Chapter 88 (Hot Pot Out of the Oven)

As a member of the Xiao family, you don't need to worry about the city gates being closed due to curfew.

After having dinner at Yan Qiushu's place, Mrs. Xiao sat for a while, made sure that she was fine, and then went back with Xiao Huaiting.

After she sent Mrs. Xiao back, she went to see the peppers on the way.

After reading it, she finally understood why Xiao Huaiting sent it over now.

That’s quite a lot.

At a glance, there are fifty pots, and if they are placed in the yard next door, there is almost no place to put them.

This thing needs to be transplanted into the field. Peppers like water and need to be watered frequently.

Yan Qiushu took a look and found that the peppers were well taken care of, but the soil looked a little dry, so she took a small clepsydra and watered them for a while. Once the soil was moist, she left them alone.

The old farmer knew better than her how to transplant these, so she just needed to tell Manager Gu.

Yan Qiushu went back to take a shower and prepare to go to bed when she found that Shui Yu had placed the large wooden box on her bedside table. The box was not locked and was opened directly.

As soon as she opened it, she was almost blinded by the glittering jewels inside.

No wonder it's so heavy!

Part of it was various gold and silver items, and the rest were pearls and jadeite, quite a few of them, all placed casually in the box.

In fact, it is not really random. You can see that these have been sorted, or at least slightly differentiated by type.

But that's all.

Thanks to the original owner's identity, Yan Qiushu still knew the value of these. She picked up one at random. The round, beautiful and shiny pearl seemed to be surrounded by a circle of white halo under the candlelight.

Shui Yu exclaimed, "This pearl necklace is so beautiful!"

And it's not pure pearls, it also has an emerald green jade pendant hanging on it.

If she wore this around her neck, Yan Qiushu felt that no matter how poor she was before, she would immediately become noble.

Yan Qiushu picked them up one by one and looked at them, her hands shaking.

She thought it was just a small gift like the ones she had received before, but she didn't expect it to be so valuable! She felt unworthy of it!

Yan Qiushu closed the door decisively and asked Shui Yu to lock it. She locked it first and carried the key with her. She then stuffed it under the bed and would return it the next time she went to the Xiao Mansion or when Xiao Huaiting came over.

After doing all this, she felt uncomfortable even lying in bed.

If a thief comes, she will cry to death!

She couldn't bear this blessing.

Yan Qiushu really didn't sleep well that night.

She had a dream all night long, in which all kinds of thieves came to her house to steal her jewelry. The next day, she asked Manager Gu to pass a message to Xiao Huaiting, asking him to come over when he was free.

But Xiao Huaiting is not that free.

Yan Qiushu had a lot of time, so she started making plans as soon as she got up in the morning.

When she was watering the peppers last night, she found that many of them were ripe and could be picked. Otherwise, they would rot and it would be a big loss. There were only dozens of pots, and she felt bad about wasting a single pepper.

The peppers are picked, the edible ones are eaten, the inedible ones are dried, and the rest are transplanted to continue growing until no more fruit is produced on them.

With chili peppers, hot pot came into being.

If you want hot pot, you naturally need hot pot base. She has prepared most of the ingredients, except for the lack of chili peppers. Now that she has everything, she can start making it.

Manager Yao has the butter.

Yan Qiushu sent someone to tell them, and the person came back with a large bucket of butter. The method was the same as making lard.

Then add onions, coriander, celery, garlic and the like, fry until fragrant, and remove them when they are browned, leaving only a pot of oil. At this time, pour in the various chopped chilies, chopped ginger, peppercorns, etc. prepared in advance and simmer.

The cooking time is about half an hour.

During this half hour, you can marinate the prepared marinade package with white wine for a period of time. When the time is up, put it into the oil pan and stir-fry, then pour in cooking wine, salt, and sugar, and boil again.

When the spicy aroma distracts everyone in the village, you can turn off the fire, pour it into the sterilized mold, and finally put it in the ice cellar for storage.

Because the pot is so small, she can only make one box of molds at a time, but there is actually a lot of butter and just enough chili peppers. Yan Qiushu was reluctant to stop and worked on it for most of the day.

By the time it was over, the hot pot base that was originally made had already solidified.

Zhao Shuhong and Shui Yu, who were helping out, were already impatient. Seeing that it was exactly as Yan Qiushu had described, they asked, "Didn't they say it's OK once it solidifies? Is it edible now?"

"How do you eat this?"

Yan Qiushu stretched lazily, looking happy: "Let's make hot pot!"

"Eat hot pot?" Zhao Shuhong knew what was going on and nodded, "Okay, I'll go get some food. What do you want to eat?"

Hot pot was also available at that time. When I had hot pot chicken before, it had condiments. Later, the grilled fish she made could also be boiled with water, but none of them had such a strong taste.

Speaking of which, Zhao Shuhong definitely can't stand such spicy food. Yan Qiushu thought about making a mushroom pot later and said, "Make a little of each. The three of us can't eat too much."

Zhao Shuhong nodded and went to the vegetable garden to pick vegetables, while Shui Yu went to prepare various meats.

There is strength in numbers, and soon all the ingredients were ready.

But because there were only three people, there were many varieties but small portions. Yan Qiushu looked at it and sighed: "Mrs. Xiao should have come today."

She likes spicy food, and so does Xiao Huaiting, who also has a big appetite.

After sighing, she took a slender knife and cut a small square piece from the solidified hot pot base. Then she exerted force and the base was pried out.

Just like her modern hot pot base, the beef tallow is on top, dyed orange-red by chili peppers, and the bottom is filled with various dark-colored condiments.

Shui Yu came over with a piece of gauze, wrapped the small piece of base material in it, tied it into a knot with a rope, and then put it into the boiling water on the stove.

As soon as it was put in, in the blink of an eye, the orange-red butter began to spread due to the hot water, and the oil flowers spread on the hot water. After a while, the color of the base material was revealed, and began to dye the clear boiling water into a bright and rich color.

Exactly as Yan Qiushu expected!

When she was doing this, she inhaled a lot of fragrance. Now, looking at it, she couldn't help but sniff her nose, and suddenly found that why was the smell still so strong?

Zhao Shuhong, who had come over to watch, also sniffed and said with a smile, "Ah Shu, the smell on you is much more fragrant than the smell in this pot!"

Yan Qiushu: "..."

After a day of work, her whole body was filled with this fragrance.

Yan Qiushu wanted to go wash first, but then she thought that she still had to eat later, so she gave up.

She simply gave up and continued to help, saying to Shui Yu, "Tell Manager Gu to quickly send a box of the base material to the Xiao Mansion."

It’s just the right time to eat it before dinner time.

"Okay." Shui Yu went to the cellar and got a box of almost solidified liquid, put it in an ice bucket and handed it to Manager Gu. When he came back, they could already start.

Because there was no suitable table, the three of them could only stand and eat the hot pot pitifully.

But even so, it does not diminish the charm of spicy hot pot at all!

With the gauze blocking it, the orange-red boiling soup, although thick, is not turbid at all. When pieces of meat and vegetables are put into the pot and added together, there will be no peppercorns or the like sticking to them.

It’s those ingredients whose colors will change.

For example, the color of fresh lotus root, after rolling in the pot for a while, is reddish-brown when it comes out of the pot, with a pleasant spicy smell. It tastes so spicy when you eat it!

Lotus root slices are a popular choice and are usually picked out after a short period of cooking.

The lotus root slices in Yan Qiushu's bowl were just like that. They had just been put in, but she didn't dare to eat them right away because of the other meats. The main reason was that the meat had not been chilled and was cut a bit thick, so it needed to be cooked for a longer time.

So I set my sights on lotus root slices.

The lotus root slices were quickly picked up, emitting heat. She took a small bite and it was warm. After the heat passed, the familiar spicy taste came.

Yan Qiushu was busy making hot pot base, so she had shrimp cakes made by Zhao Shuhong for lunch. She had some leftover shrimps from yesterday, so she had a light meal.

But because of its blandness, there was no other taste in her mouth.

What you taste at this time is the original flavor of the ingredients in the hot pot, which is moderately salty and very spicy. After eating, you will feel that the area from your tongue to your mouth that has come into contact with the food is numb, as if there are a circle of little people dancing on it, jumping around non-stop, and the stimulation causes a lot of saliva to be secreted.

So beautiful!

This familiar taste!

Yan Qiushu's eyes were filled with tears as she ate, a mixture of joy and emotion, but the other two also had tears in their eyes, purely because of the spiciness.

Zhao Shuhong gasped as she ate, but she couldn't help but think the food tasted really good. She was reluctant to give up so quickly. After finally finishing a piece of vegetable that was cooked until it was a little soft, she took a gulp of milk tea and expressed her sincere admiration: "I thought the dry pot shrimp last night was already very spicy, but I didn't expect it to be this spicy. My mouth is going to be ruined!"

It is delicious. Ordinary vegetables can become so delicious.

Shui Yu was better, without the milk tea, but not much better. She carefully swallowed a mouthful of meatballs. While swallowing her saliva, she said weakly: "Girl, eating such spicy food is not good for your health, right?"

Yan Qiushu froze while chewing the corn.

It really is...

It’s so spicy, can her anus bear it?

There seems to be no anorectal department here???

Yan Qiushu thought about it, and quickly calmed down: "It's okay, I'll make herbal tea for you later!"

Regardless of anything else, she still knows how to make herbal tea. This thing was well-known for its cooling effect in Guangdong in her previous life. With the blessing of her golden finger, they will definitely be fine!

Yan Qiushu swore confidently, and Shui Yu and Zhao Shuhong were also very relieved: "The herbal tea sounds delicious. Can it really reduce internal heat?"

"Of course! But don't force yourself. If you can't eat it, just go have the mushroom soup pot. The soup there is delicious!" Yan Qiushu nodded vigorously, but still persuaded him.

Shui Yu wiped the sweat off his face and said with a smile, "Actually, the spicy hot pot is quite delicious. I didn't like bean curd sheets before, but I didn't expect them to taste so good in hot pot!"

Bean curd sheets are what Yan Qiushu used to make by drying the soy milk skins when she made soy milk.

They only ate this once, and there was no hot pot at that time. The taste was average and was completely inferior to other foods, so they just left the rest.

Bean curd sheets are very durable.

So Yan Qiushu came here and brought it back. When she was going to eat hot pot this time, she thought of it.

It just so happened that she picked up a piece of bean curd sheet.

The length of the bean curd sheet was as long as the index finger, and it had many wrinkles. Because it had been soaked in water in advance, the texture was soft, and the wrinkles on it carried a lot of juice. Yan Qiushu put it in the bowl to cool down, and then put it in her mouth. Before she had time to chew, the salty and spicy soup of the hot pot overflowed on her lips and tongue, making her shudder. She felt that the taste was really good!

If you really eat it, you will find that the bean curd sheets are soft and tender. Compared with fried bean curd sheets, they are much more tender and smooth, and naturally taste better.

By this time, the meat is basically cooked. Beef nowadays has a lot of tendons and is difficult to chew, so the meat inside is mostly lamb and pork.

Yan Qiushu picked up a piece of mutton with bones. It looked like a lamb chop. There was still some fat in this part of the mutton, but after being cooked in the hot pot, the meat was soft and rotten, and the oil and water in it seemed to have been cooked out. When eaten together with the lean parts, it did not taste greasy at all.

She ate mouthful after mouthful, sweating profusely, and only put it down when her stomach was full, feeling unsatisfied.

The two people next to her couldn't bear it anymore and ran to the mushroom soup pot with their vegetables. They ate while looking at her with admiration: "Warrior!"

Yan Qiushu burped, reeking of hot pot, and said modestly, "Thank you so much."

The three of them smiled at each other, but when they grinned, their mouths, which were a little red and swollen from the spiciness, began to hurt, and they quickly stopped smiling, looking very embarrassed.

At this time, the person who went to deliver the hot pot base also came back, but his expression was extremely cautious, as if something big had happened.

Yan Qiushu subconsciously thought of the Third Prince's rebellion, and her heart skipped a beat: "What happened to the Xiao family?"

The servant said, "Nothing happened to the Xiao family, but when I went to deliver something, I heard that the general and Prince Chang impeached the Third Prince in the court this morning, saying that Prince Huai and Prince Xuan plotted to murder their brothers and colluded with the enemy. I heard that His Majesty fainted in anger in the court."