With the land deed settled, Zheng Changhe was itching to get out and start clearing the land. But a glance at the biting cold outside made him sigh. "Everything’s frozen solid out there. We can’t get anything done. We’ll just have to wait until spring to pick up our hoes again."
Yang Family said, "It’s for the best that we can’t. This is the only quiet month we get all year. Why not let the children rest? Besides, even with things being slow, Juhua is still busy running around in circles every day. Now that your leg is better, you can’t do heavy labor, but you can stay ho and help Juhua feed the pigs and chickens and light the fires. Let her catch a break for once! It’s the slack ti of the twelfth month, and we need to start preparing a lot of things for the New Year. Also, we’re out of rice bran and cornal. The pigs can’t live on just acorn kernels; we need to go buy so more bran."
Juhua said, "Mom, if we mix in the acorn kernels, we can get by with buying less of the other stuff. Things like soybean pulp, oilseed cakes, chaff, and cornal can all be used for pig feed. Why don’t you go ask at the workshops in the market? If we buy in bulk, see if we can get a discount. We can get it all in one go, which will save us the hassle of making frequent trips."
As she spoke, she suddenly rembered a particular dish—fernted soybean pulp. You take the pulp left over from making tofu, stir-fry it until it’s semi-dry, and form it into balls. Then you place them in a basket lined with rice straw, cover it with a cloth, and wait for it to mold. Afterward, you cut it into chunks and cook it with green vegetables. It’s absolutely delicious, with an exceptionally savory flavor!
She hadn’t eaten it since the industrial age in her past life. People stopped making their own tofu for the New Year and just bought it instead. The comrcial tofu workshops would wash the pulp so thoroughly that not a hint of bean flavor remained, turning it into true "dregs." Naturally, the fernted pulp made from that stuff was terrible.
So it had been a very long ti since she’d eaten it. It was a truly authentic, rustic dish.
’When we make tofu for the New Year, I’ll set aside the pulp to fernt. I should make so fernted bean curd, too.’
’Oh! How could I have forgotten about all this? All those delicious foods! And the cured ats...’ At the thought, she found herself eagerly anticipating the New Year.
After listening to Juhua, Yang Family thought for a mont and said, "Hmm. That stuff isn’t expensive. Normally, it wouldn’t be worth it to spend money on all that just for pig feed, but it’s different now that I’m making a bit of money selling offal every day. Besides, the pigs are growing quickly, so we won’t lose money feeding them this way."
Qingmu said, "Then I’ll ask around tomorrow, and we can have Old Cheng help us haul a cartful back."
"I’ll go," Zheng Changhe offered. "It’s not like I’ll be carrying anything heavy. Surely I can tag along and run the errand?"
"It’s not that you can’t go," Yang Family said. "But you’re needed at ho to help Juhua. If you leave, how will she manage? I’ll go to the workshops and settle things with the shopkeepers. Then we can just have Old Cheng pick it up. There’s no need to waste the effort of sending an extra person."
Zheng Changhe had no choice but to drop it.
As they were talking, it was soon ti to make dinner. Juhua’s earlier mory of fernted soybean pulp had her craving the taste of it cooked with greens. She figured that acorn tofu stewed with yellow-heart cabbage would be just as good. So, she asked her parents what they thought.
Yang Family and Zheng Changhe both agreed, and Qingmu didn’t have a preference—he loved anything his little sister cooked anyway.
Yang Family gripped the shoe sole, pulling the thread through it with a ZZZT... ZZZT... "Laicai has had fuming these past two days," she said. "Plus, the table has been nothing but rich foods like pig offal and head cheese. I’m tired of it. It’ll be nice to eat sothing light tonight."
Juhua nodded. ’Tell about it. She’d had enough these past two days, too. Cooking so many dishes for every single al—in and out of the wok, one after the other—was exhausting. Her aunt and Laicai had insisted on at, so if she wanted to eat so simple greens, she had to wait until all their food was cooked, then wash the wok before she could finally fry her own. It was such a pain.’
’Tonight, she wasn’t making anything else. Just a simple pot of greens and tofu, then off to bed for a good night’s sleep.’
’Isn’t there a saying? "Simple greens and tofu keep you safe and sound." This kind of food was the true foundation of a healthy life; eating too much of that other junk was no good. It was no wonder that in the society of her past life, problems like high cholesterol, high blood sugar, and thrombosis were rampant—all of it ca from what people ate.’
So, Juhua lit the charcoal stove. She diced the acorn tofu, placed the cubes in a clay pot, and sprinkled them with salt. Next, she stir-fried the yellow-heart cabbage until it was partially cooked, then spread it over the tofu. Finally, she added a spoonful of lard and set the clay pot on the stove to simr.
Ever since money had beco less tight, Yang Family had bought a few pounds of pork fat. Juhua had rendered it into a full jar of lard, and the golden, crispy, fragrant pork cracklings left over had filled two large bowls. She’d been saving the cracklings, planning to use them as a dumpling filling one day, but making dumplings was a labor-intensive chore she never seed to have ti for, so the plan kept being put on hold.
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