After entering the twelfth lunar month, the taste of the year is getting stronger and stronger. The Spring Festival is the most important traditional festival of the year. Even if the family is poor, when the New Year comes, they will get some better food for the family to improve.
The end of the year is also the busiest time for Yu Ji Braised Vegetables. After entering the twelfth lunar month, the four-eyed stove in the shop is constantly burning day and night, and three or four pigs need to be marinated every day, and more than 20 pig heads come out. Yu Caifeng and Mei Ziniang wished they could save time for sleeping. When the pickle shop is not busy, Huang Xiaomei will come to help.
In the stewed vegetables shop, brother and sister Liu Junping, one called the stewed vegetables and the other collected money. They have already moved quickly, but there is still a long queue in front of the store, and from time to time some impatient people raise their voices to urge them.
Liu Hu, who used to be the shopkeeper in the store, also went to the countryside to collect pigs again. Except for the remaining breeding pigs, there are only one or two pigs left in Yu's pig farm in Dongshan Village, which are reserved for the family to eat during the Chinese New Year. Now the stewed meat sold in the store is collected from the countryside.
Liu Hu and Huang Dachui went into battle together, going out every day before dawn, and rushing back at night with the stars and the moon, so that they could supply the braised vegetables sold every day. The manpower in the store was too busy, so they sent a letter back to Dongshan Village for help.
Yu Xiaocao gave Cherry the full authority to make pills and potions. After getting the news, she, Xiao Lian, and Yang Liu rushed to Fucheng for emergency treatment regardless of the severe cold. Yu Xiaocao took over the work of making roast duck, roast chicken and other poultry food, so Liu Yan'er could concentrate on being a "salesperson" in the store. Xiao Lian is competent in both weighing dishes and collecting money, and was also sent to the store to help.
With his hands free, Liu Junping was able to visit a few more township butcher stalls to buy pig heads and offal. Although more than ten or twenty sets of pig's head and pig's offal are now cooked every day, these cheap and delicious pig's head and pig's offal are still the first to be sold out. The number of day laborers hired in the store to clean up pig heads and offal has doubled. The most difficult thing to deal with is pigs with pigs in the water, and these day laborers are often busy all day long.
Yu Xiaocao doubled the amount of limited food such as roast chicken and roast duck at the request of customers, but the supply was still in short supply. In order to be able to buy roast chicken and roast duck to entertain guests during the Chinese New Year, some families will send their servants to line up in front of the stewed vegetables shop before dawn in the wind and snow. When Liu Yan'er opened the store in the morning, she was shocked when she saw the snowman standing in front of the door.
On the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, near noon, there was still a long queue in front of Yu's Braised Vegetables Shop. Most of them are ordinary people dressed in ordinary clothes, and many of them are villagers who came here especially from nearby villages. In the twelfth lunar month, people from nearby villages will come to Fucheng to buy New Year's goods. Now their first choice for New Year's goods is to weigh a few catties of stewed vegetables to take home.
Yu Ji's stewed vegetables are rich and delicious, and the price is very reasonable. In particular, the price of pig-headed pigs is not much more expensive than raw pork, and ordinary people can afford it. In the past, villagers with a little difficulty in their families would grit their teeth and cut half a catty of pork to satisfy their children's hunger during the Chinese New Year. Now they change to pork offal such as pig head meat or pig intestines.
The dishes that are sold in limited quantities are sold out soon after the door opens every day. This is still the case where each person can only buy two. If it is released, one person can probably fill up the limited dishes in the store. In this way, there are still many people who send a lot of servants to line up at a time. They are not short of money, and they have enough manpower to prepare more roasted chicken and roasted ducks to make them more attractive in front of guests.
Yu Xiaocao asked Yang Liu to go to the back kitchen to help the aunt and the others, and she also brought the scale from the pickle shop to help weigh the stewed vegetables, so the sales speed was much faster. There was light snow falling outside, those scenes of queuing up to buy stewed vegetables in the snow moved Yu Xiaocao a little.
At this time, a carriage drove past the door. The big man who looked like a guard beside the carriage glanced at the long queue in front of the store with eyes full of brilliance, and seemed to be a little wary.
"Stop, stop, stop!" A familiar voice came out from inside, "It smells so good! This is the smell of braised pig's head!! This taste is even more authentic than the chef's craftsmanship, it is clearly the craftsmanship of Yu's girl!! Dequan, Go and see where the scent comes from."
Beside the carriage, a white-faced and beardless old man in his fifties turned over from his horse. That movement was crisper than that of a young man. The old man walked past the queue and came straight to the door of Yu Ji Braised Vegetables. The people behind shouted unhappily: "Line up, line up! Are you from outside? You have to line up first to buy stewed vegetables!!"
The old man turned a deaf ear, looked up at the signboard on the door, and then glanced into the store. His gaze first stayed on Yu Xiaolian who was collecting money, and after a moment, he turned to Yu Xiaocao who was smiling and weighing pig's head meat to an old woman.
He didn't disturb the people in the shop, turned around and returned to the side of the carriage, bowed his body opposite him, and said in a slightly shrill voice: "Master, you guessed right, it is the shop opened by Miss Xiaocao. The two sisters are here The shop is busy!"
"Haha! When did this girl open a store in Jinwei Mansion? She didn't tell Master Wu. Fortunately, she didn't take the path, or else the trip to Dongshan Village would be in vain." A strong hand stretched out from inside the carriage, There is a shining and clear jade finger on the thumb.
The curtain of the car was lifted, and an old man bent out of it. He had a round face, a childlike face with white hair, and a long beard and beard under his chin. He was dressed in gorgeous clothes and had an extraordinary bearing.
The white-faced and beardless old man propped up an oil-paper umbrella on the head of the old man in Chinese clothes. The old man in Chinese clothes strolled to the front of the braised vegetable shop, and shouted at Xiaocao, who was devoted to serving customers: "Girl, weigh me half a pig's head and a pair of pig's ears. The pig's ears need to be shredded and mixed with red oil... "
The people in the queue at the back, seeing the valuable outfit on his body, didn't yell at him to queue up like they did to the white-faced old man just now.
Yu Xiaocao heard the strangely familiar voice, and when she raised her head, she almost dropped the scale in her hand. My God, why did this giant Buddha come to Fucheng? She opened her mouth, glanced at the clothes of the Supreme Emperor and the people around him, swallowed the title of "Supreme Emperor", forced out a smile, and asked, "Five... Fifth Lord, why are you out of Beijing at this time? gone?"
"Ah..." the Supreme Emperor sighed, holding his belly helplessly, and said, "I don't want to run out in the cold! The gluttons in my stomach are making trouble, and there is nothing I can do!"
Dequan next to him reminded in a low voice: "Master, it's cold outside, why don't you go inside and greet the little grass girl?"
"Don't talk too much! I'm in good health! Back then, in order to win an ambush, my grandfather lay in ambush in the snow for three days. He caught the enemy by surprise and won a complete victory—Ah Choo!!" Without saying a word When it was over, the Supreme Emperor sneezed loudly.
Yu Xiaocao hurriedly put down the scale in her hand, came out of the store, and invited the old man into the yard.
"Fifth Master, warm up on the kang in the guest room first, and I'll cook you a bowl of hot ginger soup." Yu Xiaocao originally wanted to invite people into the living room, but the conditions of the yard are limited, and there is no room in the living room. Firewall, as cold as outside. In desperation, he had no choice but to invite people into the guest room.
The kang in the guest room was burning hot, the Supreme Emperor took off his shoes and sat on it, sighing comfortably. He said to Dequan, who was waiting on the side: "Dequan, let's not accept our old age. There is a brazier in the carriage, and people have symptoms of a cold. Sigh... You should take off your shoes and get on the kang to warm up soon. "
"Slaves dare not..." Dequan was an old eunuch who had served the Emperor for decades. He was very considerate in his daily service, but he was a bit rigid.
The Supreme Emperor gouged him out with his eyes, and said with a smile, "Why don't you dare? You have stinky feet, so you're afraid that you'll piss me off?"
Dequan responded to the Taishanghuang's jokes, and said in a serious voice: "Return to the master, those with serious diseases and bad body odor are not allowed to enter the palace to serve the master!"
"Come on! I have been an old buddy for decades, how can I not know you? Come up, this is an order!! If you are also sick with cold, who will serve the Lord? I am not used to being served by others!!" After the Supreme Emperor abdicated, his temperament became more and more free and easy. In his eyes, no matter who is superior or inferior, he is just a fart!
Dequan was deeply moved. Seeing the Supreme Emperor's firm attitude, he thanked his master solemnly, took off his shoes, and sat down at the end of the kang. The Supreme Emperor threw another quilt over and let him cover his lap.
Dequan is too dedicated, he suffered from the problem of old cold legs in the early years, and this stubborn old man is unwilling to ride a carriage with him these two days, the feeling of riding a horse in the wind and snow must be uncomfortable.
Covering the quilt on his lap, Dequan once again thanked his master for his kindness. Back then, after the fall of the previous dynasty, he was sent into the palace to wait for an opportunity to assassinate the Supreme Emperor who was still the emperor at that time. However, the master has never treated him as a slave, and has always treated him with equality and respect. Even if he guesses that he has two intentions, he still values him... After a long time, even the stones are heated up! He turned his back on his former master, and followed him wholeheartedly for thirty years... He never regretted it, and was even a little grateful for his original choice!
"Cough, cough..." The Taishang's cough interrupted Dequan's memory, he hurriedly got off the kang, poured a cup of warm water from the teapot, and served his master to drink it.
Dequan looked at his master's expression, and said worriedly: "Master, I have never brought an imperial physician to accompany me on this trip. This servant went out to inquire about where the most famous medical clinic in Fucheng is!"
The Supreme Emperor waved his hand, shook his head and said, "No need! Didn't we bring the pills from Tongrentang? Take a cold and cough pill, and I'll be fine after taking it! Can a little wind and cold still defeat you?"
Yu Xiaocao cooked ginger soup, dripped a drop of spirit stone liquid, and brought it over. Seeing the pill in Dequan's hand, he hesitated for a moment, and said, "Fifth Lord, can I let the girl feel your pulse? The medicine is three-point poisonous. Although this pill is good, you can't just take it casually!"
"Haha...cough, cough, cough," the Supreme Emperor coughed again, looked at Yu Xiaocao and said with a smile, "I almost forgot, there is still Doctor Yu Xiaocao here!"