The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 524 The Beggar (Part 9)

"Today, the owner of Fu Ji gave me a full two catties of pork belly. Did you burn it all? Shouldn't you save some for the Lantern Festival?" Jiang Weiguo completely ignored An Youyou's statement that she could eat a whole pig and steered the topic back to braised pork.

As a leader who was easily led astray by her underlings, An Youyou quickly forgot about the pig and nodded very firmly, saying with great pride, "Cook it! It's just two pounds of meat. I know, Chen Shun told me that the meat shrinks when it's cooked, so it won't even weigh two pounds after cooking."

"Can't you see the results today? I have money now!"

"I'll eat half of the braised pork tonight, and you can share the rest!"

An Youyou insisted on the principle that the eldest should eat at least half of everything.

Jiang Weiguo was clearly used to it. He nodded calmly, lifted the lid, and glanced at the pork knuckle in the pot.

Qin Huai also glanced at it.

It was very soft and mushy.

The pork hock in the pot wasn't very big, probably because pigs weren't raised very large back then. As Jiang Weiguo just mentioned, a pig could yield about 100-200 jin of meat. Although Qin Huai had never raised pigs, he wasn't a completely ignorant city kid. When Qin Huai was a child, quite a few families in Qin Family Village raised pigs, and every year during the Spring Festival when pigs were slaughtered, the children would run to watch the excitement.

Qin Huai vaguely remembered that the village's skilled pig farmers could raise large, fat pigs weighing four or five hundred jin (200-250 kg), and even super-fat pigs weighing six hundred jin (300 kg) had been raised. The meat was so fatty that a single piece of braised pork could leave a six or seven-year-old child speechless for a long time; it was an absolute fat bomb.

Compared to the big, fat pigs in the village, the pig that Jiang Weiguo described as having only a couple hundred pounds of meat was practically a slender, skinny pig.

Qin Huai didn't know how to make braised pork knuckle, but he could tell that Jiang Weiguo's skills in making it were quite good.

The sauce is rich and dark, and you can tell from the color that a lot of ingredients have been used. The sugar is caramelized beautifully, and the pork knuckle skin looks chewy and bouncy. Just looking at it makes you imagine the wonderful feeling of the pork knuckle skin melting in your mouth and sliding down your tongue into your stomach.

Slip.

Qin Huai couldn't help but swallow.

Strangely enough, he, like An Youyou, suddenly had a strong craving for braised pork knuckle.

Qin Huai found Jiang Weiguo's skill points rather strange. His pastries were mediocre, his stir-fries were average, and his everyday home-cooked dishes didn't look very appealing, appearing rather bland. Qin Huai hadn't had high hopes for Jiang Weiguo's braised pork knuckle, which was an absolute star dish, a grand finale at banquets, a star among pork dishes, incomparable to ordinary home-cooked meals.

As it turned out, Jiang Weiguo's braised pork knuckle was actually quite good. The guy wasn't lying to An Youyou; he really knew how to make braised pork knuckle, and he was quite skilled at it.

"Slurp." An Youyou took a loud gulp of saliva. Judging from her posture, if the pork knuckle wasn't in the pot, she would have reached out with her chopsticks to taste the saltiness first.

"The braised pork knuckle smells so good!" An Youyou said with a regretful expression. "If I had known that I would take on fewer underlings and spend less money, I would have been able to eat braised pork knuckle a couple of years ago."

Jiang Weiguo: ...

As the aroma of braised pork knuckle filled the air, An Youyou's stomach growled twice.

You could tell that An Youyou was really hungry; her stomach never growled when she used to beg for food on time.

Jiang Weiguo could tell that An Youyou was hungry, so he pointed to the steamer and said, "There are potato buns inside. Boss, you can eat a couple to tide you over."

"Potatoes?" An Youyou walked to the steamer and lifted the lid. What came into view were big, white buns. Each bun was bigger than An Youyou's fist. They were definitely a large and filling type.

"Why aren't you making meat buns? Isn't today New Year's Day?" An Youyou was a little dissatisfied, feeling that the wonderful New Year was ruined by the potato buns in front of her.

“It’s also filled with meat,” Jiang Weiguo explained. “I’m saving the pork belly to make braised pork, so I didn’t make meat buns. The meat in the bun filling was given to me by Aunt Chen. She went to the butcher shop today and bought a pound and a half of fresh meat. It wasn’t enough to make meat buns, so I made cabbage buns… We already had cabbage in the dishes for today’s New Year’s Eve dinner, so I made potato buns.”

"Aunt Chen went to the neighbor's house today to exchange some bamboo shoots. Just a few, so I chopped them up and put them into the buns."

Hearing Jiang Weiguo say that the potato buns contained meat, An Youyou was finally satisfied. She picked up a bun and took a bite, not afraid of burning herself at all.

"Not bad." An Youyou chewed on a steamed bun, but her eyes were fixed on the braised pork knuckle. "I heard Chen Shun say that people in the North eat dumplings during the Lunar New Year. What are dumplings?"

"A type of pastry with a filling wrapped in a dough, which doesn't require leavening the dough and can be cooked directly in a pot," Jiang Weiguo said.

"Why don't we eat dumplings during the New Year? Thirteen, I remember you fled from Beiping, right? Did your family eat dumplings during the New Year before?"

An Youyou's question left Jiang Weiguo speechless. An Youyou, oblivious to his surprise, continued, "I don't know if steamed buns or dumplings are tastier, but I think steamed buns are definitely better. How much can boiled food taste good? Steamed food is definitely better!"

"Tomorrow is the first day of the Lunar New Year, so why don't you make dumplings tomorrow, the thirteenth? I've never seen dumplings before."

"But Chen Shun said that dumplings taste better when made with pure white flour, which is too wasteful of white flour. Tomorrow, you make 26 dumplings, I'll eat half, and you can each have one of the rest."

"How big is this dumpling? Is it the same size as this steamed bun?"

After An Youyou muttered to herself for a while, Jiang Weiguo finally spoke slowly: "My family doesn't eat dumplings during the Chinese New Year."

"Huh?" An Youyou was shocked. "Why? Isn't Beiping in the north? Or is Chen Shun lying to me? I knew he was lying to me. He used to live in Sichuan. He's not from the north. What does he know about what people in the north eat for the New Year? He must be lying to me because he thinks I'm uneducated. I'm going to settle the score with him later. I was going to give him a piece of braised pork tonight, but I think he shouldn't eat it. I'll eat his piece."

“In the north, people eat dumplings during the Spring Festival, but my family doesn’t,” Jiang Weiguo said.

An Youyou was shocked again: "Why? Because dumplings need to be made with white flour, and your family is too poor to afford them? But I feel like your family used to be quite rich. Of all the little brothers I've taken in, you are the tallest, the strongest, the best fighter, and the most robust. And you are the least likely to beg for food. It's obvious you've never begged before. Only rich kids don't know how to beg for food."

“My dad is a cook,” Jiang Weiguo said casually. “Every year during the Spring Festival is the busiest time for the restaurant. It’s good if my dad can get home before midnight on New Year’s Eve. He doesn’t have time to cook the New Year’s Eve dinner. He just cooks several dishes at the restaurant, packs them in a food box, and brings them back.”

"My older brothers were also helping out at the restaurant, and later I also went to help out at the restaurant, since there was no one at home for the Chinese New Year."

“I have an aunt. Before she got married, on New Year’s Eve, she would prepare food at home and bring my fifth and sixth brothers and me to wait for my father and brothers to come back. Back then, we could still have hot and fresh food for our New Year’s Eve dinner.”

"After my aunt got married, we had a more casual New Year's Eve dinner. It's much colder in Beijing than in Shanghai, and our food containers don't keep well insulated. If we were almost home, the food might still be hot, but restaurants are always packed on New Year's Eve. After a long day, everyone is exhausted and can't walk fast when we get home. By the time we get home, the food is usually a little cold. If we reheat it on the stove, it doesn't taste right, and if we eat it cold, it doesn't taste good either. So we just eat whatever we have and the New Year is over."

"In my memory, my family has never eaten dumplings during Chinese New Year."

“But my third brother told me that when my mother was alive, we ate dumplings for Chinese New Year. Back then, Chinese New Year was very lively. My mother wasn’t very good at cooking, but she was exceptionally good at making pastries. On New Year’s Eve, my father was working at a restaurant, and my mother would stay home and lead everyone in making dumplings. She had to make enough dumplings for the entire Chinese New Year period, and sometimes she could make more than ten different flavors.”

"Our family eats dumplings every morning during the entire Chinese New Year period."

“But I don’t remember much about these things. My mother had a difficult childbirth and passed away a few years later. I don’t even remember what she looked like. I was basically raised by my aunt.”

An Youyou listened quietly to Jiang Weiguo finish speaking. After he finished speaking, Jiang Weiguo found it strange that An Youyou didn't react. He deliberately looked up at her and found that An Youyou was looking at him with a pitying gaze.

Jiang Weiguo: ?

"Thirteen, although your story is not as tragic as others, at least you had a father, a mother and an aunt. Many of Xiao Jiu and others were born without a father or mother and did not know who their parents were."

"But I could tell from your voice that you wanted dumplings!" Jiang Weiguo: ...

How did you tell?

An Youyou gave him an expression that said, "No need for explanation, the boss understands: No problem, it's just dumplings, right? I'll take care of it!"

Jiang Weiguo: "Boss, you don't even know what dumplings are?"

"So what?" An Youyou looked like it didn't matter. "What kind of dumplings are they is not important. What's important is that we have to eat dumplings on New Year's Eve. You're from the North, and this is a tradition for celebrating the New Year in the North."

After saying that, An Youyou pointed to the potato buns in the steamer: "I declare that these are potato dumplings!"

Jiang Weiguo: ? ? ?

Seeing Jiang Weiguo's puzzled expression, An Youyou thoughtfully explained, "Look, this will do. Tonight, I'll decide that you eat three potato dumplings, making up for all the dumplings you haven't had in recent years."

"Boss, these are steamed buns..." Jiang Weiguo said weakly, wanting to defend the last bit of the right to make steamed buns for potato buns.

An Youyou gave Jiang Weiguo a disappointed look and shouted, "Xiao Si and Xiao Jiu, come in!"

Xiao Si and Xiao Jiu rushed in. As soon as they entered the kitchen, they took a few deep breaths and swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva. Xiao Si even covered his mouth to try his best not to let the saliva flow out.

"Do you know what this is?" An Youyou asked, pointing to the potato buns in the steamer.

Xiao Si really wanted to respectfully say, "Boss, this is a steamed bun," but was stopped by the clever Xiao Jiu.

"Boss, what's this?" Xiao Jiu asked.

An Youyou was very pleased with Xiao Jiu's wit: "These are potato dumplings. Do you know what dumplings are? They are eaten in the North during the Spring Festival. Thirteen is from the North, so he eats dumplings during the Spring Festival. We should all follow Thirteen's local customs and eat dumplings with him during the Spring Festival."

Jiang Weiguo was no longer able to argue whether the steamer contained buns or dumplings, nor did he want to point out that An Youyou's use of the idiom was problematic; using "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" at this time was strange.

He could only watch silently as the deer was called a horse.

"Got it, boss! We'll eat dumplings with Brother Thirteen this Chinese New Year!" Xiao Jiu said loudly.

"Let's eat potato dumplings!" Xiao Si said, enunciating each word clearly.

An Youyou announced loudly, "Great news! We'll all have a potato dumpling tonight. Thirteen hasn't had dumplings for the past few years, so we'll join him this year and make up for the dumplings he missed out on!"

"Yay, let's eat dumplings!" Xiao Si cheered.

Xiao Si and Xiao Jiu quickly shared the good news that they would be having dumplings tonight.

An hour later, everyone gathered in the dining room on the second floor, and the room was packed with 19 people. The Chen family naturally did not have a table big enough to seat 19 people at the same time. In addition to the five members of the Chen family, only An Youyou, Jiang Weiguo, and the youngest, Xiao Si, who could barely squeeze in, sat at the table.

Everyone else was holding a bowl, either sitting or squatting on the ground, as long as they ate at the table.

The meal on the table was very lavish. Braised pork knuckle and braised pork belly were supposed to be the main dishes, but tonight the focus was a bit off, and even the Chen family's attention was drawn to the potato buns.

"So the large steamed buns are dumplings!" Aunt Chen exclaimed in sudden realization. "I thought dumplings and steamed buns were completely different, but it turns out they're just different sizes."

Jiang Weiguo: ...

“That’s right.” An Youyou nodded. “Sister Chen, people in the north eat dumplings during the New Year. Let’s eat dumplings first. These potato dumplings are especially delicious. I already ate one in the kitchen.”

Brother Chen was a kind-hearted farmer. Hearing An Youyou say this, he chuckled and said, "We have to eat first. If it weren't for Weiguo, I wouldn't have known that dumplings are like this."

Jiang Weiguo: ...

Chen Shun quietly picked up a steamed bun and began to eat it silently. Chen Shun's younger brother and sister, like Xiao Si, happily ate their steamed buns, saying as they ate: "So this is what dumplings are like. They're pretty much the same as steamed buns. Why are they called dumplings?"

Qin Huai could tell that Jiang Weiguo was somewhat suicidal.

But Jiang Weiguo was also very aware of his role as the younger brother. He knew that things had developed to this point, and whatever the boss said was right. Even if An Youyou pointed at the potato buns and said they were potato dumplings, or even if she pointed at the potato buns and said they were potato shumai, potato mooncakes, potato steamed cakes, or potato pancakes, Jiang Weiguo would pretend he didn't hear anything.

This is my self-cultivation.

After eating a potato bun, the room was filled with comments like, "Northerners are really rich, eating such big potato dumplings during the New Year."

After the snacks, it's time for the main dishes.

However, before we started eating, An Youyou, as the eldest, still had to say a few words.

"Does everyone still remember our slogan? Let's shout it again before we eat our New Year's Eve dinner!"

"We remember!" all the underlings except Jiang Weiguo said in unison.

"Begging is the best job in the world!"

An Youyou glared at Jiang Weiguo: "Thirteen, why didn't you call out?"

Jiang Weiguo: ...

"Come on, let's shout it again!"

"Begging is the best job in the world!"

This time, Jiang Weiguo joined in the shouting, though his voice wasn't loud, Qin Huai heard it.

Brother Chen and his wife were barely able to hold back their laughter. Sister Chen covered her mouth and whispered in Brother Chen's ear, "This is the first time I've ever seen Weiguo make this expression."

"It's so lively! It's even more lively than when we were in Sichuan."

"Yes, it's good to have a lively atmosphere." Brother Chen nodded. "The New Year is all about having a lively atmosphere."

Amidst the lively New Year's Eve dinner, Qin Huai left behind his memories.

(End of this chapter)