Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside-Chapter 188: Grand Opening Sale

Elder Qin tugged at the back of his clothes from behind, signaling him not to stare at the horse meat and to pretend not to recognize it.

At the moment Elder Qin tugged at his clothes, Qin San Lang had already diverted his gaze.

Beside him, Gu Qingliang marveled at the amount of beef and mutton Elder Lei Wu and the others had sent: "Grandpa Wu is really generous. To give us so much beef and mutton in one go, I’ve never even eaten beef or mutton in my whole life, not sure if it tastes good or not?"

Seizing the opportunity, Qin San Lang echoed: "Back in our old home in the Northwest, my family would drink mutton soup to get through the winter, and it tastes pretty good, it warms up your whole body after eating."

Gu Qingliang envied him: "San Lang, your family lives such a good life, even able to have mutton soup in winter, while the most my family would eat is pork stewed with Bai Cai."

"We’re also a poor family, it’s just that my father and uncles are soldiers, and we have military salary." Qin San Lang replied, and after saying this, he stopped joining the conversation.

But Ah Ji still gave him a glance.

This was the second time Ah Ji looked at Qin San Lang.

Qin San Lang noticed his gaze, turned his head, and gave him a grin, revealing a shallow dimple, looking like a sunny young man.

Ah Ji returned the smile and nodded his head.

Before long, Kunzi and Ah Chuan carried the beef, mutton, and rabbits into the workshop courtyard.

Gu Qingliang and Gu Qingtian brothers had never eaten beef or mutton and really wanted to try it. Seeing Kunzi carrying half a cow in, they immediately ran into the main house and moved a table out.

With a bang, Kunzi placed the half side of beef on the table, pulled out a bone-splitting knife from his waist, and started to segment the meat, saying, "These cow bones are good stuff. We can use them to stew beef bone soup, which is delicious to drink."

"I’ll go boil water," Gu Jinli said, running into the kitchen.

Inside the kitchen, Third Grandma, Mrs. Cui, Gu Jinxiu, Ms. Yan, and Ms. Chu were all preparing the meal, and the whole kitchen was filled with the aroma of fried meat.

"Mom, I need an iron pot to make beef bone soup."

Mrs. Cui pointed to the pot in the innermost part: "Use this pot."

Gu Jinli immediately washed the pot, then poured more than half a pot of water, added a slice of ginger, two star anises, and a piece of cinnamon, and started to light the fire, waiting for the beef bones.

Gu Jinxiu said, "Xiao Yu, I can light the fire, you go play."

Gu Jinxiu didn’t like crowded and noisy places, and at the age of fifteen, she was a grown girl and needed to avoid people, so she was helping in the kitchen.

"Alright, then big sister you light the fire, I’ll go get the beef bones." Gu Jinli said, running out of the kitchen. Just as she was about to leave, she saw Luo Wu coming with a bucket of beef bones.

He smiled at Gu Jinli and said, "Xiao Yu, Uncle Kunzi has trimmed the beef bones, I have brought them for you."

Saying this, he didn’t let Gu Jinli take over the bucket but carried the bucket into the kitchen himself, pleased to see Gu Jinxiu. Looking at her sitting quietly in front of the stove, his heart was melting.

"Brother Wu, give me the beef bones," said Ms. Chu, when she saw Luo Wu staring at Gu Jinxiu as soon as he entered the kitchen, she immediately came over, took the bucket from his hands, and placed the beef bones into the pot by the last stove.

Before long, she handed the empty bucket back to Luo Wu: "The kitchen is busy and chaotic, don’t come here and crowd if there’s nothing for you to do, we still have work to do."

Luo Wu didn’t say anything but glanced at Ms. Chu before turning around and leaving.

Gu Jinli frowned as she watched, thinking—is it possible that the Luo Family hasn’t come to propose marriage to their family because Ms. Chu is dissatisfied with Gu Jinxiu?

Gu Jinli looked towards Gu Jinxiu, and seeing that she seemed normal, without any traces of blushing, shyness, or sadness, she felt relieved.

No matter what the Luo Family thought, as long as her older sister wasn’t interested, there was nothing to fear. It was Luo Wu who liked her sister; her sister hadn’t done anything to attract Luo Wu’s attention.

Moreover, her family was getting better and better, and her sister had no shortage of marriage prospects.

Gu Jinli set aside the matter of Luo Wu and Gu Jinxiu and stayed in the kitchen to help with cooking.

In the courtyard, the children from several houses also went back home, bringing over their families’ tables, stools, bowls, and chopsticks, preparing to eat at Gu Jinli’s house.

"Baa—Baa—!"

A few bleats of sheep rang out, and Ah Chuan skillfully slaughtered two sheep, skinned them, and removed the innards, swiftly finishing the task in just fifteen minutes, leaving the sheep neatly processed.

Then he started two bonfires with dry firewood in the courtyard, setting up two spits and using wire to tie the lamb to them, beginning to roast whole sheep.

Kunzi was even more impressive than Ah Chuan; he started three bonfires—one for roasting beef, one for roasting rabbit, and one for roasting horse meat.

The horse meat was dried and needed to be soaked in hot water before roasting. Luo Huiniang loved it and volunteered enthusiastically: "Uncle Kunzi, I’ll help you wash that piece of meat."

"Sure." Kunzi handed the horse meat to Luo Huiniang.

Luo Huiniang happily ran to the kitchen cradling the horse meat in her arms.

Nearby, Gu Yumei was quite dismissive, scoffing as if she had never eaten meat before; it was really an embarrassment for their houses.

Gu Yumei’s mood was mixed with both joy and annoyance. She was happy that their workshop had opened, and a person of high status like County Captain Jiang had come, but she was also mad that Ms. Jiang didn’t. She had dressed so nicely today to entertain the scholar’s wife, but Ms. Jiang had not come, which irked her greatly.

Gu Dexing was feeling restless, stealing glances frequently at Scholar Shang who was talking with Third Grandpa in the courtyard. He thought about approaching for a chat, but since Scholar Shang had made it clear he wouldn’t take him as a student, he just couldn’t swallow his pride to ingratiate himself.

Gu Dewang, pulling Gu Defa along, was eating bean dregs cake while watching Kunzi and the others roast the beef and mutton. They took the chance when Gu Dexing wasn’t paying attention to make faces behind his back: "Lulu~ You, Gu Desong, only knows how to bully us at home, why don’t you dare talk to Scholar Shang?"

Gu Dexing heard some muttered words, turned his head to look at Gu Dewang, and saw him with the children from several houses around the bonfire watching the roasting meat, which made him frown. Could he have heard wrong?

Kunzi and Ah Chuan were busy at full steam, constantly turning the beef, mutton, and rabbit meat.

Gu Jinli poured three types of seasoning spices into three wooden bowls, added lard and water afterwards, placed the bowls on a stool at the feet of Kunzi and Ah Chuan, and said to them: "Uncle Kunzi, Uncle Ah Chuan, I’ve put the seasoning spices here for you, just brush them on the meat."

"Okay." Kunzi and Ah Chuan responded and continued roasting.

Kunzi and Ah Chuan were both masters at roasting beef and mutton. After half an hour, they had the beef, mutton, ten rabbits, and that piece of horse meat all roasted perfectly.

Third Grandma and Mrs. Cui, along with a few other women, had also finished cooking the dishes and brought them out on wooden trays.

"Dinnertime, dinnertime!" Third Grandma called out, leading the women from several houses to arrange the prepared dishes onto the tables, separating the men and women for eating—the men ate in the courtyard, while the women ate in the main room.

The food was sumptuous, with mandatory dishes like Fried Crispy Pork, fried meatballs, crystal sweet and sour pork, stir-fried pork, and braised chicken.

Knowing that Scholar Shang was coming, Gu Jinli also made chicken soup with bean sprouts, meat sauce rice noodles, iron plate grilled fish, and tofu skin spring rolls, some of Scholar Shang’s favorite dishes.

The staple food consisted of white rice porridge and bean dregs cake.

Bean dregs cake was a novel food for County Captain Jiang and his family; the three of them ate quite a lot of it.

Elder Lei Wu and Ah Ji also ate but were preoccupied with the roasted beef and mutton. Once seated at the dining table, they asked Kunzi and Ah Chuan to serve the roasted beef, mutton, and rabbit meat and started cutting and eating it.