Fields of gold

Chapter 131- 135

Chapter 131 – Breakfast

First, Xiaocao stir-fried salt, pepper, and anise star. Next, she drained the water and cured the ducks with the stir-fried salt for two hours. During this time, she also heated up the braising sauce, and then marinated the ducks with the old braising sauce for another two hours. The last steps were to cook them and wait for them to cool down. If there was enough time, the time for curing and marinating in old braising sauce should be doubled!

Just as Yu Xiaocao, with the help of her eldest maternal aunt, was busily making the preparations, her eldest granduncle's little eight year old grandson ran through the door panting and shouted, "Xiaocao! Second Uncle said your maternal uncles didn't eat breakfast yet, so just make something simple to fill their stomachs first. They can have a more sumptuous meal in the evening!"

"Yu Zhou, how dare you call me 'Xiaocao'? You should call me 'older sister', understand?" Xiaocao knocked on the kid's forehead. Yu Zhou was the son of her oldest uncle from her eldest granduncle's family. He had a strong and honest appearance, and looked rather cute.

Yu Zhou made a silly face at her and said reluctantly, "Aren't you just a little over two months older than me? Look, you're not even as tall as me. It's so humiliating to call you 'older sister'!"

"Even if I'm older than you by a day, you will still have to call me 'older sister'! Are you going to say it or not? If you don't, I'll go tell Eldest Granduncle!" Yu Xiaocao teased him on purpose.

With a bitter expression on his little face, the little fellow glared at Xiaocao and shouted, "Tattletale!"

Xiaocao estimated that the duck liver and intestine being braised in the pot should be about ready, so she went into the kitchen and cut out a piece. As if she was teasing a little puppy, she grinned and said, "Come on, call 'older sister'. If you call me 'older sister', you can eat this piece of duck liver ah!"

As soon as Yu Zhou entered the door, he had smelled the scent of braised meat. He inhaled deeply and couldn't shift his eyes away from the piece of duck liver. He was about to drool as he asked, "Really? If I call you 'older sister', this piece of braised meat will be mine?"

Yu Xiaocao was inwardly laughing her head off. She had thought that this kid would have a strong backbone, but it seemed like he was also a little glutton. But, she couldn't really blame him. It was already very fortunate that the villagers usually had enough to eat. There really weren't many people who could eat meat dishes when it wasn't some special holiday. It was no wonder that Yu Zhou longed for meat!

"Of course! When did this Older Sister ever go back on my words?" Yu Xiaocao stopped teasing him and looked at him sincerely.

Yu Zhou had long heard of his second uncle's family's braised food. He also often followed his father to the docks, so he had firsthand experience of the popularity of the one copper coin braised dish. In fact, one copper coin wasn't very expensive, but his father was afraid that Xiaocao and her sister would refuse to accept their money. Thus, they had never bought it before.

He had pestered his father many times, but he had never succeeded. Usually, his father would strictly restrict him and his older brother from visiting Second Uncle's house because he was afraid that they would arrive while his second uncle's family was braising food. As a result, he wanted to have a taste of the braised food even in his dreams!

The little fellow was usually a child with a strong backbone, but his heart was slightly wavering in front of delicious food: 'Wasn't it just calling her older sister? Xiaocao is originally older than me, so there's nothing shameful about that.'

With that thought in mind, he blurted out, "Older Sister, Older Sister Xiaocao! This... Is this your family's one copper coin braised food? My father said your family doesn't have it easy, so it's best to save this to sell at the docks!"