My village can't be like this

Chapter 318 Handmade Ink Strips
Before the meat was even served on the table, Zhang An had already grabbed it.

"My mom is really good at braised pork, and whatever she braises is delicious. Wife, come and try my mom's cooking."

Zhang An ate a few pieces himself, but he didn't forget his wife next to him. He took a few pieces and fed them into Su Ying's mouth himself.

"Yeah, it's so delicious. The braised beef in that restaurant on the old street is not as delicious as the one my mother makes."

Su Ying tasted a piece and praised it without hesitation.

She and Wang Min had studied carefully before about how to make her mother-in-law happy.

Zhang An felt that today's beef was braised just right, soft and juicy.

Moreover, all the aroma of the brine has soaked into the beef. It has been soaked for so many hours, which is indeed very particular.

"It's not that I'm good at marinating it, it's that the recipe Yoko gave me is good. Everything marinated is delicious."

Being complimented by her daughter-in-law's kind words, the smile on Wang Fang's face was as bright as the sunshine in spring.

"This brine is really good. Let's keep it and brine whatever we want."

This pot of brine was just made today. I just cooked a pot of beef and it was very good.

As long as it is stored well, this full pot of brine will last a long time.

And the longer the brine is left, the more fragrant the brine will be.

After Zhang An tasted the braised beef, he started eating in the bowl and thinking about what was in the pot.

I was thinking in my mind that I would bring two sheep out of the space in the next two days and kill them together when the deer was slaughtered.

When the time comes, braise the pork, beef, and mutton together, and you’ll have a complete Chinese New Year appetizer.

"Why don't we send some to Second Grandpa and Second Grandma?"

Before starting the meal, Su Ying asked with some confusion.

Because no matter what he was doing at home, Zhang An would always think of his second grandfather and his second grandmother.

Even if there is less food at home, we still have to give it to the two elders.

But today, a large pot of beef was cooked, and Zhang An didn't seem to have any intention of sending it over.

"If you don't send it over, the second grandpa and the second grandma are old and have bad teeth. They can't eat the beef and they won't be able to digest it by then."

Although the beef has been cooked until tender, it is still not suitable for the elderly.

Especially now that it's still winter, sitting at home warming up by the fire all day long without much exercise can really make you indigestible.

In the evening, Zhang An read for an hour, and then went to bed early as usual.

There is no homework tonight. After all, the teacher will be tired.

Then I slept until I woke up naturally, only to find that it was still dark.

After looking at the time, it was around six o'clock, which was not too early. Zhang An got up from the bed.

After walking downstairs, he cleaned up the stove that was covered with coal balls and started to light it before going to wash up.

After spending half an hour doing two sets of boxing in the yard, I saw that my old mother Wang Fang had already gotten up.

"Mom, I'm going to the city. Besides buying wine cans, what else can I buy?"

After packing his things, Zhang An was ready to go out and asked if there was anything else he needed to buy at home.

"There's nothing to buy. Why are you going so early? Why don't you get something to eat before you go?"

"Go early and come back early. I'll eat breakfast on the street. I won't bother you at home."

After getting dressed, Zhang An took a trip to the bamboo forest. The Taoist temple was just renovated this year, and it is estimated that there are a lot of things that need to be added.

He planned to go over and ask Zhang and his party if there was anything he wanted to buy, he could buy it back together, or he could go there together.

"Daddy, do you want to buy anything here? I'm going to the city today, so I can buy it together."

When Zhang An arrived at the mountain, Zhang and his party were practicing kung fu.

"There's nothing big to add, just some small things. You can bring them back here to save me a trip."

After Zhang Yixing calmed down, he found a piece of paper, took out the inkstone and began to grind the ink, preparing to write a list for Zhang An.

"Hey, where did you buy this ink stick? It's quite fragrant. We probably don't sell it here."

Zhang An himself also uses a brush, but he always uses ink because ink sticks are not available nearby.

If there were ink strips, he would not use ink.

After all, not to mention the stinky ink, it also hurts the pen and the paper, making writing not smooth, and it won't last long.

"I made this myself. If you want, I can take some back later."

Zhang Yixing didn't know what Zhang An was thinking, so he stared at the half of ink for a long time.

If you don't give it to him, he will probably take away the remaining half later.

Zhang An's eyes lit up when he heard this. He really didn't expect Zhang Yixing to be able to do this.

After all, he had never seen Zhang Yixing do this before.

"Then bring me some. I'll need it for writing a pair in a few days."

Every year when Zhang An writes a couplet, he has to write about many other people's poems, and every time he uses up half a bottle of ink.

After Zhang finished writing the line, he handed the paper to Zhang An.

Zhang An took a look and saw that there were red paper, wax, cinnabar and other items on them, and the quantities were also marked.

Then there are daily necessities and some offerings of fruits. After the Chinese New Year, everyone is well fed and well clothed.

The Patriarch of the Sanqing Dynasty naturally wanted to eat some fresh fruits and experience the atmosphere of the Chinese New Year.

"Now, I made them before, and there aren't a few left now. You can take two and use them first. I'll make more next time and you can come back to get them."

Zhang and his party went back to the house to search for some, and came out with two ink sticks measuring more than four inches.

It's quite long, so one can probably be used for a long time.

"By the way, do you have an inkstone there? If not, I will give you one."

"There seems to be one. I'll go back and look for it."

Zhang An took two ink sticks and smelled them, but he could only smell a slight fragrance, which was not as fragrant as the ink he had just rubbed.

"Then don't look for it, just take one back with you."

Zhang and his party went back to the room again and found a blue inkstone.

It's bigger than the one he used just now, but it's only as big as Zhang An's palm.

"I hired someone to do this before. They used bluestone from our mountains. I can use it myself."

"No wonder it looks familiar to me. It turns out to be made of bluestone."

This inkstone is quite thick and holds a little weight.

"Then I'm going back. Next time you make ink, remember to call me and I'll learn."

It looked like it was getting late, Zhang An had to go to the city, so he had to go back.

"Okay, I'll call you next time, just because I'm afraid you don't want to learn."

Zhang Yixing shook his head and said with a smile, Zhang An now gave him a very unreliable feeling.

When he was a child, no matter what he was asked to learn, he was almost forced to learn it, but he was not as easy to learn as he is now.

Originally, I just came to ask if there was anything I needed to bring, but I didn't expect that I turned into a quarrel.

But Zhang An was willing to take advantage of this, and this handmade ink was not easy to buy.

Pen, ink, paper and inkstone, now Zhang An is half alive.

Holding the inkstone and ink sticks, Zhang An was as happy as a child getting a new toy.

"Hey, what are you old people looking for?"

In the bamboo forest walking down the mountain, Zhang An saw several old people in the village looking around.

"Xiao An went to the mountains again. Let's find some suitable bamboos to make cigarette poles."

As they spoke, several old men handed the newly dug bamboo to Zhang An to see. "Okay, these trees look very upright. They would look great carved into tobacco poles."

These bamboos are not serious bamboos, they are all mutated bamboos.

The bamboo pole grows crookedly from the root, and the bamboo joints grow unevenly at all.

But in the eyes of old men, this thing is the best thing.

In later generations, a good-looking mutated bamboo would be worth a lot of money.

Even if it is normal bamboo, it will cost dozens or hundreds of dollars to carve a cigarette pole.

But in this era, they are not very valuable, and they only use them for themselves.

In the village, many old men like to get together and chat.

This pipe is like a treasure. Every time I make a new one, I can't wait to show it to my old friends.

After chatting with these old smokers for a few words, Zhang An stopped disturbing them in their search for treasure.

Back home, Su Ying was already up and exercising in the yard.

Since marrying Zhang An, Zhang An will get up early to practice Qigong every morning no matter how cold or hot it is.

As a teacher, Su Ying felt that it was a sin to sleep in late.

So I wanted to get up early and exercise with Zhang An, but in the end I found that she was not a morning person at all.

Especially during working hours, I have to go to school after getting up to have breakfast, so there is no time at all.

So during the holidays, no matter how late I get up, I always move my muscles.

"Daughter-in-law, help me take these two treasures and put them away."

Zhang An was about to go out and handed Su Ying the inkstone and ink sticks he had obtained through begging.

"Hey, are these inkstones and ink sticks? Where did you get them?"

Su Ying took these two things with some surprise. For other teachers, these things may be far away.

But for Su Ying, who is a Chinese teacher, it is not too unfamiliar.

Because Su Ying has also practiced calligraphy herself, and her writing is also formal.

It's just that he doesn't have his own writing skills yet, not to the level of Zhang An.

"Hey, I got it from my godfather. I don't have much left. I don't know when I will make it next time. Take it back and put it away."

Zhang An wasn't worried about someone taking it away, he was just worried about it falling to the ground and getting broken.

After saying hello to his family, Zhang An took the keys and ran to the city.

"Where are you going, Xiao An."

As soon as I reached the stone pass, I met villagers saying hello.

There were three or four people on the roadside, including two middle-aged women about the same age as Wang Fang and two children.

"I'm going to the city to buy some things. Second aunt, where are you going?"

This woman, Wang Eryan, was not Zhang An's second aunt, but she was from Longtoushan Village and was married to Changqing Village.

Because she also had the same surname as Wang Fang and was the second eldest child in the family, Zhang An called her second aunt.

"Let's go to Tanjiazhai to have a drink. Today a relative is getting married to a daughter-in-law."

"Tanjiazhai? That's over at Qingkou. Second aunt, you guys get in the car and I'll take you there on the way."

Zhang An thought that the people on the way were all from the village and were related to each other, so he took the initiative to give them a ride.

After all, Qingkou is still a bit far away, as it is all on the other side of the county town.

If you take the bus, it will take more than an hour, not counting the time waiting for the bus.

"That's okay, please, Xiaoan."

"I'm not from outside. Anyway, I'm on my way."

Along the way, this second aunt talked a lot with Zhang An.

She had just returned from her parents' home a few days ago, so Zhang An knew about her grandmother's situation through him.

Although Zhang An didn't like the past very much, he would go there to visit the old lady basically once a month.

"Okay Xiao An, there's no need to go in, we'll get off the bus here."

All the way to the roadside in Qingkou, Aunt Wang got out of the car and didn't bother Zhang An to send them in.

After all, it's best to just take him for a ride, and it would be shameless to ask someone else to take him in.

Zhang An was not polite. The way in from here was not very good. It would take him a long time to go in and come back.

"Second aunt, please walk slowly."

"Go and do your business quickly, don't delay."

After starting the car again, Zhang An went straight to the city and bought the things Zhang and his party wanted first.

As for the wine jar, you can buy it from the ceramics factory outside the city later.

The quantity he wanted to buy was quite large, and the goods sold in the store were also purchased from ceramic factories.

So it is definitely better to go to the factory and buy some directly, and you can also choose them yourself.

After entering the city, Zhang An did not go towards the central city.

Because most of them are clothing stores, restaurants and other shops that rely on foot traffic.

As for the red paper, candles, and cinnabar that I want to buy today, the shops are basically open on the old street.

Because this kind of thing does not rely on retail sales, people usually buy it in batches during weddings and funerals.

Or when going to the market, you can set up a stall at the door to sell. After all, the market is located on the old street.

When he came to the old street, Zhang An didn't have a look at any store.

Because Zhang Yixin told him about a store with a relatively complete range of goods.

He can go over with the list and buy them all at once.

"Boss, help me get something."

After finding the place, Zhang An entered the store and greeted the boss.

"What do you need, young man?"

The boss saw the guests coming and entertained them very warmly.

There was no market today, so the whole street seemed a little deserted, and naturally the store was the same.

If someone comes to your door, it's all business. Of course the boss will be happy if you make money.

"That's it, but the extra red paper will cost you one more knife."

Zhang An handed the order to the boss and added something.

During the Chinese New Year, my family wants some pairs, so I buy them early and late at night.

Moreover, there is a lot of red paper that needs to be used at home, including the ones from Master Zhang and his two uncles. Zhang An also bought them by the way.

However, Zhang An did not buy candles because the ones made from beeswax at home were better than this one.

There won't be so much black smoke after burning, and it won't blacken the main room.

The boss took a look and realized that what he wanted was not that small, although not as much as others wanted for red and white matters.

But during the Chinese New Year period, compared to others, it is already considered a big business.

"Okay, wait a moment, there are a lot of things. I'll go look for you in the back."

After the boss finished speaking, he picked up a bag and went to the back room to rummage and began to distribute goods to Zhang An.

There was a lot of stuff, and the boss packed a bag with it, totaling 35 yuan.

Among them, cinnabar and realgar are the most expensive. There are many other things, but they don’t cost much.

(End of this chapter)