Chapter 91: Dinner (Page 1/2)
After Lin Man finished eating the watermelon, Huo Qingci took her and Huo Qinghuan to say goodbye to everyone and left first. The others still sat at the table chatting and bragging.
After Huo Qingci walked away, He Zhaodi suddenly sighed, "Dr. Huo is so good to his wife!"
The one named Caifeng agreed, "It's really good. The weather is so hot, and he gave the only piece of watermelon in his hand to his wife to eat."
When the men at the table heard the women say this, a doctor named Wu explained, "What's wrong with giving her a piece of watermelon when she's pregnant?"
Li Mingyu smiled and said, "Dr. Huo is just too soft-hearted. Haven't you seen how hot it is? He goes out with her hand, as if he's afraid his wife will fall."
Deputy Director Chen said, "They're newlyweds, so it's normal for them to be a little sweet. Everyone has been young once."
Deputy Director Chen's wife, Zhao Hongyan, looked at her husband and said, "When we got married, did you hold my hand when we went out? I prepared your bath water every day."
Deputy Director Chen said, "Hongmei, you don't know how to appreciate your blessings. You are enjoying great fortunes living with me in the city.
Haven’t you seen my sister-in-law? She goes out to tap rubber during the day, comes back to cook at noon, takes care of her grandson, cooks and washes clothes, and takes care of my brother.”
Zhao Hongmei was silent. She saw that Dr. Huo was particularly considerate to his wife, and then she thought of herself. It seemed that her man never put her first.
But when she thought of her sister-in-law in the countryside, she felt that her life was very good. Her husband was capable and had a high salary. It was no problem for him to support the whole family with his work. She only had to do housework and take care of the children.
Huo Qingci sent Lin Man home. Lin Man asked Huo Qingci, "Is it true that only your colleagues will come tomorrow?"
"Well, I just invited my colleagues to my house for a simple meal. They won't bring their wives. Li Mingyu invited them because the way they receive gifts for a wedding is different, so they brought their families."
"It's okay if you don't come. We only have one table at home."
"Manman is actually afraid of trouble. Actually, I am afraid of trouble too. When our daughter is born, we can just treat them to red eggs. There is no need to treat them to a meal anymore."
"Okay, I just think the locals have feudal ideas. They think men are superior to women, women can't sit at the table when eating, and their status is even lower than that of a little boy."
"They've all been through this before, and no one can change their minds."
Lin Man smiled and asked, "Should I also hide in the kitchen to eat tomorrow?"
"Don't worry about them. You are the hostess, not the maid. Why do you have to hide in the kitchen to eat like them?"
"You're the best. Your colleagues are all so chauvinistic. I don't know what's going on in their heads."
Lin Man was glad that she was lucky enough to find a man who was handsome, capable, and very considerate.
If she were to marry a man from the island, she suspected that she would either be tortured to death or torture others to death.
In the afternoon, Lin Man took Huo Qinghuan to the beach to dig snails, clams and mantis shrimps, and in the evening she followed Huo Qingci to catch crabs.
Early the next morning, Lin Man took a basket to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy vegetables. She only bought a yellow croaker, two pounds of ribs, and a piece of pork belly.
Huo Qingci took out the vegetables, fruits and other things from the space last night.
Lin Man used the fish and meat she bought to make pan-fried yellow croaker, braised pork, and sweet and sour spare ribs.
The rest of the dishes were all made from small seafood picked up from the sea, such as pepper and salt mantis shrimp, fried crab in the typhoon shelter, salt-baked small conch, stir-fried razor clam meat with leek cores, loofah and clam soup, and a plate of cold shredded papaya.
(This chapter is not yet finished, please click on the next page to continue reading) Chapter 91: Treating Guests to a Dinner (Page 2/2)
When Huo Qingci brought his colleagues over, Lin Man unexpectedly discovered that Huang Yingying and He Zhaodi had also followed.
Lin Man didn't say anything, but still smiled and invited them to take a seat. Looking at the table full of dishes, Director Xu said, "Doctor Huo, you really spent a lot of money. You actually prepared so many dishes. This table of food must have cost a lot of money, right?"
Lin Man calculated that there was one and a half pounds of meat and two pounds of ribs, and the meat cost two dollars and eighty cents; the yellow croaker cost one dollar and fourty cents, and she went to the supply and marketing cooperative and used a few tickets to spend four dollars and two cents.
The other small seafood were all caught by them at sea, free of charge. The vegetables were grown by them themselves, and she got the seasonings from the space supermarket. It didn't cost much today.
Huo Qingci explained, "It didn't cost much. Apart from the meat and the fish, all the other seafood was picked up by my wife at the sea."
Lin Man nodded shyly, "Everyone, please take your seats!"
He Zhaodi looked at Lin Man and praised her, "Comrade Lin, you are amazing. You can actually cook so many dishes."
Huang Yingying looked at the plate of salt and pepper mantis shrimp and asked, "How are the mantis shrimps made? And the crabs look different too."
“They are all fried and then stir-fried.”
"We locals eat seafood by simply blanching it. Comrade Lin, are your parents chefs? These dishes look delicious."
Her mother is a chef, so she is so good at cooking because of practice.
After everyone sat down, Huo Qingci took out three bottles of beer from the bucket and poured a glass for everyone.
Director Xu looked at the plate of cold papaya shreds and couldn't help but pick up a piece. "Is this made with kohlrabi? It's quite delicious."
"Is this cold shredded papaya?"
"Oh, papaya salad? I didn't realize it. I thought it was just pickled shredded kohlrabi."
When the others heard it was delicious, they followed suit and grabbed a piece. "This cold papaya shreds are absolutely amazing, fragrant and spicy, very delicious, and perfect with white porridge."
Huang Yingying couldn't help but pick up a piece and nodded, "Well, it's really delicious. There are several wild papayas behind us that no one picks. I'll pick a few this afternoon and make some.
Comrade Lin, why is your cold papaya salad different from ours? We just need to marinate it with salt and chili powder.
"It depends on personal taste. The marinating method is the same anyway. As for the seasoning, it depends on personal preference. You can add whatever you like."
Director Xu joked, "Doctor Huo, your wife is such a great cook, you're in for a treat. If the cafeteria hires a chef next time, we'll definitely recommend Comrade Xiao Lin."
Deputy Director Chen agreed, "I agree. If Xiaolin is allowed to work in the cafeteria kitchen, I'm willing to secretly go to the cafeteria to get food."
Huo Qingci replied directly, "Thank you both for your kindness. Even if the cafeteria really wants to recruit people, I don't plan to let Manman work there."
"Sorry, we forgot your wife is pregnant."
Putting aside the fact that his wife was pregnant, Huo Qingci didn't want her to do the canteen work. Lin Man's cooking was good because she used to cook it often.
He didn't want Lin Man to continue working so hard in the future. He was not short of money, so why did he have to let her work in the cafeteria kitchen?
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