Chapter 99: Chapter 99: Pork Liver Soup

"Uh! How could we trouble Wu to deliver crucian carp soup to Nuanchun?"Shankun froze, then immediately tried to dash back home. But Changxia was quick and grabbed him, asking, "Shankun, did you bring me the pork liver I asked for?"Yes, it’s in the basket I picked out. Besides pork liver, there are other organs too. The others couldn’t tell them apart, so they just sent everything over to you,"Shankun replied, forced to stop. He lifted the leaves covering the basket beside him, pointed at the various organs inside, and covered his nose and mouth in distaste. "It smells pretty strong. Are you sure you want to make this for Chenrong?"..."Changxia looked inside.

Her tribe was really something.

They’d actually stuffed all the wild boar’s internal organs into the basket and had Shankun bring them over.

Changxia couldn’t help but burst out laughing. She asked, "Shankun, are you giving me a whole wild boar or something?"One and a half,"Shankun replied.

When he’d arrived, Gen happened to have Yadong and the others butchering pigs.

Actually, even if Shankun hadn’t gone, Gen would have had Yadong and the others bring things over. But the organs would probably have been buried rather than sent along.

When Changxia asked for pork organs, Gen and the others were shocked. They kept asking Shankun if he’d heard wrong, or if there was some other reason.

"Did the chief ask why?"Changxia asked mischievously.

She knew Gen—he always liked to get to the bottom of things. If she’d sent Shankun to ask for pork liver, Gen would almost certainly ask about it.

"He did. I said I didn’t know,"Shankun replied. "But I bet the chief will come find you himself soon. After all, the tribe doesn’t usually eat organs—they’re always buried. If they’re edible, it could save us a lot of food."Alright, got it,"Changxia said, letting go of Shankun and waving him off.

Shankun was curious about how the organs would taste, but he was more worried about Nuanchun and the babies at home. He could only suppress his curiosity for now and head back, planning to come back later to see how things turned out.

Changxia crouched down and rummaged through the basket of pig organs, quickly finding the pork liver.

She also grabbed a few bones and some fresh meat from another basket, planning to start a bone broth first. Then she’d marinate the meat to make pan-fried meat and fruit-flour pancakes. Finally, she’d prepare the pork liver soup for Chenrong.

She put the bones in cold water to start the broth, so it would be easier to skim off the scum as it boiled.

She cut the meat, rubbed it with salt and seasonings, and mixed it well. She put the marinated meat in a wooden basin, then started mixing the fruit-flour batter. This morning, she planned to make pan-fried meat pancakes.

At the same time, she washed half a basket of wild greens.

She planned to add some wild greens to the pork liver soup. Unfortunately, there was no spinach or Chinese broccoli—both of which would go great with pork liver in soup.

Of course, the rest of the wild greens could be eaten with the meat pancakes.

Just eating meat always felt like something was missing. Adding some greens not only made the flavor fresher, but also helped prevent getting too "heated"from eating too much meat.

Yadong and Kongshan had gone down to the cellar and hadn’t come out since.

Changxia didn’t even need to look to know that they probably thought there was nothing to do back at the tribe or in the cave, so they decided to help Chenrong and Baiqing renovate the cellar. During the early rainy season, the tribe didn’t go out hunting or gathering.

Besides, the tribe wasn’t short on food now, so no one needed to go out.

Thinking it over, Changxia decided to marinate more meat, and also make more fruit-flour batter—just in case there wasn’t enough to go around.

She handled everything herself.

Roasting meat took too long and was a hassle.

So she decided to pan-fry the meat instead, then stuff it into the fruit-flour pancakes to make a simple version of "roujiamo"(Chinese meat buns). There was still some sour fruit jam left, so she’d smear it on the pan-fried meat, then sandwich it in the pancakes—the taste would be amazing.

Last time, Chenrong had made seven or eight stone pots of various sizes.

Changxia named them by size: Pot No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and so on.

This time, she used Pot No. 6 for frying the meat.

Pot No. 6 was just the right size for her to handle. Pot No. 5 was bigger and required both hands to use. Pot No. 7 could only fit two pieces of meat at a time, which was inefficient—Pot No. 6 could fry four pieces at once, just right.

Her bone pot was about the same size as Pot No. 7.

When steaming rice noodles, she could use it together with Pot No. 6.

She didn’t usually use Pots No. 1–3 unless there were lots of guests—otherwise, they were too big and inconvenient for everyday use.

She brushed oil in the pan and started frying the meat.

Every so often, she skimmed the scum from the bone broth with a wooden spoon.

Everything was running smoothly.

She put the fried meat in a clean wooden basin. When it was time to eat, she’d stuff the meat into the pancakes and serve it with the blanched wild greens.

Soon, a mouthwatering aroma wafted from the kitchen.

"Changxia, is breakfast ready yet?"Suye’s voice called from outside.

She’d finished checking on Nuanchun and the babies and came straight back. She hadn’t stayed for a meal—after all, even Nuanchun didn’t eat Shankun’s cooking, so why would Suye put herself through it?

"Almost. I just need to cook the pork liver soup. Are you hungry, Granny Suye? If you are, you can eat first. I made bone broth and pan-fried meat pancakes this morning. The bone broth is drinkable, though it’s not fully flavored yet. Want some? I’ll get you a bowl…"Breakfast was indeed a bit late today.

Changxia was feeling hungry herself—she’d already eaten a piece of pan-fried meat with sour fruit jam while cooking.

"Alright, I’ll have a bowl of soup first,"Suye said.

Changxia quickly ladled her a bowl.

Then she made her a pan-fried meat and fruit flour pancake, but didn’t spread any sour fruit jam on it.

Once Su Ye sat down, they began to eat.

Chang Xia sliced the cleaned pig liver, put it in a bowl, added salt and some seasoning, then mixed in a little water and let it marinate for a while. Next, she tossed the washed wild greens into boiling water to blanch them, scooped them out, and set them on the table for later.

She freed up the No. 7 stone pot, poured in oil and heated it, then sautéed minced ginger and scallion until fragrant, added water and brought it to a boil. She poured in the marinated pig liver, skimmed off the foam once it boiled. The liver didn’t need to be cooked through—just about seventy or eighty percent done. She added the wild greens and salt, and when it came to a boil again, she poured the pig liver soup into a bowl.

“It doesn’t smell too gamey,” Su Ye commented.

She’d been watching Chang Xia make the pig liver soup, and when it was poured into the bowl, Su Ye found herself craving it. But she couldn’t bring herself to compete with Shen Rong, who was still recovering.

Chang Xia smiled and said, “Want to try some? I made plenty—enough for Shen Rong.”

“In that case, I’ll have a little,” Su Ye nodded without hesitation. “Go call Bai Qing for breakfast, and get Shen Rong’s food ready so Bai Qing can take it down to the cellar for him.”

Chang Xia froze for a moment, remembering that Su Ye had told her to avoid Shen Rong as much as possible these days.

Did she really have to go that far?

“Yes, for now it’s best if you don’t see him,” Su Ye said, as if reading Chang Xia’s mind, cutting off her hesitation without a second thought.

Chang Xia shrugged, feeling a little aggrieved. “Alright then!”

Su Ye smiled faintly and called Bai Qing’s name toward the cellar, telling him to come up for breakfast.