Chapter 133 Money Again

Chapter 133 Money Again

Blood sausage and stewed pork with vegetables are two delicacies that Xie Wanniang always longs to eat during the Lunar New Year. She doesn't eat much meat, but she likes blood sausage made with buckwheat flour and stewed pork with vegetables with vegetables that are stewed until soft and flavorful.

Because the three families had to entertain many guests today, none of them—the butcher, Chen Zhao, Wang Xiaozhi, and others—would stay for a meal.

Hao Yu and Xie Wanniang didn't have time to argue with them, so they simply gave each of them a large piece of meat and told them to go home and cook it themselves, which would also be a good treat for their families.

Wang Xiaozhi refused to accept it, so Xie Wanniang simply pushed her and the pork out of her own yard. Incidentally, she also made Wang Xiaozhi take Chen Yuan back with her.

It's getting late, and if the little girl doesn't go home soon, her parents will have to come back to pick her up again, which will cause a lot of trouble.

They have enough manpower, so there's really no need for a little girl like her to continue running around doing chores.

After seeing them off, Xie Wanniang returned to the kitchen and busied herself with Chen Shi.

The two cooked the blood sausage, stewed the pork stew, and baked the flatbread. Then they made chicken stew with mushrooms, rabbit stew with dried green beans, stir-fried winter melon with sliced ​​meat, stir-fried wood ear mushrooms with eggs, salted stir-fried peanuts, braised pumpkin with garlic cloves, and pork bone and radish soup.

Fortunately, they had enough help; otherwise, just making enough pancakes for these thirty-odd people would have left them with aching backs and sore waists.

After the food was taken away, Xie Wanniang and Chen Shi made braised lean pork, ribs, pig's trotters, pig's head and offal.

Of course, this isn't for tonight's meal; it's for tomorrow morning to serve to their guests.

The men carried the food to Jiang Yuan's house, and Jiang Yuan even brought out wine to entertain the second steward and others. The women, including Chen Shi, all ate dinner at Xie Wan's parents' house.

After the meal, Xie Wanniang and Chen Shi estimated the amount of dough to be used and prepared it, planning to steam buns, steamed bread, and flower rolls the next morning. The others took the initiative to clean up and wash the dishes.

Because there were outsiders in the house, Xie Wanniang did not immediately go and collect the things that the Chang family had sent.

After settling the three tired female guests, Xie Wanniang embraced the somewhat excited Xiao Yang and fell into a deep sleep.

The next day, she got up early and kneaded dough and steamed dry food with Jiang Yuan, who also got up early.

Hao Yu didn't let Chen get up early. He cooked two large pots of millet porridge in his own home using a big iron pot, and also steamed a whole basket of eggs in a steamer.

Yesterday, Xie Wanniang and Chen Shi had already agreed that braised dishes, steamed buns with eggplant and pork filling, and millet porridge would be served as breakfast for everyone. Steamed buns, twisted rolls, and eggs would be portable food prepared for the group who would be returning to the Chang family after breakfast.

In addition to freshly made dry food and steamed eggs, Xie Wanniang also prepared portable foods such as mung bean cakes, walnut cakes, glutinous rice strips, oil tea noodles, fried peanuts, salted duck eggs, dried fish, dried chicken, rabbit meat sauce, dried radish, and chili oil for this group of people.

Since the food was put together by the three families on short notice, the quantity of each type of food was not large, but together it was enough for the group to eat on the road.

In addition to these, they also boiled hot water and provided the horses with all the necessary fodder.

As for the return gifts for the Chang family, Xie Wanniang took out the fan and handkerchief she had embroidered in her spare time, all the dried chickens and rabbits stored at home, and about half of the chestnuts, red dates, wood ear fungus, and mushrooms. Jiang Yuan and Hao Yu each took out two fox pelts, and the other took out two bags of glutinous rice and two bags of wheat flour.

The rice and flour were freshly ground and pounded by Hao Yu using the newly grown rice and wheat grains from this year. Although they weren't anything valuable, they were delicious and fresh.

With the help of guards and servants, the three men loaded all the belongings onto the cart and then personally saw the group of people, who had eaten and drunk their fill, off the village.

The villagers still only dared to watch from afar until those people disappeared at the village entrance. Only then did those villagers, whose hearts were filled with curiosity as if they had a hundred foxtail grasses constantly scratching them, swarm around Xie Wanniang and the other two.

The crowd started talking to Xie Wanniang and her two companions, asking them if those people were soldiers, where they came from, who the people in the carriage were, what their relationship was, and whether they were Xie Wanniang's relatives who had come looking for them.

Xie Wanniang only answered the last question, "No."

As for other questions, none of the three intended to give a direct answer.

They quickly slipped back to the end of the village before being surrounded by the villagers, and the three of them breathed a sigh of relief in unison.

When Hao Yu returned home, he tidied up the livestock shed in the backyard. There was a corner piled with horse manure, which the guards had helped to clear away when they were leading the horses.

Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang immediately went to the Xie family's storeroom to put away the things that the Lady Hou had sent over.

"One hundred taels of gold, five hundred taels of silver, a set of gold jewelry inlaid with rubies, a pair of jade bracelets of excellent quality, two bolts of Shu brocade, two bolts of Hangzhou silk, two bolts of plain satin, two fox pelts, two wolf pelts, as well as rouge, face powder, face cream, hair oil, round fans, silk handkerchiefs, dried fruit and meat, pastries and candies, two jars of tea and two jars of strong liquor."

She moved the wine jar to the entrance of the storeroom, intending to give one jar to Hao Yu later, and then secretly send the other jar to the contact person designated by her adoptive father, as a New Year's gift to be given to the other party to pass on.

She also took a tin of tea, intending to give it to her adoptive father.

In addition to these two items, she also planned to send back two bolts of Shu brocade, two wolf pelts, as well as some rouge, face powder, hair oil, round fans, silk handkerchiefs, dried fruit and meat, pastries and candies.

These things, along with a whole sheep and a whole pig, constituted all the filial piety she gave to her adoptive parents after leaving home.

Xie Wanniang planned to distribute the remaining rouge, face powder, hair oil, round fans, silk handkerchiefs, dried fruit, dried meat, pastries, and candies to the women and children, including herself.

She shared some things with Wang Xiaozhi, Chen Shi, Xiaoyang, Xiaomei, Atai, Chen Yuan and her brother, as well as Qin Niangzi, with whom she had a lot of dealings and who was now considered her friend.

As for Jiang Yuan, Xie Wanniang planned to use the newly acquired Hangzhou silk and plain satin to make him two nice outfits.

In addition, there are elders Hao Yu and Chen Shi, and Xie Wanniang also plans to sew a nice set of clothes for each of them.

Of course, she herself also had to prepare at least one set of clothes. Since she had decided to leave the village and deal with the families of military officers, including the Chang family, they could no longer prepare clothes based solely on the standards of "convenience, comfort, and durability."

Most people respect a person's clothes before they respect them, and Xie Wanniang didn't want to be mocked by some idle people just because she dressed too plainly.

Given her temperament, she would never swallow her anger, but getting into a fight over something like this right away would definitely not have a good impact on Jiang Yuan.

Rather than creating unnecessary trouble, they might as well plan ahead.