Chapter 99 Chinese New Year
Guo Rongqiu's words made him suddenly understand.

"Uncle Guo, this is the result of your undisciplined lifestyle in your early years, which has led to a serious deficiency of body.

I suggest you take a few courses of Chinese medicine to strengthen your body and be more restrained in the future so that you can have a long-term effect. If you use some tonic now, it will only deplete your energy in advance, and when the condition becomes serious, you will be unable to move. "

Wang Mengde continued to persuade.

Of course, Chinese medicine also has some prescriptions for strong and powerful medicines, but these will not be easily given to others.

Besides, given his relationship with Fatty Guo, it is even more impossible for Uncle Guo to resort to overdrawing his future.

"Traditional Chinese medicine takes so long to take effect, it's not satisfactory." Guo Rongqiu said with some disappointment.

In response to his attitude, Wang Mengde could only smile bitterly and said nothing more. Fatty Guo beside him did not dare to say anything either.

"Children, don't be greedy. After Laba, it's New Year. Drink Laba porridge for a few days, it's the 23rd."

On Laba Festival, we drink Laba porridge, eat Laba ice, and soak Laba garlic. According to the old people in Beijing, from this day on, the Chinese New Year begins, and the Chinese New Year is not over until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

That day, after Wang Mengde finished his breakfast, he and He Shengnan were about to go out to work.

Ran Xiaomei asked him, "Meng De, since the public-private partnership has been launched this year, how much pig fat can we still buy?"

Before, Fatty Guo’s butcher shop was not a public-private partnership. Every year around the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, Wang Mengde would go to his butcher shop and buy six or seven kilograms of pork fat.

These pork lard can produce about five pounds of lard, which is just enough for their family to eat for a year.

"Mom, don't worry, I'll go to Uncle Guo's house to ask when I get home from get off work tonight.

There must be a lot of pork fat for sale in the grocery store. Ask Fatty Guo to save a few pounds for me in advance. It should be no problem. "Wang Mengde comforted him.

Nowadays, most people eat animal oil, especially lard.

Before New Year's Eve every year, almost every household would buy a few pounds of pork fat to make lard. When the oil was being refined, the fragrance could be smelled not only in the yard, but even dozens of meters away.

"Okay, don't forget tonight. If you can't buy so much at the grocery store, we can think of other ways.

If not, when I send New Year's gifts to your grandparents, I will ask your uncle to help look around Shahe to see which village is slaughtering New Year pigs and whether we can buy more." Ran Xiaomei said.

"It's probably not easy to buy so much pig fat in the countryside. A pig weighs less than 200 kilograms. At best, it can only produce 3 to 5 kilograms of pig fat. Everyone knows that it produces the most fat, so who wouldn't want it?

There are too many monks and too little meat. If Xiao Guo can't keep so much pork fat, then buy a few more pounds of pork belly and cut off the fat for refining."

Wang Hao, who was changing his shoes nearby, chimed in.

"This is the only way." Ran Xiaomei said with a frown after hearing what her husband said.

"Mom, don't worry, I'll take care of it." Wang Mengde said quickly.

Now is not the difficult period of two or three years later. Many people in rural areas still raise pigs, and pork is not so scarce yet.

Besides, he still has the space. The price of pork fat in the previous life was only a few yuan per pound, and not many people bought it. At worst, he could spend a dozen or twenty points of credit to buy a few pounds of pork fat from the small supermarket in the space.

In the evening, at Fatty Guo's house, after he told him that he wanted to buy pig fat, Fatty Guo said with a smile: "Meng De, the pig fat in the grocery store is a little tight this year.

But it's okay to leave out five pounds. That way, there will be a lot of people watching during the day. On the evening of the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, you can find me at the grocery store and take the lard back. The 27th day of the twelfth lunar month happens to be a Sunday, so you can make the lard at home."

"Okay, thank you." Wang Mengde said happily.

Five kilograms would be enough. Then I can take two or three kilograms from the supermarket. The refined oil will be enough for my family to eat for a year.

Besides, we don’t eat lard all year round. We can also eat it with vegetable oils such as soybean oil and sesame oil.

On the evening of the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, Wang Mengde walked into the Nanluoguxiang grocery store with his hands in his pockets after the store was empty.

Fatty Guo was sitting leisurely on a chair. On the chopping board, all the meat had been sold out except for a few big bones.

"Mengde, you're here." Seeing Wang Mengde, he hurriedly got up and took out a ball of lard from the cabinet.

"These are exactly five pounds. One pound of suet is one dollar and thirteen cents. The total is five dollars and sixty-five cents."

The other salespeople were not surprised to see this scene, because they often left some scarce items for relatives and friends.

Wang Mengde swiftly counted out five dollars and sixty-five cents and handed it to him. It was one way to go through the back door, but he still had to pay the due amount. After all, it was public property now, and there was an account book to record the price of each item.

"Thanks, Fatty. I'll go back first." Wang Mengde said with a smile, carrying the heavy load of pork fat.

"Okay, you go back first. I'm getting ready to get off work too." Fatty Guo yawned.

The pork had been sold out long ago. If he hadn't been waiting for Wang Mengde, he would have gone back just now.

When they got home, the lard in their hands had become seven and a half pounds. Ran Xiaomei and He Shengnan looked around with joy, and then they decided to make lard tonight. Although tomorrow is Sunday, there are other things to do. Not to mention other things, the steamed buns have to start from the early morning, and the whole family will be busy from before dawn until dark.

A lot of steamed buns are steamed a few days before the Chinese New Year. The steamed buns are usually enough to eat until the 16th day of the first lunar month. During the entire Spring Festival, no steamed buns are steamed at home.

In addition to steamed buns, there are also fried meatballs, fried crispy snacks, etc., which are all jobs that require a lot of effort.

"Mom, you and Shengnan go prepare the dough first, I'll make the lard." Wang Mengde volunteered.

"You? You've never been through it before, how can you do it?" Ran Xiaomei said in disbelief.

Wang Mengde may not be able to do other things, but he is very skilled at making lard.

In his previous life, there was a time when he liked to cook with lard. He specially searched for several tutorials on the short video platform and still remembers it clearly.

"Mom, I really can. I've seen Sha Zhu doing it at home before." Wang Mengde was afraid that his mother would not believe him, so in order to make him more convincing, he pushed Sha Zhu out.

Ran Xiaomei thought about it and realized that her son was indeed very reliable. If he was not sure about something, he would definitely not insist on doing it, so she nodded and said:
"Okay, then you give it a try. Shengnan and I will make the dough."

After hurriedly finishing his dinner, Wang Mengde first simply cleaned the pork fat and then cut it into cubes about one inch in size.

Next, place the large pot usually used for steaming buns on the stove, add water, put the cut pork fat in, and then add some wine to remove the fishy smell and enhance the flavor.

Boil the water to about 80 degrees, quickly clean the lard in the pot and take it out. If you don't take it out now, a lot of oil will escape when the temperature in the pot is high.

He added another bowl of water to the pot and put the pork fat that had been rinsed with cold water into it. He was preparing to boil oil with the water.

Lard boiled with water is the whitest and most fragrant.

After the fire boiled, Wang Mengde quickly closed the furnace door, leaving only a small gap.

The next step is to simmer over low heat.

Gradually, more oil appeared in the pot. During this time, he kept pushing it with a spoon to prevent the pot from getting stuck.

When the oil residue in the pot turned golden brown, Wang Mengde added the green onion and ginger that he had prepared in advance. After frying them until golden brown, he used a colander to scoop out the oil residue and put it in a large porcelain bowl on the side.

Wang Yuanchao and Wang Weiguo could no longer hold back and reached out to grab it despite the fact that it was still steaming.

"Don't move, you'll get burned. I'll get you a bowl to put some food in." Wang Hao hurriedly grabbed their hands and said.

He took two bowls, put a few pieces of oil residue in each bowl, and sprinkled a little salt on top.

On the other side, Wang Mengde put two ceramic jars filled with lard into a clean basin, and then put twenty or thirty soybeans, a few star anise and peppercorns, and a spoonful of salt into each jar.

The main purpose of adding these things is to remove fishy smell and enhance flavor, but they can also act as a preservative and extend the shelf life of lard.

As for why the ceramic jar is placed in the washbasin, it is because we are afraid that the oil temperature will be too high and burn the ceramic jar.

A few years ago, Yan Bugui's family accidentally poured the refined lard into a ceramic jar. With a "pop" sound, the jar, which was fastened with seven or eight rivets, broke open from the rivets after being heated, and all the lard flowed onto the ground.

The third aunt sat down on the ground and burst into tears: "Oh my God! What are we going to eat this year?"

During the Spring Festival that year, no one in the Yan family smiled. Every time this incident was mentioned, Yan Bugui slapped his thigh in regret.

Wang Mengde carefully poured more than five pounds of lard into two ceramic jars.

The lard residue has also been put into the cupboard. When I steam the buns tomorrow, I’ll put the lard residue in them. Just thinking about the smell will make me drool.

As the lard was boiled and the steamed buns were steamed for a day, the festive atmosphere in the capital became stronger and stronger.

On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, Wang Mengde pasted paper-cuts on the windows. These paper-cuts were cut by Ran Xiaomei and He Shengnan.

On this day, Yan Bugui also moved a small table to the central courtyard, preparing to write Spring Festival couplets for the people in the courtyard.

If anyone wanted him to help write Spring Festival couplets, in addition to bringing red paper, they would also give him a handful of peanuts or melon seeds as a fee.

Of course, not everyone in the hospital asked him to write for them. Wang Mengde and Jia Dongxu wrote their own works at home.

He wrote four Spring Festival couplets and a few "Fu" characters. After the couplets were posted on the doors of Yuer Hutong and his home, Jia Dongxu just happened to come out of his home holding a couplet.

After he finished pasting it, Yi Zhonghai walked over and praised: "Dongxu's handwriting is really good."

Wang Mengde stood not far away and glanced at the Spring Festival couplets on the gate of the Jia family. When he saw that the last stroke of a character should be long but was not, he felt something in his heart.

This is not a good phenomenon.

People who have this writing habit usually suffer a disaster in their life at a young age.

(End of this chapter)