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The weather was getting colder day by day. After a year, the sugarcane finally flew almost as tall as an adult man. When harvest season came, Lin Lixuan had to ask people from the village to help him harvest the sugarcane.
Families with able-bodied members would get a job with Lin Lixuan if they were free. They would cut trees, build houses, and now, they could also harvest sugarcane. Doing these odd jobs in the village could earn them a lot of income. Many people were very grateful for the opportunity given by the Lin family.
Bundles of sugarcane piled on the group, like a towering mountain of wood. Harvesting sugarcane was a headache. Fortunately, Lin Lixuan previously asked someone to make a machine to press the sugarcane before. It had cost a lot of money. Compared to the original grindstone at home, this juicer was almost as tall as an adult.
The entire machine was made of stone and wooden boards. The juicer was very large. Lin Lixuan didn’t understand the principle. Fortunately, people of this era had already invented this kind of machine. If you put sugarcane into it, you can squeeze out liquid.
Using this machine wasn’t as easy as pushing the grinding disc. A bull at the prime of its life could pull it. Lin Lixuan separately invited two workers to make sugar. They were both young and honest people from the village.
80% of the sugarcane was used to extract sugar, while the remaining 20% were sold in the store. Sugarcane that had been grown for a year was really sweet. Each section was heavy and sweet.
Sugarcane with high sugar content was very popular. The juice was very sweet, and there were countless people who came to their house to buy sugarcane. Fortunately, Lin Lixuan grew a lot and could afford to consume some.
The people in their family had toothache and tongue ache from eating sugarcane. The two who were hired to make sugar had it even better. They could pick up the leftover sugarcane and take it back to eat.
The extracted sugar was packed in jars. The jars of sugar were piled up in a corner. These days, Lin Lixuan felt like his body smelled like sugar water.
Walking past a beehive, he was terrified. If these bees thought he was sweet flower juice, then that would be a miserable experience.
Ger Yan drooled every night. He also smelled the sweetness on his body. But he couldn’t nibble on it like sugarcane.
Lin Lixuan contacted those big sugar clients in the county town, such as pastry shops and restaurants, and signed several orders. He finally sold the sugar he made at home.
The sugar business ran high until the end of the year. This was the second new year that Lin Lixuan welcomed here. On the 27th, he told the workers, “You don’t have to come for the time being. Go home and prepare for the new year with peace of mind.”
The two tanned workers smiled like a bright flower. One of them was called Li Gen, and the other was Zhang Sui. The two of them had common characteristics. They were both dark. Just how dark? If you threw mud on their faces, you wouldn’t be able to tell if the mud was darker or their faces.
Looking at the white sugar, the two of them couldn’t help but point at each other and smile. No one would have thought that this white sugar would be made by these two dark men, haha.
They also deliberately joked with Lin Lixuan, “Did you purposefully ask us two tanned men to come over to make sure?”
“That’s right. I also told the villagers they were able to be hired because we were both tan…”
Lin Lixuan really admired their imagination. “What nonsense? I hired you because you two work hard. Besides, why do I need to find tanned people to make sugar?”
“My mother said opposites attract. So the darker the person who made sugar, the whiter the sugar came out. The sugar we buy at the market was all yellow, so how come ours is so white?”
Lin Lixuan: “…”
That was because of his machine and good filtration.
“Yes, yes. That’s what my dad thought too.”
Lin Lixuan settled their wages. Since the new year was coming, they attached an extra New Year’s gift as a year-end benefit. Who knew that when he was about to give these benefits, he was rejected.
“We don’t want money. Can we take a bag of sugar home?”
“Yes, we haven’t even tried the sugar we made yet.”
Lin Lixuan laughed. “Go ahead!”
After sending the two workers off, Lin Lixuan returned to the Lin resident’s courtyard carrying a jar of sugar. He met Village chief Zhao, who hadn’t left yet. Village chief Zhao had come to bring them money. Today was the day Jade Creek Village slaughtered the pigs, and the pigs this year were purchased from their family.
Looking at how well their Ger Yan had grown this year, one could see that the pigs they raised were fat and strong. The pigs were very well fed. According to Village chief Zhao, quite a few villagers wanted the pigs the Lin family raised.
They had watched them be raised, so the meat was absolutely delicious.
The Lin family didn’t rely on the pigs to make money. They couldn’t eat so much meat by themselves, so Zhao Liniang waved her hand and sold some to Zhao’s Village at a price that was slightly lower than market price.
After a while, the pork would be carried back to their family. Ger Yan took Ger Yu to see the pig slaughter this year. Lin Lixuan had watched last year, but this year, he secretly didn’t go under the pretext of having to settle accounts for the workers. He didn’t want to see the scene. On the way to find the workers, he heard two long screens from the pigs.
The screams were earth-shattering. Everyone in Jade Creek Village could hear it.
Although the 12th lunar year was cold, it was a rare sunny day today. The winter sunshine was always faint. It was just enough to cast a shadow on people. It was also a bit dim and didn’t last long.
Lin Lixuan was wearing the red clothes Ger Yan had made for him today. He covered it with a black robe. The outside was black and the inside was red. Only at the collars did the beautiful red peak through. The combination of red and black made him look very handsome. Just now, the village chief saw him and kept praising him.
Ger Yan and Ger Yu returned with a donkey cart, which was carrying more than 200 catties of pork. They had invited the village butcher to help them cut the meat into pieces and placed them into three huge wooden basins.
Lin Lixuan heard the sound of Ger Yu’s clapping from outside in the courtyard. “Ge, can we finish all this meat?”
“There’s so much meat. It’s as tall as a hill.”
“Look at his fatty meat. It’s like the glutinous rice at home.”
Lin Lixuan went outside to greet them. He suddenly saw there were three rabbits on the cart. Two were alive, and one was dead. The two living ones had their hands and feet tied and were thrown on the donkey cart. He couldn’t help but ask, “Where did this come from?”
“…My sister-in-law gave it…” Ger Yu replied. Ger Yu looked so excited today. He was really happy. Just as he was watching the pig slaughter, he saw his brother and sister-in-law. They had come to purchase 20 catties of pork.
20 catties of pork. Ger Yu’s face turned red with excitement.
In the past, more than a dozen members of the Ji family wouldn’t even buy this much meat.
After the Ji family broke up, the days of his mother, father, brother, and sister-in-law were getting better. Ger Yu was happy for them. Ger Yu originally still had a bit of resentment for his father, but it had passed. People had to look forward, and now, everyone who cared for Ger Yu was doing well. He was happy.
“There’s even two live rabbits. Ger Yu, do you want to raise them?”
Ger Yu shook his head. His big and adorable eyes were wide. “I want to eat more meat…I heard my brother say that taro and rabbit meat is delicious when stir-fried together. It’s a kind of jade rabbi1t.
Lin Lixuan and Ger Yan laughed. Ger Yu was really a sincere person.
The two pork ribs covered the top of the pork. It was red and white. Lin Lixuan saw the pork ribs and remembered the scene last year when he and Ger Yan secretly made sweet and sour pork ribs. He smiled, “Ger Yan, do you want to eat sweet and sour pork this year? We have a lot of sugar at home this year.”
Ger Yan thought about the caramelized pork ribs made by Lin-dage and shook his head in fright.
Ger Yu asked curiously, “What’s sweet and sour pork ribs?”
“We boil sugar and vinegar together to turn into syrup. The syrup wraps around the ribs and tastes delicious!”
“Ge, Ge. Ge, do you want to eat it? Brother-in-law, can you make it?”
“Have your Ge make it. The ones I make can only be called caramelized ribs.”
“…”
“Caramelized should also be good…”
There was more pork meat this year. Not only did they make bacon, they also made sausages. Lin Lixuan was responsible for chopping the stuffing with two knives. He squatted on the ground, held the two knives, and waved them vigorously. The rhythmic sound of the knife chopping came and went. Ger Yu poured meat into the casing beside him. The case was slippery, and his hand was unstable. He hurriedly grabbed it again when he fell. His hands were full of sticky meat filling. Ger Yan was making dumplings. He pressed a rolling pin onto the dough, used his chopstick to pill it with meat, and pinched it skillfully. It became a good looking ingot.
The old hen soup Zhao Liniang stewed exuded a strong aroma. The red sparks that occasionally burst out of the stove flashed. The snow-white fat meat sizzled in the pot. The white meat shrank quickly, and the yellow and crisp oil dregs appeared. Zhao Liniang poured the lard into the oil jar, but she wasn’t willing to throw away the oil dregs.
The remaining oil in the pot was so hot that Zhao Liniang threw in cut taro slices into the pot and fried them with the bursting aroma. The purple-white taro was wrapped in a string of bubbles and was fried until the aroma overflowed. The taro slices were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It was then fished out and put to the side.
The lumpy pork belly was boiled in the pot and cooked until about 70-80% of the way done. She then took out the pork belly, filtered out the water, and fried it in the pan. She fried it until it was thick and crispy and soft. A piece of taro and a piece of pork belly was densely arranged on a patterned porcelain plate. Sauce that had already been prepared was then poured on top of it, then the porcelain plate was put in the steamer to be steamed for half a morning. Steamed taro and pork was then ready.
Compared to last year, the dishes prepared for this new year were more sumptuous. Their home windows drifted full of the fragrance of fried taro and the stewed chicken soup.
Old Lady Ge and Old Man Ge from next door, didn’t have to smell the fragrance in vain this year until they were so hungry they were drooling. Old Lady Ge and Zhao Liniang had worked together to raise the chickens. Although several of them froze to death in the winter, this year, she could earn a lot. A full dozen taels of silver. Her son, Ge Ergen, and another guy from the village helped Lin Lixuan manage the orchard. Watermelon and sugarcane sold well, and their yearly salary wasn’t inferior to hers.
The Ge Family had prepared a lot of food and dishes this year. Chicken and pork would leave a mouthful of oil for the family. In addition, what made the old couple even happier was that their Ergen had become popular in the village. They no longer had to worry about their son’s marriage.
This was all thanks to the Lin family. Riding their coattails, they managed to have a good life.
Old Lady Ge happily rolled up her sleeves and said, “This is the chicken I raised. Look how thick the chicken soup is.”
The honest Ge Ergen held the sugarcane in his left hand. He munched on it, and the juices flowed on the tip of his tongue as he chewed. He responded to Old Lady Ge’s words. “Yes, mother. This chicken feet is very good.”
The mother and son were both excited and enthusiastic, but Old Man Ge looked very angry. He sat beside them smoking a pipe and didn’t speak.
Despite being the head of the family, his wife and son earned more than him. Say, how could this be? It made him so angry he was red in the face. He couldn’t intervene as the mother and son spoke.
Should he also make a change next year?
- Jade is homophones with taro. Jade rabbit is a cultural symbol in East Asia that represents immortality, sacrifice, and good luck ↩︎
