then a second. After witnessing Xu Yingtao putting soy sauce, maltose and warm water into the pot one by one and then covering the pot and stewing the whole process, Jiang was surprised to find that the oil residue in her bowl was already empty.

The firelight from the stove shone on her face, clearly revealing the shock and embarrassment on her face.

Xu Yingtao curled the corners of her lips when she saw this.

Her grandmother has used this braised pork recipe for decades. Although the ingredients are simple, the taste is surprisingly delicious. Every time her grandmother cooks this dish, she can't help but finish three bowls of rice. It is normal for Jiang to be dizzy with the aroma at this time.

Xu Yingtao originally thought that Xie Bai's situation was similar to Jiang's, but she never expected that this stubborn child had such amazing self-control that he didn't even touch the oil residue in the bowl.

Xu Yingtao: “…”

Xie Bai saw her turn her head to look at him, and held up the bowl like offering a treasure: "Sister-in-law, eat it."

Xu Yingtao sighed softly and walked to stand in front of Xie Bai.

Although they were three years apart in age, they were about the same height. Xu Yingtao looked him straight in the eye and said slowly, "Xiao Bai, I've already let go of what happened two days ago. You don't have to try to please me. Doing so will only make both of us feel burdened. Do you understand?"

She had no experience of getting along with naughty children in her previous life, and she didn't know if this way of communication would be effective, but she had to try.

Xie Bai's face flushed when he heard this: "It's not to please you, it's to express gratitude to you, sister-in-law."

They were grateful to their sister-in-law for bringing life to their family, for helping them make money, and even more grateful that she allowed them to eat food that they had never dared to imagine before...

In just less than three days, it seemed as if the sun and the moon had changed into a new world.

Xu Yingtao raised her eyebrows slightly, looked at him for a moment, reached out and picked up a piece of lard residue from the bowl, and said with a smile: "Okay, I appreciate your kindness. Now you are still growing, so eat as much as you can. When you grow up to be a man who can stand on his own feet and support this family, that will be the best way to express your gratitude to me."

Xie Bai nodded unconsciously.

Only after Xu Yingtao turned around did Xie Bai let out a long sigh.

Although they are of similar age, he always feels an inexplicable sense of oppression in front of his sister-in-law, as if he is still a child who needs to be cared for and guided.

This feeling made him feel uncomfortable and vaguely frustrated.

He is really useless. He should have stood shoulder to shoulder with his sister-in-law to support the family, but instead he can only be taken care of and protected by others.

"Second brother, did you make your sister-in-law unhappy before?" Xie Li gently nudged Xie Bai's arm and asked quietly.

Xie Bai glanced at her and didn't respond.

My sister looks honest and simple, but she is actually very thoughtful.

He lowered his eyes silently, picked up a piece of lard from the bowl, put it in his mouth and chewed it carefully.

Half an hour later, the rich aroma of stewed chestnuts wafted from the kitchen, and the steaming white rice in the steamer was ready.

Xu Yingtao fried some wild vegetables with lard, and then announced loudly: "Wash your hands and eat!"

There was no habit of washing hands before meals in the family before. But in just three or two days, with her repeated reminders, the mother and her two children have voluntarily filled a basin of water before meals to wash their hands.

"Look at my memory." Xu Yingtao slapped her forehead, turned around and scooped a large bowl of fragrant chestnut roast pork from the pot, put it carefully into the basket, and covered it with a bowl to prevent dust from falling in.

This bowl of meat is naturally prepared for the village chief's family.

As for the task of delivering the meat, it naturally fell on Xie Bai.

"Be careful not to spill it. We'll eat together when you come back."

It is said that when Mrs. Zhou went up the mountain, the mung beans in the field had already been picked clean by several strong laborers in the family.

Therefore, she didn't have to do anything and just had to carry the bean pods down the mountain with her family.

Since going up the mountain, Mrs. Zhou has had a smile on her face, which made the youngest son Zheng Wu jokingly ask, "Mother, did you pick up some gold on the way up the mountain?"

Mrs. Zhou spat at him and said, "I am happy for the second branch of the Xie family!"

Zhao was moved when she heard this, and quickly asked, "But has the green jelly business been completed?"

Mrs. Zhou nodded: "Don't look at the young age of Xu, she is very smart, and the blessing of the second branch of the Xie family is still to come."

Ever since Zhao got the pickled vegetable recipe from Xu Yingtao for free, she has been very satisfied with her. When she heard her mother-in-law praising her, she couldn't help but agree: "That's right, with her skills, the business will definitely be successful."

The whole family nodded in agreement. It was undoubtedly great news that the second branch of the Xie family had a good livelihood. It also meant that the money that the family had lent out would finally be returned.

The Zheng family members went down the mountain chatting and laughing, and little Zhou, who stayed at home to dry the millet, had already prepared lunch.

Seeing everyone returning home, he hurriedly asked everyone to eat first.

Lunch was a pot of bean porridge, a small basket of steaming vegetable dumplings, and a large bowl of refreshing pickled perilla leaves.

This is considered the best food in the village.

The family sat around a table. Just as they started eating, Xie Bai appeared at the door of Zheng's main hall with a basket.

After greeting the elders one by one, he placed the basket on the table and said with a smile, "Grandpa, grandma, this is the roasted chestnut meat made by my eldest sister-in-law. She asked me to bring it here for you to try. I'll go back first."

Before he finished speaking, he turned around and ran out, leaving everyone in the room looking at each other in bewilderment.

Did they hear it right? It's meat?

Mrs. Zhou knew about it, but she didn't expect that her family would also have a share in it, and she felt very happy.

She stood up, took the bowl of meat out of the basket and placed it in the middle of the table. It was still a little hot.

After touching her earlobe, Mrs. Zhou opened the lid of the bowl again. Suddenly, a scent of meat mixed with sweetness wafted to their faces, and everyone subconsciously took a deep breath.

How can it smell so good!

Not only is it fragrant, it is also very beautiful.

In the large coarse porcelain bowl, the sticky pork and chestnut kernels are covered with a layer of bright red sauce and dotted with emerald green onions, which makes people hungry just by looking at it.

Looking again, there was quite a lot of meat.

"Don't just stand there and eat!"

Village chief Zheng, as the backbone of the family, took the lead and picked up a piece of pork and put it into his mouth.

In just a moment, the soft, crispy and melt-in-the-mouth delicious texture completely conquered his taste buds, and he couldn't help but squint his eyes.

Seeing the head of the family picking up his chopsticks, the others could no longer hold back and stretched their chopsticks towards the bowl of roasted chestnut pork.

The pork was sweet and the chestnuts were soft and glutinous. There were many members of the Zheng family, and each of them took two or three chopsticks and the bowl was quickly empty.

The remaining sauce was also prepared by Mrs. Zhou. She scooped out half a bowl of bean porridge, stirred it evenly, and gave a spoonful to each of the four grandchildren. No one could find any fault with it.

Little Zhou sipped the delicious taste and exclaimed, "Xu is really ingenious. I never thought that chestnuts could be cooked with pork."

"That's right." Zhao nodded in agreement. "I guess they put a lot of sugar in it. It tastes really good. I wonder how much money they made from that business?"

Mrs. Zhou glanced at her and said, "You are the only one who talks too much. What does it have to do with you whether they earn more or less?"

Zhao had long been immune to her mother-in-law's scolding. She chuckled when she heard this and said, "Mother, you misunderstood. I just think that the roasted pork with chestnuts is delicious and I haven't had enough."

"Want to eat enough meat? Then you must have been born in the wrong body!" Mrs. Zhou scolded without hesitation.

After scolding her, after the meal, Mrs. Zhou still called her youngest son and asked him to go to the town to buy a pound of pork next time there was market. Of course, this is a story for later.

On the other side, Xie Bai hurried back home. From a distance, he saw Xie Li craning his neck to look out the door. When he saw him, he immediately turned around and shouted excitedly, "Second brother is back!"

Xie Bai curled the corners of his lips. Although this greedy girl was not happy about his return home, but was eager to eat meat, he was still infected by his sister's liveliness. The home had not been so full of vitality for a long time.

When they got home, washed their hands and sat down, the white rice was already served, and the mother and her two daughters were a little afraid to reach out and touch the chopsticks.

Xu Yingtao scooped a spoonful of roasted chestnut pork for each of them and herself. The thick soup instantly dyed the rice into a shiny red color, which looked very beautiful.

The oily, sweet aroma rushed into their noses. The mother and her two daughters swallowed their saliva together and stared at the bowl in front of them with their eyes shining green.

Xu Yingtao smiled and said, "We haven't eaten meat for a long time. We each had two meat buns in the morning and a few pieces of oil residue before the meal. We should be restrained in eating this chestnut roasted pork, otherwise I'm afraid it won't be able to be replenished and I'll have diarrhea, which is not good."

The mother and her two daughters had no objections and just did whatever Xu Yingtao said.

"Don't just look at it, use your chopsticks." Xu Yingtao was a little amused.

She picked up a piece of meat and put it into Jiang's bowl, then picked up another piece, blew on it casually, and put it directly into her mouth.

The skin is slightly chewy, the fat is soft, glutinous and fragrant, and the lean meat is also crispy and juicy. It is simply delicious.

If the chestnuts are stewed long enough, they melt in your mouth at the first sip. When mixed with soup and rice, they are even more delicious than meat.

Xu Yingtao wanted to applaud herself.

Under limited conditions, such delicious food was made.

She's great!

With the success of chestnut braised pork, stir-fried wild vegetables seems to be less popular.

"Comrades, you have to eat vegetables to supplement your vitamins!" Xu Yingtao said earnestly.

She has been saying things these days that are hard to understand. The mother and her two children have gotten used to it, so no one asks what "comrade" and "vitamin" mean.

The meal was finished in a short while. The stir-fried wild vegetables were eaten up completely under Xu Yingtao's persuasion, but there was still half a bowl of the braised chestnut pork left, which was just right for dinner.