Chapter 50: Don't Be Polite
The three-courtyard mansion housing the brigade headquarters was built by the Lu family before liberation, featuring typical characteristics of Jiangnan-style residences.
Constructed with grey bricks and black tiles, the walls were tall to facilitate ventilation and heat dissipation, while the roofs had a steep slope to allow rainwater to run off quickly.
The first row of buildings upon entering the courtyard consisted of three main rooms – the central one was the main hall, commonly known as the "tangwu" in local dialect, with two side rooms on either side that could be used for receiving guests.
Passing through the screen wall behind the main hall led to a small courtyard.
Two rows of wing rooms stood on either side of the courtyard, and at the back was a two-story building with a brick lower level and wooden upper structure.
Surrounded by buildings on all sides, the small courtyard was also called a "tianjing" (patio well). When it rained, water from the eaves of the surrounding buildings would all flow into the central patio – this was the common "si shui gui tang" (four waters returning to the hall) layout seen in Jiangnan architecture.
Beyond the two-story building was another two-story tower with a small garden, used in the old days for the ladies of the house to do needlework, though it had no wing rooms attached.
The entire residence wasn't particularly grand or magnificent, but it had a clear layout. Without elaborate carved beams and painted pillars, it appeared relatively plain and unadorned.
Additionally, large sections of the original grey brick and black tile buildings had been whitewashed and covered with rows of red slogans – in the current social environment, this seemed perfectly harmonious.
The entire mansion faced south and was enclosed by high walls. Some twenty to thirty meters west of the walls stood a row of tall camphor trees, which blocked the view of passersby on the nearby river embankment.
Down the two-meter-high slope to the east of the mansion lay the pond where Chen Fan had conducted his group cooking lesson earlier.
A ten-meter-wide path paved with grey flagstones circled the pond, and along the path stood more than a dozen large grey brick houses. These were simple single-family homes with no courtyards of their own – opening the door led straight to the water.
This ring of grey brick houses was once where the Lu clan members lived.
But now the mansion had become Lujiawan's brigade headquarters, and the former Lu family residences had been distributed to poor villagers during the land reform movement, serving as homes for the team members today.
East of the pond stretched a long row of earthen wall thatched-roof houses built along the ridge of the slope.
Beyond that lay vast fields – the same road Chen Fan had taken when he arrived.
...
The west wing of the mansion's middle courtyard had been converted into a kitchen and dining hall. Inside, Chen Fan wielded his spatula with skill, and before long, a large table was filled with dishes.
After placing the final plate of stir-fried pork liver on the table, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and introduced the dishes with a smile. "Braised turtle, clear stewed turtle, Northeast blood sausage, stir-fried pork intestines with zha hu jiao (fermented chili and rice), stir-fried pork heart, stir-fried kidney, stir-fried pork liver, twice-cooked pork, pork lung soup, and finally stir-fried Chinese cabbage – all done!"
Zhang Changjiang stood up and pointed to the seat beside him. "Come, come, Master Chen – sit here."
Chen Fan quickly waved his hands. "That won't do – I can't sit at the head of the table."
Looking around, he pointed to a seat near the door. "I'll sit here instead."
As he moved to get a chair, Zhang Wenliang pulled him back.
After some polite back-and-forth, Secretary Yang finally took the head seat, with Chen Fan and Master Zhu sitting on either side of him. Next came Zhang Changjiang, Xiao Liewen, Ye Shubao, Zhang Guangwen, Zhang Wenliang, and Women's Director Yang Xingxiu – exactly nine people at the table.
Xiao Liewen looked at the abundant spread and grinned. "This is even more lavish than New Year's!"
Master Zhu nodded in agreement. "The best part is that I haven't tried most of these dishes before."
Pointing at the stir-fried intestines with zha hu jiao, he laughed heartily. "If you hadn't made this dish, I wouldn't believe you're from around here. Out of all these dishes, this is the only one I recognize."
Xiao Liewen added, "I just recognize one more dish than you – the blood sausage."
After a round of laughter, they began pouring wine.
This time, Chen Fan didn't insist on warming the wine with hot water, because the bottles brought out were glass ones filled with clear liquor. Each plain glass bottle had a palm-sized label with a proper trademark – images of several grains surrounded four large characters: "Yunhu Daqu" (purely fictional).
Though the packaging was simple, this was genuine grain liquor, and had been inspected by the distillery's professional testing facilities, so there was no need to worry about excessive methanol levels.
The only thing to consider was that the alcohol content was quite high – how much could he actually drink?
However, even though he hadn't mentioned it, Master Zhu spoke up for him. "Master Chen doesn't drink cold liquor – it'd be best to warm his with some hot water."
Upon hearing this, Yang Xingxiu immediately stood up to get a bowl and pour hot water. Secretary Yang even pretended to be stern as he said, "Master Chen, just tell us if you have any requests – no need to be so polite."
Xiao Liewen also said, "Every place has its own customs. While we should follow local traditions, we should accommodate personal habits when we can. Warming some wine is nothing – not even a minor inconvenience. Don't be so polite next time!"
Chen Fan could only grin awkwardly in response.
When it came time to start eating, another round of polite gestures ensued.
In the end, they invited Secretary Yang to take the first bite, followed by Master Zhu leading the way, and only then did the meal officially begin.
By this point, Chen Fan was already sweating – wow, eating out with others was really exhausting.
Xiao Liewen beside him reached for the blood sausage with his first bite. After popping a piece into his mouth, his eyes lit up and he gave Chen Fan a thumbs-up. "Delicious!"
Hearing this, everyone else quickly reached for their own portions, clearing away more than half the plate in an instant.
Xiao Liewen's eyes widened. "Leave me some pieces – I haven't had this in over twenty years!"
Ye Shubao looked at him but didn't slow down his own movements. "Hey, Master Chen specially set aside three whole links for you to take home and eat slowly. Why are you fighting us for this?"
Ignoring him, Xiao Liewen quickly scooped up two more pieces, and the plate was empty.
Well then – even though Chen Fan was the chef who'd made blood sausage twice that day, he hadn't gotten a single bite. He had no idea how the blood sausage he'd made for the first time actually tasted – was it good or not?
Why was it his first time making it?
Decades later, besides when pigs were butchered in the countryside, where else could you buy fresh pig blood? Without pig blood, of course you couldn't make blood sausage.
But even though he'd never made it himself, Chen Fan had watched dozens of videos on how to make blood sausage until he knew the process by heart. Now that his cooking skill had reached level 4 – comparable to a professional chef at a small restaurant – he was confident he could make a good blood sausage.
Judging by everyone's reaction, it seemed to be pretty good.
Besides Chen Fan, the only person who hadn't scrambled for the blood sausage was Master Zhu. Instead, he'd loaded his plate with a large portion of twice-cooked pork and a serving of stir-fried pork liver, eating with obvious enjoyment.
Seeing this, the others weren't about to be outdone and started reaching for the other dishes.
Zhang Wenliang, as the youngest at the table, had been too polite to compete with the elders at first and only managed one piece of blood sausage. When he finally came to his senses, he realized most of the food on the table was already gone. Casting aside all decorum, he quickly scooped a bit from each remaining dish – taking a bite of twice-cooked pork made his eyes light up, a bite of pork liver curved his lips upward, and a bite of kidney made him beam with delight...
Chen Fan held his chopsticks in his right hand and steady his wine cup with his left. Alright then – I'll just eat the turtle meat.
(End of Chapter)
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