When Xiang Jin and the others came back from picking vegetables from the greenhouse vegetable field, they saw that Grandpa Zeng and Grandma Mo had already helped them build the iron shed for smoking bacon in their yard.
This iron shed is about two meters high and two square meters wide. Not only is it surrounded on all sides, it also has an iron sheet covering the top.
"Wow, Grandpa Zeng, Grandma Mo, are you too fast? You actually built it so quickly," Xiang Jin ran over and looked around the iron shed twice.
Grandma Mo and Grandpa Zeng both had smiles on their faces. Grandma Mo said, "You guys have taken care of all the work of picking vegetables, and we have nothing to do, so your Grandpa Zeng went to your Aunt Liao's house to pick the vegetables."
I borrowed this iron sheet and then drove piles to surround it first."
Grandpa Zeng took away the front piece of iron sheet and asked them to look inside, "Let's see if it's enough for smoking your bacon?"
When Xiang Jin and the others saw that Grandpa Zeng had already tied two layers of iron wire at equal intervals in the iron shed, with three wires arranged on each layer, Xiang Jin nodded fiercely.
"That's enough, that's enough. This row can hang meat of all ages, not to mention six rows. I originally thought of borrowing Aunt Liao's silkworm rack to use it, but I didn't expect that Grandpa Zeng, you would directly
With the iron wire tied, this is easier and more trouble-free!"
Grandpa Zeng said, "This space is not very big, so it is not very convenient to put that silkworm rack."
Xiang Jin nodded again, eyes full of excitement, and then said, "Then I'll clean those bacons first, and then let them dry for two hours to collect the moisture on them, and then we can
Just put it inside to smoke."
Grandma Mo smiled and said, "I've already cleaned it all, so let's put it in the empty room next to the kitchen to dry. Wait for the water to drip for a while, and then you can take it out."
Hearing this, the smile on Xiang Jin's face became even brighter, "Grandma Mo, you are so kind," then she raised her wrist to look at the time and said, "It's eleven o'clock now, let's start from twelve o'clock
Let’s start fumigating, and when it’s eight or nine o’clock in the evening, we’ll take the house back, and then we’ll continue fumigating for another day tomorrow.”
Ouyang Bo asked, "Why don't you keep it in there to smoke and take it back at night?"
Xiang Jin said, "Let's just say you have never lived in the countryside. First, it is very dangerous if there is no one watching over you at night. What if grease drips into the basin and causes a fire? This
There are hundreds of kilograms of meat in it. Grandma Mo and Grandpa Zeng’s, Aunt Liao’s, the New Year’s gifts that Yan Chen and I prepared for the employees, a whole pig, and dozens of kilograms of meat from our house.
Maybe one of them will turn into black charcoal.
The second is that there are many thieves in the countryside, especially around the time of the New Year. In the past two years, there were people here who threw bacon on the New Year's Eve. They didn't just throw away one or two pieces, but
The kind that steals all the bacon from your whole pig."
After Ouyang Bo heard this, he looked surprised and couldn't believe it, "So scary?!"
"Isn't that right? Some people who are in trouble at home and can't afford meat during the Chinese New Year just steal from other people's homes. For example, some people's door locks are not secure, so they take advantage of others' sleep in the middle of the night.
When it was ripe, I went to pick the lock of someone's door, and then stole all the bacon from their house. So, do you think our bacon can just be thrown in the yard so casually?"
Ouyang Bo asked, "Don't you have a few dogs at home?"
Xiang Jin said, "The dog has to guard the vegetable field in the greenhouse at night. Otherwise, how do you think Grandma Mo and Grandpa Zeng can sleep peacefully at night?"
"Oh, so the dogs at home have such a function?" Ouyang Bo nodded, understanding.
Xiang Jin said, "Yes, don't people in rural areas keep dogs just to guard their homes? Not only do the dogs in Grandpa Zeng's family have such a mission, but also the dogs in Aunt Liao's family have the same mission.
Such a mission.
During the day, they stay at home and eat delicious food, and then they sleep with their heads covered. At night, they go to the vegetable field in the greenhouse to squat and watch. Didn't you notice that there is a corner of the vegetable field in the greenhouse for them?
Have you installed a kennel?”
Ouyang Bo said a little sheepishly, "I didn't pay much attention."
Xiang Jin nodded, "Yes, there are usually some baskets and baskets stacked in the corner."
Ouyang Bo then came closer to Xiang Jin and asked in a low voice, "Aren't Grandpa Zeng and Grandma Mo afraid that others will poison them, for example, someone will throw poisonous meat buns or meat bones to them?"
Xiang Jin said, "No, they have been trained in these aspects since they were young. They will not eat anything that is not thrown to them by people in their own family. People are also rich and cannot be promiscuous, right?"
"Really?" Ouyang Bo looked like he didn't believe it.
Xiang Jin said, "If you don't believe me, try it later and see if they can dump you?"
Ouyang Bo said, "Just try it!"
An hour later, after seeing off the two vegetable sellers, Xiang Jin ran to the empty room next to the kitchen and took a look. Sure enough, he found that the meat was no longer dripping, so he called Yan
Chen and Ouyang Bo helped move all the meat to the iron sheet outside in the yard to hang it.
But the two of them didn't know how to thread the meat onto the iron wires, because the iron wires were fixed on the iron wall. In the end, Grandpa Zeng held a small wooden stick and taught them how to hang the meat.
After the two of them figured it out and hung up all the meat, Grandpa Zeng brought in the big iron pot used for roasting at home, and Grandma Mo also brought most of the baskets with things like peanut shells and orange peels.
, and the grapefruit peel, the sawdust, and the corn cobs, etc.
Ouyang Bo looked very strange, and then asked, "Are these still used to smoke bacon? Don't they only use cypress branches?"
Grandma Mo said, "Cypress branches must be used, but the orange peel and grapefruit peel both have a refreshing fragrance. The sawwood foam is mainly cypress foam and some fruit tree foam. They are mixed together and smoked together."
The smoked bacon will be more fragrant and not as greasy as naturally dried bacon."
"Oh, that's it?" Ouyang Bo finally understood, and then asked, "What about this peanut shell and this corn cob? What role do they play?"
"Oh, well, they are mainly used to start fires. Otherwise, just cypress branches, grapefruit peels, orange peels, sawdust and the like can be easily extinguished because cypress branches are alive, so
The latter ones are very easy to cut off the air, so some fires need to be lit at the beginning, and then these things are spread on top."
"Oh, I understand!" Ouyang Bo nodded again. He felt that he had learned a lot in this trip to the countryside, especially in terms of life skills. It seemed that life in the countryside was not too bad. No wonder he
Mei Xiangjin looked down on him so much before, looking at him as if she were looking at a useless person with well-developed limbs and inseparable grains.
Xiang Jin squatted down and was about to start lighting the fire to smoke the meat, but Grandma Mo suddenly asked, "Hey, it seems that your Aunt Liao's meat hasn't been brought over yet?"
Xiang Jin suddenly realized, "Oh, it's true," so she quickly stood up, turned around and walked out of the yard, "I'll tell her to bring the meat!"
Then Xiang Jin heard Grandma Mo say again, "Do you know if the bacon from Aunt Liao's house has been cleaned? Why don't you still marinate it in the vat?"
Grandpa Zeng nodded and said, "It's been cleaned out. It's said that she cleaned it out last night. It's better than the meat and water vapor in our house."
Grandma Mo said, "Hey, her meat will be smoked on the top layer, and ours will be placed slightly below, so that her meat will not drip with oil."
So they moved some meat further down, leaving a large space for Aunt Liao's meat.
After a while, Aunt Liao came directly with a basket on her back and a large iron pot in Xiang Jin's hand.
When Yan Chen saw her, he rushed up to her and took the big iron pot from her hand.
Xiang Jin said, "Put two pots inside so that the smoke can be smoked from front to back so that the aroma of the smoked meat will be more even. Moreover, this will avoid us having to turn the meat every few hours."
Everyone thought this was feasible, and then Grandma Mo and Xiang Jin stood down and lit a fire in a pot.
Aunt Liao put the basket on the ground, and then with the help of everyone, she hung up all the meat. Grandpa Zeng looked at the meat tracks hanging on the top wires and said, "Look clearly.
Ha, what you have is this red hemp rope, with a total of fifteen pieces of meat and five ribs."
Aunt Liao said, "Uncle Mingyao, look at what you said, am I still afraid that you will swallow my flesh?"
Grandma Mo and Grandpa Zeng both laughed, and Grandma Mo explained to her, "That's not what it means. It means that we all remember the signs of each meat store, so as not to be confused after the smoke.
Who belongs to whom.
You see, there are all these. The white hemp rope is worn by Jin Yatou and Chen Chen as a New Year gift for their employees. The meat wrapped by the rope twisted into palm leaves is Jin Yatou and Xiaobo's grandfather.
The meat that grandma marinated and put here for us, this rope made of twisted strips of soft bamboo strips is our meat."
Everyone nodded. After Xiang Jin and Grandma Mo raised the fire in the pot, they let the corn cobs burn for a while, then put a thin layer of sawdust on top, and then
Just put a bunch of cypress branches on top, then sprinkle some sawdust on top, and follow
Then they put a bunch of cypress branches, and finally put grapefruit shells and orange peels on the cypress branches. After thick white smoke came out of both pots, they put the two pots
Push it into the iron shed, then take the previous piece of iron sheet and cover it again.
Ouyang Bo said, "It's so tightly sealed inside that no air can flow in. The fire in the pot inside won't go out by then, right?"
Grandpa Zeng said, "No, there are many small holes at the bottom of this tin shed close to the ground, so the air inside still circulates with the outside air. Look, here, here, and here,
Isn’t there white smoke leaking out?”
Ouyang Bo took a look and realized it was true.
Following Grandpa Zeng, he yelled and shouted at everyone to go inside, saying that they would add cypress branches later if the smoke inside subsided.
Because the snow outside was getting heavier and heavier, Xiang Jin and the others decided to stop smoking today at ten o'clock in the evening, so everyone went to take the meat back to the house, and when they opened the iron shed
In an instant, they discovered that the hanging strips of meat were evenly dyed an attractive honey yellow color.
Ouyang Bo couldn't help but exclaimed, "Wow, the color is so beautiful, and I can clearly feel that the meat has become smaller."
Xiang Jin said, "That's because some of the water on them has evaporated. After another day of fumigation tomorrow, their color will become darker. After drying for a few days, they can be put into bags directly.
It’s in the refrigerator.”
Ouyang Bo asked, "Do I need to dry it again after smoking it tomorrow?"
Xiang Jin nodded, "Yes, because strictly speaking, the step of smoking bacon is to marinate the pork in a vat for five to seven days, then pick it up and clean it, and then hang it in the sun or in a ventilated and dry place to dry.
Allow three to five days to allow the moisture on them to evaporate before smoking.
After being continuously smoked for 24 to 48 hours, it can be put directly into the refrigerator. Moreover, the bacon will not taste too salty next year, but will still maintain a slightly fresh texture.
.
But since we don’t have that much time to operate, we just clean it and smoke it. In this way, a lot of moisture is locked in the meat, so even after smoking, they still need to be exposed for a period of time.
of."
At this point, he looked at Yan Chen, "So when Uncle Tao comes, we should also remind him that he should tell them when he distributes it to the employees, otherwise the taste will be bad.
a lot of."
"Yeah," Yan Chen nodded.
The next morning, when Xiang Jin and the three young men were picking vegetables in the field, Grandma Mo suddenly came in and told them that Manager Xiao was here and asked them to stop working and go out to rest for a while.
"Xiao Bo, you should go out and rest for a while. The vegetables you have picked are enough for several customers to pick up in the morning, and there will be time to pick the rest later."
Several people nodded and went out together.
When they walked out of the greenhouse, they saw a black Santana sedan and a light pickup truck with a load of 2.5 tons parked on the roadside.
When they returned home, they saw Grandpa Zeng chatting and drinking tea with two people in the living room. Who were those two people, Manager Xiao and his brother-in-law?
Seeing them come in, Manager Xiao immediately put down the tea cup in his hand, then stood up from the sofa and greeted Xiang Jin and Yan Chen warmly, "Classmate Yan, Classmate Xiang, long time no see."
, how are you?"
Yan Chen nodded slightly to him and greeted Jin back, "Hello, Manager Xiao!"
"Oh, okay, okay, okay," Manager Xiao nodded, and then said to Xiang Jin, "Oh, by the way, is there no problem with me calling you classmate Xiang just now?"
Xiang Jin suddenly felt dumbfounded, "No problem, you can call me that as always, but Manager Xiao is quite well-informed, right?"
With a smile on his face, Manager Xiao waved his hands modestly, "Oh, it doesn't exist, it doesn't exist," and then he sighed, "Oh, I really didn't expect that you are actually the daughter of a high-ranking official in our city.
?But when we first saw you, we had a gut feeling that you were not an ordinary child, but we didn’t expect that it was true!"
Xiang Jin simply said, "Oh, it's just an unexpected incident. Actually, I didn't expect it."
Manager Xiao glanced at Ouyang Bo who was standing aside. After seeing his appearance, he turned to Jin and asked, "Who is this?"
Xiang Jin said, "My brother, Ouyang Bo!"
Manager Xiao nodded, "I mean, I look a bit like you," and then he nodded to Ouyang Bo with a smile on his face and said, "Hey, hello, hello!"
Ouyang Bo also nodded slightly towards him, "Hello!"
After greeting each other, Yan Chen said to Manager Xiao, "Sit down!"
Manager Xiao sat down, and Xiang Jin and the others followed suit. Then Grandpa Zeng stood up and said, "Okay, then while you guys are chatting, Xiao Zhang and I will carry the vegetables to the car first?"
After they all left, Xiang Jin and the others chatted with Manager Xiao. After chatting with them for a while, Manager Xiao explained to them, "Oh, Manager Huang was also coming with me today.
, but because something really happened and I couldn't leave, I had to come alone. He told me to bring this apology to you. I'm really sorry, I'm sorry!"
Yan Chen said, "No need to be so polite!"
Xiang Jin also said, "Yes, yes, we never mind those things."
Manager Xiao nodded, and then went straight to the topic. He first walked to the corner not far away and brought several gift bags over, and then handed two to Xiang Jin and Yan Chen.
"What's in this red bag is our manager Huang's personal feelings for his two classmates. What's in this yellow bag is my personal feelings for these two classmates. I hope the two students won't dislike it."
"Why are you so polite?" Xiang Jin joked with a smile.
Manager Xiao said, "To be honest, the factory I worked with our boss in the past two years has still made some money, thanks to the help of two classmates. Although I, Lao Xiao, have a big brain and haven't read many books,
But I still understand the principles of life."
Xiang Jin sighed, "Oh, you are just like your boss, Manager Huang, who is too polite! But we saw the black Santana parked on the roadside. Is it your personal car?"
"Oh, yes, yes," Manager Xiao nodded sincerely.
Xiang Jin said, "It seems that you did make some money," but Xiang Jin and Yan Chen did not reach out to take the two bags they were carrying, but looked at several exquisite items inside.
The small box asked, "What are you giving these to? First of all, we have agreed that we will not accept anything too expensive!"
Manager Xiao said, "It's not expensive, it's not expensive. Aren't the two students going to take the college entrance examination next year? So our boss made a small object for the two students, wishing them good luck in the college entrance examination next year.
The banner is a success, Toad Palace wins the championship, and then everything else is the same as in previous years, they are all local specialties from their hometown."
Xiang Jin and Yan Chen breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this.
Then Manager Xiao said again, "As for me, as you all know, we are all locals, and we don't have any local specialties here that we can use, so I prepared one for each of the two classmates."
Pens, and then a few cordyceps and a few taels of bird's nests per person.
Now is the time for your two classmates to overuse their brains, so they took advantage of your winter vacation to ask your family to make soup for you.
According to the current strength of the two students, these are nothing, so I hope you two students will not reject them!"
Indeed, according to their current wealth, eating a few cordyceps and a few taels of bird's nests is really nothing, so the two of them didn't refuse any more, and then generously took it away.
"Thank you!"
"Yes, Manager Xiao also said thank you to Manager Huang for us when he went back!"
"Oh, no thank you, no thank you!" Manager Xiao waved his hand.
After several people chatted for a while, Manager Xiao stood up and asked to leave. He said that he had something to do, so he would not delay. The two of them did not hold back, and then nodded and sent him directly out of the courtyard.
outside.
After his car drove off the road, Ouyang Bo couldn't help but walked up to Xiang Jin and asked, "Hey, what is your relationship with them? It feels like they are carefully trying to please you.
?”
Xiang Jin said, "It's nothing, we just drew a few costume designs for them before and let them make some money."
"Clothing design drawings? You can also draw clothing design drawings?!" Ouyang Bo was immediately surprised.
Yan Chen said, "I drew it randomly, and then they took notice of it."
Ouyang Bo said, "Anyone who draws randomly will be noticed. You are so lucky, right?"
Xiang Jin said, "Yeah, isn't it just good luck? Even we were surprised."
Then Ouyang Bo asked again, "What kind of picture did you draw that they took a fancy to?"
Xiang Jin said, "School uniforms, they have been cooperating with our school to customize school uniforms, so later many people took a fancy to the two school uniforms we drew, and then they all ordered them according to that style.
system."
Ouyang Bo nodded in understanding, "Oh, so that's the case, no wonder!"
I followed a few people to clean up the door, and then went back to the fields to continue picking vegetables.
In the afternoon, after all the vegetable vendors had taken away the vegetables, everyone had nothing to do. Then Xiang Jin asked Yan Chen, "Hey, what kind of thing did Manager Huang give us? Is it a toad?"
Yan Chen directly pulled the red gift bag and took out a beautifully packaged box inside and opened it, "Wouldn't you know if you take a look at it?"
So Xiang Jin also took out his own one and opened it. After a while, Yan Chen took the lead and took out a small golden toad from his box.
After Xiang Jin saw it, he asked, "Is this real gold or gold-plated?"
Others in the family were also filled with the same questions after seeing it.
Yan Chen turned the little golden toad over, and after seeing the mark of 999.9999% on it, he showed it to Xiang Jin. After Xiang Jin saw it, he was immediately surprised, "Is it pure gold?"
"
Yan Chen nodded, "It should be!" Then he picked up a receipt in the box and opened it to look at it. Then he saw that it was a product from a century-old brand gold store, so he headed towards
Jin nodded, "It's pure gold!"
Xiang Jin stopped unpacking the things in his hands, then took the bill from his hand and read it, "Sixty-six point six grams," and then she took it from his hand again.
I weighed the little golden toad, and it was indeed a little heavy.
"Does this cost several thousand dollars?" Although I don't know what the current price of gold is, it should still cost several thousand dollars.
Yan Chen nodded, "It should be about the same!"
"The gifts given this year are a bit heavy, should I accept them?" Xiang Jin was a little confused, mainly because her identity had changed this year.
Yan Chen immediately understood the source of her confusion, "Are you afraid of causing unnecessary trouble to your parents?"
Xiang Jin nodded, "Well, what if they ask them for help and they refuse, and then the other party says that they accepted bribes and the things were collected by their daughter, wouldn't it mean that they can't wash them by jumping into the Yellow River?"
Qing? Oops, I should unpack this box in front of Manager Xiao right now."
Then Yan Chen took the little golden toad and the note back from her hand, and then put them back into the packaging box, "In that case, then take some time to return them to them!"
Ouyang Bo was stunned when he heard this, and his heart was beating faster. To be honest, he just sighed at the ability of his sister and Yan Chen to receive such a valuable gift from a customer. He also felt for them.
He was happy, but he didn't consider this relationship. His parents were not ordinary people, and they were both extremely sensitive people.
Both Grandma Mo and Grandpa Zeng felt that they had considered the problem quite comprehensively and thoughtfully, so they both nodded and suggested that it would be better to go back. Grandpa Zeng said, "Yes, as the saying goes, you must not have the intention to harm others."
, it is necessary to be on guard against others. We may be villains, but we do not rule out that some people with ulterior motives may play tricks on this, so we should be careful. After all, neither of you are the elders in the family.
Ordinary people.”
Xiang Jin and Yan Chen nodded, and then Xiang Jin stopped opening her box and put it back into the gift bag.
Yan Chen said, "When Uncle Tao comes, we can just stop by and return it when we pass by the Miyun Reservoir."
"Yeah," Xiang Jin nodded, and then Grandma Mo asked them to take it upstairs and put it away. Be careful not to lose it when they put it downstairs. After all, people often come around their house.
So the two people carried their two bags upstairs.