Chapter 19 Dinner
The rain didn't stop the next day, washing the stone slabs in the courtyard until they shined. The two waited until noon and finally found two town soldiers knocking on Wang's door. After knocking for a while and seeing that the door wouldn't open, one of them held up his hands to send the other over the wall. But the soil on the ground was slippery, and after falling twice, I managed to climb up and open the door from the inside. After a while, two monkey-like soldiers kicked open the door and left in a hurry.
About half an hour later, more than a dozen soldiers arrived at the door of Wang's house, surrounded by another man in white. It was difficult to go out at this time, so Li Wuxiang stuck one eye out to the door frame and looked at it from a distance, but he couldn't see clearly. The man in white shirt asked the town soldiers to stay outside the door, walked into Wang's house alone, and came out after a quarter of an hour.
He said a few words to the town soldier, and one of the town soldiers made a move to come to the Xue family, but he stopped him. Then the group walked away again in the rain.
Their faces couldn't be seen clearly, but Li Wuxiang could roughly see their clothes. The soldiers were wearing navy blue cloth, and many of them had patches on their elbows and knees. They were of different sizes and colors, and they were probably not original. They all carried eyebrow-level sticks in their hands, but the two ends were wrapped with iron sheets, which finally made them different from ordinary farmers. The man surrounded by them was dressed completely differently. He was wearing a white shirt. Although the hem was stained with mud due to the muddy weather, he still showed his aloof temperament among the soldiers.
Xue Baoping said that the Lord of Jinshui Town was in his fifties and had only one daughter who was about the same age as her. Then this person should be the Qi Refiner named Zhao Qi.
When the group of people walked away, Li Wuxiang retracted his eyes, turned to Xue Baoping and said, "No one will come to ask you."
Xue Baoping shrank behind him: "Ah?"
"He must be a smart man." Li Wuxiang said as he gently closed the door. "Just as I thought, after entering the Wang family and walking around, I knew that they were afraid of going up the mountain to hunt tigers and escaped at night, so I came over to ask There is no need to ask. Smart people, very confident smart people, this is a good thing.”
Xue Baoping was stunned for a while, then took a breath and looked at Li Wuxiang: "But you are smarter than him."
"You can't say that. It's just that we are in the dark, intentionally or unintentionally. But it is a good thing to deal with smart people, which means that everything is controllable and predictable. Then let's go about our own business first." Li Wuxiang was in the yard. He walked around for a few steps, frowned and turned around, "But there's something I've always wanted to ask you - we don't have any rice, noodles, meat or oil. How did we manage to open a shop like this before?" ?”
The word "our family" made Xue Baoping feel dazed. She hadn't heard anyone say this for a long time. Then he scratched his chin: "Yes, yes, yes, yes..."
"Speak slowly and don't be in a hurry."
Xue Baoping took a deep breath and waited for a while: "There will be guests coming down from the river. Bring food by yourself, and I will cook it for them."
He added sheepishly: "But it doesn't taste good. They don't like it very much."
Li Wuxiang nodded: "The problem is not big and easy to solve. But we have to set up the stove again today, open the store as soon as possible, and keep everything normal."
So they spent an entire afternoon remaking the stove, using old bricks that Xue Baoping had picked up before and yellow mud mixed with straw. Li Wuxiang built back the hollow brick that once imprisoned him. It was still hard for him to imagine that Zhao Puppet had such magical power that he could stuff more than a hundred people into it and feed it for more than ten years. He also wanted this kind of magical power.
The two of them were working and talking at the same time, while the rain outside gradually became heavier, and the door panel crackled loudly. After resetting the stove, Li Wuxiang told her about Zhao Qi and his future plans.
"So I think he may be Zhao Puppet's disciple, friend, or enemy." He slowly washed off the yellow mud from his nails in the basin. "I have to find out something from him. I have to try to get closer." He knows what I am like now and what I will do in the future. But he must first resolve my identity so that I can have a suitable reason to walk around the town——"
He paused and looked at Xue Baoping. The little girl was squinting her eyes to burn the damp firewood, wanting to roast the new stove, but she listened very seriously, and then she let out a heavy hum.
Li Wuxiang smiled: "This matter is a bit dangerous and may involve you."
"I'm not afraid." Xue Baoping said immediately, then carefully looked at Li Wuxiang's face, and mustered up the courage to make a little joke, "I raised you, you have been implicated a long time ago. And Zhao Puppet also called I have been burning the fire for many years in vain.”
"Okay. Then, will the Jinshui River burst its banks and flood frequently in these years?"
Xue Baoping blinked in surprise: "Yes, how did you know?"
Because she said that the upper reaches of the Jinshui River had been diverted during the Xuanjiao turmoil decades ago. And in his world, even at the peak of the ancient dynasty's national power, it could not completely solve the flood problem, let alone like here, there is no unified political power at all, they are all independent cities and towns. In this case, it is unlikely to have well-maintained cities and towns. embankment. And according to his observation, there are obvious traces of water erosion on both sides of the Jinshui River that flows through Jinshui. This means that the Jinshui River may flood every year.
But he only smiled: "I don't think so. Do you think I am a god? What month is it now?"
"It's June, I can't remember what day it is."
Li Wuxiang nodded: "In previous years, it would start to rain at this time?"
"Yeah."
The mountain near Jinshui is called Bishan. It is not an independent mountain, but a long mountain range. The sky in Jinshui has never been sunny these days. There are always suppressed clouds in the sky, and there is always dense fog drifting in the mountains. , which reminded him of a city called Jinguan in his world... He remembered that he had lived there for a long time. So, a river that is rainy, mountainous, has been forcibly diverted and is unlikely to have strong embankments... Another flood or flood may not be too far away, and this is his chance to gain legal status in Jinshui.
When the sky became gloomy and a fire was needed for lighting, the rain had not stopped yet, and it became heavier and heavier, causing a white mist to form on the bluestone slabs in the courtyard. Xue Baoping heated up the stove, took out the piece of venison that Wang Wen brought last night, and took out a piece of dried meat from the corner, put the pot on the stove, and wanted to get some food for the two of them. of.
Li Wuxiang moved a bench and sat next to the wall, watching her add water to the pot, planning to throw the meat in and cook it all at once. She rolled up her sleeves while cooking. She also rolled up her trouser legs while walking around the yard, revealing her slender hands and feet and her slender neck. He looked at her in the mist for a while, and suddenly felt that he was indeed hungry.
But when he felt this way, he knew that what he was looking at was not venison or dried meat, but Xue Baoping. The girl's exposed skin with fine beads of sweat made him feel soft and delicate. For a moment, he felt that what he was looking at was not human skin, but more like a piece of cheese, butter, or something else. It can give him a strong stimulation after entering the mouth, and he feels that the entire mouth is filled, and at the same time there is warm and slightly fishy blood...meat...marrow...
Li Wuxiang stood up and took a deep breath: "I'll do it."
Xue Baoping was struggling to chop the hard dried meat with a kitchen knife, and blinked in surprise: "Can you do it?"
"I'm a god, I know a little bit about everything." He took the kitchen knife from her hand, "First scoop out the water in the pot. I'll use it later, and then get me a small bowl."
Xue Baoping expressed doubts about this and wanted to tell him that you can't just throw the meat into the pot because it will burn. She couldn't remember how her parents cooked, but she had the impression that they always boiled meat in a large pot of water and then processed it slowly.
But she thought about it, smiled inwardly, picked up the ladle and scooped out the water - no one had cooked for her in many years, so no matter what the result was, she felt quite happy.
While she was scooping out water, Li Wuxiang began to process the deer backbone meat that Wang Wen had brought on the cutting board. When nutrients are lacking, people like to eat fatty meat, and this is no different. There are alternating fat and thin muscles, but there is a little more fat. I don’t know which part of the deer it is. He sliced off the fat bit by bit, mixed in some thin bits, and put them into a pile. When the remaining water stains in the pot are gone, put the fat meat in and let them cook peacefully for a while. When the oil comes out, turn it over a little.
At this time, the dried meat had been soaked in warm water for a while, and the surface had softened. He used a rag to carefully wash away the stains on the surface, then cut it into thin slices with a kitchen knife, leaving them still soaked in hot water, and then picked them up. The spatula continues to refine the oil from the fatty meat. The aroma of oil filled the whole house. I wanted to slip out, but was trapped by the heavy downpour and came back, which made it even more fragrant.
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Xue Baoping was squatting to light the fire. At this time, he couldn't help but stretched his head to look at the pot. He looked at Li Wuxiang's side face illuminated by the fire and swallowed his saliva.
Li Wuxiang smiled sideways at her and scooped up a smaller piece with a wooden shovel. This small piece of fat meat has almost been refined into oil residue, which is light yellow, and the attached lean meat part is dark yellow. He held it and blew it to cool it down a bit, and the oil residue became crispier.
Then he handed it to Xue Baoping: "Here, I'll give you one to eat first."
Xue Baoping didn't reach out to take it, but brought it to his mouth and bit it. The oil residue was still slightly hot, but she only breathed into her mouth instead of exhaling, fearing that the fragrance would escape, so she narrowed her eyes.
"Is it delicious?"
"Yeah."
"There's still plenty. You can eat half of it later and leave the other half soaked in oil. Next time you have guests over, I'll teach you how to make fried noodles."
Xue Baoping nodded, then lowered his head to light the fire. The newly added firewood was still damp and smoked, making her choke and quickly wipe her eyes twice.
There was a large puddle of oil in the pot, so Li Wuxiang wrapped his hands in a rag, brought the pot to the stove, scooped the oil into a porcelain bowl, and filled most of the bowl. Take out the oil residue, soak half of it in oil, and put half of it in another small bowl. At this time, I took out the meat slices soaked in hot water and put them all into the pot. There was a chirping sound and a high plume of oil smoke rose up - I saw Xue Baoping burning the fire while inhaling the smell.
He stir-fried a few times, scraped the salt from the bottom of the damp salt shaker, dipped his tongue into it to taste, then added a little more, stir-fried a few more times in the pot, and put it on the plate. There was still a piece of oil in the pot, so he broke the backbone meat into three pieces and threw it in. After stir-frying until the surface of the cooked meat was slightly golden, he added water, and once it started to soak, he also took it out of the pot, and the milky white color remained. The soup was served in a large wooden bowl.
Then, the two people sat by the stove, each holding a bowl to eat meat and drink soup by the dark red firelight in the stove. The door of the wing room was open, and the heavy rain outside was pouring, letting in the moist water vapor with the fresh fragrance of vegetation. Halfway through the meal, the light from the remaining fire in the stove gradually dimmed, leaving only the warmth.
Li Wuxiang heard that Xue Baoping sniffed a few times in the dark and took a few deep breaths. He gently touched her with his elbow: "In two days, let's go dig some wild onions in the mountains. It will be better." Eat.”
"Yeah."
"If the rain stops tomorrow, you have to go for a walk, go to the more crowded place across the bridge, let people see you, and prepare for what I want to do next - eat this piece, this thin The more meat, the crispier it will be.”
Xue Baoping said with a nasal voice: "Okay."
This chapter is nearly four thousand words! So touching! I couldn’t help but vote for a lot more recommendations and monthly votes! I was even moved to the point of subscribing to other books to support me!
(End of chapter)