Chapter 246 - 137: Secret
"Alright, go ahead and butcher it. I’ll take responsibility if anything happens." Su Ran had actually read news reports about this sort of thing before. "I’m heading into the city to buy some things."
Su Ran didn’t ride his Kawasaki; he drove the Mercedes G-Wagon instead because it was better for hauling a big load.
Su Ran was thinking of preparing some New Year’s goods this year to give to his uncle, the four little sprites, Shan Weizi, and Wenwen’s family, so they could all have a taste.
When it came to social graces, Su Ran had it down pat.
One pig naturally wasn’t enough. Su Ran also bought several dozen pig trotters, rabbit meat, and pork belly, among other things. He also bought plenty of spices, loaded them into baskets, and returned with a full car. He passed by the gates of Anyang Middle School without stopping; Wenwen was taking her final exams.
When he got home, Uncle Zhou had already butchered the pig and sorted the different parts into several large tubs.
Su Ran gave him 200 yuan for his work—the kind of payment that had to be accepted—and asked with a chuckle, "Uncle Zhou, no one from the inspection department showed up, right?"
"Look at you, you coward. What the hell is there to be afraid of?"
...
In the afternoon, Su Ran got busy making sausage and cured meat. Uncle Qin had already gone up the mountain to chop down a bunch of cypress branches. He started a fire and covered it with the cypress sprigs, using the village’s communal large iron barrel to smoke the meat hung inside. The cypress gave off a wonderful fragrance, which in turn made the cured meat delicious. The old man stood guard, periodically lifting the cloth cover to flip the meat, making sure every piece was smoked evenly.
In his hand was one of the Chunghwas Su Ran had bought for him on his way back.
Meanwhile, Su Ran was making his secret Su family recipe sausages.
The spice mix was the key to a delicious sausage.
12g of Sichuan peppercorns, 20g of star anise, 2g of cloves, 15g of cinnamon bark, 16g of fennel seeds, 5g of white cardamom, 15g of licorice root, 5g of Fructus amomi, 7g of Tsaoko cardamom, and 3g of angelica root. Grind them into a powder. The ratio was fifty grams of spice mix for every five kilograms of meat.
Su Ran started stuffing the casings.
Of course, one essential ingredient was needed to cut the gaminess and enhance the aroma—high-proof baijiu.
Su Ran chose a 30-year-aged Feitian Moutai.
The ratio was 200 milliliters of liquor for every five kilograms of meat.
In total, Su Ran made twenty-five kilograms of sausage, using a full liter of baijiu. That came out to two bottles of Feitian Moutai. At 3,060 yuan a bottle, he had just used two of them.
It wasn’t that Su Ran was showing off his wealth; he had simply brought back three cases in his car when he returned to his hometown.
It had to be the real deal, because his Tongue Combat Power guaranteed it.
After the two Moutai bottles were emptied and set aside, Uncle Qin, a lover of liquor, grabbed them and started fiddling with the marble ball in the neck, claiming there were still a couple of drops inside.
’Moutai sausages,’ Su Ran thought, feeling a thrill of delight.
BEEP BEEP BEEP.
Just then, Ning Wenwen called.
"How come I didn’t see you at the school gate?"
"You told me to wait for you tomorrow, not today."
"Aaaargh!"
"Hahaha... Now that your exams are over, hurry on home. I’m busy making sausages and cured meat right now. Once they’re ready in a while, I’ll bring some over for your parents to try."
"Mm, okay then. Bye-bye."
After hanging up, Uncle Qin asked, "Was that the little Wenwen girl?"
Su Ran answered, "Yep," while continuing to stuff the sausage casings by hand.
Uncle Qin had a good impression of the girl. He turned to look at the calligraphy on the courtyard wall—*In me, the tiger sniffs the rose*—and thought it was quite fitting. One was sixteen, the other eighteen. In reality, they were only one year and eleven months apart, practically the same age.
At four in the afternoon, Su Ran finally finished the sausages. He blanched them in boiling water and then hung them up to dry in the courtyard. He was tired, so Uncle Qin told him to go inside and rest. "I’ll call you when it’s time to eat."
"Alright."
Su Ran took a shower and fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. It had to be said, Su Ran’s sleep quality was truly excellent. With no worries or anxieties, his sleep was top-notch.
When he woke up, the sky was as black as ink. In the courtyard, thin wisps of smoke drifted up from the meat-curing barrel.
Su Ran put on a thick down jacket and went into the courtyard, where he saw Uncle Qin still tending to the smoking meat.
"Uncle Qin, isn’t it done smoking yet?"
"It’s only been a few hours, that’s not long enough. It needs to smoke for a while longer. You’re awake? Let’s eat then."
Uncle Qin had already turned the pig’s offal into a delicious meal.
Stir-fried kidney flowers, braised pork intestines, and a cold dish of pig’s heart.
"Smells pretty good. Uncle Qin, did you scrub these intestines with flour?"
"You..." Uncle Qin knew Su Ran was particular about his food. "Don’t worry, I washed them over a dozen times. They’re spotless. If you find any shit, you can just wipe it off with some paper."
Haha...
Su Ran chuckled and picked up a piece of intestine.
"How does it taste?"
"It’s not bad, but you washed it too clean. It’s lost that special something."
"You want it to be clean, but you also want ’that special something.’ That’s a double standard, isn’t it?"
"Whoa, Uncle Qin, you even know the term ’double standard’?"
"Why wouldn’t I? I learn everything from scrolling through Douyin and reading the news."
Uncle Qin used to have a feature phone for seniors. Later, Su Ran gave him his old OnePlus 9. Heh, the only reason he gave it away was because the phone got ridiculously hot whenever he played King of Glory. So, he gave it to Uncle Qin, who used it to scroll through videos of long-legged beauties. The old man loved looking at pretty girls. He even said he had to look at them every day—if he went a single day without, he just didn’t feel right.
"I used to be a teacher."
"For real?"
"Of course it’s real. I’m from Tsinghua."
...
’This old man graduated from Tsinghua? I don’t buy it. He’s probably having one of his episodes again.’
’A Tsinghua graduate from that era? How could he have ended up as a vagrant, coming to Linxi Village to be its Village Guardian for decades?’
"Why don’t you believe me? I really did graduate from Tsinghua. I was sent down to the countryside later, then went back to the Capital and worked for several years..."
Uncle Qin rattled on.
’Listening to him,’ Su Ran thought, ’he’s either having an episode or... he’s finally lucid.’
Still, the old man did love to read. He’d get so absorbed he could read for a whole day, even forgetting to eat.