Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 913: A Year of Wealth
In the east courtyard, early in the morning, Wang Zhan brought two maids to paste couplets, auspicious characters, hang lanterns, and paste window flowers. The three of them were busy.

Even Jinbao's nest and Dayu's and Xiaoyu's nests were pasted with the word "Fu" (blessing). Wang Zhan also hung red lanterns on both sides of the gate, but he had to wait until night to light the candles.

Wang Zhan instructed the two maids and went to the kitchen to start preparing the ingredients. This year's ingredients were abundant, and Wang Zhan planned to give the master and Sha Zhu a surprise. Last night, the sea cucumbers and abalone had been soaked, and the shark fins and fish maws were being processed. Wang Zhan handled each ingredient carefully. He wanted to do his best today and try his best to surprise the master and Sha Zhu.

At noon, Wang Zhan made dumplings with three fresh ingredients. This time the three fresh fillings were real, and each dumpling had half a shrimp. At first, He Yushui and Wang Li didn’t know about it. They were busy arranging dried fruits and fruits on plates and then placing them in each room.

Jinbao was happy today, as he had meat and bones to eat early in the morning; Dayu and Xiaoyu were happy today, as Wang Zhan prepared a basin of small fish and shrimps, chopped them up and mixed them with corn paste early in the morning.

When three plates of dumplings were served on the round table, Wang Li didn't think much of it. But after eating the first dumpling, she shouted, "Hey, there are shrimps in it? Wow, it's really delicious. It would be even better with some vinegar."

At the end of the three plates of dumplings, Wang Zhan only ate two, and the rest went into the stomachs of the two girls. Wang Zhan had no choice but to make himself a bowl of wontons and eat it. This time he didn't dare to take it out and ate it in the kitchen.

In the afternoon, Aunt Sun came first with her two children, and brought meat and eggs from her home. Erya also brought a bag of milk candy. Xiaopang had nothing in his hands, but he ran happily to Wang Zhan. Xiaopang had become familiar with Wang Zhan's family during the year, and he knew that brother Wang Zhan would definitely give him something delicious. Wang Zhan took the two children to the kitchen.

Aunt Sun walked around and looked at the yard. She was very satisfied. The yard was full of festive atmosphere.

When she entered the kitchen, she was shocked to see the ingredients on the cutting boards. She quickly pulled Wang Zhan to ask, "Where did you get all these things? I rarely see many of these things. Even the dry goods stores in Wangfujing don't have them."

Wang Zhan knew that Auntie Sun was worried that he would make a mistake, so he said directly: "They were all brought back by Wu Yong. He is making a living in Tianjin. I asked him to buy them. Don't worry, Auntie Sun."

When Aunt Sun heard this, she knew there must be something wrong, but she stopped asking questions. Wang Zhan was always meticulous in his work, and since he dared to accept it, there shouldn't be any problem.

In fact, Wang Zhan had also thought about this problem, but he bought it for his own use, not to sell it as a commodity. At most, he would be branded as a greedy person, but he did not engage in speculation. Although the source of the money was a bit questionable, it had nothing to do with him. He paid for it, and this is why Wang Zhan insisted on giving money to Hei Pi.

Another point is that Wang Zhan trusts Hei Pi and Wu Yong, and they are rigorous in their work. As long as Wang Zhan does not publicize it, there will be no problems. People who often come to his house are Wang Zhan's relatives and elders, so there will be no problems.

Aunt Sun also ate a bowl of wontons. Erya and Xiaopang sat quietly in the kitchen with their small stools, each holding a bowl and eating fried food one bite at a time. Aunt Sun kept urging them to eat less, saying that the kitchen was full of delicious ingredients, as tonight's New Year's Eve dinner would definitely be amazing.

Wang Zhan had a nice idea, but his idea was ruined when his master came back with Sha Zhu and Director Li. He was kicked out of the kitchen. Sha Zhu's face was full of excitement. He had not seen so many ingredients this year, especially when he saw a bag of venison, he was even more eager to try.

Wang Zhan was looking after the children in the main room, He Yushui and Aunt Sun were making dumplings, cheerful songs were playing on the radio, and the three little ones were playing with the clay figurines and tumblers that Wang Li brought back from Guanyuan.

Wang Zhan looked at the child for a while, then looked towards the kitchen, sighing from time to time. The chef and Sha Zhu had worked very hard today. They had been busy for two hours, but they didn't come out to shout "Dinner is ready!" Just when Wang Zhan was bored, Chief Li's voice came from the kitchen, "Xiao Zhan, light the firecrackers, dinner is ready!"

Before Wang Zhan could stand up, Wang Li rushed out with the two children. Aunt Sun shouted from behind, "It's cold, put on your cotton jacket!"

The three little ones put on their coats, Wang Zhan picked up a few whips, and walked out of the main room, followed by Wang Li and the others.

Wang Zhan placed the firecrackers from the backyard all the way to the front door, until he had two of them at the front door, then he stopped. He pointed to the yard and said to Wang Li, "Take them to the gate and wait. If you can't get in later, you won't be able to see the firecrackers in the yard."

Wang Li brought the two children into the courtyard. Before the firecrackers were lit, the three children had already blocked their ears. Wang Zhan smiled and started lighting firecrackers outside, one by one, and the three children followed him until the last chain was lit. The courtyard and outside the yard were full of lit firecrackers, and the sound was deafening. When Wang Zhan brought the three children back to the main room, four cold dishes were already on the table: five-spice fish, Qianlong cabbage, cold-mixed scallops, and crystal shrimp balls.

Wang Zhan took the children to sit down. The children also knew the rules and knew that the adults were not at the table yet, so they did not pick up their chopsticks. However, their sniffling revealed their desire for the food on the table.

The dishes were served one after another, most of which were familiar to Wang Zhan, including Dongpo pork elbow, braised three kinds of food, prawns, sea cucumber with scallions, green squid, nine-turn large intestine, stir-fried double crispy, braised abalone, shark's fin in soup, and phoenix wings.

Finally, Director Li and Aunt Sun were also at the table. Qi Dasheng came with a large soup bowl. He was very satisfied with his work and said, "The last soup is abalone, shark's fin and fish maw soup."

Director Li's eyes narrowed with laughter, and he said, "Today's New Year's Eve dinner is the most sumptuous I have ever eaten. I have never eaten anything so delicious in my life. Haha, let's finish eating first."

Sha Zhu also said: "Yes, today the ingredients are abundant, thanks to Wang Zhan, I also had a taste of it. Normally, the chef would not let me touch it. Thank you, Chef Qi."

Qi Dasheng waved his hand and said, "When we have time someday, let's make another legendary dish, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall." After hearing this, Sha Zhu nodded happily.

"How about it? They are all delicious dishes, right? Today, Director Li, you can make the opening remarks, and then we can start eating." Qi Dasheng said to Director Li.

Director Li picked up the wine glass, stood up and said, "Okay, today is New Year's Eve. I wish everyone here, adults and children, good health and all the best. I also wish our country to be prosperous and peaceful. Come on, cheers, happy new year!"

"Cheers!" Everyone shouted loudly, and then everyone at the table stopped talking and lowered their heads to eat. For the first time, Wang Zhan was impressed by Sha Zhu's cooking skills. It was obvious that the nine-turn large intestine and shark's fin in soup were made by him, and he really put a lot of effort into them. Everyone at the table started to eat happily. Although this New Year's Eve dinner was a little later than others, it was a genuine high-end banquet.

(End of this chapter)