Chapter 164: Preparations
“Alright, sturdy enough.”
Shang Wan grabbed the thick hemp rope and shook the newly set-up swing, feeling no issues, then casually picked up Yuan Yuan and placed her on it.
Yuan Yuan sat on the swing for the first time, her small hands tightly grabbing her mother’s arm, her two little short legs dangling and swaying.
Shang Wan coaxed her to let go, one hand grabbing the clothes on her back, the other hand gently rocking the swing.
The little one first widened her eyes in surprise, her pink tender cheeks puffing up, her small hands nervously clenching into two little fists, fearing she would fall.
After swinging a couple of times and realizing she wouldn’t fall, her tense little body gradually relaxed, she found the fun in swinging, and happily clapped her small hands.
Shang Wan played with her for a while, then heard Shi Tou calling her from the kitchen, so she handed the play companion task to Chu Xu.
She rubbed the child’s head and exhorted, “You hold Yuan Yuan and play, be careful, don’t let her fall.”
Chu Xu pursed his lips; the swing was for kids to play with, he was going to be a general in the future, he wasn’t going to play.
Yuan Yuan was playing excitedly when suddenly the swing stopped, she quickly waved her small hand at Chu Xu, her little milky voice soft and glutinous, “Bro, swing—ah swing!”
She swung for a long time, then suddenly opened her mouth and sneezed, with the inertia, her little body pitched forward.
“Hey, sit steady!” Chu Xu took two steps forward and steadied the little baby girl.
Yuan Yuan’s eyes sparkled as she looked at him, “Swing!”
“Got it, got it, sit steady.”
Chu Xu tried to imitate Shang Wan’s method, one hand grabbing Yuan Yuan and one hand pushing the swing; once he actually tried it, he realized it wasn’t as easy as it looked, nearly letting Yuan Yuan fall.
He looked around; anyway, no one was paying attention to him. Chu Xu picked up the unused hemp rope nearby and tied Yuan Yuan to his chest, the two swinging together.
The swing went higher and higher; Chu Xu, also swinging for the first time, experienced the fun of it. By the time he stopped, Yuan Yuan had already fallen asleep against his chest, her drool wetting a patch on his collar.
Chu Xu: “…”
Who was the one who wanted to play, anyway?
·
Dinner was Shi Tou as head chef; after Xiao Huan tasted a bite of the dish that only had saltiness and no other flavor, she felt her injury wasn’t something that absolutely needed tending.
“Starting tomorrow, I’ll cook.”
This proposal was unanimously opposed by the whole family.
“No, you need to recover from your injury for a couple more days.” Shi Tou ladled her a bowl of radish soup, “Come, drink more soup, you’ll get better faster.”
The radish was from the space, and it was the only decent-tasting dish on the table. After all, this dish just needed putting the cut radish in, adding water to boil it soft, then adding salt.
Xiao Huan drank a sip of radish soup, her taste buds, tormented by the saltiness, finally relaxed.
She thought for a moment and said to Shi Tou, “I’ll just watch from the side, you do as I say.”
It wasn’t much effort just to instruct, so Shi Tou agreed.
Shang Wan felt she could also be this tool person.
Everyone: “No, you can’t.”
Shang Wan: “…”
Shi Tou asked, “Villagers all host meals for fellow villagers when moving to a new house, when are we hosting?”
“Wait until Xiao Huan recovers from her injury.”
The head chef was still recovering from injury, how could they host guests? Shang Wan didn’t want to make enemies with the villagers over one meal.
·
The days of recovering from injury were peaceful; Shang Wan took Lu Chengjing into the city twice, buying quite a few things for the new home.
She also went to the pawn shop, wanting to pawn a jade ornament, but felt the shopkeeper’s price was too low, so she changed her mind and didn’t pawn it.
As soon as the ox cart left the pawn shop, a man dressed as a household servant walked in.
In no time, the man left the pawn shop and hurriedly passed through the marketplace, heading to the Lu Family.
On the other side, Shang Wan learned from the information broker that Lu Chengyuan had already gone to the capital city, reportedly bringing quite a lot, filling three whole carriages.
After giving the information broker reward money, she went to the escort agency, learning from the old man that Sang Qi hadn’t returned from escorting, probably still needing two or three days.
After thanking the old man, Shang Wan drove the ox cart to the county yamen to find Dan Dajun, inviting him to dinner at home in two days.
She also invited Qiao Yu’an and the four from the He family.
Passing by the marketplace, Shang Wan took a liking to two piglets, and after some fierce bargaining, got them for four coins of silver.
Space on the ox cart was limited, and after loading the piglets it was even more crowded; Lu Chengjing could only sit up front with Shang Wan.
Luckily both were slim, squeezing together they could still fit.
Shang Wan turned back to inventory the things on the ox cart, “We bought everything we needed, see if anything’s missing?”
Lu Chengjing took out a list from his sleeve and checked item by item, “Everything on the list is bought.”
“Good!” Shang Wan cracked the whip, “Home.”
·
The housewarming banquet was lively, preparations starting from the night before.
The two piglets were raised for New Year; the pig for the housewarming banquet needed to be bought anew.
Shang Wan went with the nearby principle, buying the pig directly in the village. Fellow villagers, the price was also affordable.
The pig was bought in the morning, dragged back, and Shang Wan personally slaughtered it, collecting two large basins of pig blood.
The meat was portioned in the afternoon, different parts separated, neatly piled in basins.
All innards were thoroughly cleaned, along with the pig head, using Xiao Huan’s special braising spice recipe, put in the large pot to braise.
Slow fire nonstop, midway fish out the pig head, the rest could braise until next morning.
The aroma of braised meat was overpowering, wafting to the village; many people swallowed saliva while using the scent to season their meals, wishing time would fast-forward to tomorrow.
Seeing the time was about right, Xiao Huan fished some out for the family to taste first.
While recovering from injury, she had only pondered recipes. This braised meat recipe was improved on the original basis.
Everyone ate without a word, the fragrance so intense it nearly made them swallow their tongues.
Chu Xu had never eaten innards before, especially large intestine, something too lowly for fine tables, never appearing on his.
He was initially disdainful and unwilling to eat, but seeing the braised dishes on the plate dwindling, he couldn’t care about that hesitation, quickly picking two pieces into his bowl, and once he started, he couldn’t stop, praising how delicious it was.
Seeing everyone liked it, Xiao Huan fished out some more and sliced it.
Yuan Yuan drooled greedily, but the braised flavor was too strong, not suitable for the little baby girl; no one let her eat, so the little one could only hold her milk bottle aggrievedly and drink goat milk.
Chu Xu saw she was truly pitiful and stealthily took a clean pair of chopsticks to dip in the braising liquid, letting the little one lick and taste.
The braising liquid was quite salty; Yuan Yuan spat it out repeatedly, feeling goat milk was still better.
Chu Xu patted her round little belly and let out a burp without any poise.
“Sister Xiao Huan, you could go open a restaurant in the capital city; with this flavor, guaranteed full house every day.”
Xiao Huan shook her head, “Noble persons’ food is all precious, how could they fancy this? At most novelty to taste.”
She pointed at the sliced braised large intestine, “This thing takes time and effort to clean, spices are expensive; sell cheap and no profit, sell expensive and no one buys, just eat at home.”
Shang Wan put down her chopsticks and said, “If opening a restaurant, definitely need other dishes too, braised can be sold alongside.”
Xiao Huan caught the implication and turned to look at Shang Wan; was her sister thinking of opening a restaurant?
