Chapter 40. Sesame Stewed Chicken
From his serious attitude, Lin Qing He saw he really had no objection.
"There's no rush in making the chicken shed. When you're ready, come over and kill the chicken. It's really delicious to stew chicken until the evening." Lin Qing He said.
Zhou Qing Bai nodded: "Leave it to me."
After finishing the work in his hand, he came to the front yard to kill the chicken. It was perfect to pass this work to him.Lin Qing He boiled the water for him to remove the feathers. She lit the stove. A casserole pot was the best for stewing chicken. Starting now and stew until around 7pm in the evening, it'll be so soft and tender.
There weren't any special ingredients for the stewed chicken, just a handful of sesame seeds. No red dates were thrown in.
The sesame stewed chicken was very flavorful and nourishing. Perfect for Zhou Qing Bai's current state.
"Have some apple." Lin Qing He scooped hot water for him to wash his hands, and then grabbed an apple for him.
Zhou Qing Bai stared at her.
"What are you looking at?" Lin Qing He asked.
"Nothing." Zhou Qing Bai took the apple and cut out half for her to eat.Although Lin Qing He gave him an eye-roll, she was satisfied in her heart. This man was selfless. She accepted it as she spoke, "This is for you, the patient. I will only eat this time for you."
"No need to be like," Zhou Qing Bai said.
Lin Qing He knew what he meant and was too lazy to bother with him. It was no wonder that this tough-acting man would be maltreated by the original owner into going to the woods during the cold weather and carry with firewood. He didn't know how to be lazy when he was injured.
She turned around and returned to the room, so she didn't catch Zhou Qing Bai's soften gaze falling on her.
Da Wa, Er Wa, and San Wa were all up in the room, but the brothers were lolling on the kang, unwilling to get down as it was very warm.
"Mother!" Seeing Lin Qing He walked in munching on an apple, all three's eyes lit up.
"Once you get down and wears clothes, I'll give you each an apple." Lin Qing He declared.
"This apple isn't as big as before. Nor as sweet as before." Da Wa pointed out as he dressed.
"That's right." Er Wa bobbed his head.
"So what? The previous ones were bought in the county city, and these were bought from the community's supply and demand cooperative." Lin Qinghe bit into the apple and directed San Wa to dress by himself and replied.
There were apples as big as her space's one sold in the county city, but the quantity was too small to buy. As long as there was a source and she had been to the city, she didn't have to worry.
The apples at home were not big, as they were locally produced. The taste was also not as good as the ones she took out of her space.
Da Wa and Er Wa finished dressing. Each went to get an apple to eat. San Wa imperfectly wore his clothes but still, Lin Qing He didn't fix it for him. After more practice, he'll be able to. It'll be fine as long as he was bundled up.
San Wa's apple was turned into apple puree by Lin Qing He. The little guy had a great appetite and was able to eat it all.
Probably because of eating solidly and being in good health, his fever quickly receded the other day.
Da Wa and Er Wa knew that their father was in the backyard, and they all ran over there.
They helped with fetching things. the brothers were happily busied away.
Lin Qing He also passed San Wa to them. Seeing the time, she prepared for dinner.
Because there was also chicken for tonight, Lin Qing He made it relatively simple. She made dumplings with half a jin of pork belly. Tonight, just dumplings were enough. Simple and delicious.
After simmering on the coal stove for an hour, the aromatic smell of chicken broth came out.
The three brothers smelled it and went to stand watch in front of the coal stove. Lin Qing He didn't pay any mind to them either.
Got to say, she hadn't made any chicken dishes for them to eat ever since she arrived here. Only one yuan for a chicken. Any farmer family wasn't willing to sell it, because it was necessary to keep eggs, which was one of the few protein ingredients the farmer family had.
Lin Qing He did not chance upon any when she went to the county city.
So she hadn't stewed chicken them until now. It was normal to be greedy now.
Zhou Qing Bai worked agilely. In a day, the chicken shed at home looked very proper. Their family can raise three chickens.
It was also said that if there are no more than ten people in the family, such as nine people, then five chickens can be raised. But if it was eleven people, still only five chickens can be raised. (T/N: basically: Under ten p, evenly divide = amount of chicken e.g. 2p=1c, 4p=2c. non-even divide, half and round up remainder e.g. 3p=2c 5p=3c. Over ten, the non-even divide is reversed. 11p=5c 13p=6c)
So ten was the dividing line for rounding down.
"Do you want to raise pigs at home?" Lin Qing He looked at the still empty yard and asked.
"Can we?" Zhou Qing Bai looked at her with some surprise.
He knew she loved the cleanliness and this was a virtue. He also liked that his home was clean. That's why she didn’t even raise chickens before.
This time she permitted him to build a chicken shed, had him shocked. He thought she was also willing to raise pigs.
"Yes. However, you are responsible for cleaning up." Lin Qing He said.
"Okay!" Zhou Qing Bai nodded.
Lin Qing He spoke no more.
This year the pig raised wasn't owned by them. They had to apply with the team. Although it was raised at their home, it was owned by the team. So not private property. There will be work points though, especially for well-raised pigs. The work points can be worth half an adult.
This was a good way of generating income.
In particular, their feces. It can also be exchanged into work points. Of course, their vegetable garden in the backyard also needed it.
Zhou Qing Bai also had plans of raising pigs. He knew she loved cleanliness and did not intend to raise it at home in the beginning. He was going to set up a pig shed over at the production team to keep pigs. He won't raise too much, just two.
It was going to be inconvenient to take care of it. Now that she agreed to raise it at home, he was delighted.
"Now it can't be the same as before. Can't even eat well, so why care about the smell." Lin Qing He explained like this.
If his wife had such feelings in the past, he wouldn't necessarily keep it at heart. But for some reason, now his wife said it like this, he felt bad.
He felt that he did not let her live a good life.
"How about raising it the outside?" Zhou Qing Bai said.
Lin Qing He knew what he meant when she heard these words. With a 'are you a fool?' look, she stared at him: "With such a large backyard, you raise it outside? And also, can you be at ease when raising it the outside? If someone with bad intention, spiked their food, a whole year's effort will be wasted."
Then she continued: "I'm just saying it. You don't have to take it seriously. However, I won't clean up the pig's nest for you. You have to keep this in mind."
When she was a child, she did a lot of farm work with her grandma. Although she can do it, she was sick of it. It wasn't a matter of being dramatic. Whoever done it, knows.
"Okay." Zhou Qing Bai nodded.
They had dumplings soup for dinner. The whole family was content.
After eating, Zhou Qing Bai went out. Lin Qing He knew that he going to discuss raising piglets. No need to govern him.
They had dinner early, at four o'clock. So around six thirty, Lin Qing He brought out the chicken broth for the father and sons to drink.
The chicken soup stewed with sesame seeds was very fragrant. Lin Qing He decided a bit of soup was enough for her. However, Zhou Qing Bai stuffed a chicken leg over. She changed it to two chicken wings. The chicken leg was divided between the three boys.
As for the rest, it was Zhou Qingbai's responsibility to demolish it.
