It was dusk, the setting sun dyed the Huai River red, and the smoke from the kitchen slowly rose.
In the small courtyard, Cheng Tie sat on a small stool. He split the bamboo in his hand with a skilled knife, selected a section and started whittling it. He looked at Tang Ji who was sitting at the table and joked: "Brother Tang, are you here?"
It’s really not easy for you to have a meal!”
"Hahaha, sorry, I forgot to prepare it in advance!" Tang Ji replied sheepishly. He prepared the ingredients in advance, but forgot about the bamboo skewers, which are the soul of barbecue.
Then, he withdrew his gaze and continued to grind the spices that had been exposed to the sun for several days into powder.
Jiu'er brought out the washed mutton and vegetables, looked at the big dark guy in front of him with interest, and said curiously: "Master Tang, if you want to bake something, let's just light a fire in the yard.
That’s fine, why go to all this trouble?”
Tang Ji put the five-spice powder on the table, took the iron-sharpened bamboo skewers, cut the mutton into thin strips on the chopping board, skewered them with bamboo skewers and put them in a bowl. He glanced at her and replied: "This way
Eat clean, be safe, stop talking nonsense, and go get some charcoal."
"Charcoal? Winter is over, who still has that thing at home!" Jiuer crossed his arms and pouted.
Tang Ji stopped what he was doing, raised an arm, and said: "You have money in your sleeves, go out and buy some!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Cheng Tie quickly interrupted: "No, I have some left at home, I'll go back and get it."
Tang Ji raised his hand to refuse, but the other party had already run out, and he couldn't help but smile bitterly.
What kind of thing is this? You obviously invited him to dinner, but you asked him to contribute both effort and stuff!
Soon after, Tang Ji skewered all the ingredients, heated the charcoal and put it on the barbecue. After waiting for the temperature to rise, he took out a few mutton skewers and grilled them.
After just a short while, the man who was sitting on the side waiting for the wine stood up due to the aroma, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and said eagerly: "Master Tang, can't you still eat it?"
"Wait a little longer!" Tang Ji took a small step back. He couldn't even open his eyes because of the smoke caused by burning charcoal.
Just at this moment, a sneaky figure appeared outside the courtyard door. He poked his head in first and found that Tang Ji was at home. He slightly raised the corner of his mouth and walked in excitedly: "I finally met you!"
When Tang Ji heard the news, he saw that it was the young man in white who had paid to listen to the story last time. He replied: "I'm sorry, Mr. Li, I'm too busy these days and I come back late."
"No problem, what are you doing?" Li Yu smelled the aroma and stared at the mutton skewers on the barbecue grill.
Jiu'er frowned and stared at the other person with some vigilance. She had a premonition that this guy was going to steal her barbecue.
As expected, Li Yu picked up a stool and sat next to Tang Ji, intending to make a bunch to try.
Unexpectedly, Tang Ji sprinkled the seasoning on the mutton skewers, divided it into two portions, and gave them to Cheng Tie and Jiu'er respectively.
The little girl was so coquettish that she took out one of the bunches and smelled it with a look of deathly excitement. She also handed it to Li Yu and shook it twice. Just when the latter was about to bite it, he quickly withdrew it.
, took a bite, and said pleasantly: "It's delicious!"
Li Yu wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth and said, "Brother Tang, give me a taste."
Tang Ji took another handful and started roasting it. He looked up at Jiu'er and said with a smile, "Jiu'er, do you think the weight of silver is important?"
"It's important!" the little girl replied while picking up the skewers.
Tang Ji nodded and looked at Li Yu: "What do you think, Mr. Li?"
Li Yu scratched his head, weren't they discussing roast lamb? How could they involve money... money!
He instantly understood what the other party meant and exclaimed: "I didn't give you ten taels of silver last time, but you still...forget it, just give it!"
In this way, Tang Ji had an extra ten taels of silver in his hand, put it into his sleeve, stood up and handed the place to Jiu'er: "Don't just eat, you bake it for a while, and I'll prepare other dishes."
"Okay!" Jiu'er stuffed the last skewer of mutton into his mouth, quickly took the skewers that were still on the grill, recalled Tang Ji's technique, and quickly got busy.
Tang Ji turned around and walked towards the kitchen. Seeing Cheng Tie in a daze, he reminded: "Brother Cheng, help me order some wine."
"Oh, oh, okay!" Cheng Tie nodded in response, but in his mind was the scene of Li Yu handing money to Tang Ji just now. He couldn't figure out whether the other person was stupid and had too much money, or whether this barbecue was really worth so much money. Suddenly, he felt
Come up with an idea.
As the sky gradually darkened, Tang Ji took out a few candle lamps from the house to light up the courtyard, and then brought out the freshly prepared dishes: "Hey, braised pig's trotters, all the dishes!"
Everyone was sitting on both sides of the long table. Li Yu's mouth was stained with grease, but he was still crazily stuffing meat into his mouth, as if he was planning to eat back all the ten taels of silver he had lost.
Tang Ji put the rag on the table behind him, looked at his room, shook his head and walked over.
He pushed the door open, intending to remind Jiang Ran that it was time for dinner, but he was attracted by the charming figure sitting behind the desk, painting seriously, and couldn't help but froze in place.
"Young Master Tang!" Jiang Ran shouted softly, and then moved the easel that Tang Ji specially bought at Huafang, so that the content on the painting paper could be displayed in front of him.
Tang Jigang recovered from her beauty, but was attracted by the long skirt on the paper, and said in surprise: "This... this is a colorful colorful cloud skirt!"
Jiang Ran nodded slightly and said softly: "How?"
"Very nice!" Tang Ji gave a thumbs up. With this dress, he can start to implement his final plan!
After watching it for a while, he coughed lightly and reminded: "Let's have dinner first."
"Okay." Jiang Ran responded and walked out of the house.
After a while, everyone arrived, and even Widow Song from the alley came to join in the fun.
"Come on, let's go!" Tang Ji picked up a cup of tea, raised it high, clinked glasses with everyone, and drank heavily.
Li Yu expressed shame at him for drinking tea even though he was a grown man. He picked up the wine glass and touched it with Cheng Tie, saying: "Brother Tang, the story of that day is not finished yet. Why don't you let me hear it tonight?"
"
Tang Ji couldn't understand why the other party was so anxious, but when he saw that Jiu'er also looked interested, he had to shake his head and continue what he said last time: "After beating the White Bone Demon three times, the barrier between Tang Monk and Sun Wukong disappeared.
They're next..."
...
The story of "Journey to the West" is too long, and Tang Ji still couldn't finish it tonight. Since the curfew was approaching, the barbecue party broke up.
At the gate of the courtyard, Li Yu, who had drunk too much, staggered toward the entrance of the alley, mumbling that he wanted to marry Tang Ji.
Jiang Ran looked at his back and said worriedly: "Is he going to be okay?"
Tang Ji shrugged and said he didn't know. After all, they had just met each other and didn't know the other person's details.
Widow Song wanted to send Cheng Tie home, but was rejected by the latter, so she had to say hello: "Then I'll leave first. Thank you Xiao Ran and Mr. Tang for their hospitality."
After waiting for her to go away, Tang Jicai looked at Cheng Tie and said, "Brother Cheng, just tell me what you have to say!"
When we were eating just now, I noticed something was wrong with him. He always seemed to be hesitant to speak.
Seeing that his thoughts were discovered, Cheng Tie scratched his head in embarrassment, hesitated, and said: "Brother Tang, I want to build another barbecue grill and start a small business. You see..."
Tang Ji was slightly surprised. It seemed that the other party was worried that using a barbecue grill to do business would cause dissatisfaction with him. He chuckled and said, "Okay, I support it, but eating too much charcoal-grilled barbecue will hurt your body and the smoke is too big. I
I’ll draw you a teppanyaki grill that can exhaust smoke another day!”
"Really?" Cheng Tie said excitedly.
Tang Ji nodded with a smile and replied: "You are in the barbecue business. Please treat me to a couple of skewers when you pass by."
"Don't say two strings, any number will do, hahaha."
The laughter in the alley frightened a certain family's dog, and the barking frightened Li Yu who had just walked out of the alley. He glanced behind him in a panic, then ran towards the street, but he slipped and fell to the ground.
On the ground.
Due to the alcohol, it was difficult for him to get up for a while. Just when he was about to call for help, Song Xiao fell from the wall.
"Your Majesty!" Song Xiao quickly helped Li Yu up.
However, Li Yu covered his mouth and turned to look at the alley. When he found that there was no one around, he said seriously: "I told you, you are not allowed to call me Prince outside in the future."
Song Xiao widened his eyes and nodded. It wasn't until Li Yu let go of his hand that he reminded him: "Your Majesty, it's getting late!"
"You!" Li Yu was so angry that he raised his hand, but fell asleep before he could slap him on the head.