Chapter 5 Flirting The Little Cook Goes Mad

He scooped another spoonful into his mouth with some disbelief. The taste buds on the tip of his tongue were light, but they were indeed spicy and salty.

Feng Shuo frowned, which frightened the guards beside him, thinking that the food was not to his taste.

But he picked up the ebony silver chopsticks and tasted other dishes, braised fish, eight-treasure duck, halved pig's trotters... each with its own flavor.

The sweet, sour, salty and spicy flavors bloomed on the taste buds, and this feeling was very unfamiliar.

Feng Shuo held the ebony chopsticks inlaid with silver, his expression was indistinguishable: "This dish..."

The guard said hurriedly: "I will ask the fire camp to make another one and send it over."

Feng Shuo shook his head and scooped a piece of tofu pudding with a silver spoon: "This dish... tastes okay, the tofu pudding is well made, appreciate it."

His sense of taste seemed to have recovered a little.

He tried to act calm, not wanting to let others see the clues.

But the guard was very surprised. He had been with Feng Shuo for some years, and had never seen Feng Shuo appreciate any chef. This was the first time, and he immediately took notice.

He secretly noted down everything Feng Shuo ate a little more.

Finally, the guard found that the bowl of tofu pudding was eaten up, and he could not believe his eyes. The master would have a bowl of tofu pudding for every meal, but in the past, the master would not touch it after taking a bite. Today's situation has never happened before.

The guard thought that it was necessary to reward the cooks of Huotouying, especially the one who made tofu.

At night, the bonfire outside the barracks was lit.

People from all the major camps had been sent to collect the meals, and the people from Huotouying were finally free, sitting on the ground in groups of three or two outside the barracks.

Jiang Yanyi only drank half a bowl of coarse rice porridge today. He was so busy that he was already starving.

The dinner distributed to them was green vegetable and coarse rice soup with boiled taro. Compared with the clear porridge at noon, this rice soup was indeed much thicker.

In the military camp, only the generals had refined rice with a few side dishes for their three meals. Ordinary soldiers only had two buckwheat noodles and a bowl of coarse rice porridge in the morning, and coarse rice steamed rice at noon, and coarse rice and vegetable soup at night.

The amount of rice and vegetables used in the kitchen were weighed and recorded, and the people in the fire camp did not dare to steal fish.

Jiang Yanyi took the bowl of porridge and found a secluded place to sit down.

The coarse rice was really hard to swallow. She couldn't help but think of the benefits given by several women in the barracks to the two firemen who delivered the meal at noon.

Could it be that they spent some money just for a bowl of coarse rice and vegetable soup?

Jiang Yanyi glanced at the women sitting far away. Chunxiang was also sitting there. They seemed to have a good relationship, but none of them had bowls of porridge in their hands.

When they saw Jiang Yanyi looking over there, they whispered something to each other. Soon Chunxiang also looked over at Jiang Yanyi.

She and Liu Cheng had reconciled at some point. She deliberately raised her voice to flirt with him, as if she was afraid that Jiang Yanyi couldn't hear her. She also gave Jiang Yanyi a provocative look.

Jiang Yanyi was too lazy to roll his eyes this time. He drank his coarse rice and vegetable soup with an expressionless face.

Suddenly, a shadow fell in front of her. A soldier with pockmarks on his face sat down in front of her, grinning and showing his yellow teeth: "I heard that you are a new camp prostitute?"

He looked at Jiang Yanyi with lustful eyes: "Are you looking for death, or are you a whore?"

Jiang Yanyi was so disgusted that the hairs on her body stood up. She picked up the bowl of porridge and stood up to leave.

But the pockmarked man blocked her way and said with a sly smile: "Why are you hiding, young lady? I am not a cannibal."

Everyone around was watching the show.

Jiang Yanyi said coldly: "The general has ordered that those who visit prostitutes for fun will be punished by military law!"

The pockmarked man laughed: "I just want to talk to you, young lady, how can it be considered visiting prostitutes for fun?"

Everyone laughed.

Jiang Yanyi knew that this person was fearless because she was sure that as a camp prostitute, she would not be able to complain to the general.

She was barefoot and was afraid of those who wore shoes, so she would just make a big fuss!

She raised her hand and slammed a bowl of vegetable soup on the pockmarked face's head: "Talk about your mother!"

The pockmarked face screamed miserably from the burn, wiped the vegetable soup off his face, and made a gesture to hit Jiang Yanyi: "You stinky bitch, you have no shame!"

"What are you doing!" A deep shout stopped the pockmarked face. The person

who came over was a young steward on the stove, about the same age as Chef Li, with two moustaches on his mouth, and a shrewd look.

The pockmarked man immediately complained, "Zhao Tou'er, this woman splashed hot soup on me, look how burned I am!"

Zhao Tou'er glanced at him and said, "Okay, Wang Mazi, put away your little tricks."

He turned to look at Jiang Yanyi, his eyelids drooping, "Someone is coming from the general, you come with me."

Jiang Yanyi's heart skipped a beat, could it be that tofu pudding is not to the general's taste?

On the way back to the barracks, people were looking at her, and their expressions were either sympathetic or pitiful, or even gloating, which made her more uneasy. When she entered

the barracks, she saw a flag officer in full armor standing in the middle. He was born with a strong back and a long scar on his face, which made him look ferocious. He had a big knife on his waist, which made people in the room dare not breathe.

Chef Li and several other chefs stood aside very reservedly.

Jiang Yanyi felt even more uneasy when she saw this scene.

She managed to keep her composure and greeted him: "General, you called me?"

The flag officer glanced at her and said in a voice like a bell: "Did you make the tofu pudding?"

Jiang Yanyi's heart was beating wildly and her palms were sweating. Was she going to be beheaded because the tofu pudding was not to the general's taste?

She was afraid that she would become the fastest person to die in history.

Jiang Yanyi licked her dry lips and said slowly: "Yes... I did it."

The flag officer's big hands like a palm leaf fan reached to his waist -

there was only a big knife hanging there.

Are you going to be beheaded directly in the Huotou Camp?

How unrefined!

Jiang Yanyi's legs were so weak that he could hardly stand, but his mind was still full of random thoughts.

"Your dishes are well cooked, the general will reward you!"

The flag officer took out several guan of money from his waistband.

Chef Li got two guan, and the other chefs got one guan each.

The flag officer handed the last guan to Jiang Yanyi: "The general said that your tofu pudding is very good."

The onlookers thought that Jiang Yanyi would be punished, but unexpectedly he was rewarded, and they all showed envy. Now that there is no war, the monthly salary of these miscellaneous troops is only 600 yuan, and one guan is one thousand yuan.

Jiang Yanyi held the guan of copper money, with a confused look on her face.

Was she rewarded?

Why did he act like he was going to be beheaded!

She was confused for a long time before she slowly came to her senses.

Chef Li thought she was so happy that she was stupid, and warned her: "Don't be arrogant or impatient. Making every dish well is the real skill."

Jiang Yanyi nodded and thanked Chef Li again.

The general didn't know that she was the one who made the tofu pudding. If Chef Li was greedy for this credit, she would not know.

But Chef Li didn't. The reward was secondary. The key was that this gave her a chance to stand out. Jiang Yanyi was really grateful to Chef Li.

Liu Cheng watched this scene from the side, and a little unwillingness flashed in his eyes -

if he hadn't given up this opportunity, how could Jiang Yanyi get to make tofu?

Chunxiang didn't look good either. She had lost face in the kitchen today, but this newcomer kept stealing the limelight. How could she gain a foothold among a group of women after returning? She looked at Jiang Yanyi with an increasingly unfriendly look.

Jiang Yanyi put the reward money into her sleeves, feeling the heavy weight of her cuffs, and felt inexplicably at ease.

Because of this wave of rewards, the firemen became polite to her, and the women in the barracks would even take the initiative to talk to her in a friendly manner.

Jiang Yanyi was in a very subtle mood. She remembered a sentence she had heard before: When you become strong, there are good people around you, and everyone is friendly to you①.

Now that she is in this strange world, she has a solid understanding of what worldly sophistication is.

She had poured out the porridge she had previously, and was about to scoop out porridge again when the barracks suddenly became busy again.

Chef Li looked around but didn't see Liu Cheng. Seeing Jiang Yanyi standing next to the porridge bucket, he called her, "Who is that? Come over here and help me."

Jiang Yanyi thought that the soldiers wanted to have extra meals, so she didn't dare to delay and went to the stove.

Chef Li gave her a list and said, "Go find Zhao Tou'er and weigh the ingredients needed to make these dishes. Tell him and I'll pay for them later."

Jiang Yanyi knew how to weigh the ingredients and keep the account, but she was a little confused about how to pay for them.

Following the principle of doing more, watching more, talking less and asking less, she took the list and went directly to Zhao Tou'er.

After reading the list, Zhao Tou'er handed the ingredients to her without hesitation. While weighing them, he muttered: "Now the situation in the Xizhou camp has changed. I wonder if Old Li's private kitchen can continue to operate..."

Jiang Yanyi was shocked. It turned out that the dishes that Chef Li made now were sold secretly to the soldiers in the army.

No wonder Chef Li had to pay for the ingredients.

She learned from Zhao Tou'er that when the previous general was in office, because the food in the army was not good, the soldiers were so hungry that they ran out of the barracks in the middle of the night to steal food from nearby fields, causing complaints from the surrounding people. After

Chef Li opened this private kitchen, soldiers who were not full or thought the food was not tasty would come to the private kitchen to buy food. The former general turned a blind eye to this, but every year Chef Li would take out a large sum of money from his private stove to honor the former general.

Now that the world is at peace, the treasury is abundant, and the court is not short of money and food for the Xizhou camp, the soldiers of the Xizhou camp eat coarse rice every day, which is obviously because the people above are greedy.

It goes without saying who this greedy person is.

Jiang Yanyi took the dishes back to the stove and prepared them according to Chef Li's requirements. She was quick and hardworking. No matter what Chef Li wanted when cooking, she could deliver it in time, even if Chef Li forgot to mention some seasonings or processes, she could prepare them.

Chef Li sighed when he remembered that Liu Cheng was often in a hurry when he helped him.

After finishing today's private order, the food was packed into lunch boxes. Not long after, several soldiers came to pick up the lunch boxes. After settling the bill, Chef Li was given a new list, which was the private order to be made tomorrow.

One of the lunch boxes was taken away by the woman who had bribed the fireman at noon. Jiang Yanyi then understood why they and Chunxiang had not eaten coarse rice porridge before.

Everyone else had finished work and returned to the camp, but it was still early. Chef Li and several other chefs were happy because they received bonuses today, so they set up a table outside the barracks, warmed up a pot of wine, made two simple side dishes, and chatted while drinking.

Jiang Yanyi was still hungry. Although she had money, she saw that Chef Li and Zhao Tou'er were drinking and chatting happily, so she didn't bother them and said that she wanted to buy food.

- Chef Li and his private orders were all booked one day in advance.

Although she could cook, she still had to ask Zhao Tou'er to weigh the ingredients. It seemed unruly to think about cooking for herself on the first day in Huotouying.

She looked at the porridge bucket and saw that there was still some coarse rice and vegetable soup left in it. It was still warm, so she found a bowl and scooped some, squatted in the corner and drank it in small sips.

At this time, two sentries who had just changed their posts came outside.

It was a cold night with heavy dew. One of them rubbed his arms and asked Chef Li: "Boss Li, is there anything to eat?"

Chef Li and his men had been busy all day and finally felt a little lazy when they had a break. They didn't want to open the stove at this time, so they refused: "It's past dinner time, how can there be anything to eat?"

"Boss Li, everyone knows your cooking skills. Just make something for us brothers. We only had two coarse flour buns this morning, and we have to go to change our posts soon. We are really hungry." The sentry put seven or eight copper plates on the table and sat down with his companions. It was obvious that they were regular customers who bought supper.

At this point, Chef Li knew that those who stood guard often didn't have time to eat, and the two were familiar with him, so it was hard to refuse.

But he had drunk a few glasses of wine and was a little tipsy, so he didn't want to move. He turned around and saw Jiang Yanyi sitting in the corner drinking cold porridge.

The girl was born with a good-looking face. I think she had suffered a lot these days. She was so thin that her chin was pointed. Her skin looked very pale under the light. Her head was wrapped in blood-stained gauze, which made her look even more pitiful.

He felt sympathetic and said, "Keep these copper coins and get some food for the two military masters, and also get some for yourself."