Braised Meat

After returning home, Li Beichen did not rest. He went outside the thatched hut and began practicing the Giant Elephant Fist once more.

He controlled his stamina so that his body would not be pushed to the point where it needed Giant Elephant Ointment to recover.

After two rounds, Li Beichen dragged his exhausted body to bed and fell asleep.

The next day, he sprang up from the couch brimming with vigor.

His seventeen-year-old body, coupled with the effects of Giant Elephant Ointment, left Li Beichen without the slightest fatigue or soreness.

He even felt that his strength had increased by a trace and his muscles had grown a fraction firmer.

After simply drinking a bowl of porridge, Li Beichen took the leftover piece of venison from last night and headed toward Ram City.

He planned to eat it for lunch.

The Like-Elephant Martial Hall cafeteria charged a qian just to cook a separate meal, and the meat was only ordinary pork. Beef cost even more.

Venison was far more nourishing, so Li Beichen naturally chose to bring his own.

With this meat replenishing his energy, he believed his afternoon training would leave him with fuller stamina and faster panel progress.

Jinglong District, Like-Elephant Martial Hall, Outer Courtyard.

Today, Second Senior Brother Yuan Dazong led everyone in training.

When Li Beichen had registered, he had seen this man leading an elephant to the Elephant Washing Pool for a wash.

He had some impression of him.

Unlike Zhang Meng's jade-white skin, Yuan Dazong's complexion was nearly bronze.

Could this be the difference between Like-Elephant Martial Hall's Seventh Grade Skin Refining and Eighth Grade Muscle Refining?

Li Beichen vaguely had a guess in his heart.

Still, he naturally would not be foolish enough to ask about such a thing.

Yuan Dazong was not as patient as Zhang Meng. After simply leading outer courtyard disciples like Li Beichen through three rounds, he returned to the Inner Courtyard.

Yet even so, Yuan Dazong's attainments in the Giant Elephant Fist ran deep. Simply following along brought remarkable improvement.

After three rounds, Li Beichen opened his panel.

He found that his progress had already risen from 33 to 38.

If he trained alone, even with sufficient stamina, it would take ten rounds to gain this much progress.

Once the day's training ended, Li Beichen left the Like-Elephant Martial Hall early and headed straight for the medicine shops in Jinglong District.

Martial men gathered in Jinglong District, and bruises and injuries were common, so there were many medicine shops as well.

"Shopkeeper, do you have star anise, cinnamon bark, bay leaves, black cardamom, and cloves?"

"Yes, sir, we have them all. How much would you like?"

"Tell me the prices first."

"Star anise and black cardamom are 100 copper coins per liang, cinnamon bark is 200, bay leaves are 50, and cloves cost one tael of silver."

"Very well. Thank you, Shopkeeper."

Li Beichen asked at several shops in succession and discovered that cloves were an extremely precious spice, their price extraordinarily high.

According to his memories from his previous life, cloves were not essential for mixing a braising broth.

An hour later, Li Beichen left Ram City carrying large and small packets of medicinal spices, along with a gourd of soy sauce.

His family and Wang Er's family already had the other ingredients, so there was no need to buy more.

Li Beichen did not go directly to Wang Er's place. He first returned home and ground the spices he had bought for five qian of silver into powder.

Then he mixed them together.

These spices were the finishing touch that brought the dragon to life; a pot of braising broth did not need much of them.

The amount he had bought today would be enough for a long while.

Moreover, according to his memories from his previous life, the caramel color for braised meat should be made by simmering white sugar. But Ram City had no white sugar, so Li Beichen felt brown sugar could serve as a substitute.

Thus, he carried over the brown sugar he had bought earlier, wrapped some spice powder in yellow paper, brought the soy sauce, and headed straight to Wang Er's home.

At the western end of the village, Wang Er and his wife had long been craning their necks in anticipation.

The moment Li Beichen's figure appeared in their sight, they hurried forward to greet him.

"Brother Beichen, you're finally here. We've already cleaned and prepared the pork intestines and liver."

"Good. Let's go to the kitchen and see how this braised pork offal tastes!"

The three of them headed for the kitchen.

"Brother Wang Er, please blanch the pork intestines and liver first. Remember to add a few slices of Jiang and some scallion segments!"

Li Beichen directed them from the middle while Wang Er and his wife followed his arrangements, beginning step by step to make the braised pork offal.

"First, simmer the sugar color. Brother Wang Er, this is brown sugar. Add water and simmer it slowly over low heat. Once it melts, add more water."

When the brown sugar gave off a caramel fragrance and melted into a reddish-brown hue, Wang Er poured in a ladleful of water.

At that moment, Li Beichen poured in the packet of spices.

An extraordinary reaction immediately took place in the broth, and a fragrance curled around their noses and mouths.

"These are secret spices."

Li Beichen offered a brief explanation.

A quarter of an hour later, the spices had thoroughly dissolved into the broth, and Li Beichen handed over the soy sauce.

"Brother Wang Er, pour this gourd of soy sauce in, then add some clear wine and salt. The braising broth will be roughly complete!"

"Once the broth is ready, we can add the pork intestines and liver. Bring it to a boil over high heat, then simmer it over low heat for another half hour, and it will be done!"

Following Li Beichen's instructions, Wang Er completed every step. All that remained was to wait.

The three watched the braising broth bubble away in the pot and smelled its rich fragrance, their mouths watering uncontrollably.

Wang Er and his wife had never eaten anything like this before.

As for Li Beichen, he only had echoes of it in his memories. He had never eaten it in this life.

Taking advantage of the interval, Sister-in-law Wang steamed some rice and stir-fried two other dishes.

By the time those were finished, the braised meat had just come out of the pot.

After letting it cool slightly, they sliced it and arranged it on plates.

The three sat in the main room. Looking at the table full of delicacies, Li Beichen smiled.

"Come, let's see how these braised pork intestines taste!"

He was the first to pick up his chopsticks and take a slice.

"Delicious. It has been so long since I ate food like this."

A sense of happiness rose naturally in Li Beichen's heart.

Wang Er and his wife also tasted the braised pork intestines and liver.

In an instant, they were conquered by the flavor.

In this era, ordinary people were fortunate enough just to fill their stomachs. Flavor was a luxury.

Braised meat, however, used cheap pork offal as its ingredients while tasting superb. It could be called food for the common people.

"Well, Brother Wang Er? Sister-in-law Wang?"

"Excellent! I have never eaten anything so delicious in my life!"

"Even the first course at the Shanghong Village main family's banquet does not have such flavor."

Wang Er and his wife offered their highest praise.

Yet at that moment, hesitation appeared on Wang Er's face. He gritted his teeth.

"Brother Beichen, your braised meat will surely earn a fortune. I'm only a pig butcher. Working with me would only tarnish it."

"We agreed to cooperate, Brother Wang Er. How can you go back on your word?"

"It's not that... Ah, Wang Er thanks you, brother."

Li Beichen waved his hand and continued.

"How about this, Brother Wang Er? I provide the spices, and you provide the pork offal, help braise it, and sell it. The price will tentatively be fifty copper coins per jin, the same price as prime meat."

"We split the profits sixty-forty. I take sixty, you take forty. What do you think?"

Forty percent of fifty copper coins was twenty coins. After all costs were deducted, Wang Er could still earn at least more than ten coins per jin.

As long as he sold around a hundred jin a day, that would be more than one tael of silver.

Wang Er ran a meat shop. Depending on the cut, a jin of pork sold for anywhere from thirty to fifty copper coins, yet he could not earn even five coins on a jin.

This was far more profitable than Wang Er's pig slaughtering.

When Wang Er heard Li Beichen's proposed share, he hurriedly shook his head.

"This share is too high. I can obtain pork offal in bulk for even cheaper, down to four coins or even three... An eighty-twenty split will do!"