Chapter 89: The King of Hakka

  Yang widow was about to count the money and return a portion to Chu Jiaqiang and Chu Shengyi, but both of them dissuaded her. They said they were not in a hurry for the money, and more importantly, the elderly might still need to use it, so try to spend as much as possible on the elderly, and also that having no money on hand was inconvenient.

  "Don't worry! Go back and manage the orchard well, next year it may not be said that you will become rich and wealthy, but the situation will definitely improve, these debts don't need to be worried about at all." Chu Jiaqiang smiled.

  Yang widow could only nod, she had truly made up her mind to manage the fruit trees. Having tasted the sweetness, her enthusiasm was still high. She planned to remind her two brothers as well, advising them to follow suit and manage the fruit trees too, which was much better than tilling the fields.

  "Go, go eat." Second Uncle said with great enthusiasm.

  "Haha! Brother Shengmin is treating us today! You just made a big profit!" Chu Shengyi joked.

  "I'll treat you to a meal, and let's try the local dishes in the county town." Second Uncle agreed immediately, while Widow Yang and Li Jing also wanted to offer to pay, but hesitated for a moment.

  He parked the car in the parking lot of the market, but had to pay a fee of 10 yuan, which made Chu Shengyi say that this market was black enough. He didn't know that 10 yuan was cheap, if you go to other places, such as hotels or shopping malls, without 20 yuan, don't think about parking, and it's not necessarily possible to find a spot.

  Chu's family is strong, on the road, in the city area, how to say they mixed for three years. He led everyone into a Hakka restaurant on Fumin Street, the most famous dish is braised pork belly, had eaten here several times before, indeed delicious, authentic Hakka-style braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens.

  Braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens, also known as "burnt white", has many names due to regional differences. Its characteristics are the sauce's reddish-brown color and glossy appearance, the thick and savory soup, the tender and fragrant braised pork, which is fatty but not greasy. When you chew on a piece, with oil flowing in your mouth, you'll feel it's not greasy at all. The preserved mustard greens absorb the oil, while the five-flower pork brings the refreshing fragrance of the greens and the nutty aroma of pine nuts. The combination of the greens, pine nuts, and fatty five-flower pork is really just right.

  Second Uncle has never been to a place like this for dinner and doesn't know what's going on, so he directly asks the old lady boss what dishes they have here.

  The landlady did not slow down because of these few rural-looking men, but instead patiently introduced: "Our signature dish is braised pork belly, and the most famous one is Mei Cai Braised Pork Belly. You can try it, there's a menu on the table with some other small dishes that are very affordable, take a look first."

  Second Uncle picked up the menu on the table and saw that all the dishes were over 10 or 20 yuan, and the signature dish, Mei Cai Kou Rou, was even 35 yuan per plate. He secretly cursed, this is still a bargain!

  Chu Jiaqiang smiled slightly and explained, "This restaurant is indeed relatively affordable. Other restaurants of the same level don't have this price, and the big stalls outside are about the same price."

  This city is not big, before Chu Jiaqiang almost walked through every corner, and the situation of these restaurants is still quite familiar.

  The old lady smiled and hugged her, it was clear that this young man must have eaten at her restaurant before, otherwise he wouldn't say such a thing.

  Second Uncle didn't say another word and passed the menu to others: "What do you want to eat? Order!"

  Others also made way, Chu Jiaqiang had to speak up: "One signature dish, one green vegetable, the green vegetable is just celery! One fish head soup, one stir-fried winter melon with beef."

  The boss's wife skillfully took notes: "Alright, everyone wait a bit! I'll rush it for you right away."

  After she left, a girl walked over, carrying a thermos of hot tea and a small plastic basin containing five sets of packaged bowls and cups. From her appearance, it could be seen that this girl should be the boss's daughter.

  "Huh? Still using new bowls and chopsticks to entertain?" Li asked in surprise.

  Chu's family was strong and couldn't help but laugh: "Uncle Li, these are not new bowls and chopsticks! They just washed them clean, disinfected them, and repackaged them."

  Everyone was amazed and it was the first time they saw people inside the Dark Castle who actually loved cleanliness.

  "What's the basin for?" asked Second Uncle, pointing at the small plastic basin.

  Afraid that everyone would make a joke again, Chu Jiaqiang immediately took action. He pulled out the chopsticks, poked through the packaging paper, and took out the bowls and cups inside, then put them in the basin. Others didn't understand, so they just followed suit.

  Under everyone's astonished gaze, Chu Jiaqiang picked up the scalding hot tea and poured it over the bowls and chopsticks, rinsed them once, then took them out and distributed them to everyone.

  "This can better avoid bacteria." Chu Jiaqiang explained.

  "It turns out this tea pot isn't for drinking? Luckily I wasn't in a hurry, otherwise I would have lost face all the way to town." Li Jing said with relief.

  "Haha! Uncle Li, isn't that an exaggeration? This tea is still drinkable. However, many people are used to this method, and they usually call it 're-cooked' stuff. They have liquor in their store." Chu Jiaqiang was also amused by Li Jing's tone.

  After waiting for a while, Chu Shengyi saw the so-called "Plum Vegetable Pork Belly" and couldn't help but say: "Is this really Plum Vegetable? It looks like sauerkraut to me?"

  Chu Jiaqiang served as an interpreter again. In the north, sauerkraut and pickled mustard greens are distinct, but in the south, there's actually not much difference, and many people use the terms interchangeably.

  Actually, many people can't tell the difference between snow vegetables, plum vegetables and sauerkraut. Snow vegetables are actually snow mustard greens, a type of pickled vegetable. Sauerkraut is made by fermenting Chinese cabbage. Plum vegetables are made from mustard greens that have been pickled in salt and then dried.

  The method of making these pickled mustard greens is almost the same as that of the pickled vegetables in the countryside. Both use stems and leaves of mustard greens for pickling and fermentation, the only difference being that pickled vegetables are not dried in the sun, while pickled mustard greens are generally dried in the sun.

  Mustard green is a Hakka local dish. In late autumn and early winter, the mustard greens in the vegetable garden have sprouts, with thick and thin stems, topped with flower buds, shaped like autumn grapes, crispy and sweet. At this time, pick off the hearts of the vegetables, dry them for a few days. When the leaves become soft, put them in a basin, sprinkle salt on top, knead by hand, wait until some vegetable juice comes out, then pack into an earthenware jar, layer by layer with salt, fill to the full and seal the mouth of the jar with mustard green leaves or bamboo shoots. After ten days or half a month, take it out and dry it in the sun, it becomes golden yellow in color, salty and sour but sweet in taste, which is the dried mustard green.

  "Hmm! This dish is indeed refreshing, no wonder it's so expensive." Chu Shengyi couldn't help but praise after taking a bite. In fact, this dish wasn't as delicious as the one Ershu made, it just had more and better ingredients on top. For them, who were trying outside food for the first time, it was quite fresh and new.

  "This bowl for rice is also a bit small, after eating two mouthfuls it's all gone, always having to refill the rice, it's such a hassle." Li Jing expressed his dissatisfaction. Chu Jiaqiang smiled and let it go, for people who are used to eating large bowls of rice, it's indeed very uncomfortable, and having some complaints is also normal.

  The meal came to around eighty yuan. Split among them, it was about twenty per person. They all thought to themselves: No wonder they're from the city, in our town you can eat your fill for ten yuan.