"I'll be quick too. I'll go straight to the kitchen."
Zhang Hongmei returned to her room and used Sichuan peppercorns and chili peppers from her spatial storage. She would use whatever other seasonings were available in the kitchen.
After thinking for a moment, I wrote a note to Zhang Shouyi, of course without telling him what had just happened. I just told him that I would give him spicy squid later.
Zhang Hongmei felt that telling Zhang Shouyi would only make him worry. The matter was over, why should others be afraid and worried? However, this was just her own thought. How Zhang Shouyi would react to anger later was a matter for the future.
I'm genuinely a little excited. It's not just about satisfying my appetite; perhaps the process is the most important thing.
The kitchen is bustling with activity; several people are cleaning up, and the squid is ready in two large buckets.
Zhang Hongmei rolled up her sleeves and found a kitchen knife and a cutting board. She also brought over three large basins before she began to work.
Wang Xinyi also came in and saw Zhang Hongmei chopping and preparing things by herself, so she quickly came over to help.
"Aunt Wang, I'll leave this cutting task to you. I need to remove the membrane from the squid."
The two of them were much faster. It took Zhang Hongmei an hour to remove all the membranes before she took the knife and began to cut the squid into pieces.
Zhang Hongmei thought for a moment and decided to change it to a decorative knife, which would look prettier. Wang Xinyi also knew this kind of knife technique, so she found another knife. Together, they were much faster.
Seeing that there was still a ember in the stove, Zhang Hongmei cleaned the pot and stir-fried the Sichuan peppercorns until dry. She then crushed them with a rolling pin and set them aside.
Zhang Hongmei asked the chef for a bottle of baijiu (Chinese liquor), poured some into each basin, then added a handful of white sugar and Sichuan peppercorn powder, and vigorously mixed it all together.
Lunchtime begins then, so there's still time until evening, allowing the marinade to absorb the flavors better.
Actually, the food on the ship was much better than Gu Chuanming had described, and the taste was quite good.
Little did Zhang Hongmei know that this time, the reason why there were so many talented people on the ship who were about to go abroad was because Zhang Shouyi and Gu Chuanming were afraid that Zhang Hongmei would suffer. So they added a lot of supplies for her. Otherwise, how could there be several kinds of dishes every time?
"Hongmei, why are you only eating this little?" Miao Xinyue looked at the girl and saw that she only ate one steamed bun and half a mackerel, and felt that she was eating too little.
"I have a small appetite to begin with, so please eat more, Senior Miao."
"Yeah, I think I've gained weight," Miao Xinyue said with a hint of pride.
Zhang Hongmei laughed. "Yes, these days, who cares about dieting? Being able to gain weight is something to be proud of."
The other girls were all looking at them. "Hongmei, are you still reading this afternoon?"
"Yes, I need to use this time to review my textbooks more, because I'm afraid I won't have time to review them once I'm abroad."
"Hehe, I can't concentrate on reading at all right now. We're thinking of going to Aunt Wang's place this afternoon to practice our foreign languages."
Zhang Hongmei could understand their anxiety: "You should talk to Aunt Wang more. She has a wealth of knowledge, not just in foreign languages."
The girls are no longer as unfamiliar with each other as they were a few days ago, and after today's incident, everyone has changed their attitude. They get along much more harmoniously now.
It wasn't that Zhang Hongmei was antisocial or didn't want to be with them; it was that she genuinely felt there wasn't enough time. There were still more than ten days left, and she had so many books she hadn't read. She only had the senior year's economics textbook left, but she hadn't even started reading the other subjects.
Zhang Hongmei read until four o'clock in the afternoon before going to the kitchen. Actually, making spicy squid is very time-saving; it's just that the preparation takes a lot of time.
The head chef in the kitchen had already received instructions from the captain. Besides, he also wanted to learn new dishes. At sea, although they wouldn't go hungry, no one wanted to eat seafood prepared in the same way.
If you learn a new way to cook it, you can also try something different.
"Master, which burner do I need?"
"Comrade, shall I help you out?"
"That's great. Actually, it's not difficult to do this."
"I'm going to learn from their skills."
"Hehe, welcome. I'll explain it to you as I do it."
Zhang Hongmei first prepared the ingredients, but only found ginger, which she sliced a few times. She did see soybean paste, so she scooped out a large spoonful, put it in a bowl, and dissolved it with warm water. The soybean paste itself was too dry and needed to be dissolved with water.
Zhang Hongmei waited for the master chef to light the fire and poured about two ounces of soybean oil into the pot, which made the master chef feel very distressed.
Then he put in a large bowl of bird's eye chilies. "Master, the heat doesn't need to be high." He kept stirring the chilies with a spoon, watching them change color, and then quickly added Sichuan peppercorns, ginger slices, fermented soybean paste, and a large spoonful of salt.
The stimulating spicy flavor emerged, mixed with the salty aroma of soybean paste, tantalizing her taste buds. Zhang Hongmei couldn't help but swallow.
"Master, I don't have enough strength. You put the marinated squid in, yes, pour everything into the pot, and then bring it to a boil over high heat."
"Don't you need to add water?"
"The squid will release water when heated, so you don't need to. But you'll have to stir it with a spatula later."
"Okay, leave it to me. You just need to direct from the side."
Ten minutes later, the pot was opened, and the master chef swung his arms, watching the spatula fly up and down with incredibly smooth movements.
"Master, you can stop the fire now. Just keep it covered."
"Is it cooked already? I don't see much broth, but it still smells really good."
"Hehe, actually we're still missing quite a few seasonings, but our conditions don't allow it, so this is good enough. As long as we have chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns, the two main seasonings, it'll be fine."
Zhang Hongmei left the kitchen, not wanting to be unable to eat anything later.
Zhang Hongmei went back to her room, found a lunchbox, and went back to the kitchen.
"Master, it will be ready in ten minutes. Please pack it into a lunchbox for me so I can eat it tonight. I'm afraid it will all be gone soon."
"Okay, no problem. We really have to grab them all. I just tried some, and they're so delicious. I'll serve them to you right now."
Zhang Hongmei thought that Zhang Shouyi would definitely love to eat it, and the old man would like it even more.
He carried the lunchbox back to his room and put it in his ring. He found Zhang Shouyi's note, but it couldn't really be called a note; it was more like a letter.
I looked through their letters and saw they were all about how much they missed me. It would be a lie to say I wasn't happy, and I even felt a little embarrassed. But picking up a pen to reply was a problem; I didn't know what to write.
In the end, it was just a few short sentences, asking them if they liked spicy squid. Zhang Hongmei herself felt embarrassed, but she really didn't know how to write it. Oh well, if Zhang Shouyi wasn't satisfied, so be it. That's just how she was; it wasn't intentional. Whatever.
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