Chapter 133: Carefree Fish with Chopped Peppers

  Zhong Gensheng just smiled and said: "What's the big deal? Let Tuni give you some."

  Shen Sisi also came out laughing and said: "Yes, no need to give money, Er Gouzi did a good job, I'll just give him some braised sauce..."

  "Girl, what are you talking about? You must give me money..." Er Gouzi refused and said anxiously.

  Shen Sisi knew his temper, so she smiled and said: "This time let it go, next time I'll collect again. From now on, one catty of braised water will be five cents, whoever wants to buy in the village can come to my house to find me, Er Gouzi you also tell the villagers..."

  "Uh... thanks, Tuni."

  Shen Sisi didn't mind, took a jar and scooped out more than a catty: "Take it back and simmer over low heat, the meat will be flavorful..."

  Turen Xi couldn't help but accept it and said, "Thank you, I'll have Er Gouzi return the jar later." After that, he pulled Er Gouzi along and left.

  The two dogs looked unhappy and stared at Turen: "Dad, you're even stingy with five cents, how embarrassing?!"

  "It's not that you're losing face, next time I'll buy it and give it to you again, this time just forget it..." Turen seemed to have picked up a bargain, holding the braised water like a treasure, laughing: "Alright, alright, I know I've lost your face, next time Dad will definitely give you money, don't worry..."

  The two dogs let out a dissatisfied growl.

  "This kid, quite a temper... " Turen said with a smile on his face, walking briskly. Now who doesn't know that their family's second son is the first person to be favored by Tuni? Along with it, his status in the village has also risen sharply. Whoever sees him can't help but ask, "How's your second son doing?" This little brat has even given his old man a boost of prestige. Heh...

  "This girl is really..." Turen sighed, but the words that followed didn't come out. He took a glance at Er Gouzi and let out a sigh. Now this Er Gouzi had truly become someone else's lackey, loyal to her more than to his own father.

  Two Dogzi got a bargain, and he felt a bit uneasy in his heart. After thinking about it, he took Xiaofuzi and others to the river to catch fish. Now they know that the Zhong family will hold a banquet the day after tomorrow, and since they are holding a banquet here, fish is indispensable. The Zhong family doesn't lack meat, but Two Dogzi still wants to catch some fish for them, doing his best. Besides, Tuni has been very good to these kids, not only giving them money but also things sometimes. They were already satisfied with what they got and naturally wanted to repay them. The only thing they could do was to catch fish...

  Two dogs calculated in their hearts that they would make it through the New Year, and the more money they could save, the more joyful they were.

  By evening, the six kids brought over eight fish and said with embarrassment: "......our fishing net broke later, we only caught a few, Tuniu, don't be disappointed..."

  He scratched his head and walked away.

  Shen Sisi let out a soft laugh, these little guys are indeed grateful and she knew what kind of broken net they used. The previous broken net could occasionally catch a few small fish to make do with, it had already taken up quite some time. It seemed that the eight fish they caught took even more time, the gift was light but the thought was heavy. Shen Sisi naturally accepted it, smiling as she carried the fish into the kitchen...

  Si saw that his mouth was twitching, and he thought that Er Gouzi's group of people were getting more and more sycophantic. However, they knew how to curry favor with this little girl. But when he thought about the delicious sour fish she made, he paused for a moment, and involuntarily started drooling.

  In the evening... should have sour fish to eat, right? Although diced pepper steamed fish is also delicious, but now that it's cold outside, eating hot pot sour fish is a great pleasure.

  In the evening, of course, we had steamed fish with chili peppers, because there were still pickled chili peppers at home, but no more pickled vegetables could be used. After all, it's not possible to always go borrow some.

  Shen Sisi was eating fish and thinking about how to cook the fish for tomorrow's banquet. If she were to steam it with chili peppers, she would actually be reluctant to use the chili peppers she had pickled herself, as they were not many and were meant for her own consumption. Moreover, these chili peppers had already been marinated to perfection, and she was unwilling to bring them out, lest the villagers gossip about it later.

  Forget it, I'll just buy some pickled vegetables back home. When the time comes, I'll make a pickled vegetable fish hot pot. Oh, and I need to buy a hot pot too...

  After calculating, Shen Sisi made a list for Da Bao to buy 50 kilograms of old sour vegetables, 10 hot pots and 50 fish the next day.

  In the county town, these things are very easy to buy. There are old households that specialize in pickling vegetables and selling them at the market every day. The price is not expensive because this thing is not considered a precious item, mainly it's just craftsmanship. Most families have some pickled ones too, and since there's only good or bad taste difference, the price can't go up high. There aren't many buyers either, so I think buying 50 kilograms would be very easy to get.

  Hot pot is a must, the blacksmith's helper does this every day, Da Bao went and it was just a matter of one sentence, even with some cost money can be bought back, fish is not necessary to mention.

  There are over 200 households in the village, and at noon and evening, setting up more than 50 tables is enough. A fish paired with a catty of old sour vegetables makes one table, and adding a large bowl of braised pork also counts as very formal. The other dishes are common and don't count for much.

  In the countryside, children do not sit at the same table as adults. Instead, they follow the women to another table for a meal. One table can accommodate twenty or thirty people, and what she has prepared is more than enough; it's possible that they won't even finish eating it all.

  Shen thought for a moment and smiled, if she couldn't finish it, she would let her close friends take some dishes back, and the rest would be left at home to eat slowly.

  The leftover dishes from the banquet were sent over here, and the family that received them was also delighted, feeling that they had been shown respect.

  Shen Sisi thought for a moment, then suddenly remembered and took out the dishes that were supposed to be eaten at the banquet.

  He Qiu also went around borrowing bowls and chopsticks, Zhong Gensheng had gone to borrow tables, chairs, and stools early on, just in case there wouldn't be enough time tomorrow... Fortunately, in the countryside, borrowing these things is just a matter of saying one sentence, and within an hour or so, Zhong Gensheng had already carried back quite a few tables, chairs, and stools.

  When Dah Bao came back at noon, the entire donkey cart was full. In two large baskets, one contained 50 kilograms of old sour vegetables, and the smell wafted throughout the village, attracting many people to come and take a look. They secretly thought that the Zhong family wouldn't use this stuff to entertain guests tomorrow, would they?!

  Although they were secretly ridiculing him, they didn't say anything. They only laughed when they saw that the fish weighed three catties. At least tomorrow they can eat their fill and make up for it...

  As for hot pot, no one recognized it either, so I didn't notice what it was anymore.

  Dabao put down his things and said: "Tuni, all the things have been bought, almost all the money has been spent, this is the account book..."

  Shen Sisi took it over and flipped through it, smiling: "You keep the money, don't give it to me. Use this money to buy some wine from the village head and bring it back... tomorrow we'll have a banquet..."

  Cheng... thought for a moment, then hurriedly drove the donkey cart to the village head, picked up some cheaper wine, bought 50 jars back, even if one table used one large jar, these 50 jars would be enough.

  She thought with her eyes narrowed, calculating how much red envelope money she could receive tomorrow, and didn't know if she could even break even. Forget it, it's rare to be happy at home, even if she can't break even, it doesn't matter.

  Shen Sisi was thinking about how to cook the bottom material for tomorrow's sour fish hot pot after lunch, when Da Bao put down his wine and walked over, saying: "...Today, the boss of Fuman Building found me, but I was busy today, so I told him to talk next time. He looked like he was in a hurry, Tuniu, you also told me to ignore him, so I ignored him."

  Shen Sisi smiled and narrowed her eyes, saying: "Well done, this is called 'the emperor is not in a hurry, the eunuch will die of anxiety', when he can't bear it anymore and comes to us, we'll be able to negotiate the price..."

  Dabao nodded heavily, he wasn't a fool either, now he understood a lot. "He asked for our home address and said which day to come visit..."

  "That's great......" Shen Sisi chuckled and said, "Let's eat first, we still have two pigs to slaughter today......"

  Dabao responded with a sound, and then sat down to eat with relish.

  In the afternoon, Wang butchered two pigs and was busy until dusk before leaving. As he left, Shen Sisi happened to give him some stir-fried hot pot base that she had just cooked, and also told him how to eat it. Wang butcher walked away with a joyful expression, and now he finds that as long as it's something made by Tuniang, there's basically nothing that doesn't taste good.

  One pig is to be braised and sold tomorrow morning, the other half-braised and left for tomorrow's red stew. The Zhong family had two plates of meat on the table, which was already quite generous, one plate of braised meat and one plate of red stewed meat, naturally there was nothing to complain about.

  So, everyone was busy today. Dabao and Sibao were marinating meat in the kitchen all afternoon. Zhong Gensheng and He Axiu were picking vegetables in the yard. They picked some today and will wash them clean tomorrow to stir-fry quickly. Shen Sisi was cleaning the pig's internal organs, planning to set them aside for later and eat them slowly.

  Niu Xiaohua, still aching all over, was told by He Ashu to just rest and not allowed to do any chores. Niu Xiaohua was extremely grateful and continued to work on her embroidery in the house.

  The next day, Da Bao took Er Gouzi out very early, thinking that if they could sell everything quickly, they would be able to return home early and help with household chores.

  Si Bao stayed at home, mainly taking care of the yard and following Zhong Gensheng to greet guests. He Axiu was helping Shen Sisi in the kitchen, Niu Xiaohua hid in her room continuing with her embroidery, she actually didn't have the energy to come out today, and was even more afraid that Tian Guihua would come again, so she didn't dare to come out, although she felt guilty for not being able to help, but indeed didn't want to cause trouble on such a happy occasion for the Zhong family.

  The four mouths of the kitchen stove were all put to use, one pot for steaming dishes, one pot for stir-frying dishes, one pot for stir-frying ingredients and adding soup, and another pot was used for simmering bone broth.

  This stove was specially made for Shen Sisi, because she is now small in stature. When it was being built, the craftsman also made a footstool. When she uses it, she moves the footstool over and stands on it. When she's not using it, He Axiu moves it to the corner. For Shen Sisi, this stove is very convenient.