Jiang Yanyi went straight back to the fire camp. Chef Li was feeling better now and was directing everyone to prepare food.
"Master Li, you're not feeling well. Why don't you take a rest?" Jiang Yanyi tied on an apron and prepared to go to the chopping board to cut vegetables.
Because of his illness, Chef Li, who usually looked energetic and capable, looked a bit old. He was always serious in the camp, but when he heard Jiang Yanyi greet him, his expression softened and he said, "I'm destined to be busy and can't rest."
When Jiang Yanyi heard him say this, she thought of her father again and felt a little sad in her heart. Her father's catchphrase was also "a life of hard work".
She concealed her emotions, picked up a killed chicken from the basket and asked Chef Li, "What are you cooking tonight?"
Chef Li said, "To make roasted chestnut chicken, just cut the chicken into pieces."
Jiang Yanyi quickly cut the chicken and put it on the plate.
Chef Li liked her efficiency and creativity in cooking. He said, "You cooked the braised lion's head well today, so I'll let you cook the chestnut roast chicken tonight. If you cook well and the other cooks have no objections, you can list all the dishes you can cook and I'll have someone add them to the menu of Huotouying."
This means that Jiang Yanyi will officially become the cook of Huotouying. From now on, she will not have to do miscellaneous work anymore. Like other cooks, she only needs to cook.
Jiang Yanyi was flattered: "I am not very good at making lion heads today. I am just showing off my skills in front of you."
Even though he knew that her words were meant as a compliment, Chef Li still smiled heartily.
The main reason is that Jiang Yanyi knew how to measure his words well.
If she had just said that she did not do well, being overly modest would have made her seem artificial. The phrase "I'm new to this" not only pointed out her own shortcomings, but also praised him. After all, the experience of an experienced person cannot be learned in a short period of time.
This girl is diligent, intelligent, and considerate in her dealings with others. Chef Li believes that she can go far.
He said, "Okay, you've already received the reward from the general, and you're still talking nonsense to me. You'll make the chestnut roast chicken. It's settled."
Jiang Yanyi thought that the reward that Chef Li was talking about was the reward he got for making tofu pudding that day. It would be ungrateful to refuse the kindness, so he accepted it with a smile.
"You woman, you came to work half a day later than others, and you even spoiled a large piece of vegetables! Do you think it's free to buy these vegetables?"
Zhao Tou'er's cursing voice came from outside the tent. Jiang Yanyi turned his head and saw that the person he was cursing was Chunxiang.
Chunxiang had never done these things in the brothel before. She had just arrived at Huotouying as a kitchen helper a few days ago, and Liu Cheng had assigned her some easy work. Today, Liu Cheng took a leave, so she deliberately went out to be lazy in the morning.
She came back with fifty taels of silver as a reward in the afternoon. She felt dizzy as she walked, but was afraid that people would find out that she had impersonated them, so she found a secluded place to hide the silver before coming to Huotouying.
Unexpectedly, she was assigned by Zhao Tou'er to pick vegetables as soon as she arrived. She was not focused at all, and until now, all she could think about was the fifty taels of silver.
Being pointed at and scolded by Zhao Tou'er, with so many people watching around, Chunxiang felt embarrassed. When she thought about the fact that she now had fifty taels of silver, and heard Zhao Tou'er talking about money, she felt ashamed.
He immediately threw the vegetables on the ground, took out a handful of copper coins from his inner collar and scattered them on the ground: "How about this, is this money enough to compensate you for these rotten vegetables?"
"You..." Zhao Tou'er didn't expect her to be so arrogant and was very angry.
The women around were mostly surprised and a little envious - Chunxiang dared to challenge Zhao Touer directly, which showed that she had found a powerful backer.
Chunxiang enjoyed the looks from the women very much and just stood up with a swagger.
The door of the barracks was always open. She accidentally met Jiang Yanyi's eyes. Suddenly, as if she had seen a ghost, she put away all her arrogance and left.
Jiang Yanyi felt that Chunxiang's attitude towards him was a little strange.
Several other women who were cutting vegetables in the barracks said that Chunxiang had hooked up with a general, and she was afraid that she would be proud for a while.
Jiang Yanyi recalled Chunxiang's embarrassed look when he ran into her coming out of the poplar forest this morning, and guessed that what they said might be true.
But Chunxiang was suddenly so afraid of me, could it be because she was afraid that I would tell on her
A woman with almond eyes and rosy cheeks came over to put the vegetables on the table. She heard the women who were cutting vegetables talking about Chunxiang. She had a good relationship with Chunxiang, so she immediately concluded that it was Jiang Yanyi who asked those women to make up the story.
She said sarcastically, "Sister Chunxiang is so proud of herself now, what's wrong with that? You flatter someone, but she doesn't even give you a little bit of reward from her fingernails. Sister Chunxiang always thinks of us sisters for any benefit. You are greedy and can't eat the braised pork that Sister Chunxiang brought back, so you gossip about others behind their backs? Aren't you immoral?"
Several women who were cutting vegetables watched her stagger away, flirting with the fireman from time to time, and spat in anger several times.
Qiu Kui was working on the other side. She looked at Jiang Yanyi, who seemed to be hesitant to speak. Seeing that there were so many people talking in the barracks, she finally kept silent.
Jiang Yanyi was completely confused by Xinghua's words. She threw the kitchen knife onto the chopping board, and the knife got stuck on it.
The noise was not loud, but it attracted many people in the barracks to look over.
The firemen thought she was angry and immediately distanced themselves from Xinghua.
Xinghua's face also turned pale. She still vividly remembered the time when she tried to snatch the taro from Jiang Yanyi and was almost cut off her hand by her throwing a knife.
But Jiang Yanyi was not really angry. She just threw the knife on the chopping board out of habit. However, she was too lazy to explain.
She didn't know whether the fake household registration she had applied for before could be approved. If not, if she wanted to get a household registration, she would have to spend money, so she had to save more money now.
Chef Li gave her the opportunity to work as a cook in Huotouying, and she must seize it.
While Jiang Yanyi was thinking about these things, his hands did not slow down at all.
The chestnuts were soaked in warm water and peeled. She waited for the oil in the pot to heat up, poured the chestnuts in and stir-fried them until they faded, then scooped them into a small dish.
While the oil is still hot, pour the drained chicken in and stir-fry. Sprinkle with ginger slices and garlic to remove the fishy smell and enhance the flavor. After adding salt, pour some soy sauce to adjust the color, and sprinkle Shaoxing wine along the edge of the pot to enhance the flavor.
For a moment, the barracks was filled with fragrance.
Jiang Yanyi put the previously fried chestnuts into the pot, poured in the broth used to make the lion head stew at noon, and simmered it for a quarter of an hour before removing it from the pot.
The chestnuts and chicken both look an attractive golden color. The chicken is stewed in broth and is fresh and tender. The chestnuts are sweet and soft. Just smelling the aroma makes everyone in the kitchen feel hungry several times.
In the evening, the people from the Huotou Camp delivered the food to Feng Shuo's camp, but Feng Shuo was not there. Instead, they were seen by Chi Qing who had come to look for Feng Shuo.
In the end, the whole plate of chestnut roast chicken went into Chi Qing's stomach.
Feng Shuo got the recipe in the afternoon, and heard Xing Yao say that the recipe looked wrong. As there was nothing to do in the military camp, he returned to the palace early.
He ordered someone to call the doctor who had treated him before and asked the doctor to see if there was any ingredient in the recipe that could restore his sense of taste.
The doctor looked at the recipe for a long time, his brows furrowed as he read: "These are all common ingredients, and there are only a few that can be used as medicine."
Although he was prepared, Feng Shuo's eyes dimmed for a moment when he heard the doctor say this, but soon returned to normal.
There was no trace of emotion on his handsome face: "Thank you."
The doctor had been practicing medicine for half his life and had seen all kinds of difficult and complicated diseases, but this was the first time he had seen someone like Feng Shuo, who was born without a sense of taste but suddenly recovered his sense of taste.
He wanted to tell the other party vaguely that the taste he felt was most likely imagined by him, but he did not dare to tell him because of the other party's noble status and reputation for brutality.
Now that he saw that the menu only required three taels of rock sugar and all kinds of seasonings were used in a mess, his brows were almost twisted into a knot. He was worried that the cooks in the barracks were taking advantage of the fact that Feng Shuo had no sense of taste and making some random dishes to please him.
Although he was a descendant of a noble family and had been living a life of luxury since childhood, he had never tasted even the five flavors of the world. For a moment, the doctor felt a little sorry for the notorious King of Liaonan.
He said, "Your Highness, I'm afraid that the lion's head I made according to the recipe in your hand will be too sweet to eat."
Although he spoke cryptically, Feng Shuo understood the doctor's hidden meaning.
Either someone took advantage of his lack of taste to fool him about food, or the person who wrote this recipe didn't know how to cook lion's head at all.
Murderous intent almost instantly burst out of Feng Shuo's sharp phoenix eyes.
Even his personal guard Xing Yao didn't know that he had no sense of taste, so how did the people in the Huotou Camp know
Then there is only one possibility left.
Feng Shuo's thin lips slowly curled up into a cold arc: "Oh, you don't know whether to live or die."
A pair of wild mandarin ducks in the poplar forest had just ended a passionate love affair, using the sky as a blanket and the ground as a bed.
The man wrapped the woman in his thick shirt.
His dark face looked honest, but his eyes were always sparkling with brilliance. It was Liu Cheng.
He was still breathing heavily. "You mean, the new girl made a lion's head, but the old man was not punished by the general at all?"
Chunxiang pouted and said, "It wasn't all in vain. When I went back with you to get the laxative this morning, I was caught by that little bitch."
Liu Cheng's expression changed instantly: "She saw everything?"
Chunxiang said hurriedly: "No, she just came over when I left the forest."
Only then did Liu Cheng feel relieved.
Chunxiang drew circles on his chest with her fingers and suddenly asked, "When you first got together with me, you said you would help me clear my name and marry me. Do you still mean what you said now?"
The night obscured the contempt and impatience in Liu Cheng's eyes, but his words were full of tenderness: "Of course, I want to replace the old man surnamed Li, just to save more money for our future. After all, you know how much money a private stove can make."
Chunxiang smiled sweetly: "Now that we have money, you can marry me."
Liu Cheng was just about to say that she was crazy, but he saw Chunxiang take out a cloth bag from under the poplar tree. When she opened it, the silver ingots inside almost dazzled Liu Cheng's eyes in the moonlight.
He was so shocked that he could hardly speak: "Where did you get so much money?"
Chunxiang then confessed her fraudulent claim of the reward, "Thanks to my cleverness, I remembered the method you told me this morning to make the lion's head, and that's how I got such a generous reward."
Liu Cheng's mind was much more careful than Chunxiang's. He scolded this brainless idiot: "Are you crazy about money? You dare to claim the reward money given by the general? If you are found out, you will lose your head!"
Chunxiang thought of the guards with swords and felt a little scared, but she was reluctant to spend the money. She said, "I am doing this for our future. With this money, we can buy a yard in the town for our wedding."
Xizhou is barren and land prices are extremely low.
Liu Cheng sat up and was blown by the night wind for a while. He had completely calmed down. He looked at Chunxiang and said, "Have you ever thought about the consequences of your actions being exposed?"
"This..." Chunxiang had never thought about all this. Ever since she received the fifty taels of silver, she had been thinking about how to escape the crime and leave the military camp.
Liu Cheng was tempted by the fifty taels of silver. A hint of viciousness flashed in his eyes. "If we want to keep this secret, we have to make Jiang keep his mouth shut."
Chunxiang had seen Jiang Yanyi's temper before, and said, "She is not a pushover, how could she shut up?"
"Then she will never be able to speak."
When Chunxiang met Liu Cheng's eyes, she suddenly understood something and shuddered violently.