The strong fisherman in the courtyard

Li Ming stroked his chin and said, after all, it would not be an exaggeration to speculate about this old guy Yi Zhonghai even with the most malicious thinking.

"Anything is fine as long as you don't donate money!"

Father Li also chimed in after hearing this in the kitchen.

"Yeah, that's true. The weather is nice right now, I'm going to go out and bask in the sun." Li Ming glanced at the weather outside. The big sun seemed very warm, so he prepared to go out and bask in the sun.

There’s nothing we can do, the adult world is so dull and boring!

Li Ming had no reaction to his sister's envious eyes. He just went out with his stool in his hand and found a suitable place in the front yard to lie down. Hey, how happy he was!

After a while, the stingy old man from the Yan family next door also came out of the house leisurely.

"Mingzi, come and bask in the sun!"

Li Ming raised his eyelids and said, "Well, today is a nice day. I'm thinking of sunbathing for a while."

The third uncle looked around and found that there were no people around. He walked to Li Ming's stool and squatted down. He took out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it to Li Ming. Li Ming knew Yan Fugui was the one who was behind the attack.

There is no such thing as a visit to the temple for no reason.

Since I can pass a cigarette to Li Ming today, I guess I can use him.

"Uncle, why don't you tell me what's going on first? If you don't tell me, I won't dare take your cigarette!"

Li Ming looked at Yan Fugui with a smile, and had no intention of reaching out to take the cigarette.

Let alone the Siheyuan, just this area, who doesn't know that Yan Fugui's things are hard to get? Yan Laokou can give others things and cigarettes, so there must be something big waiting behind.

Yan Fugui smiled awkwardly, knowing his reputation in this area.

"Mingzi, your uncle is thinking of getting some more food from you."

Li Ming nodded calmly, waiting for Yan Fugui to continue. If it was just to buy some food or something, then he, Yan Fugui, would not have offered him a cigarette. Li Ming still had some self-awareness.

"That's right, can you lower the price a bit?"

This is Yan Fugui's purpose. Li Ming felt relieved when he heard what Yan Fugui said. However, no matter how relieved he was, the price could not be reduced! If it really was reduced, who the hell knew what Yan Fugui was thinking?

Li Ming is not willing to guess what people are thinking!

He shook his head and said, "Uncle, no, I am taking a risk to get these things for you. I can only pay according to the black market price. If you think I am making money from you, you can go to the black market and ask around to see if this is the price."

"But if you want to lower the price, then you don't need to talk to me. When the price of pigeons in the market drops, you can buy cheaper ones, right?"

Yan Fugui didn't feel embarrassed at all. After all, in his opinion, this was just a matter of trying it out. Seeing that Li Ming didn't agree, Yan Fugui put his outstretched hand and the cigarette back into the cigarette box.

"Uncle, do you want some more?" Li Ming looked at the stingy master Yan Fugui leisurely.

The third uncle calmly shook his head and said, "No, I have more at home. Maybe next time."

"That's fine, but I have to tell you in advance that there shouldn't be much food over there. Uncle, if you don't have enough food at home, it won't hurt to stock up some in advance."

Yan Fugui nodded hesitantly, turned around and walked towards Yan's house. Li Ming could see that this stingy old man had no such intention, but he would have to stop Yan Fugui the next time he wanted to buy something.

Chapter 149 New Year Gift

I don't mean anything else, the main thing is that Yan Fugui's money is not very reliable! '

When there is such intrigue, it is better to go to the pigeon market to play with those "old and young"~

Looking at the back of the third uncle as he left, Comrade Li Ming shook his head and continued to sit on the mat leaning against the wall enjoying the sunshine.

. . . . . .

Except for lunch, Li Ming spent the entire day outside basking in the sun, feeling warm all over.

"Mom, I won't be home for dinner tonight!"

Li Ming shouted into the house.

"Okay, be safe when you go out and come back soon!"

"Okay!" After obtaining the consent of his own empress dowager, Li Ming stood up, stretched, put the stool in the house, and walked outside.

It's not that the stool has to be kept at home, but considering that there is the Thief King and his family in the courtyard, Li Ming thinks it would be more reassuring to put his own things back in the house.

After going out, Li Ming went straight to Baishun Hutong. The weather had been good recently and it hadn't snowed, so the road was easy to walk on. He arrived at Wang's house in a short while.

. . . . . .

Wang family.

After Li Ming came in, he thought he had arrived early enough, but unexpectedly, Ma Hua was even earlier!

Fortunately, Li Ming was not caught by Ma Hua when he was taking things out of the space outside the door, otherwise it would be hard to explain!

Even if you say this is magic, someone has to believe it! A thing weighing hundreds of pounds was being pulled out of thin air with a bang. Even a fool would shake his head when he saw it!

"Have you all moved in?"

Li Ming sat calmly in the main room, drinking tea, eating melon seeds, and watching the three people busying around like a hamster.

Wang nodded with a big laugh, looking at the grains on the ground, his face was almost wrinkled with laughter.

"Okay, you three brothers, don't be polite. Each of you will get a portion of food and other things. The total is divided equally among the three of us!"

Then Li Ming looked at a fat lamb that had been slaughtered and said, "Wang Er, go to the kitchen and get me a knife. Today, the four of us are going to have mutton hotpot."

"After we finish eating the rest, it's up to you three to rate it!"

"Brother Li is very fair!"*2.

The two brothers of the Wang family were almost about to jump up and cheer. All year round, they might not even have enough food to eat. Now they could have a full meal of mutton here. It was like Chinese New Year.

Not to mention, they could eat and take, and the rest belonged to the three brothers, so they were all a lot more comfortable!

"Brother, knife!"

Wang Er handed the knife to Li Ming in a fawning manner. Li Ming turned to look at Ma Hua, "Hua Zi, come here and learn how to use the knife. This chef's skills are largely determined by the knife!"

"Hey, here I come." Ma Hua also recovered from the surprise, and ran to Li Ming with a smile and started learning mode.

Wang Da and Wang Er were a bit redundant at this moment. Wang Da asked, "Brother, what are we two brothers doing?"

"What else can I do? Let's go buy some wine first, and then some snacks to go with it, like cold-mixed pig ears or something like that!"

Li Ming glanced at the two fools unhappily and said, "Remember to bring back a copper pot, and then light the charcoal and start cooking!"

"Hey, I'll go right away!"

Wang Da happily agreed to the task. This was an easy job! As for the copper pot, it was even easier. If he couldn't buy it, he could just borrow it!

Nowadays, old Beijingers prepare this thing every winter. If they really don’t have the energy, they can just go to the supply and marketing cooperative and buy one.

After the two men left, Li Ming began to teach Ma Hua how to use knife skills, using ready-made mutton as the material.

"The knife skills of a chef refer to the use of various knife-wielding methods. The basic requirements are very simple. First, the ingredients we pick must be of uniform thickness and length. Whether it is shreds, strips, or pieces, this requirement must be met."

"Second, when cutting ingredients for dishes, you must use the following knife techniques: straight cutting, pushing cutting, pulling cutting, sawing cutting, chopping cutting, rolling cutting, etc. I will demonstrate them one by one on this leg of lamb."

Li Ming taught with all his heart, and Ma Hua also learned with all his heart. After all, Li Ming did not plan to rely on this skill to make a living. The reason he trained Ma Hua was that he liked him and was a rare good guy in the original plot. The second reason, which was even simpler, was to target He Yuzhu.

I don't mean anything else. I'm just a rough guy. If you, He Yuzhu, offend me, then I will continue to retaliate against you.

When you, He Yuzhu, are laid to rest, our debt will be settled.

The main reason is that the bad things He Yuzhu did were disgusting, otherwise, Li Ming, a dignified young man of good character in later generations, would not have kept taking revenge on He Yuzhu, right?

"Look, this is a straight cut, usually used to cut tender ingredients, such as winter bamboo shoots, potatoes, cabbage, etc."

"This knife is a push cut. Some ingredients are easy to break if they are cut straight, so push cut can be used. For example, when cutting pure leg meat or sauerkraut, push cut is a must."

"This cut is called pulling. Pulling is generally used to cut tougher ingredients. These ingredients are difficult to cut with straight cutting or pushing cutting, so pulling is used. For example, you use this knife technique to cut meat slices."

"This is sawing, also called push-pull cutting. The sawing method is: use less force when cutting, cut slowly, push forward first, then pull back, push and pull like a saw, and cut slowly. For example, sawing is used to cut ham, white meat, bread, etc."

"This cut is called chopping, and it's usually used to cut things with shells."

"This is the final rolling cut, which is usually used to cut round or oval shapes, and for brittle raw materials, it is mainly used for cutting into pieces."

Li Ming demonstrated each move to Ma Hua one by one, talking as he did so. In Ma Hua's eyes, Li Ming's moves were just like a magic show, which he thought was very pretty!

Li Ming saw that Ma Hua was eager to try, so he handed the knife to Ma Hua and said, "Try it! No matter if you cut it well or not, we are having mutton hotpot tonight!"

After hearing this joke, Ma Hua relaxed his nervous mood and started to practice cutting the mutton one by one according to Li Ming's instruction.

Li Ming was happy to have someone else working. He found a bench and sat next to Ma Hua, smoking a cigarette and watching his apprentice practicing his knife skills on the chopping board.

It was not until after five o'clock that Ma Hua stopped with trembling hands and said, "Master, the piece of meat you cut is done."

"Okay, good." Li Ming slapped Ma Hua on the shoulder and almost made the child's hands twitch.

Li Mingxiaolex, "You still need to train your body more in the future. When you can beat He Yuzhu in hand-to-hand combat, I think you're almost there."

Ma Hua laughed out loud. He didn't know why his master just wanted to mess with He Yuzhu. But Ma Hua didn't care. Whatever his master wanted to do, he, as the apprentice, had to do!

Chapter 150 The Jia Family Begs for the Courtyard

"Well, let's go take a break. I guess those two will be here soon. Let them do the rest of the work today."

"After all, the two of us have put in a lot of effort today. It's time to let these two contribute their own strength."

Ma Hua had no objection to this. No matter how much effort his master put in, he, Ma Hua, really put in an effort.

Li Ming pushed Ma Hua to the main room with a smile, and they sat on chairs and started smoking and chatting.

. . . . . .

"Brother Li, we are back!"

The two Wang brothers started howling as soon as they entered the yard.

After hearing this, Li Ming went out and saw two brothers walking in holding the largest copper pot. Wang Er was holding the copper pot, and Wang Da was carrying cooked food. The two of them staggered into the house.

"Okay, I'm waiting for you two. Hurry up and pack up. Huazi and I cut nearly 10 kilograms of mutton today. I'm waiting for you two."

The two brothers' eyes were blazing with anger when they heard this. They didn't care whether they were tired or not and quickly started setting up the pot and taking out charcoal from the sack. Each one was faster than the other.

In less than ten minutes, the copper pot was ready. Two large basins filled with chopped mutton were placed on the ground. Everyone's eyes were glowing green as they stared at the mutton rolling in the copper pot.

"My goodness, you three brothers look like starving ghosts reincarnated."

Li Ming joked with them with a smile, but they didn't care. The meat was about to be in their mouths, so they said whatever they wanted.

. . . . . .

The meal lasted until after seven in the evening. The less than ten kilograms of mutton had been eaten up cleanly. It was estimated that Comrade Li Ming had eaten more than three kilograms by himself!

"Cool!"

Wang Da let out a long burp. To be honest, no one wanted to drink the wine today. Everyone was just focusing on eating.

"That's enough. Just eat until you're full. There's still a lot of mutton left. You two brothers will divide it into three parts. After it's divided, you two will bear the burden and accompany Ma Hua home."

Li Ming glanced at the three men rubbing their bellies and said slowly, "Ma Hua's house is a little far from here, and there are a lot of things today, so you three should walk slowly."

"Okay, Brother Li, don't worry, we two brothers will definitely send Brother Huazi back safely!"

Wang Da rubbed his belly and said with satisfaction.

Wang Er nodded immediately, "That's right, hiccup! Let's just treat it as a digestion!"

Ma Hua looked at the three of them with gratitude, "Thank you, brothers, and Master!"

"Okay, I'll be leaving first. You three better be careful!"

"Leaving now, Master?"

"Yeah, I just happened to be on the way and I might as well digest my food."

Li Ming put on his clothes with a smile and walked out. He waited until the three men watched Li Ming's figure disappear before turning back and going home.

"Hua Zi, wait a moment, we two brothers will pack up and leave! Otherwise it will be too late and it will be unsafe."

Wang Da’s brain was still quite useful. He said something to Ma Hua and started to clean up.

Ma Hua also hurried to help, "It's better to leave early, so that you two will be safe when you come back."

. . . . . .

Not to mention the three Ma Huas, Li Ming has already returned to the courtyard, but as soon as he entered the courtyard, he found something unpleasant.

There was no one in the entire front yard. Li Ming pricked up his ears and listened, then he heard the messy sounds coming from the middle yard.