The soup had to be stewed two hours in advance. As soon as Jiang Yanyi told her about the ingredients that would be used for lunch, Liu quickly ordered the kitchen staff to go out and buy them.
Jiang Yanyi took some time to visit Jiang Yangui in his yard. When she entered the room, she saw him holding a book in his hand and a thick pile of books was piled at the head of the bed.
The room was a bit stuffy because of the burning charcoal brazier, so a small gap was left at the window, but this actually dissipated a lot of the warmth in the room and the air didn't circulate much.
Jiang Yanyi couldn't help but think of the underground dragon in Feng Mansion. If he could recuperate in such a courtyard, it would be of great benefit to Jiang Yangui's injury.
"Is your leg pain better today?" Jiang Yanyi asked.
Jiang Yangui was so focused on reading that he didn't notice someone had entered the room until Jiang Yanyi spoke. "It doesn't hurt that much anymore."
When Jiang Yangui smiled, the two dimples on his cheeks showed a bit of shyness.
Jiang Yanyi asked him, "What book are you reading?"
"I'm reading all sorts of books to kill time." Jiang Yangui hesitated for a while and said, "Sister, I want to hire a teacher. We can pay for it ourselves."
Jiang Yanyi was naturally happy that he wanted to study. She said, "Okay, I'm looking for a house these days. We can move out when the time comes."
Jiang Yangui frowned: "Didn't you say we were going to move to the house behind my sister's shop?"
Jiang Yanyi said, "It's a bit noisy there, which is not good for you to recover. If you start studying, it will be even worse if you live there."
Jiang Yangui was afraid that the expense would be too high, so he hurriedly said, "As long as I can be with my sister, I am willing to live anywhere. My sister doesn't have to spend money to accommodate me."
"I originally planned to move to a bigger store, not just for you." Jiang Yanyi comforted him.
At this time, Chu Zhong, the guard who took care of Jiang Yangui's daily life, came in and said, "Miss, there is a girl at the gate carrying a fish to your house, saying that she is looking for you."
Jiang Yanyi was wondering who had come to his door since he didn't know many people in Xizhou. When he went to the gate, he saw that it was Qiu Kui.
She was dressed like a ball, holding two sea bass in her hands. When she saw Jiang Yanyi, she grinned and said, "Huahua, Master Yao bought some fish and asked me to bring two to you."
It's freezing cold now, so it's not easy to fish, and fish is hard to buy on the market. I think Chef Yao got this way because the fishmonger he used to work with often got the fish and brought it to him specially.
"Master Yao is so thoughtful. You must be frozen coming here in such a snowy day. Come in and warm yourself by the fire." Jiang Yanyi smiled and led Qiu Kui into the house.
Okra was like a little tail. When Jiang Yanyi went to the kitchen to deal with the pork bones bought by the servants, Okra followed him consciously, just like he did in the store before.
Jiang Yanyi thought she was shy, so he let her be.
When Liu heard that someone from the antique soup shop was coming and followed Jiang Yanyi to the kitchen, she immediately realized that Jiang Yanyi didn't know how to cook or make soup at all, and that person was specially invited by her to help her get away with it.
Liu hurriedly ran from her yard to the kitchen.
The first thing she said when she entered the room was, "Oh, I heard there are guests at your house?"
Qiu Kui is not considered a guest to the Chu family, and what Liu said would only embarrass Qiu Kui.
Jiang Yanyi has always been protective of his children. Before, he was willing to put up with Liu on the surface, but now his attitude has become obviously tough and distant: "It's the girl who helps out in my antique soup shop who came to deliver the fish. It's so cold, I asked her to come in and warm herself by the fire."
When Liu saw that Jiang Yanyi's attitude suddenly changed, she was secretly delighted and became more certain of her guess.
She smiled and said, "Since she is from Ayi's shop, we should not neglect her. Let her go to the guest room and sit down. How can we let her stay in the kitchen?"
Although Qiu Kui was a little stunned, Liu's words still made her feel uncomfortable. She pinched the corner of her clothes and said, "I won't go. I'll help Hua Hua here."
She glared at Liu angrily, believing that Liu was a bad person who bullied Jiang Yanyi. Her thinking was different from that of ordinary people, but she had her own little world in her head.
After Jiang Yanyi left yesterday, Chef Yao and the old scholar shook their heads and sighed and talked a lot. Qiu Kui heard that they were saying that Jiang Yanyi was not living well here. She felt that if she left now, Jiang Yanyi might be upset by this noble lady.
When Liu was glared at by Qiu Kui, she immediately thought that Jiang Yanyi had said something bad about her outside. However, she also found that this girl seemed to have a strange mind. She looked at Jiang Yanyi and said, "Ayi, the people in your store..."
Jiang Yanyi didn't want Qiu Kui to be treated like a fool, so he interrupted Liu and said, "Aunt, would you like to lend a hand? Help me peel some garlic."
When Liu cooked in the past, the ingredients were prepared by the servants, and the chef on the stove would instruct her on each step. She only needed to put the ingredients into the pot herself, and it was almost as if she had cooked it herself.
Jiang Yanyi asked her to peel garlic, and Liu was confused for a moment, "Peel... peel garlic?"
Jiang Yanyi originally just wanted to find something for Liu to do, but seeing Liu's expression, he thought that Liu was unwilling, so he didn't say anything and called a servant from the kitchen to help her peel the vegetables.
Jiang Yanyi and Liu personally cooked in the kitchen today, which seemed quite new to the servants, so many of them were peeking in at the kitchen door.
Liu was afraid that what happened here would get to the old lady's ears, which would make the old lady have a worse impression of her, so she quickly stepped forward and snatched the garlic from the little maid's hand, "It's just peeling garlic, I'll peel it."
She glanced at Qiu Kui and sneered in her heart, thinking that Jiang Yanyi was just stalling for time with her, trying to piss her off and then let the girl who rushed over from the store cook for her.
While peeling garlic, she felt a little better.
It's just that Liu's hands were rarely touched by women. She applied various kinds of ointments countless times every day to keep them as good as those of a 20-year-old girl.
The skin on her hands was fragile and she didn't have long nails. When peeling garlic, she scratched the cloves several times in order to peel off the thin layer of skin. The garlic juice seeped into the gaps between her nails, and it felt like a burning pain inside.
Liu had never suffered such pain before. She felt a sharp pain in the crack of her thumb and couldn't help but cry out: "My hand..."
Jiang Yanyi had just finished blanching the pork bones when she turned around and saw Liu almost crying while peeling garlic. She didn't know what to say for a moment and said, "Aunt, go down and soak them in cold water and apply some medicine."
Liu felt that this was Jiang Yanyi's strategy to get rid of her. It was just a little garlic juice. Compared with exposing Jiang Yanyi, this little pain was nothing!
Liu endured the pain and said, "It's just a little redness and swelling, it's nothing serious, Yi, please cook quickly, I'm still waiting to learn!"
Jiang Yan saw that Liu wrapped her thumb with silk and covered it tightly with one hand, her face showing pain, but she still refused to leave. She was quite puzzled.
The process of making pork bone soup is the same as yesterday. After Jiang Yanyi put the soup into the pot, he began to process the two fish that Qiu Kuai brought.
She weighed them in her hands and found that both weighed more than three pounds.
Thinking that Old Madam Chu and Jiang Yangui had poor appetites, she decided to make pickled fish.
The weather was too cold and the fish had been out of water for too long, so it was frozen to death. This saved Jiang Yanyi the trouble of knocking the fish unconscious with a wooden hammer.
The Chu family's cook originally wanted to help Jiang Yanyi prepare the fish, but he saw Jiang Yanyi cut open the fish's belly with a sharp knife and scraped off the scales in a few strokes. His technique was so brutal, but his movements were quick and neat.
After cleaning the fish, separate the fish meat and bones, and clean the black mucous membrane on the fish skin, which is the source of the earthy smell of grass carp. Chop the fish bones into sections and slice the fish meat, with exquisite knife skills.
In the cooking profession, laymen watch the excitement while experts watch the details.
Liu watched for such a long time, and even though Jiang Yanyi had already cooked the soup, she still couldn't figure out what was going on.
If he left now, all his efforts would be wasted. Liu was determined to monitor Jiang Yanyi until he finished making lunch.
She felt that now it was a question of who could wait longer. Jiang Yanyi wanted to wait for her to leave and find someone else to do it, while she was waiting for Jiang Yanyi to make a fool of himself. Liu had already done this much and would not give up no matter what.
Jiang Yanyi didn't have time to guess Liu's little thoughts. She marinated the fish bones and fish meat separately, washed the sauerkraut, cut it into thick slices half a finger wide, and blanched it in a pot to remove the earthy smell of the sauerkraut.
Sauerkraut fish is a classic Sichuan dish. When Jiang Yanyi made it before, it always had a fishy smell after cooking, but she had clearly removed the fishy smell from the fish. For a long time, she couldn't figure out this problem. Later, she learned from a Sichuan chef that sauerkraut also has an earthy smell. If you want to make this dish authentic, you can't be afraid of trouble. The sauerkraut must be blanched and stir-fried to remove the fishy smell.
After processing the sauerkraut, Jiang Yanyi heated up the pot, added lard, and waited for the oil to melt. He then added some sesame oil and heated it up, and stir-fried the onion, ginger, and garlic. He stir-fried the ginger and garlic with both vegetable oil and animal oil. The aroma was so overbearing that everyone in the kitchen was sniffing and looking into the pot.
After Jiang Yanyi fried the green peppercorns until fragrant, he put the fish head and bones into the pot first to stir-fry to remove the moisture. Then he added the sauerkraut to stir-fry to bring out the sour aroma. At this time, the aroma of the fish and various condiments in the pot had already come out. Jiang Yanyi sprinkled a spoonful of rice wine along the edge of the pot to bring out the wine aroma. Finally, he poured in a pot of boiling water. The pot instantly began to bubble. The fish soup was thick and white, and the aroma rose straight up along with the hot steam of the boiling soup.
After Jiang Yanyi added the seasoning, he cooked for a while, scooped the fish bones and fish head into a soup pot, and started to add the fish fillets while the soup was boiling. The fish fillets were coated with egg white during marinating, which made them more tender. There was also a thin layer of starch on the surface, which could fully lock the moisture of the fish meat, and they were almost cooked as soon as they were put into the pot.
After she poured the fish fillets, soup and meat into the soup pot, she sprinkled the chopped garlic, scallions, green peppercorns and dogwood on top, and poured two spoonfuls of hot oil on top. With a sizzling sound, the fish instantly became fragrant.
The aroma attracted people to gather at the door and praise the food again and again.
Liu had a dreamy look on her face. She had been staring at it the whole time, but when the pot of fragrant pickled fish was placed in front of her, she still felt like she was dreaming.
Jiang Yanyi wiped his hands on his apron and asked her, "Aunt, have you learned how to cook these two dishes today?"
Liu was awakened from a dream: "Ah?"
The eyes seem to have learned it, but the hands seem not to have learned it yet.
She covered her thumb, which was no longer painful, and sighed, "Ouch, my hand hurts so much. I'll go back and apply some medicine first."
As soon as Liu left, Qiu Kui saw that it was almost time for dinner, so she told Jiang Yanyi that she wanted to go back. Jiang Yanyi asked her to stay for dinner, but she refused no matter what.
The servants in the mansion always looked at Qiu Kui with strange eyes. Jiang Yanyi also knew that she was uncomfortable here, so he packed a plate of snacks and took it back for her.
Jiang Yanyi only cooked these two hard dishes, and the servant came to report that there would be guests in the mansion today and they wanted more dishes. Jiang Yanyi didn't have the time to continue working in the kitchen, so he gave his place to the cook on the stove.
When the meal started, only the female family members were eating in the inner courtyard. The men of the Chu family seemed to be in the front hall accompanying the distinguished guest, and Chu Changping also rushed back from outside.
I don't know what news Liu had heard. She had a gloomy face when she left the kitchen, but now her eyes and brows were filled with joy.
Jiang Yanyi guessed that it was probably related to the distinguished guest in the mansion. She also found that most of the pickled fish she made was directly taken away!
She barely took a few bites while eating, and only soup was left in the bowl of pickled fish.
Liu's youngest daughter used wooden chopsticks to dig around in the soup bowl, and in the end only picked up a handful of pickled cabbage. Both of her eyebrows drooped.
Seeing that she seemed to want to soak her rice in soup, Liu scolded her in a low voice: "Huibao, eat less. In two years, you will have to discuss marriage. Who will marry a fat girl like you?"
Chu Huibao bit her chopsticks and looked at her sister pitifully.
Chu Shubao was chewing a big bone. When she saw Chu Huibao's look, she said, "Mother, my little sister is still growing up."
When Liu thought about what she had to ask Chu Shubao to do in a while, she saw that her belt was already tight because of her stretching, and she said with a headache, "You should eat less too!"
Old Madam Chu was also enjoying the meal today. Seeing Liu scolding her two granddaughters, she said, "How can you be a mother like this? The children are now girls and can eat and drink as much as they want. When they get married and serve their parents-in-law, they won't be able to live like this anymore."
Liu was scolded by Old Madam Chu and had no choice but to agree.
Madam Chu had finished her meal. She wiped her mouth with a silk handkerchief and said, "You have learned how to cook from Yi Yatou. From tomorrow on, you should also cook these dishes for me, an old woman, to taste."
Liu finally understood why Madam Chu remained silent when she had troubled Jiang Yanyi before. It turned out that she was waiting for her here.
Liu secretly groaned in her heart, it was she who said that she wanted to learn how to cook to honor Old Madam Chu, and now Old Madam Chu repeated those words verbatim, and she couldn't refute them even if she wanted to, and she might even be branded as unfilial.
Not to mention how hard cooking is, the key is that she doesn't know how to cook at all!
Liu finally understood what it meant to shoot oneself in the foot.
***
Jiang Yanyi went to see Jiang Yangui after dinner, but Liu didn't know whether she wanted to help her two daughters digest the food or not. She didn't return to her own yard. Instead, she walked and stopped at the hanging flower gate leading to the front yard.
Jiang Yanyi was confused and frowned as he went to Jiang Yangui's yard.
Chu Shubao was full and just wanted to go back to her room to read her storybook, but Liu dragged her here to blow the cold wind. She was reluctant and said, "Mother, it's so cold here, let's go back to our room."
Liu looked around and saw that no one was passing by. She said angrily, "Do you know who the distinguished guest is today?"
Chu Shubao yawned and asked, "Who is it?"
Liu whispered in her ear: "The King of Liaonan! The one with the most military power among the princes!"
Chu Shubao gathered her cloak and walked back: "Mom, let's stop dreaming, okay? You want me to go to the palace and be a maid for others, right?"
"Pooh, pooh, pooh! What are you thinking about!" Liu pulled her daughter back and said, "There is a military advisor beside the King of Liaonan. I heard that he is very important to him. I saw him when I came back to the yard from the kitchen just now. He is really handsome! Your uncle is his colleague. You are not worthy of him. Come with me to see him. If you are willing, I will talk to your uncle later."
Chu Shubao touched her bulging belly and said, "Mom, I'm so full."
"I'll let you eat as much as you want!" Liu got angry when she mentioned this, but she still dragged Chu Shubao out.
As they walked through the hanging flower gate and were about to go to the side room in the front hall, they saw a piece of plain skirt under the eaves.
"Thank you." Jiang Yanyi's mellow voice came from under the eaves.
"It's just a piece of cake." The voice was clear and gentle, but it was obviously a man's.
The mother, daughter and her two daughters were crouching under a cedar tree. They saw Jiang Yanyi holding a bottle in his hand. She knelt down and bowed to the man in the bamboo green robe, then she pulled up her skirt and retreated. The man also turned around the entrance and left.
Liu was so angry that her teeth itched. After the people had gone far away, she angrily said to Chu Shubao: "You dawdled so long that someone else got there first!"
She couldn't let the son-in-law she had chosen after careful selection be snatched away by someone else!
The author has something to say: The author was in a hurry to update and forgot about the lucky draw qaq. The first 100 little angels who leave comments on this chapter will receive a small red envelope of 100 jj coins. I am very sorry qaq
There is basically no more house fighting in the later part, and the heroine is about to move out and pursue a career.
Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2020-12-09 23:57:56~2020-12-10 23:59:20~
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