Chapter 3 Tofu Xishi, Fight over the Fire Stick

The calm tone made the woman's outstretched hand tremble unconsciously.

Jiang Yanyi's attitude made her believe that if she dared to take it, Jiang Yanyi would definitely chop her hand off. The

woman retracted her hand awkwardly, picked up the knife and continued to peel the taro.

She was the most capable of the women, and now she had stopped, and the other women did not dare to cause trouble for Jiang Yanyi.

Her ears were finally cleared, and Jiang Yanyi continued to concentrate on peeling the taro. She moved the knife quickly and her technique became more and more skilled.

When Liu Cheng brought a few firemen to take the peeled taro, Jiang Yanyi had already peeled two large basins, while the three women opposite had only peeled less than half a basin.

Liu Cheng's first reaction was that the three women were lazy. He said with a gloomy face: "If you delay the army's meal, you will have your head moved!"

The three women opposite shuddered and buried their heads in peeling taro.

Liu Cheng then looked at Jiang Yanyi, with a touch of surprise in his eyes. He had been in the barracks for some years, but he had never seen such a beautiful woman. He changed his face to a kind one and asked: "What's your name?"

"Jiang Hua."

Jiang Yanyi made up a pseudonym.

When the emperor sent the original body here, he did not register it through the Dali Temple.

After all, a girl from a noble family was sent to the border to serve as a prostitute, which would inevitably cause an uproar in the court. The woman he loved was also a girl from the Jiang family, and her reputation would also be affected.

The only one who knew her true identity was the small leader who originally managed the camp prostitutes, but the small leader was chopped off by the newly appointed general three days ago, and her identity became a secret here.

She is now just an illegal resident in the Xizhou camp.

Liu Cheng looked at Jiang Yanyi several times with some greed: "The kitchen is short of a fireman, you come in with me."

As soon as these words came out, the other three women peeling taro looked at Jiang Yanyi with envy and jealousy in their eyes.

Liu Cheng expected that Jiang Yanyi would not refuse.

He asked Jiang Yanyi to peel the taro, not entirely because of Chunxiang, but because he saw that she did not quite understand the rules here.

Who doesn't love a beauty, but an obedient beauty is the most lovable.

Let her know how hard it is to peel taro, and then it will be her turn to make fire, then she will be grateful to him and obey him.

Jiang Yanyi saw through Liu Cheng's plan at a glance. She felt disgusted, but she still said politely, "Thank you, General."

Liu Cheng spoke in front of so many people. If she didn't go, it would be a slap in Liu Cheng's face.

She has no power now, and offending such a local tyrant is much more troublesome than being hated by Chunxiang. There are so many people in the kitchen, and Liu Cheng can't do anything to her.

Her current identity is just a camp prostitute. She was called here to help cook today, and she didn't know what she would be called to do tomorrow. She has cooking skills. If she can work in the Huotou Camp, it will be better than her current situation.

She washed the mud off her hands and followed Liu Cheng into the barracks.

The three women peeling taro behind her were whispering "foxie" and other things, but she didn't bother to pay attention.

There were more than twenty large pots in the barracks, each of which was emitting white steam, and the firemen were busy.

Several firemen who were familiar with Liu Cheng saw him bring Jiang Yanyi in, and they all smiled knowingly at Liu Cheng, saying that this boy was very lucky.

Chunxiang, who was sitting behind the stove, was almost angry. She winked at Liu Cheng, but Liu Cheng pretended not to see it. Chunxiang was so angry that her teeth itched.

The only vacant fire was the fire pit next to Chunxiang.

After Jiang Yanyi walked over and sat down, Chunxiang said sarcastically: "Didn't you want to bang your head against the wall before? Why don't you show off your chastity today?"

Jiang Yanyi glanced at her coldly: "Have you forgotten what I told you?"

Touched by Jiang Yanyi's cold eyes, Chunxiang seemed to feel a chill on her neck as if it was pressed by a porcelain piece, and she dared not say a word.

After Jiang Yanyi withdrew his gaze, Chunxiang felt a little annoyed again. Why was she always intimidated by this new girl? No matter how capable she was, what could she do with so many people in the barracks?

In order to avoid fire, there was not much firewood placed outside the fire pit. The firewood in Jiang Yanyi's fire pit had been burned out, and only a dry firewood was still burning in the fire pit.

She glanced at the pile of firewood on Chunxiang's side, and Chunxiang quickly protected the firewood: "It's outside the barracks, take it yourself."

It didn't take much effort to get a pile of firewood, Jiang Yanyi didn't waste any words with Chunxiang, and got up to go out.

Chunxiang wanted to embarrass Jiang Yanyi and get back at him. Seeing that Jiang Yanyi had gone far away, she quickly moved the firewood from the fire pit over there and put it in her own fire pit.

When the chef on the stove comes over and sees that the fire is out, he will definitely scold him. Jiang Yanyi can't stay here to make a fire!

Chunxiang's plan was perfect.

When Jiang Yanyi came in with the firewood, he ran into Chef Li who was angry.

He was not scolding anyone else, but Liu Cheng.

"It is said that the master leads you to the door, but the practice is up to you. How many times have I taught you? Look at what you ordered. What kind of tofu is this? You have wasted a whole pot of beans!"

Liu Cheng was so powerful outside, but he dared not say a word in front of Chef Li.

"Hurry up and ask those women outside if any of them know how to make tofu! There is still soup hanging in my pot. It is sent to the general. You have to keep an eye on it all the time. Don't be careless." Chef Li was busy and exhausted.

Jiang Yanyi took a look at the big pot of tofu. The tofu in the pot was black, obviously because too much brine was added.

She returned to the fire pit with the firewood in her arms, and saw that the fire in the fire pit she was responsible for watching had gone out. Chunxiang, who was standing by, gave her a look of gloating.

Jiang Yanyi knew that the firewood could not have burned out so quickly, and it was definitely Chunxiang's work.

She did not say a word to Chunxiang, and went straight to find Chef Li: "Master Jun, I can make tofu!"

Chef Li was a little happy when he heard that someone could make tofu, but when he saw Jiang Yanyi's expression, his face sank: "Do you look like you have been in the kitchen?"

Apart from anything else, Jiang Yanyi's hands were white and tender like green onions, and it was obvious that he had never touched water.

Jiang Yanyi said firmly: "The tofu in the pot turned black because the brine was used too much."

Chef Li has been cooking for decades. He can tell at a glance why Liu Cheng's tofu is not done well. But this little girl has such a keen eye. Maybe she can really make tofu.

This is a dinner for the 100,000-man army. The Fire Camp is short of manpower and time is tight.

Chef Li tried his best, "Okay, I'll let you make the tofu. If you can't make it, I'll hold you responsible!"

Jiang Yanyi heard this and quickly rolled up his sleeves and went to the stove.

Chunxiang was dumbfounded watching from behind the fire pit. Jiang Yanyi went to the stove to work like this. What should she do about the frame-up? After

Chef Li finished his explanation, he turned his head to look at the soup in his pot. What he saw was terrible. The water didn't even boil!

He was so angry that his beard was shaking. He pointed at Chunxiang and started cursing: "How did you light the fire? Are you blind with a pair of eyes? You couldn't even see that the fire was out?"

Chunxiang was speechless: "I... I am not responsible for this fire..."

Chef Li had no time to listen to her. He knew that Chunxiang could light a fire here, it must be related to Liu Cheng. He became even more dissatisfied with his apprentice. He turned around and scolded him: "Look what you have done! Get that person out of here quickly!"

Liu Cheng was so embarrassed that he didn't dare to say a word in retort. He just lowered his head and nodded.

Chunxiang was scolded by Chef Li. Most of the people in the barracks were her old acquaintances. Some people outside the barracks heard the noise and looked in. She felt her face burning, which was more painful than being slapped. She ran out of the barracks in a dusty state.

Jiang Yanyi had no time to care about Chunxiang. The raw pulp in the pot had already boiled. She was busy scooping up the raw pulp and filtering it with a clean gauze to remove the bean dregs.

After filtering the dregs, the soy milk continued to return to the pot and boiled over high heat. Because the beans contain soybean oil, the soybean oil floated on the top layer. Jiang Yanyi saw the soybean oil condensed into a lump and a layer of oily bean skin appeared.

The boiled soy milk can be drunk directly this time. If there were not so many people in the barracks, Jiang Yanyi would have wanted to taste a bowl of this ancient pure natural soy milk.

She glanced at the amount of soy milk in the pot and took brine to sprinkle it into a large wooden barrel.

When making tofu, the amount of brine is the key. Too little brine will make the tofu shapeless, and too much brine will make the tofu black and have a strange smell. How to achieve the right amount depends on experience.

In the previous life, Jiang Yanyi's ancestors made their fortune by opening a hot pot restaurant, but by the generation of Jiang Yanyi's grandfather, the hot pot restaurant declined for various reasons and was never opened again.

When it came to Jiang Yanyi's father's generation, he felt that there were hot pot restaurants everywhere in the streets and alleys of the mountain city, and he would not make much money if he opened another one, so he changed to learning Sichuan cuisine.

Jiang Yanyi's grandfather said that her father did not have the talent to make hot pot. The old man always hoped that one day the old hot pot inherited from the family could see the light of day again. Since Jiang Yanyi was old enough to understand, he taught Jiang Yanyi how to stir-fry ingredients and make the base of the old hot pot.

The old man also has a unique skill, which is to make tofu.

Cook tofu in the red soup base, and eat it when the tofu is cooked and flavored. It tastes delicious!

The tofu for hot pot is different from the tofu bought in the market. The tofu in the market has small holes, while the tofu for hot pot must have more pores to facilitate flavoring, but it should not be so tender that it falls apart at the touch.

In order to make qualified hot pot tofu, Jiang Yanyi worked hard.

Now she is very good at making ordinary tofu.

She poured the soy milk into a large wooden barrel sprinkled with brine, and the soy milk in the barrel solidified into white and tender tofu at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The full barrel looked like solidified milk, which was really eye-catching.

Chef Li ruined a pot of tofu because of his apprentice's mistake before, so when Jiang Yanyi made it again, he kept an eye on this.

Seeing that the tofu ordered by Jiang Yanyi was large and tender, and was not worse than that of him, a veteran who had been busy on the stove for most of his life, he was really surprised.

This girl looks delicate, but she is a good hand at work.

He asked, "Did your family make tofu before?"

Jiang Yanyi was busy putting the tender tofu into the mold to shape it, and made up a half-truth, "My father is a chef, and I learned a little from him."

When Chef Li heard this, he didn't know why his face had a little more regret, and he just said, "It's good to have a skill, so you won't be hungry wherever you go. Can you cook?"

Jiang Yanyi thought this was an opportunity, and hurriedly said, "Yes, I can take care of a hundred people at the same time to eat hot meals."

This is the truth. In his previous life, Jiang Yanyi's father worked as a chef in a hotel after learning Sichuan cuisine. Later, he started a business and went to the countryside to hold buffets. Jiang Yanyi would go with him when she was free. She was not good at other things, but she was quite talented in cooking. No matter what dish she learned, she could cook it. When her father was too busy, she would often rush over to take over.

There was a hint of disappointment in Chef Li's eyes, and he obviously thought Jiang Yanyi was lying.

If Jiang Yanyi said that she could cook some home-cooked meals, he would believe her, but at the same time, not many chefs in the barracks would dare to boast that she could cook hot dishes for hundreds of people.

The threshold to become a chef seems low, but it is actually very challenging. Cooking requires not only comprehension, but also diligence. Just the knife skills need to be practiced for a year and a half before you can wield a knife properly.

Jiang Yanyi's hands were delicate and tender, and I'm afraid he had never touched water before, let alone holding a knife.

He has always been down-to-earth in his life and cooking. His apprentice is too impetuous, so he dare not pass on his unique skills to him and wants to train him for another two years.

The little girl is a good seedling, but she needs to be trained.

Chef Li said with a serious face: "I want to make three-shredded pork. Cut the chicken, ham and bamboo shoots over there into strips for me to see."

The other chefs shook their heads secretly. They all knew that Chef Li wanted to teach Jiang Yanyi a lesson, but it was too strict to cut the ingredients for three-shredded pork right away. You know, chicken breast is soft and ham is too hard. Cutting it into thin strips is a test of knife skills.

Liu Cheng was preparing food on the other side, and he didn't dare to look up at Chef Li. He was complaining about Jiang Yanyi and Chunxiang being more capable than the other, and he also felt that Chef Li was killing a chicken to scare the monkeys.

Jiang Yanyi could sense the change in Chef Li's attitude towards her, but she didn't say much, just went over to cut the shreds.

This was obviously ignorant of the world in the eyes of others, and some even laughed openly.