nycdaug Chapter 56 Eating
Chapter 56 Eating
With all the ingredients prepared, the four of them began cooking in an orderly manner. Aunt Wu steamed buns, and Sister Zhang stewed pork and cabbage.
Seeing the white tofu that Lin Yan took out, I felt a pang of sympathy for her.
Li Xiaocao helped prepare the fish, and Lin Yan sliced it. The fish slices were mixed with salt, wine, flour, and eggs and set aside to marinate. Then, oil was put in a pot, and scallions, ginger, garlic, and chili peppers were sautéed until fragrant. The fish head was added and stir-fried, followed by cooking wine, soy sauce, and sugar.
"It smells so good, so good!" Li Xiaocao sniffed and sneezed.
Lin Yan stir-fried for a while, then added hot water. After the water boiled, she added the fish slices and bok choy. After a few minutes, when the fish slices were cooked, she put them into a bowl.
Li Deshan had long been drawn by the aroma, and he swallowed hard as he looked at the boiled fish slices in Lin Yan's basin.
"What kind of dish is this? I don't think I've ever seen this before."
Boiled fish slices.
"Hey, hey, it's hot! Wait! Let's all eat together!" Lin Yan pushed away Li Deshan's outstretched hand.
"Dinner hasn't started yet, Chef Li! We still have one dish to make," Li Xiaocao said with a smile.
"So much for you, humph." Li Deshan swallowed hard. Seeing that Lin Yan wouldn't give him any, he could only walk away, thinking that he should stay away from the smell.
Meanwhile, on the construction site outside,
"What smells so good?" Zhang Qingfeng sniffed.
"It's definitely meat, I can smell it." Li Ping closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his stomach began to protest, rumbling loudly.
"It smells so good! I'm so hungry!" a dark-skinned man muttered, looking at the smoke rising from the thatched hut.
"Isn't it almost time to eat?"
"No way, it's only the end of the 9-11 PM time, it'll still be an hour," Li Ping said.
"Huh? Another hour is needed!"
"This must have been made for us!"
"No way, is there still meat? It should be for the host family to eat themselves." Zhang Lei saw that the group had stopped digging the foundation and were looking towards the thatched hut, advising them not to think about it anymore.
"Ugh, it smells so good! It would be better if I couldn't smell it, but working while smelling this is torture!" Li Ping sighed.
"Hey, Master Li, what brings you out here!" Zhang Lei called out to Li Deshan as he walked out with his hands behind his back.
"It smells so good inside! That little girl Lin Yan won't let me eat anything. I can't stand it anymore!" Li Deshan complained.
"Aren't you the chef they hired? Why aren't you eating with them?" Zhang Lei thought Li Deshan meant that he had to wait for the working meals like them.
"Isn't this what we've been waiting for you guys? Hurry up and get to work! Once we're done digging here, we'll go find Lin Yan and have dinner." Li Deshan thought to himself, if he goes alone, he won't get any food, but if everyone goes together, then they can all eat.
"What? Is this for us to eat?" Li Ping asked in surprise.
“Of course!” Li Deshan nodded.
"Chef Li, what dishes do you have?"
"Steamed buns, one pork and cabbage dish, boiled fish slices, and one more I didn't see."
"So many, and they're still steamed buns!" Zhang Lei was also surprised. He usually worked for others and was only given some coarse grain buns, or maybe a meat dish if he was better off. This family was too generous.
"It smells so good, who is it?" Li Ping asked.
"It's that boiled fish fillet, damn it, Lin Yan wouldn't let me eat it first." Li Deshan was full of resentment.
Seeing everyone put down their hoes and stare at him, swallowing hard, he got even angrier. "Alright, stop asking and get to work!"
"Okay, okay, let's do it!" Everyone nodded hurriedly.
He buried his head in his work and, thinking about the fish and meat steamed buns he would be eating later, he became even more motivated.
The dozen or so people worked diligently and without distraction. What Li Deshan estimated would take half an hour, they finished in half an hour.
Li Deshan glanced at it, nodded in satisfaction, and waved his hand, "Put your things down, wash your hands, and go eat!"
"Okay!" everyone responded and quickly went to the river to wash their hands.
Li Deshan strode to the kitchen and saw that Lin Yan and the others had indeed prepared all the dishes. In addition to the two dishes he had seen, there was also a stir-fried eggplant with sliced pork.
"Lin Yan, it's time to eat!" Li Deshan said, raising his head towards Lin Yan.
Lin Yan glanced at him, then saw the workers behind him and smiled, "Alright. Let's eat!"
"Miss Lin, what shall we eat? We've been smelling the delicious aroma for a while now."
"Come and see for yourself! Everyone, come and get your bowls and eat!" Lin Yan called out to everyone.
Li Deshan had already prepared bowls and chopsticks to serve the food, but Zhang's wife had only served him a spoonful of boiled fish slices when he eagerly took a bite.
"Whoosh, whoosh, hiss!" Li Deshan's eyes widened, his gaze bright. "Delicious, delicious! Hiss!"
"Take it easy! It's still hot!" Aunt Zhang quickly said.
When everyone arrived, they saw three large bowls full of dishes, all with meat, and stacks of white steamed buns.
My heart skipped a beat.
"Quick, quick, Auntie, give me some too, I want to try it." Li Ping pointed to the pot of boiled fish slices. He must have smelled this aroma just now, and it had almost made him drool.
"Alright, everyone, one at a time, there's plenty!" Sister Zhang called out.
"This fish fillet is spicy. If you can't handle spicy food, you can try it first before deciding whether to order it." She added that Zhang Qingfeng couldn't eat spicy food.
When it was Zhang Qingfeng's turn, he looked at his wife and said, "Wife, give me some of this, I want to try it!"
"This flavor is too strong, I'm afraid you can't handle it!" Aunt Zhang hesitated. "How about I make you a smaller portion, just some fish slices?"
"Row."
After everyone had gotten their food, Lin Yan set out several sets of folding tables and chairs made by her father, just enough for everyone to sit down and eat.
The group, who had been talking, started eating and wolfed down their food, no longer caring about anyone else.
"Delicious! The fish fillets you made are really good, Lin Yan," Zhang's wife exclaimed.
Aunt Wu nodded and asked, "What is this red thing? I don't think I've ever seen this before."
"This is chili pepper; that's how the spiciness of the fish fillets comes about."
"This tastes great!" Sister Zhang exclaimed, then looked at Zhang Qingfeng, who was eating with great gusto.
Zhang Qingfeng felt his mouth was numb, but he still wanted to eat. However, Li Ping and the others were wolfing down their food, while he could only take small bites.
Everyone ate heartily with meat and white steamed buns, thoroughly enjoying their meal.
After they had eaten their fill, everyone sat in their chairs and reminisced.
"This food is really delicious."
"That's right, even during Chinese New Year at home, the food doesn't taste this good."
"These fish fillets smell delicious. I'll ask my husband to try making them when I get home. I don't usually like eating fish because I think it's too fishy. But these aren't fishy at all."
"That's because the owner makes it so well."
"Come on, come on, the dessert fruit is here!" Li Xiaocao and her two aunts came over with three big watermelons and cut them up for everyone.
"There's also fruit!" Everyone's eyes lit up again.
"How sweet!"
"Did you plant these, Lin Yan?" Li Deshan saw that they had brought them from behind the thatched hut.
"Yes, these are homegrown. Everyone, don't be stingy, eat as much as you want, there's plenty."
The crowd cheered, but no one ate much; they only tried one or two pieces before stopping.
They sat contentedly in their chairs, chatting.
…………
"Lin Yan, go and recruit some more people this afternoon. With so few people, the progress of building your house is too slow," Li Deshan said, clicking his tongue.
"Okay, then let's go to the village and recruit some people. Anyway, with you here, I don't need to worry."
"Hmph, no need to flatter me, just cook more delicious food and that's it."
Seeing that the two were about to ask for help, Zhang Qingfeng asked, "Lin Yan, are you looking for someone to do the work?"
"Yes, Brother Zhang, this is a good opportunity for you to choose one."
"I'll go with you this afternoon." Zhang Qingfeng frowned slightly. He knew the able-bodied men in the village quite well, which family was honest and kind, and which was cunning and deceitful. Lin Yan probably wouldn't know the situation if she went alone.