$532, Go to the market (1/2)

$532, Go to the market (1/2)

When the rooster crowed twice, it was still dark.

There were rustling noises in an open space surrounded by trees.

First, the donkeys and mules snorted and trampled the soil.

Then, the sound of human footsteps was interspersed among the many small noises.

Then,

the sound of axes chopping wood continued.

After a few sounds of flints rubbing against each other, a fire lit up in this "凵"-shaped open space surrounded by dense small trees.

The fire gradually rose,

illuminating the surrounding tables and tables built randomly with wood and stones.

Around the blazing flames, there stood several stoves made of mud and stones. The sturdy young man was busy filling the stove with kindling and burning it red.

The obese woman tied a pigskin apron and squatted on the stove with a large iron pot in her arms.

On the other side, another thinner woman spread out a chopping board on a wooden table, took out a cleaned and depilated cow head from a large iron bucket squatting on the ground, split the cow head in half, and put it into the iron pot that the fat woman was looking after.

After that, she added cow lungs, cow intestines, cow blood and other beef offal into the iron pot.

The thin man led the donkey mule to the edge of the forest farm, fed it a few handfuls of grass, and tied the reins to a dead tree.

There was a palm-sized incense burner squatting next to it, with three slowly burning incense sticks inserted in the incense burner.

The man unloaded the cart from the donkey mule's back, pulled the things on the cart to the stove, and called two women and a boy to help: "Da Ping, Xiao Cai, son, come and help!"

The two women and the boy gathered around,

and took down the barrels of unprocessed cow, sheep and pig viscera, intestinal fat, and lymph rotten meat from the cart.

The thinner women were busy cleaning the offal, while the fatter women took over the job of cutting meat, cutting the offal into slices or chunks and throwing them into the corresponding pots.

In the grove, white mist-like steam rose up, seeming to smoke the dark sky a little whiter.

Around here, the sounds of livestock, bells, and people's footsteps gradually gathered.

Fires lit up in the darkness.

The fires were so dense that

they made the dark night before dawn particularly lively.

Some people set up vegetable stalls outside the forest;

Some people erected wooden poles tied with straw, stacked two stones, set up a small pot, added water and sugar to the pot, and then threw a bunch of hawthorns into the pot and rolled them around and took them out. The red syrup stuck to the surface of the hawthorns, and a bunch of candied haws were inserted on the straw.

People selling livestock, chickens and ducklings, dogs and people...

All these gathered around this originally deserted forest.

They didn't need to shout or make any noise,

villagers from all over the country gathered here as if they had made an appointment with them.

In the distance,

a big black horse with shiny fur pulled a carriage, covered with pre-dawn dew, and driven by a young horseman, the sound of horse hooves slowly came to the market here.

"This is the Jade Emperor Market.

The largest market within hundreds of miles of Yunjin.

It lasts from New Year's Eve to the Lantern Festival every year.

I used to drive my senior brother here to have a family reunion dinner." In the carriage, Taoist Xuanzhao stuck his head out and observed the surroundings, talking non-stop. He identified the direction of the surroundings, and when he saw the empty field surrounded by densely grown small trees, he quickly pointed in that direction and said, "Let's go, let's eat in the forest farm today!

Their beef offal soup and mutton head are delicious!

You can have a bowl of beef offal soup in the morning, eat mutton head meat at noon, with some fried chicken comb oil, and order half a cow's head in the evening. This year is over..."

Hearing his arrangement, Su Wu He turned to look at the Taoist priest expressionlessly and said, "We have been walking from Zaozhuang to Yunjin for two days. We are far away from Zaozhuang now. Taoist priest is still unwilling to reveal any information about the changes in the Maoshan ancestral temple?

Now we are walking around all day. I think if we continue to walk like this, we will only get farther and farther away from the Maoshan ancestral temple, right?"

"I'll tell you later, I'll tell you later!" Taoist priest Xuanzhao waved his hands and said with a smile, "Today is New Year's Eve. Even prisoners in death row have to have a good meal.

What's more, we are not death row prisoners?

Go quickly! Go quickly!

Today, the Taoist priest wants to eat a good meal at the Jade Emperor Market!"

Su Wu sighed, and without saying anything more, he drove the carriage to the edge of the forest farm.

He tied the horse next to a donkey mule, and when he looked down, he saw a yellow clay incense burner under the tree.

In the incense burner, the incense sticks burned and curled with green smoke.

Su Wu's nostrils twitched, and he instantly 'smelled' a very familiar smell from the burning incense sticks - the smell of 'life-protecting fire' of the 'Kitchen God Cult'!

Could it be that the owner of this stall selling food at the 'Jade Emperor Market' is also a member of the 'Kitchen God Cult'?

With thoughts turning in his mind, Su Wu became a little curious about this beef and mutton soup stall.

It was just dawn now.

Many villagers from all over the country had gathered at the market.

This stall selling beef and mutton soup occupied the most central position of the entire market. There were many tables and counters here, and it was naturally an open-air dining hall.

Logically speaking, with such a good location, it made no sense for other vendors who came to the market to sell goods not to grab it,

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 eighteen pieces of beef offal, a large bowl of twenty-four 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. Give me more lungs and intestines, and 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 beef offal pot three times, and fished out the meat and soup together. , put it into a big bowl, put two thick cakes cut into triangles on the bowl, and handed it to Lao Tao.

"He'll pay for it!"

The old Taoist happily picked up the sea bowl, 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 mentioned this incision immediately because he wanted 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 burn the stove and collect the rice? My man, my son, has always been 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 about it." 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 Kitchen God Sect.

At this time,

He suddenly felt that a stranger's eyes stayed on him for a while.

Su Wu followed the feeling and looked towards the place where his eyes came from.

Seeing a few steps away, the man of the stall, who had been turning his back to him to burn the ox's hooves, turned sideways and grinned at him.

His heart moved slightly, and he nodded in response to the male host's smile.

Taking the sea bowl 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 sea 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 haggis 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 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 host sat down on one side of the table, poured two more glasses of wine, pushed one to Su Wu, took one himself, and said with a smile, "I just heard my brother asking, and I suddenly remembered the Kitchen God Cult from before. benefactor! "

Taking a sip of the wine that 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, he had not yet married his two wives today. He went to the market everywhere to sell 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 his 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 was Su Wu’s master ‘Li Yueshan’, and the Yinxi Pulse Zao Class composed of his master, master’s wife, junior brothers and junior sisters!