The Pig Offal Nobody Wanted
He moved over to the bags beside him and patted the opening of one.
"These bags are brown rice. Look at the color, a little brownish-yellow, and there's still a bit of bran on the grains. It hasn't been milled as finely.
It doesn't look as nice as polished rice, but it keeps you full and has plenty of nutrition. Ordinary families buy it and cook it mixed with polished rice, which saves them quite a bit of money."
He scooped up a ladleful of white rice and held it out to Zhou Wanwan. "Feel it, miss. See how dry and loose it is? There's not a trace of dampness. All our grain is from the new harvest, guaranteed good!"
Zhou Wanwan said:
"I want three taels of silver's worth of round polished white rice, two taels' worth of fine white flour, and with the remaining tael, weigh out some beans for me.
I want both soybeans and mung beans, an equal amount of each."
The shop assistant's eyes lit up, and he promptly replied:
"Certainly! Three taels of round white rice will get you ten bags.
Two taels of fine white flour, three large sacks.
For one tael of silver, you can get two bags each of soybeans and mung beans.
Please wait a moment. I'll help you load them onto the ox cart right away. I guarantee every grain is plump, with none spoiled!"
Liu Su'e was beside herself with worry. "Wanwan, how about we don't get the polished rice? Let's exchange all of it for coarse grain. Your father and I are already used to eating it."
Zhou Wanwan shook her head. "That coarse grain scratches your throat. You can't eat it at all."
She had originally thought coarse grain was edible too, but when she actually saw it, her heart quailed.
There was plenty of bran mixed in, along with bits of chaff and all sorts of other things.
A handful felt rough to the touch, and it was even worse to eat once cooked. It was so coarse it scraped the throat, and even swallowing a mouthful took effort. It was impossible to eat.
Liu Su'e looked at her. "As long as it fills your belly, that's enough. When you're really hungry, you can eat anything."
Zhou Wanwan shook her head decisively. "We can earn more money, but nobody in our family is eating that coarse grain. Eating too much of it isn't good for the body either."
With one tael of silver left, Zhou Wanwan bought some seasonings and went to the pork stall, where there was hardly anything good left by then.
Only a few ribs with barely a scrap of meat remained, along with several large bones the size of a fist. Cracked open, they had a little marrow to suck out.
A jumble of pig offal was piled in an iron basin nearby: pig lungs and stomachs mixed with several lengths of small intestine. A rank smell drifted over on the wind.
Two pieces of pigskin lay discarded in a corner of the chopping board, with a little fat still attached.
The pork seller called out at the top of his lungs, "Don't miss out as you pass by! Clearing out the last of my stock!"
Zhou Wanwan went over and stared at the pile of stuff on the chopping board. "How much for these?"
The seller looked up and joked with a smile:
"Oh, such a little girl out buying meat already?
All my good meat sold out long ago. This is all that's left. If you take the lot, you can have it all for ten wen!"
Zhou Wanwan frowned and poked at the intestines and lungs in the iron basin, pursing her lips.
"Sir, nobody wants these, do they? They look like they stink, and they won't taste good even if I take them home.
How about this? Five wen, and I'll take them all."
The seller scratched his head and looked at the pile of offal and bones nobody had shown any interest in. After thinking for a while, he waved his hand.
"All right, all right, five wen it is!
Nobody will want these things if I keep them anyway. Hurry and take them away!"
Zhou Wanwan broke into a beaming smile. As expected, what the transmigration novels said was true: nobody wanted pig offal.
Liu Su'e was so anxious she went around in circles. "Wanwan, even if we buy these, we can't make a dish out of them. They don't taste good at all."
Zhou Wanwan chuckled. "Mother, I'll buy some spices in a bit. They'll definitely smell wonderful when I cook them."
She first went back to the same apothecary and bought some spices like star anise, cinnamon bark, and bay leaves. She also bought salt, soy sauce, and soybean oil, picking up a piece of ginger along the way.
Then she turned and went to the blacksmith's shop, where she bought a herb hoe for 200 wen.
Only then did she get ready to go home. Lin Shouyi stared dumbfounded at the ox cart piled full of things. "Did you go rob someone?"
Zhou Wanwan took out a handful of rice straw and spread it over the ox cart. "Uncle Shouyi, we can go home now."
By the time Lin Shouyi returned to the village, it was already midnight. Zhou Wanwan promptly took out 20 wen. "This is your pay."
"You're too polite. I thought carefully about what you said today, and I think it made a lot of sense. Better to be prepared than caught unawares!
I'm planning to have the villagers stockpile some grain and some water while they're at it," Lin Shouyi said softly.
Zhou Wanwan nodded and looked at him. "Do you know anyone who can dig a cellar? Could you help my family get one dug? They have to be reliable."
Lin Shouyi gave a chuckle. "My father can do it. I'll have him come over tomorrow, along with my second younger brother. The two of them will be enough."
Zhou Wanwan nodded. "Uncle Shouyi, thank you!"
After Lin Shouyi left, Zhou Wanwan was so tired she nearly collapsed on the ground.
Liu Su'e looked at her and said:
"Do you want supper? I'll go cook a dish now.
I'll pick some greens from the courtyard and make some congee. We'll just have a simple meal tonight."
Zhou Wanwan nodded. "We'll have to deal with that pig offal in a bit, or it'll spoil easily."
Liu Su'e shook her head. "Nannan, pig offal really doesn't taste good. Your grandmother made it once, and it had such a rank smell that it all ended up being thrown away."
Zhou Wanwan looked at Zhou Fusheng and said:
"Father, let's go wash the pig offal now!
We'll have stir-fried pig large intestine tonight. I promise it'll taste good. Let's dig up some plant ash first and wash everything clean by the river."
Plant ash worked best for washing pig large intestine, and it didn't cost anything.
Washing it with salt was too expensive; ordinary families could never bear to use it for that.
Zhou Fusheng carried the basin of pig offal toward the river, with Zhou Wanwan walking beside him, carrying half a bag of plant ash.
When they reached the river, Zhou Wanwan directed him:
"First turn the large intestine inside out, grab a handful of plant ash and scrub hard to get all that slimy stuff off, then rinse it clean with river water.
For the lungs, first pour water into the windpipe and squeeze them repeatedly to flush out all the bloody froth inside, then rub them down with plant ash.
Scrub the stomach with plant ash too. Scrub it thoroughly inside and out, and don't miss a spot."
Zhou Fusheng did as she said, scrubbing hard with the plant ash. A layer of filth floated on the river, and he rinsed everything over and over.
After a full half hour of work, the pig offal, once slimy and reeking to high heaven, was washed clean, with not a trace of strange smell left.
They carried the washed offal home, talking and laughing as they went.
She first had Liu Su'e pour some soybean oil into the wok. Once the oil was hot, she tossed in a few slices of ginger, then a handful of spices like star anise and cinnamon bark, and quickly stir-fried them a few times.
"Put the large intestine in!" As soon as Zhou Wanwan finished speaking, Liu Su'e tipped it into the wok and kept stir-frying it with a spatula.
Before long, the rich aroma of meat mingled with the scent of spices and filled the entire courtyard. Even the auntie next door poked her head out. "What's Wanwan's family cooking today? It smells heavenly!"