The Fan family didn't have a dining table. They didn't have enough money to buy one before, and later they felt they wouldn't have anywhere to put it even if they did.
There were only three thatched huts. People lived on the left and right sides, and the middle was used to store odds and ends, taking up most of the open space. If a table were placed there, there would be no room left to walk around.
There was a smooth, flat stone in the open space outside the house, which could serve as a dining table. However, the children were unwilling to sit properly by the stone to eat. They preferred to find a good corner with their bowls and squat down to watch the ants carry their food.
Shui Qing didn't care; she liked to do that when she was little too.
So, right now, the five children are gathered around the newly arrived Bai Ziqian, and they all look incredibly shocked after hearing his words.
"Kidney, it's a meat dish. My maternal grandfather specially saved it for us to grow up. The smell? I didn't get to taste it," Fan Jiang stammered in his simple and honest manner.
Fan He rolled his eyes and muttered, "You're still not hungry! If you're starving for three days, even dog poop will smell good!"
The youngest, Fan Hu, spoke in a soft, sweet voice: "Not good? No, not at all. Mother's cooking is the best! Everything is delicious."
Bai Ziqian thought disdainfully, "How delicious could a country woman possibly make?"
It's just that you farmers are ignorant.
Then he thought of how pitiful they were, probably never having eaten a decent meal in their lives. He would definitely treat them to a delicious feast when he returned to the Bai family... No, no, he had promised not to rely on the Bai family but on himself.
However, at the strong recommendation of his three friends, he thought he was being very polite and took a small bite of the pork kidney. He was stunned the next moment.
It was neither fishy nor rancid, tender and smooth, and rich but not greasy. This was completely different from any taste he had ever had before.
Seeing their friend's expression, Fan Jiang and his two companions immediately understood and proudly declared, "We were right, weren't we?"
"My mom's cooking is the best!"
"The same dish always tastes better when my mother cooks it than when anyone else cooks it."
Bai Ziqian couldn't stop eating, munching on large mouthfuls of rice, finding it incredibly delicious!
The rice is glossy, fragrant, and soft, even tastier than the best red glutinous rice in the house.
He ate something spicy, so he picked up a piece of stir-fried loofah with eggs to relieve the spiciness. He found the loofah soft and the eggs tender and delicious.
Could this remote little village be the hometown of an imperial chef, or perhaps the residence of some famous chef...?
"Hmm, what is this?" Bai Ziqian, who was deep in thought and accidentally took a bite of the yellow, stringy food next to him, looked up and asked Fan He.
"You have such a bad memory! I told you it was shredded potatoes." Fan He complained, but still answered the question.
Bai Ziqian looked at the shredded potatoes with a puzzled expression. They looked very similar to shredded ginger, but they didn't have the spiciness of ginger at all. Instead, they were crisp, chewy, and had a soft, powdery texture.
What does this taste like? I've never had this before.
"Potatoes, are they unique to this area? I've never heard of them anywhere else."
When it came to delicious potatoes, the children started talking non-stop, and even Yan Qiu, who was quietly eating nearby, joined in: "My mother found a lot of them in the woods. We planted some of them, and we dig some up from time to time to cook."
"We just separated, so the vegetables we grow in the garden won't be ready to eat for at least ten days."
"I never imagined that potatoes were just as good as vegetables. The key is that they taste good and are filling. Steamed or baked, they taste much better than dark flour buns!" Fan Jiang said with pride.
"Potato is the name my mother gave it, but my brother and I prefer to call it Black Egg," Fan He said meaningfully.
Upon hearing "Black Egg," Bai Ziqian felt extremely annoyed. He shouldn't have used an alias that was completely opposite to his real name!
But at this moment, all he could do was bite the bullet and ask, "Why?"
Fan Hu answered first in his sweet, childlike voice: "Because it's black. It's dug out of the soil, all black and round, isn't that a black egg?"
Bai Ziqian: ...Simply and directly, as expected.
After finishing the last bite of food in his bowl, he stubbornly offered his critique under the enthusiastic gazes of his friends: "The presentation wasn't exquisite enough, the combination wasn't pleasing to the eye, and the flavor was too strong. There's a lot of room for improvement."
The five children were dumbfounded.
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