Pei Baoshan, Wang Cuilan, and Pei Yang went to the fields, while Jiang Ran took Pei Shanshan into the kitchen to get busy.
Pei Jing, being so young, was fine as long as he didn’t cause trouble, and Jiang Ran naturally didn’t expect him to do anything.
To prevent Pei Jing from having any accidents, Jiang Ran moved a small stool to the kitchen door and let Pei Jing sit there.
Pei Jing was quite well-behaved, unlike so children his age who liked to run and jump and couldn’t sit still.
Jiang Ran looked at the remaining four pounds of pork belly and decided to just cook it all.
Seeing Jiang Ran’s decisive move, Pei Shanshan’s heart skipped a beat.
But thinking about how the buns were snapped up in the morning, she moved her lips but ended up saying nothing.
Jiang Ran planned to sell rice and noodles at noon, with just one at dish and two vegetable dishes as sides.
The at dish would be braised pork, and the vegetables would be stir-fried shredded potatoes and cold mixed shredded radish.
There was plenty of both potatoes and radishes at ho.
These two dishes cost little but taste quite good, and paired with the braised pork, they would surely sell well.
Thinking this, Jiang Ran asked Pei Shanshan to get the potatoes and radishes.
Jiang Ran did the shredding himself.
It’s not that Jiang Ran was pitying Pei Shanshan and didn’t want her to do more work.
It’s just that Pei Shanshan’s knife skills weren’t great, and the shreds she cut were uneven in thickness and not very appealing.
Although Jiang Ran didn’t say this out loud, Pei Shanshan sohow sensed it.
Being disliked made Pei Shanshan feel a bit wronged.
However, after seeing the finely shredded potatoes by Jiang Ran, that little bit of grievance instantly disappeared.
The shredded potatoes by Jiang Ran were of even thickness, as if they were asured.
Jiang Ran cut quickly, and it didn’t take long before both the potatoes and radishes were shredded.
The potato shreds were soaked in water to remove excess starch, making them crisper and preventing them from turning black.
The radish shreds were sprinkled with so salt to let out the water.
After finishing these tasks, the pork belly in the pot was almost done cooking.
Jiang Ran took out the at, drained the water, and cut it into finger-thick square slices.
The sliced at was neatly arranged on plates, topped evenly with a specially prepared sauce, and finally put in the pot to steam.
Fortunately, the plates at ho were quite large. Without other side dishes, one plate could hold ten slices tightly.
The at slices were large, and one pound of at could only be cut into twelve slices.
In total, the slightly over four pounds of at produced fifty slices, which fit perfectly into five plates.
The stear was also large; one layer could hold three plates, and two layers were just enough.
The stear was placed over the pot to steam on high heat, needing at least two hours.
If the heat wasn’t enough, the braised pork wouldn’t be tender and wouldn’t taste good.
After finishing these tasks, Jiang Ran was actually a bit tired.
Pei Shanshan was sitting by the stove tending the fire, and Jiang Ran simply moved a bench to sit beside Pei Jing.
Pei Jing, who had been sitting here alone, looked at Jiang Ran when she sat down next to him.
Looking into Pei Jing’s pitch-black eyes, Jiang Ran belatedly realized that at Pei Jing’s age, he should be in kindergarten.
Thinking carefully, three years old, indeed he should be in kindergarten.
But there was no kindergarten in their village; only the children in the county could attend one.
For the people in the village, sending kids to kindergarten was considered a waste of money.
Every household’s children played wildly all day, only starting primary school at six or seven years old.
Six or seven was considered early; starting primary school at seven or eight was also common.
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