165 Chapter 165 New Year (1)

Amidst a warm farewell, Zhou Ying and the other two left the village. Of course, Qian Zhuang and Gu Hanjiang also had their New Year’s gifts, just like Tian Jiawang and the others.

There was still the cow’s head left.

After arriving at the village, Zhou Ying gave the cow’s head to the patriarch and got a tael of silver as payment.

She had also accepted another job. The patriarch had asked her to prepare six types of fried offerings for tomorrow.

In the afternoon, Zhou Ying cleaned the house from inside to outside, and Gu Chengrui rushed back with Er Zhuang when she was almost done.

“Why are you back so early?” Zhou Ying asked in surprise.

“It’ll be the 30th tomorrow, so we left early.” Gu Chengrui explained and handed her a silver note. “This is the bonus from before the new year. Although it’s not as much as the restaurant, it’s still a decent chuck.”

Zhou Ying took it and glanced at it. It was a silver note worth 100 taels. She nodded in agreement. “It’s quite the sum. By the way, I’ve been cleaning the whole afternoon so you can cook dinner.”

“No problem. Let’s have noodles and tomato egg soup today.”

“Alright, I’ll prepare the ingredients for you.” Zhou Ying agreed, and she took out all the ingredients he needed.

As soon as she came out of the kitchen, she saw Sister Tian walking in with a basket. “I thought you guys should be back, and I prepared some New Year’s goods. I brought some over for you because I assumed you didn’t prepare anything. Do try out my cooking.”

She handed the basket to her and turned to leave.

“Thank you, Sister Tian.” Zhou Ying quickly thanked her.

She carried the basket into the kitchen and opened the cloth to take a look. In the middle was a large bowl of meatballs fried with minced meat and steamed buns.

There were also cakes wrapped in straw paper, dumplings, and sesame seed goodies.

After putting everything in her interspace, she washed the basket and returned it with a big bowl of fried yellow croaker.

After dinner, Zhou Ying and Gu Chengrui chatted for a while, then went to the interspace to cook more. They made a batch of everything fried, such as hemp leaves, small dough sticks, fried peas, and fried pancakes.

The next day, Gu Chengrui went to the ancestral hall early in the morning with the fried food. Zhou Ying tidied up the house and put a big bowl of fried small yellow croaker, one whole pork shank, and two pounds of five-spice shredded tofu in a basket.

This was the dish they would bring to the Gu family’s house tonight.

When they were almost done, they went to the ancestral hall. It was packed full of people. The men brought their children to pay respects to their ancestors, while the women set up a shed nearby to cook.

This left her a little dumbfounded. As an ex-Northerner, she had only heard of these lively ancestral worship ceremonies but had never seen them in real life.

“Chengrui’s wife, come and help us. We would love to try your cooking.” Sixth Aunt Gu stood in the shed and waved at her.

“Oh, hi, I’m coming.” Zhou Ying responded and walked over. She found that there was a lot of food inside, and it was no wonder they were busy here, even with so many people.

“Oh, you know how to make crispy pork, right? The patriarch always complained that we didn’t fry it crispy enough.” Sixth Aunt Gu turned her head and asked.

“Yes. The key is in the flour if you want the crispy pork to be delicious. The meat has to be marinated thoroughly, and the meat has to be tenderized.” Zhou Ying washed her hands and began to get busy.

After she marinated the meat, Mrs. Wang quietly walked over and said, “Ying, didn’t you bring anything when you came?”