Chef Hua
Chapter 289: Episode 168: Three Gifts (2)_3

Chapter 289: Episode 168: Three Gifts (2)_3

The one who came to deliver the gift was still Dongzi, only this time, besides him, there was also a tall man pushing a cart piled high with all kinds of wild game.

"Look here, wild pheasants, wild ducks, wild rabbits, yellow sheep, and even deer... Our Qingping County is adjacent to the deep mountains, where some things can be hunted, but yellow sheep and deer must be sourced from other places, so it took a few extra days," Dongzi pointed out each item on the cart to Hua Xiaomai, "Additionally, here are several baskets of wild mushrooms, such as black bolete, morel mushrooms, bamboo fungus, chicken mushrooms... Whether you fry, sauté, boil, or deep-fry, they’re all delicious. Your restaurant can now add some new dishes!"

Hua Xiaomai rarely cooked wild game but knew that items like yellow sheep and black bolete, were costly in any era. Given the quantity, it would have required a significant amount of money.

She really didn’t want to accept it and immediately said, "No, I’ve already told Master Wu not to send anymore, you should..."

"Telling me won’t do any good, I don’t have the final say. You need to discuss it with our master," Dongzi said cheerfully, as if he had guessed her thoughts, "However, I reckon you’ll have to wait a couple of days. Our master has gone to the Provincial City for some business, taking the Lady with him. They plan to stay there for a while to enjoy some delicacies that might please the Lady and hopefully improve her appetite. The wild mushrooms are not a big deal, but items like wild rabbits and pheasants, which were cleaned and prepared early in the morning, if you don’t take care of them, I’m afraid the meat will go bad in a few days!"

Hua Xiaomai was speechless.

This Wu Wenhong, he was far too sly, clearly leaving her no choice but to accept!

Seeing she had nothing to say, Dongzi’s smile was so wide his teeth were all showing, "Don’t worry, you can use this wild game to cook dishes right now. If there’s too much to eat, just chop it into pieces, coat them with a layer of salt, and hang them up from the house beam; it will stay good until next spring. If there is nothing else you need, shall I be on my way?"

Before his words had finished, the man pulling the cart had run off and, in the blink of an eye, disappeared without a trace.

With this second gift, she really had no choice but to accept it unless she wanted to be accused of wasting food. Hua Xiaomai, having no alternative, divided the wild game into three portions, keeping the largest at the restaurant for use, taking another portion home, and sending the last to the Jing Family’s small courtyard.

That evening after closing the restaurant, she instructed Zhou Yunyun to prepare all the vegetables early as she would be coming later the next day. In the morning, she and Meng Yuhuai left the house together to collect the neatly wrapped wild game and mushrooms and immediately went to the west of the village.

Hua’s sister-in-law, now five months pregnant, had a noticeable bump. At a casual glance, it looked as though she had a small winnowing basket tucked under her clothes. When she saw Hua Xiaomai, she was naturally overjoyed and came over, abandoning the sewing she was working on.

As they came together, they inevitably asked about each other’s recent situation. Hua’s sister-in-law was full of questions about how Hua Xiaomai was doing in the Meng family, how Meng Yuhuai treated her, whether Grandma Meng was bullying her; Hua Xiaomai, on the other hand, focused entirely on her sister-in-law’s pregnant belly, asking whether she was eating well and sleeping soundly.

"Everything else is fine," said Hua’s sister-in-law, caressing her belly, "but your brother-in-law, he’s just too fussy. Not to mention working, he won’t even let me cook, treating me like an invalid. I’ve told him countless times that I’m already five months along and there’s no need to worry anymore, but he won’t listen."

"Try to understand your brother-in-law," Hua Xiaomai said with a grin, "He doesn’t want you cooking because he cares about you. With your cooking skills, if you prepared the meals, our little nephew might blame you after being born! Now that I’ve brought all these ingredients home, it’s time for a good meal. I’ll stew the wild chicken soup for a while and when your brother-in-law comes home in the evening, he’ll have a delicious dinner to enjoy."

Hua’s sister-in-law uniquely didn’t take offense and just glanced at the wild game with some concern, "You brought so much back, didn’t your mother-in-law nag at you?"

"She didn’t see it, I had Yuhuai bring it out for me," Hua Xiaomai said nonchalantly, raising an eyebrow, "I was just saving myself some trouble, really, but what if she had seen? It’s something others gave to me, and it’s only right that I decide what to do with it."

Her sister-in-law then smiled and looked down, "Actually, we don’t cook ourselves anymore. Your brother-in-law gives Grandma Pan next door a couple of coins each month to help with food, and he brings her extra ingredients we buy. The old lady is so diligent, especially choosing suitable food for a pregnant woman like me to eat, and we’ve been really saving trouble."

When she mentioned Grandma Pan, Hua Xiaomai suddenly remembered something and frowned, "Speaking of which, hasn’t Uncle Ping returned yet? He usually comes back in the middle of the month to settle accounts with us and arrange for the next month’s sauce supplies. It’s been several days now, how come we haven’t even seen a shadow of him?"(To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation ticket, monthly ticket; your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)