Before Luo Baobao woke up from his sleep, Yang Ruoqing returned to her room in the backyard and quickly took a big bath and washed her hair.
I haven't had such a refreshing contact with water in the past few days, and I feel that I am extremely sloppy. Now that I have washed myself freshly, I feel that my whole body has lost several pounds.
Returning to Tuoba Xian's house in the front yard, I found that Baby Luo was still sleeping.
"Why did you take such a long nap today?" Yang Ruoqing asked, fearing that she wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
Tuoba Xian said: "I slept late last night and made a fuss for a while, saying I wanted a mother."
"I had no choice, so I had to tell her stories to coax her. Unexpectedly, the more I listened, the more energetic she became. After listening to each story, she would continue to listen. I told her a story in one breath before going to sleep."
Hearing Tuoba Xian's words, Yang Ruoqing understood. She slept late last night, so she naturally slept until three o'clock in the morning and didn't wake up until midnight.
Naturally, I couldn't take a nap after lunch, so the nap time was postponed.
"Mom, then you stay with her, and I'll go to the backyard to make dinner first."
In the backyard, while Yang Ruoqing was putting on her apron, she was thinking about what to cook for dinner.
On the one hand, I want to give a reward to my uncle, aunt, and mother-in-law at home, and on the other hand, I also plan to give the baby a surprise.
"Qing'er, I'll cook it. You just came back to take a rest." Wang Cuilian also came to the kitchen immediately.
When Yang Ruoqing was taking a bath and changing clothes, Wang Cuilian also went to wait for Blacksmith Luo, who had also returned from Sunjiagou and was also dusty, to wash up.
As soon as they finished there, Wang Cuilian came to the backyard without stopping.
"Aunt, I'm not tired. I just want to cook a good meal." Yang Ruoqing said.
Wang Cuilian looked at Yang Ruoqing and smiled, "I understand, I understand. If it works, I'll help you."
Soon, the sound of pots and pans could be heard in the kitchen.
Because Baby Luo has chickenpox, he should eat a light diet. Almost all the ingredients in this kitchen are vegetables.
Uncle Fu said that fish, shrimps, chickens, ducks, etc. are not allowed to be eaten for the time being.
There are also two pounds of pork belly and one and a half pounds of pork ribs in the hanging basket inside the well.
Yang Ruoqing used local ingredients and took the pork belly and ribs. She cut the pork belly into hob pieces and blanched them in the hot water in the pot.
Heat oil in a pan, add sugar and stir-fry until the sugar color comes out, then push the pork belly into the pan and stir-fry evenly so that each piece of pork belly is evenly coated in the sugar color.
Then add garlic slices, ginger slices, soy sauce, vinegar, and some of Yang Ruoqing's homemade five-spice seasoning, add an appropriate amount of water, cover the pot and simmer.
While waiting for the pork belly to be cooked, Yang Ruoqing pinched two handfuls of small green vegetables, kneaded the juice from the small green vegetables, and then used the kneaded green vegetable juice to knead the noodles.
The dough is formed into small pieces of green dumpling skin and placed aside for later use.
Cut the ribs into small pieces as long as your middle finger, apply the condiments and set aside to taste.
When the pork belly in the pot was almost simmered, Yang Ruoqing added salt, then heated the soup over high heat to absorb the flavor and took it out of the pot to serve in bowls.
Clean the pot and start cooking the salt and pepper ribs.
The salt-and-pepper ribs were quickly prepared and placed on a large plate, with a handful of coriander sprinkled on top for garnish.
"I will go to the town tomorrow and purchase a batch of ingredients to make you a delicious meal."
Yang Ruoqing said to Wang Cuilian while serving the minced pork and eggplant in the pot.
Wang Cuilian poked her head out from the door of the stove and said with a smile: "Many families in the village don't have enough to eat at the moment. It's good that we can have these to eat. There is no need to eat too much, which will make people jealous."
Yang Ruoqing curled her lips, eating her own food, neither stealing nor robbing, and not afraid of jealousy.
"Auntie, I've been so busy that I haven't been with cousin Zhou Wang and Xiaohuan for a long time. I wonder how they are doing at home recently?" Yang Ruoqing asked.
Last month, Blacksmith Luo discussed this with Yang Ruoqing and sent food to Zhou Wang.
Moreover, rice husks, wheat bran, etc. were also sent to Zhou Wang and others to raise chickens.
During the last Chinese New Year, Zhou Wang and Xiaohuan said they wanted to start a business and raise fish, so they came over to ask Yang Ruoqing for her opinion.
Yang Ruoqing helped the couple analyze it carefully at the dinner table, and finally gave up the idea of raising fish and instead allocated a piece of land to raise chickens.
That chicken is exclusively for Yang Ruoqing's several restaurants.
However, there was a famine right after starting business. No one had anything to eat and had to take care of the chickens.
Moreover, it is possible for villagers in the village or nearby villages to steal chickens if they don’t have enough to eat.
So Zhou Wang and his wife were busy taking care of the chicken farm at home, and they couldn't take time to visit it for a long time. This news was fed back by Blacksmith Luo when he went to deliver food.
"There's not enough food everywhere now, wouldn't someone come to steal their chicken farm?" Yang Ruoqing asked again.
Wang Cuilian shook her head, "I heard a while ago that the situation was not very good. A dozen chickens were stolen from the chicken farm."
"Their chicken farm was opened in February. The chicks hatched and now they are only half-grown."
"Last time, a dozen of them were stolen in one breath. The couple was very worried. Later, they hired two people in the village to help take care of them. This period should be better."
Hearing Wang Cuilian's words, Yang Ruoqing nodded, "That's good. After I'm busy for a while, I will take the time to visit them."
Wang Cuilian smiled, "If your uncle hears this, he doesn't know how happy he should be."
While the two were talking, Yang Ruoqing cooked two or three vegetarian dishes in one go, including minced pork and eggplant, stir-fried pea pods, and vegetable foam and egg drop soup.
"I'll make another noodle snack for dinner," Yang Ruoqing said.
Wang Cuilian said: "Okay, then I'll go to the front yard to have a look and ask the baby's grandma to wake the baby up."
Yang Ruoqing winked at Wang Cuilian and said, "Auntie, don't tell her that I'm back yet..."
Wang Cuilian was stunned for a moment, then smiled, "Okay."
In the kitchen, Yang Ruoqing cleaned the small pot and applied a new layer of rapeseed oil.
Paste the two pieces together with green dumpling wrappers to make a small purse, leaving an opening half a finger wide.
Then he cracked open an egg, and carefully poured the yolk and egg liquid together through the small opening, and then pinched the opening tightly.
Pick it up, it's heavy, shake it gently twice, and finally put it carefully into the hot oil in the pot to fry.
According to this method, I made more than seventy or eighty pieces in one go. When taking it out of the pot, leave residual oil in the pot, add chopped green onion and an appropriate amount of water. Divide into two batches and add salt or sugar respectively to make two flavors of poached egg soup.
…
Baby Luo yawned and sat on the table in front of the bed facing the window. Tuoba Xian stood aside and fed her some water.
She took a few sips of water and saw grandma Wang Cuilian coming over with a tray filled with vegetables.
