The conversation in the courtyard continued, and the old man’s old servant didn’t seem to be an easy character to get along with.
Only to hear the old servant retort: "This place has no shit, what kind of good wine and meat can I buy?"
"After all, isn't it just you who can't do things?"
"You can do it, then go out and buy it yourself!"
This old servant is a ruthless person who dares to confront his master directly.
Liu Mang continued to listen for a while and found that there was no more sound coming from the courtyard.
He whispered goodbye to Old Man Huang and left in a hurry.
For a mysterious old man who knows martial arts, the outer city is indeed a small place where nothing matters.
But where birds don’t poop, there must be no good wine and good meat?
According to Liu Mang’s experience in his previous life, he ate thick steaks in Michelin-starred restaurants, stinky tofu skewers on the roadside, drank Maotai Collection, and Erguotou from Red Star, and he completely disagreed.
After walking four or five miles on the dirt road, Liu Mang arrived at Daijia Village.
At the door of the second house after entering the village, there are two wooden frames, one tall and one short, with rows of fresh beef of different sizes hanging on them.
Under the wooden frame is a square wooden table with a cutting board, a meat chop knife and some minced meat.
Butcher Dai, who was naked and lean, was sitting quietly at the table in a daze.
The world is tough, and the number of households buying meat is getting smaller and smaller year by year. What’s more, villagers prefer to go to the wet market to buy meat, where they can shop around. Dai Butcher can still manage to keep the business going by relying on the reputation accumulated by his ancestors.
Seeing Liu Mang coming over, Butcher Dai smiled on his dark face.
"Tieniu, why do you come to my place when you have time?"
Liu Mang smiled and said: "I came here to buy meat, and there are distinguished guests at home."
"Okay, do you want beef tenderloin or beef tendon? They were both killed yesterday and are fresh."
"No, no." Liu Mang shook his head, "I want marinated beef shank."
Butcher Dai was stunned: "There are no ready-made ingredients. I have to prepare them. You can come and get them tomorrow."
"Give me three pounds and cut it into slices for roasting."
"Okay, a total of eight coins."
"Half a tael."
"That's not possible. Pure meat is more than that, not to mention that my ingredients are expensive to prepare. We need fine salt, dogwood, scallions, plum wine..."
"Okay, okay, I won't just buy it today, I will come here often."
The two bargained for a long time, and finally Liu Mang got six coins and successfully borrowed a copper oven from the other party before giving up.
Butcher Dai asked Liu Mang to come get the meat early tomorrow to prevent the meat from getting old due to the long marinating time.
After Liu Mang ordered the meat, he turned around and left, feeling a little painful in his heart.
It would take him two months of continuous work at the dock to save six cents of silver, not to mention that he was often owed monthly money.
However, in order to learn martial arts, these investments are necessary.
He chose to buy meat from Dai Butcher, first of all because his meat is fresh, does not sell diseased or dead meat, and has a good reputation.
The most important thing is that Butcher Dai has a unique recipe for marinating beef. After the marinated beef is grilled, it has a slightly spicy taste without covering up the aroma of the meat itself, and the meat is tender, fragrant and juicy.
Liu Mang's predecessor was also accidentally brought to Dai Butcher's house by his father as a guest, and he discovered that his house's cured meat was excellent.
Otherwise, the two families are four or five miles apart and separated by several villages, so it would be difficult to get such detailed information.
On the way back to the village, he passed the small market around the gray-white stone bridge. Liu Mang spent another two coins and bought some black charcoal.
Return home.
Liu Mang dug out the sorghum wine hidden in the cellar. His father was a good winemaker during his lifetime, and what he left behind were all treasures.
Liu Mang had opened a bottle before, and the aroma filled the house, and he had a long aftertaste after one sip.
From the perspective of the 21st century, they are all rare and good wines.
When Liu's mother saw it, she was slightly curious: "Tieniu, do you want to drink?"
"Take it and give it away to see if you can have a good future!"
When Liu's mother heard this, she said happily: "Is one bottle of wine enough? Don't you have a few more bottles at home?"
"Mom, I won't necessarily accept it, so I'll try my best."
A night of silence.
Early the next morning, Liu Mang carried the wine jar and went to Daijia Village to pick up the marinated beef and the copper oven. Then he hurried to Old Man Huang's house in Shenjia Village.
"Uncle, I'll lend you the place in front of your house!"
He placed the washed copper oven on the dirt floor in front of Old Man Huang's house, and stuffed some black charcoal under the oven.
Then light the black charcoal, wait for it to burn for a period of time and become red all over, and no flames or smoke can be seen, then place the beef slices on the upper iron mesh of the copper oven, and use chopsticks to turn them over.
As time goes by, the aroma of roast beef gradually spreads around.
The first person to taste the barbecue was Old Man Huang. He was near the water terrace and eagerly ate a few pieces before turning back to the house.
The doors of several neighbors' houses opened one after another, and children kept running out to watch Liu Mang's barbecue.
These days, meat is the biggest luxury item, and many people may not be able to eat it even once a month.
And among all the ways to eat meat, barbecue is the most exciting.
Liu Mang looked in front of him, staring longingly at his little kids. They were all dark and thin, and his saliva was almost flowing down his chin.
Unable to help but laugh inwardly, one person gave a piece of dark red barbecue skewered on bamboo sticks and said, "Eat a piece and go home quickly."
The little kids nodded desperately, hurriedly grabbed the bamboo sticks with their little hands, and swallowed the barbecued meat in one bite like Zhu Bajie eating ginseng fruit. After eating, they licked the bamboo stick heads with unsatisfied content, and continued to stare at Liu Mang eagerly, but they refused to do anything.
Leave.
Liu Mang had no choice but to ignore them. He did not spend so much money to help the children. He himself was still in dire straits.
While Liu Mang was grilling, he also opened the sorghum wine he brought at home, and a rich aroma of wine instantly filled the air.
The aroma of wine mixed with the aroma of meat made the area around him feel like a fairyland on earth.
Liu Mang put the roasted meat on the plate, put the raw meat on the copper oven, and patiently carried out the barbecue.
In ancient times, Jiang Taigong fished, but now Liu Lang roasts beef, and those who wish will take the bait.
Just when Liu Mang had grilled half of the barbecue, an old-fashioned voice suddenly sounded:
"Boy, why are you grilling it instead of eating it? Put so much meat aside and let it cool for nothing?"
Liu Mang turned around and saw an energetic old man with long gray-white hair.
He is tall, but has fewer wrinkles on his face. His skin is rosy and shiny, and his eyes are as bright as burning flames. He looks like a master from this world.
Liu Mang suppressed the excitement in his heart and replied calmly: "If I have worries in my heart, even the liver and marrow of dragon and phoenix cannot be swallowed."
The old man said: "If you have any worries, why don't you come and let me hear it? Maybe I can give you a solution."
Liu Mang frowned and said slowly: "A few days ago, someone from the gang came to collect the fees. I didn't turn in the amount. I offended that person severely. He will probably come to take revenge on me sooner or later. I can't eat when I think about this.
I can't sleep at night, and I don't know what my father-in-law has to say."
The old man smiled and said: "What's so difficult about this? As the saying goes, the first strike is the strongest. If you kill him first, won't he be unable to come and take revenge on you?"
Liu Mang was stunned for a moment, then continued: "He is a member of a gang. If I kill him, I will cause even greater trouble."
The old man shook his head and said: "You kid, how can you be so stupid? Since you know that other people in the gang will help him bully you, then kill all these people in advance, won't everything be fine?"
Liu Mang:......
I always feel like something is broken inside.
But when he saw the old man's proud face, it was obvious that the other party didn't think there was anything wrong with his proposal.
He suppressed the desire to complain, and instead praised: "My father-in-law woke up the dreamer with his words! No matter the difficulties or obstacles, I will overcome them with my own strength!"
"Thanks for the advice, husband. If you don't mind, how about you try my barbecue?"
The mysterious old man nodded and said: "I want to see how your boy's skills are!"
After saying that, he took the bamboo stick handed over by Liu Mang, put the barbecue into his mouth, and kept nodding.
“Not bad! Moderately salty, fat but not greasy.”
Hearing the old man's compliments, Liu Mang was overjoyed and handed over the barbecues one after another. The old man accepted all of them with a smile. After staying in this birdy place for a few days, his mouth almost turned out to be a bird.
After a while, Liu Mang smiled and said: "With meat, there must also be wine!"
He poured the old wine he brought from home directly into two bowls, and didn't care if some of the wine spilled on the ground.
The rich aroma of wine immediately overwhelmed the aroma of meat.
The old man's eyes lit up, he raised his head and took a big sip.
"Good! Good wine!"
After another sip, the wine in the bowl had reached the bottom.
Liu Mang picked up the wine bottle in his hand and continued to add wine to the old man. At the same time, he added fresh yellow beef to the copper oven, turning it over with wooden chopsticks, pouring the wine and grilling the meat.
One of the two entertained them deliberately, the other did not hesitate, they ate and drank deliciously, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious.
When he was enjoying his meal, Liu Mang suddenly let out a long sigh.
"Why!"
"With so much wine and meat, why do you sigh?"
"This place is too narrow and it's a fly in the ointment."
"It's a trivial matter. My yard is quite spacious. You can move there!"
"It turns out that my father-in-law's family is nearby, so I would be disrespectful."
Liu Mang cleaned up the scene and walked into his courtyard with the old man.
The progress was much smoother than expected, and he was slightly excited.