Chapter 14 Chapter 14 Fish Soup.
Madam Xie and the others were still unaware that Lin Zhi had already issued a "death sentence" on the food, and they were still gathered together to discuss it.
"I think I should start a new pot..."
"Not really! I think if we stir-fry it until it's crispier, it can be a good side dish."
"Can this thing be used as a snack?"
"Come on... If you keep talking, I'll make it all yours."
The man who suggested continuing to stir-fry fell silent. After a while, he looked eagerly at Madam Xie: "Sister Xie, what do you say?"
"How would I know?" Madam Xie glanced at the contents of the pot with disdain and chose to eat a sour plum candy to calm her nerves.
She grumbled, chomping on the sour-sweet candy, "I think you should just eat some solid food. Why bother with all this?"
"At least there's something warm..."
"Tsk, there's plenty for you to eat when you get to the Hezhou Ferry tomorrow, so just bear with it! Isn't that Hu Bing delicious?"
"But on the way to Yongzhou, we ate pancakes for more than ten days straight. Now, just looking at the pancakes makes my stomach sour and my mouth bitter. It's so uncomfortable!"
As soon as these words were spoken, they immediately resonated with everyone. When they went to Yongzhou, they had no experience. At the beginning, they could still order the Hubing with diced mutton, but later they were only left with the ones sprinkled with sesame and chopped green onions.
Later, the more remote they went, the worse their food became, and in the end they could only eat hard-wheat Hu cakes - this kind of Hu cake was specially used for travel, baked over fire, and could be eaten immediately or strung together and hung on the saddle of a donkey cart to carry around.
This hard-dough Hu pancake is firm and chewy, with a unique smoky wheat aroma that becomes more delicious the more you chew it.
Although the taste is not bad, no one can stand eating it for more than ten days without any side dishes.
"that is!"
"Besides, the vegetables we brought are all gone. If we can't cook anything today, we'll have to eat dry bread."
"There's no more leftover vegetables?" the man next to him exclaimed, complaining, "No way! Why did they replenish some when we were in Taiping Prefecture?"
"You're quite good at talking now, but I never saw you mention supplementary points when we were in Taiping Prefecture."
"I'm not in charge of logistics."
"What are you talking about? Who among us is in charge of logistics?"
Several people looked at each other and complained to each other, saying that they would definitely hire a couple of cooks to help them next time they went on a long trip.
"It's also good to let him bring his wife along."
"Sister Xie is a woman after all, how come she can't even make soup..." one of the men complained casually.
As soon as he finished speaking, the surroundings suddenly became quiet, and everyone looked at the man with sad eyes, as if saying, "Goodbye, brother."
At the same time, a cold, sharp gaze fell on the man's back. He turned stiffly, and the moment he met Madam Xie's gaze, cold sweat broke out and his calves began to tremble. "Madam Xie, Sister Xie, Boss Xie... I didn't mean it."
"You did it on purpose, kid." Madam Xie's forehead throbbed with veins, and she quickly drew the dagger from her waist. She sneered, "You bastards who can't fight or study as well as me, and you still dare to call yourself a man? How about I cut off two ounces of your asshole's flesh and send you to the palace to be eunuchs?"
"That's not what I meant—"
"Wow! Sister Xie, am I innocent? I didn't say anything? It was all said by Lu San!" The man next to her shuddered all over and ran three miles with his legs clamped together, fearing that he would be implicated.
In an instant, the camp was in chaos.
Only the man holding the spatula gradually lost his luster in his eyes. He didn't care about the 'carcass of food' in front of him and stretched out his hand towards everyone: "Hey, don't leave! Give me some advice--"
Tao Yingce and Shen Yan, who were talking in the carriage, frowned at the same time when they heard the faint sounds of quarreling outside.
Tao Yingce pressed his solar plexus and said, "These guys are making trouble again. They don't feel tired of making trouble all day long."
"It sounds like I've made Sister Xie angry again." Chen Yan listened and chuckled.
"How stupid," Tao Yingce said expressionlessly, returning to the file in his hand. He quickly flipped through it and handed it to Chen Yan. "Take a look at the news from the post station. They say there have been several disappearances around Hezhou. Several of the victims have been found along the riverbank. They are all adult males, their hands tied behind their backs, and they drowned. It's suspected they were pushed off a boat."
"The modus operandi involved is extremely similar and it is suspected that the same gang is committing the crimes repeatedly."
Chen Yan took the file, flipped through two pages, and frowned deeply: "The deceased are all adult males?"
In most cases, the perpetrators will not target strong adult males, but will instead target women, the elderly, and young children who are less powerful and physically weaker.
"That's right." Tao Yingce took out another file, spread it out and pushed it in front of Chen Yan. "Five of the bodies have been claimed. They belong to masters and servants from two families. The claimants all said they were traveling with their families."
"The crime scene...is all around the Yangtze River? Are they pirates?"
“That’s indeed the guess.”
"If so, the victim should have been targeted somewhere."
The two said in unison: "Hezhou Ferry!"
…
But in the noisy camp, Linzhi walked to the iron pot that no one cared about, lowered his head and looked at it for a long time, and finally confirmed that the ingredients in the pot were small fish. As for what kind they were, he could no longer tell.
She stared at the fish paste in the pot, as if she could see the souls of countless small fish rolling and wailing above the pot, lamenting how humans wasted food... Oh no.
While no one was paying attention, Lin Zhi poured hot water into the iron pot. With a sizzling sound, a white mist suddenly rose from the pot.
Immediately afterwards, whether it was the man holding the spatula, or Madam Xie who was chasing and playing, they all stopped and looked at Lin Zhi.
"Sister Zhi!" Madam Xie was very anxious. She rushed back in two steps at a time. Her hands nervously fell on both sides of Lin Zhi's shoulders. She looked left and right, up and down: "Are you okay?"
Following closely behind was Lin Sen and his wife. After confirming that their daughter was fine, they were extremely surprised. Others thought their daughter was mentally retarded, but they knew clearly that she was pretending, so why would she come to cause trouble?
Therefore, the couple turned their eyes to the iron pot, and saw that as the white mist dissipated, the gray and white paste in the pot turned into a pot of snow-white fish soup, and even the air was filled with the sweet aroma of fish soup.
"Hey? Sister Zhi? What did you add in it?" Madam Xie widened her eyes and looked at the iron pot in disbelief, feeling as if she had seen magic.
Lin Zhi pretended not to understand, but Lin Sen continued: "Sister Zhi poured hot water in it."
"Didn't it just get fried into a paste?"
"Is this a tiger fish? Or a small whitebait? You have to fry it to make fish soup."
Everyone looked at each other, then at the man in charge. The man scratched his head, his face flushed. "Ah? I, I don't know what kind of fish it is. I just scooped it up from the river last night with a net."
"Since it was so small, I wanted to make some fried fish to go with wine... but then I realized I didn't have enough oil, so I decided to pan-fry it."
"Huh?" Lin Sen was stunned.
"..." Lin Zhi almost couldn't hold back her expression.
"Hahahahaha..." The man laughed awkwardly a few times, feeling guilty, and then said with a wry smile, "Actually, fish soup is pretty good too."
"That's right."
"Wait a minute? Big Head Lu, is that guy in front of you making fried fish?"
Lu Datou pretended not to hear and continued, "Fish soup with pancakes is still the best!"
"Don't change the subject!"
"How come this fish paste becomes so delicious just by adding a bowl of water?"
Lin Sen laughed and explained, "Fry the small fish until they are tender and crispy, then add hot water and bring to a boil over high heat to make a milky white fish soup."
"If you're worried there might still be fish bones, just strain the soup and add some tofu and radish. It's guaranteed to be delicious."
Lin Sen's explanation was so coherent that Madam Xie couldn't help but look surprised. When she noticed the realization on Song Jiaoniang's face, she couldn't help but ask, "Madam Song, Madam Song, don't you know?"
"Well, I don't cook at home." Song Jiaoniang had just overheard Madam Xie arguing with the men and was happy to chime in. "I used to be an embroiderer, but I was too busy every day, so my husband took on all the other chores around the house."
When Madam Xie heard what Song Jiaoniang said, she immediately glared at the men: "Did you hear that? You guys are asking me to cook a dish like it's like I'm asking you to die!"
The men shrank their necks and dared not speak.
But this is not the most important thing now. As everyone looked at the boiling fish soup and smelled the fragrance, they began to want to eat.
Lin Sen simply took the spatula from the chef, scooped up some soup and tasted it, then added appropriate amounts of salt and bean paste to season it: "It's ready."
When Lin Sen looked back, he saw that his wife and daughter had squeezed out of the crowd at some point and were holding pancakes and smiling at him.
Lin Sen was both angry and amused. After a while, he finally squeezed through the greedy men and got out of the encirclement. He glanced at his daughter with a sidelong glance and raised his hand to knock her on the forehead: "This is all your fault."
Linzhi covered her forehead innocently.
When Song Jiaoniang heard Lin Sen mention this, she couldn't help but be curious and asked quietly, "How did Sister Zhi know? Pour hot water into the fish paste and it will make fish soup?"
Song Jiaoniang is not good at cooking. Even after she rarely does embroidery, she doesn't cook much. At most, she will make side dishes such as smashed cucumbers and stir-fried lettuce with garlic, or just stew something randomly.
Their family's meals were usually either cooked by the kitchen staff, bought from outside, or cooked by Lin Sen.
Only today did she realize that all she had to do was pan-fry the fish on both sides or stir-fry until it was tender, then pour in hot water and simmer over high heat for a while. After a while, she would have a bowl of rich, snow-white fish soup.
Linzhi's mind moved slightly. Ever since she left Xi Zhizhou's mansion, she began to think about how to confess and tell her parents that she did not intend to continue to be an embroiderer, but wanted to be a kitchen lady.
She pursed her lips, thinking about taking it step by step, so she hesitated for a moment and said slowly: "I was in the kitchen... I saw someone do it in the kitchen."
"Is this also done in the mansion?" Song Jiaoniang muttered casually without any doubt.
Lin Sen placed the fish soup he had brought on the donkey cart and told the two men to enjoy it: "Hurry up and drink some soup. I heard from Chen Lang that we won't rest later and we have to rush to Hezhou Ferry in one breath."
"Chen Lang has come out too? Why didn't I see him?" Song Jiaonian looked up at the crowd, but couldn't find Chen Yan among them.
"He just came out to give a few instructions, and then went back to the car with a bowl of soup." Lin Sen nodded, indicating the horse carriage in the center surrounded by many donkey carts.
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