She had intended to suppress her anger, but Zhang Hongyan's next words broke her down: "Look at you, you're all grown up and you can't do anything. What will you do when you get married? I used to hear people in the village say that the Qiao family's daughter was a troublesome one, and I laughed at them. Now I realize that my own daughter is not as good as hers."

"At least Qiao Qiqi can cook. Her steamed buns are even better than your mother's. What can you do? You're always hungry and useless. What will you be like after you get married..."

Su Limin immediately lost her temper and shouted, "If you're going to talk about cooking, then talk about cooking! Why bring up Qiao Qiqi?"

They even said she was inferior to Qiao Qiqi! Su Limin was so angry that tears streamed down her face. Just as she was about to explode, a familiar voice suddenly came from the courtyard—

"Aunt Su, are you there?"

"..." Su Limin thought she was hallucinating?

But Zhang Hongyan quickly walked past her and headed out of the kitchen. The next second, Zhang Hongyan's enthusiastic voice came from outside the door, "Qiqi, what brings you here?"

Qiao Qiqi had already entered the courtyard. When she saw Zhang Hongyan, she smiled and said, "I just went to the field to deliver water to Qin Huai and ran into Uncle Su. He said your hand is injured and it's inconvenient for you to cook, so he asked me to come and see if I could help you with anything."

Zhang Hongyan was worried about cooking, but she still said awkwardly, "Oh dear, how could I possibly do that?"

"You don't need to be embarrassed. My uncle said that I won't work for free. He will give me work points, so please feel free to ask me for help if you need anything."

As soon as Qiao Qiqi finished speaking, Su Limin walked out of the kitchen with an angry look on her face and glared at her, saying, "I can help my mother here. We don't need your help. Get out of my house right now. You are not welcome here!"

Qiao Qiqi raised an eyebrow.

She wasn't surprised because she had anticipated that Su Limin would be home.

Her gaze swept over the soot on Su Limin's face, and she smiled slightly. "Are you sure you don't need me to stay and help? If I leave, your mother will have to cook all these dishes. If you can bear that, I can leave right now."

"I..." Su Limin tried to be defiant, but Zhang Hongyan pulled her back forcefully.

The next second, Zhang Hongyan immediately said to Qiao Qiqi with an apologetic look: "Don't be like this child. How can she cook? She has never been to the kitchen since she was a child. She can't even help out. All she does is cause me trouble."

Su Limin was absolutely furious, "Mother!"

"Alright, from now on you just need to keep the fire going. You don't need to do anything else, so you won't cause me any more trouble." Zhang Hongyan glared at her, but when she turned her head, she was all smiles again.

"Qiqi, I'm about to make rice noodle sheets. Do you know how to make them? My hand is injured, so I can't hold the rice noodle gong."

"I can."

Since Qiao Qiqi had arrived, she stopped being coy and rolled up her sleeves to go into the kitchen and start helping.

Zhang Hongyan scolded Su Limin a few times in the courtyard before coming in.

After a while, when Qiao Qiqi had already put the second sheet of rice noodle into the pot, Su Limin slowly walked in.

Upon seeing the rice noodle sheets made, he immediately curled his lip in disdain, "So what if you can cook? What's so great about that?"

Qiao Qiqi didn't want to talk to her anymore, but seeing that she was still being cheeky, she immediately looked up.

He mimicked her, saying defiantly, "Before, I really didn't think being able to cook was anything special, but now that I've put it to use, I genuinely think being able to cook is pretty impressive! You don't believe me? Then you try it!"

"you……"

Qiao Qiqi was emboldened and even began to give orders: "Miss Su, the water in this pot is getting colder, you should add firewood. Also, could you please heat the water in the pot on the other side? I want to soak dried ferns."

Su Limin was furious. When she saw that the other woman dared to order her around, she stared in astonishment, wide-eyed: "Why should I listen to you?"

Qiao Qiqi smiled and said, "Of course it's because I don't have any amazing cooking skills, but you don't."

"!"

Su Limin was almost furious!

Just as he was about to retaliate, Zhang Hongyan grabbed him, saying, "Hurry up and do it, listen to Qiqi."

Meeting Zhang Hongyan's warning gaze, Su Limin almost ground her teeth to powder, and could only rage as she started a fire.

Seeing that she was quite sensible, Qiao Qiqi took the rice noodle sheet out of the pot, scooped in two more spoonfuls of potato starch water, and put it back into the pot.

While waiting, I glanced at the ingredients and confirmed with Zhang Hongyan what we were going to make.

There were six dishes in total: braised chicken with hazel mushrooms, braised pork belly, a fish, braised fern and potato strips, green beans, pork belly and mung bean noodles, and finally a cucumber salad.

Qiao Qiqi took care of all the dishes.

First, put the chicken, which takes the longest to cook, into the pot. A free-range chicken needs to be stewed for more than an hour. Add the mushrooms after an hour.

Scoop out a ladle of hot water to soak the bracken fern first, and then, once all the rice noodle sheets are made, use this pot to cook braised pork. At the same time, ask Su Limin to light the stove in the yard.

Su Limin was already unbearably hot, and when she heard that she had to continue tending the fire, she immediately said irritably, "Can't you let me rest for a while?"

Qiao Qiqi looked at her with a cool expression, "I also want to rest, and I know it's more comfortable to lie on the kang (heated brick bed). Shall I leave?"

“You…” Su Limin realized that Qiao Qiqi was deliberately targeting her!

She was furious, but under Zhang Hongyan's warning gaze, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and go back to the yard to continue tending the fire.

Once the pot was hot, Qiao Qiqi used it to stew the fish.

Soon, the braised pork was ready. After washing the pot, the same pot was used to stew green beans and pork belly.

After the fish is cooked, use this pot to stir-fry bracken and potato strips.

As for cold dishes, cucumbers alone are too monotonous, so Qiao Qiqi went to the yard and picked a few dandelions and a dozen or so small garlic cloves.

Seeing dried chilies hanging on the eaves, after asking Zhang Hongyan if they were spicy, she fried two more chilies to make chili oil for added aroma.

After the chicken and mushroom stew was finished, I stir-fried two handfuls of peanuts in the same pot. After they cooled, I threw half of them directly into the cold dish, and crushed the other half on a cutting board with a knife before throwing them into the cold dish as well.

Zhang Hongyan was intrigued when she first saw this approach.

Although she had never eaten it before, for some reason, she felt that this dish must be delicious.

Ever since Qiao Qiqi started cooking, the aroma wafting through the yard has been enough to make anyone's mouth water!

Zhang Hongyan now realizes that steaming buns was just the tip of the iceberg for Qiao Qiqi.

This girl's cooking skills are absolutely amazing!

This smells much better than what she smelled in the state-run restaurants.

That's why Zhang Hongyan didn't stop Qiao Qiqi from putting two large spoonfuls of sugar into the cold dish, even though it hurt her wallet.

Qiao Qiqi quickly stirred it and immediately put a chopstick on Zhang Hongyan's plate.

"Auntie, why don't you try it? How's my mix?"