“Father~! You’re back!”
Upon seeing Jing Chen arrive with Uncle Heng’s ox cart, Baibai enthusiastically ran into him. Yiyi, who walked behind Baibai, kept looking left and right.
“Father, why are you coming back by yourself? Where’s daddy?”
“Daddy went to uncle Liang’s house to discuss some business. Where’s Wenwen?” Jing Chen asked Yiyi as he moved the baskets from the ox cart to their house. Since Jing Chen bought a lot of things, Uncle Heng kindly helped him carry some.
“Early this morning, Uncle Wen went to the river to wash clothes. He hasn't come back since.”
Jing Chen lifted his left eyebrow when he heard that. Usually, Wenwen came back as soon as possible. Wenwen didn’t have any friends in the village, so he preferred to spend time with the twins.
“We’ll wait for a while. If he still hasn’t come back, we’ll go to the river to pick him up.”
Yiyi nodded. He also worried about Wenwen; he hoped nothing bad happened to his uncle. Actually, both he and Baibai wanted to go to the river earlier; but they didn’t dare to leave the house just by themselves. They didn’t want to make their dad angry since Xue Yu was very protective of them.
After Uncle Heng left, Jing Chen started to organize the things that they bought. He took out the new beddings and bed sheets to replace the old ones. Since Xue Yu told him he wanted to teach the kids sewing and embroidery, he put the fabrics, sewing and embroidery kits in the twins' room. For the ink, brush, and paper, Jing Chen kept it in the cabinet in his bedroom.
There was an empty room in the back of the house. Considering the kitchen was small, Jing Chen planned to use it as a storeroom. Jing Chen put the bags of dried fruits, flour, and rice there. Since the room didn’t have any cabinet or table, he put them on the floor.
“Father,” Baibai whispered in awe as he helped Jing Chen in the kitchen, “You bought a lot of things.”
Yiyi, who stood on his toes behind his twin, looked amazed as well. However, he was confused. He knew they were poor, so where did the money come from?
"Father, it’s not good to waste money. It’s better to save it. We don’t have to buy meat. Don’t we have a rabbit at home?"
Baibai pouted, “Yiyi, pork and rabbit taste different! I don’t want to eat rabbit, it’s not good!”
Yiyi couldn’t believe his ears, since when did Baibai speak so arrogant like that? He glared at his twin and said, “Not good? How can you be so picky! I don’t think we've eaten rabbit before; how can you say it's not good?”
Baibai hid behind Jing Chen. He replied, “Mhm, I don’t know.. But it must not be as good as pork since pork is so expensive!”
“But it’s a waste of money!”
Jing Chen, who was listening to their bickering, pinched Yiyi’s nose lightly. He laughed and said, “Yiyi, you’re so similar to your dad. When we were shopping, that’s all he talked about.”
Yiyi rubbed his nose, “But it’s true! We are poor, so we have to save as much money as we can. Or are we rich now, father?”
“We’re not rich, but we have enough money. You don’t have to worry about it. Instead of worrying, you better help your father here. We have lots of things to cook!”
When Jing Chen and the twins were busy, there was a sound of footsteps from the back yard. Baibai ran outside to check.
"Uncle Wen! You’re back~!"
Baibai walked closer, then said worriedly, “Why are Uncle Wen’s clothes drenched like this? Did you fall into the river?”
“Wenwen fell into the river? Are you okay?” Jing Chen, who overheard what Baibai said, came out of the kitchen. Quickly, he took the basket full of wet clothes from Wenwen, then proceeded to check if Wenwen had any injury.
“No need to worry, brother-in-law. I’m totally fine!”
“You are shivering,” Jing Chen worriedly said, “Go change your clothes.”
“But, I need to hang these clothes first..” Wenwen tried to take the basket back, but Jing Chen ushered him to the house.
“Don’t worry about it, go change first!”
Jing Chen took over Wenwen’s task and hung the clothes on the rope. Hanging these clothes was not a big deal for Jing Chen. After all, he lived by himself for so many years. But he completely forgot that men who did housework were looked down upon in ancient times. Seeing a man hang wet clothes in his backyard was a rare sight for ancient people.
Yiyi stood beside Jing Chen; both he and Baibai looked ashamed. If they were tall enough to reach the rope, they wouldn’t let their father do this.
“Father, why are you hanging the clothes? Just leave it here; Uncle Wen will do it later.”
“It’s just hanging clothes; it’s not a big deal.”
“But people will laugh at you, and they’ll mock us as well, father!”
Jing Chen softly flicked their foreheads, “You worry too much. No one saw it anyway,” "Still.."
“Okay, okay,” Jing Chen raised his hands, “Father only did this one time, since Wenwen wasn’t available at the moment. There’s no harm in helping, right?”
Baibai took the empty basket from Jing Chen; he mumbled, “Dad will be mad if he knows about this..”
“Then don’t tell dad, okay? This is our secret!” Jing Chen whispered.
Baibai looked reluctant, but he nodded at the end. Well, Baibai was easy to coax; J ing Chen wasn’t sure about Yiyi though. He wanted to say the same things to Yiyi, but the child already walked inside.
Ah, he hoped Yiyi didn’t say anything to Xue Yu. Jing Chen didn’t want to make him worry about these trivial things more than he already was.
They continued to cook their first dish, which was braised pork belly. Since the diced pork was already blanched previously, Jing Chen quickly moved to the next step. He heated the pan, added oil and brown sugar, and then waited for the sugar to slightly melt before adding the pork to the pan. The pork needed to be stirred continuously to prevent the pork from sticking to the bottom of the pan. After a while, he added half a cup of rice wine, salt, spices, and water. Then, Jing Chen covered the pan and waited for it to simmer.
Now, they only needed to wait until the pork became soft and tender. Wenwen, who already changed clothes and dried himself, helped Jing Chen to occasionally stir the pan to prevent burning. Jing Chen also reminded Wenwen to wait until the sauce had reduced to a glistening coating. This would take a while, but it gave time for all the spices to seep into the meat. Wenwen and the twins couldn’t help but drool; it smelled so good!
There was a catty of pork belly left on the table. Jing Chen wanted to make cured pork since there was no other way to preserve the meat. After all, there was no refrigerator in ancient times.
First, Jing Chen sliced the pork in long strips and put it in a basin. Then, in a small pot, he added ginger, cinnamon, star anise, chili pepper, some sugar and salt, and a cup of rice wine. He placed the pot on the stove, then stirred it until the sugar dissolved. When it was simmered, he cooled it off before pouring it over the pork strips. It needed some time for the spices to seep into the meat evenly, so Jing Chen left the basin inside the cabinet. When it was done, he only needed to hang the pork strips in a cool dry place for 4-6 days.
Next, Jing Chen worked on the chicken wings. These chicken wings were what he wanted to try to sell in the future. Chicken wings were a very popular snack in modern times, so he hoped the people in ancient times liked it as well.
Maybe, it seemed like it would not be a good business since the wings were expensive; and people prefer cheaper foods. But, when he was shopping in the county town, Jing Chen took a look at many food stalls. A meat bun was 5 wen; it was quite expensive, but many people still lined up in front of the shop. A bowl of wonton noodles with minced meat as filling cost 12 wen, but the shop wasn’t deserted. This made Jing Chen believe that he could sell a piece of chicken wing at 7 wen as well. The most important thing was the taste. If the customer liked it; they would come back.
A catty of chicken wings consisted of five wings, since Jing Chen bought two catties; there were ten wings on the table. Jing Chen wanted to make two kinds of chicken wings: a sweet honey-glazed and a spicy one. Both would be lightly sauteed to give it colour before deep braised in spices to make it full of flavour. Jing Chen would also add sesame seeds and scallions on the top to make it more appetizing.
There were three large jars of honey at home, so Jing Chen didn't have to worry about using a bit more honey than what was necessary.
In addition to chicken wings, Jing Chen also wanted to sell spring rolls with vegetable filling. To make it taste rich, the vegetable filling would be sauteed with bone broth. Later, if customers liked it; he could make more variants of spring roll fillings . He already had two other variants in his head.
Jing Chen didn't stop there. He already got two kinds of savoury snacks, so he wanted to add a sweet one as well. Jing Chen wanted to make donuts!
To make donuts, Jing Chen needed yeast. He didn't buy yeast previously, but when he bought rice wine, the owner of the shop gave him two small bags of yeast as a bonus since he spent so much money there. Yeast was cheap. In the North where the staple food was wheat instead of rice, almost every household had yeast since they used it to make their own bread.
There was no butter and milk, but Jing Chen knew he could make donuts without milk. He would use a small amount of oil to replace butter. Butter was added to donuts to make it softer and rich, but he could use taro as an additional ingredient to make the mixture tender.
Considering Baibai already asked when they would have lunch twice, Jing Chen decided to make donuts later. He started to cook rice instead. While waiting for the rice to be ready, Jing Chen scooped some of the braised pork into a large bowl. Jing Chen asked Wenwen to give it to Auntie Zhang.
He also asked the twins to accompany Wenwen. Jing Chen gave twenty wen to Yiyi and said, "Ask if Auntie Zhang has some eggs and if she is willing to sell it. Remember, Yiyi must give the money, don't take it for granted. Okay?"
Yiyi nodded, "Okay, father."
Jing Chen was preparing the table when Xue Yu came back. Xue Yu brought a large heavy looking basket, so Jing Chen hurriedly took it from him. He looked inside and found twelve small jars made of clay.
"You bought this? I thought Xiao Yu doesn't like to waste money?"
Xue Yu looked sheepish. He said, "It was cheap since Chen-ge bought many spices, you can place each of them inside these jars."
Jing Chen smiled, "Xiao Yu is very considerate of his husband," he teased. "Where did Xiao Yu get this from?"
Xue Yu blushed, "Uncle Liang has a son who works in a clay shop as an apprentice. These are some of his first products. The quality isn't up to the shop's standard, so he can't sell it there."
"But I think it's good enough for us," Xue Yu added. He looked a bit nervous.
The jars were indeed not polished enough. It didn't have any ornaments, and some of it had weird dents. However, it wouldn't disturb the purpose of the jars. They could be used just fine.
"These are fine. I'll put the spices in the jars right away," said Jing Chen. Xue Yu smiled happily when he heard that.
Seeing Xue Yu's smile made Jing Chen have an urge to hug him, so he did that.
"Thank you, Xiao Yu," Jing Chen whispered. Xue Yu was so surprised that he stiffened in Jing Chen's arms.
"Y-yeah, n-no need to thank me, Chen-ge," said Xue Yu. He struggled to get out of Jing Chen's hug. When Jing Chen finally let go of him, Xue Yu was as red as lobster.
"I-I need to change clothes!" Xue Yu shouted in panic and ran into their bedroom.
Jing Chen was speechless; it was just a hug. Why was Xue Yu so embarrassed? Jing Chen laughed; Xue Yu was so cute.
After lunch, Xue Yu took Wenwen and the twins to sew clothes. He took Jing Chen's measurement first. Since Xue Yu was currently too shy to even look at Jing Chen in the eyes, Jing Chen didn't tease him again.
While Wenwen and Yiyi were taking Xue Yu's instructions seriously, Baibai couldn't sit still. He kept looking at the door. When Xue Yu was off guard, he threw out his needle and fabrics. Then, he bolted out of the room.
"Baibai!"
Yiyi shouted with anger. How came this twin was naughty? Leaving Jing's family really made him unruly.
Baibai shouted back, "I want to help father!"
Jing Chen, who heard the commotion, walked out of the kitchen and met Baibai halfway. Xue Yu stood a few feet away from Baibai; he looked unsure of what he wanted to do.
"It's okay; I won't be disturbed by Baibai." Jing Chen, who guessed what was running through Xue Yu's head, said calmly.
"Since he wants to help, I'll let him help," Jing Chen added.
Xue Yu was hesitant; he wanted to teach Baibai to sew. But Baibai stubbornly hid behind Jing Chen. He couldn't force him.
"... okay, Baibai can help Chen-ge. But, Baibai has to promise to learn sewing tomorrow."
Baibai earnestly nodded, "Promise, promise. Baibai will sew with daddy tomorrow!"
Xue Yu sighed and left. Jing Chen lifted Baibai in his arms and pinched his cheeks lightly, "Don't make trouble, okay?"
"I won't! I just want to help father; father's cooking skill is sooo goood~ Baibai wants to learn cooking more than sewing!"
Jing Chen looked at him skeptically, "Does Baibai really want to cook, or do you just want to eat?"
"Ehehehe, father, don't be mean; of course Baibai wants to help. But, there's no harm to eat as well!"
Jing Chen flicked Baibai's head. "Glutton," Jing Chen reprimanded him playfully.
Thanks for reading everyone! Shout out to my beta, @Fancy Dreamer[Tapas], she's the best<3!
Notes:
- Since China is very large, China's cooking styles and dietary preferences can be divided into many geographical areas, and each area has a distinct style of cooking (chinahighlights.com). I add the pic below to show some of the variety of China's cuisine :D
Pics from left to right:
[1] Braised Pork Belly (Hong shao rou), Cured Pork Belly (La rou), Chicken Wings with Sesame seeds, Spring Rolls
[2] Bao Buns, Wonton Noodles, Honey-glazed donuts, Spice Jars
[3] China Cuisine's map
Somehow they make this food sound so good even though the ones I tried didn’t fit my tastes