Following the sound of crying, one could see Aunt Liu, with disheveled hair and a pale, ashen face.
Xiao Jing became alert. "We've been playing for a long time, it's time to go back."
Ah Mian said "Oh," and Aunt Liu stumbled two steps, then knelt down on the ground. "Master Lu, please give me another chance! I really know I was wrong, and I will never talk nonsense again..." Even without this job, she should have a lot of savings from her previous wages, so she wouldn't be unable to survive.
As Aunt Liu was speaking, she was about to kowtow to the two of them when Meng Jing hit her on the ground a few times with a tree branch. "Are you doing this on purpose?! You want to shorten our lifespans like this, and you even want to bully the soft-hearted A-Mian!"
Tears streamed down Aunt Liu's face as she waved her hands repeatedly, "I didn't mean that! I just... I just... I like working for Lu Xiaodong's family. I..."
Ah Mian said, "You should look for other jobs. You'll find one eventually."
“Am I a bad worker? I never slack off, and what do I get in return? I get beaten and scolded in front of so many people. Did anyone speak up for me? No one… It’s always been like this. You are all young women, you have no idea what I’m suffering from.”
Aunt Liu continued to cry, wanting to recount all the bitterness of her life, but only a few words could be clearly heard over and over again.
It is said that when she was young, she had an argument with someone in a noodle shop. Her husband did not take her side, even though it was clearly the noodle shop that was bullying her by not serving her enough noodles.
After that, her son and daughter-in-law stopped speaking up for her.
Liu Xiufang insisted on working at A Mian's house for a reason she never said: she felt truly lonely no matter which world she was in.
But Ah Mian is different. She's like a little sun hanging in the winter sky, making people want to get closer to her and borrow some warmth.
After crying her fill, Aunt Liu stood up to go home. "I know you pity me or laugh at me now. But you have nothing to be proud of... Mr. Lu, do you know? You and I are no different, the only difference is that you met your husband, and I didn't."
"Most people in this world are not so lucky."
She wanted to avoid the matchmaker's group, so she walked furtively along the shadowy wall.
Ah Mian yelled at her, "Don't you understand? How much does it matter to others how we live our lives?"
Meng Jing shook her head, "Forget it, don't talk to her anymore, let her do whatever she wants."
"Hmm. I was just wondering what would have happened if I hadn't married your brother."
What do you think?
After thinking about it carefully, A-Mian said, "I think I'm still selling tofu."
Once home, Meng Jing went into the kitchen; she was going to cook her favorite meal!
The family's cooking is now done to cater to A-Mian and A-Nian's tastes. Even when cooking dry rice, they add an extra spoonful of water to make it soft and mushy. Xiao-Jing can eat this kind of rice, but she doesn't like it. She prefers firm rice, especially the fragrant crispy rice crust.
She added less water and successfully cooked a lot of crispy rice crusts, and also stir-fried bamboo shoots with eggs.
I couldn't bear to kill the pheasant; I plan to take it to the city in a couple of days to sell it for money.
Meng Jing ate her fill, and she put the leftover rice crusts in a small bowl to save for later.
A few days later, Song Dongjia found a book in Zhoucheng that contained many cooking techniques.
One of the dishes was called "Chrysanthemum Tofu," and when she saw it, she immediately thought of A-Mian and told her about it.
"This dish has a very prestigious name. Look, it says on the label that it was once only served in the imperial cuisine."
Ah Mian was overjoyed and spent three hundred coins to buy back the page. Master Song, with a sly smile, patted her little belly before leaving.
"Do you want to keep your eyes open? We'll look at them tomorrow." Meng Chijian saw that as soon as she returned, she was engrossed in studying the piece of paper, and occasionally let out a strange laugh.
Ah Mian turned her back to him and ignored him, still thinking about trying it at home the next day.
Chrysanthemum tofu is a famous dish in Anhui cuisine. A-Mian had no formal training, so she didn't understand any of the different cuisines. The ingredients for this dish are very simple: soft tofu, wild mushrooms, and goji berries.
The reason it's famous is that it requires chefs to have exceptional knife skills. They can cut a round piece of tofu out of a bowl and make 108 horizontal and 108 vertical cuts on it. After cutting, it's placed in a hot mushroom soup, where the tofu slowly unfolds, just like a chrysanthemum in bloom.
The page also included a picture depicting chrysanthemum tofu in full bloom, which left a deep impression on Ah Mian.
Finally, add goji berries, garnishing the blooming tofu pudding with one, and the dish is ready.
"With so many cuts, how can you still not cut the soft tofu into pieces? Is that really possible?"
Meng Chijian said, "Let's soak our feet first."
Amian complained, "I was talking about food."
"Hurry up."
A-Mian got out of bed, wrapped herself in the blanket, and soaked her feet. Meng Chijian gently massaged her calves for a while, then dried them with a handkerchief before blowing out the candle and going to sleep.
The next day, A-Mian ground soybeans into a block of soft tofu and enthusiastically picked up a cleaver to start cutting it.
"It would be cut off in one stroke, but you couldn't make that many cuts."
"Is the tofu too small? Should we make a really, really big tofu?"
A-Mian checked the paper again and found that the tofu on it should be the size of ordinary tofu.
After a morning...
"Ugh, I just can't do it!" Lunch consisted of tofu with scallions, egg and tofu soup, and pan-fried tofu.
A-Mian ate while feeling frustrated. She wasn't a very meticulous person; even cutting extremely fine tofu strips was difficult for her, and she couldn't manage more than ten cuts. In her annoyance, she chopped the rest into a mushy mess, which became their lunch.
Meng Jing, still not quite satisfied with her treatment, said, "Why do you have to practice this? What's the point?"
Ah Mian said, "Boss Song told me that there's a restaurant in Zhoucheng that sells this. Guess how much a serving costs?"
"Hmm... thirty coins a bowl?"
Ah Mian held up four fingers, her face full of righteous indignation, "That's not right."
"Forty coins." That's quite expensive indeed.
"No, no, no, four hundred coins!"
Meng Jing was stunned. How could a piece of tofu that only costs two coins sell for so much money? Had they gone mad?
"Tell me to try it this afternoon too, Ah Mian, Ah Mian..."
There's only one kitchen knife at home. The two of us cut it in the afternoon, then took turns, doing that in turn.
"Oops, it broke."
"I'll do it, I'll do it..."
"You've only done five reps."
Dinner consisted of minced meat and tofu, cabbage and tofu soup, and stir-fried loofah and tofu.
The entire Meng family ate tofu for five days straight.
Ah Mian kept drinking her meat porridge and refused to touch any other food with her chopsticks.
Meng Jing looked pale and sickly after eating, and said with a pained expression, "A-Mian, we can't possibly train like this, let's not train anymore..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
