Chapter 80: Golden Jade Wrap

  First watch, today is the third watch:)

  "The first meal a new daughter-in-law eats when she arrives at her husband's family home..."

  Li Yuanfang smiled and said, "According to the rules of our mountain village, on Mid-Autumn Festival night, if a big girl gets on a boy's boat, the marriage is basically settled, and they will eat this meal on the boat. The girl's family members will also come to eat, and if they don't eat well, the bride's family will pick faults, and the dowry will be doubled in the future, but others may not necessarily be happy about it..."

  "Is this still the rule?"

  The Zhou Yi sounds fresh. But thinking about it, it's true that in rural areas, boys are valued more than girls. When a girl gets married and moves to her husband's home, she becomes part of the man's family from then on, and her status is lower. Even when guests come to visit, she can't sit at the table; setting such rules before marriage is also a way to find psychological balance, after all, it's not easy for any family to raise a daughter.

  Wei Shufen's family didn't have many males, her father had passed away, and the ones who followed her were her elderly mother and two sisters at home; according to Li Yuanfang, one of her sisters' husbands was ill, and the other sister's husband worked outside and couldn't come back for the holiday. Generally speaking, families like this place more importance on pre-marriage etiquette, making this dinner even harder to handle.

  Zhou Yi found it strange, with fish and meat and crabs, weren't these all ready-made dishes? Only after listening to Li Yuanfang's explanation did he understand that according to the mountain rules, this meal "wife's home cooking" couldn't be entirely coarse food without a name, at least one dish had to have a refined name, and also had to make the maternal family feel satisfied after eating it, only then would it pass.

  Usually, the bride's family would notify the groom's family in advance to make preparations. The groom's family would typically hire a chef from the city to carefully entertain them. This time, Wei Shufen took the initiative to come over, probably because she was annoyed that Er Lai Zi had publicly humiliated her and intentionally wanted to give the Li family a difficult problem. If the Li family couldn't handle it, she wouldn't mind fighting for more dowry for her natal family. Her father passed away early, so it wasn't easy for her mother to raise her alone! Even if Wei Shufen had agreed to marry Er Lai Zi, she should still make some extra effort for her natal family. After all, everyone knew that Secretary Li's family was wealthy, and since Er Lai Zi didn't have parents, his uncle would have to pay up!

  Wei Shufen's little thoughts as a daughter-in-law, can Li Yuanfang not understand? He doesn't care about spending more money, the problem is that in front of so many fellow villagers, if someone were to pick out the reason, Secretary Li would lose face! So on one hand he lets his wife arrange for the future relatives to drink tea and chat, while on the other hand he pulls over Erlazio and says: "Erlazio, quickly go find Master Hong and see which boat he's on..."

  "Ah." Er Langzi was different from his uncle. Seeing Wei Shufen get off the boat, this guy's mind was still on the kang bed, regardless of whether he was reasonable or not, and whether the dowry was more or less. Anyway, it was all his uncle's worry.

  He took a look at the crabs hanging from the fishing net on the bow of the boat and was slightly moved, but seeing Li Yuanfang ask Er Lai to go find Master Hong, he didn't say anything. With Master Hong's craftsmanship, it should be enough to deal with the Wei Shufen family.

  Two silly children ran back and forth on more than a hundred boats in several villages, before running back with a disappointed face: "Grandpa, Master Hong got drunk on the boat of Widow Sun's family and said he was going to sleep..."

  "Uh, what about Sun's widow?"

  "Anyway, I'm going back to sleep..."

  Two silly men touched their heads, still muttering in their hearts: My Uncle Zhou is really capable. When he sang a song, not only did Shufen get on our family's boat, but even Master Hong and Widow Sun got on the kang together...

  Li Yuanfang glanced at Wei Shufen and his own son who had not yet formally married, and whispered: "You... mother, Hong Lao Liu this old lecher also touched the widow's bed? You say you're promiscuous but don't choose a good day, isn't this ruining my reputation?"

  "Alright, Yuanfang brother, this time let me handle it. Didn't I learn from Master Hong too?" Zhou Yi also felt a bit embarrassed, if he were to mention Master Hong's matter, he would have to take some responsibility as well.

  "Ah, how could I have forgotten about you, Young Master Zhou? Alright, alright, as you wish." Li Yuanfang smiled and glanced at Zhou Yi, actually waiting for him to speak up himself: "Younger brother, take a look, are the materials sufficient?"

  "Ah, with crab and osmanthus wine, the dishes are complete." Zhou Yi nodded: "You all eat first, this exquisite dish will be left to me, I guarantee that Wei Shufen's family won't find any fault in it."

  "What's this dish called, little brother?"

  "According to Chef Hong, it's called Jin Yu Wan, a new dish that doesn't belong to any particular cuisine, but chefs by the lake and sea generally know how to make it. The presentation is great, the flavor is fresh, Brother Yuanfang, you just take care of it..."

  The Zhouyi is ready to sell its strength. The task given by the system is to match new people, which means that only a proper marriage can be considered as completing the task, and it's not allowed to sneak into a widow's bed like Hong Shifu did. Now that success is in sight, how can he just stand by and do nothing?

  It's said that Zhou Yi is going to cook, and the dish name is so tempting. How can Wei Shufen and her family members have an appetite? Those who were really hungry first took a piece of mooncake to fill their stomachs, then they all gathered around the cooking table, watching Zhou Yi in action.

  The main ingredient of this "Jin Yu Wan" is crab and Osmanthus wine. If there's no good Osmanthus wine, chrysanthemum wine can also work. Now that everything is ready, it's much easier to operate according to the Zhou Yi.

  First, they picked out a dozen or so fat female crabs from the steamed crabs, opened their shells one by one, and took out the crab roe and crab meat separately and put them on plates; Zhou Yi closed the crab shells again and put them back in the steamer for a second steaming. This time, they added some osmanthus wine to the pot to remove the fishy smell and add flavor.

  The previous steps didn't show any remarkable skills, and Li Yuanfang and the others thought it was a bit tedious, but they hadn't felt surprised yet; when the crab came out of the steamer again, Zhou Yi's skills left them staring in amazement.

  Farmers don't have delicate carving knives, Zhou Yi directly uses a cleaver, removes the large pincers from each crab, and with a light tap, shake, and scrape of the knife back, the pincer meat is completely removed; The speed of the action is like magic, it seems that getting the most difficult-to-handle crab meat is not the hardest part, but rather as easy as cutting a big white radish.

  The Wei family's girls were staring with wide eyes, and Wei Shufen couldn't help but exclaim repeatedly. The Second Drunkard seized the opportunity to lean in close to the girl and boast: "How about it? Old Man Zhou's craftsmanship is great, right? I'm telling you, I can do this kind of knife work too..."

  "Are you serious or just kidding me?" Wei Shufen gave him a white eye, covering her small mouth and laughing lightly. Erzi chuckled and said: "You're smiling again. My grandfather said that when a woman covers her mouth to laugh, it means she wants something..."

  "I'd like to knock your head off, I'll pinch you to death!" Wei Shufen is so hateful, this scoundrel looks honest, but he's actually a smooth talker. But hearing it myself, why am I still happy? Ah, how embarrassing...

  The little girls were picking out the crab meat on this side, while Zhou Yi was already busy with the final touches. The crab meat that had been taken out was pounded into a large bowl of meat paste by him in the garlic mortar, grabbed in his hand, squeezed into small balls from the tiger's mouth, and wrapped in the crab roe that had been prepared beforehand, just like wrapping dumplings, finally getting eighteen meatballs.

  Li Yuanfang thought the pill was about to be steamed, but saw Zhou Yi pick up a pill and toss it into the air, followed by another... In the blink of an eye, eighteen pills were flying in mid-air, just about to fall to the ground, when he quickly caught them with his hands and tossed them again; even the villagers on the surrounding boats who were watching the commotion were stunned, and they all applauded enthusiastically: "Great job! Doctor Zhou is performing acrobatics!"

  At this moment, Zhou Yi was really like a juggler. The balls filled the air, spinning and rotating to form a white circle. He was like an eight-armed Nezha, not needing to look up closely, stretching out his hand to catch the thrown balls, and the sound of "pa pa pa pa pa" filled the air.

  PS: Thanks for the reward from 'Heavenly Abandoned' and 'Mirror-like' brothers:) Thank you.

  It's Monday again, seeking recommendations, seeking advice, thanks in advance.