The fat official quickly gave permission. He Zifeng also said some nice words, which pleased the fat official. Mining was dangerous, with death quotas every month, so getting someone out wasn’t difficult. Although the fat official didn’t know He Zifeng’s identity, seeing how much Chief Zhu valued him, he was interested in building a good relationship.
He Zifeng took Sanshun away. Sanshun said he wanted to say goodbye to people from his village. When he came out, his eyes were red-rimmed.
He Zifeng saw that his shoe soles were worn through and there was still a long way to go, so he simply found a horse cart and personally sent him to Lingshan Village.
On the road, He Zifeng asked him what he had said to those people. Sanshun said: “I told them to wait for me.” He couldn’t go out alone. He would earn more money and save people out. Having worked in the mines, he knew how dangerous it was inside and absolutely couldn’t disappoint everyone’s expectations.
He Zifeng sent him to the village entrance but didn’t go down. Then he had the cart turn around and take him back to Chishui Village. After arriving, he paid the cart fare and went home, smelling a fragrant aroma.
He Zifeng washed his hands and discovered Qiu Yu had set up a large iron pot in the courtyard. He Zifeng said: “What’s this?” Qiu Yu said: “Small crispy meat.”
These days, fatty meat was hard to buy, while lean meat was relatively less precious. He had bought ten jin of lean meat at the village entrance, cut it into finger-thick strips, coated them in batter, and fried them in the pot. He fried them twice to get the meat golden and crispy.
He Zifeng washed his hands and, not afraid of the heat, picked up a piece of crispy meat from the plate to taste. Qiu Yu then widened his eyes and said: “Is it good?” He was somewhat expectant.
He Zifeng took a bite – a solid mouthful of meat. The meat had probably been marinated beforehand and tasted very fragrant. These days, people who could eat meat by the mouthful were still a minority. Crispy meat was a snack adults liked.
After He Zifeng took one bite, he licked his fingers with lingering taste. If he were to eat it, half a jin wouldn’t be enough: “Delicious.”
Qiu Yu had already tasted it. Since earning a little money, using more oil and seasonings didn’t matter to anyone. But Qiu Yu still cared about He Zifeng’s evaluation. Seeing him also say it was delicious, he was a bit happy.
Then he remembered He Zifeng being called away by subordinates midway and said: “Everything alright?”
He Zifeng said: “Nothing much.” He didn’t want to tell Qiu Yu about the factional struggles in the government office, lest he worry.
He Zifeng saw the oil temperature was too high and, seeing there were still some in the plate, said: “Are you making all of these? Let me do it.” If oil splattered on the body, that would be a blood blister.
Qiu Yu smiled with curved eyes. Qiu Yu was used to working, and these tasks weren’t tiring for him at all. But thinking that He Zifeng was willing to help him still brought some joy.
He Zifeng helped him fry the crispy meat while Qiu Yu watched the heat. Soon they put the meat in the pot, and it was immediately surrounded by oil bubbles. Before long, the fragrant smell spread out. They had to use long chopsticks for frying fritters, carefully turning them. When they turned golden, they had to be scooped out, otherwise the outside would burn while the inside wasn’t cooked.
He Zifeng said: “Are you planning to sell this?” The pork suppliers cutting them off still had quite an impact on them.
Qiu Yu said: “Probably not.” His mood was somewhat low. When he bought these initially, he planned to try it out, but calculating the costs, they were too high. He couldn’t earn much money, and the most difficult thing was this pot of hot oil. Carrying it back and forth wasn’t safe either.
He Zifeng said: “Do we still have braising liquid at home?” He meant the old braising liquid they had from each braising session. Each time they added more ingredients and cooked it, others couldn’t replicate it. Moreover, old braising liquid became more fragrant with use. It was said that many old shops’ braising liquid was even older.
Qiu Yu said: “We do have that…” He still hadn’t recovered from that blow.
Seeing this, He Zifeng really detested those meat-selling butchers. Opening their mouths like lions, wanting to sell bones at meat prices. Those pork offal that used to beg them to buy were now more expensive than meat. They were really treating them like pigs to slaughter.
Since the butchers were so unethical, they shouldn’t expect to earn a penny from his pocket in the future.
He Zifeng said: “If we don’t have meat, let’s braise vegetarian dishes.” They lived by the mountains, and there were several types of mushrooms on the mountain, plus wild wood ear mushrooms. They could also go to the tofu workshop to buy that kind of old dried tofu. Potato slices. And dried string beans – after soaking and stir-frying, they were crispy to eat. These were all readily available things in the village.
Since they weren’t allowed to make meat dishes anymore, making some vegetarian ones was also fine.
When Qiu Yu heard He Zifeng say this, his eyes lit up: “Alright.” Then he took a bag of millet and some copper coins. In the countryside, it was still barter – giving money would actually embarrass most people.
Qiu Yu went to tell Fang Shi. Although Fang Shi returned to the village late, her recent basket-weaving business was booming. With Sister Liu and others bringing her along, she quickly became familiar with the village aunties. Everyone was also happy to support her, after all, He Zifeng had become successful, and who knew when they might need him.
When Fang Shi heard this, she said it was on her. Soon Fang Shi organized a basketful. Dried mushrooms and dried string beans needed soaking, and these two items also needed blanching. Old dried tofu also needed to soak in the braising liquid for meaty flavor first.
They cooked a large pot of braising liquid, put the vegetarian dishes in it, and soaked them with red oil made from chili peppers. It wasn’t spicy but very fragrant. After soaking overnight, it would taste even better.
Qiu Yu was now full of energy again. At night, lying in bed, his mind was still full of business ideas: “Tomorrow I want to buy some dried tofu.” It had a more tender texture than dried tofu: “Braising some eggs should also work.”
He had originally been constrained by meat dishes and pork offal. After He Zifeng’s suggestion, he realized that everything could be braised. He wanted to enrich the variety and felt motivated. He was selling his skills – even without meat dishes, he could still make money. This way he wouldn’t be choked by those meat sellers.
Qiu Yu had many money-making plans in his head and became more and more energetic. In the middle of the night, not sleeping, he even sat up. He Zifeng pulled hard, yanking him into a full embrace and holding him tightly in his arms.
He Zifeng couldn’t help but gently bite his neck with his teeth. When Qiu Yu’s sensitive spot was touched, his hair immediately stood on end. Only then did he come to his senses – he was already being held.
He heard He Zifeng say: “Little money-grubber, I originally wanted to use this opportunity to let you rest well.”
Qiu Yu said: “I can’t sit still, I like doing some work.”
He Zifeng said: “Since you can’t sit still, then let’s do something else.”
For a moment, Qiu Yu’s brain didn’t react and he asked He Zifeng what to do. He Zifeng responded with a kiss. The long night stretched ahead – if one couldn’t sleep, what else was there to do?
By the time Qiu Yu realized, it was already too late.
…
The next morning, Qiu Yu didn’t dare open his eyes to look at He Zifeng. He didn’t know how He Zifeng still had so much energy after being busy outside all day.
But He Zifeng acted as if nothing had happened, always circling around Qiu Yu. Either doing this or doing that, then secretly cuddling with Qiu Yu.
Qiu Yu wanted to hit He Zifeng, but with Fang Shi nearby, he was too embarrassed and could only glare at him. But since the two were in love, even this glance carried some affection.
Then they went out to set up their stall. Although He Zifeng had told the inn and escort agency yesterday about the bad news of not making braised dishes, ordinary scattered customers didn’t know and were still waiting to buy.
“Give me half a jin.” “I’ll take one jin.”
He Zifeng quickly called out: “Don’t rush to buy yet, we’re not selling braised pork offal anymore. We’ve switched to vegetarian dishes.” Then he opened the pot lid, and the fragrant aroma hit them. A large pot, all soaked in red oil braising liquid, looked very appetizing.
Altogether there were seven or eight kinds of vegetarian dishes, plus more than ten cooked eggs, peeled and put in to braise.
When old customers heard there were no meat dishes, they didn’t rush to leave and said: “How much do you charge for this?”
“Ten wen for half a jin, everything’s the same price regardless of what it is!” He Zifeng said.
The people nearby were all repeat customers for meat dishes and naturally didn’t care about this small amount of money. They said: “Give me half a jin.” Then: “Scoop some mushrooms, dried tofu, and wood ear mushrooms, eggs – a bit of everything.”
Qiu Yu scooped for them. After scooping, he first drained the braising liquid, weighed the net weight, then after weighing, poured two more spoonfuls of red oil braising liquid on top.
The person received the bowl and turned it upside down into a basin he had prepared. They did the same when buying pork offal. Not in a hurry to leave, the impatient one directly picked up a mushroom slice to eat.
The mushroom that had absorbed the soup was tender and smooth, with a bit of meaty flavor. At this much cheaper price, it wasn’t inferior to meat. Moreover, the broth had a slight spicy taste – spicy and crispy, making you want another bite after one.
The people nearby also started buying. The first buyer, seeing how popular it was, said: “Give me another jin. Yes, more mushrooms. A few more pieces of dried tofu too, a bit more is fine, I’ll pay.”
The inn’s waiter was also looking around. Seeing that Qiu Yu and the others had come today, he also ran over to join the excitement.
Those meat-selling butchers had raised prices yesterday and refused to sell to He Zifeng and the others, waiting for them to beg for mercy. But pork offal and big pig bones weren’t as popular as they imagined – after selling for a day, half was still left. These things couldn’t keep.
They tried cooking them themselves, but not knowing which seasonings were missing, they tasted very fishy. They really didn’t know why people would pay high prices for such things.
Today they even sent a spy to see how they were doing. After a while, the spy returned and said: “They’re selling again.”
One of the butchers said: “Impossible, we won’t sell to them, where would they buy from?” As soon as he said this, several people became suspicious of each other – was there a traitor who appeared to support raising prices but actually sold to them secretly?
The spy said: “No, they’re selling vegetarian dishes, ten wen for half a jin.”
When the butchers heard this, they relaxed: “Ha, I wondered what it was. What’s good about that? They’re just competing with us. Just wait – they won’t last three days. Ten wen for half a jin of vegetables, are they crazy?”
The spy didn’t have the heart to say that Qiu Yu and the others’ stall was surrounded, and from the looks of it, one pot wouldn’t be enough to sell.
