The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 204 A Mistake (Part 2)

Huh?
Isn't that the voice of Aunt Ma who helped her move before?
She saved the life of Aunt Ma's eldest son at Jinzhou Pass, and the two families had some contact afterward.

What is Aunt Ma crying about?
Her loud voice made little Yuanyuan stop holding her rice bowl, and she craned her neck to look at the gate, babbling in all sorts of alien languages.

When Gan Minglan opened the courtyard gate with her in her arms, they saw...

Good guy!
Outside the gate of No. 36 courtyard, a large group of military dependents were standing.

The one leading the group wasn't Aunt Ma, but rather General Tian's elderly mother.

Madam Tian did not wail loudly, but she held a handkerchief in her hand and kept wiping the corners of her eyes.

Seeing Gan Minglan and her daughter, her face was filled with pity.

He still held onto Gan Minglan's arm and solemnly said:
"Captain Gan, for the sake of your little girl, you must take care of yourself! Scholar Zuo, when did he pass away? Has his funeral clothes been prepared? I bought myself a fine coffin years ago, and I'll send it to your home soon! Don't worry, your family's affairs are the affairs of all military families in our border town."

Gan Minglan stared in disbelief, her head swollen as a cow.

After hearing this, is there anything you still don't understand?

Her eldest son's previous wailing didn't send off his own father, but it did make his father die once, and in a way that everyone knew about!
Out of the corner of her eye, Gan Minglan saw Aunt Ma gathering her emotions, and quickly stopped her, explaining:

"Thank you for your kindness, Madam, and thank you for your concern, ladies. My husband only suffered a rather serious knife wound. My father found him on the battlefield and carried him home because he was afraid the doctors in the military camp would be too busy."

I just cleaned his wounds and applied some medicine. He woke up briefly about fifteen minutes ago. His mother-in-law and children were crying; they were terrified by the severity of his back injury.

"Oh my, that's wonderful, wonderful! Good people should live a peaceful and safe life!" Old Madam Tian was genuinely happy for Gan Minglan.

Just because Captain Gan risked her life to go to the grasslands and brought back news of the Tatar army's invasion of the border town, all the people in the town will remember her kindness.

Not only did others contribute greatly, but even a frail scholar like Zuo Xiucai went to the battlefield to fight the enemy.

They're a good family; we really can't let anything happen to them.

Before her son went to Yulinwei, he repeatedly told her to take good care of this family.

The old lady received the news 25 minutes ago and was greatly alarmed.

Before even informing his daughter-in-law, he hurriedly left the mansion with his maids and servants.

After hearing Gan Minglan's explanation, the crowd gathered at the entrance quickly suppressed their grief.

They also comforted her, saying:
"It's good that you're alive, it's good that you're alive! Scholar Zuo is still young, with a little rest for three or two months, he'll surely recover! The Ang family has some excellent wound medicine, I'll go back and get it for you right away!"

"Captain Gan, as the old saying goes, those who survive a great calamity are destined for good fortune! Believe me, Scholar Zuo will surely have great blessings in the future!"

"Captain Gan, I'll have my son catch some fish in the river right away to nourish Scholar Zuo! You wait here, I'm on my way home!"

"The Ang family also has goji berries and astragalus, which are excellent for replenishing qi and blood."

The military families had heard that Captain Gan's husband had died, and they came to No. 36 Courtyard to help with the funeral arrangements.

The result was that she went from being widowed to being seriously injured.

We must hurry home and find some nourishing food to visit the injured.

Everyone was internally cursing those who spread false information.

This is really embarrassing, especially for Aunt Ma who was howling the loudest.

Not only were the well-meaning neighbors embarrassed.

Hearing that someone had come to offer condolences, Luo and her eldest grandson hid inside, not daring to utter a sound. They wished that King Atu would dig a mouse hole for them so they could hide. Despite the huge misunderstanding that had occurred...

The Gan family of three were very happy for their daughter/sister after learning that their son-in-law had just woken up.

The family of three put their worries aside and finally focused their attention on the sheep.

The two-courtyard mutton restaurant that my family bought is almost finished with renovations and will be open for business in another month or two.

Before that, we definitely need to practice first.

The sheep my daughter brought back has already been slaughtered and bled.

At this point, Gan's father took over the work of skinning and dissecting.

His movements as he skinned the sheep were quick and efficient, as smooth as a person taking off their clothes: "This grassland sheep should be about eight or nine months old. After skinning, the meat and bones together will weigh about twenty-five or twenty-six pounds!"

The old butcher's hands are the scale.

Yang, however, treated the sheep intestines and stomach with special attention: "They're so clean! They'll be perfect for stewing with radishes to make a pot of sheep offal soup!"

Gan Mingshou disliked all animal offal, but his eyes gleamed as he drooled over the bright red mutton.
"Mom, I heard from the old soldiers at the garrison that the best way to cook mutton is to boil it, stew it, steam it, and roast it. You can't skimp on peppercorns, salt, scallions, and radishes! Let's try boiling and stewing it today!"

Gan Hong smelled the mutton he had just divided in his hand, and hesitated for a moment before saying:
"They must be talking about how to cook Biancheng mutton. Your sister said the mutton she brought back is just a grassland sheep raised by the Tatars. How can it taste good boiled or stewed? This meat still smells a bit gamey."

Yang said nonchalantly:
"You've been dealing with pigs so much that you can't smell it, but many people find pork too gamey! Cooked pork doesn't have any strange smell at all. Only by boiling or stewing it in water can you bring out the true flavor of the mutton."

At the chef's command, the three of them got to work.

Gan Hongzhen was responsible for removing the lamb spine and ribs from the meat and then chopping them into large pieces.

Poor Gan Mingshou was assigned the task of washing sheep intestines and tripe by his own mother, who wished she could drag her five-year-old nephew out to do the work as well.

Yang quickly washed the two large iron pots clean and started a fire.

It was her first time making mutton soup, so she didn't have any experience to draw upon.

Drawing on past experience in making pork stew, I figured it out as I went along.

Pork bones can be used to make a broth.

Lamb bones work too!
To test the difference between adding and not adding herbal roots, two pots were boiled simultaneously.

Perhaps it's because the ingredients were too fresh and of too high quality.

As the bone broth simmered, its aroma filled every corner of the yard.

This made the little fat boy so hungry that he would run to the kitchen every fifteen minutes.

After the eighth trip.

Yang poked at the meat and lamb chops in the pot with her chopsticks, and finally nodded:

“Sweetie, go call your grandma and mom for breakfast. We can start eating now! Grandma will take out these bones and meat, and then cook the offal and radishes in. We’ll eat the meat, gnaw on the bones, and then drink the offal soup.”

"Father is asleep, we need to save some for him!"

"Alright, alright, save a big bowl for your dad."

(End of this chapter)