Su Qingluan naturally didn't realize that she had been tempted without knowing it. She was now hurried back home - after all, although the rain had stopped, the sky was still covered with dark clouds.
Fortunately, her luck was not bad this time, and the rain stopped falling until she entered the door.
Because borrowing books took some time, she got home quite late.
When Yang saw her come in, she hurried over to greet her: "It rained heavily just now, did you get wet?"
Su Qingluan shook her head: "It was only a few drops of rain, it's no big deal."
"Oh, then I need to make a bowl of ginger soup!"
"Mom, please stop!" Su Qingluan hurriedly called out to Yang, "I just drank ginger soup at Mr. Mu's place."
"Mr. Mu is always so attentive..." Yang sighed with admiration. "Whenever anyone in the village asks him something, he's always very patient. I've never seen him raise his voice with anyone. He's a very good-tempered man!"
Su Qingluan nodded: "Besides, Mr. Mu's house has a lot of books. Look, I borrowed several!"
"Oh, this book is very valuable. Please put it away quickly and don't let it get damaged." Seeing that Su Qingluan wanted to go to the kitchen, Yang quickly pushed her out.
Su Qingluan also understood that in this era, the value of paper and books were completely different, so she obediently put the book back in her room and placed it in the upturned cabinet at the head of the bed to prevent the book from getting wet by things like teacups.
After packing up the books, Su Qingluan went to see how her younger brother and sister were doing with their big characters, then turned and went to the kitchen.
She originally wanted to ask A Niang if there were any suitable temporary workers available today, but she didn't expect that Yang was holding a bowl of something with her face wrinkled.
Could it be that something is broken?
Su Qingluan muttered to herself, and hurried over, tilting the bowl towards herself: "Is this pork filling? Are you making meatball soup today? Or dumplings?"
Yang smiled bitterly and shook her head: "I originally wanted to make meatball soup, but it seems that I put too much salt..."
Su Qingluan took the bowl of meat filling and sniffed it: "Hmm, it should be salty. Is there any meat left?"
"These are the only scraps of meat left here," Yang sighed, "otherwise I wouldn't put salt in the soup later..."
Su Qingluan looked around and asked, "Mother, do we have eggplants at home? Lotus roots will also do."
"If you want to eat lotus roots, you'll probably have to wait a month or two," Yang shook her head and then asked in confusion, "What is eggplant?"
"...Oh, it should be 'Luo Su'. Eggplant is what the foreigners call it." Su Qingluan thought about the ancient name of eggplant, and at the same time silently apologized to the modern compatriots who were forced to be "foreigners".
Yang nodded suddenly, muttering, "Then our name sounds better." She turned around and pointed, "Look, it's planted over there in our small garden."
Su Qingluan took the bowl of meat filling and waved it towards Yang: "Mother, don't worry, go back to your room and rest. I will take care of this for you, your daughter."
Yang nodded and said, "Then go take your clothes to the river to wash them." Then she turned and left.
It was summer, the season for eggplants to ripen. When Su Qingluan had looked into the small courtyard before, it was mostly green, with the eggplants planted in the innermost area. If Yang hadn't told her today, she wouldn't have noticed.
Carefully stepping along the ridges to the eggplant racks, Su Qingluan was somewhat thankful that although the rain had just come suddenly, it had not lasted long - otherwise, the muddy ridges would have been enough for her to endure.
Now she just had to be careful to avoid the puddles.
There were thorns on the part of the eggplant close to the vine. Su Qingluan carefully held the smooth and round other end, gently rotated it a few times, and pulled it hard, and the eggplant was picked.
Although this eggplant is not the kind of round and plump bread eggplant, it is also as thick as a tea bowl. Su Qingluan estimated the amount of meat filling and the family's appetite, picked four eggplants, and returned to the kitchen.
After washing, Su Qingluan cut the eggplant into thick slices about the width of a thumb. Each eggplant could be cut into about ten such slices. Then Su Qingluan split the eggplant in half between the thick slices, but left the last bit of eggplant flesh uncut, and stuffed the meat filling between the two eggplant slices.
Then, mix the eggs and flour into a batter, and place another portion of dry flour aside.
There was still a lot of oil left from frying the chicken yesterday. Su Qingluan didn't use it to light the lamp directly. Instead, she cleaned out the remaining fried chicken residue and put in the fruit peels to remove the odor, and then put it on the stove.
Su Qingluan looked down at the fire. The baffle of the air outlet had been pulled down halfway, and the firewood inside was not very sufficient, so the fire was not burning very strongly - perhaps it was because her mother was just struggling with how to remedy the overly salty meat filling and didn't want to waste firewood.
However, for Su Qingluan, this relatively low heat is just right - when frying the eggplant boxes for the first time, they must always be fried slowly and thoroughly, not to mention that the thickness of the meat filling and the eggplant meat is not thinner than a piece of chicken leg.
All the preparations were done. Su Qingluan rolled the eggplant slices stuffed with meat in the batter and then coated them with a layer of dry flour. After all the eggplant boxes were prepared, the oil pan was almost hot.
Su Qingluan carefully slid the eggplant boxes one by one along the wall of the pot into the oil pan, and gently pushed them with a colander to prevent them from sticking. Soon, the surface of the eggplant boxes turned a light light yellow.
The time when oil is most likely to splash is the moment the ingredients are put into the pan. Since they have been fried for a while, the oil should not splash anymore - Su Qingluan thought so.
Facts proved that she was still too naive. She had just let her guard down the moment before and was slapped in the face the next moment.
Although she dodged it in an instant, the oil drop still exploded on her finger.
Su Qingluan's hands had been "trained" in her previous life to the point where they were "invulnerable to water and fire", so she didn't take a mere oil spill seriously at all.
But Su Qingluan's hands in this life are only thirteen years old and do not have thick calluses yet, so they are not so "resistant to tossing and turning".
Su Qingluan dipped her fingers into cold water to relieve the pain, but she was thinking in her mind: I must ask my father to make me a pair of long chopsticks, specially for frying food!
After frying once and then frying again, the golden and crispy eggplant boxes are served on the table.
Su Qingling first looked at Yang and handed her an eggplant box. "Mother, try it. Is it less salty this way?"
Yang was really worried about how the meat filling was cooked, so she quickly tasted it and then opened her eyes wide in surprise: "This... Daya, did you add something to adjust the saltiness?"
The eggplant box is still a little hot when you put it in your mouth, but the saltiness is just right, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, very delicious!
Su Qingluan shook her head: "The key is not the meat filling."
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