At daybreak, Tao Wanniang got up and went to the kitchen. Some of the bandits had already gotten up and were waiting at the kitchen door.
"Hey, you old hag, you're pretty sensible. If you hadn't come soon, I would have been making a scene!"
This bandit was named Li Dashan. He looked to be only in his early twenties, with a dry blade of grass dangling from his mouth and a spiked club in his hand. He had a fierce look on his face.
"Make everyone some plain rice porridge this morning. Remember, don't make it too thin, we brothers are going down the mountain to beg for food. And see, there are eggs in the basket. Boil a few more eggs. There are eight of us brothers, understand?"
"Brother, how about I cook the eggs in a different way? I guarantee they'll smell amazing."
Tao Wanniang said in a humble manner, "Well, I have an oil bottle. The eggs I fry in that oil smell so good that they can spread all over the entire mountain village. If you don't believe me, brother, I'll fry an egg for you right now."
Fried egg? Li Dashan had never heard of such a thing. Eggs were no ordinary commodity, especially in times of widespread famine.
The eldest brother was wise enough to take a few chickens and raise them in the front yard, but they ran out of food recently and now only one laying hen is left.
"You mean those bottles and jars? Why don't you try each one? You seem to have a brain, but don't try to fool me!"
Li Dashan looked Tao Wanniang up and down, then pointed to the cloth bag in the corner.
Tao Wanniang glanced at it and realized it was the same cloth bag she used to store spices.
"Brother, these are all good stuff!"
Tao Wanniang stepped forward and deftly took out the bottles and jars inside.
"Oil, salt, chili powder, and this is cumin. How about this, I'll make you a fried egg first, and you'll see."
As Tao Wanniang spoke, she started a fire. Lighting a fire on an earthen stove was no problem for her at all.
"Watch closely, heat the pan and add oil. Hmm, wait a minute, once the oil is hot, we'll crack an egg in, add some salt, buddy, do you eat spicy food?"
As the eggs were dropped into the oil, a wonderful aroma wafted out, making Li Dashan's eyes widen in surprise.
"Spicy, what is that?"
As Li Dashan spoke, Tao Wanniang was taken aback. Indeed, neither cumin nor chili were things that people of this era knew about.
"This is the taste." Tao Wanniang sprinkled some on the fried eggs, then took them out of the pan.
"It's still too hot, buddy, wait a minute!"
As Tao Wanniang spoke, she poured some water into the pot and then began to rinse the rice.
"What are you doing, you old woman? Don't you know that even water is hard to come by?"
After Tao Wanniang poured out the rice water, Li Dashan suddenly grabbed her and said fiercely.
"This rice... needs to be washed, otherwise there will be too many pebbles!"
Tao Wanniang seemed frightened, shuddered, and said timidly.
"One wash is enough. Hurry up and cook the porridge. You take a bite of the egg yourself first. Don't try anything funny under my nose."
Li Dashan was furious. This water was something he and his brothers had to walk a lot of mountain roads to find a small mountain stream. It was a big secret, and water was hard to find these days!
Tao Wanniang didn't argue and followed Li Dashan's instructions to start cooking porridge. She added some firewood to the stove and then tried to pick up a fried egg to eat.
"You wretched woman, you wish! You think you can just pick up my eggs? You can have this!"
Li Dashan, being very stingy, picked out a piece of food for Tao Wan's mother with chili powder, but he didn't do it himself.
Tao Wanniang chuckled and licked the end of her chopsticks in front of Li Dashan.
Li Dashan frowned in disgust, but seeing that Tao Wanniang looked like she hadn't had enough, he immediately picked up the fried egg, turned around, and started eating it himself.
The moment Li Dashan took a bite of the egg, he wanted to shout out loud. This fried egg with salt and a slightly burning sensation in his mouth... It was amazing!
"This is it, all of us brothers will be eating this later!"
Li Dashan finished the fried egg in one go, and even licked his lips with a lingering sense of satisfaction.
Eight eggs, that's quite a lot!
Tao Wanniang thought disdainfully to herself, "This must have been stolen from somewhere by these people."
There was nothing in the kitchen that Tao Wanniang could cause trouble, so Li Dashan decided not to keep an eye on things anymore. After giving some instructions, Li Dashan left.
Tao Wanniang seized the opportunity and put the sleeping potion she had exchanged for one tael of silver in the system into the egg. The aroma of the fried egg completely masked the smell of the sleeping potion, and there was no problem with the color.
As the sun rose, everyone in the village got up, and the aroma wafting from the kitchen was truly tempting. Before long, everyone gathered in front of the kitchen.
The scarred man frowned when he saw a stack of golden-yellow objects and asked, "What is this?"
“Boss, these are eggs. This woman has some skill; these fried eggs taste amazing,” Li Dashan said immediately.
"Smack!" The scarred man slapped Li Dashan on the head. "You good-for-nothing, you wasted eight eggs in one go?"
"It wasn't eight, it was nine. This guy let everyone try them before he let me make them."
Tao Wanniang noticed the scarred man's displeasure and said weakly, "This brother thinks it's very delicious."
Li Dashan glared angrily at Tao Wanniang. If it weren't for Tao Wanniang's timid appearance, he would have really thought that Tao Wanniang was deliberately trying to trick him.
"Nine!" Not only the scarred man, but all the other bandits shouted. "Li Dashan, do you think eggs fall from the sky?"
Li Dashan shrank his neck and muttered, "This woman's cooking is incredibly delicious. You'll know once you try it, brothers!"
"Brothers, I've already served the porridge, everyone can eat it."
Tao Wan's mother spoke up at the opportune moment, "Well, I see there's still plenty left, could I give some to my child...?"
"What kind of daydream are you having? You think you're worthy of eating our rice?"
The scarred man said disdainfully, as if mocking Tao Wanniang's naivety.
"Li Dashan, since you've already eaten one, then this one is for me, the boss. You don't have any objections, do you?"
Li Dashan's face fell, and he nodded with a wronged expression, but he still swallowed hard. He could eat ten or eight of these fried eggs without getting tired of them.
Is this stuff really that delicious?
The other bandits were itching to try it too. It really smelled amazing; none of them, a bunch of grown men, could ever make it taste like that.
"You old hag, you want some too? No way! Wait over there. After we're all done eating, you wash the dishes!" the scarred man said with a wicked grin.
He stepped forward first, picked up a bowl of white porridge, added two fried eggs to his own bowl, and started eating right there without sitting down.
The scarred man started eating before the others did.
Tao Wanniang was a little anxious. Did that mean that Li Dashan hadn't eaten the fried egg with the sleeping potion?
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