I'm already a concubine, who wants to fight with you?

Chapter 17 Bear Banquet
Bear bones alone were not enough, so Xie Fei asked Fu Yu to catch two fish from the water tank, wrap them in gauze, and stew them together in the pot.

In this way, the strong aroma of bear bones and the mellow aroma of crucian carp are combined, and the soup is rich and white, which is even more mellow and fragrant than milk.

Twenty or so pounds of bear meat are needed to feed more than twenty people, which is not much in reality, so other side dishes are needed.

Xie Fei prepared braised bear meat, boiled meat slices with wood ear mushrooms, meat stewed with potatoes, etc.

She took a piece of shank, added cardamom, cinnamon, star anise and other ingredients she bought, and spent an hour simmering it over low heat to make a rich marinade, and then ate the shank.

A piece of meat with alternating fat and lean parts is made into Meicaikourou with pickles, and a layer of potatoes is placed underneath. The soup is allowed to soak into the potatoes during cooking, and it tastes like bear meat, with a dense and fragrant texture.

There was some minced meat, so I simply chopped it up, kneaded it with sweet potato flour, and then beat it hard to increase its toughness. I made bear meatballs, half of which was cooked in vegetable and tofu soup, and the other half was braised.

Part of the bear's internal organs was sold, and the rest was kept for consumption.

Several aunts sat on the ground cleaning the bear intestines. Even though they were vomiting from the feces inside, no one was willing to throw them away.

Everyone was beaming with joy and chatting.

"I heard that bear bile is very nutritious, why don't we save some to eat?"

Daniu's wife spat, "Bear gall is very expensive. Mr. Wang charged five taels of silver for it! You want to eat it? Can you afford five taels of silver?"

The women exclaimed.

"Oh my god, five taels of silver? Even if I work myself to death for several years, I may not be able to earn that much!"

"So, shouldn't those hunters be very rich? Hunting a bear is enough to feed them for many years."

"What nonsense are you talking about! Can't you see that Brother Fa is still asleep? It would be great if we could hunt down a bear, but if we can't, we'll lose our life!"

When Chen Dafa was mentioned, the women who were cheerful just now fell silent.

Seeing the tense atmosphere, Xie Fei took the initiative to bring up the topic and asked, "How much monthly salary can you get from the village?"

One woman immediately got excited and said, "My family can get six cents, which is quite a lot!"

"My family only has three cents. If it weren't for me going out to do laundry and mending, we wouldn't be able to survive."

"I heard that working for the Pei family not only gives you a high monthly salary, but also a lot of rewards during festivals. My mother-in-law knows an old lady in the Pei family. If her master is very happy, she will give her a few taels of silver at will!"

When others heard this, they couldn't help but exclaimed in surprise.

Everyone was chatting excitedly and no one remembered that Xie Fei was from Pei Mansion.

But even if someone remembered it, no one would come to ask Xie Fei for help.

After all, in their hearts, Xie Fei was also a poor man who was driven out by the Pei family.

While Xie Fei was cooking, he was thinking about the wages of these people.

Considering the wealth of the Pei family, the monthly wages paid to the servants in the outer village were indeed too little.

Today, Dajing is a peaceful country with good weather and good harvests year after year. The country is much stronger than the previous dynasty. Even the small itinerant vendors outside earn more than a few cents a month.

Either it was deducted layer by layer, or Xiao Shirong deducted it and put it into his own pocket.

In the evening, several tables were set up in the middle of the yard and dishes were served one after another.

Most of the dishes are meat, and the aroma of meat makes everyone drool.

Bear bone soup, the soup is white and rich, only salt is used, and it is stewed over firewood, exuding the most mellow taste. The fragrance of bones and fish is combined in the mist, and the mellow juice fills the mouth. A dish of braised bear meat with pickled mustard greens is also Xie Fei's specialty. The evenly thick and thin slices of pork belly are fat and lean. The best ones are three layers of lean meat and two layers of fat alternately. It is tender and delicious and melts in the mouth. The salty fragrance of the pickles neutralizes the fatness of the meat, which complements each other.

The braised meat took an entire afternoon to cook, and the most special thing for everyone was the taste of the marinade, which was completely different from frying, boiling or stewing. It was salty and fresh, with a full taste and rich layers.

The bear meat that has absorbed the marinade is extremely tempting. It has the refreshing and sweet aftertaste brought by the various mixed marinades, as well as the meaty and tender nature of the bear meat itself. The marinated meat is a beautiful red sauce color, and every piece of meat is so delicious that you can't help but swallow your tongue.

The most delicious dish is the bear meatballs in clear soup made by Xie Fei. After a long period of beating, the bear meat is flexible but not soft. It is truly lean but not dry, tender and refreshing.

Thanks to the nourishment of sweet potato starch, the loose bear meat is tightly connected together. After being soaked in the broth, it absorbs the most fragrant essence of the broth. When you take a bite, the broth first bursts in your mouth, and endless flavors spread instantly.

The table was filled with meat and vegetable dishes, and everyone couldn't stop eating.

For a moment, the only sounds that could be heard at the table were the sounds of chewing and swallowing. No one had the energy to talk, for fear that if they stopped eating, the delicious food would be snatched away by others.

At the same time, everyone felt very regretful.

If I had known Xie Fei was such a good cook, I should have contributed all of my two pounds of meat and eaten it all today.

The men enjoyed the meal with a little wine, and the women also had a hearty meal after a long absence, their faces flushed.

After dinner, Xie Fei returned to his yard and stretched.

Finally, she doesn't have to keep vigil for Chen Dafa tonight. She can lie on the bed and have a good sleep comfortably.

Just as I was about to go to the kitchen to boil water for washing my feet, I heard some noise inside.

When I went in, I found that it was Yuan San who was cooking noodles.

"The girl is eating delicious food in the front, but I can only eat a bowl of vegetarian noodles in the back, without even a piece of vegetable leaf." Yuan San said pitifully.

Seeing that he was more aggrieved than a three-year-old who couldn't get candy, Xie Fei was happy and said, "Isn't there bear meat under the wooden basin on the stove? Do you want me to cook you a side dish?"

Yuan San said, "For now, forget it. I'll finish this meal and save some space for something better."

In fact, to be honest, we were able to kill the bear thanks to Yuan San.

Xie Fei fished out a green vegetable from the pickled cabbage jar, cut it and gave it to Yuan San as a side dish, saying, "They also divided my money, how about you take half, no, one third?"

The noodles in the pot were cooked. Yuan San scooped them up all at once without adding any oil or salt. He poured the sauerkraut into the noodles, stirred them a few times, and slurped them up.

"Please keep this money with you, young lady. When I get married, you can pay the betrothal gift for me."

Xie Fei wrote it down carefully, "Alright, I will never embezzle even a cent from you."

These days, everyone was in a turmoil over Chen Dafa's matter. When Xie Fei came to his senses, he realized that the weather in the mountains was getting colder.

She saw that Yuan San was still wearing his ragged short shirt and his straw sandals were in tatters.

"It's autumn now, so we have to start making winter clothes. Tomorrow I'll ask Fu Yu to get the best fabrics from the bottom of the box and go to the town to find a tailor to make you a set."

I need to know Yuan San's size before I can make clothes for him.

Yuan San understood it all at once, put down his empty bowl and chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and smiled brightly at Xie Fei.

"Thank you for your concern, Miss, but my life is cheap, it doesn't matter what I wear, and Miss doesn't have much material, so I'd better save it for later."

(End of this chapter)