CHAPTER 273: CHAPTER 272: BRAISED PORK WITH VERMICELLI (THIRD UPDATE)

"I can tell you why he’s helping me."

Mu Shuangshuang suddenly smiled brilliantly, then walked up to Wang Erma, and punched him right in his greasy face, turning him into a panda-eyed mess.

When she turned to look at Wang Gousheng, he was so scared that he hugged his head and hid under the pork stall.

Wang Erma was wailing alone on the ground. Mu Shuangshuang used half her strength in that punch; it’s no wonder it hurt.

"Let’s go, we’re going back!"

Lu Yuanfeng took Mu Shuangshuang’s hand, and they walked out of Wang Erma’s yard. As soon as they were out, Lu Yuanfeng sternly said, "From now on, don’t come here to buy meat. If you want to eat meat, we can go to town to buy it, or you can tell me in advance and I’ll hunt for you in the mountains."

Lu Yuanfeng himself didn’t come here much. He knew Wang Erma was hostile to him, and Wang Erma’s meat was always subpar. Sometimes, he would even sell rotten meat to the villagers.

The villagers would try to return it, but he would refuse, arguing that once the meat is chopped, there’s no reason to take it back.

"Alright!" Mu Shuangshuang nodded emphatically, then asked curiously, "How did you know I was here?"

Talking about this, Lu Yuanfeng’s expression relaxed. "I went up the mountain and caught a deer. Originally, I intended to keep it for a few days and then take it to town to sell."

"That’s why I went to your house to find you, but Little Zhi said you came here to buy meat, so I hurried over. I think we should sell the deer meat to the villagers today, not go to town!"

"What?" Mu Shuangshuang was stunned. Why sell it to the villagers?

"This way, Wang Erma’s meat won’t sell. When I’m selling, the villagers won’t buy his meat."

"Besides, meat slaughtered on the same day is best sold the same day. Today is not cool, and even if Wang Erma’s meat is soaked in water, it’ll go bad."

It was the first time Mu Shuangshuang found Lu Yuanfeng to be so cunning. They immediately got to work, returning to Lu Yuanfeng’s house to start butchering the deer.

Luckily, the deer Lu Yuanfeng caught this time wasn’t large. It was estimated to be over fifty pounds; after cleaning, there might be twenty or thirty pounds of meat.

Mu Shuangshuang borrowed a gong and drum, and under the shade of the old willow tree in the village, she beat the gong to sell meat, quickly attracting all the villagers.

Everyone had just finished the double harvest and were weak. Plus, Mu Shuangshuang and Lu Yuanfeng’s meat was willing to be sold cheaply, so they went crazy, each grabbing half a pound, and the rest was pushed by Lu Yuanfeng on a cart to the neighboring village to sell. Mu Shuangshuang took two pounds back to make lunch.

Back in the yard, she hadn’t taken the meat inside when Mu Zhenzhen rushed over.

"Shuang, what do you have in your hands? Show it to your Aunt." Mu Zhenzhen feigned ignorance.

"Aunt, are you blind? Can’t you see such a big piece of meat?" Mu Shuangshuang raised her eyebrows, grumbling.

She remembered last time when Mu Zhenzhen was so rude while she was eating dumplings.

"Oh, you girl, why talk to your Aunt like that? Your Aunt was just joking with you, look at you being so stingy." Mu Zhenzhen pursed her lips, her eyes darting quickly.

"Shuang, the meat you have must be about one or two pounds, share some with your Aunt, your Aunt hasn’t had a bite of meat in ages." Mu Zhenzhen lied through her teeth, not turning red or flustered.

Unfortunately, just last night, Mu Shuangshuang had sent meat to the fourth house.

"Aunt wants pork?" Mu Shuangshuang’s face broke into a smile, and her tone softened a bit.

Mu Zhenzhen naturally thought there was hope. She nodded vigorously, "Mm-hmm!"

"If you want to eat, it’s simple, you can buy it yourself. Fengzi’s meat is fourteen wen per pound, a wen cheaper than in town."

"You..." Mu Zhenzhen was furious, this darn girl knew that her stuff had all been snatched by the mobs of Dahuo Village.

"What do you mean? If you want to eat, you have to spend money. If you don’t have money, you can only watch!" After saying this, Mu Shuangshuang smugly carried the meat into her kitchen.

Little Zhi saw his sister return and let out a long breath, "Sister, Little Zhi’s task is complete, can I go play with Little Black now?"

"Go on, go, but don’t wander too far."

Mu Shuangshuang waved her hand. Initially, she didn’t allow Little Zhi to take Little Black out, considering the black mink was worth quite a bit. What if someone with intentions saw it and stole it?

But Shuang’s worry was unnecessary; several people had visited the house, seeing Little Black, and just thought it was a color-changed weasel, not realizing it was a mink.

Mu Shuangshuang stopped hiding it; the more you conceal, the more people think it’s a treasure, but once you reveal it, it’s no longer intriguing.

Now many villagers knew that the Third Branch of the Mu Family was raising a black weasel, dumb yet quite smart.

Mu Shuangshuang started preparing lunch. She cut half a pound of deer meat to stew with cellophane noodles. Luckily, she soaked it in hot water before going out, so now the noodles were softened; she just needed to cut the meat.

The meat for stewing noodles needed to be five-flavor pork. Luckily, Lu Yuanfeng had given her some fatty deer meat, which could pass for five-flavor pork, no problem.

The meat was cut into chunks, marinated with star anise, white wine, and ginger, then Mu Shuangshuang started the fire.

She threw down some pine tree branches, tossed in a couple of sticks, and the stove started blazing. Mu Shuangshuang boiled half a pot of water, waiting until it boiled, then scooped two ladles of hot water aside for later use.

Next, she tossed the marinated five-flavor pork into the pot, briefly blanching it, then scooped it out.

Then, she emptied the water from the pot into the swill bucket, heated the pot again, and immediately poured in rapeseed oil, followed by sliced ginger, green onions, and minced garlic, stirring until fragrant, then added the five-flavor pork to the pot to stir-fry.

The blanched five-flavor pork, after a couple of stirs in the pot, released a meat aroma, making Mu Shuangshuang’s mouth almost water.

When it was nearly cooked, Mu Shuangshuang added a bit of white sugar to the pot.

White sugar was used for coloring. After adding white sugar, red braised pork turns red, and this was the time to add some white wine.

Not to mention, white wine is indeed an essential for making large dishes.

In the room, Yu Liulang smelled the aroma and couldn’t resist coming out to take a look. Seeing Shuang preparing food, he approached.

"Shuang, what are you making? It smells so good, the worms in your Uncle’s stomach are all being enticed."

"Pork stewed with noodles, Uncle, if you’re hungry, you can go to my room and find Xiao Han to get you some snacks to tide you over."

"Hey, I was just joking, not really hungry, but your mom really likes pork stewed with noodles. You should put more noodles in it later."

Mu Shuangshuang naturally nodded, "I know, I’ll do that. You better head out now, it’s suffocating in here."

"Alright!" Yu Liulang left the kitchen and returned to Mu Dashan’s room to continue chatting.