The little one's purse connects the two worlds, turning a desolate village into a paradise.

Niu Cuihua was just about to have dinner, but her husband hadn't arrived yet, so she grabbed her entrenching tool and rushed to Doctor Chen's yard.

Upon entering, several people in the courtyard were busy with their own tasks.

Xiong Bo squatted next to the toolbox, an entrenching tool tucked under his armpit, and something else in his hand. The iron tip had a wavy pattern, and when he pressed a button on the bottom, it hummed and spun around.

Fang Tiesheng flipped through the instruction manual with one hand and scribbled with chalk in the other, occasionally exchanging a few words with Xiong Bo.

Dr. Chen found it even more novel, taking an entrenching tool as a hoe and digging more than a dozen holes of various sizes in the open space in his yard, having a great time.

Without a word, Niu Cuihua stepped forward and grabbed Fang Tiesheng's ear, while calling to the others, "Hurry up and come with me to Granny Liu's courtyard for dinner. How old are you? You still need someone to invite you to a hot meal. Are you living too comfortably?"

"It wasn't because I didn't notice the time for a moment..." Fang Tiesheng rubbed his ear, which had been pinched red. Didn't he have any pride? Wasn't his pride something to be proud of? How dare they twist his ear like that?

If it happens next time...

ε=(´ο｀*))) alas

Fang Tiesheng secretly lifted his eyelids to glance at his wife, Niu Cuihua, whose temples seemed to have eyes, turned her head and glared at him fiercely.

Fang Tiesheng immediately wilted, and dared not let it happen again.

……

Everyone sat around the table, their noses filled with the rich aroma of the beef tallow hot pot broth.

The sheer aroma of beef tallow alone is enough to make the villagers of Lotus Village, who have never tasted beef before, swoon, let alone the beef tallow hot pot base made exclusively by butcher Guo Youyuan.

It contains not only butter, but also a small amount of rapeseed oil to neutralize the greasiness of the butter and brighten the red oil. The dried chilies used are Erjingtiao and Shizhu red, with a small amount of Sichuan peppercorns, and various seasonings such as Pixian broad bean paste and fermented black beans are stir-fried in the right proportion.

The complex fragrance, layer upon layer, filled the entire courtyard.

Grandma Li subconsciously raised her hand to cover her chest, repeatedly sniffing the surrounding aroma, and exclaimed in amazement: "I've lived most of my life and never smelled such an enticing soup base. Just smelling it makes my stomach rumble."

"Spicy but not dry, oily but not greasy, this soup is wonderful." Doctor Chen took a deep breath.

"I've also found some sauces, so everyone can mix and match what they like," Ji Chuntao said with a smile, bringing over a wooden plate with seven small bowls on it.

As she placed the bowls on the round table, she introduced them to everyone: "Soy sauce, vinegar, chopped green onions, minced garlic, fermented black beans, soybean paste, and soybean paste. There are seven kinds in total. Pick whichever you like. Chef Xiong said that this is how high-ranking officials and nobles dip their food."

Only those with substantial family wealth can afford a few of these; we're quite well-off too!

The group sat down around the two divided hot pots, looking at the metal plate separating them. One side was filled with clear mushroom soup, while the other was filled with bright red beef tallow soup. The two aromas wafted into their nostrils in turn, but no one took the first bite.

"What should we do?"

"What's that in the furnace down there? Why is it emitting blue flames? It looks like ice, but how can ice emit flames?"

"Yuan Yang Hot Pot, what an interesting name! It's ingenious that two kinds of soup can be cooked in one pot at the same time." The village chief craned his neck to stare at the soup in the pot.

"I heard that you just put the food in a pot and boil it briefly before taking it out, but how long do you need to boil it? Do you put all the vegetables and meat in at once, or is there some other method?"

Ya Ya sat next to Grandma Liu, and her stomach started to rumble as she smelled the aroma.

Holding chopsticks in her little hands, she picked up a thin slice of red and white beef and was about to stand up from her chair to put it into the pot.

"Oh dear, there's a scalding pot and a fire on the table, don't stand up." Grandma Liu's heart skipped a beat when she saw Ya Ya's movements, and she quickly pressed her down to sit still.

"Would you like to try these slices of meat? Should we put them in the red broth?" Grandma Liu took the wooden chopsticks from Ya Ya's hand, and after receiving Ya Ya's confirmation, she carefully got up and put the slices of meat into the boiling red broth.

She had never eaten beef or hot pot before, so she wasn't sure how long to leave the meat in the pot. She could only rely on her years of experience to wait patiently until the meat slices turned white and curled slightly at the edges. Then she carefully scooped the meat into Ya Ya's small bowl and gently instructed, "Eat slowly, be careful not to burn your mouth. There are chili peppers in this red soup, so it's probably quite spicy. Blow on it to cool it down."

Ya Ya stared at the slices of meat coated in a layer of bright red broth in the bowl, and couldn't wait to puff out her little mouth and blow on them several times. Then she opened her mouth wide and swallowed the slices of meat in one gulp.

Even after blowing on it several times, the temperature of the meat slices was still so hot that she subconsciously wrinkled her face, but she stubbornly puffed out her cheeks and refused to spit it out, keeping her mouth tightly closed.

It smells so good! I can't open my mouth, or the aroma will escape and I'll miss out!

Ya Ya puffed out her cheeks, her eyes were wet, and she could only hiss out a few wisps of hot air from between her teeth.

"If it's too hot, spit it out quickly, don't try to tough it out." Grandma Liu looked at Ya Ya's appearance, both hot and hungry, and was both amused and annoyed. She reached out and placed her hand under Ya Ya's chin, waiting.

"Mmm..." Ya Ya hummed twice and shook her head.

It doesn't seem hot anymore?

Ya Ya chewed twice very consciously, then paused, chewing even faster. What divine deliciousness is this! It's so delicious!

૮ ´͈ ᗜ `͈ ა♡

"Grandma, it smells so good! It's incredibly delicious, you have to try some!"

Upon hearing this, Granny Liu picked up the wooden chopsticks prepared on the table, picked up a few slices of beef, and put them into the pot.

The surrounding villagers were all watching this side. They had all seen how Ya Ya had eaten so hot food but was reluctant to spit it out, and how she kept shaking her head and looking extremely happy after finishing. They were all eager to try it themselves.

The rich, mellow, and warm aroma enveloped everyone.

When Grandma Liu added the second batch of sliced ​​meat, everyone picked up their chopsticks and started putting the thinly sliced ​​beef and mutton into the red soup pot. Everyone had had mushroom soup before, but this was the first time they had ever had beef tallow soup!

"The aroma of this butter is so enticing, it's impossible to stop drooling just from smelling it!"

"I wonder just how delicious the beef and mutton must be, combined with such a fragrant broth, what kind of flavor would it taste like?"

Before long, Grandma Liu scooped up the cooked meat slices, divided a few slices and put them into the eagerly waiting Ya Ya's small bowl. She waited a while until the meat slices in the bowl were no longer scalding hot before putting them into her mouth.

The unique complex aroma of the butter broth fills the mouth first, and when you bite into it, the beef is tender and smooth with a fresh and fragrant flavor. It is a completely different flavor from pork and the braised beef you have eaten before. The more you eat, the more fragrant it becomes.

She paused abruptly, chewed several times, and then exclaimed softly, "Good heavens! So this is what fresh beef tastes like! Not a trace of fishiness! It's absolutely delicious. Everyone should eat it. Just blanch it until it turns white and curls up, then you can take it out."

Li Guixiang was in charge of cutting the mutton when preparing the ingredients. She looked at the freshly blanched mutton with some hesitation. The mutton smell was strong when she cut it, but after it was boiled in the pot, the unpleasant smell seemed to disappear.

Beef doesn't have this gamey smell, so what would lamb taste like?