The next day, Jiang Yanyi woke up at five o'clock in the morning.
The wound on her forehead hurt so much at night that she couldn't sleep well. Thinking that she had to go to Huotouying to make breakfast soon, she got dressed quietly and got up.
It was also at this time that she discovered that there was no one on Chunxiang's bed opposite.
At this time, the sky outside was still gray. Jiang Yanyi thought Chunxiang had gotten up to go to the bathroom and didn't pay much attention.
She went outside the barracks to wash up.
There were several large vats outside, and the water in them was for the women in the barracks. Every day, the soldiers responsible for carrying water would fill them up.
She scooped up two handfuls of water and patted it on her face to clean it. In the early morning of late autumn, the water in the jar was so cold that it penetrated her bones. Jiang Yanyi shivered with cold. The weather was still bearable now. If it got colder, she would probably catch a cold if she washed her face with this water.
The conditions in the military camp were poor and many people didn't brush their teeth, but Jiang Yanyi had a slight obsession with cleanliness and naturally couldn't stand it.
The ancients used poplar branches to soften them and used them as toothbrushes. There was a poplar forest behind their barracks, and Jiang Yanyi planned to go over and break off a poplar branch to use as a toothbrush.
As soon as we reached the poplar forest, we saw Chunxiang coming out of the forest with her skirt lifted up. Her hair and clothes were a little messy, and her neck and chest were covered with purple marks. There was also some blood on the corner of her skirt.
Chunxiang ran into Jiang Yanyi head-on. She looked a little flustered. She turned her eyes away, quickly covered her chest with her clothes, and went to the barracks.
Jiang Yanyi had never eaten pork, but he had never seen a pig unable to run away.
She had no right to comment on other people's private lives. In order to avoid embarrassment, she deliberately broke off a few more poplar branches and returned home later.
When Jiang Yanyi returned to the barracks, Chunxiang had already changed into a clean dress, and the other women also got up one after another.
When they finished washing and arrived at the fire camp, the fire had already been lit on the stove.
Liu Cheng took a leave today, and it was Zhao Touer who assigned work to the women. Jiang Yanyi naturally went straight into the barracks to help Chef Li.
Making breakfast is relatively simple. Whether it is steamed buns or noodles, the only step is kneading the dough. However, the quantities are huge, so it is still hard work.
The breakfast to be prepared for the generals this morning is knife-cut noodles, and Chef Li asked Jiang Yanyi to ferment the noodles in advance.
Jiang Yanyi knew that making knife-cut noodles was most challenging in terms of kneading skills, and the amount of flour and water added could not be chosen carelessly; too much or too little would cause problems.
If the dough is not kneaded well, not only will it stick to the knife when you cut it, but it will also be easily cut, and the noodles will not look good when they come out of the pan.
She immediately put in her utmost attention.
Chef Li sat at the chopping board, drinking his morning tea and watching Jiang Yanyi kneading dough.
Because of the two bowls of hot and sour noodles yesterday, Chef Li had always felt that Jiang Yanyi's cooking skills were not up to par, and was ready to teach her a thing or two. But upon closer inspection, he discovered that Jiang Yanyi's movements in kneading the dough were very professional, and he could not find any mistakes in her, and she did not look like someone who had never been in the industry.
He suddenly felt something strange, but before he could ask, he felt a sudden pain in his stomach. Chef Li felt something was wrong, so he put down the tea bowl in his hand and hurried to the toilet.
Jiang Yanyi glanced to the side and saw Chunxiang go over and take away the tea bowl that Chef Li had placed on the chopping board. She inexplicably felt a strange feeling in her heart.
Chef Li went to the toilet so many times that morning that he could not stand still.
Seeing him like this, the other cooks at the kitchen asked him to go to the military doctor immediately, saying that they would be there to support the fire battalion and there would be no trouble. However, Cook Li was stubborn and insisted on staying here to watch over it.
Zhao Tou'er was best friends with Chef Li, and he was so angry that he beat his chest and stamped his feet: "You must have drunk too much last night, and the food got cold by the end of the meal, so you got a stomachache today!"
Chef Li slumped in his chair, not even having the strength to speak: "I'm really old and useless. Even eating a cold dish has made me look like this."
Zhao Tou'er called a young and strong fireman to carry Chef Li on his back. "Don't be stubborn with me. Go and ask the military doctor to check your pulse and prescribe medicine. We can't go on like this!"
Cook Li waved his hands, looking very unhappy. "It will be fine after this. We still have to prepare lunch later. Today I have to make braised lion's head for the general. No one in the Fire Head Battalion knows how to make this dish except me. If the dish is not served, the whole Fire Head Battalion will not be able to bear it."
Zhao Tou'er also knew that he was talking about a problem, and was anxious for a moment, but still said: "Didn't you teach Liu Cheng how to cook this dish a few days ago? Go back and have a rest. That boy also took a day off today. I'll ask someone to call him back."
"He only learned the basics, his skills are not good enough..."
Chef Li was halfway through his words when his stomach started to ache again. He held his stomach and didn't even have the strength to stand up. It took two firemen to help him go to the toilet.
Jiang Yanyi looked at the hunched back of Chef Li and fell into deep thought. Even if he had eaten cold dishes, he wouldn't have had diarrhea to such an extent.
Chef Li only had a bowl of morning tea this morning, but that tea was brewed in a large teapot, and other people in the Fire Camp also drank it, which means it was not a problem with the morning tea.
Thinking of how Chunxiang came over and took away Chef Li's tea bowl after he went to the toilet, Jiang Yanyi felt a chill in his heart, thinking that perhaps the problem was with the tea bowl.
She looked around but didn't see Chunxiang in the barracks.
The dough has been kneaded almost completely, and the cooks at the stove begin to cut the noodles and boil them in water.
There are now a total of 200,000 troops in the Xizhou camp, with at least 800 generals and generals. Chef Li, who is the best at cutting noodles, has a stomachache and is in a hurry to make these 1,800 servings of knife-cut noodles. The rest of the chefs dare not delay at all.
Jiang Yanyi saw that he had no work to do for the time being and was about to go outside to see if Chunxiang was there, but he was stopped by a cook as soon as he reached the barracks door.
"Can a girl make knife-cut noodles?"
Another cook nearby said as he quickly cut noodles into the pot: "Come on, you saw what this girl did to the noodles yesterday."
As soon as these words were spoken, the cooks at the stove all laughed, but there was not much malice in their hearts.
Jiang Yanyi was a little confused by the laughter. She scratched her head, not understanding what was wrong with her hot and sour noodles last night.
It was the cook who spoke first who said, "One more person means one more pair of hands. Just let the girl cook for the centurions."
The other cooks thought that this made sense. After all, those centurions were all rough people. No matter how fine the food was, it would be like Zhu Bajie eating ginseng fruit in their mouths. They couldn't tell whether it was good or bad.
Jiang Yanyi was called over to make knife-cut noodles.
The cook was worried that Jiang Yanyi wouldn't know how to do it, so he demonstrated it to her: "The hand holding the knife should exert force evenly and evenly, so that the noodles will look good. Do you see clearly?"
Jiang Yanyi nodded.
In order to make delicious and authentic knife-cut noodles, there are two unique skills in making the noodles: one is the skill of kneading the noodles, and the other is the skill of cutting the noodles.
She picked up a piece of dough that had been kneaded in advance, held it in the palm of her hand, picked up the knife and started to cut it towards the pot.
She cut with extremely fast speed, just like peeling a radish, and dropped the noodles into the pot one by one. As the water in the pot rolled, they looked like whitebait playing in the water.
The cook next to her saw that she had cut a dough in a short time and was worried that she had cut it blindly. When he scooped the dough into the bowl and took a look, he was stunned.
The leaves are thick in the middle and thin at the edges, shaped like willow leaves. Each leaf is neither long nor short, just six inches.
It is said that laymen watch the excitement while experts watch the details. Several chefs were dumbfounded.
Although they had seen Jiang Yanyi's knife skills before when he cut shredded pork with garlic, that was on a chopping board after all, and was not as shocking as this time.
Such a young girl has such skillful noodle cutting skills!
If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they would have suspected that it was Chef Li who peeled it.
As the topping for the noodles, Jiang Yanyi used meat sauce.
Take 30% lean meat and 70% fat meat, marinate it with ginger and rice wine to remove the fishy smell, then cut it into dices. When the oil in the pan is heated, stir-fry the minced meat, extract the fat and remove from the pan. Add the prepared spices and stir-fry until they are fragrant.
Then add the scallions, ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant, add the minced meat back into the pot and simmer with broth.
Pour the cooked topping onto the noodles and it will be filled with aroma.
Originally it was agreed that Jiang Yanyi would cook for the small leaders, but in the end a few chefs thought the noodles looked so good that they directly gave the noodles made by Jiang Yanyi to the generals.
The breakfast horn has sounded.
Soldiers lined up in front of the barracks to receive porridge and coarse rice buns.
The two sentries who had eaten hot and sour noodles last night are on a day off today and do not have to stand guard.
The two of them sat with a group of brothers, holding bowls of porridge. They took only one bite of the coarse rice buns in their hands and muttered, "Is this food for humans? Sooner or later, you'll choke to death."
Someone nearby kicked him: "If you don't eat it, give it to me, I still think it's not enough!"
The sentry really handed the bun over: "Here you go, here you go, you starving ghost reincarnated."
The person next to him was holding the hot steamed bun and was stunned: "Eh? You really gave it to me, Lao Liu, did you cheat somewhere?"
When talking about this, the sentry laughed and said, "I had a bowl of noodles in Huotouying last night."
The people around him sneered: "What's so delicious about noodles? Li Tou'er from Huotouying is a good cook, but you have to pay enough money to eat meat. We don't have that much money."
The sentry said, "You don't know, there's a new cook in the Fire Camp. She makes vegetarian noodles for four cents, and they taste amazing!"
"Cook?!!!"
Suddenly a circle of ears gathered around.
"Is she pretty?"
"Are your breasts big?"
"What's the use of having big breasts? My mom said that a big butt is better so it's easier to have children!"
"What do you know? A big face is good. The older generation says it's a sign of good fortune!"
The sentry let the crowd shout and drank his porridge calmly.
They couldn't come up with anything to argue about, so they could only urge the sentry: "Hurry up and tell us, Lao Liu! Don't keep us in suspense!"
The sentry sighed, and then said with a fascinated look: "All the women I have ever seen in my life are not as pretty as that cook. She looks just like a fairy from heaven!"
After hearing his description, the soldiers sitting around him became a little restless.
"I don't believe in your vision. Didn't you praise Wang Po, who was buying sesame cakes in Yongxiang, as the reincarnation of Xi Shi?"
"If you don't believe me, let's go and have a meal tonight. You'll know when you see it!"
"Okay! If the cook doesn't look good, tonight's meal will be yours."
"You bastard, I took you to eat delicious food, but you are still so stingy. Okay, you will know tonight."
As they were talking heatedly, a leisurely yet interesting voice suddenly came from the side:
“Is it really that beautiful?”