80s Transmigration: The Young Widow's Hustle to Riches-Chapter 213 - 209: Pork Trotter Hot Pot

"For a big order like that? I don’t need a deposit!" Old Mrs. Zhao said with a laugh, waving her hands dismissively. "Just come by at six to pick them up."

Lin Lan put the money back in her pocket and said politely, "Thank you for going to the trouble."

"No trouble at all!" The old woman thought for a moment, then added, "Do you want any blood pudding? If you do, bring a basin to carry it in when you come for the ducks." With that, she trotted off, leading Lin Lan inside to see the duck blood.

Lin Lan followed her into the courtyard and saw rows of small earthenware basins on a table, all filled with coagulated, dark-red duck blood. "Yes, please save two basins for me."

This was authentic duck blood pudding. Real, free-range duck blood is considered salty and cooling in traditional medicine, believed to replenish blood and clear heat-toxins. Blood pudding is also said to aid digestion and bowel movements, clearing dust and impurities from the body, earning it the nickname "the body’s cleanser."

Old Mrs. Zhao chuckled. "We don’t sell our duck blood! We slaughter so many ducks every day, it’s a shame to throw the blood away. So we make it into pudding and give some away to anyone who buys our braised dishes."

"Thank you, Grandma Zhao." As Lin Lan left the Zhao family’s home, she thought, ’People in the food business are so honest these days. I wonder when that all changed.’

’Once living standards improved, everyone started chasing visually appealing food. To cater to customers, businesses would act against their conscience for profit, using ingredients they knew were harmful. They’d think it was fine as long as their own families weren’t eating it, not realizing everyone else was doing the same thing.’

* * *

Li Xiangyang and Brother Yong picked up the barbecue table and copper pot from the blacksmith’s, then headed to Lin Lan’s house.

When Lin Changyou saw Li Xiangyang on the back of Brother Yong’s bike, carrying the table, he hurried over to help him lift it down. Placing it on the ground, he looked at the hole in the center. "Why’s there a hole in the middle?"

Li Xiangyang smiled and placed the iron plate on the table. "It’s for barbecue, Uncle Lin!" He then removed the plate and set the copper pot in its place. "And if you put the copper pot here, you can have hot pot."

Seeing Lin Changyou staring at the underside of the table, Brother Yong lifted it up. "Uncle Lin, there’s a charcoal stove underneath. You can put some hardwood charcoal or coal briquettes in it to cook hot pot or grill barbecue."

Lin Changyou had already figured it out. He nodded with a smile and praised them, "You young people sure are clever!"

He glanced at Brother Yong, his eyes immediately drawn to the long scar on his face. At first, it looked a little intimidating, but on closer inspection, he saw the man had thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a high-bridged nose. He must have been quite handsome before the injury.

Noticing him staring, Brother Yong gave a nervous smile. "Uncle Lin, I’ve been busy the last couple of days. I didn’t know you had arrived, so I couldn’t come to see you sooner."

Lin Changyou looked at him warmly and smiled. "It’s alright, don’t worry about me. You young people should focus on what you need to do. As long as you and Yuezhen have a good life together, we’ll be content."

He paused, then gestured to the things Brother Yong was carrying. "Earning money isn’t easy," he said sincerely. "Don’t buy all these things next time. Just having you visit is enough to make me happy."

"Okay! I’ll remember that." Brother Yong thought, ’The Lin family’s parents are truly remarkable. The families of the women he’d been set up with before couldn’t wait for him to bring more gifts. If he showed up empty-handed once, they’d give him the cold shoulder. They’d made a mountain of demands before marriage was even on the table.’

Lin Yuezhen happily served tea and water, bustling about as she took the things Li Xiangyang and Brother Yong had brought inside.

"Yuezhen," Lin Changyou called out to her as she headed toward the kitchen with the items. He smiled. "Little Zhu is a good man. You two build a good life together."

Lin Yuezhen blushed and nodded, then carried the things into the kitchen.

It was cold sitting on the stone steps, so Lin Changyou went into the main hall with Li Xiangyang and Brother Yong to drink tea and talk.

Lin Changyou asked about Brother Yong’s family situation. He learned that Brother Yong had an older brother, and that after he’d left to join the army, his stepmother and father had left him an old house that his brother had then taken over. After earning merit and leaving the service, the government had assigned him to the joint defense team...

Lin Lan rode her bike into the courtyard. Seeing Lin Changyou, Li Xiangyang, and Brother Yong sitting in the main hall drinking tea, she smiled. "When did you guys get here?"

"Just now!" Li Xiangyang came out of the main hall with a smile and pointed to the table on the steps. "The table is ready! I had a copper pot made, too. Let’s have hot pot tonight!"

"Great!" Lin Lan parked her bike and walked over, looking at the square hot pot table. "Hey, not bad! We can go to Shilian to cut firewood, make some hardwood charcoal, and bring it back for barbecue and hot pot."

Lin Changyou said cheerfully, "We have hardwood charcoal at home. Before the start of winter, your brother went into the mountains to cut down some oak trees and made a dozen baskets of it to use for heating when it snows."

The temperature in the mountains was lower than in the city, and it would snow for more than half a month during the coldest days of winter.

"Then we won’t need to make charcoal when we go back." Lin Lan looked at Li Xiangyang. "We’re having hot pot this afternoon. Since we don’t have any beef tallow, we’ll just have to make the soup base with large bones."

"I brought marrow bones and pig’s trotters. We can make a pig’s trotter hot pot."

"Awesome! Pig’s trotter hot pot sounds great. After you close up the stall this afternoon, bring Uncle Li over, too. We’ll all have hot pot tonight."

Li Xiangyang agreed with a smile. Seeing Brother Yong and Lin Changyou talking in the kitchen, he followed Lin Lan inside. "I had Uncle Da ask around. He said he can get a mixer, a grinder, an oven, and an oven thermometer. You should call Old Chen and tell him he doesn’t need to look anymore."

Lin Lan turned and looked at him deeply, a thousand words converging into one sentence: "Thank you, Xiangyang!" She hadn’t expected him to take her casual mention of it so seriously. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"Silly girl!" Li Xiangyang smiled and ruffled her hair. "I’ll help you prepare the pig’s trotters."

"Mhm!" Lin Lan nodded foolishly.

Seeing her dazed look, Li Xiangyang gave her a quick peck on the cheek, then picked up the pig’s trotters and went to the earthen stove to start cleaning them.

Lin Lan’s face turned red. She glanced around, saw Lin Yuezhen was in the backyard, and quickly grabbed a basket, fleeing to the vegetable patch as if to escape.

Watching her run off, Li Xiangyang smiled to himself.

When Lin Lan reached the vegetable patch, she started picking vegetables, taking a moment to see what else from the garden would be good for hot pot.

There were white radishes, celtuce, mallow, spinach, bok choy, and pea shoots. They could also get some bean sprouts and potatoes, mince some meatballs, fry some crispy pork, and use tofu skin, rehydrated dried mushrooms, tofu, the duck blood, and sweet potato noodles...

Lin Lan suddenly realized they had quite a rich variety of ingredients. She pulled up a handful of celery and picked off the leaves, then pulled up a few garlic sprouts and two Beauty Heart radishes. After rinsing them by the ditch, she turned and went back to the kitchen.

Lin Lan checked the time. Little Douzi would be home from school soon.

She started cooking: fish-fragrant shredded pork, spicy boiled pork slices, a cold salad of shredded Beauty Heart radish, and a bowl of plain boiled radishes. Just as she finished preparing the dipping sauce, Little Douzi’s voice came from the doorway.

"Mom! Grandpa! I’m home!"

Lin Changyou came out of the main hall, his eyes crinkling into a smile as he looked at his grandson. "You’re back! Your mom’s cooking. Uncle Xiangyang brought over some pig’s trotters and said we’re having hot pot tonight."

"Hot pot?" Little Douzi looked at Lin Changyou curiously. "Grandpa, what’s hot pot? How do you eat it?"

Lin Changyou chuckled. "It’s when you cook a pot of food right at the table, make a dipping sauce, and eat as you go."