Free Days in Siheyuan

Chapter 1348

Seeing the excitement at the Jia family, many families nearby were shocked: "I didn't expect that Jia Dongxu, who usually looks honest, would be such a person."

"There are many things you didn't expect. Let me tell you, he not only provoked this one, but several others." Li Shun said with a mysterious smile, attracting everyone's curious inquiries.

"Tell us quickly, who else is there?" The people around him pulled his arm and asked curiously.

Li Shun looked at the people around him staring at him without blinking, and his desire to show off was instantly satisfied.

"Let me tell you, that... and..." He lowered his voice and said a few names.

"I didn't expect that. He played very lavishly. He must have spent a lot of money, right?"

"That's not necessarily true. Let me tell you, half a month ago I saw him go into a supply and marketing cooperative with a woman in her 40s. They bought a lot of things, but the woman paid for them and he took the things away in the end." The description was so realistic. Then he continued, "After leaving the supply and marketing cooperative, they went into a private courtyard. When they came out, I saw that his wallet was bulging. The woman must have given him a lot of money. The woman also gave him money with a red face." He said this with envy on his face. I don't know if he envied the person or the money.

"Wow, Jia Dongxu doesn't look that good, but he actually has this ability. Could it be..." He said with a smirk on his face.

Another neighbor turned the conversation to Qin Huairu: "But the Jia family's daughter-in-law is also unlucky. I wonder if there will be a fuss?" After saying this, he seemed to feel that it was not good to gloat over other people's misfortune, so he shut up again.

"I don't think it will get out of hand. After all, they have a child and Qin Huairu doesn't have a job. If it gets out of hand and they get divorced, she'll have to go back to the countryside!"

"That's true, but I didn't realize that the Jia family is quite wealthy. They always cried poor before, but now I realize they have so much money. They took out 300 at once without even blinking. Don't even mention taking out 300 at once. I won't be able to make ends meet next month if I take out 30." Li Shun said with envy but not jealousy.

"Who says it's not true? When his husband got into an accident, the factory probably paid a lot of compensation, but they kept it a secret, and not a single word got out."

"He lent me two dollars last month and didn't say he would pay it back." Li Shun suddenly remembered.

After hearing what he said, many people opened their mouths. One said, "Lend me 8 cents." Another said, "Lend me 5 cents." Another said, "Lend me kilograms of cornmeal and two cabbages."

As he spoke, he became angry. It was not easy for any family in this era. The Jia family was obviously rich but they pretended to be poor and took advantage of others. Every time they borrowed a little, people felt embarrassed to ask them for the money back.

After hearing this, Zhang Yu exclaimed that the Jia family was really great. It turned out that the tradition of pretending to be poor to take advantage of others started from this time. No wonder Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi took advantage of others everywhere in the TV series "Courtyard Man".

After listening to what they were interested in, Zhang Yu quietly slipped out of the crowd in small steps when they started to complain.

Today is August 15th, the Mid-Autumn Festival. He just wants to watch the fun, but he has no intention of getting involved.

He feels a little uncomfortable with the mooncakes available on the market now, so a few days ago, he made a clay oven like the video blogger he watched before, and prepared to use it to bake some mooncakes and pastries.

He has prepared a lot of materials. I guess my aunt would feel painful when she sees all these materials.

In order to make mooncakes that suit his taste, he fried the stuffing two days in advance.
The Yonghe dates obtained by signing in have small cores, thin skins, thick flesh, are naturally insect-free, harmless and pollution-free, and were listed as tribute in the Tang Dynasty.

Rinse the red dates, soak them for four hours in advance, and then boil them in a pot with water for half an hour. After half an hour, turn off the heat and soak four more dates. This way, the soaked red dates will be easier to peel and remove the core.

Then use one end of a rolling pin to mash the red dates flesh, then put it into a frying pan and stir-fry over low heat.

Fry until the jujube paste has no excess moisture, becomes sticky, and has a rosy and shiny color, then you can put it into a bowl after it cools.

The jujube paste is very delicious. He made a lot of steamed buns in the past two days and ate it with jujube paste. It tasted amazing.

It was a full small jar, and he ate nearly half of it in two days. It would probably be gone before the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Zhang Yu rolled the prepared stuffing into a ball, covered it with the divided stuffing, and set it aside for later use.

Mix the snow-white lard into the flour. There is still a lot of lard left from cooking some time ago. Then add some white sugar.

Knead the dough with boiling water, cover it with a white cloth and let it rest for a while. While it is resting, make the oil skin.

In a clean bowl, pour the flour, add more lard and knead into dough.

Divide the water surface and oil surface into several equal-sized dough pieces, then roll the oil surface into a ball, flatten the water surface, wrap the oil surface like a dumpling, with the seam facing downwards, and then roll it into a ball.

Roll out the dough into a long strip for the first time, then roll it up from one end, repeat several times. Flatten it and roll it into a skin, wrap a spoonful of jujube paste filling, wrap it like a bun, roll it a few more times on the chopping board, and it's done.

The next step is to put it into the earthen oven for baking. First, light a charcoal fire in the oven. After it is hot, move the charcoal out and leave only a little on the edge. Wipe the bottom clean and put the prepared mooncakes in.

An hour later, the delicious and crispy mooncakes with date paste filling were ready. These were the old-fashioned crispy mooncakes that he liked to eat.

After it was baked and cooled a little, Zhang Yu took one out and put it in his mouth. He felt it in his mouth and he didn't need to use his teeth at all. He just used his tongue to touch it and it melted completely.

The tempting smell of baked mooncakes filled the entire yard, attracting all the children around.

Seeing the children's greedy look, Zhang Yu took out a pot of cake and gave one to each of them. Zhang Guifang, who was standing next to him, took a look and wanted to say something, but swallowed it again and went back to her room. She was not happy or annoyed, and she did not feel sad at all because she could not see it.

The neighbors were very happy that Zhang Yu gave mooncakes to the children, and they sent gifts one after another. One brought pastries from his factory, another brought two apples, one brought vegetables, and another brought cakes from his home bakery... basically no one went empty-handed.

Zhang Yu took six mooncakes and went to Grandpa Sun's house. "Grandpa Sun, are you home? I brought you mooncakes."

"Home, home, Xiaoyu, come in quickly, what mooncakes are you sending? Just eat them yourself." Grandpa Sun waved his hand and asked him to take them back. "I just baked them. Try them. They are not hard, but crispy. You will definitely be able to chew them." Zhang Yu said as he handed the plate to Grandpa Sun.

Grandpa Sun took one to taste, and while eating, he caught the pastry with his hands. After swallowing a mouthful, he said, "Not bad, not bad. The pastry you made is authentic, and the dates you used in the filling are not bad either. You have 60% of the skills of the old master."

Old Mrs. Sun praised him, saying that before liberation, Old Mr. Sun was born into a wealthy family, and had been living a life of luxury since childhood, having eaten all kinds of delicious food. To receive such an evaluation proves that his cooking skills are indeed good.

After hearing Grandpa Sun's exaggeration, Zhang Yu smiled a little embarrassedly. In fact, he knew that the reason why the mooncakes were so delicious was mainly due to the rise of various short videos in later generations, which played a great role in the dissemination of knowledge.

In addition, the rewards obtained by signing in to the system are of the highest quality.

Since yesterday, my aunt has reminded Zhang Yu several times that today is Mid-Autumn Festival and the windows should be pasted at noon.

This is an old custom in Beijing. As the weather gradually gets cooler after the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is said that if you paste the windows with paper at noon on the Mid-Autumn Festival, the sunlight can be kept inside the house, keeping the winter warm.

Although his uncle-in-law had someone buy him glass, and the windows were now all covered with glass, Zhang Yu still found some window paper to symbolically cover them when the mooncakes were just baked and the sun was at its highest point, just to follow the custom.

There are a lot of people in the yard today. The reason is naturally that there have been three consecutive days of holiday since the day before yesterday. From the 13th to the 15th, students have no classes and many factories are also closed.

When the neighbors in the yard saw him pasting paper on the windows, they all looked at the sky and found some window paper to paste it again.

Even though the supply was tight this year, before the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1958, all the food markets in Beijing became bustling.

Supply and marketing cooperatives, food stores, and butcher shops throughout the city have prepared a rich variety of festive foods for customers to purchase and use to celebrate the holidays.

In order to let people have a good Mid-Autumn Festival, the supplies are particularly sufficient during these days, so many people plan to take this opportunity to buy more things for their homes.

Look, after the aunt finished pasting the windows for herself, she went out with a basket, looking around to see if she could buy something that she couldn't buy normally.

Time passed quickly. The sun set without us noticing and the night of August 15th arrived.

On the night of August 15th, the moon was full in the sky, and tranquility spread across the earth along with the silver mist-like light.

Today the moon is particularly bright and clear, casting a silver glow as pure as water. It hovers in the night with a few little stars, adding a touch of color to people's reunion season.

However, many people have no time to appreciate the moon, because their families have prepared many dishes that they are reluctant to eat at other times for the festival. The children have been circling around the stove, hoping that the adults who cook will take out some food from time to time so that they can taste the saltiness.

In addition to various customs today, there are also rich delicacies. The aunt-in-law prepared the meal early and set the table. The whole family, including Zhang Yu, drooled over the osmanthus duck.

My aunt bought the osmanthus duck from a master chef. The duck is at its best around the Mid-Autumn Festival every year, with tender and fat meat. Osmanthus flowers just come down at this time of year, so the master chef will make a batch of osmanthus duck every year at this time. This year, Zhang Guifang finally managed to grab one.

I have to say that the chef’s cooking skills are really good. The osmanthus duck is absolutely amazing, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and the meat is fat but not greasy.

He also killed a chicken and cooked taro chicken, fried lotus root cakes, stir-fried the snails he had brought back a few days ago, stewed the fish he had caught and kept in the Taiping tank, and also…

Looking at the pile of delicacies on the table, Zhao Wenzhuo couldn't help but take out the osmanthus wine he had brewed last year from under the cupboard and said to the family: "Try the osmanthus wine I brewed last year. It has been brewed for a year, and the taste of osmanthus is completely integrated into the wine. The taste is dense and not irritating at all."

I opened the osmanthus wine, poured it into the cup, and found that it was just as described.

Osmanthus wine is a light amber color with the delicate fragrance of osmanthus. Zhang Guifang couldn't help but take a sip. It has a mellow and soft taste with a long aftertaste. She reluctantly praised: "Not bad, worthy of my delicious meal today."

"Of course, I don't care who made it." Zhao Wenzhuo was very proud, but he also knew that he had to stop while he was ahead. If he really offended Zhang Guifang, he would suffer in the future. Then he turned around and picked up some food and put it into Zhang Guifang's bowl while calling the children. "Eat quickly! The dishes your mother cooked today are all very delicious."

Hearing this, the children in the audience laughed secretly, applauding Zhao Wenzhuo for being so "tactful".

"What are you laughing at? Eat quickly. There are so many delicious foods, but you still can't stop talking." Zhao Wenzhuo was a little annoyed and embarrassed.

Seeing that he was really anxious, the children below hurriedly put their heads on the food and pretended that they saw nothing.

But today's meal was indeed delicious, and Zhang Yu was very satisfied. The sweet-scented osmanthus duck was naturally crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and the taro roasted chicken, the taro was soft and absorbed the fragrance of the chicken, and it was so delicious when you took a bite. The lotus root cake was golden on both sides, and it was very crispy when you took a bite. He ate two in a row before moving on to the next dish.

After eating about 70% to 80% full, I set my eyes on the stir-fried snails. I took a deep suck, and the plump snail meat with the rich aroma of the sauce entered my mouth. I couldn't help but eat one after another.

After dinner, we started preparing things for worshiping the moon. In addition to moon cakes, we also prepared pomegranates and grapefruits.

Mid-Autumn Festival is the time when pomegranates are ripe. There are six huge pomegranate trees planted in the courtyard. They have produced a lot of pomegranates this year, so each family has received several. The pomegranates are of a particularly good variety, not only are they big and round, but the pomegranate seeds inside are red, like agate, and taste sour and sweet.

The table was moved into the yard and offerings were placed. Because of the custom that "men do not worship the moon and women do not worship the kitchen god", only the women in the family worshiped the moon. After worshiping the moon, they chatted with the neighbors in the yard for a while, and then began to eat moon cakes and appreciate the moon.

The yard is especially lively during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The older children bring the younger children, as long as they can run, to play and fight in the yard. The adults in the family are particularly indulgent to the children during this time of reunion and will not get angry with them over trivial matters as they usually do.

People living in courtyard houses have many fire jars in their yards, which were used to prevent fires. During the day, the elders in the yard would ask the young people to clean the jars, dry them in the sun, and then fill them with water to watch the reflection of the moon in the jars.

A few naughty children took advantage of the adults' inattention and threw a few stones into the Taiping jar, disrupting the shadow of the moon in the jar. In response, the adults just waved their hands and said, "Go away, go play somewhere else, don't make trouble here."

The children laughed and ran around, from the backyard to the front yard, and then from the front into the alley, chasing the moon in the alley and shouting. The adults next to them did not ignore the children's noise as they did in the past. They called the children's behavior "chasing the moon."

The children were playing and the adults were watching, and the atmosphere was harmonious.