The rain came suddenly, and soon yellow mud rolled outside the tent.
In order to facilitate entry and exit, the tent curtain of the Huotou Camp was lifted up and tied into a knot.
The cold wind blew through the hall, and Jiang Yanyi shivered: "I wonder when this rain will stop."
Qiu Kui came in from outside the tent holding a pile of firewood. She tried her best to protect the firewood, but it was still wet from the rain. After hearing what Jiang Yanyi said, she said, "There is thunder and lightning. I'm afraid it will rain until night. All the firewood outside is soaked in water."
The firewood of the Xizhou camp has always been piled outside the tent. It was raining today and the Huotou Camp was handing over food and grass to the Liaonan Army, so they had no time to take care of the firewood outside and just found some canvas to cover the tent.
Jiang Yan noticed that her clothes were mostly wet, and hurriedly said, "Go to the fire pit and warm yourself up. What if you catch a cold?"
Qiu Kui put the firewood next to the fire pit. The wound on her forehead was soaked by rain water. She grimaced in pain. Afraid that Jiang Yanyi would worry, she raised her face and smiled foolishly. Her wet hair stuck to her forehead: "I feel sorry for the dry firewood outside. It's soaked by rain water. How can I burn it later?"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yanyi glanced at the steamer next to him and frowned secretly.
The news that the food in the army was poor reached the general's ears, and the general specifically ordered that delicious food should be prepared today to reward the soldiers.
Several cooks at the stove were planning to make braised pork with brown sauce, a dish that consumes the most firewood when steamed.
But it was already this late, the ingredients were almost ready and it was too late to change the dishes.
"How much firewood can you bring in by yourself? The wound on your forehead hasn't scabbed over yet, so you can't get it wet. Don't go out. Just use the wet firewood to burn on top of the dry firewood."
With her swift hands, she poured a basket of chopped pork belly into the pot to blanch it, threw in a handful of scallions and ginger slices, and added some rice wine to remove the fishy smell.
Qiu Kui listened to Jiang Yanyi's caring words, brushed the wet hair on her forehead with her hand, and smiled shyly.
When she saw Jiang Yanyi start to cut the soaked pickled mustard greens, her eyes suddenly lit up, but then dimmed again in an instant: "My mother used to like to make pancakes with pickled mustard greens, they were delicious, but unfortunately I never ate them again."
When Jiang Yanyi heard this, she remembered that when she was registering, she heard Qiu Kui say that her parents died on the way to escape. So she said, "Do you want to eat pork pie with pickled mustard greens? I'll make it tonight."
Qiu Kui's eyes were instantly full of light again, "How much do you sell it for? I'll buy it from you."
Jiang Yanyi pretended to be angry: "If you ask for money again, I won't let you help with the fire."
When Qiu Kui heard this, she was afraid that Jiang Yanyi really didn't want her to make the fire, so she didn't dare to mention it again.
The pork belly in the pot was almost cooked. Jiang Yanyi took out the meat, poked many small holes in the pig skin with a bamboo stick, brushed it with sauce, poured a lot of oil into the pot, and waited until the oil temperature rose before putting all the pork belly in with the pig skin facing down to fry.
The purpose of deep frying is to force out the excess fat in the pork so that the meat is not too greasy. The pork skin is fried and then steamed, which makes it softer and more elastic.
When the pork was put into the pot, there was a crackling sound and oil splashed everywhere. Jiang Yanyi quickly covered the pot with a solid wooden lid to simmer it.
Seeing her frantically frying the pork in the oil pan, Chef Zhu at the stove next door couldn't help but look at her with disdain: "Master Jiang, are you going to fry the pork dry and make oil residue?"
His words made several firemen laugh.
There had never been a woman in the Huotou Camp who was in charge of cooking. Many people flattered Jiang Yanyi and called her Master Jiang on the surface, but they were different in private. Some even thought that Chef Li and Tou'er Zhao were so fond of her, a camp prostitute, just because she was young and beautiful. Who knows what the three of them were doing behind her back.
Jiang Yanyi didn't even raise her eyelids. She lifted the lid of the pot and scooped up the fried pork belly. She said with regret, "It's a pity that the pig is too fat. It's hard to fry it into oil residue."
Qiu Kui burst out laughing, and the several firemen who were helping Chef Zhu also lowered their heads to hold back their laughter.
Chef Zhu realized later that Jiang Yanyi was not talking about pork, but was clearly criticizing him indirectly.
He was so angry that his face turned red and his neck became thick. The fat on his belly trembled with his breathing. He threatened: "I want to see what kind of braised pork you can make!"
Jiang Yanyi didn't say anything else. She knew that there would always be people who would be dissatisfied with her becoming the cook so quickly.
But so what? As a chef, one has to make a living based on one's own skills.
However, when Chef Zhu saw himself frying the pork in the pan, he felt like he was watching a joke. Could it be that they don’t fry the pork before making braised pork
Jiang Yanyi became a little curious, and she turned her head to watch Chef Zhu making the braised pork.
Chef Zhu noticed this with his sharp eyes and thought that Jiang Yanyi didn't know how to make braised pork at all and wanted to learn from him.
He was so frightened that his moustache trembled. He quickly turned around and used his fat body to block Jiang Yanyi's view. He felt that the blockage was not thorough enough, so he called the two firemen who were helping him to the side of the stove to block it as well.
Facing Chef Zhu's look that said "I will never let you steal my master's knowledge", Jiang Yanyi didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
After that, every time he did each step, he would look towards Jiang Yanyi to make sure that Jiang Yanyi was not staring at him before he started.
When Chef Zhu looked over here, Jiang Yanyi simply stretched his neck to glance over there, scaring Chef Zhu so much that he wanted to run three meters away with the pot on his shoulder.
Chef Zhu had to make braised pork belly while guarding against Jiang Yanyi. He was exhausted after several attempts. He turned his head again and found that Jiang Yanyi was also looking over there leisurely. He was immediately furious: "Don't try to learn from me!"
Jiang Yanyi blinked innocently: "Master Zhu, what are you talking about? I just saw that it was raining heavily outside."
Chef Zhu got even angrier. He was sitting right near the entrance of the tent. He said angrily, "You're clearly trying to steal my advice on how to make braised pork belly!"
Compared to Chef Zhu, who was furious, Jiang Yanyi seemed particularly calm. She said, "I just want to learn. There are a lot of people around your stove, so I have to be able to see it."
The teasing tone made everyone in the barracks laugh.
"Master Zhu, Master Jiang is your junior in the kitchen. How can you, as an elder, always feel bad for the junior?"
"Is it because Master Zhu felt that his skills were inferior to those of Master Jiang after seeing how many rewards he received?"
The firemen who had received benefits from Jiang Yanyi before all spoke up for her.
Chef Zhu was accused of bullying the younger generation and almost fainted from anger. He continued to have the firemen block the stove and vowed not to let Jiang Yanyi learn secretly.
Jiang Yanyi didn't have time to pay attention to the fat old man and continued to make his own Braised Pork with Preserved Vegetables.
She sliced the cooled pork belly and put it into the pre-prepared sauce to color it and marinate it.
Pour oil into the pan and chop the ginger and garlic into fine pieces with a few strokes. Add the ginger, garlic, star anise and bay leaves into the pan and fry until fragrant. Then pour in the pickled mustard greens and continue to stir-fry. Remove the okra from the heat when it is well-seasoned and use chopsticks to pick out the star anise and bay leaves.
The army has special coarse earthenware bowls for making braised pork. Jiang Yanyi puts the meat pieces coated with sauce into the bowl, with the pig skin facing down, and presses the meat slices tightly without leaving any gaps. Finally, he puts the fried pickled mustard greens on top and puts the bowl into the steamer to steam.
After finishing making a hundred bowls, Jiang Yanyi finally had some free time.
No one knew what was happening outside, but there was a lot of noise. Many people in the barracks crowded to the door to watch the excitement.
Jiang Yanyi turned his head and took a look, but he was not interested in looking.
Seeing that Qiu Kui seemed to want to go, she sat down next to the fire pit and helped her watch the fire, so that Qiu Kui could go and watch the fun without worry.
Not long after, Qiu Kui came back with a face full of secrecy, "Hua Hua, Liu Cheng was sentenced to beheading."
Jiang Yanyi was slightly stunned. The crime Liu Cheng committed shouldn't warrant a sentence of beheading.
She looked at the crowd at the entrance of the barracks and said in disbelief, "Execution outside the Huotou Camp?"
Qiu Kui quickly shook her head, "No, someone died outside. It was the Hu Ji from the barracks next to us. She used to be in a relationship with Liu Cheng."
As soon as Qiu Kui mentioned Hu Ji, Jiang Yanyi had an impression of her. She was a woman who was more plump and charming than Chunxiang, but her presence was very low, as if she was deliberately hiding herself.
Liu Cheng was sentenced to beheading for attempted murder, and Hu Ji, who had been on good terms with him, also died suddenly. Jiang Yanyi felt that things might not be simple.
She asked, "How did that Hu Ji die?"
Qiu Kui whispered, "When the people from the Tiger Step Camp came to look for her, they found that she had already died behind the tent. When she was carried out, her body was stiff. I heard that she had used a kitchen knife to slit her own throat."
Jiang Yanyi frowned. The corpse was stiff. It was obvious that the Hu girl had not just died.
Another suicide... Could it be a death for love
But even if he committed suicide for love, Liu Chengdu is not dead yet. Isn't she being too hasty
Unless she has some unspeakable secret!
Jiang Yanyi inexplicably felt that things might not be peaceful in the future, and now she just hoped that her forged household registration could get away with it.
The leader who managed these camp prostitutes had leaked the news before. After verifying their identities, there was a high probability that these decent girls would be allowed to leave the camp and regain their freedom. They just hoped that the suicide of the Hu Ji would not have any impact on this matter.
Jiang Yanyi had originally planned that after she left the military camp and settled down, she would have the chance to return to the capital to visit her original mother.
She was able to live again only by occupying the body of her original owner, so she still had to fulfill her filial duty to help the original owner.
The sky was grey and hazy clouds piled up on the horizon, gradually closing in the twilight.
The rain had subsided, and drops of water hung on the fallen yellow weeds by the roadside.
On the barren low slope, there is only a lonely grave mound.
The surrounding area was overgrown with weeds. Because it was a new grave with new soil, the grave mound was bare, which made it particularly eye-catching and desolate.
A pair of black boots walked slowly on the muddy ground. The cold wind lifted up his clothes, drawing a sharp arc between the bleak sky and earth.
The followers behind him kept waving white paper money for the dead. Some of it fell on the weeds beside the road, some fell in the middle of the road and were trampled into the mud, and some people held up soul-calling banners made of paper for the dead.
It is a ceremonial procession to guide the soul.
The man walked to the grave mound and stopped. He had a stern figure and a resolute face with clear contours under his bamboo hat. He had a short beard, which made him look more majestic, but his eyes were slightly red.
He looked at the thin wooden tablet without any words in front of the tomb, stretched out his rough big hand, and slowly stroked it, his voice hoarse: "Since my uncle was demoted to Yongzhou, he didn't know about the many changes in the capital. My uncle came too late, and made you suffer so much in this poor place..."
As he spoke, his voice was choked with sobs.
The man of eight feet tall, the tough guy who never batted an eyelid on the battlefield, burst into tears at this moment.
If he had gotten the news earlier, even if he had risked being beheaded, he would not have let his niece be sent to this poor place to be humiliated by the unethical king on the throne!
He stroked the wooden tablet, his eyes red: "Ayi, uncle is here to take you home!"