Back to 1984: Let's Work Hard Together to Raise The Kids!-Chapter 174: Making Sausage, Dried Shrimp, and Scallop
"Don’t worry! We just weighed the pork leg and some lean meat we cut off. I have to say, this pig is really fat. Just these pieces of meat weigh eighty pounds, and there’s still a lot of fat left. Ah Qin doesn’t want to use it, so I plan to cut it into pieces and render lard later.
We’ll sort the bones for stewing meat slowly, and there are two pig’s feet that we’ll braise soon. Tomorrow, the kids can have them with rice."
Lin Yi carefully explained his plan.
The four older kids cheered endlessly, and little Chen Ruiming laughed heartily, mimicking his elder siblings.
Listening to the children’s laughter, Lin Qin smiled, "Wenjun, take the kids to bathe first. It’s going to be too cold when it gets dark. I’ll wash Yaya a bit later."
Chen Wenjun also felt the wind was strong, so he immediately picked up his youngest son and ushered the other children inside.
With the children’s chatter gone, the courtyard became much quieter.
Once the ingredients were added, they mixed the meat and covered it. By early morning tomorrow, they could start making sausages.
Because the aroma was so strong, Lin Yi worried about mice visiting the kitchen. He placed the containers high up and shut the kitchen doors and windows tightly.
Early the next morning.
Lin Qin and Huang Yuezhen hadn’t woken up yet, but Lin Yi had already started making sausages.
By the time the two woke up and came downstairs, they found that bamboo poles had been set up in the vegetable garden, with a row of sausages hanging.
The second bamboo pole was ready.
The two quickly rolled up their sleeves, washed their hands, and went over to help.
Lin Yi took the opportunity to rest, turned into the kitchen to check if breakfast was ready, and also prepared a couple of dishes and fried some eggs for the kids.
Huang Yuezhen marveled, "Big Uncle works really fast. I wonder what time he got up. He’s already handled half of the meat."
Making sausages requires tying them with string, and it’s much easier with two pairs of hands.
Lin Qin agreed wholeheartedly.
The two whispered to each other, and by around seven o’clock, they had finished making all the sausages.
There were a total of four bamboo poles in the vegetable garden for drying.
The juices dripped down to the ground like rain, releasing an irresistible aroma.
It’s fortunate that they’re on the island with a strong river breeze, otherwise flies would have already gathered in droves.
Huang Yuezhen, eyeing their laborious results, squinted happily, "Ah Qin, how long do these sausages need to dry?"
Lin Qin looked up at the sky, pondering, "The weather should be good these days. In our spot here, the vegetable garden gets sun all day. With two days of sunshine, they can be moved to a cool place, and after air-drying for two or three more days, they’ll be about right.
If we’re in a hurry, we can sun them for three days and air-dry for one day; that way, they’ll taste better."
Directly sun-drying works too, but doing it like that can make them too dry, making them hard to chew.
Hope welled up in Huang Yuezhen’s eyes.
Lin Qin asked, "Cousin-in-law, when are you planning to go back this year?"
"In another week, the weather’s been nice this year, allowing work on the construction site. However, many of the new workers are from out of town, and everyone wants to hurry back home to celebrate the New Year. So Boss Huang is letting us work one more week before the holiday."
Huang Yuezhen has become something of a veteran at the construction site, and this year Huang Wenlong even gave her a raise, from thirty to thirty-five a month, which made her work with even more enthusiasm.
Lin Qin nodded, "That’s just right. When you go back, you can take some sausage so that Auntie can try our handiwork."
Mentioning Lin E, Huang Yuezhen readily agreed.
Inspired by the sausages, Chen Wenjun brought back a big bag of sand shrimp from South Port that day, saying he chanced upon them when the fishing boat returned to port.
The sand shrimp are completely wild, not very big, just slightly larger than river shrimp, with not much meat but a sweet taste.
Chen Wenjun said, "Boil these sand shrimp, peel off the meat, dry it, and you’ll have ready-made shrimp meat. It’s good for cooking, making soup, or even as snacks for the kids."
Lin Qin was taken aback by the large bag of shrimp, her mouth twitching, "Are you trying to find something for me to do because you think I’m too idle?"
Chen Wenjun shook his head vigorously, "No! I just thought bought shrimp meat is ridiculously expensive, and if we make it ourselves, we save money and get larger pieces. It’s a good deal!" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎
Lin Qin was about to say something when Lin Yi directly interrupted, "Wenjun’s right. Doing it ourselves is best. If we can get some big shells back, making our own dried scallops would be nice too."
Chen Wenjun thought the same.
The two of them discussed what next to process right in front of Lin Qin.
Frightened, Lin Qin quickly took the sand shrimp into the kitchen, afraid if she stayed longer, her workload would double.
This bag of sand shrimp kept Lin Qin busy for two days.
Just when she finally finished peeling all the shrimp, Chen Wenjun indeed brought back some shellfish to satisfy Lin Yi’s request for making dried scallops.
Lin Qin could only grit her teeth and continue amidst the overwhelming task.
Being busy, she even forgot about the time.
Soon, the day when Huang Yuezhen had her holiday break arrived.
Huang Wenlong had given out holiday pay early this year, along with a box of tangerines.
Huang Yuezhen, taking the goods back to Nanyu, announced she planned to go back early the next morning.
Lin Qin hurriedly packed a big bag of sausage, a package of shrimp meat, and some half-dried scallops for her.
From Lin Yi’s side, he picked a basket of pomelos, green dates, and tangerines for Huang Yuezhen to take back.
Beside these, there were some New Year’s goods that Huang Yuezhen had specifically bought.
Packing all this filled up a whole tricycle.
After sending Huang Yuezhen off, Lin Qin finally had some downtime.
With the New Year almost here,
she still had to take the kids to get haircuts, buy them new clothes and shoes for the Spring Festival, and also purchase new school supplies for the new semester.
Going to the city to buy things, you can’t forget items like couplets.
Returning to Nanyu with a large haul, they started another round of bustling activities.
After much busy work,
by the time Xu Dahai came to the city to pick them up, it was already New Year’s Eve.
Xu Jian and Xu Kang hadn’t been back to the hometown for a long time.
The brothers were eager to tell Xu Dahai about their life over the past year as soon as they boarded the bus.
"Dad, not only can my brother and I speak English now, we’re also the fastest runners in our class. Our teacher even gave us certificates, they’re in our backpacks."
Xu Jian proudly took out two certificates.
The passengers nearby immediately started complimenting them, their eyes full of envy, "Bro, how did you teach them? Both kids got awards, that’s impressive! Not like our two clueless ones, who only eat and play all day, disappearing as soon as they get back from school."
Xu Dahai looked proud, his back straightening subconsciously, humbly smiling, "Oh, it’s nothing, they were always quite naughty. Back in the village, they’d run off as soon as school was out and we couldn’t catch them. It’s only after attending school in the city that they’ve gotten a bit better."
The other person nodded repeatedly, agreeing, "Exactly! Conditions in the countryside are not good, hardly any kids study there. Most just play around, while city kids are more sensible."
Xu Dahai was taken aback, glancing at his two kids as if understanding something, thankful inside, "That’s right. No matter how tough it gets, we need to grit our teeth and send the kids to a better place to learn."
As they chatted, the two-hour journey flew by.
After alighting, Xu Dahai led his two sons to their new house in town.
