After being crossed, I have reached the pinnacle of my life

It was also with Lu Dalang that Jiang Zhou found out that after Yanghe Village was converted to farming, Lu Dalang had been worrying about the business of the villagers.

Without him, there are not many people who can eat chicken and eggs every day in this era, not to mention that people in the whole village are raising chickens, so there will inevitably be competition. With competition, the price of chickens is very difficult to coordinate. Who is higher and who is lower, in order to sell more, the villagers must lower the price to ensure that their chickens are cheaper than others and sell better. In the long run, the room for profit will be compressed infinitely small.

Lu Dalang originally wanted to develop some other ways to make money, but it happened that Jiang Zhou was selling egg cakes. He not only had a fixed channel for egg sales, but also could develop other businesses, killing two birds with one stone.

It was getting late, and Jiang Zhou looked at the time, and it was almost time for dinner. He was about to cook, so he asked Lu Dalang, "Try my cooking today? Elder Yu will come later, let's have a drink together." .”

Old Yutou is a bachelor, and he spent most of his life on the water. Before he cooperated with Jiang Zhou, he often lived on the boat. He ate with a pot of sake and boiled white fish soup. After starting to cooperate with Jiang Zhou , he started to come to Jiang Zhou's house to eat.

Before Lu Dalang came, he had tasted the chicken cake made by Jiang Zhou at Lao Yutou's, and he had some expectations for his cooking skills, so he immediately agreed.

Jiang Zhou went to the house to take stock of the remaining ingredients. Most of them were pork, ribs, pork belly, two pig ears, and other miscellaneous rice noodles.

Since we want to eat wine, we should naturally have appetizers. If we have pig ears, we might as well make pig ears in cold salad.

It happened that a villager exchanged peanuts for pork, so he fried a large plate and set aside some for later use.

The wild boar is fat, and the pig's ears are also very big. Jiang Zhou mixed salt and white vinegar to wash the pig's ears inside and out to remove the fishy smell, scalded them with boiling water, and then used dried grass fruit star anise and other spices Stew the pig ears on the fire.

In addition to a dish of cold pig ears, he also made a plate of cold fungus and cold mustard greens.

The fungus here is not called fungus, but most people call it tree chicken. They were picked by the villagers after the rain. The tree chickens were sent to Jiangzhou before they had time to dry.

The cleaned tree chicken has been carefully pinched off the old roots, and it is also boiled in hot water before being mixed with minced garlic, minced ginger, and sesame oil, and then splashed with hot oil and garnished with coriander.

The mustard greens were originally prepared for him to eat mustard green dumplings, but after looking through them, he found that this small bundle of mustard greens was not tender enough, and the dumplings made out might not be delicious, so he decided to serve it cold.

While Jiang Zhou was busy cutting pig ears, Old Yutou arrived. He wrapped today's earnings in a box and gave it to Jiang Zhou, then sat down to chat with Lu Dalang.

Jiang Zhou was cutting pig ears while listening to the two of them talking:

"Mr. Yu, does anyone know where the newly appointed Yuanwailang is from?"

Old Yutou has always watched all directions and listened to all directions, and the news is better than ordinary people: "I heard that he is from Qiangzhou, his surname is Liu, and he said he has made some meritorious deeds. People in Qiangzhou are always in chaos. , I don’t know what kind of merit this Liu Yuan made outside, but he was transferred to our Pingrao County.”

Lu Dalang shook his head: "Anyway, it has nothing to do with us. I am only worried that he will have new policies for the management of our villages after he takes office."

When Qiu Yuanwai was still there, he was extremely tolerant towards them villagers. As long as they did not violate the law, they would turn a blind eye and close their eyes. After they started farming in Yanghe Village, there were fewer and fewer rotten fields. Someone went to clean it up again. After Qiu Yuanwai reported to the court, their land tax was reduced or exempted, which can be regarded as reducing the burden for their reconstruction.

The two were gossiping, but Jiang Zhou inexplicably felt that this Liu Yuanwai from Qiangzhou might have something to do with him—the spice merchant who deceived the traveler at the beginning seemed to be named Liu as well.

However, scholars, farmers, businessmen, and officials doing business are taboos. Not only the officials themselves will be dismissed, but their descendants will all be merchants.

Therefore, the thought that Liu Yuanwai might have something to do with him passed Jiang Zhou's mind a little before it was discarded.

He made another stuffed pork dish. He took pork belly, cut it into squares, cut a hole in the middle with a sharp knife, stuffed a few salted egg yolks in the hole, and tied it tightly with a bamboo stick. After that, it is stewed with sauce water for a long time until the juice becomes thick and becomes a sauce.

The evening breeze is blowing, and the village looks more magnificent than usual after autumn. The three-point sunset glow is poured into half of the river, and the water is foggy, making the beautiful scenery hazy.

The three of Jiang Zhou exchanged cups in the setting sun.The pig's ears are crisp, the tree chicken is refreshing, and the stuffed meat has a strong taste, which can be regarded as a feast for the guests.

Jiang Zhou's alcohol capacity is not very good, his face flushed after drinking two cups, and he listened to the old Yutou telling the story of the journey on the Xihe River. He talked all the way from Banshan Village to the most downstream Xiaonong Village. , and went around to the half-drunk Jiang Zhou: "Speaking of which, I haven't seen you go to Banshan Village for a long time, but I often see Wen Yan coming to Xiaohe Village by boat."

Jiang Zhou's mind was not clear enough, he just said "hmm".

Old Yu took a pig's ear with chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth, squinting his eyes and chewing on the taste: "I also asked out of curiosity. He only said that he had something to look for, but he never stayed overnight. He often turned around shortly after landing. Come back and take a boat back to Banshan Village."

Jiang Zhou was agitated, and most of the wine suddenly woke up: In this Xiaohe village, besides him, is there anyone else Wen Yan can find?It's just that in his past memory, he never had the memory of Wen Yan's visit. If he and Lao Yu hadn't gotten closer in recent days, I'm afraid he wouldn't have known that Wen Yan had been quietly in this year. How many times have you come back?

Wen Yan sneaked back to observe again and again, only to find that the person in this body was not himself. How sad and panic should he be?

Jiang Zhou's mind suddenly reflected the slight and alienated melancholy in Wen Yan's eyes when he brought chicken cakes to find Wen Yan, and he seemed to have given up struggling and futile exploration.

What confirmed his thoughts was Old Yu's sigh: "A year ago, Wen Yan came here more diligently. At that time, it was not obvious that he was pregnant. Later, when the pregnancy was obvious, he seldom took the boat. The last time I came Xiaohe Village seems to have been more than a month ago. Fortunately, now you have come to your senses and finally know how to coax your daughter-in-law. At that time, he came to the boat trembling with a big belly, and nothing could stop him. He scared the old man. I was half dead, afraid that something might happen."

Later, what Old Yu said about Jiang Zhou could no longer be heard, his eyes were full of distress and regret, and he just wanted to reach out and hug Wen Yan, so that he would know that he was back and he didn't have to be afraid anymore.

But now is not the time, he can't yet.

He suddenly understood the story Wen Yan told him about the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl facing each other across the river.

The author has something to say: sweet text

When writing this chapter, I am talking to my partner in a long-distance relationship

I murmured for a long time and said I wanted to hug him

Scared the man of steel and thought I was sick hhh