I farmed and built a villa in ancient times

Chapter 281

After a busy day of cleaning, Zhou Chenyu slept very soundly on New Year's Eve. He didn't have to get up early, go to town, look at the guests' faces, or bargain with them. Most importantly, he still had nearly half a month of vacation.

She had a good sleep, and the next day, she woke up to the sound of firecrackers in the village and the creaking of the door opening in Li Xiuju's room next door, followed by movements in Wan Qiu and Baoyu's rooms.

Everyone didn't mention when they would get up last night, but they all fell asleep in unison.

The New Year's Eve banquet in Zhoujia Village was late rather than early, and everyone got up late, so Li Xiuju thought about having breakfast and lunch together.

Boil a pot of thick and piping hot porridge, stir-fry a pile of spicy and sour mustard greens, then set up a warm charcoal basin, set up an iron rack, and put four white glutinous rice cakes that were just made the day before on top. First, the hot porridge warms the stomach, and then the soft, glutinous and crispy baked white glutinous rice cake fills the stomach. A simple New Year's Eve breakfast for the family is ready.

Baoyu picked up the white glutinous rice cake on the iron frame with her bare hands and boiled it directly. She covered her earlobes with her fingertips and said, "Mom, what should we cook tonight?"

Wan Qiu quickly straightened the white glutinous rice cake that he had overturned and said, "Baoyu, isn't it hot?"

Zhou Chenyu glanced at him and laughed at him, "His skin is thicker than a pig's, how can he be burned?"

Late autumn couldn't help but smile.

Li Xiuju touched his scalded hand and laughed, thinking about tonight's dishes in her mind, "In a moment, let's make a pot of tofu first. This one takes a long time to cook and is the most troublesome, so Do it first. After the tofu stuffing is done, Baoyu, go kill a chicken, put it in a pot and boil a pot of chicken soup. Then take the chicken to the ancestral hall to worship the ancestors. Then, mother will stir-fry a pot of rabbit meat. , make a steamed fish dish, boil river shrimps, stir-fry green vegetables, that’s it.”

Baoyu blinked in surprise and counted with his fingers. He couldn't count with one hand, "Mom, is our New Year's Eve banquet this year so sumptuous? Tomorrow is the first day of the Lunar New Year, but there are taboos for vegetarians. Cooking so many meat dishes, What should I do if I can’t finish eating?”

Li Xiuju smiled with relief, "Why are you thinking so much? Our family has worked hard for more than half a year and saved a little money. This is just once in a year. Eat a sumptuous meal and treat it as the hard work of the past half year. Feedback. Besides, it’s so cold today, so I won’t worry about the food spoiling if I leave it for two or three days.”

Baoyu remembered that the best dish at last year's New Year's Eve banquet was a plate of chicken sent by Shuqing's eldest brother's family. Unexpectedly, only a year later, their family's life had gotten better.

He nodded sharply, "Okay, Mom, I will listen to you!"

After making an agreement, they started working on tonight's New Year's Eve banquet.

Although the name of tofu stuffing is based on tofu, when actually making it, not only tofu can be used, but also peppers, vegetable leaves, bitter gourd, yuba skin, etc. can be used as the outer layer.

As for the filling, the indispensable part is naturally glutinous rice. Soak it in water, drain it, put it in a wok, add minced meat filling, taro dices, chopped peanuts, chopped green onion, soil melon dices, oil residue, Mix the fish fillings and some spices together and stir-fry until they are about three to four times ripe.

Li Xiuju made the stuffing, and Zhou Chenyu, Wan Qiu, and Baoyu each moved a short stool to sit in front of the pot. They first made stuffed tofu and placed it at the bottom of the steamer, and then wrapped it with stuffed pepper, stuffed bitter melon, and tofu skin. The brews are stacked one after another.

Each of the four people made a few, and soon the whole pot of glutinous rice fillings was gone.

"How can you finish eating so much stuffed tofu?" Baoyu thumped his waist.

Li Xiuju scraped off the last glutinous rice stuffing in the pot. Seeing this, Wan Qiu found a shovel and took it out. Li Xiuju looked at her and smiled, "The four of us can't finish it. It would be nice if we gave Hongmei some more." "Zhou Chenyu raised his eyebrows and looked at Baoyu, "Do you still need to ask? The old lady made so much, she must have sent some to Sister-in-law Hongmei, not all for you to eat."

Baoyu looked at his eccentric sister, thinking of the trouble he got into yesterday, and could only get angry but dare not say anything, "..."

"Hey, you are making stuffed tofu." Hongmei walked in with a basket. Outside the room stood a little girl about the same age as Baoyu, holding Hongmei's son in her arms. "Our family has just started making stuffed tofu." . I don’t know if you have ever eaten it, but this is the bamboo leaf glutinous rice cake that my younger brother and younger sister brought from my parents’ home. It tastes glutinous and chewy, with the fragrance of bamboo leaves.”

"Since it's something brought by your mother's family, why don't you keep it for yourself? Why did you give us so much?" Li Xiuju wanted to stand up, but she was caught between Wan Qiu and Baoyu, and her body couldn't move easily.

Hongmei didn't feel distressed at all, "Auntie, I still have more at home, don't worry."

Zhou Chenyu wiped his hands, walked over, took the basket from Hongmei, and glanced at the little sister who was standing outside to enjoy the cool breeze, "Sister-in-law, that pretty little girl outside is your sister? Why don't you ask her to come in? Sit down?"

"She was timid, afraid of strangers, and didn't dare to see outsiders, so I just let her go." Hongmei smiled lightly, vaguely remembering one thing, and said embarrassedly: "I almost forgot that I was sending her a gift. The origin of the bamboo leaf glutinous rice cake, I wanted to ask if you have any peanuts at home. We were going to buy them a few days ago, but when we got busy, that guy Shuqing forgot about them."

"Yes, why not? We have planted peanuts, just wait." Li Xiuju washed her hands and stood up.

Hongmei blushed in embarrassment, "Do you have enough to eat?"

Zhou Chenyu looked at Hongmei's somewhat embarrassed expression and joked, "You even brought us the bamboo leaf glutinous rice cake made by your parents. Even if we don't have it, we have to conjure it up for you."

Hongmei pinched Zhou Chenyu, who laughed so hard that he kept running away. He returned to the house, took out the bamboo leaf glutinous rice cake in the basket, and replaced it with unshelled peanuts.

Li Xiuju also stuffed a pack of candies into it.

Hongmei was shocked and ashamed, "Auntie, I only want peanuts. Please take back this bag of candies."

Zhou Chenyu smiled and said for Li Xiuju, "This is not for you, but for your little sister who came all the way and gave us bamboo leaf glutinous rice cakes."

After hearing this, Hongmei was stunned and didn't know how to refuse, "Chen Yu, you girl, you are really what Ying Shuqing said, you are very eloquent."

"Then I thank you for the compliment." Zhou Chenyu started to talk, while Hongmei looked at her and felt really inferior to herself.

After Hongmei took a basket of peanuts and left with her sister, a sharp and piercing sound of firecrackers rang out. Looking at the white smoke on the top of the eaves, she realized that it was in front of Zhou Huilan's house.

Li Xiuju looked away, smiled and admired: "Their family has already worshiped their ancestors, but our chickens have not been killed yet."

"What's the hurry?" Baoyu picked up the knife and sharpened it twice on the grindstone. "I'm here, and I'll take care of everything."

(End of this chapter)