Li You had complete confidence in Da Bai’s work.
The reason he’d asked Da Bai to soak the soybeans around two in the morning was that tomorrow was Saturday again.
Last Saturday, Li You had made plans with Wei Ping’s family, as well as Liu Xu, Xiao Yue, and Zhang Rui’Er, to use the stone mill next to the shop to grind beans and make tofu this Saturday.
Zhou Yang and his four friends from the Xingshui Academy of Fine Arts had wanted to come along too, and Li You had agreed.
That was why Li You planned to soak the soybeans ahead of time.
When everyone arrived tomorrow morning, they could get straight to grinding with the stone mill.
The soybeans had to be soaked for just the right amount of time—not too short, and not too long.
Soaking them around 2 a.m. tomorrow would be perfect.
And that was why Li You had given this task to Da Bai.
After that, Li You closed up the shop and left on his motorcycle.
Once he got back to the village, he didn’t go straight home. Instead, he first stopped outside Liu Jialiang’s courtyard.
He parked his motorcycle.
Then, he took two bowls of Salty Steamed Pork Belly from the storage box on the back rack.
He walked into the courtyard and called out, "Uncle Jialiang, have you eaten yet?"
Liu Jialiang was pleasantly surprised to hear Li You’s voice. He hurried out of the house and said with a smile, "Xiaoyou, you’re here! Perfect timing. We were just about to eat. Come, join us."
Li You said, "Thanks, Uncle Jialiang, but I can’t stay for dinner. They’re waiting for me at home to cook. I’m planning to add Salty Steamed Pork Belly to the menu, and I made a few test bowls today. I brought two over for you to try."
As he spoke, Li You handed the two bowls of Salty Steamed Pork Belly to Liu Jialiang.
Liu Jialiang was even more delighted.
Salty Steamed Pork Belly was a fantastic dish! His whole family loved it.
And if Li You made it, it was bound to be even more delicious.
’But it feels a little rude to just accept it!’
Seeing Liu Jialiang hesitate, Li You simply pushed the two bowls into his hands.
Then he turned to leave, saying, "I’ve got to go, Uncle Jialiang."
Seeing this, Liu Jialiang quickly thanked him.
He followed Li You out of the courtyard, holding the two bowls of Salty Steamed Pork Belly.
Li You swung a leg over his motorcycle and said again, "No need to be so polite, Uncle Jialiang. I’m heading off now."
"Drive safe, then."
"Will do!"
Next, Li You went to Li Zhong’s house and gave him two bowls of Salty Steamed Pork Belly as well.
Li Zhong and his wife were also thrilled and delighted, insisting that Li You stay for dinner.
Li You had to insist that his parents were waiting for him to cook before he was finally able to leave Li Zhong’s yard.
After that, he made no other stops and went straight home.
His dad was in the yard, making something out of wood, planks, and some bamboo strips.
By now, it was already getting dark.
Seeing this, Li You said, "Dad, what are you doing? It’s almost dark. You can finish it tomorrow!"
His dad replied, "I was just about to wrap up. I’m making a chicken coop."
Li You was puzzled. "What’s wrong? Are you replacing the old coop?"
His dad nodded. "The old one has been patched up so many times. I figured I might as well just build a new one."
"Ah, I see!"
As he spoke, Li You walked over to the chicken coop in the corner of the yard to take a look. It was indeed a bit dilapidated.
The family kept about a dozen hens.
During the day, they roamed freely in the bamboo forest next to the yard. At night, they were kept in this coop in the corner.
Keeping a few hens made it convenient to have eggs to eat.
Besides, these were authentic farm-fresh eggs, much better than most of the eggs sold in the market.
Just then, his mom came out of the house and said, "The chickens have been laying a lot these past few days, about seven or eight eggs a day. We have over a hundred eggs in the house now. You should take some with you tomorrow."
"Okay."
Of course, Li You wasn’t going to refuse. You couldn’t necessarily buy farm-fresh eggs like these even if you wanted to.
Besides, the eggs couldn’t be stored for too long.
Otherwise, they would go bad.
Usually, if they had too many eggs and couldn’t eat them all, his dad would take some to sell at the town market.
Now, of course, Li You would be the one to take them.
’Only a dozen or so hens, and they’re laying seven or eight eggs a day.’
’The hens have really been pulling their weight lately!’
’Not bad, not bad at all.’
After helping his dad tidy up, Li You took the Salty Steamed Pork Belly and other ingredients out of the storage box.
Then he said, "Dad, Mom, I’m planning to add Salty Steamed Pork Belly to the menu. I steamed a few test bowls today, so I brought some back for you to try."
His parents’ eyes lit up.
Salty Steamed Pork Belly was a great dish! There was absolutely nothing wrong with adding it to the menu.
His parents were both looking forward to trying Li You’s Salty Steamed Pork Belly.
Seeing the anticipation on his parents’ faces made Li You very happy—happier than when his customers were excited.
He then went into the kitchen and started making dinner.
He had five bowls of Salty Steamed Pork Belly. He would steam one to eat for dinner tonight.
It had been sitting out for a while and had gone cold, so it needed to be reheated by steaming.
He would save the remaining four bowls for his parents to eat another day.
The Twice-Cooked Pork with Garlic Sprouts and the Mapo Tofu were finished one after another.
Last was the Chanterelle Mushroom Soup.
The Salty Steamed Pork Belly was heated up as well.
Everything was brought to the table, and they began to eat.
His parents couldn’t stop praising the Salty Steamed Pork Belly. They both said they had never eaten such a delicious version of the dish before.
The Chanterelle Mushroom Soup was, of course, also fantastic.
So savory!
After they slowly finished their meal, Li You told his parents to go rest and watch some TV.
He started cleaning up and washing the dishes.
There were only a few bowls, and they were washed in no time.
Afterward, Liu Jialiang and Li Zhong both called, one after the other, to say that the Salty Steamed Pork Belly was delicious—the best they had ever had.
At the same time, they thanked Li You again.
Li You once again told them not to be so polite.
...
「The next morning.」
As usual, Li You cooked three bowls of beef noodle soup.
One for himself and one for each of his parents.
After eating, Li You grabbed a small back basket and went to the plum tree outside the yard.
He was going to pick some more plums to take with him.
The plums were mostly ripe now, and their texture was much better than the last time he picked them.
Li You picked a plum and tried it.
The texture was indeed much improved; you could even say it was delicious.
With a fruit like plums, the taste can vary greatly from tree to tree.
Some trees bear delicious fruit, while the fruit from others can be hard to swallow.
But the plum tree at Li You’s home was undoubtedly a superior variety, with an excellent texture.
Li You climbed the tree and picked and picked, not stopping until the back basket was full.
He climbed down.
He looked at the plums still on the tree. Even though he had picked a full basket, the number of plums on the branches didn’t seem to have noticeably decreased.
They were just bearing so much fruit!
This year, they had definitely achieved plum freedom.
After that, Li You went to the vegetable patch and harvested a batch of tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, bitter melons, and green beans.
He filled another back basket to the brim.
These vegetables were also growing in abundance. There was no way his parents could eat them all.
If Li You didn’t harvest them, they would just go to waste.
Back in the yard, his mom had already packed up the eggs for Li You to take.
There were over one hundred and sixty in total.
It was all the eggs they currently had in the house.
Li You asked his mom to keep some for herself, but she said, "No need. We’ll get another seven or eight today, and in a few days, we’ll have dozens more. Why would we need to keep any? You take them all."
Li You thought about it. ’That’s true.’
So he took them all.
Afterward, he loaded the plums, all the vegetables, and the eggs into the storage box.
It almost didn’t fit.
This trip back home, he was leaving with a full box of supplies.
Time to go.
Off to the restaurant.
...
A huge thank you to Mitu Tu for another 123-coin tip!
Thanks, boss!
...