Early the next morning, Shi Zhen took Shi Xinghuo to his place of work and told Wang Chengfa that he wanted his cousin to take over his job.
They didn’t sign any contracts as laborers. It didn’t matter who did the work. Shi Xinghuo was older and looked stronger than Shi Zhen, who had just grown up. Wang Chengfa naturally had no objection.
Of course, the reason why he was so easy to talk to was mainly because Shi Zhen had established a good relationship with him these past few days.
”My cousin’s home is far away. He doesn’t know much about the local dialect here. Please watch over him,” Shi Zhen said to the others.
Everyone agreed.
Shi Zhen felt relieved after hearing this. Shi Xinghuo was not very good at communicating with strangers, but now that he said that Shi Xinghuo couldn’t understand the local dialect, these people would not think that Shi Xinghuo had any problems with his intelligence.
As for work, there was nothing wrong with letting Shi Xinghuo follow others to do such work that did not require any skills.
Shi Xinghuo had been digging mud for several days. Although dredging up river silt this time was different from the digging work he had done before, it was similar and he could definitely do it.
Wang Chengfa was quite satisfied to see that Shi Xinghuo worked as hard as Shi Zhen.
They had almost finished dredging this section of the river. Because the work was completed quickly, he was rewarded by the above. Next, they would build the stone bank on the riverbank. The above would arrange for other people to take care of it. It was not his job to manage, but he had been asked to pick a few workers to continue working. He planned to pick a few hard-working people.
Originally, Shi Zhen was one of them, but now he could be replaced by Shi Xinghuo.
After sending Shi Xinghuo to the construction site, Shi Zhen returned to the village carrying a pig head.
He went to the butcher this morning and bought a pig head.
The pig head had no tongue and ears. It weighed twelve catties and cost him six yuan.
In addition to the pig head, he also bought a large stainless steel basin, which he planned to use to store the pig head meat later.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
This stainless steel basin was more expensive, costing him twenty yuan… He had to misappropriate the money he had saved for Shi Xinghuo.
After a few days, he would return the money with interest.
The iron pots on rural earthen stoves were all very large. The entire pig head could be completely submerged. Shi Zhen first used fire to burn off the hair on the pig head, then placed the pig head in to braise, and then added various seasonings.
After braising for three hours, the pig head meat had already separated from the bones, so he removed the bones, cut the meat into small pieces, and poured the marinade into the stainless steel basin.
Shi Zhen’s cooking skills were average and he couldn’t make anything amazing, so he decided to make a dish that the locals would make: cold-cut pig head meat*.
The method of cold-cut pig head meat was similar to that of cold-cut mutton. After the pig head was cooked, it was put into a container with the marinade. When it cooled and solidified, the meat and marinade were then cut into pieces.
Pig head meat was the same as pig trotters. The marinade was very thick and easy to solidify. The meat with marinade was also rich in flavor and went well with rice.
The pig head meat made this way was not only delicious, but also filling.
The pig head originally weighed twelve catties, but now that the bones had been removed, it should be able to weigh twelve or thirteen catties with the marinade.
After the pig head meat was processed, Shi Zhen mixed yesterday’s leftover rice with the marinade and had lunch. After resting for a while, he picked up the stainless steel basin with the pig head meat covered with a piece of gauze and put it on his back. He put a knife and a scale in a basket and walked toward town.
Even though the meat in the basin only weighed about twelve catties, carrying such a big basin was very tiring. Shi Zhen couldn’t walk all the way to town in one go, so he could only rest along the way.
He lacked a lot of things now. Among other things, he lacked a cycle rickshaw.
But in this era where one had to spend money to get a license plate after buying a cycle rickshaw, cycle rickshaws were not cheap. One cost several hundred yuan.
He had no money.
After Shi Zhen arrived in town, he did not go to the market, but to the place where they were dredging up the river.
It was cold today, so the marinade of this pot of pig head meat had long solidified.
Shi Zhen arrived at a good time. Wang Chengfa and the others happened to be eating their afternoon snacks. Seeing this, he carried his basin over. “Uncle Wang, I made cold-cut pig head meat at home and wanted to sell it. I came to see you since I was passing by. I’ll cut some for you to try.”
After Shi Zhen finished speaking with a smile, he cut some with a knife and distributed it to the people dredging up river silt.
He didn’t cut much, so each person got about two taels*. Wang Chengfa got a little more, about four taels.
Wang Chengfa gave the workers steamed buns with pickled vegetables as a snack this afternoon. They tasted good, but no matter how good they were, they were not as delicious as meat!
Especially for people at this time. Because they had just come from an era where food and clothing were lacking, they were not very good at using various seasonings when cooking.
In most people’s homes, the only kinds of seasoning were salt, soy sauce, and MSG, but not necessarily sugar and vinegar. However, the pig head meat that Shi Zhen braised was seasoned.
The pig head meat was solidified in the marinade. When one bit into it, not only was it rich in flavor, but the meat inside was also very chewy!
Most pig head meat was fatty, and many people didn’t like it, but everyone on the construction site liked it. Everyone thought it was delicious, and even without Shi Zhen’s prompting, someone asked, “Shi Zhen, do you want to sell this pig head meat? How much are you selling it for?”
Shi Zhen smiled. “I plan to sell it for two yuan a catty.”
”Oh, two yuan a catty. I’ll buy a catty.” Someone said. Going to town to buy meat cost more than two yuan a catty, so this was not expensive.
Most importantly, the meat was delicious!
Whenever he bought meat to bring home, he boiled it in plain water and dipped it in soy sauce. He had never tasted such delicious meat before.
Wang Chengfa also said, “I’ll buy two catties. The taste of your pig head meat is almost the same as the braised pig trotters in the restaurant in town.”
Shi Zhen felt that the braised pig trotters in the town’s restaurant were probably braised with some spices and soy sauce. No wonder Wang Chengfa thought they tasted the same.
He came here hoping to sell the pig head meat here, so Shi Zhen cut the meat without hesitation, and said, “Uncle Wang, I will sell it outside for two yuan a catty, but if selling to you guys, I definitely can’t sell it at such a high price. I’ll sell to you guys at 1.50 yuan per catty.”
It was fifty cents cheaper, and Wang Chengfa was very happy. “That’s a bit embarrassing… you cut a little for me. Just cut this much.” He gestured to indicate the amount.
Shi Zhen cut it, put it into a plastic bag he had purchased in advance, and weighed it on the scale he had brought. It weighed just over three catties in total.
Shi Zhen said, “Uncle Wang, four yuan is enough.”
The scale Shi Zhen used was left behind by Guan Baiyu’s grandma. It was old and the scales were not made of iron but of stone.
Iron scales had only become popular in recent years.
Wang Chengfa originally wanted to say that the scale might be inaccurate, but when he saw that Shi Zhen only charged him four yuan for more than three catties, he was immediately satisfied.
Seeing this, the remaining people came over to buy.
Shi Zhen calculated the price at 1.50 yuan per catty and always added a fraction to each cut, so within a short time, the basin of pig head meat was sold out.
The pig head he bought for six yuan, with the cost of spices and other ingredients added in, cost at most eight yuan, and he sold it all for fifteen yuan.
This was almost double the profit, but he couldn’t cook much in a day, and he couldn’t sell much in town. It wouldn’t be easy to make money continuously this way.
But this was a good start.
”Shi Zhen, are you still making this pig head meat tomorrow? If you do, bring it over here and I’ll buy some more then.” The last few people only bought a catty, and they would definitely be able to finish it today if they took it home. They wanted to buy some more tomorrow – they were willing to spend 1.50 yuan to add a dish to their family’s meals.
Shi Zhen said, “I will make it again tomorrow. I will definitely come over then.”
Shi Zhen did not leave even after speaking with these people. He stayed, watched Shi Xinghuo work, and gave Shi Xinghuo pointers from time to time.
Shi Xinghuo could only continue to work if he did his job well.
***
T/N: *Cold-cut pig head meat (冷切猪头肉). In Chinese cuisine, we have various cold dishes, which can be served chilled or at room temperature, so the “cold-cut” here just means the meat is served at room temperature. In future chapters, the author often just refers to this dish as pig head meat.
*Tael (两) – you may be familiar with this term from ancient Chinese webnovels as it is used for ancient currency and is part of the Chinese weights system. A tael is traditionally 1/16 of a catty, but has been standardized in modern China as 1/10 of a standard catty, and is 50 grams (a standard catty in modern China is 500 grams).
Did not know Tael is also a weight.