Little Miss Fortune: I Will Bring Prosperity to My Tang Family!-Chapter 93: Besides Being Gluttonous But Also a Drunk

Chapter 87

Besides Being Gluttonous But Also a Drunk

Wu Zhong’s group finished butchering the pig and divided the meat to store at their own houses before returning to deal with the remaining parts, mostly innards and pork neck. Xiaolin nudged her big friend to chop some pork ribs for her to marinate and fry.

Suddenly, she remembered the wonderful pork seasoning she had once used. She scolded herself for only recalling it now, but she kept the thought for later because the three pigs they had hunted were now just bones.

"Fry a lot. No one’s going to care about eating rice today,"

Xiaolin glanced at the large basin of pork ribs she definitely couldn’t lift by herself. She walked into the kitchen, gathered seasonings into small bowls, and placed them on a tray before carrying it outside. She poured the seasonings into the basin of pork ribs and nudged Huan Tan once more.

"If you want to eat, you have to help," she said, leaving with the tray and empty bowls, while Huan Tan watched her walk away in amazement.

At that moment, the carts from the morning workers arrived back home. Tianchen, smelling the smoke, quickly ran to the backyard. Seeing the pile of pig bones, he grinned widely. Xiaolin, spotting her uncle, called out for him to bring a basin of pork fat into the kitchen for rendering into lard.

"Uncle, please cut the pork fat for me. I’ll render the lard."

"Sure, I’ll do it,"

Having given her instructions, Xiaolin went outside to inspect the heap of pig spines. She waved her small hand to beckon her father, who was already approaching.

"What is it, dear?"

"Father, can you cut the pork spine at the joints and clean them? I want to make something delicious."

"Of course. And what should I do with this meat? Shall I fry it?" Tianrong hugged his plump daughter, planting a kiss on her cheek until Xiaolin had to push away his bristly face.

"Ouch! Your whiskers are poking my cheeks."

"Already hugging your daughter? Hahaha!" Tian Yi laughed loudly, standing with his hands on his hips.

"Go hug your own son, A’Yi," Chang Sen shouted back while cleaning a large pile of pig intestines, with Lei San assisting.

"He’d probably kick me," Tian Yi muttered, shaking his head at the thought of his grumpy son, wondering who was the father and who was the son.

Watching the chaos, Xiaolin walked to the vegetable garden to pick some hot peppers, onions, and coriander roots. She wished she had some cilantro for making spicy pork bone soup. She planned to use two chilies and grind more to serve separately for the adults.

"Grandfather, are you watering the plants?" Xiaolin asked as she saw her grandfather scooping water from a large barrel.

"Yes. Are you picking vegetables for cooking?"

"Yes, Grandfather. I’m going to make something delicious for you," Xiaolin’s sweet words made Hui Song laugh.

"I’ll look forward to it."

After picking enough vegetables, Xiaolin returned to the kitchen and encountered the three boys from the Huan family coming out of the house. She asked them to help bring a small stove and pan outside and light a fire for her to boil the pork bones.

"Xiaolin, is the pork fat just for rendering lard?" Tianchen asked his chubby little niece while chopping the pork fat.

"Yes, Uncle. Can you render the lard for me? I need to do something else,"

"Sure, go ahead, Xiaolin,"

The chubby girl took a knife and a small cutting board to the back porch, where she cleaned the vegetables she had picked. She then chopped the onions into large pieces and cut the coriander roots, preparing them for the pork bone soup.

Looking at the fire in the stove, which the three young men had helped her set up earlier, Xiaolin found it was now perfectly hot. She placed a pot on the stove, added water, pork bones, onions, coriander roots, and salt. She then let it simmer for an hour to ensure the meat would become tender and fall off the bones.

"Is there another stove and pan? I need to boil the pork intestines," Wu Zhong asked Tianrong, who was helping Huan Tan cut pork liver. Huan Tan intended to make sweet liver and larb with pork innards and skin.

"There are three more sets in the storage room," Tianrong replied, getting up to go to the storage room with Wu Zhong following him.

"Bring them out for me too," Huan Tan shouted after them.

"Xiaolin, why are you boiling pork bones? Are you making soup?" Ching Long, the glutton, hurried over and excitedly asked his little sister, sitting down beside her.

"I’m making pork bone soup that no one has ever tasted before. Oh, and Ching Long, could you help me call Brother Hai’s family over?"

Xiaolin asked Ching Long who had become quite close with the Ling siblings because he often went with his mother to see the new baby. Meanwhile, Xiaolin planned to invite Great-Grandfather Shi and Great-Grandmother Liu to join the big family meal at their house.

"Sure, I’ll go with Wen," Ching Long said, putting an arm around his brother’s shoulders as they walked out.

Xiaolin then asked Ching Lang, who had been quietly standing by, to go with her. The chubby girl walked and occasionally skipped happily into the village. When she and her uncles returned home, the workers at the factory had already gone home, so there was no one to help eat the remaining pork and bones. She needed to gather more people to avoid wasting it.

"Great-Grandmother, are you home?"

Xiaolin shouted from outside the fence. The person who came to open the gate was her tall grandfather, Shi Luo. Xiaolin hadn’t seen him for quite a while, even though he worked at the dried food store with her Uncle Heng.

"Grandfather, I haven’t seen you in so long," Xiaolin said, looking up at her tall grandfather until her neck was stiff. Shi Luo chuckled softly at her remark.

"Well, Xiaolin, you haven’t visited the dried food store, so how could we meet?"

"I’ve been busy with the new shop, Grandfather. By the way, today I’m here to invite you and Great-Grandmother for dinner at our house. I went into the forest with Uncle Wu Zhong and got three wild boars."

"Really? Let me go call your great-grandparents,"

"Grandfather, you can go to our house first. I need to go to the Liu’s house too,"

"Is that so? Wait a moment, I’ll go with you. It’s getting late, and it’s dangerous," Shi Luo said, seeing that the two children were alone. He quickly went to inform his parents before coming back to walk with the two children towards the Liu’s house.

"And is this Huan Tan’s son?" Shi Luo asked, looking at the boy who quietly followed his granddaughter. The boy had several facial features resembling Huan Tan.

"Yes, indeed. Big Brother Lang is the eldest son,"

"Greetings, Elder," Ching Lang bowed respectfully.

"No need for formalities. I’m just a common villager. A simple greeting will do,"

When they arrived at the Liu manor, Shi Luo called out to the grandmother and granddaughter, explaining his purpose. The five of them then headed towards the Tang household, from which delicious aromas wafted, making even the villagers’ stomachs growl.

The elderly washed their hands and went inside to play with little Tianyi, while Shu Luo and Liu Hao followed the children to the backyard. Tianchen, who had finished rendering the lard, quickly joined his niece in the kitchen. Xiaolin asked him to carry a large bowl of marinated pork ribs inside, with Liu Hao helping.

"The ribs are marinated, Uncle. Just heat the oil in the pan and fry them," Xiaolin instructed her helpers. She had marinated the ribs without garlic, fearing some might not like it, but planned to fry garlic separately for those who did.

Having given her instructions, she sat down to peel garlic and pound it in a small mortar. Seeing her tiny hands and small mortar, Liu Hao worried they might not have enough, so he took a knife and cutting board to help crush the garlic.

Noting his strong hands, Xiaolin fetched hot peppers from a basket for her big uncle to pound. Meanwhile, she walked around to inspect the ongoing preparations, though the aroma of sweet liver being cooked by her big friend was incredibly tempting.

"I want mine well done, please," Xiaolin said, standing beside Huan Tan, who hadn’t noticed her arrival.

"If it’s too done, it will be rough, you know?"

"But I don’t like it when it’s still bloody,"

"Alright, I’ll make a separate batch for you,"

About an hour later, various dishes were ready: fried pork ribs with fried garlic, aromatic grilled pork neck, larb with pork innards and skin, and sweet liver. The only thing left was Xiaolin’s pork bone soup, which she was still stirring. Because she didn’t like spicy food and there were many children, she made two versions of the soup: one for the kids with only two peppers and one for the adults loaded with peppers.

"Szz! The spicy and sour soup with tender pork bones is surprisingly well-matched," Tianchen remarked, ladling some soup into his bowl before anyone else.

"Hey, share some with us, A’Chen! Don’t eat it all yourself!" Guo Lu shouted, noticing Tianchen’s robust physique compared to before.

"I also want some grilled intestines," Xiaolin said, carrying her large bowl of rice over to the uncles who were sitting around, grilling intestines and sipping booze.

“Why is Xiaolin’s bowl so big? Haha!” Tian Yi laughed loudly upon seeing his plump granddaughter’s bowl, which seemed almost larger than her.

“Well, I wanted to eat a lot of things,” Xiaolin pouted. She walked over and sat next to her father, placing the large bowl on her lap. The uncles all leaned in to peek at her bowl, which was filled mostly with fried pork ribs that took up more than half the space, along with larb, grilled pork neck, stewed pork bones, and well-done sweet liver.

“You little glutton,” Tianrong teased, pinching her chubby cheeks.

Xiaolin ignored him, scooping rice into her mouth and chewing until her cheeks puffed out. She pointed at the grilled intestines, looking at her father as if to say, “Pass me some grilled intestines, please.” Tianrong, amused, laughed and picked a piece of grilled intestine to add to her bowl.

“How’s the business at the shop, Rong? You bring in so much seafood every day; it must be selling very well, right?” Wu Zhong asked. Every day, Tianrong took in no less than ten buckets of squid for both the seafood restaurant and the barbecue restaurant, not to mention the considerable amounts of shrimp and shellfish.

“To be honest, some days it’s not enough. But I don’t want to bring in more than this; it’s already hard to manage,” Tianrong replied, picking up a piece of grilled intestine and following it with a small cup of wine.

“The people of Jiangnan are really into seafood now. It’s no wonder it sells so well,” Huan Tan added. He had observed the Tang family’s restaurant for several days, noting the constant flow of customers, especially during lunchtime when people fought for tables every day.

“That’s right. Plus, these are Xiaolin’s special recipes. Who wouldn’t be hooked?”

“If I were shameless enough, I’d ask to live at the Tang household,” Guo Lu laughed heartily.

“You’re quite the glutton.”

Despite the constant chatter, the men’s hands didn’t stop pouring wine, and soon enough, they were all tipsy. Even Tianrong and Huan Tan, who usually didn’t drink much, were enjoying themselves, their faces flushed. Xiaolin kept nudging her father, but Tianrong’s coordination was failing; sometimes he managed to pick up food for her, sometimes he didn’t.

“Come to think of it, it’s quite funny. Just last year, we were poor villagers with barely enough food to eat. Then Rong created jobs and businesses for us. Now he’s running several big ventures,” Chang Sen, getting tipsy, laughed heartily.

They struggled so much before that they nearly starved, but now things changed dramatically. He had earned enough from drying squid and selling seafood to build a new house, which, although not as grand as the Tang household’s, was sturdier than the old one.

“I still remember when I tried to sell fish and nobody would buy it, so I had to bring the fish back home to eat every day. My kids cried and said they didn’t want to eat fish anymore,” Wu Zhong said bitterly, the memory bringing a lump to his throat.

“Yeah, I got sick of it too, sick to the point where I could hardly swallow it. But if we didn’t eat it, we’d starve,” Tian Yi added, lifting the nearly empty wine jar to his lips and drinking directly from it.

"It’s strange. Before, we used to go into the forest as often as we went out to sea, but we never caught a wild boar. Nowadays, just walking into the forest, you find them everywhere," Lei San remarked, furrowing his brow in confusion.

“Don’t even hope to catch a wild boar; we couldn’t even catch a wild chicken. If Rong hadn’t found work for us, we would have starved to death by now.”

“That’s right. We owe you a lot, Rong. Here’s a toast to you.” Guo Lu raised his cup and drank it down. Seeing this, the others followed suit.

“No need to be so formal, really. In the past, you all helped me support my family by letting me join your fishing trips. Now that I’ve found some success, how could I forget you? Brother Tian, the same goes for you. If you need anything, just let me know,” Tianrong said, turning to Huan Tan, who had been a great benefactor in his life.

“Are you guys drunk already, talking like this? Hahaha!” Huan Tan, his face flushed, laughed loudly. The others joined in, laughing along.

“You guys are ridiculous. Here I am, trying to enjoy my drink, and you’re talking about gratitude and debts. It ruins the mood,” Hui Song glared at the younger men. In his opinion, drinking should be accompanied by funny stories, not this serious talk.

“My apologies, Uncle Hui. Here, let me pour you another drink,” Lei San lifted the wine jug.

Xiaolin looked around the group, blinking rapidly. The drunken men seemed to change their moods quickly. She noticed the intestines on the grill starting to burn, so she put her bowl down and turned the intestines over to ensure they were evenly cooked. She didn’t forget to add some to the plates of the drunken men before placing a new batch on the grill.

“My dear daughter, Xiaolin, thank you for bringing back good fortune with you,” Tianrong, now very drunk, pulled his chubby daughter into a tight hug.

Xiaolin froze upon hearing this, replaying her father’s words in her mind several times before looking up at him. He was so drunk that his eyes were half-closed. When she glanced around at the others, she saw they were in similar states, except for her grandfather, who continued to fetch more food from the kitchen as usual.

“Father...what do you mean?” Xiaolin asked softly, unsure how much her father knew about her. He had never mentioned it before.

“I know. The doctor said you had stopped breathing. We must thank the gods for bringing you back. My little daughter returned with... HIC! ...good fortune and skills beyond your age. At first, I wasn’t sure, but when you said you remembered your past life, I became certain you had truly come back to life,”

Tianrong said, his voice slurred and eyes misty. He seemed to see multiple versions of his daughter, attributing it to divine intervention.

Xiaolin, shocked and confused, looked up at her father again, only to see him reaching out to pat the air, smiling sweetly. Her worries dissipated, and she let out a long sigh.

“SIGH! Father, you’re really drunk.”

“Am I drunk? Oh! I was trying to pat your head, but you moved away.”

Xiaolin watched her father’s futile attempts to pat the air, feeling a mix of exasperation and amusement.

-----Read ‘Little Miss Fortune: I Will Bring Prosperity to My Tang Family’ before anyone else with more Chapters at https://www.jinovel.com/en