Chapter 89
"What are you laughing at?"
Two pairs of eyes around her looked at her with confusion and bewilderment.
Shu Wanxiu quickly shook her head, saying it was nothing.
Xun Yi was somewhat puzzled, but he didn't press the matter further. He simply pointed in a direction and said, "The rice sieve is hanging on the wall of the kitchen. You can take it down and sieve the rice once. I'll start pounding the second bucket."
"good!"
"Oh, right," Shu Wanxiu said, running back to the kitchen doorway and asking politely, "Brother Xun, may I borrow another drying rack from you to temporarily store rice?"
“Of course I can, but I’m afraid you won’t be able to find it. I’ll go get it.” He put down the mallet and went into another room whose purpose he didn’t know.
Shu Wanxiu entered the Xun family's kitchen and, following Xun Yi's instructions, looked at the four walls.
The sieve, woven from fine bamboo strips and about the size of a bathtub, is hung high on the right wall, according to the owner's height and how they like to take it.
Shu Wanxiu raised her arms high and carefully controlled her strength to remove it.
She took the sieve and went over, and Xun Yi also brought the drying tray.
The two objects were stacked one on top of the other on the flat ground. Xun Yi picked up the rice pounding bucket and poured out all the rice inside.
Shu Wanxiu picked up the sieve and shook it from side to side, occasionally stopping to fiddle with it with her hands. The rice, with its husks removed, quickly leaked through the gaps into the drying tray below.
Gradually, only chaff and unhulled rice remained in the sieve.
The chaff is light, while the rice grains have weight. Simply put them together in a winnowing basket and use a skillful up-and-down motion to winnow them away.
There was an empty winnowing basket under the eaves of the Xun family's house. Before she could ask to borrow it, Xun Yi stopped pounding rice and brought it over.
Even with the two working together, and Xun Yi being very strong, it still took them quite a while to pound a whole basin of rice.
Shu Wanxiu only knew that the rice needed to be soaked overnight and then ground into rice milk for processing. She needed to ask Chen Sanhe for the specific steps.
Anyway, we'll be able to eat this rice cake tomorrow or the day after.
I can't even get any food today?!
Shu Shouyi touched his empty, flat stomach and suddenly felt a pang of disappointment.
Xun Yi noticed his little action and smiled knowingly.
Shouyi has two great hobbies: one is that he likes new things, which is a very common hobby, as little boys have a strong sense of curiosity; the other is that he likes to eat.
Secondly, Xun Yi empathized with him; he knew it wasn't just simple craving.
That year, his hometown was hit by a flood, and he drifted all the way from the Central Plains to the south, where he suffered from hunger. For many years afterward, he could not control his appetite.
Shu Wanxiu didn't do any heavy work today, so she probably didn't plan to make lunch. If she goes home, Shu Shouyi will probably go hungry.
He raised an eyebrow and said, "I'll cook some rice; you can stay and have lunch with us."
Shu Shouyi was somewhat pleased, but Shu Wanxiu waved her hands repeatedly, "How can that be?"
"Why not?" Xun Yi asked in a low voice.
"Afraid of gossip?"
Who would know?
"So what if I know?"
With each question, he took a step forward, until he asked the last question and was only an arm's length away from Shu Wanxiu.
At that moment, the sun was positioned directly behind Xun Yi, his body blocking the sunlight, and Shu Wanxiu was enveloped in his entire shadow.
The relentless advance, coupled with the oppressive feeling emanating from his tall stature, caused Shu Wanxiu's heart to pound wildly.
Before her cheeks turned crimson, Xun Yi took a step back and turned his back.
“I had dinner at your house a few days ago, and there hasn’t been any gossip since. Today it’s just a change of pace; I’m inviting you to stay for a meal.”
"Does it mean that the same thing can be done at your house, but not at mine?"
“We don’t have anyone in our village who talks such nonsense.”
His domineering manner and long-winded explanations were truly astounding. Shu Wanxiu felt embarrassed and tugged at the hem of his clothes, saying, "Brother Xun, please stop talking."
"I agree."
It's just having a meal together; it really shouldn't be treated as something terrifying.
Most importantly, they are really going to become a family very soon.
Xun Yi led Shu Wanxiu and the other woman into the main room to sit down and rest, and then he washed the rice and cooked it himself.
The guests stayed, but deciding what to cook for the meal was a bit tricky.
He usually cooks dishes that are very bland, and he doesn't know how to control the saltiness of his stir-fries.
Only freshly hunted game, after being plucked, bled, gutted, and slowly roasted over a low fire near charcoal, tastes quite good.
But he hasn't gone hunting in the mountains in the last few days, and the only game at home is smoked game, not freshly hunted game.
Oh no... I've got it!
He clenched his fist and slammed it into his palm, then stepped towards the chicken coop behind the house.
Before Xun Ai got married, she carefully raised about ten chickens at home. Every year, she would sell the eggs laid by the chickens and earn a small income.
After she got married, Xun Yi didn't take good care of her, and the fine old hen gradually became thin and stopped laying eggs.
Sometimes when Xun Yi visited the Wu family to see Xun Ai, he would slaughter a chicken or bring one or two live chickens with him.
On very rare occasions, when I see them losing weight and getting thinner and thinner, I'll slaughter one for a treat.
Last year, he went to the prefectural city to help his master with his work, and left the three chickens he had left at home with Chen Sanhe.
Several months later, when he returned, he left two of them with Chen Sanhe as a thank you for feeding them. He only brought one back, and fed it here and there until now.
He ducked down and walked out from under the door frame, to the entrance of the chicken coop, and grabbed the not-so-fat hen with one hand.
After weighing the matter in his hand, he whispered an apology: "I'm sorry, I've made you thin again."
Sitting in the main room, Shu Wanxiu vaguely heard the sound of birds flapping their wings, but the noise quickly subsided.
After more than half an hour, when she and Shu Shouyi were looking at each other in bewilderment, Xun Yi finally came over with a tray of food.
"Auntie, what's this?"
Shu Shouyi leaned against Shu Wanxiu as he stood, gently tugging at her clothes and pointing to the bowl of golden-brown food in the center of the tray.
"Is it... a chicken?"
Although its head and claws have been removed, and its internal organs have been gutted, it still has wings, so it can be identified as a bird.
That size couldn't possibly be a bird, nor a duck; it looked like a chicken. But Shu Wanxiu had never eaten a chicken prepared like this before—golden all over, not chopped into small pieces, with some parts of the skin slightly curled and oozing oil!
Xun Yi confirmed Shu Wanxiu's answer: "It's chicken, I roasted it over charcoal."
Ordinary people wouldn't eat like this.
No, ordinary families don't slaughter chickens for food except during holidays like Chinese New Year.
"You just killed a chicken?!" Shu Wanxiu exclaimed incredulously.
Heavens above! If she had known that Xun Yi would catch a chicken and kill it to eat if she had brought Shouyi with her for this meal, she definitely wouldn't have stayed!
The chicks she adopted this year have been raised for two or three months, and it's still a long way from laying eggs. But this chicken in the plate is so big, it's definitely ready to lay eggs!
It's not even an important time of year, what a waste it is to kill a laying hen!
She hesitated for a long time, feeling both grateful for Xun Yi's hospitality and heartbroken for him.
well!
Shu Shouyi didn't look at Shu Wanxiu's expression.
While Xun Yi was confirming Shu Wanxiu's answer, he was already curious about the taste of the roast chicken.
Xun Yi and Shu Wanxiu sat opposite each other, arranging the dishes on the tray one by one.
The first dish he served was roast chicken, placed in the center of the table. The second dish was a bowl of boiled wild melon with broth. The third dish was a plate of pickled vegetables. The fourth dish was a plate of dried and smoked wild rabbit meat, which he had boiled and then stir-fried in oil. He was a little nervous when he served it, as he didn't even know how it tasted.
Two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes, each with generous portions.
He then set out the rice, three bowls of rice, including Shu Shouyi's bowl, which was a large, firm bowl that had been filled to the brim and then packed tightly.
Finally, a clean cloth remained on the tray.
He placed the tray on an empty stool, carefully wiping his hands with a handkerchief as he explained, "This roast chicken needs to be torn into pieces, otherwise it's impossible to eat with chopsticks."
After explaining things to the two of them, he stood up and, under Shu Shouyi's unwavering gaze, tore off a chicken leg as his first step.
The saying goes, "Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse." Although this chicken has become thin, its leg is still the meatiest part of the chicken, plump and chubby.
Xun Yi tore off the first chicken leg and put it into Shu Shouyi's bowl.
"It was made by my uncle, let's try it and see how it tastes."
Then she tore off a second plump chicken leg and put it in Shu Wanxiu's bowl, saying, "Try my cooking."
"Wow!" Shu Shouyi exclaimed in surprise, and thanked him loudly, "Thank you very much, Uncle Xun!"
Shu Wanxiu snapped out of her distress and saw the big chicken leg in the bowl.
She didn't make a fuss anymore, nor did she try to "get justice" for the chicken.
It was her first time eating roast chicken, and she was a little at a loss. Xun Yi, who was still tearing the chicken meat with his eyes down, noticed her predicament. "Hold the chicken leg with your hands and tear it apart to eat it. It tastes the best."
"Shouyi has a great appetite."
Shu Shouyi was young and not very skilled at using chopsticks. How could he possibly resist such a large chicken leg in his bowl?
He might have been a little timid in front of strangers, but Xun Yi was already considered his closest relative, so he naturally wouldn't be too reserved in front of Xun Yi.
Seeing that Shu Wanxiu didn't stop him from eating the chicken leg, he looked at his hands and found that they weren't dirty, so he grabbed the meatless end and started biting!
It smells so good!
"Auntie, Auntie." He nodded frantically to Shu Wanxiu, clearly wanting to hear the praise from Xun Yi: Chicken leg! Delicious! So fragrant! So tasty!
Sometimes, a food might be praised to the skies by others after tasting it, but when you try it yourself, you might not find it delicious at all.
Seeing Shu Shouyi's unusually excited expression, Shu Wanxiu also grabbed the chicken leg bone and put the meat into her mouth.
Hmm—
From birth until now, she has rarely eaten chicken in any way other than stewing.
She used the biting force she used to eat stewed chicken to tear at the chicken leg meat, but the first bite only left a tooth mark, breaking the chicken skin a little, without biting into the meat at all.
She wasn't having it.
The next time it bit down, it used about 70-80% of its bite force and tore off a large chunk of meat.
!!
Is this what it tastes like?!
The skin is crispy and the meat is thick, tender but not greasy, and it has a salty taste but is not too salty. As you chew, you can taste the sweetness of the chicken.
Brilliant!
Shu Shouyi waited for her reaction after she finished eating. Shu Wanxiu looked back at him with bright eyes, just like him in her excited state.
Xun Yi tore the chicken into pieces, wiped his hands, and sat down, only to be met with the bright, admiring eyes of the Shu family aunt and niece.
For a moment, he was completely disoriented.
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