Chapter 2: Cucumber Slapping As soon as Old Man Su finished speaking...
As soon as he finished speaking, Old Man Su picked up the knife he used to cut rice on the ground, opened one, and then quickly took out the clam meat inside and placed it on the grass.
Seeing this, Su Li quickly went to pick some banana leaves nearby and put the clam meat on them.
Old Man Su moved very quickly, cutting one clam at a time. He smashed the clams he couldn't open with stones, and soon he had taken out all the clam meat that Su Li had picked up.
However, after removing the inedible parts of the ten clams, there wasn't much left, so Mrs. Wu went to the fields and caught a few more clams for Su Li.
Finally, Su Li went back with a big bag of clam meat.
Meanwhile, looking at Su Li's cheerful figure, Old Man Su and Mrs. Wu smiled and said, "Look how happy she is. It's like she's holding a bunch of treasures."
Old man Su didn't understand why someone would treasure such unpalatable clam meat. He was too young. He would know what it tasted like after his granddaughter had tasted it.
But as soon as she finished speaking, she heard Mrs. Wu's faint voice, "She doesn't want to eat clams at all, she's craving meat."
Craving meat?
Old Man Su was stunned for a moment, then the corners of his mouth drooped and his shoulders seemed to have shrunk a lot. Thinking back to the last time he ate meat, it seemed like a lifetime ago. Even Old Man Su couldn't remember how long ago it was.
"well……"
"It's because we don't have the ability..." Because they can't earn money, their son can't become the general flag, their grandson can't afford to marry, and their granddaughter can't afford to eat meat. It's all because they don't have the ability.
After taking the responsibility on themselves, the two old men's mood instantly became depressed. They silently picked up the sickles scattered on the ground and walked towards the field.
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When Su Li returned home, her mother Chen and her fourth sister Su Tao were also about to rush to the fields with sickles and baskets on their backs. Noticing what Su Li was holding, her fourth sister Su Tao asked directly, "Fifth sister, what are you holding?"
Chen also looked curiously at the banana leaves wrapped in Su Li's hand.
Upon hearing this, Su Li opened the banana leaf and showed it to the two of them.
Seeing this, Su Tao instantly perked up. She leaned forward and gently touched the clam meat, with a puzzled look on her face. "What is this? Is it edible?"
Because Old Man Su doesn't like to eat this, the Su family rarely picks river clams to eat. Su Tao is 15 years old this year and has rarely seen it before.
Chen had eaten it before, and when she heard that Su Li was planning to cook it, she frowned.
"This clam meat is very smelly. How did you get so much back?"
Su Tao, who was standing by, heard that it was river clam meat and her mother said it smelled fishy, so she instantly lost interest and stayed away.
"My grandparents helped me do it." Su Li thought about it and said something evasive to avoid the main point in order to prevent Chen from asking her to do it.
Sure enough, Chen was originally planning to let her daughter throw it away, but when she heard that it was her parents-in-law who helped do it, she thought about it and thought it was her parents-in-law's idea, so she waved her hand.
"Since your grandparents asked you to do it, then just do it."
Chen said this and left with Su Tao.
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After returning home, Su Tao first fed the chickens and ducks in the backyard, and then went to check on the vegetables planted in the fields.
In the sunshine, the eggplants in the vegetable garden are big and purple. In addition, there are cowpeas and cucumbers, all of which are growing well. Occasionally, there are a few bees and butterflies flying around the flowers.
Su Li walked through the vegetable garden and came to the innermost part, where she saw the peppers she was looking for, green and red scattered in the corners.
Yes, chili peppers were already a common food in people's diet during this dynasty, especially in the south. Almost every household grew chili peppers. I remember that they were brought back from foreign countries by a merchant ship.
Su Li picked dozens of red peppers and put them in her pocket before stopping. After picking the peppers, Su Li picked a few cucumbers and some beans.
As for eggplant, Su Li gave up on it. She was a little tired of eating eggplant every day recently. She planned to make a refreshing smashed cucumber in the evening and pair it with bean porridge to refresh herself and relieve the heat.
Because it was still early, Su Li just cooked porridge first. If she cooked it now, the temperature would be just right when others came back to eat it in the evening.
After cooking the porridge and setting it aside, Su Li began to process the river clams.
Su Li used to be a food blogger. Many of her fans always asked her why river clams had an earthy smell and were old and hard to bite. In fact, the key reason was that most people did not handle them properly.
Because river clam meat has a strong earthy smell, the first step is to rub it with salt and flour continuously until the mucus is rubbed off. If the mucus is not washed off, it will taste fishy.
The second step is blanching. Wash the clam meat and blanch it in clean water. Adding some wine during blanching can remove the remaining fishy smell.
Since the Su family was running out of salt and flour, there was only a little left in the jar. Su Li didn't dare to use it and could only use wood ash instead. After washing and blanching, it was almost time for dinner. Smoke was already rising from some houses in the village. Guessing that others should be back by then, Su Li started cooking.
Su Li's cooking skills were not something she figured out on her own, but something she learned from a master. There was a time when she first started her own media business and had little traffic and couldn't make any money. Her friends advised her to just open a private restaurant, which would definitely do good business.
But Su Li is not a person who likes to give up halfway. Finally, with her persistent efforts, she finally became a little famous.
So cooking is one of her forte. It is not difficult to stir-fry river clams. She can cut vegetables, light the fire, heat the oil and pour the vegetables all in one go. If other people are watching, they will find that her movements are so smooth and it is a real visual enjoyment.
Soon, a strong, spicy and fragrant aroma wafted out from the kitchen...
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When Su Tao was walking on a small path not far from her home with a basket of rice ears on her back, she smelled a particularly fragrant smell. She thought that the village chief's family was eating meat again, and she swallowed her saliva and envied him.
Who knew that the closer I got home, the more I felt something was wrong. Why did the fragrance seem to be coming from my own home?
Su Tao couldn't believe her own guess and couldn't help but quicken her pace.
In the kitchen, "Wow, Fifth Sister, what is this? Why does it smell so good?"
Su Tao went straight to the kitchen without even putting down her backpack. At that moment, it seemed as if all her tiredness had disappeared, and the only thing in her eyes was the dish of fried river clams with chili peppers on the stove.
Is it meat? Why doesn't it look like meat?
Seeing this, Su Li explained, "It's the river clam meat from earlier."
Su Tao was stunned when she heard this, obviously a little bit unbelieving, but after observing carefully, she found that it was indeed the case.
Although her mother Chen had just said that this was fishy and unpalatable, Su Tao swallowed her saliva when she smelled the aroma and looked at the delicious appearance.
Just reach out and eat it.
Su Li hurriedly stopped him, "Hey, Fourth Sister, your hand!"
Hearing this, Su Tao looked at her own little black hands that were covered in mud and could only withdraw her hands in disappointment. "Hey, I'll wash them right away. I'll wash them right away."
After saying that, she went to the yard with the basket on her back like the wind. This time, she seemed to remember that she was still carrying a basket of rice, so she quickly poured it out in the yard.
The rice needs to be placed in the yard to dry for a while before it can be stored in the barn. Fortunately, the weather is hot these days and it shouldn't rain.
Here, after pouring the wet rice and spreading it out roughly, Su Tao quickly washed his hands and rushed to the kitchen.
"Fifth sister, let me have a taste, I've washed my hands."
Now, Su Li saw that she was in a hurry and handed her the chopsticks.
“!!!”
“Delicious!”
“How can it be so delicious!”
Su Tao could swear that she had never eaten such delicious food in her life since she was born.
As for the fishy smell that Chen mentioned earlier, there really isn't any at all! It's spicy and tender, and I feel like I can eat a lot of rice with it.
It goes really well with rice.
After picking up two pieces of food with chopsticks, Su Tao still felt a little unsatisfied, but when she thought of the other people around, she put them down reluctantly.
"Fifth sister, how did you make this? It's so delicious, even better than meat!"
As if realizing that river clams are also meat, Su Tao quickly changed her words, "No, I mean, it tastes better than braised pork!"
In Su Tao's heart, the most delicious dish she has ever eaten is the braised pork that the village chief had when he got married two years ago. It was the most delicious dish she had eaten in the past ten years.
I heard that the braised pork was specially made by a chef invited from a county restaurant!
But the fried river clams with chili peppers made by her fifth sister today are not inferior to the braised pork at all!
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Being praised for the deliciousness of one's own cooking is one of the greatest joys of being a chef, and Su Li is no exception. However, in order to hide the fact that she suddenly became a culinary artist, Su Li pretended to be stupid and said:
"I just watch my grandma and mom do it every day, and I do the same."
Su Tao was still too naive. She believed it without even thinking about it. She couldn't help but sigh in her heart, is this what they call talent?
Just like when Grandpa once said that the third brother was more talented than the second brother at making straw sandals? So the fifth sister was more talented than her at cooking and needlework?
"Fifth sister, you are really talented." Su Tao sighed.
Su Li blushed for some reason when she heard this. Was she trying to trick a 14-year-old girl? She quickly changed the subject.
"By the way, why haven't grandpa and grandma come back yet?"
Logically speaking, it’s getting dark, so he should be back soon, right?
Su Li looked towards the door, but saw no one.
At this point, Su Tao remembered what her grandparents, Old Man Su and Mrs. Wu, had just told her.
"Grandpa and grandma said they had to harvest all the rice in the fields before coming back, so they asked us to boil some hot water for them. When they come back, they need to take a bath before eating."
"And Dad and the others won't be back tonight. The Baihu family is harvesting rice, and all the other families in the village have to go and help."
The Wei Dynasty implemented a hereditary system of military households. Su Li's family had been military households since their ancestors, and it had been passed down from generation to generation, and now it had been passed down to Su Li's father and his eldest and second brothers.
Although they were called military households, their lives were worse than those of ordinary farmers. Sometimes they couldn't even get their salaries, especially in the past two years, when they had to work for the court and the centurions for free.
For example, during this period, it was the busy farming season and he had no time to finish his own work, but he had to go and help the centurions harvest rice. He had to go because those fields did not belong to the centurions, but to the imperial court.
According to the court's regulations, military households had another task besides border patrol, which was to cultivate land. However, Wei Gaozu's so-called farming system had long been in name only during its implementation. Those military fields had long been turned into private fields commanded by the thousand households, and the military households had become their private slaves.
Su Li had only seen this kind of thing in history books before. At that time, the military households in the military farming system were just a noun and sometimes appeared in novels. However, Su Li was still very curious at that time why the male protagonist of the military household was disliked by everyone, when soldiers should be admired.
It was not until Su Li arrived at the home of a military household that she discovered the reason. They had no freedom, no private property, and even could not afford to eat in years of disaster. She remembered that not long ago, there was an incident of military households running away in Qianjiang Town, a few hundred miles away. Such incidents had happened more than once or twice in recent years. In fact, they were all ordinary people who could not make ends meet.
Thinking of her father and second and third brothers who had not been home for almost half a month, Su Li sighed inwardly and nodded to indicate that she understood.
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