pjbooks Chapter 43 Bear Paw Feast
Chapter 43 Bear Paw Feast
The days that followed were uneventful and unremarkable.
Shan Yaowen basically lived a life consisting of only three points: his home, the ranch, and the mountain.
His family is helping him with the wedding arrangements. He and his brother-in-law split several hundred yuan from a hunting trip, so he won't be short of money for the time being. He's also basically paying for the wedding himself.
Then his marital home is his original house on the east side. The family hasn't separated yet, and no new house has been built, so they can only make do with what they have for now.
Let's talk about the new house next year after the snow melts.
Actually, if it weren't for the marriage, Shan Yaowen wouldn't have planned to consider the future so quickly. He was used to hardship, and he couldn't let Lin Nian live in this mud house with him after the marriage.
Lin Nian didn't mind, but he couldn't just let her suffer like this, with the three of them squeezing into a small room after the baby was born.
The thought of Shan Yaowen being intimate with his wife and their little radish next to him made him realize that the new house absolutely had to be built.
Just as Shan Yaowen was planning his life after becoming famous, a shout pulled him back to reality.
"Awen, your Uncle Lin is here."
Upon hearing this, Shan Yaowen pushed open the door, only to find a face appearing before him.
"Depend on!"
It wasn't until Shan Yaowen took two steps back that he could see clearly that the person in front of him was Gou Dan.
"What are you doing hiding in your room all day? Playing the new bride?" Gou Dan peeked into the room without any politeness.
"Go! Go! Go."
Shan Yaowen ignored him, pushed his face aside, and then naturally walked up to Lin Anbang's family to greet them, finally standing next to Lin Nian.
Seeing that his good friend was ignoring him, Gou Dan immediately became unhappy.
But since we're at someone else's house, and he came with his sister today, we'll deal with him later.
"Why did you specially invite us out for a meal today?" Lin Anbang asked, sitting down directly in front of Shan Dashan after entering the house. "Oh, you bought a radio?"
Upon hearing this sound, Shan Dashan felt completely at ease. His good friend was surprised, realizing that his son's radio was worth half of the original price.
"Sigh, my second son said he's getting married, and the house can't be without a big piece of furniture, so he insisted on buying one." Shan Dashan said nonchalantly, "And here it is, he even bought it. He was worried I'd be bored, so he put it here for me to listen to. My ears are practically calloused from listening to it all day. I must say, this radio is really good!"
Seeing the smug and arrogant Shan Dashan, Lin Anbang felt a bit annoyed, but he really couldn't do anything about the guy.
Just then, Lin Hao walked in. He glared at his son with annoyance, "Look at A-Wen, and then look at you!"
Gou Dan stared blankly at his father and Uncle Shan, wondering what he had done this time.
How did it come to be compared to mosquitoes?
Isn't gambling a thing of the past?
After speaking about his son, Lin Anbang looked at Shan Dashan and asked, "You sent me here just to watch the radio?"
"No, that's not it. The second brother killed a bear and brought back a bear paw, saying he wanted to try it. I thought you'd never had one before, so I invited you to come and try it with me."
"Bear!" Lin Anbang looked at Shan Dashan in surprise. "You're not lying to me?"
"Of course, you'll find out soon enough." Shan Dashan was quite pleased with his good brother's shock. Although he had been worried for a long time when he learned that his second brother and son-in-law had gone to hunt bears, they had returned unharmed.
It's a pity there's only one bear paw, otherwise he would have eaten it twice and really craved it.
"Tsk tsk, isn't your son-in-law from the next town? How come he's got dragon and bear paw on his plate?"
Lin Anbang really couldn't understand it. How come his son-in-law always managed to get good stuff, and yet he never forgot his father-in-law?
"You should ask the second brother. He went with them several times and even fired a shot. It's said that he was the main force in this bear hunt, along with three red deer."
"By the way, where's A-Wen?" When Shan Yaowen was mentioned, Lin Anbang looked around and was about to ask him some questions.
"In the kitchen, I'm supposed to be showing off my skills, but besides, I don't even know how to cook bear paw."
Upon hearing this, Lin Hao, who had just sat down, immediately got up and headed towards the kitchen.
When he got to the kitchen, he found his sister tending the fire, and Shan Yaowen was preparing to cook.
"You can cook?" Lin Hao really couldn't understand how this kid, whom he grew up with, could do everything.
"Of course!" Shan Yaowen took the spatula and scooped out the water by making a couple of strokes along the edge of the large wok. "Do you want to learn?"
"Why should I learn to cook? My wife can just do it later."
After saying that, Gou Dan looked around again. "Didn't they say there were bear paws? Where are they?"
"It's simmering." Shan Yaowen gestured to the small stove by the wall.
Dog Egg ran over, lifted the lid, and took a sniff. His mouth immediately watered: "Holy crap, I never thought I'd get to eat this in my lifetime!"
Bears are rare in their area, and it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hunt one.
Not to mention eating bear paws.
Dog Egg had heard people say they had hunted bears before, but he had never eaten bear paws. Today, he was determined to try it and see how it differed from ordinary meat.
"That stuff is hard to prepare. I spent half a day yesterday blanching it and removing the fishy smell, and I started stewing it this morning."
While stir-frying the venison, Shan Yaowen explained to Gou Dan.
He really didn't know how to cook bear paws, since he had never had the chance to try. He only learned how to cook them from Uncle Zhang at his brother-in-law's house.
Whether it will work out is still uncertain.
After all the other dishes were prepared, Shan Yaowen pulled out a small half-bottle of soy sauce from underneath, opened the stopper, and poured some into the bear paw pot.
Then he covered it and simmered it for a while longer. After all the other dishes were served, Shan Yaowen picked up his chopsticks and poked at the bear paw a couple of times before putting it on the table.
The moment the bear paw was placed on the table, it immediately attracted everyone's attention.
"Erguo~" The little sister also looked impatient, and was about to stand up from her chair.
The mother pressed the little girl's head down impatiently, "Sit still, what's the rush? Do you think your second brother would skimp on your share?"
Ever since the day the head of the household had his accident, the second son has been very fond of this girl. Whenever he goes out and comes back, he thinks of her, and he never leaves her out of any food he eats.
"Be good." Seeing that his mother couldn't hold the little girl down and she was about to stand up and climb onto the table, Shan Yaowen glared at her. "Your second brother will get you some later."
Seeing that her second brother wasn't on her side, the little sister could only sit obediently. But when Shan Yaowen lifted the lid of the stewed bear paw pot, the aroma made her stand up again.
However, this time she learned her lesson and didn't lean towards the table; instead, she tilted her head back and inhaled through her nose.
"It smells so good."
After lifting the lid with a rag, Shan Yaowen casually placed it on the kang table: "Come on, give it a try. This is my first time making braised bear paw."
"Just smelling this aroma tells me it must be pretty good," Lin's mother chuckled. "I never knew Xiaowen had this skill."
Dan Dashan smiled and said, "If it smells good, then start eating. Stop just talking."
A bear paw looked quite big, but after it was cooked, it was only that much. Since there were many of them, each person actually got to taste it.
Dan Yaowu took a bite and felt like his tongue was almost bitten off; it was so soft and chewy.
"Come on, have a bite of bear paw and a glass of wine!" Shan Dashan said, picking up his wine glass as soon as he finished eating.
His back has almost recovered and he can move around a bit. Although his hands and feet are still not very agile, he can finally sit and eat and drink.
Lin Anbang also raised his glass and clinked it with the others who were drinking, saying, "No doubt about it, we're all lucky to have met Ah Wen today."
Dog Egg didn't say anything. He took a sip of wine and even poured some of the braised bear paw sauce over his rice to mix with it.
Seeing Gou Dan's appearance, Shan Yaowen chuckled. This kid is quite the gourmand.