I Became the Eldest Daughter of a Fallen Family - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 12. Smoked Sausage
“I’m so sorry, Mother. I never meant to shock you like this. I was terribly reckless.”
Jang wiped her eyes and bowed her head.
The hand gripping her skirt trembled so violently that her knuckles had gone white.
So Yeon-hui covered her mother’s hand gently with her own and spoke.
“It was something that had to come out eventually. We couldn’t keep it secret forever, could we?”
Perhaps Father intended to keep silent until the day he was sent to the Labor Camp, but So Yeon-hui had no intention of allowing that.
She turned back to Hong and continued.
“Grandmother, honor and reputation are ultimately nothing but others’ judgments. If we ourselves are blameless, how could the pride of the So Clan be broken? But if Father is dragged away to labor, then there truly is no remedy.”
Without money for taxes, how could there be bribes to get him out of the Labor Camp?
So Jin would be trapped, forced to endure dangerous labor in the bitter cold with no escape.
“We can restore our face later, but once we lose family, it’s over.”
Perhaps Hong was moved by So Yeon-hui’s earnest plea. Or perhaps she had simply awakened to the cruelty of reality.
Hong closed her eyes and exhaled a long breath.
‘So be it. What use is there in blaming anyone? All of this stems from the mercilessness of power.’
The men of the So Clan had devoted their entire lives to serving the imperial house, moving from battlefield to battlefield.
Yet the very emperor they served—the one they had sworn loyalty to—was not content with taking Hong’s husband and two sons; he sought to kill even So Jin, the last remaining son.
The reason was simple.
Because they were heroes who had saved the nation. Because the people sang their praises.
‘Had the Emperor opposed this, the Fourth Imperial Prince could not have pursued it so relentlessly. All of this is happening because he has allowed it.’
Everything felt hollow.
If she had known it would come to this, she should have ordered her husband and sons to abandon their posts long ago and live quietly instead.
What fortune had she imagined they would gain by sending them to war?
Hong’s face had gone vacant.
“Power is truly ephemeral. All those long years of solemn vows have crumbled to dust.”
A bitter smile formed at the corners of her mouth as her eyelids fell.
A deep remorse seemed to seep into her very bones.
It was at that moment.
Someone grasped her hand firmly. It was So Yeon-hui.
“Grandmother, don’t worry. Father will be safe. I won’t let things come to that, I promise you.”
Thanks to that warm touch, Hong’s rigid body began slowly to relax.
Whether she understood this or not, So Yeon-hui continued speaking in a bright, cheerful voice as if all the heavy matters they had just discussed were nothing at all.
“Today, tanghulu sold wonderfully. I earned almost eighty cash just in a single day.”
“E-eighty cash?”
“Yes, Grandmother. And with the meat I bought today, I’ll make a new dish to sell at the Butcher Shop and earn a good sum. Combined with the tanghulu sales, five bolts of rice would be nothing.”
A confident declaration with not a trace of fear.
‘Is Yeon-hui really this kind of person?’
More than that—she earned eighty cash in a single day selling tanghulu?
Hong’s heart, which had been racing with shock over the taxation news, now quickened for an entirely different reason.
* * *
Tanghulu is certainly a decent business venture.
She had made fifty or so, sold out in just two hours, and the materials cost next to nothing.
But since fresh fruit is the main ingredient, it is heavily affected by the season, and ultimately, being a snack, it was difficult to scale the business.
You eat side dishes frequently and in larger quantities, but snacks—one can always just eat the fruit instead.
But sausage?
Mincing meat finely and filling each casing by hand is admittedly tedious work.
Yet when you consider that neither adults nor children dislike sausage as a side dish, there is no more stable business venture.
‘If I accumulate enough Advance Points to buy just one manual sausage maker, the work would become dramatically easier.’
Having earned an additional 20 points helping Grandmother just now, her remaining balance was 51 points.
Considering that a home meat grinder costs around 140 points, it wouldn’t take terribly long.
Of course, she had no idea what difficulties lay ahead.
“Ugh! I simply cannot bear to look at it.”
“Neither can I, Mother. How does sister handle cleaning intestines so well? Isn’t it revolting?”
“Revolting? This is precious food!”
“Still, intestines are traditionally eaten only by common folk.”
At that, So Yeon-hui’s brow furrowed.
Class discrimination even in ingredients—was this truly the sensibility of the ancients?
As circumstances progressed, sausage-making fell to So Yeon-hui and the men of the household: her father and younger brother So Yeon-u.
However, since Father needed to construct the smoking rack to be used later, today’s work fell entirely to So Yeon-hui alone.
“Just don’t cry tears of emotion when you taste this later.”
“Please. It’s just commoner food anyway—surely I won’t go that far?”
“So what if it’s commoner food! Food is food as long as it tastes good.”
A noble’s palate isn’t made of gold. There’s no sense in ranking food by class.
So Yeon-hui recalled a delicious spiced tripe dish she had eaten once and carefully removed the fat and connective tissue clinging to the intestinal casing by hand.
When cooking tripe, this tissue needs to stay for flavor, but when using it as sausage casing, one must clean it thoroughly instead.
Otherwise, an off-flavor develops or the casing loses elasticity, and the sausage bursts.
‘It’s wasteful to discard all this fat, but still… for a dish that’s difficult to replicate yet sells well, there’s nothing quite like sausage.’
Sausage has excellent texture.
That snappy, satisfying crunch when you bite into it!
Moreover, depending on the ingredients used, you could achieve different flavors.
Add peppers and it becomes slightly spicy; add cheese and it becomes more savory.
Either way, it’s salty and delicious. Children’s favorite side dish didn’t earn that title for nothing.
After finishing the preparation of the intestinal casing, So Yeon-hui quickly minced the meat finely with a knife.
A meat grinder would be nice, but she didn’t have enough Advance Points. For now, mincing by hand was the only option.
Still, this method added a certain texture and its own subtle charm to the finished product.
But her younger brothers’ questions seemed to lie elsewhere.
“Why did you buy intestines and scraps anyway? Among meat cuts, pork belly is the most savory and has the best flavor.”
“Pork belly is expensive. And you can achieve richness with fat. If done properly, these scraps can taste just as savory as pork belly. I’m certain of it.”
Most sausages are made by mixing meat and fat in roughly a seven-to-three ratio.
That balance is precisely what makes the texture moist and the savory richness of the fat prominent when you bite in.
Of course, in the case of Chinese salami, they sometimes increase the fat ratio intentionally to make it richer.
That violent, dripping flavor when the oil runs down your chin is polarizing in taste, certainly, but undeniably addictive.
“Sister, did the Jizang Bodhisattva teach you this cooking method too?”
“Ah… well, I suppose so?”
So Yeon-hui laughed awkwardly and trailed off.
At her evasive answer, her younger brothers narrowed their eyes at her suspiciously, but there was nothing to be done.
She could hardly pass off YouTube as the Jizang Bodhisattva, could she?
But the real difficulty came only after the meat had been seasoned.
‘Now that I think about it, using intestine casing requires at least four days of salt-curing first.’
Likely for sterilization and to increase the elasticity of the casing.
For safety’s sake, there was no choice but to purchase commercial casing from the Jizang Mall instead.
‘Thirty points of my precious points just vanished… but there’s no help for it.’
Still, she made sure to compose the meat filling’s seasoning entirely from what could be obtained in this world.
Salt, sugar, ginger, garlic, and huajiao—a local specialty—ground and mixed with the meat.
After seasoning the meat, So Yeon-hui handed her brothers the bamboo tubes she had prepared in advance.
“What are we supposed to do with these?”
“You insert one end into the intestinal casing, then fill it with the meat mixture, obviously.”
“What! You’re telling me to touch these intestines?”
Unlike So Yeon-u, who showed curiosity, So Yeon-su recoiled with visible disgust.
But when they needed to earn their living right now, could they really afford to shrink back simply because it was unpleasant?
“Stop being squeamish. Once you finish making them, they’ll taste absolutely delicious, I promise. Besides, don’t you want to show Grandmother what you’re capable of?”
As a Scholar-Official Clan, Grandmother still insisted on raising her grandchildren as delicate treasures within the home.
But when Father might be dragged to the Labor Camp, what good was such propriety?
So Yeon-hui coaxed her younger brothers with gentle persuasion until they eagerly filled the sausage casings.
Then, asking Father’s help, she hung the finished sausages in a row on the smoking rack set up in the Courtyard, and her brothers couldn’t help but swallow audibly.
“Wow, with all those intestines hanging like that, you’d never blame someone for mistaking us for demons.”
“Right, sister. Even ghosts would flee the sight!”
As if something so delicious could be so inauspicious!
Feeling wronged, So Yeon-hui gave her father a pleading look. But he only laughed awkwardly and added his own comment.
“Well… I must admit, it does look rather eerie to me too.”
Not a single trustworthy soul in the world!
It had turned out to be a particularly sorrowful day.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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