Chapter 50: The Threshold Girl, Lu Miao
When Fu Jingyou finished his work, he turned around and saw Lu Miao sitting on the doorstep with her back to the door and facing outside with an innocent look on her face. She had taken off her wet shoes and socks and pushed them far away. Her feet, which were cold and white from being soaked in water, were placed together and stepped steadily on the small stool.
Whether it was because of the cold or some other reason, her toes would occasionally curl up, making her look spoiled and picky, but also a little playful and cute...
Fu Jingyou looked at Lu Miao silently for a while, thinking that this spoiled girl was constantly refreshing his cognition.
Sighing slowly, Fu Jingyou went to the front room and fumbled around for a while before bringing out a pair of straw sandals.
He placed the straw sandals in front of Lu Miao and said in a soft voice, jokingly:
"Just make do with what you wear for now, threshold girl."
"What threshold girl?"
"I can't touch the ground. I can't go anywhere except the small space on the threshold. If I'm not a threshold girl, what am I?"
Lu Miao's eyes flickered. Fu Jingyou's teasing reminded her of the snail girl who couldn't get out of her shell. In a sense, there seemed to be some similarities.
But she is not a "threshold girl" who is restricted by a "threshold" everywhere.
The straw sandals were worn out. Fu Jingyou had worn them before, but they were washed clean now.
Lu Miao didn't think much about it, curled up his feet and put on his shoes directly.
The shoes belonged to Fu Jingyou, so you could imagine how big they were. Every time Lu Miao lifted his feet after putting them on, the shoes almost fell off his feet.
To avoid stepping on the damp ground, she couldn't help but stick her toes out, which made her walk look clumsy and a bit like a goose.
But she was unaware of it and was still following Fu Jingyou around the stove like a fool. "Can I help you with something?"
Fu Jingyou took a handful of green onions and two cloves of garlic. Lu Miao understood and took them. He moved a small stool and sat down next to the table, concentrating on picking green onions.
Fu Jingyou saw that she was serious, so he didn't interrupt her.
After sweeping the room, Fu Jingyou clapped his hands and left the kitchen. He picked up a handful of bamboo twigs from behind the house. He picked the bamboo leaves and gathered them into a small handful, making a temporary shape of a small brush.
Lu Miao was peeling garlic in the house, while outside by the well, Fu Jingyou was carefully brushing her shoes and socks.
There were a lot more things in the kitchen than when Lu Miao came last time. In addition to the various spices left over from last time, there was a small basket of dried chili peppers and fresh red and green chili peppers, as well as a lot of fresh green and humid peppers.
Lu Miao looked at him curiously and asked Fu Jingyou in a high voice:
“Where do these fresh peppercorns come from?”
"I picked it from the mountains."
"In the mountains?"
Fu Jingyou said "hmm" and said nothing.
Lu Miao was quick-witted and said immediately:
"Fu Jingyou, Sichuan peppercorns are great for removing fishy smells! If there are plenty in the mountains, you can pick some when you're not busy!"
Eat it when it is fresh. If you can’t use it all, dry it and store it so you can use it later.
Fu Jingyou said "hmm" again and still didn't say anything.
Fortunately, Lu Miao's mind was not on him for the time being, otherwise he would have stomped his feet and argued with him, asking him why he was so cold.
Anticipating that Fu Jingyou's cooking skills weren't very fancy, Lu Miao looked at the ingredients on the table and the ones he had just brought, pondered for a moment, and started preparing them himself.
Although she had not discussed it in detail with Fu Jingyou, Lu Miao had actually already made up her mind to use this place as a secret base for her own cooking in the future. So she brought a lot of things with her this time. Not only did she bring the rice wine and spices she had bought before, she also brought a lot of brown rice from the team.
Fu Jingyou was busy in the backyard and didn't come in, so Lu Miao rolled up her sleeves, scooped some water from the bucket to wash the brown rice, and finally poured the brown rice into the pot. Recalling that she had heard before that the water in the rice should cover more than one finger joint, she measured carefully and added water cautiously.
After finally deciding what to do and covering the pot with the lid, she reached for the stove and started a fire.
When Fu Jingyou came in from outside, Lu Miao was already furious, but there was a lot of smoke in the room, and she herself had a cat-like face, and there was a large piece of black ash on the outside of her light blue sleeve.
Fu Jingyou's forehead veins throbbed, and he quickly pulled her out of the stove, "No one asked you to do this!"
Lu Miao explained: "No one asked me to do it, but I just did it."
“…”
Fu Jingyou didn't say anything. He heard the bubbling sound in the pot. He went to the stove and lifted the lid of the pot. When he saw the almost empty water level and the bubbling brown rice in the pot, Fu Jingyou almost fainted.
He quickly added two scoops of water to the pot, then turned around and asked Lu Miao seriously:
"What's going on here?"
Lu Miao's eyebrows knitted together, and he looked puzzled. "What's going on? I'm making rice!"
Fu Jingyou stared at her, remained silent for a while, and spoke with difficulty:
"You've never cooked at home before."
This is a statement, not a question.
Lu Miao pursed her lips, opened her eyes wide, and looked at him with her pupils slightly raised.
The dissatisfaction and grievance in his eyes could not be hidden, and his meaning was obvious.
Fu Jingyou rubbed his forehead, feeling that Lu Miao's family protected her so well.
"After washing the rice, you need to put it in some water and cook it until it is half cooked."
Calming down, he led Lu Miao closer to the stove. Fu Jingyou asked her to look into the pot while patiently explaining:
"Wait for the water to boil and scoop out the rice grains. What's left is rice soup, which you can use with the rice crust to make soup later. That's how you made the porridge at my aunt's house last time, remember?"
Lu Miao looked up at Fu Jingyou and nodded hesitantly.
Lu Miao also knew where he had made the mistake.
She was a little too subconscious. The water in the rice had to cover a finger joint, provided that the rice was steamed in an electric rice cooker. But there was no electricity at that time, so how could there be an electric rice cooker?
People in the countryside rarely use real fine grains when cooking. On the one hand, they can't afford it, and on the other hand, they are reluctant to eat it. If they eat rice for some reason, they will just use the rice-scooping method.
When we were at the educated youth camp, we ate in a big pot. Because there were many kinds of rations, they were all steamed in a unified steamer, and we never made rice or anything like that separately.
Lu Miao had never seen it with her own eyes, so she couldn't understand it. Now that Fu Jingyou explained it, she immediately understood.
The grievance and indignation disappeared instantly, she clamped Fu Jingyou's clothes, and coquettishly acted submissive:
"I've never cooked before, so I don't know these things. I'll know them later."
Fu Jingyou was not angry, but more helpless. The spoiled girl had given in, so of course he would not say anything else, but only comforted her:
"Just sit there, you don't have to do any of this."
Lu Miao was unwilling to give in and said stubbornly: "No, I can't do it, but you can't deny me the opportunity to learn! Besides, I'll just watch from the side, it won't bother you!"
Before, she didn’t know how to braid her hair or make a fire. Didn’t she learn all these by observing others?
Others can take care of her for a while, but they cannot take care of her for a lifetime. She may not know these things now, but she cannot know them forever.
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