Chapter 37: The first day of rice planting, the Bodhisattva said that life would not last long
After getting permission, Hua Chao was overjoyed and wanted to show off all the cooking skills she had learned.
So when Gu Jiayue returned home, she saw two dining tables put together under the eaves, filled with delicious food.
The braised eggplant is attractive in color, the spicy chicken is fragrant, the Wujiang tofu fish is tender and juicy, the wind-blown pork with watercress has a unique flavor, the cold-mixed tofu is refreshing and delicious, the boiled green beans and pumpkin are served with dipping sauce, sauerkraut beans and rice, scrambled eggs with peppers, stir-fried cabbage stems with sour peppers, radish and pork ribs soup, etc. There are a wide variety of dishes.
Gu Jiayue and the other two looked at the table full of delicious food and couldn't help swallowing hard.
"Buddha, has Sister Hua Chao prepared all the good things for this year? Will grandma be furious when she comes back and sees it?" Gu Zhigeng said in surprise, eyes wide open.
"I don't know whether grandma is crazy or not, but I know I'm about to starve to death." Gu Bailu struggled to move his eyes away from the table full of food, swallowed his saliva and walked to the well, wanting to drink some cold water to fill his stomach first.
Hua Chao happened to be walking out and saw this, so he quickly stepped forward to stop her: "Sister Bai Lu, you can't drink raw water, it will make you sick. Come here quickly, I have fermented glutinous rice water prepared for you."
Before, Hua Chao addressed the Gu family members as "Master" or "Madam", which the Gu family members were not used to, and Gu Jiayue also felt awkward, so she asked her to address them the same way as herself.
In the southwest, laozao is also known as sweet wine. As the name suggests, it's a sweet rice wine. Villagers use a plant called Polygonum hydropiper to make the yeast, which is then steamed, saccharified, and fermented with glutinous rice or rice.
This sweet wine has a sweet and mellow taste. In summer, add a spoonful of sweet wine and some sugar to the chilled water in the well, and take a sip to relieve the heat.
Gu Jiayue recalled that when she was a child, she loved soaking rice in sweet wine.
But at that time, my family was poor and couldn’t afford white sugar, so we used saccharin.
The vendors sold saccharin wrapped in old newspapers for fifty cents a bag. Every time I used it, I'd pinch out two capsules and drop them into some water. That was one of the few sweet memories of my childhood.
Thinking of this, a trace of nostalgia flashed in her eyes.
Gu Zhigeng held the bowl and said admiringly, "Sister Hua Chao, how come you can do everything? You're amazing."
Gu Bailu nodded repeatedly, picked up a large bowl of sweet wine, and drank it all in one breath. Only then did he feel that he had regained some strength and sighed, "It's really a life-saving sweet wine!"
Hua Chao smiled happily. "The Marquis' Mansion has chefs specializing in eight major cuisines. Just learning one will be enough." Besides, she was the legitimate young lady's maid, so who would dare to withhold their knowledge if she asked for advice? To please the young lady, they were eager to teach her everything they knew.
So she is very good at making southwestern flavors.
"Thank you for your hard work, Hua Chao." Gu Jiayue finally had the strength to speak after drinking a bowl of sweet wine. She looked at Hua Chao with eyes full of gratitude.
"Hey, these are what I should do. Aren't we a family?" Hua Chao said with a smile, a warm light flashing in his eyes.
Although the food, clothing and other expenses during this period were not as good as when he was in the Marquis' Mansion, he also had to sleep in the same bed with the young lady.
But Hua Chao felt that this was the most relaxing time in her life.
She no longer felt inferior to others, but just like all the other members of the Gu family, an ordinary person. This feeling made her feel particularly at ease.
"You guys take a rest first. I'll go to the field to call grandma and the others to come back for dinner." Hua Chao took off her apron and was about to go out.
As soon as I reached the gate of the courtyard, I saw the Gu family returning in a mighty procession.
"Grandma, why did you come back so soon?" Hua Chao asked puzzledly.
As Grandma Gu washed her hands, she said angrily, "It's that kid Gu Yuhe. We asked him to transport the rice seedlings, but he insisted on planting them in the fields. He got bit by a leech right after he got to the fields, and he started screaming and yelling in the fields. We didn't want to be embarrassed with him, so we came back."
Gu Yuhe, who was being scolded by his grandmother, was lying on his uncle's back, howling in pain. But as soon as he entered the yard, his sensitive little nose kept sniffing around, and his eyes lit up instantly: "I smell meat!"
He shook his body excitedly and asked his uncle to put him down.
The uncle was afraid that he would fall again due to his noise, so he had no choice but to let go. "Hey kid, didn't you say your legs hurt and you couldn't walk?"
Gu Yuhe laughed and hopped to the eaves: "It was quite painful at first, but as soon as I smelled the meat, I felt better."
"Wow, is it Chinese New Year today?" Gu Yuhe looked at the table full of food, his mouth wide open in surprise, "It's not this sumptuous even during Chinese New Year, is it?"
In fact, the other members of the Gu family had already seen the table full of food.
But having learned their lesson from the last time, none of them dared to say a word, only secretly glancing at Grandma. Their hearts were pounding, wondering how Grandma would react to this scene.
After washing her hands, Grandma Gu noticed that everyone was cowering, ready to run away at any moment, which was strange. "Aren't you tired after a long day's work? Why don't you go eat?"
No one moved, and some even took two steps back outside the yard.
Grandma rolled her eyes and said that she was not tired from working. If she worked a little longer tomorrow, she would not have the energy to do anything weird.
She turned around and saw two tables of food.
She rolled her eyes and felt like her soul was about to ascend to heaven. She could see the ancestors of the Gu family staring at her from heaven, scolding her for being a spendthrift woman.
In fact, when she took out the meat and asked Hua Chao to cook, she was already prepared. The worst that could happen was that she would just cook all the meat.
But she still underestimated Hua Chao.
"Where...where did this fish come from?" She remembered that there was no fish at home.
Hua Chao's heart tightened when she heard her grandmother ask, and she quickly explained, "I bought the fish from a villager. I saw he was catching a lot of fish in the river, so I bought one from him for ten coins. The tofu was given to me by the grandmother next door, and I helped her grind it. I got the zheergen and zhenxianye from the back mountain, the chickens are from the chicken coop, and the eggs are from the kitchen cupboard..."
Hua Chao's voice grew softer and softer as she spoke, her head lowered, her hands tugging at the hem of her clothes anxiously. She knew she had gone too far, but she thought the young lady must be very tired, so she wanted to give everyone a good meal to replenish her nutrition.
Grandma's eyes went dark after hearing this. "A ten-cent fish, an eighty-cent chicken, an eight-cent egg, and the meat—my goodness! This whole meal must have cost at least two hundred cents."
Two hundred coins, how much food can it exchange for!
Thinking of this, her voice trembled with heartache. "I can't even get through this!"
Hua Chao lowered her head, her eyes red, and whispered, "Grandma, I...I didn't mean it."
Hua Chao really didn't mean it, he was just used to spending lavishly in the Marquis' Mansion, and for a moment he didn't realize that this was not the Marquis' Mansion where they could eat and dress casually, but the extremely poor Gu family of Taohua Village.
But by the time she reacted, it was too late. She had already plucked the feathers from the chicken and put the fish into the pot...
Gu Jiayue looked at Hua Chao's pitiful appearance and saw that her grandmother was very angry, so she quickly tried to smooth things over: "Grandma, please don't be angry. Everyone will be tired soon, so we should eat something good to replenish our energy."
Grandpa received Gu Jiayue's pleading look and pretended to persuade her. "It's already been done. No matter how much I say, it's meaningless. Don't scare the little girl."
Grandma snorted. Although she was still a little angry, she didn't say anything else. "Eat!"
It’s all done, what else can I say?
Besides, I asked Hua Chao to do it freely before I went out, but I didn't expect that this little girl was such a tiger.
As people say, like master, like servant, and it is absolutely true.
"It's time to eat!" Gu Yuhe couldn't wait any longer and shouted excitedly.
Everyone in the Gu family breathed a sigh of relief, picked up their bowls, and took the dish closest to them.
"Mmmmm, it's delicious."
"Hua Chao, your cooking skills are really good!"
"Yes, yes, yes, even the chefs in the county restaurants can't cook as deliciously as you do."
Everyone wolfed down their meal while praising Hua Chao.
Amidst the compliments, Hua Chao's nervousness subsided, and a smile appeared on her face. "If you think it's delicious, I'll make it for you again tonight."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone fell silent and looked at each other, not knowing how to respond.
Gu Jiayue chuckled. "Eat your food."
"Yes, yes, eat your vegetables."
Everyone quickly agreed, but they were thinking in their hearts: Don’t do it again. If Hua Chao continues to do this, grandma will probably be so angry that she will die.
Sure enough, the people who stayed at home in the afternoon were Gu Bailu and Hua Chao.
Because of this meal, Hua Chao lost the right to manage the kitchen and could only help Gu Bailu.
Because of this, she was sad for several days.
In fact, the Gu family was also reluctant to let her go, after all, the food Hua Chao cooked was really delicious.
Grandma Gu rolled her eyes. How could it not be delicious? They had almost everything, chicken, duck, fish, and meat. Even Chinese New Year wasn't this sumptuous.
As for Gu Bailu cooking, there weren't many such requirements in the countryside. During the busy farming season, children over the age of five had to help out in the fields, so cooking at home was considered an easy task.
After six or seven days of hard work, the Gu family finally planted rice seedlings in more than ten acres of paddy fields.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
