Chapter 16 Xiao Lu 1 hand
Cai Er, who was standing next to her, saw that she was only looking at the food but not eating, so she nudged her with her elbow, and Su Qing quickly pulled herself back to her thoughts and started eating slowly. She ate slowly, chewed every bite carefully, and only picked out the food from the plate on her side, looking very well-educated, which made Dong Mei nod inwardly.
When she first came in, there were four people picking vegetables, but the long beans in the basket in front of her were the only ones arranged neatly. The rotten leaves that she had picked off on the ground were also put into a small bucket.
Thinking that she was going to bring some girls back to the East Mansion, Mother Wu specifically told her to pay attention to the behavior of these little girls. The girl named Shuiqin had been surrounding her since she entered the kitchen, and she had never seen her working.
Although the one named Cai'er was working, she couldn't help but come in to inquire about the purpose of coming to the kitchen. Only the one named Su Qing was quietly doing her own work.
After dinner, the cooks were still discussing what dish to make. This time, they did not go into the house, but discussed it at the stone table in the yard. The rest of the people continued to work according to their morning tasks.
Su Qing took out a large wooden basin from the house, and poured a bag of flour into it with Cai'er. Cai'er rushed to knead the flour, but Su Qing held her back and said, "Let me do it." Then he rolled up his sleeves and motioned Cai'er to pour water in.
Dongmei watched the two people cooperating with each other in the big bowl of noodles. They didn't say anything but they were in perfect harmony. Su Qing was also very good at his work. There was not a bit of flour on his body and the area around the bowl was also clean.
"Sister Dongmei, have some tea. Mother Yu sent this over specially because she said the kitchen didn't have good tea and she was afraid you wouldn't be used to it." Dongmei ignored the chattering little girl and turned to Ma Wu's family and said:
"Normally this is my first time in the kitchen, so it's not my place to say this, but the kitchen is very busy right now, and your assignment of work is really inappropriate."
Ma Wujia saw that except for himself and the two cooks preparing dishes, everyone else was busy. Only Shuiqin was jumping up and down, and her old face suddenly turned red. This Yu mother didn't even send a smart person when arranging the people, and sent such a stupid person to implicate herself.
"Shuiqin, go to the backyard and get some firewood. We'll be cooking soup on the stove soon."
"Ah, why is it me? I need more, that, that..." Shuiqin wanted to find a job, but after looking around, she saw that every job was already taken, so she couldn't speak clearly.
"What nonsense are you talking about? Just go when I tell you to. Hurry up. Can you afford to delay Mrs. Hong from making the soup?"
Seeing that Ma Wujia was really upset, Shuiqin didn't dare to say anything. She walked towards the backyard with her head down, but when she came to Su Qing, she glared at him fiercely.
In fact, Su Qing didn't pay any attention to this little episode. She was always thinking about the dish. Now that she heard that she had to make a broth, she became more convinced of the feasibility of this dish.
A few people over there were still studying the dishes. They proposed one and Dongmei rejected it. They studied from noon to noon but still couldn't find a single dish that satisfied Dongmei. Dongmei looked at the three barely acceptable dishes she had memorized and thought to herself, is this all I can take back to my wife?
"Forget it. You guys go and do your own work first. I'll take a look." Dongmei waved to the Ma Wu family and asked them to go and do their work. She took the list and began to think carefully.
"Sister Dongmei, please take a break and drink some tea to moisten your throat." Dongmei raised her head and saw that it was Su Qing, so she smiled and took the tea in her hand and took a sip.
"I see you've been working a lot. Although it doesn't hurt to do more since you're still young, I heard you were sick some time ago, so you still need to be more careful."
Su Qing didn't expect Dongmei to care about her so much. At the same time, she was amazed at how well-informed they were. They even knew the situation of someone like her who had just been bought.
"Thanks to Sister Dongmei's advice, I am fine now."
Dongmei saw her repeatedly drawing circles on the table with her hands to get rid of the tea stains. She knew she had something to say to her. Could it be that she had seen it wrong? Was she a cunning person who was trying to get close to her when no one was around?
Although he thought this in his heart, he did not show it on his face and did not say a word, pretending that he did not see it.
After a while, Su Qing spoke up, "Sister Dongmei, I heard you guys discussing the menu just now. Since you guys haven't decided what to make, I dared to come over and offer some advice."
Dongmei didn't expect that this was what she would say as soon as she opened her mouth. The contempt she had just had disappeared. She took her hand and said, "Please sit down and tell me." Dongmei was really not satisfied with these three dishes.
Su Qing didn't hesitate and sat opposite Dongmei openly.
"When I was young, my father loved listening to books and telling stories. Whenever there was a storyteller in the village, he would go to listen. He would also invite the storyteller to his home, treat him with delicious food, and chat all night long."
Su Qing said the words he had just made up. No matter what the original owner's father liked in the past, or even whether he had such a father, the Meng family would not send someone to inquire just because he came up with such an idea, right?
"After listening to the stories, Dad would always pick out some good stories to tell us. One time he told us a story about a rich man who had a disease of affluence and could not eat greasy food or meat, but could only eat vegetarian food. However, the master was used to eating chicken, duck, fish and meat, so how could he eat the simple meals sent by the kitchen? Every time he delivered meals, he would be scolded. Once, the servant who delivered meals was beaten by the master and fined the monthly allowance of the kitchen.
"This worried the people in the kitchen, and no one knew how to cook. That day, the youngest son of the kitchen manager ran in with a fish in his hand. He sliced the fish into pieces and threw it into the pot without telling his mother. The fish meat was very tender and dissolved into the water as soon as it came into contact with it. The child also threw in some vegetables on the stove in the kitchen.
"When it was ready, the housekeeper smelled the flavor and came in. She took a sip and found it extremely delicious. She asked someone to serve a bowl to the master, and the master rewarded the lady generously."
After Su Qing finished speaking, he looked at Dongmei. From his brief experience of eating fish a few times, there was no precedent in this dynasty for slicing fish and cooking them. Even if there was, the fish would just be coated with batter and fried in oil.
Dongmei's eyes lit up as she listened, "Did your father tell me what kind of ingredients were put there?"
"I said a lot at the time. I should be able to remember it after I go to the kitchen."
"Okay, let's go and see now." Dongmei was happy, took Su Qing's hand and went into the kitchen. Pointing at the ingredients on the stove, she said, "Look, is it enough?"
Su Qing pretended to think and watch, and when the time was right, she said to Dongmei, "Sister Dongmei, we have enough food here, but I remember that Madam specifically asked us to use the water from the Bai Lao Spring and the vegetables from our farm, so can we go to the vegetable garden to pick our own vegetables? There are also fish in the river next to the vegetable garden, and they taste delicious."
"Yes, that's right. I was so busy preparing the menu that I forgot about this." After saying that, he turned around and told the bewildered cooks in the room about Su Qing's idea.
"We need to fillet the fish to make soup and add some vegetables. This, this, we have never made it before." Ma Wujia looked embarrassed.
Su Qing stepped forward and said, "I'll tell you the specific steps, just trouble Aunt Wu to make it, and I'll prepare the ingredients as well."
After hearing what she said, the Ma Wu family fell silent. They had no good ideas anyway. The few dishes they had just mentioned were all rejected by Dongmei. They finally got three together, but Dongmei didn't respond for a long time. It was obvious that she was not satisfied.
This is good. If it succeeds, it's my own doing. If it fails, it's this girl's idea. Thinking of this, he smiled and said to Dongmei, "As long as Miss Dongmei says it's okay, just tell us if you need anything." The latter sentence was said to Su Qing.
"No need to do anything else. Once Sister Dongmei returns to Madam and agrees, I will just have to ask someone to catch some fish in the backyard pond, and Cai'er and I will go pick some vegetables."