In a clearing surrounded by woods, there was rustling movement.
First there was the sound of donkeys and mules snoring and trampling the soil.
Then the sound of someone's footsteps was interspersed with many tiny sounds.
then,
The sound of axes chopping firewood continued.
After several sounds of flints rubbing against each other, the "凵"-shaped open space surrounded by dense small trees began to light up with fire.
The fire gradually started,
It illuminated the surrounding tables and tables built randomly with wood and stones.
Around the blazing flames, there were several stoves made of mud and stones. Strong young men were busy filling the stoves with kindling and burning them red.
The obese woman wore a pigskin apron and squatted on the stove holding a large iron pot.
On the other side, another thinner woman spread out a chopping board on a wooden table, took out a shaved and washed cow's head from a large iron bucket squatting on the ground, and split the cow's head in half.
He carried it and put it into the iron pot that the fat woman was looking after.
After that, add beef lungs, beef intestines, beef blood and other beef offal into the iron pot.
The thin man led the donkey and mule to the edge of the forest farm, gave it a few handfuls of fodder, and then tied the reins to a dead tree.
A palm-sized incense burner squatted next to it, with three sticks of slowly burning incense sticks placed on it.
The man unloaded the cart from the back of the donkey and mule, pulled the things on the cart to the stove, and called two women and a young man to help: "Daping, Xiaocai, son, come and help me!"
The two women and the young man gathered around,
Transport the buckets of unprocessed cattle, sheep and pig offal, intestinal oil, lymph and rotten meat from the pallet truck.
The thinner woman was busy cleaning the offal, while the fat woman took over the job of cutting the meat, cutting the offal into slices or pieces and throwing them into the corresponding pot.
In the grove, white mist-like steam rose up, seeming to whiten the dark sky.
Around here, the sounds of animals, bells, and people's footsteps gradually gathered.
Fires lit up everywhere in the darkness.
This fire is so dense,
On the contrary, this dark night before dawn is made particularly vibrant.
Some people set up vegetable stalls outside the forest;
Some people put up wooden poles tied with straw, placed two stones on top of them, set up a small pot, added water and sugar to the pot and boiled it, then threw a bunch of hawthorns into the pot and rolled them out. The red sugar was sticky.
On the surface of the hawthorn, candied haws of sugarcane sticks are stuck on the straw stalks.
Those who sell livestock, chickens, ducks and babies, dogs and people...
All these things are gathered around this originally empty forest farm.
They don't have to shout or make any noise,
Villagers from all over the country gathered here as if they had made an agreement with them.
far away,
A large black horse with shiny fur pulled a carriage, covered with the dew before dawn. Driven by a young groom, the horse's hooves clattered slowly towards the market here.
"This is the Jade Emperor's Grand Gathering.
The largest market within hundreds of miles of Yunjin.
It lasts from New Year's Eve every year until the Lantern Festival.
I used to drive my senior brother to have a New Year's Eve dinner here." In the carriage, Old Daoist Xuan Zhao stuck his head out, observing the surroundings, talking non-stop, and identifying the direction around him.
When he saw the open space surrounded by densely grown small trees, he quickly pointed over there and said, "Let's go, let's eat in that forest farm today!"
Their beef offal soup and sheep head meat are both delicious!
You can have a bowl of beef offal soup in the morning, mutton head meat with some fried chicken scomb oil at noon, and half a cow head in the evening, and the year will be over..."
After hearing his arrangement, Su Wu turned to look at the Taoist expressionlessly and said, "We have been walking from Zaozhuang to Yunjin for two days. We are far enough away from Zaozhuang now, and the Taoist master is not willing to reveal it.
Any information about the incident at the Maoshan ancestral court?
Now we are walking around all day long, I think if we continue walking like this, we will only get further and further away from the Maoshan ancestral home, right?"
"I'll tell you later, I'll tell you later!" Master Xuan Zhao waved his hands repeatedly and said with a smile, "Today is New Year's Eve, even prisoners on death row must have a good meal.
What's more, we are not death row prisoners?
Go quickly! Go quickly!
Today I want to have a good time at the Jade Emperor's Fair!"
Su Wu sighed and drove the carriage to the edge of the forest farm without saying another word.
He tied his horse next to a donkey and mule, and when he lowered his head, he saw a yellow clay incense burner under the tree.
In the incense burner, incense sticks lit up smoke.
Su Wu's nose twitched, and he instantly smelled a smell that was particularly familiar to him from the burning incense - the smell of the 'Kitchen God Cult' and 'Life-Protect Fire'!
Could it be that the owner of this food stall at the Jade Emperor’s Fair is also a member of the Kitchen God Cult?
With thoughts swirling in his mind, Su Wu became a little curious about this beef offal and mutton soup stall.
Geniuses are bright these days.
Many villagers from neighboring villages have gathered at the market.
This stall selling beef offal and mutton soup occupies the center of the entire market. There are many tables here, which is naturally a large open-air dining hall.
Logically speaking, there is no reason why other vendors who come to sell goods at the market should not seize such a good location.
But the reality is that there are many vendors and merchants crowding around the forest farm, setting up their own stalls, but no vendor occupies even half a cent more than the stall selling beef offal and mutton soup!
Su Wu observed all the details here, followed Lao Dao, and approached the fat woman in charge of cooking the mutton soup.
As he approached the three stoves, Su Wu's perception of the 'life-protecting fire' became stronger.
——The three stoves are all burning with life-protecting fire!
“Guest, what do you want to eat?
A bowl of 18 pieces of beef offal, a big bowl of 24 pieces, and you can drink the soup as you like.
Haggis…”
The fat woman said to the old man with a smile.
Old Taoist Xuan Zhao put his hands behind his back and stretched his head to look at the pieces of offal meat hidden by the steam in the iron pot. He took a sharp breath and said, "Bring me a bowl of offal meat with soup, more lungs and intestines, more liver
A little less, and two more pancakes!"
"okay!"
The fat woman lowered her head and followed the instructions of the old Taoist Xuan Zhao, picked out pieces of beef lungs and intestines, chopped them on the chopping board, put them into an iron spoon, rolled them into the big pot of beef offal three times, and fished out the meat and soup together.
, put it into a large bowl, spread two thick cakes cut into triangles on the bowl, and handed it to the old Taoist.
"He'll pay for it!"
The old Taoist happily picked up the bowl of sea food, not forgetting to signal Su Wu behind him to the fat woman.
Su Wu came forward and ordered a bowl of beef offal with soup similar to that of Lao Dao. While the fat woman was cutting the beef offal, he suddenly asked the woman: "Where has my sister-in-law ever cooked a stove?"
, have you collected rice?”
This question is asked in a confused way, and most people will be confused when they hear it.
But this statement is actually a cut and slang word used by people in the Kitchen God Sect when they meet.
Su Wu immediately mentioned the incision just to see how the fat woman would react.
To his disappointment,
As soon as he finished speaking, the fat woman stopped her knife and looked at him blankly: "Why are you burning the stove and harvesting rice? It has always been my man, my son, who is responsible for lighting the stove.
We don’t sell rice here either.”
"It's nothing, I just said it casually, sister-in-law, don't worry." Su Wu shook his head and looked at the thin woman guarding another pot next to him, convinced that these two people had nothing to do with the Stove God Sect.
At this time,
He suddenly felt a stranger's eyes lingering on him for a little longer.
Su Wu followed the induction and looked towards the place where the eyes came from.
Seeing a few steps away, the man of the stall who had been burning the ox's hooves with his back turned to his side and grinned at him.
His heart moved slightly, and he nodded in response to the male host's smile.
Taking the bowl of beef from the fat woman, Su Wu walked to the table occupied by the old man with a bowl of beef offal soup, put down the bowl, broke the biscuits into small pieces and put them into the soup bowl.
The man next to the stove put down the cow's hoof, exchanged a few words with the two women, handed the cow's hoof to his son to burn the fine hair on it, then picked up a clay pot from behind the stove and walked towards Su Wu. .
"Friends from the Kitchen God Sect, would you like a drink of my home-brewed wine?"
The male owner of the beef and sheep offal stall walked to the table occupied by Su Wu and Xuan Zhao, put the pottery pot on the table, and said with a smile.
When Su Wu heard this, he looked up and saw the male host grinning.
Before he could speak,
Old Taoist Xuan Zhao nodded his head repeatedly and said, "Come on, come on! Come on, take a bite!"
The male host took out a cup, poured a glass of wine for Xuan Zhao, and then looked at Su Wu.
Su Wu shook his head and said, "I took the liberty of disturbing you just now. I'm really embarrassed to drink your home-brewed wine now."
"What are you sorry for?
If my brothers from the Kitchen God Cult hadn’t saved my life and given me a life-saving lamp, I wouldn’t have the family fortune I have now and start such a big business!” The male host sat down on one side of the table. He poured two more glasses of wine, pushed one to Su Wu, took one himself, and said with a smile, "I just heard my brother's question, and I suddenly remembered the benefactors of the Kitchen God Sect in the past!"
Taking a sip of the wine, which was a bit harsh on the throat, the male host explained the reason in detail.
He set up a stall selling beef, sheep and pig offal decades ago. At that time, before marrying his two wives today, he went to markets everywhere selling mutton soup and beef offal. Because the market opened early, the stall owners often He hurried to the market before dawn,
If you often walk at night, you will inevitably see something strange.
The owner of this beef and sheep offal stall encountered something strange once.
Fortunately, a group of kitchen workers rushed to the market where he was at that time and happened to save his life, leaving him a life-saving lamp.
It is this light,
Let him later develop a big business,
Married two wives and had a son - although the second wife was a side request made by the wife when he married the first wife, the fact that he can afford to support two wives and children also shows that his business Not bad indeed.
And the kitchen team that the male host met before,
It is Su Wu’s master ‘Li Yueshan’, and his master, master’s wife, junior brothers and junior sisters form the Yinxi Meridian Zao Class!