Chapter 59: Pickled Salted Duck Eggs

  After wiping the jar clean, she used a dry cloth to wipe it inside and out, then placed the jar on its side under the eaves of the corridor, with the mouth of the jar facing the sunlight, allowing the water vapor in the jar to evaporate more quickly.

  As soon as I walked into the house, I said to my mother: "The jar has been washed clean, and I also wiped it with a cloth. Where are you going to dig mud? I'll go dig."

  Mom smiled and said: "This time we don't use mud to paste eggs, this time we use ash mixed with wine and salt to paste."

  "The Tao of being content with one's situation: 'Didn't we used to use mud before? Why are we using ash and wood powder this time?'"

  "My mother said, 'In the past, our family used to use ash from grass and wood, but later no one burned grass and firewood for cooking, so we switched to mud. Now you're using pine ash here, which is even better, and the pickled eggs are more delicious.'"

  "Mom, I've been thinking about the ash from our home's fir wood for a while now. You collected it several times after burning and roasting, just to use it for marinating duck eggs. So this time you don't need to dig up mud," my sister said with a smile.

  "Hehe, smiled twice: "Mom said yes, then it's okay to listen to mom". After finishing, she looked at her mother who was preparing to fry tofu and said: "Mom, fry a few more pieces, I'll get two pieces first, put some pepper salt on them, and satisfy my craving"."

  Mom smiled and nodded to her sister beside her, saying: "Go get a piece of tofu, that leftover one from just now." She took the tofu from her sister and rinsed it in water, then quickly cut it into blocks about 3-4 cm wide and 1 cm thick. Then she put oil in the pot, turned up the heat, and started frying the tofu. Before long, the golden-brown tofu was done on both sides and out of the pot. Mom sprinkled pepper salt on each piece of tofu, then arranged them on a plate and handed it to Ju'an: "Here you go, what didn't you bring back from Master's place? You brought back a bunch of tofu instead."

  Jū ān put a piece of tofu in his mouth, found it very hot, blew a few mouthfuls of air, and then swallowed the tofu into his stomach. At this time, his sister also picked up her chopsticks and came over, and the brother and sister surrounded a plate of pan-fried tofu to eat.

  "Mom, you know how expensive tofu is in the US? A pound of this soft tofu costs over 10 RMB."

  Mom immediately picked up her chopsticks and took a bite of the tofu from Ju An's plate: "This isn't anything special, the tofu at home is also one yuan per block, it doesn't taste any better than ours. Ten plus yuan for a block of tofu, that's just ripping people off."

  "It's estimated that Americans eat less of it and produce less of it, so things are naturally more expensive." My sister thought for a moment before giving an answer.

  Mom also nodded in agreement. In a short while, the pan-fried tofu on the plate was swept clean by the sister and brother duo. Gu An smacked his lips and said, "It's really delicious!" Upon hearing this, both Mom and sister burst out laughing.

  At noon, there were only three people having lunch at home, my mother and sister. My mother made several portions of homemade tofu for Thomas and each of them had a plate. My mother was afraid that the fried tofu would go bad if left outside, so she cooked a lot at once and also brought some for the foreigners to try.

  After lunch, my mother and sister finished the household chores and started pickling salted duck eggs. I was also helping on the side. My mother took out all the duck eggs she had collected during this time and put them in a large basin. She added water and asked me and my sister to carefully wash each egg and check if there were any bad ones to be picked out. After washing, we used dry gauze to wipe clean the water on the duck eggs and placed them on a tray to air dry.

  Mom took out the collected pine ash, added wine and salt to the pine ash, then added some cooled water to stir into a paste, and waited for the duck eggs to dry before applying it directly.

  Everyone was chatting when Nancy came back to have coffee and brought the plates over, saw several people put dozens of duck eggs on the table, and asked curiously: "Are you going to cook the duck eggs to eat?"

  "It's not that we're preparing salted duck eggs, but rather putting them in a jar, wrapping them in mud, and leaving them for a month."

  Nancy asked strangely: "Won't that duck egg be smelly and still edible? It's too scary."

  He couldn't stand being teased by her anymore and said: "When it's done, you can try some, it tastes great, much better than fresh duck eggs."

  Nancy shook her head and said, "I don't want to eat, it's too scary." Then she turned to Ju An and said, "Please tell your mother that the dish sent at noon was delicious, I liked it very much. What was its name again? I also want to learn how to make it myself."

  Jū ān said: "Home-style tofu, is a kind of stir-fry made with tofu and ham sausage, mushrooms, etc. First cut the oily tofu in half, so it's easier to absorb flavor, then cut the ham sausage into small dices, soak the mushrooms, then add some water and cook."

  Nancy said: "Sounds still quite easy, I'll come and learn sometime."

  "Alright, I can teach you when the time comes," said Ju An with a smile. Nancy thanked him and put down her plate before turning around and leaving the room.

  "What did I tell you?"

  "Boast about my mom's homemade tofu, it's really good. I want to learn how to make it too," said Ju An. "When he first came, he asked us what we were doing, and I told him we were making pickled duck eggs. Then I told her that they need to be marinated for a month, but she thought that if you leave food out for a month, it will go bad and can't be eaten."

  Sister and mother burst out laughing at once.

  "Last time, an American newspaper article said that pidan is the most terrifying food in the world. They can't accept its smell, color and whatnot, saying it has a pungent odor, weird taste, and is the devil's egg."

  My mom and sister burst out laughing, but as soon as they stopped, my mom started worrying: "San Er, you'd better marry a Chinese girl. You've married a foreigner, she can't eat this or that, how are you going to live?"

  "Hey, what's with you again? Look at how worried you are. Alright, alright, I reckon the duck eggs have dried up, let's get muddy!" He said as he walked out of the room and brought in a vat.

  Wipe it with your hand into the urn, dry and just right to use.

  Then, Ju'an and her sister started applying mud to the duck egg shells. After finishing one, they handed it over to their mother to put in a jar. The whole process took more than half an hour. There was no way around it, as their mother's requirements were too strict - if the mud was applied too thickly or too thinly, it wouldn't do. As a result, Ju'an had to redo about ten duck eggs before her mother was satisfied. When her mother finally put the duck eggs in the jar, Ju'an took a look and found that they had just filled a small jar.

  Mom brought another thick plastic sheet to cover the mouth of the jar, took a strip of cloth and said to Ju'an: "You have great strength, tie the mouth of the jar tightly". Following mom's instructions, I tied the mouth of the jar tightly, then moved it to the corner of the kitchen, where mom specified, this final task was finally completed.

  After finishing all this, the three of them completely relaxed and made a pot of tea. Ju'an, his mother, and sister sat down under the corridor to rest.

  "Mom, why don't you just stay here and not go back? Let sister and brother-in-law take Tongtong back with them. It's so tiring to sit on a plane for over ten hours."

  Sister also chimed in: "Yes, mom, you can just stay here with dad at San Er's place. The air is good here and dad likes horse riding, it's perfect."

  Mom thought for a moment and said, "You and Ruan Ruan have all gone back, your dad and I are left here with nothing to do. These American devils say something that I don't understand at all. If Lao San is out for a few days on business, can your dad and I just chat between the two of us? Nobody knows anyone here, every household lives so far apart, it's not even possible to visit neighbors."

  It's comfortable for mom to be here, but who can she talk to? There are hardly any Chinese people in Lewisburg except us. I thought about it and said: "Okay, I'll take you, dad, sister, and brother-in-law back to China together, and then I'll come back".

  Mom smiled and said, "Just send us to the airport, after we get on the plane back home you can come back. The round-trip flight is tiring too, when you arrive in Jiangnan your brother-in-law will still know the way home?"

  Sister also said: "Well, you just send us on the plane back to our country and when we arrive in Jiangnan we will take a car directly home."

  "Ranran, how are you going back? Has your brother's side said anything?" Ju An asked.

  Mom replied, "Your elder brother said he's going to Jiangnan Airport to pick you up. When the time comes, bring Ruan Ruan and fly south directly. If there's no time to pick you up, go back home first, and either your brother or sister-in-law will take a few days off to come and pick up Ruan Ruan."

  "If you guys have any situation in Jiangnan, just find a big hotel to stay first, don't always think about saving money. My son is five-star every time, no less than that, four-star or below is not worthy of me, got it?" Jusan said with a smile to his mom.

  Sister smiled and said, "In this way, we must also play in Jiangnan for two days. I'm so big that I haven't stayed in a five-star hotel yet. Then, mom, let's take the two kids to play in Jiangnan for two days? Anyway, someone will pay the bill."

  "You just think about having fun, what's fun is that there are people everywhere, I don't want to suffer that" Old mom touched An's head and said happily: "Our third child has grown up, knows how to care for his mother, if only he could give me a grandson soon".

  Living a comfortable life, how did I end up back here again? After some thought, it became clear. Just like what Jū ān had heard someone say before, Chinese women who have raised a son and passed the age of 25 start looking forward to having grandsons, from that point on they have an extraordinary desire to become a grandmother.

  Also last time, my brother took my parents to the capital for a trip during National Day. When they came back, my mom was exhausted and said she wouldn't go out again. That wasn't tourism, it was suffering. So now whenever we mention traveling, both my dad and mom shake their heads and say "no way" in unison.

  "After thinking for a moment, he said: 'Wait two more days and I'll give Wang Fan a call. When you arrive in Jiangnan, have him pick you up. If you want to play around in Jiangnan for a couple of days, let him take you along.'"

  Mom thought for a moment and said: "It's better not to bother Wang Fan with this, he's busy with work too, it's not good to trouble him."

  "Alright, just listen to my arrangement for this matter."