Chapter 25 – Stew
Although Long Hao disapproved, he was still heavily injured and needed protein to recover his strength.
“Go find me a knife.”
He motioned to Yan Shuqin.
It took Yan Shuqin a moment to realize what he wanted. She quickly retrieved a knife and handed it to him.
Long Hao took the kitchen knife and looked at the potholed ground under his feet. “Do you have a cutting board? Go find a board and level the ground a bit.”
Ms. Zhong said, “Young master Long, can you use a big wooden basin?”
Seeing Long Hao nodding, Ms. Zhong went to fetch the big wooden basin for washing vegetables.
Long Hao stooped down, took the dead dog out of the basket and threw it into the basin.
Ms. Zhong, Yan Shuqin, Yan Shuxue, and Yan Shuyun watched as he efficiently processed the dead animal.
They were dumbfounded.
Long Hao reached out and handed the blood-stained skin to Ms. Zhong. Ms. Zhong realized what he wanted, but she didn’t want to touch the bloody fur.
Long Hao raised his eyes slightly, looked at Zhong Shi, and said, “This piece is very sturdy. Once it’s dried in the sun, you can make several pairs of gloves for winter.”
Looking at this shabby house, they were probably so poor that they couldn’t even get enough food. He doubted they had any warm clothes for the winter.
Ms. Zhong remembered that when it had snowed in the past, Yan Shuqin, Yan Shuxue, Yan Shuyun and Yan Xiaosi had frostbite because they didn’t have cotton-padded jackets or gloves. She hardened her heart and retrieved the bloody fur from his hands.
Afraid of being found by the Liu family, she only dared to hang the dog skin in the bedroom near the window.
When Yan Xiaosi returned to the dilapidated temple, Long Hao had already opened the animal and cleaned its insides.
His actions improved her impression of him.
At least this man wasn’t sentimental.
Considering how fat this mongrel was, it must have eaten a lot of shit. They definitely couldn’t eat its intestines.
Yan Xiaosi turned to find the dustpan and said to Long Hao, “Brother Long, please throw those dog guts into the dustpan.”
She thought that Long Hao’s hands were dirty, so they might as well be dirty to the end.
Long Hao looked up at her. Without saying anything, he put his hand in the basin, picked up the string of dog entrails and threw it into the dustpan held by Yan Xiaosi.
“Third sister, I will get rid of this first, and then help you with the wound.”
Long Hao looked at her holding the dustpan.
The boy really wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible.
Yan Xiaosi threw the dog’s entrails into the latrine. Because of the weight, they soon sank.
Seeing that they were completely hidden, the corners of Yan Xiaosi’s mouth rose slightly.
She didn’t think that a lady like Liu Qianqian would dig through their latrine to find evidence of her dog.
In the kitchen, Long Hao has cleaned the meat and handed it to Ms. Zhong for cooking.
It was her first time handling this kind of meat and she didn’t know whether to fry it or stew it.
When Yan Xiaosi returned to the kitchen, she found the meat in neat pieces that still filled half the basin.
“Fourth brother, what should I do with this meat?”
Yan Shuqin asked Yan Xiaosi when she saw her. Before she knew it, Yan Xiaosi had become the backbone of the family.
Yan Xiaosi looked at the meat in the basin and felt hungry again.
“Mom, you should boil a pot of boiling water first, put the meat into the boiling water to clean off the blood, then drain it out of the pot. Once that’s done, add water to stew it. Do we have any more butter left in the jar?”
danke 🍲