Chapter 24 (Barbecue (Part 1)...)



After dinner, Shen Pingyu left first.

The remaining four stayed and talked for a while, discussing how to open a salty restaurant.

After halfway through the evening, they said goodbye and left.

Xie Qingyun and Xiao Huaqi left first, so Yan Qiushu walked two steps with Xiao Huaiting. When they reached the gate of the courtyard, she smiled and said, "General Xiao, thank you for coming tonight."

Xiao Huaiting shook his head, a little embarrassed: "Did you see it?"

Yan Qiushu tilted her head and smiled: "I did notice a little bit."

Besides, in order to avoid suspicion, Xiao Huaiting would not come to her place easily on weekdays. But today he took the initiative to come here and brought Shen Pingyu with him, which was really strange.

Xiao Waiting also laughed: "But Ping Yu wasn't specially invited by me to show my support!"

"Hmm?" Yan Qiushu raised her eyebrows, a little curious.

Xiao Huai Ting folded his arms and said with a sigh, "When I came here, Ping Yu was just walking this way. He was hesitant and embarrassed to come over, so I just pulled him over. The Shen family has strict teachings and never pays attention to the appetite, but in fact, which child in my Xiao family doesn't like to eat?"

He raised his eyebrows: "When I was a kid... cough cough..." He swallowed his words halfway through: "You can see it from Dongdong. Pingyu is no exception. It's just that the teachings of the Shen family made him a little embarrassed. He needs someone to give him a step. Believe it or not, this kid is laughing in his quilt now!"

He made himself laugh after he finished speaking, then stretched himself and said, "Okay, Miss Shu, I'm leaving first. I'll be busy in the next few days. See you in a few days."

Yan Qiushu, who was left behind after listening to his words, recalled Shen Pingyu's mature temperament seriously, and finally shook her head.

It couldn't be what he said, because the child didn't show any sign of liking the food at all when he was eating it.

If it were Dongdong, he would definitely praise her and act cute to coax her to give him more food.

So when Shen Ping met this child, he might just eat something reluctantly just to save face for his elders.

The well-mannered and self-restrained young boy in Yan Qiushu's impression was now lying on the bed.

He slept in a proper position, with his hands folded on his abdomen, lying flat on his back. The nanny helped him cover himself with a blanket. Before the candlelight was blown out, the nanny noticed the unconscious smile on the corner of the boy's mouth and chuckled, "Young Master, are you in a good mood today?"

Shen Pingyu quickly restrained his emotions after hearing this, but in the next second, he couldn't help but slightly raised a satisfied smile: "Yeah."

Then he hid his little hand under the quilt and secretly touched his belly, which was round and bulging.

I accidentally ate too much today, and although the name of that thing is not very nice, it tastes really good.

No wonder Dongdong likes Aunt Yan so much!

"Do you still want me to study today?" asked the nanny.

Shen Pingyu nodded again. He left his parents when he was young. The Shen family had strict rules and regulations. He always slept alone. The busy studies made him prone to insomnia when lying in bed. The nanny would read to him, and the sound of reading made him feel at ease.

Seeing this, the nanny put down the tent, moved to the candlelight, and began to read: "Today..."

It was just a short while after the nanny opened her mouth that Shen Pingyu's eyes, which were originally half-closed, closed. The satisfaction in his abdomen made him feel happy enough. When his stomach was busy, his mind was not as clear as before, and he didn't even think about those lessons.

Soon, he fell asleep!

the next day.

Winter has fully arrived.

When she woke up, Yan Qiushu left the room and found that a small part of the place within her sight was covered with a thin layer of snow.

Shui Yu said, "It only snowed a little this morning. It will snow heavily in a while. Girl, you can have a snowball fight with us."

According to Xiao Huaiting's introduction, Yan Qiushu was brought by him from Wucheng.

Wucheng is close to water, with warm weather and little rain or snow.

She thought Yan Qiushu had never seen heavy snow, so she mentioned it specifically.

But it is true.

Where Yan Qiushu lived before, it snowed a lot when she was a child, but as she grew older, it snowed less and less. By the time she grew up, it would only snow a thin layer like this time.

As a result, she was looking forward to snow.

It's just a little cold.

Yan Qiushu didn't want to go out that day. She stayed in the room. The charcoal fire had already been burning, and the temperature was much warmer than outside. She drank spicy soup in the morning, ate wontons at noon, and lazily thought about what to eat in the evening.

It wasn't until Dongdong, who hadn't been seen for two days, appeared in front of Yan Qiushu again.

The five-year-old boy pouted as if he was about to cry. When he saw her, he felt like he had seen a relative. He felt very aggrieved: "Sister Shu! My uncle is so mean! He actually asked someone to bring me back!"

Yan Qiushu felt a little guilty after witnessing the whole process of Xiao Huaiting's promise to Shen Pingyu.

This person seemed to say this in order to coax Shen Pingyu into eating the food she cooked.

But she really didn't expect Dong Dong to react so strongly to Shen Ping Yu. She said with a smile, "Is it that scary? Is it scarier than you being the second emperor's grandson's schoolmate?"

Dong Dong was speechless: "You don't understand..."

The second emperor's grandson said that he felt aggrieved, but he didn't dare to really do anything to him.

But Shen Pingyu was his biological brother, and he showed no mercy when it came time to beat him. When he was fined, his eyes were swollen from crying, but he still couldn't escape. The key point was that no one in his family protected him.

If the Second Emperor's grandson dared to treat him like this, his uncle would have made a scene long ago!

Yan Qiushu wanted to wipe his tears out of sympathy, but when she found that the child was just howling, she laughed again: "You don't even have tears!"

Dong Dong sniffed: "I didn't drink any water, so it can't flow out."

"Okay, I'll give it to you." Yan Qiushu asked Shui Yu to get some milk tea. "Tell me what Ping Yu did to you."

Let her see the excitement.

Dongdong held the milk tea in his hand, sipped it, and tasted the sweet and sour orange flesh inside. He sighed like a little adult: "He is fine, he just has high expectations of me."

"He learned how to write an essay, so he wants me to learn it and write it myself. I'm only in the enlightenment class!"

The introductory class lasts for two years, and students will continue to advance to the next grade in the third year.

He just wanted to take things step by step, and when he grew up a little, he would follow his uncle to learn martial arts instead of literature!

Yan Qiushu listened to him talking as he took a sip, and then she made a cup of milk tea. After taking a sip, it tasted sweet, and she suddenly felt guilty. She had consumed too much sugar today!

She invented milk tea in order to avoid wasting milk. She uses the simplest method and drinks a cup every morning to keep herself energetic for the whole day.

But it also contains a lot of sugar.

She doesn't like sports, so she has never been able to control herself from drinking. Usually one cup in the morning is enough for her, and she will drink a second cup occasionally, like now.

In order to prevent herself from focusing on the guilt, Yan Qiushu tried hard to concentrate on listening to Dongdong's words.

After listening to it, she thought for a moment and said, "Have you told Ping Yu that you don't like doing this?"

Dong Dong immediately shouted: "I told you! I cried last time!"

Yan Qiushu coughed lightly and said, "You have to talk nicely, then he will listen. After all, you are only five years old, too young. He may think you are being unreasonable."

Dong Dong was shocked: "He is only nine years old!"

Yan Qiushu pinched his cheek lovingly: "Nine years old, almost twice as old as you, isn't that enough? Talk nicely, Ping Yu is kind, he will definitely understand."

Dong Dong was very skeptical: "Really?"

"Really!" Yan Qiushu nodded vigorously, thought for a moment, and then said, "Why don't we invite Ping Yu over for dinner tomorrow, and you two can chat while we eat?"

"Why tomorrow?" Dong Dong's eyes turned, and he quickly grasped the key point, and asked expectantly: "Can't we do it today?"

Who would be willing to wait if you can eat it earlier?

Yan Qiushu threw up her hands helplessly: "Because we need to prepare!"

Dongdong swallowed his saliva in anticipation and asked coquettishly, "Sister Shu, what delicious food are you going to make?!"

Yan Qiushu smiled and said, "Barbecue!"

In the cold winter, heavy snow falls.

It’s the perfect time to eat barbecue!

But the biggest problem with barbecue is how to place the charcoal stove and how to keep the grill iron plate safe and clean.

The method of eating hot pot has been around in ancient times, so we can borrow it, but it also needs to be modified because the bottom of the pot can sink, but charcoal grilling cannot, and a special iron plate must be made.

Yan Qiushu does what she thinks.

In fact, she wanted to eat hot pot more, but she prefers the rich spicy beef oil hot pot. In this era, there is not enough chili, so she has never really tried it.

But barbecue does not require so much chili pepper. Other spices plus salt, peppercorns, etc. are basically enough.

However, you can't just eat one kind of meat for barbecue, so first you have to prepare chicken, pork, lamb, etc. It happens to be snowing now and the temperature is estimated to be zero degrees, so freeze the meat overnight so that you can cut it very thinly.

That night, Yan Qiushu took Dongdong to have a quick meal, and the next day she had someone cut the frozen meat. When the meat was still hard, it could be cut into thin slices and then sprinkled with various seasonings and marinated.

At noon, the Xiao family's housekeeper also made the improved barbecue pot she requested.

There is an inverted iron hat in the middle, with wood used to insulate the bottom of the iron hat. On top is a round iron sheet with a hollowed-out edge. The middle of the iron sheet bulges slightly outward, and the iron sheet is polished very cleanly. It is fired in the same way as a large iron pot, but the shape is different.

In order to prevent it from sticking to the pan, I specially used the unsealing method, smeared it with lard and left it to rest overnight.

It comes with a large iron hook that you can just take away when you want to change the charcoal.

This appearance is very close to a modern barbecue table.

Yan Qiushu was very satisfied and couldn't put it down so she placed it in the restaurant, replacing the original dining table.

When it was almost lunch time, Shui Xuan asked what to do.

All she could think about was: barbecue!

Roasted eggplant is also fine!

Grilled shrimp would be even better!

"Girl?!" Shui Yu pushed her and asked in a slightly louder voice, "What do you want to eat later?"

Yan Qiushu said sorry to the cute Dongdong in her heart, and then said decisively: "Let's have barbecue at noon!"

Shui Yu: “Ah?”

Yan Qiushu added: "It's boring to eat alone, call Aunt Xu and let's eat together!"

Once she made up her mind, she was very decisive. After all, she had no other hobbies in her life except eating.

Under certain conditions, she didn't want to endure it.

So in just a short time, the charcoal stove was lit, the iron sheet was put on the rack, and the meat to be roasted was also served.

The meat is thin and tender. A sizzling sound can be heard on the iron plate. The thin slices of pork belly are fried until golden brown, and the fat quickly comes out. Surrounding them are slices of lamb and chicken.

There is no need to add extra oil. The chicken falls on the iron sheet and is instantly grilled, changing color and becoming slightly curled.

The three of them sat around the stove, and the heat soon made their faces red. They didn't even have to use the charcoal stove, and they were warm before they could eat.

Yan Qiushu had been looking forward to it for a long time, and when she saw the meat was cooked, she couldn't wait to pick it up.

When she put it in her mouth, she found the meat, with the fat of pork belly, very tender. She chewed it a few times and the salty and slightly spicy taste made her eyes narrow with pleasure.

After she finished eating a mouthful of meat, Yan Qiushu found that Shui Yu was still working hard to roast it, and there was not a single piece of meat on her plate.

The large black iron plate was already filled with various roasted meats.

She passed the barbecued meat to them one by one and said, "Don't just focus on roasting it, eat it while it's hot."

"Well, thank you, young lady." Shui Yu pursed her lips and smiled, but still insisted on filling the empty iron plate with meat slices again before eating it in small bites.

In addition to the seasonings used for marinating the meat, Yan Qiushu also prepared other seasonings, one kind was a dry ingredient with various spices and salt, and the other was a mixture of sesame oil and mashed garlic.

She picked up a piece of roasted brown pork belly and dipped it in the dry seasoning dish. Immediately, the pork belly was covered with powder. When she put it into her mouth and took a bite, the dry seasoning relieved the greasiness of the pork belly. The crispy texture softened in the mouth under the pressure of the teeth, and the fragrance, saltiness and spiciness were mixed together.

Compared to the meat we usually eat, this is another kind of delicacy!

Somewhat novel, yet extremely satisfying.

He ate the meat with big mouthfuls. The meat was very tender. Shui Xuan nodded immediately after finishing it: "Delicious!"

Aunt Xu was more reserved, but she also ate one bite after another. She nodded when she heard it and said, "Mm, delicious!"

"Then eat more!" Yan Qiushu said with a smile. However, sometimes the meat was not satisfying if it was too thin, so she put two or three slices of meat together and dipped them in mashed garlic. This bite was full of meaty and garlic aroma, and the taste doubled!

After lunch which lasted more than half an hour, when we were packing up, we realized that it had started snowing outside without us even noticing.

The ground was covered with a thin layer of white. The snowflakes in the air were densely packed and falling one by one. The ancient buildings in front of us were covered with a layer of gauze by the snow, which was very beautiful.

Yan Qiushu stared at it for a long time, then rubbed her round belly and smiled with satisfaction.

At this time, after having eaten and drunk enough and with heavy snow, it is the best time for a lunch break!

A five-year-old child far away in the Imperial College was also looking at the snow outside the window, smiling expectantly.

Sister Shu must be preparing barbecue for dinner now.

Slurp!

I don’t know what barbecue tastes like, but it sounds delicious!!!


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