Chapter 183 - 183 Very Novel
183 Very Novel
Su Xuehai said happily, “Okay, I will study hard so I can eat lamb skewers!”
Then Su Binglan asked about Su Xuexuan’s studies. Su Xuexuan possessed a calm personality and did not talk much. He was not as lively as his younger brother, so he easily went unnoticed.
However, Su Binglan cared about Su Xuexuan’s emotions. She would not allow others to let Su Xuexuan go unnoticed.
Luo Jin’an noticed his wife’s compassion and thought Su Binglan was the best aunt out there.
…
When Su Binglan returned to her shop, she washed and put the lunch boxes away before heading to the blacksmith.
Clang! Clang!
The sounds of a hammer slamming against metal sounded. When Su Binglan entered the blacksmithing shop, the owner immediately saw her. “Hello, Miss. Please wait a moment. This piece will be ready soon.”
The blacksmith was forging something and could not attend to Su Binglan yet.
Su Binglan said, “It’s all right. You can finish what you’re doing first.”
The blacksmith continued forging, saying, “I haven’t completed the things you ordered yesterday. I didn’t sleep much last night, but I’m trying my best to forge the parts you need now. I’ll do whatever it takes to complete them tomorrow, but I can’t promise I will finish right now.”
Su Binglan noticed the dark circles under the blacksmith’s eyes and knew he did not sleep well. After some thought, she said, “As long as you try your best.”
The blacksmith said gratefully, “Thank you for understanding, Miss.”
“It’s okay. I know I gave you a tall order,” Su Binglan said gently.
The blacksmith’s heart ached when he heard that. “Very few are as kind as you, Miss.”
Most who could afford blacksmithing were wealthy, unlike common folk. However, the wealthy people felt they were always superior to others, so they treated workers like a blacksmith with disrespect.
The wealthy who went to the blacksmith shop looked at the workers with disdain, afraid the blacksmiths would dirty their expensive clothes.
Su Binglan looked around and said indifferently, “Those willing to get their hands dirty to make a living are always worthy of respect.”
The blacksmith heard Su Binglan’s words and knew she was not an ordinary person. The blacksmith became even more focused on forging. “Miss, if you don’t mind, can you look around? I don’t know what else you need.”
Su Binglan said, “You go ahead while I look around.” Her eyes shot around the shop and noticed some thin iron stakes. “Sir, what are these for?”
The blacksmith looked at the thin iron stakes. “Oh, a customer ordered a batch of those from me and told me he wants to use them for tying things, so they should be thin and pliable. However, those are defective because they’re not pliable enough to tie things.”
Su Binglan touched the iron stakes and said smilingly, “How much do you want for these?”
The blacksmith asked bewilderedly, “Do you want them?”
Su Binglan replied, “Yes, I want all of them.”
“B-But those are rejected items. Since you’ve ordered so many things from me, I could give them to you for free,” the blacksmith said because of what Su Binglan said about respect. He genuinely admired her.
Su Binglan said, “There are more than 200 of them here. I can’t allow you to give them to me for free. Charge me your normal price because I may need more in the future.”
The blacksmith knew Su Binglan was a fantastic person. “How about ten coins?”
Su Binglan gave the ten coins to the blacksmith and soon returned to the village with the iron stakes. Then she and her father went straight to Su Fengzhi’s house.
Shen Qiuhua needed to grind soybeans, so she could not find the time to follow them at the moment.
When the father and daughter arrived, Su Fengzhi had already slaughtered a sheep and hung it upside down to drain its blood.
Madam Liu saw Su Binglan and said happily, “Fengmao, Binglan, you’re here!”
“Hello, we came over to help.” Although Su Fengmao was not agile because of his severely injured foot, he could help around as long as he did not strain himself too much.
Su Fengzhi said, “Binglan, I’ve already slaughtered a sheep, so do I cut up some meat after draining its blood?” He was more comfortable with talking to his niece now.
Su Binglan replied, “We only need a little meat since the sheep is quite big. It’s best to keep the meat in a box to keep it fresh. Then you can make lamb skewers to sell tomorrow.”
Su Fengzhi laughed and said, “We have a cold cellar in the house. We can store the meat there.”
Su Binglan almost forgot that everyone in that era had a cold cellar. However, the cellars could not compare to a modern-day refrigerator or freezer, which could store meat longer. Still, the weather was getting colder, and the meat would stay fresh for one or two more days.
“Okay, we should clean the meat, put them in a container, and seal them in the cellar. Now let’s put these iron stakes in a pot of boiling water,” Su Binglan instructed.
There was no equipment in ancient times, so they could only use that method to sterilize the iron stakes.
Madam Liu hurriedly stood up and said, “I’ll go and start the fire.” She went to get firewood as she spoke.
Meanwhile, Su Wenchi held many wooden sticks for Su Binglan to check out. “Cousin, are these the sticks you mentioned last night?”
Su Binglan nodded. “Yes, that’s right. Did you make these yourself?”
Su Fengzhi was busy with his task as he said, “He woke up early in the morning and went to the mountain to chop wood. He spent the entire morning doing that.”
Su Wenchi chuckled. “I couldn’t sleep, so I got to work early.”
He was so excited that he could barely sleep. His parents could not sleep much either since they were also ecstatic.
Su Fengzhi felt his throat got much better after he ate a meal and took his medicine in the afternoon.
Su Binglan said smilingly, “It’s good that you were diligent.”
Then everyone began to cut up the sheep under her guidance. They cut the meat into small pieces as Madam Liu finished sterilizing all the iron stakes in hot water. “I scalded them in hot water for a long time, so they should be clean now.”
Su Binglan said, “The stakes are still hot, and we can’t hold them yet. Use some cold water to cool them down.”
Afterward, they used the iron stakes to pierce the small pieces of lamb meat. Everyone felt that what they were doing was novel. Soon after, they started a fire to barbeque the lamb skewers.
Su Fengmao asked, “Binglan, won’t we burn the meat?”
Su Wenchi had just made his first attempt at barbequing a serving of meat and burnt it. “Hmm, this is tough.”
Su Binglan explained, “You must control the skewers. After a while, you will learn how long it takes before you burn the meat. Look at the color on the meat and turn it when you need to.”
Under her guidance, everyone made lamb skewers that were neither burnt nor cooked. There were also other skewers like lamb liver, lamb stomach, etcetera.
Su Fengzhi was the best of the rest, as expected of someone who had worked as a chef before. He quickly learned the trick to it and could barbeque many lamb skewers in one go.
Su Wenchi took a deep breath. “That smells so good! I hope it doesn’t taste gamey and taste as good as it smells.”