Returning to hometown to farm: The apocalypse system arrived ten years earlier?

Chapter 126 Making Money Behind Closed Doors (Please Subscribe, Please Subscribe)

On the morning of New Year's Eve, Li Xiang once again rode his tricycle to the county town to buy New Year's goods.

Yesterday, when he bought wine, brushes, couplets, firecrackers and fireworks, he went to the nearest town because all these things were available in the town. But today, he needed to buy some food that his family didn't usually eat, so he had to go to the county town.

After all, the supplies and varieties in the county are more abundant. In some large seafood stores, you can buy king crabs, Boston lobsters, etc. There are also many rich people in the county. Usually, the sales of these ingredients are not very good, but when the Chinese New Year comes, the supply is insufficient and the price starts to rise.

Maybe for some people living in coastal cities, they are tired of eating seafood on a regular basis and want to switch to some inland specialties during the Chinese New Year. However, Sichuan Province is inland, so they have to have some seafood during the Chinese New Year.

In addition to king crabs and Boston lobsters, Li Xiang also bought salmon, sea cucumbers, scallops, oysters, turbot, swimming crabs, abalone, and razor clams.

After returning home, it took a lot of effort just to prepare these ingredients. Grandma was old, and she had never cooked these dishes before, so she was not very good at preparing them. Fortunately, my aunt and cousin came early.

The aunt knew that Li Xiang might not be able to handle it alone, and she was embarrassed to come over to eat ready-made food, so at ten o'clock in the morning, she and her cousin rode an electric scooter there. The aunt did not come empty-handed, and she also brought two bottles of good wine.

It was given to her by someone else, but she had never been willing to drink it, so she brought it here today to share with everyone.

In fact, my sister-in-law likes to drink very much and can drink a lot. After all, she has been working in sales and sometimes has a lot of social engagements.

I don't need to mention how hard it is for a woman to work in sales. But there is no other way. As an orphan and a widow, these years have been really hard.

My sister-in-law is an excellent cook and can also make these things, so she became the main force in processing the ingredients.

As for the cousin, he just chatted with grandma and helped out. He had blond hair and was eloquent, but he seemed a little distant when he saw Li Xiang.

Li Xiang laughed: "I won't hit you, what are you afraid of?"

Cousin: "My mom said you might teach me a lesson."

The aunt laughed like a goose: "I was joking, but you took it seriously. This kid...it's Chinese New Year, even if your cousin wants to teach you a lesson, he has to wait until after the New Year!"

Li Xiang thought for a moment and said seriously, "Everyone has their own destiny. You are old enough now, and you should also think about your own life. If you need any help in the future, just ask. With our relationship, we are not outsiders."

My aunt urged, "Why are you just standing there? Why don't you thank your cousin?"

My cousin quickly said, "Thank you, thank you brother!" and then went to the kitchen to accompany grandma.

The aunt glanced at her son's back and whispered to Li Xiang, "He usually doesn't listen to others, including me, but I feel that he listened to you this time, Xiao Xiang."

"It's good that you listened to me. It's New Year's Day, let's not talk about this. Aunt, how do we deal with the black stuff on the abalone?"

It’s okay to eat those black stains, but if they are not cleaned up, it will affect the taste and the appearance of the dish, thus affecting your appetite.

"Soak it in warm salt water and then scrub it hard, or apply a little starch and then scrub it. Just scrub it clean. If you really can't scrub it off, cut it off with scissors." The aunt advised.

In fact, Li Xiang didn't know how to cook many ingredients. At the end of the world in his previous life, there was nuclear pollution everywhere and there were terrifying monsters in the sea, so basically no one ate seafood. Before the end of the world, he had never been doing well and had never eaten seafood.

It's not that I can't afford it. Small abalone is quite cheap. A small Boston lobster weighing about one pound, which is fresh, only costs one or two hundred yuan. It's just that I'm not in the mood to buy those things. As a young person, I'm wandering around outside and I can just make do with whatever I can get for a meal. Most of the time I'm too lazy to cook and just eat Chinese fast food outside or get a bowl of fried noodles at a roadside stall.

I can cook some simple home-cooked meals by myself.

Maybe it's because of too much pressure?
In modern society, especially in big cities, the pace of life is very fast. Every day is about going to work and going home. Everyone has an invisible yoke on their head. Especially men, who want to stand out and work hard, have no time to enjoy various rituals.

So some people suggest that spending a little more money to buy some cheap, useless things that can make you happy can prevent depression.

While working hard, it is very important to slow down, relax and please yourself, now and in the future, at any time, even if the sky falls.

At noon, grandma cooked noodles and everyone ate some together. Including the kittens, the fox, and the dog, they all ate noodles.

Of course it’s not plain noodles. Dried fish is added to the kitten, and large chunks of stewed meat are added to the dog and the fox.

While my aunt and grandmother were busy in the kitchen, Li Xiang took his cousin and took the time to paste all the couplets, blessing characters, door gods, etc. There was a big bucket of homemade paste in the kitchen.

After pasting the couplets, there were still some left, so Li Xiang took them to Third Aunt's house and helped her paste the couplets and door gods.

"Third Auntie, how about we have the New Year's Eve dinner at my house later?" Li Xiang invited.

"Thank you, thank you," Grandma San declined and said happily, "My little girl said she would pick me up to spend the New Year at her home later."

"That's great." Li Xiang gave a thumbs up.

Go back and continue helping my sister-in-law in the kitchen.

The four of them were busy until about five in the afternoon, when they finally finished preparing a table full of delicious food.

There are eighteen dishes in total, including three small red clay hot pots. The other prepared dishes are also kept warm in steamers, so they are all steaming hot when served.

Most of them are Sichuan style, spicy and delicious.

They are: Sichuan-style king crab, mapo tofu with lobster, braised pork trotter and abalone, salmon sashimi (with mustard soy sauce), fried egg with oyster and green pepper, steamed turbot, stir-fried rice cake with spicy swimming crab, vermicelli scallop with red pepper and garlic, chicken soup with snow-skirted white jade fungus, stewed duck with winter bamboo shoots, four-happiness meatballs symbolizing "reunion, happiness, wealth, longevity and joy", braised dish platter (braised beef, beef tripe, small braised eggs, pork stomach, pig ears, pork intestines, dried tofu, lotus root and kelp), crispy pork with chili and cumin, dry-pot cauliflower and meat, blanched prawns, clams and asparagus, stewed spare ribs with chestnuts, and a house full of gold and jade (green round peas, golden corn kernels, orange carrot cubes, and tender green goose rice beans in shells, stir-fried together).

The snow-skirted white jade fungus in the chicken soup was naturally a first-level exotic herb, which Li Xiang obtained by cutting down several golden thunder bamboos in the back mountain. The chickens were also real free-range chickens raised at home, the kind that can fly. Chickens in rural areas, especially those in mountainous areas like Li Xiang's, that are truly free-range, basically can fly, such as the big rooster with a red crown and colorful feathers, which sometimes flies to a tall tree and crows towards the sun.

Other roosters and hens will also climb up the tree.

So when some city people come to the countryside and see the trees full of chickens, they are so surprised that they can't close their mouths.

Some ducks and geese can even fly hundreds of meters in one breath.

But these chickens, ducks and geese are all familiar with their homes and will run back when it gets dark.

In the previous life, after Grandma Li Xiang passed away, some of the chickens and ducks in the family remained. They were probably eaten by relatives later. However, some of them were very smart. Under the leadership of the "quite spiritual" rooster with red crown and colorful feathers, they fled to the mountains and became pheasants and wild ducks. Some of them lived to the end of the world, and then they waited for the opportunity to mutate.

There were still some elixirs in Li Xiang's system warehouse that had not been used to make wine, but the delicious ones had basically been eaten up. The remaining ones had more or less bitter or strong medicinal flavor, which were not suitable for adding to dishes. They would affect the taste of the dishes. Besides, grandma and the others were ordinary people, and eating too much would be bad for their health.

There were eighteen dishes in total, filling up the entire table.

There is actually no definite answer as to how many dishes should be in the New Year's Eve dinner. Some places pursue eight, ten or twelve dishes, using an auspicious number, usually an even number, which implies good luck and reunion. But now that living conditions are better, if there are many people, you can have more dishes. Well, eighteen is also an auspicious number.

People in the south don’t eat dumplings during the Chinese New Year.

For southerners, dumplings are a convenient food when there is nothing to eat, such as quick-frozen dumplings. Or you can make them at home and freeze them in the refrigerator to eat occasionally.

There is a saying in the north: "Who doesn't eat dumplings during the Chinese New Year?"

There is also a saying in the South: "Who eats dumplings on New Year's Day?"

Therefore, every year during the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, there are skits about making and eating dumplings. People in the South do not understand this and do not resonate with it, so fewer and fewer people watch it.

Li Xiang took a plate of "1.5-shot" firecrackers with a diameter of one meter, and a large box of high-altitude fireworks shells (-inch straight tubes). Together with his cousin, they lit them in the front yard. There was a crackling sound, flames flew everywhere, and it was deafening.

That was the loudest sound in the whole village, it was really exciting.

It's not expensive, just over 1,000 yuan. There are cheaper ones, but Li Xiang bought the better quality ones. During the Chinese New Year, he was afraid of duds. If they broke halfway through, it would be unlucky.

Fortunately, we fried everything in one go, then came in, closed the door, and started eating.

It doesn't have to be closed tightly, just slightly cover it and leave a small gap. This is called "making money behind closed doors"! As for tomorrow morning, we will also set off fireworks early in the morning, which are "opening fireworks" and "good luck in opening the door"!
The aunt opened the good wine she had brought and poured some for Li Xiang and grandma, but left the cousin alone.

It’s not that his aunt doesn’t allow him to drink, but he has to ride an electric scooter back home at night, and he has to take his aunt with him. Is it safe after drinking?
Fortunately, Li Xiang bought Coke and juice in the morning, so his cousin drank Coke instead of wine.

Li Xiang's spiritual wine had too strong spiritual power and was not suitable for ordinary people, so he did not take it out.

My sister-in-law is very moderate when drinking. She drinks well but stops when she has almost finished. She never gets drunk. When she is outside, if she really can't handle it, she pretends to be drunk and then finds a chance to slip away.

After all, your body is your own.

"Xiao Xiang, your drinking capacity is unmatched! The disciple is better than the master, come, I wish you to find your beloved soon, cheers!"

"Mom, I also wish you good health, growing stronger with each passing year, and a long life!"

With my sister-in-law around, the atmosphere at the table was never dull and everyone enjoyed the meal very much.

Even the dog and the fox came in and asked for a small bowl of wine to drink. The little fox became more energetic as he drank, but Erhuang had a poor alcohol tolerance as usual. He started to stagger after just a few sips.

The pets also had a pretty good meal tonight.

Halfway through the meal, Jiang Caier came.

After she had finished her meal at home, she wanted to sneak over to see what the New Year's Eve dinner was like at brother Li Xiang's house. She arrived at the right time and there were still many dishes left uneaten, so she had another meal.

Although her own family’s New Year’s Eve dinner was good, Uncle Jiang and Aunt Jiang were always frugal, so it was not as sumptuous as Li Xiang’s.

Li Xiang didn't give her any wine, but handed her a can of coconut milk. With Jiang Caier joining in the chatter, the atmosphere at the dinner table became even more lively.

After dinner, it was already dark. Grandma asked my aunt and the others to go back early, and told cousin Li Xiang to ride slowly.

Originally, the aunt wanted to help clean up before leaving, but Li Xiang said, "No, no, I can do it."

The children in the village also came out. Li Xiang took out a lot of fireworks and set them off with Jiang Caier, attracting all the children.

Li Xiang had bought a lot of them before. Now everyone was given a Gatling gun. They held them together and fired at the open space, "Swish, swish, swish~". It felt like thousands of arrows were bursting out, like the Rocket Force.

It is better to share happiness with others than to enjoy it alone. You can enjoy fireworks tonight. I just don't want to make iron flowers, which is too troublesome. Fireworks are more convenient, fast and relatively safe.

Especially Jiang Caier, holding the biggest Gatling gun, led everyone and gave orders like a child king. Li Xiang himself did not release it, he used his mobile phone to record the video, and later he would post it on his social media account!

(End of this chapter)