His gaze was too deep and burning. Jiang Yanyi did not dare to look him in the eye and said, "You are the general of Xizhou. If something happens to you, the whole Xizhou will be in chaos."
"Just because of this?"
"Of course, you've saved me several times. I can't just watch that sword chop you down."
"What else?"
Jiang Yanyi's cheeks were a little hot, she turned her face away and said: "Is it not okay for me to be kind-hearted and brave to do what is right?"
Feng Shuo raised the corner of his mouth, as if he was about to laugh, but he quickly stopped. An itchy feeling ran through his throat, and he covered his lips and coughed twice: "It's hard to hear a word of truth from you."
Jiang Yanyi's face became even hotter.
The carriage stopped at Feng's house. When Jiang Yanyi got off, Feng Shuo said, "I'll come to the store to eat braised pig's trotters later."
Jiang Yanyi was stunned for a while, and didn't realize what he said was wrong. He glanced at the blood on his sleeve and then remembered: "Go back to the mansion to see the doctor first, don't come out to get exposed to the wind, I'll send the stewed pig's trotters to your mansion when they're ready."
Even though he's injured like this, he's still thinking about eating!
"That's good." Feng Shuo said.
Yang Xiu and Bing Shao followed Jiang Yanyi back to the store. Yang Xiu recalled Feng Shuo's support when Jiang Yanyi got out of the car just now, and the familiar tone between the two. Looking at Jiang Yanyi's back, he frowned and something flashed quickly in his eyes.
Although the store was not open these days, Qiu Kui still had to wipe the dishes and tables every day. Jiang Yanyi told her several times that she didn't need to do so since the store was not open these days, but Qiu Kui was as stubborn as ever, as if these things were her mission to complete every day.
When Jiang Yanyi came in from outside, Qiu Kui was putting the freshly cleaned bowl into the cupboard. When he saw Jiang Yanyi, he asked in confusion: "Huahua, your face is so red."
Jiang Yanyi touched his still hot face and said, "Really? Maybe it's because of the strong wind outside that it turned red."
Yang Xiu and Bing Shao entered the room and heard her say this. Yang Xiu glanced at her but said nothing.
Jiang Yanyi walked into the kitchen and took a look around. He found that all the seasonings for stewing pork elbow were available, except that there was no fresh pork elbow. So he asked Yang Xiu to buy a pork leg from Ma the butcher.
Whenever the dish is stewed, the main attraction is its fresh taste. It is definitely too late to make the broth now.
Jiang Yanyi found some dried bamboo shoots and soaked them in warm water. Dried bamboo shoots stewed with bacon was Jiang Yanyi's father's specialty in his previous life, and it was a must-have on the table during every Chinese New Year.
Dried bamboo shoots are more fragrant than fresh ones, and bacon has a mellow taste. Jiang Yanyi can't help but swallow her saliva just thinking about the taste. However, she hasn't smoked bacon yet, so she can only go to the market to buy fresh meat.
Jiang Yanyi was a regular customer of Ma the Butcher, and every time he sent meat to him, Ma the Butcher would handle it cleaner than other companies. Despite this, after Yang Xiu bought the elbow, Jiang Yanyi still carefully checked it to see if there were any pig hairs that had not been shaved clean, and if there were any, he would pull them out with tweezers.
After blanching the elbows and other pork legs, she cut them into pieces and put them in a casserole, added water and stewed them, then added ginger, garlic, aniseed, fennel, tangerine peel and other seasonings to remove the fishy smell and enhance the flavor.
The best effect of soaking dried bamboo shoots is to soak them overnight, but there is no time at the moment. Jiang Yanyi waits until the dried bamboo shoots are softened, then cuts them into sections and puts them into the pot to cook.
Thinking that Yang Xiu and Bing Shao were following him to the Han Mansion for the banquet and were still starving, Jiang Yanyi asked Qiu Kui to help peel some potatoes and cook rice for six people.
Jiang Yanyi really likes stove-cooked potato rice with braised pork elbow.
The method of making potato rice is the same as that of pumpkin rice. First, use a large amount of oil to sauté the scallions and ginger, then stir-fry the potatoes, add seasonings and stir-fry until well-flavored, and then put rice on top.
When cooking, Jiang Yanyi is always very good at controlling the heat. This time, after the rice at the bottom of the pot made a slight "crackling" sound, Jiang Yanyi turned off the fire.
When you lift the lid of the pot, the rich aroma of rice and the aroma of golden potato crusts at the bottom of the pot waft out along with the hot steam.
Jiang Yanyi used a spatula to stir the rice, and the golden potato crust at the bottom was turned up. She put in just the right amount of oil, so the rice crust looked golden, but it didn't feel greasy when eaten, because it was cooked with firewood, and the taste seemed to be more fragrant.
"Let's get some rice and eat in the shop in front." Jiang Yanyi said.
Before, they ate by themselves either at the small table next to the kitchen or in the yard outside. But now with the addition of Yang Xiu and Bing Shao, the small table in the kitchen seemed a bit crowded, and it was too cold to eat in the yard outside.
Okra nodded, sniffed hard, as if afraid that the aroma of the food would disappear, and diligently picked up the bowl to serve the rice.
Jiang Yanyi went to the small stove to look at the pork elbow stewed in the casserole. She covered the lid of the casserole with a wet towel, and immediately a rich aroma of meat and bamboo shoots rushed into her nose.
Jiang Yanyi poked the elbow with chopsticks and found that the chopsticks could penetrate into the skin of the elbow with a light touch. The elbow was already soft and rotten. She nodded with satisfaction: "The elbow is ready to be served."
Jiang Yanyi found a soup bowl and put the pork elbow that he was going to give to Feng Shuo in it first. Then he put the rest of the pork leg meat and soup into the soup bowl, added some coriander and served it out.
Although there were not many dishes in this meal, everyone was full. The more homely the food is, the more delicious it tastes. Jiang Yanyi specially cooked more rice for two people, but the pot of potato rice was still eaten up. Even the elbow soup was poured into the bowls of Yang Xiu and Bing Shao and mixed with rice.
Although both of them rushed to wash the dishes after dinner, Qiu Kui was still not very satisfied with these two "waiters". The reason was simple: most of the rice crusts that she had been craving for were shoveled away by them.
Jiang Yanyi had no idea of her resentment towards Qiu Kui. After dinner, she took the soup bowl to Feng Mansion to deliver the soup.
Feng Shuo was in his own yard. When he went out, he wore an ink-black python robe, but now he was wearing a moon-white robe. When Jiang Yanyi approached him, he smelled a medicinal smell on him. He thought that after returning home, when the doctor was bandaging his arm wound, he found out that he had been exposed to cold wind, so he gave him a medicinal bath.
There was a fireplace in the room. Feng Shuo no longer wore the heavy fox fur coat. His long hair was not tied up, but only loosely tied with a forehead band, revealing his delicate jawline.
He sat on a mahogany chair, holding a book in his hand, turning a page from time to time, with a somewhat leisurely posture.
"Didn't they say that stewing the pork elbow only takes half an hour?" He said without raising his head when he heard the footsteps.
Jiang Yanyi opened the food box and took out the still hot soup bowl. "It only takes half an hour to stew. Doesn't it take time to prepare the ingredients?"
Hearing her tone that was different from before, he raised his eyebrows slightly, with a hint of smile on his lips: "You've become a lot bolder."
Jiang Yanyi put the soup bowl in front of him: "How dare I? Eat it while it's hot."
Feng Shuo used his left hand to take a spoonful of soup and drank it. The aroma of dried bamboo shoots blended into the soup, adding a little flavor to the originally unremarkable pork elbow soup. He said, "It tastes good."
The elbow skin can be torn off with a wooden stick. The skin is covered with tender meat with a perfect balance of fat and lean meat, with a delicate taste and a strong gelatinous texture.
Jiang Yanyi didn't think it was strange when he first saw him holding the soup spoon with his left hand. Now he saw him holding the chopsticks with his left hand without any discomfort. He couldn't help but wonder, "You can use both hands?"
Feng Shuo glanced at her and said, "Normal people can use both hands."
"No, I mean, you can also hold chopsticks and write with your left hand?"
Feng Shuo nodded. He used to be left-handed, but later he received too many strange looks, so he forced himself to use his right hand.
Jiang Yanyi said with envy: "How amazing."
There was a sparkle in her eyes, which were truly filled with curiosity and admiration, without a trace of false emotion in them.
Feng Shuo felt as if something soft touched his chest, and that corner softened as well. In the past, when he used his left hand, others always looked at him like a monkey, and even laughed at him. This was the only time someone praised him for using his left hand.
There was a hint of self-mockery in his tone: "What's so great about it?"
"Just like you now, even if your right hand is injured, you can still use your left hand to eat without relying on others." Jiang Yanyi felt that this guy was a bit Versailles. She said, "When copying a book, if you use both hands to write, wouldn't it save half the time?"
Thinking back to her student days in her previous life, she still vividly remembers her Chinese teacher requiring her to copy various ancient poems. If she had two hands to write at that time, her hands would not have become sore from doing homework.
Feng Shuo looked at Jiang Yanyi. The discrimination and ridicule he had suffered for being left-handed seemed to gradually fade away in his heart. The black haze faded away, and a ray of warm sunshine shone in.
He held the wooden stick and said something ambiguous: "Don't you know that being left-handed is unlucky?"
Jiang Yanyi thought that feudal superstition was really harmful to people. Even a left-handed person could come up with so many tricks. She said speechlessly, "You believe this kind of thing?"
Feng Shuo took a sip of the soup. The soup was rich and fragrant, warming his throat all the way to his stomach. The coldness in those memories seemed to be driven away by this warmth. He said, "I don't believe it."
Jiang Yan suggested that he drink the soup, and said with a smile: "Eat more elbow meat, it will replenish the body."
Feng Shuo paused as he picked up the chopsticks, then used a pair of public chopsticks to pick up a piece of pork elbow with skin and meat and fed it to her.
Jiang Yanyi waved his hand: "I had already eaten before I came here."
No wonder she was so late.
Feng Shuo did not retract his hand, but kept it raised: "You can eat here next time."
As he spoke, he pushed the chopsticks towards Jiang Yanyi's lips again, "It's a serving chopstick."
Although there is a one-month period, Jiang Yanyi himself doesn't understand what stage they are in now.
He used a serving chopstick, which seemed too formal and pretentious. Jiang Yanyi hesitated for a while, but still ate the piece of elbow meat.
Feng Shuo glanced at her feet and said quietly, "Like cures like, so you should eat more."
Jiang Yanyi: “…”
There's no point in talking about this relationship!
No matter what Feng Shuo said next, Jiang Yanyi ignored him and simply picked up the book he placed on the table to read.
But he was reading a book on military strategy, and Jiang Yanyi felt overwhelmed after reading only two lines, so he quickly put the bookmark back in its place.
Feng Shuo saw it and said, "There are some books in the bookcase over there. Go and take a look to see if there is anything you like."
He has collected many rare books in his bookcase, which cannot be bought even at a huge price.
Jiang Yanyi didn't know all this. He guessed that it would take Feng Shuo a while to finish the soup, so he really got up and went to the bookcase to look for a book.
The books on the bookshelf were arranged in neat rows. Jiang Yanyi found that there were basically no new ones. It was obvious that these books were not just for display, but were often read by people.
Jiang Yanyi searched for a long time and finally found a travelogue of a great poet from the previous dynasty among a pile of military and national strategies. She flipped through a few pages and found that it talked about the customs and food of various places during his travels. She immediately became interested in it, took it home, sat cross-legged on the cushion by the window, and read it with relish.
The daylight shone in through the screen window. She sat cross-legged, her elbows resting on the low table, one hand supporting her chin, the index finger of the other hand pressing on the edge of the book page in front of her. Her fingertips were pale and the page was yellow, and the contrast between the two created an indescribable feeling.
She tucked her hair behind her ears, revealing a pretty face with a calm expression. Perhaps she saw something interesting, the corners of her lips curved upwards, and her smiling eyes seemed like ripples on a lake under the March sun.
After Feng Shuo finished drinking the soup, this was the scene he saw when he looked up.
He just quietly looked at the person in front of the window, not willing to make a sound to break the beauty of this moment.
Jiang Yanyi noticed his gaze and turned her head. Before she could retract the smile on her face, she said with a bright and beautiful face: "Have you finished eating?"
"Yeah." Feng Shuo replied calmly, and suddenly asked: "When are you going to tell your uncle about us?"
"ah?"
Jiang Yanyi's calm expression instantly turned into one of fear, and the book in his hand fell to the ground.
The author has something to say: Jiang Yanyi: I am a little panicked...