Chapter 2217 Asking for help
The group returned with a full load, a real full load. They couldn't finish eating all the fish they caught, so they distributed them to each courtyard, and even Master You got two fish.
As soon as they returned to the courtyard, Manager Li brought three women to greet them, "Master, these are the cooks and helpers I hired. They will stay in the courtyard to serve you. Master and Miss, you can call them if you need anything."
Bai Shan was still holding a wooden barrel in his hand. Upon hearing this, he put the barrel down, lowered his rolled-up sleeves, and turned his head to look at the three of them.
The cook was the oldest of the three, looking to be in her thirties. She had a piece of cloth wrapped around her head, and her clothes were washed white with several patches. Judging from her face, she should be from the Central Plains. Her hands were a little rough. She was standing with her head slightly lowered. When she felt someone's eyes on her, she couldn't help but clench her hands nervously.
Bai Shan asked, "What dishes can you cook?"
Manager Li stepped aside and had no intention of speaking for her, obviously wanting her to answer herself.
The cook couldn't help but pinch her fingers nervously, but she bowed fluently and replied, "I can cook Sichuan cuisine. I lived near the capital for a few years, so I know some Beijing dishes too."
Bai Shan raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at Manager Li.
Man Bao, who was distributing fish, heard this and couldn't help but exclaimed, "Huh?" He turned around to look at Manager Li and said with a smile, "Manager Li, did you find this specially for us?"
Steward Li smiled and said, "I noticed that the gentlemen and young ladies didn't have a good appetite, so I wondered if the food here wasn't to their liking. So, I went out for a walk today and happened to see Sister He. She spoke with an accent, and I felt very close to her. After asking, I found out that she was from Shu and that she could cook, so I took the initiative to invite her over."
He said, "Masters, you will be staying here for a while. You can't just keep eating at inns and restaurants. The dishes here are the same all the time. Although each restaurant makes them a little different, they're all pretty similar."
He said with a distressed look on his face: "This is too unfair to the young master and the young ladies. I see that the young master and Miss Man have lost weight in the past two days."
Hearing that there was fish to eat, General Nie, who came over to pick up the fish, couldn't help but look at Zhou Man and Bai Shan after hearing this. He looked back and forth several times but couldn't tell that they had lost weight at all.
Do they have a poor appetite?
They had dinner together last night. Maybe because they hadn't eaten rice for a while, they both ate two big bowls of rice last night, the same amount as him!
No, less than half an hour after the meal they also ate fruits and snacks!
Nie Canjun twitched his lips, looked away, and asked Bai Erlang: "Are you going to give us fish?"
Bai Erlang came back to his senses and pointed at the fish in the barrel and said generously, "Please pick two at random."
Manbao suddenly remembered something and asked the cook, "Can you make tofu? I suddenly want to eat tofu fish head."
Mr. Zhuang, who had been silent all this time, suddenly nodded and said, "This is good."
Mrs. He's face showed bitterness, and she clenched her fingers and said, "I can make tofu fish head, but I can't make tofu."
Manbao said happily: "If you don't know how to cook, just buy it. Does it mean that if you can cook, you must be able to grow rice?"
Man Baole paused in the middle of his joy, tilted his head and looked at Bai Shan in disbelief, "No way, there is no tofu here?"
Bai Shan carefully recalled the places he had walked yesterday, "I don't think so?"
Mrs. He said, "No, people here don't even grow beans, so there's no tofu."
She said, "Beans are for horses."
Manbao thought about it for a moment and said uncertainly, "I think I should be able to do it."
After saying that, she looked at Zhou Liru somewhat unconfidently. She knew the recipe. It was Manbao who taught Zhou's sister-in-law how to make tofu for the first time. But she was her own sister-in-law. She could understand the next sentence just by saying the first sentence. It would be different if it was someone else.
Zhou Liru scratched his head and said confidently, "If there was brine, I would order tofu."
During the two years that my younger aunt went to Yizhou, she and her two older sisters helped make all the tofu for the family. Not to mention that later, when my second older sister left home and my eldest sister got married, she basically just followed my aunt around and helped out. However...
"But I can't guarantee how it will taste."
Because making tofu is a craft, her mother didn't learn it well enough, so she wanted her to learn it well so that she could get married. So she tried to make two pots of tofu, and although they turned out well, she kept all of it at home and gave a lot to her uncle's family.
Although no one said it, Zhou Liru knew that the tofu she ordered was not very good.
But... never mind. We can eat it in the end anyway. Didn’t the family eat up all the two pots of tofu in the end?
She knows how to make brine.
Manbao turned to Mr. Zhuang and said, "Sir, it's late today. The best we can do is make the brine. If we want to eat the tofu and fish head, we have to wait until tomorrow at the earliest."
Mr. Zhuang was undecided. "Okay, then tomorrow."
When Mrs. He heard this, she knew she could stay. She breathed a sigh of relief, immediately rolled up her sleeves, stepped forward to take the wooden bucket, and humbly asked, "What would you like to eat tonight, sir and miss?"
Mr. Zhuang thought for a moment and said, "Let's eat some vegetarian dishes. Let's stir-fry some vegetables."
Lately he's been eating either meat or dry food, and his stomach can't take it anymore.
The cook agreed.
Manbao waved his hand and said, "I don't care. I like everything. You can cook whatever you like. Oh, and braise the rice. I want to eat rice tonight."
Bai Erlang and the others beside him nodded repeatedly, "Yes, stewed rice."
Bai Shan discussed with Manager Li, "Remember to buy some rice and flour when we get to Shazhou."
Steward Li agreed, and then introduced the other two people to them. "These are the ones who help in the kitchen and clean the yard. If the masters have any laundry, they can also give it to them."
After all, there are Miss Man and Miss Liru, so it would be more convenient to have two maids.
The two women were not young either, about twenty years old, with high noses and deep eyes. They should be locals and could speak simple Chinese. Their clothes were a little better than He Saozi's, but they were also washed white. Their hands and feet were quite nimble. Bai Shan decided to keep them and asked them to clean the yard first, as they had made a mess when they were dividing the fish just now.
Nie, a military officer, watched the whole process from the side. After being shocked, he turned around and asked Manbao, "What does Lord Zhou plan to do during this period?"
Twenty days is not a short time. You can’t sleep all the time, right?
Manbao smiled and said, "We'll go fishing tomorrow, but I also want to go to the Gobi Desert."
Nie Canjun asked excitedly: "What are you looking at?"
"To see the scenery," Manbao said, "I heard that there are plants growing in the Gobi Desert that are not found in the Central Plains. I'll go and see."
The interest on General Nie's face faded, and he felt that his question was in vain.
He thought for a moment and asked, "Sir Zhou, aren't you going to visit the mayor of the town?"
Man Bao shook his head: "He wasn't appointed by the court, and I'm not here on official business. I'll just be a good guest. But if you want to join the army, go ahead."
See you at 6pm
(End of this chapter)
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