Siheyuan: Security Office of Wude

No matter how poor a family is, they will try to buy some flour to make dumplings for the New Year, because corn flour is too rough and not as sticky as wheat flour. It is OK to make big things like rough cakes or steamed bread, but it is not fine and sticky enough to roll it into thin dough and make dumplings. It will crack when you make a dumpling, and it is not even suitable for making chive dumplings.

Yan Bugui's idea was a fantasy even to Yang Ruihua.

"I didn't ask you to use only cornmeal. I know that won't work. Isn't it mixed with flour? Adding a little cornmeal can help the flour to clumping, and you can make more dumplings. It's not a problem, it's not a problem."

Yang Ruihua couldn't argue with him, so he had to compromise

"Okay, I'll mix some cornmeal in later."

What is this thing called?

Other people eat dumplings, some with pork and green onion, some with pork and cabbage, some with pork and radish.

Hey! Guess what? You can eat the cornmeal dumplings without making a sound.

Other families probably couldn't imagine the Yan family's magical operation of making dumplings with corn bread, but now they are all talking about the taste of the Bai family's meat.

The taste of mutton is stronger than pork. The Bai family stewed a lot of meat. Once the smell spread out, it overwhelmed the smell of the stewed meat of other families. Everyone looked at Bai Wanli's courtyard from the window and drooled.

But as long as they don't bother him, Bai Wanli doesn't care what outsiders think and continues to live comfortably in his own yard.

In the evening, Yu Li came to the main room with a large bowl of mixed vegetables. Seeing everyone was cleaning up their mahjong and poker games, she smiled and said, "Now that we're done, who won more and who lost more?"

"Qing An won the most with you"

"Oh, how much did I win? I didn't even play two rounds." Yu Li was very surprised. She went in and out to watch the fire in the kitchen and didn't play much.

"You didn't play much, but you still lost miserably. Fang Qiang was unlucky today. Go wash the dishes with Yongqiang later."

Yu Li looked at her husband's bitter expression and held back her smile for the sake of face: "After we clean up the things, let's prepare for dinner. The food is ready. Brother Qiangzi, can you help me get the mutton pot? I can't carry the pot."

"Okay, I'll go right away." Fang Qiang lost miserably and felt ashamed, so he took advantage of his wife's words to escape.

Bai Wanli and the others moved the things away, and then put two tables together. Soon the food was served. There were two mutton pots on the table, with charcoal burning underneath. The tender mutton was boiling in the milky white soup.

There are two fish on the side, which symbolizes the good luck of having more every year.

The next dish is cucumber and peanut mixed with vermicelli, seasoned with garlic vinegar, sesame paste and soy sauce, which is appetizing and relieves greasiness.

There is also a steamed eggplant dish, which is also a greasy taste

There weren't many kinds of dishes on the table, but they were large and rich. Bai Wanli, as the host, stood up with a cup in his hand.

Chapter 285 is booming

"Today is Chinese New Year. I won't give you any speeches. I just hope that our country will prosper and that everyone will eat and drink well. I'll drink first to show my respect."

Bai Wanli raised his hand and drank the wine in the glass.

The others followed suit and drank a cup, and everyone drank slightly different things.

Fang Qiang drank like Bai Wanli, while Zhu Qingan and Yu Li drank soda mixed with wine, just for the sake of meaning, to avoid getting drunk.

The four people from the Wu family all drank soda, so as not to get drunk and cause any mistakes in their work of protecting Bai Wanli and Zhu Qingan.

After Bai Wanli sat down, he picked up his chopsticks and put a piece of mutton into his and Zhu Qingan's bowls respectively. Then the others started to eat.

The mutton has been stewed for more than three hours. It is already soft and boneless, and the meat is full of flavor. It is even more delicious when dipped in garlic sauce and chive sauce.

There is also tofu stewed in the pot. The tofu is full of rich mutton soup. When you take a bite, the taste of the mutton soup splashes in your mouth. It is wonderful.

Everyone present, whether it was Fang Qiang, the deputy chief of the security department, or the Wu brothers and sisters, the full-time security guards, had good living conditions and ate a lot of meat. But they had never met someone as generous as Bai Wanli's family, who ate two large pots of mutton.

The two brothers of the Wu family, who were not very familiar with Bai Wanli, wanted to be more polite, but Bai Wanli kept persuading them to eat meat. It was hard to refuse his kindness, so they gradually let go and ate until their faces were flushed and their mouths were full of oil.

If you are tired of eating mutton, you can have a large portion of mixed vegetables or steamed eggplant to relieve the greasiness.

Wu Yongsheng, the elder brother among the brothers, could not help but sigh:

“I never thought there would be a day when I would get sick of eating meat.”

Let alone him, other people can't think of it either. Nowadays, most people only dream of eating meat in big mouthfuls, and that's the best life. They can't imagine that they will get tired of eating meat.

This idea is too luxurious for the Chinese people nowadays.

The New Year's Eve dinner was a great success and everyone was very satisfied.

The two pots of mutton were eaten up completely, the bones were smooth as if they had been polished, and there was no trace of meat left, but there was still a lot of mutton soup left.

Bai Wanli didn't care about the leftovers, so he asked the Wu brothers to pack up the soup and take it back home. He would cook some noodles and steam some steamed buns, which would be enough for several meals.

The two brothers declined several times, but were finally forced by Bai Wanli to accept it.

Wu Yongqiang and Fang Qiang, the two losers, went to wash the pots and dishes. Yu Li wanted to follow them, but was stopped by Bai Wanli.

"Yu Li, don't worry about them. The men in Beijing are honest and just. They will accept defeat if they lose. Before we played cards, we agreed that the loser would wash the pots and dishes. How can we let you slack off for them now? This is not acceptable."

Fang Qiang had originally wanted to ask his wife to help him so that he could take a break, but after hearing what Bai Wanli said, Fang Qiang got excited and patted his chest and said, "That's right, it's just washing the dishes, leave it to me, you don't have to help, Xiaoli!"

Yu Li had no choice but to say:

"Okay then, I'll go prepare the ingredients for making dumplings, and we'll make dumplings together later while we keep watch."

"Row"

After the housework was done, Bai Wanli went back to the room to hug Zhu Qingan and be lazy, listen to the radio, peel oranges, and kiss his wife. Life really shouldn't be too leisurely.

After a while, the sound of children playing and firecrackers could be heard from the yard.

After a while, an old man shouted at the top of his voice:

"Watch out for the fireworks!"

Someone was about to set off firecrackers. The timid ones quickly covered their ears, while the brave ones just watched from the side. Soon, the crackling sound of firecrackers rang out, but it didn't last long before it stopped.

After that, several firecrackers were set off one after another. The other courtyards were also lively, but the firecrackers did not last long, only about ten to twenty seconds each time.

Firecrackers are not cheap nowadays. A string of 100-shot firecrackers costs fifty cents. An average family only needs to buy a string of 100-shot firecrackers for some fun, and the rest... isn't it different to listen to other people's firecrackers?

At least that's what the Yan family thought. They just listened to other families setting off firecrackers. This year, they only set off one string of firecrackers and didn't buy any double-kick firecrackers.

Hearing the sound of firecrackers outside, Bai Wanli also took out his own firecrackers, a total of 10,000

Bai Wanli called Fang Qiang and said:

"Fang Qiang, I have two strings of firecrackers. Go open the cross-yard gate and take these firecrackers to the middle yard to set them off. It's New Year's Day, and the whole yard will be lively."

"Okay, I'll go right away, Director."

Fang Qiang ran to open the gate across the courtyard. The firecrackers had been set off in the courtyard, but people were still there. A group of children were searching for duds among the red paper on the ground, while the adults were watching them.

Seeing Fang Qiang open the gate, everyone looked curiously towards Bai Wanli's yard.

Soon Fang Qiang and Yu Li came out with a box of firecrackers. One end of the firecrackers was hung on a bamboo pole, but the firecrackers were too long, so the rest could only be spread on the ground.

The neighbors stared at the red firecrackers and couldn't help but exclaimed

"Hey, how many loud firecrackers does this require?"

"Thirty...forty...that's almost forty-five strings, there must be several thousand rings."

Fang Qiang arranged the firecrackers, raised the bamboo pole, and shouted loudly: "The director said that today is the New Year, let's have some fun together, and wish you all a prosperous new year!"

Bai Wanli had always been cold and distant to his neighbors in the yard. This time he showed a little kindness, which surprised all the neighbors. They all said auspicious words to Bai Wanli and Zhu Qingan.

"I also wish Director Bai and Director Zhu a happy and prosperous life!"

Amidst the congratulations, Yu Li and Wu Yongqing lit the fire at both sides at the same time. The firecrackers kept popping, and red paper flew everywhere. The children had no fear and jumped and laughed at the red scene, full of joy.

The firecrackers went off for about ten minutes on both sides, causing the residents in the yard to have some tinnitus.

When the noise stopped, a figure suddenly ran out from the crowd with a broom and a dustpan.

"Hey, let me clean up all the red paper. Don't work too hard."

This person is Yang Ruihua, who is sweeping the red paper left after the firecrackers into the dustpan with a broom. She does this not out of enthusiasm, but because the red paper can also be sold to the waste collector.

The reason why they didn't sweep the house before was that they only bought a few hundred firecrackers in the yard, and the red paper might not be worth two cents, so Yan Bugui and Yang Ruihua didn't move.

But the Bai family set off a lot of firecrackers, with 5,000 in the yard alone. How much would the red paper be worth if sold?

The three brothers and sisters of the Yan family followed their mother and searched for the duds that had not exploded in the red paper.

Chapter 286: Each family's dumplings have their own flavor

Everyone was speechless, but no one wanted to compete with the Yan family for this.

It's not that we don't care about money, but today is Chinese New Year and no one wants to be unhappy.

Secondly, Yang Ruihua was sweeping toilets on the street, and the smell of toilets gradually filled his body. He would cover his face whenever he saw the couple, for fear of being suffocated by the smell.

Everyone has to prepare dumplings and stay up all night. After 12 o'clock, they have to eat a bowl of dumplings before they can go to bed.

If I go and argue with Yang Ruihua now and smell the yellow mud on her body, will I eat the dumplings this year or not?

After Fang Qiang finished setting off the firecrackers, he looked at Yang Ruihua's actions and didn't bother to care about her. He took Yu Li directly to the cross-yard.

Someone has to clean the yard anyway. As long as Bai Wanli's yard is not taken over by outsiders, Fang Qiang doesn't bother to care about Yang Ruihua's little thing.

Yang Ruihua saw the gate across the courtyard closed again, and his eyes showed disappointment.

She also wanted to go to Bai Wanli's yard to clean it. If she could give them some food and drinks, that would be the best. Even if that wasn't possible, the red paper in the yard could be sold for a few cents. But she didn't expect Fang Qiang to not even give her this opportunity.

Yang Ruihua did not dare to knock on Bai Wanli's door, so he had to lower his head and sweep the red paper in the yard.

When the excitement was over, each family dispersed and went home to prepare dumplings.

The same is true for Bai Wanli's family

Although making dumplings has become a joke in the 21st century, it is still very important today.

In addition to the sense of ritual during the Chinese New Year, making dumplings is also a hassle. Kneading the dough, chopping the stuffing, rolling the dough, making dumplings, and boiling the dumplings are all part of the process. In an era without entertainment, television, or the Internet, it is only because of the hassle that people can get through the long nights.

The Bai family prepared two flavors of dumplings, one with mutton and green onions, and one with pork and cabbage. Both are classic flavors of northern dumplings, but they have more meat and less vegetables, which is different from the dumplings of ordinary people.

Bai Wanli and Fang Qiang were strong men. They had no problem chopping dumpling fillings, but they were not very good at making dumplings. The dumplings they made were all oddly shaped and some of the fillings were exposed.

Bai Wanli looked at the dumpling in his hand and said helplessly:

"Qing'an, these dumplings shouldn't turn into noodle soup when they're put into the pot, right?"