“Mom, after I get back from town tomorrow, shall we go visit Grandma, Grandpa, and Little Uncle?” Li Menglan thought for a moment and said.
“Alright.” Zhang Yuniang only managed that single word before her eyes reddened and she was unable to speak another.
They say a married daughter is like spilled water. Families in better circumstances could usually still provide some support to their birth families, but before Li Menglan recovered from her illness, the Li family themselves could not even afford three meals a day—how could they possibly have the ability to help others?
Later, although the Li family had earned a little money selling sugar-roasted chestnuts, it was spent clean in the blink of an eye. Zhang Yuniang had been too embarrassed to bring it up. Now that Li Menglan said this... how could she not be overwhelmed?
“Mom, in a bit, please work with Grandma to make a new set of clothes for each of Grandpa, Grandma, and Little Uncle.” Li Menglan figured they still had fabric at home, so she might as well give her maternal grandparents and little uncle each a new set of clothes.
Li Menglan remembered that her little uncle was exactly eighteen years old this year, practically a late-born son to her maternal grandparents. He had originally planned to marry this year, but because of Li Menglan’s serious illness, he had spent all his wedding savings on her. The bride’s family had flown into a rage and called off the engagement. To this day, her little uncle remained a lone bachelor.
This made Li Menglan feel deeply guilty, and she always wanted to do something to help her little uncle make up for it.
“Alright.”
With everything else more or less settled, Li Menglan’s thoughts circled back to the problem of making money. Just what method could she use to earn money? Her brows were tightly furrowed.
The Li family lived in a remote corner of Shangliang Village, some distance from the main village. Li Dazhu rested briefly before heading to the village to see if those house builders were free.
Suddenly, Li Menglan’s eyes were drawn to the pork offal that Li Dazhu had brought back at noon. Uh... “Cold Tossed Pork Tripe”—the name of a cold dish flashed through her mind.
That’s right! Hadn’t she bought a lot of spices last time? Plus the Sichuan peppercorns and chili peppers she had found on Crooked Neck Mountain... Li Menglan decided to try making some braised dishes.
If it succeeded... tomorrow she could bring the braised offal and the spice recipe to a restaurant to try? Maybe someone would buy it?
“Big Brother, Second Brother, please help me wash the pork offal by the Yun River. Tonight I’ll make you something delicious,” Li Menglan said with a smile.
Li Menglan first found the spices she had bought from the apothecary last time: cloves, cinnamon, amomum, star anise, dried tangerine peel, nutmeg; and the Sichuan peppercorns she had found on Crooked Neck Mountain. She got them all out and prepared them. Li Menglan estimated that pork offal braised with these spices should be especially fragrant.
As for the color? Li Menglan figured she could add some soy sauce to the broth when the time came. Uh... the color would look very nice.
Looking at her prepared ingredients, Li Menglan felt like something was still missing. After thinking, she turned and went into the backyard vegetable patch; she pulled up a bunch of scallions and garlic, and dug out a piece of ginger from the ground. She planned to use the scallions, ginger, and garlic to remove the gamey odor from the pork offal.
Just as Li Menglan finished washing the scallions, ginger, and garlic, the two brothers Li Zhiming and Li Zhihao returned carrying the already-washed pork offal.
“Sis, is there anything else Big Brother can help with?” Li Zhiming wiped the glistening sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and said cheerfully.
Ever since Li Menglan’s health improved, the Li family’s days had gotten better by the day. Li Zhiming and Li Zhihao had always doted on their only sister, but now they were even more attentive.
“Big Brother, help me start the fire!” Li Menglan had already added half a pot of water to the wok and was about to start the fire. Hearing her big brother’s offer, she certainly did not stand on ceremony; she quickly got up from the stove entrance.
“Sure thing!” Li Zhiming readily responded.
“What about me, Sis?” Li Zhihao was immediately displeased and said with an unhappy expression: “Sis, Second Brother can help you too! You only order Big Brother around. Sis, are you looking down on your Second Brother?”
Heh... so even when it came to doing chores, people would get jealous and competitive? Li Zhihao’s words drew a string of clear laughter from Li Menglan.
“Second Brother, please go to the courtyard and flip the dried persimmons a few more times; we are taking them to Qingshui Town to sell tomorrow.”
“Mm... I got it!”
The siblings Li Menglan and Li Zhiming divided the work, and soon the water in the pot was boiling. Li Menglan put the pig intestines, pig lungs, pig tripe, and pig heart all into the big pot for a quick blanch. This blanching step was mainly to remove the blood and odors. Then she fished out the blanched offal and soaked it in clean water to cool for later use.
Then she poured out the water in the pot, rubbed in a little oil, and stir-fried the ginger until fragrant. Once the aroma came out, she added another half pot of clean water, cut the cooled pig intestines into sections, and cut open the pig tripe, lungs, and heart, putting them all into the pot together.
There were also the pig’s head, pig’s trotters, and pig’s tail that had been washed clean and parboiled the previous night, all thrown into the pot together. Finally, she added the spice pouch she had prepared long ago. To make the color of the braised offal look better, Li Menglan also added half a small bowl of soy sauce to the water.
Uh... actually, if conditions allowed, adding a bit of rock sugar would help with the color even better, making it more perfect. But for now? This was as far as she could go. Li Menglan added the chopped scallion segments and covered the pot.
“Big Brother, make the fire smaller. This pork offal needs to simmer over low heat to absorb the flavor.” Li Menglan looked at Li Zhiming sitting by the stove entrance feeding the fire and cautioned him with some concern: “If the fire is too big and the offal gets boiled mushy before the flavor gets in, there’ll be nothing worth eating.”
“Sis, don’t worry. Big Brother knows.” Li Zhiming smiled honestly: “Sis, if you’re done with your tasks, go rest first.”
Li Zhiming always felt guilty that a grown man like himself still had to let his younger sister work so hard.
Li Menglan shook her head slightly: “Big Brother, I’m not tired. I still need to prepare some seasonings.”
“Oh!”
“Oh no.” Li Menglan suddenly wiped the smile from her face and exclaimed: “Big Brother, I forgot to add salt to the braising liquid.”
Since Li Menglan recovered from her illness, this was the first time Li Zhiming had seen his sister flustered and in disarray; he immediately burst out laughing quite heartlessly.
The siblings’ playful laughter reached Zhang Yuniang’s ears: “Heh... what are these two siblings up to again? Why are they laughing so happily?” Although Zhang Yuniang’s mouth carried light complaints, her eyes were full of relief and joy.
“Yuniang! From now on, both our Li family and your Zhang family will have better and better days; more and more to look forward to.” Lin Sanniang looked at Zhang Yuniang, patted her shoulder comfortingly, and said.
“Mother, this daughter-in-law knows. Only when days have something to look forward to will they become more and more prosperous.” What kind of person was her mother-in-law? Having been married into the Li family for over a decade, how could Zhang Yuniang not know?
“Ah... good daughter-in-law, speaking of which, our old Li family has wronged you! And we’ve even dragged the in-laws into it...” Lin Sanniang was referring to Zhang Yuniang’s younger brother’s marriage.
“Mother, we are all one family. What’s there to fuss about?” Zhang Yuniang was actually very open-minded about it: “Nowadays, as long as the whole family can stay together safely and live out our days, this daughter-in-law will be completely satisfied.”
“Mm... family being together is what matters most.”