Phi-Fic Chapter 127: Roasted Chili Peppers with Pork and Vermicelli Stew
Chapter 127: Roasted Chili Peppers with Pork and Vermicelli Stew
Li Mingxia's family was famous for paying high wages for hired helpers. The most important thing was that the work was not too tiring but the food was particularly good. Therefore, when Li Sanlang and Zhang came out and told them that they wanted to hire people, many people wanted to come. They selected eight people and agreed on a daily wage of fifteen cents and one meal. Those who were selected were very happy. While thinking about the fifteen cents, they were also thinking about what kind of food the Li family could provide them tomorrow.
"We can't go to the table for a while, so let's keep these dishes separately." Li Mingxia discussed with Zhang.
Normally, it would be fine to sit down and eat at the table, as we are all from the same village. But today, too many people came and there was not enough space. Most of them were men, and there were several people I didn't know well, so it was not pleasant to eat at the table like this.
"That's right, that's what I meant. Let's pick out some food and other things. There's a small table in the kitchen anyway, so we can eat in the kitchen. It will be comfortable even if we don't say anything, right?" Zhang said happily.
"Is it okay? Her aunt?"
Zhang said this because she didn't treat Aunt Cheng as an outsider, otherwise she wouldn't have suggested eating in the kitchen. Instead, she asked Aunt Cheng to bring the children to the table. Aunt Cheng was naturally happy to be treated so sincerely.
"What's wrong with that? We can just eat here and talk about anything. It's been a long time since we had a good chat together." Aunt Cheng said cheerfully.
"We'll talk about it later when we eat. Let's take these dishes out first. The husband who just came to my house was asked by Zhengpin. He must be hungry." Zhang walked outside with a large bowl of steamed buns made of two grams of flour. She did not forget to ask Li Zhengde to go next door to call Aunt Cheng's three children.
"Big Head, Dahua and Erhua, call them all over, and tell them to come over to eat, don't play around!"
Li Zhengde agreed and greeted his friends happily.
The table for the helpers' meals was placed in the room where Li Mingxia usually ate at home. It was large and bright, and when the food was served, everyone could no longer hide the smiles on their faces.
"Everyone says the Li family's food is delicious. I missed it last time, but I finally got to eat it this time!"
"That's right. Just look at this pork stewed with vermicelli. They put more pork than we do during the Chinese New Year. This trip is really worth it. Not to mention the wages, I would be willing to work for a day just for this food."
"That's not what it is!"
To be fair, Zhang and Li Sanlang were both honest bosses. Li Mingxia saw this from the two times he hired people. No matter how frugal Zhang was with himself, he would never cut corners when preparing meals for guests or workers.
"Everyone, eat as much as you want. The food is full!" Li Sanlang waved his hand, and the people who couldn't wait any longer exchanged a few polite words and immediately picked up their chopsticks, grabbed the steamed buns and started eating.
"This is so delicious. The food is really amazing."
"Just one word, fragrant!"
"Second uncle, don't leave in the evening. The child's mother said that she has prepared delicious food and wine for you. No matter what, you have to finish eating before leaving." Li Sanlang sat next to Zheng Guihe, leaned close and spoke in a low voice.
He could see that his second uncle loved to drink, and he had to work in the afternoon so he couldn't prepare any drinks. Today Zheng Guihe came to help, not only giving verbal instructions, but also working hard to help, and Li Sanlang saw it all.
"Let's talk about it tonight, let's talk about it tonight, let's eat first." Zheng Guihe handed Li Sanlang a steamed bun, and he ate the pork stewed with vermicelli in front of him in big mouthfuls.
Li Zhengde also came back with his friends. Aunt Cheng felt a little embarrassed looking at her three children at home.
"What can I do? I'm just a worker in our family, and almost the whole family has come to eat. How can you say that?" Aunt Cheng is a respectable person, so she would feel a little embarrassed. But if it were the people in the old house, who knows how happy they would be.
Zhang served a bowl of pork vermicelli to each child and added a large spoonful of soup into each bowl. Because they were large bowls, there was still a lot of meat and vermicelli in the bowl even though there was a lot of soup.
"Aunt, this is roasted red pepper. You can break it into pieces and put it in the soup. It will taste delicious." Li Mingxia handed the roasted pepper with a little bit of mushy texture to Aunt Cheng.
After Zheng Dazhuang sat down at the table, he looked at the pork in his bowl and then at the braised pork in front of him. He felt that his eyes were not enough to focus on the pork. Before he finished eating one piece of meat, another one was already in his bowl. He ate one piece after another with great joy.
By evening, the windows of Li Mingxia's house had been completely renovated. The glazed windows looked grand and transparent, making people feel open and comfortable when looking at them.
Li Zhengpin was distributing wages to everyone. After checking that everything was correct, everyone left with a smile.
Li Sanlang asked Zhang to heat up the dishes so that he could have another drink with Zheng Guihe.
"Uncle, you can't leave no matter what you say. If you hadn't come today, we would never have finished the work today, and we would probably have to work until the evening tomorrow."
This is not an exaggeration. Even Li Mingxia did not expect that replacing windows would be such a tedious task. It can be said that the work could be completed today thanks to the expert Zheng Guihe.
But Zheng Guihe did not stay this time. He just said that he had something to do at home, wiped his face and drove away in his ox cart.
Aunt Cheng was the last to leave. She helped Zhang clean up the kitchen before taking the children home.
Zhang's meal was so thick that there were still some leftovers even if more than a dozen people ate to their heart's content. Thinking that Li Mingxia hated eating leftovers the most, she scooped out most of the food and divided it into several portions, intending to send them to the people who were close to her.
"Dad, I didn't save any food today, so I picked out some good ones from the rest and put them in a bowl. You can take it to the old man and the old lady." Zhang did not forget what she had promised Li Sanlang, and she would take the initiative to ask for good meat and delicious dishes whenever there were any at home.
Li Sanlang nodded, then suddenly stopped as if he remembered something. He glanced at the busy Zhang and asked tentatively, "Last time I went to see my parents, they asked why you didn't come. They were thinking about you. Why don't you come with me to deliver the food today? Let my parents see you, and that will also make them feel at ease, right?"
Although Zhang was willing to send food to the people in the old house, she would not believe that Old Lady Zheng would care about her even if she was beaten to death. Even if she did, she would definitely scold her.