The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 370 - 371 Cooking Talent

Chapter 370: Chapter 371 Cooking Talent

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Watching them all finish their sacrifices, Wang Yongzhu finally headed towards the families selling tofu and fish.

These days, the tofu business was doing extremely well. It was the busy farming season, and if one starved their stomach at this time, they would have no strength.

Therefore, regardless of the family’s financial situation, each household would buy some tofu during these days to provide a little feast for their family members.

By the time Wang Yongzhu arrived, the tofu was almost sold out.

She took the last two big chunks, wrapping them up for herself.

She also took away a big green fish, which, together with the pheasants and rabbits brought by Song Chongjin, made for a complete bounty.

Back home, Wang Yongzhu immediately got busy, putting the fish in a basin to keep it fresh and chilling the tofu with well water.

She briskly finished tidying up and glanced at the sky.

She dug out half a ladleful of mung beans from Old Granny Zhang’s main room and coaxed Wang Yongping to sit in the kitchen with a stool, starting a fire and adding firewood for Wang Yongzhu.

Wang Yongping was reluctant, but upon seeing his sister’s fist, he quickly became compliant.

Wang Yongzhu first stir-fried the mung beans until cooked, then added a big pot of water and covered it with a lid to stew.

In such weather, hot and dry, the autumn "Tiger" was at its most ferocious. Preparing a pot of mung bean soup to send to the fields would prevent the family from suffering heatstroke.

This morning they had eaten steamed buns, too late now for leavening dough. Wang Yongzhu simply decided to make stewed noodles, which were easy and delicious with the meat broth and vegetable juice infused together in the noodles.

As Wang Yongzhu scooped flour, she took out the Primary Level Family Cooking Recipes, found the page on stewed noodles, and memorized the steps by heart.

She then started kneading the dough, a bit clumsy at first, but after a few tries, she got the hang of it.

Wang Yongzhu felt that she might actually have a talent for cooking, especially since she was strong, and kneading dough was extremely easy for her.

Soon, she had prepared a large ball of dough, which she set aside to rest.

She took two handfuls of dried mushrooms, which were of inferior quality and had been set aside amongst the mountain goods collected in the previous days, and soaked them in warm water.

Song Chongjin had brought the pheasant in the morning, which Lady Jiang had already plucked and cleaned. The rabbit too had been salted in a basin to marinate.

Wang Yongzhu brought out the pheasant and within a few strokes, two birds were laid out flat.

Her senses were incredibly sharp now, making these tasks effortless, and the pieces of chicken she cut were almost all the same size.

Wang Yongping had thought about offering to do this rough work himself, but before the words could leave his mouth, he saw the knife flash a few times and the chopping board was neatly arranged with chicken pieces.

The words he didn’t say were swallowed down with his saliva.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Wang Yongping decided to say nothing at all, reasoning that even if his sister’s cooking was hard to swallow today, considering her knife skills, for the sake of his wellbeing, he would have to say it was delicious.

The mung bean soup was ready, and lacking rock sugar, she added a bit of brown sugar to adjust the flavor.

Then, she poured it into a clean wooden barrel and set it aside to cool.

The countryside’s wood-fired stove had two pots, which Wang Yongzhu washed clean, added oil to both, and began frying the scallions, ginger, and garlic until fragrant before separately adding the chicken pieces to fry until golden brown and changing color. She then poured in water, brought it to a boil over high heat, and added the soaked mushrooms.

She let the chicken soup cook, and once it became fragrant, she added green beans and eggplant and covered the pot to let the sauce simmer to a boil.

When the sauce started to boil, Wang Yongzhu got busy rolling out the dough, cutting the noodles evenly. Then she lifted the pot lid, scattering the noodles evenly over the green beans and eggplant.

She covered the pot again, instructing Wang Yongping to reduce the heat to low, letting it stew slowly. After a few minutes, she lifted the lid and used chopsticks to stir the noodles, ensuring they absorbed the flavors evenly.

Wang Yongping sat in front of the stove, following Wang Yongzhu’s commands, adding or reducing the firewood as needed. Initially, he had no expectations of his sister’s culinary skills.

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But as the aroma coming from the kitchen grew thicker, his saliva was almost beyond control.

Finally, Wang Yongzhu picked a noodle to taste the flavor, and it was simply perfect!

He even had to admire himself.

He first served out his own and Wang Yongping’s portions, and with the remaining noodles, he filled two large basins. Then he began to worry, how was he to carry these two large basins of noodles and a bucket of mung bean soup out to the field?

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In the fields of the Wang Family.

After paying homage to the Lord of Heaven and the ancestors, Wang Yongfu drove the horse cart, bringing all the Wang family members to the edge of their fields.

Wang Laozhu looked around at the family of more than a dozen people and the swaths of golden rice fields before him, feeling joy in his heart.

He took a handful of rice stalks in his hand, heavy with grains.

This year’s harvest was good! Wang Laozhu felt confident.

At his command, the Wang family members scattered across the field, each person taking a position at a ridge, and began to cut the rice with their heads down.

With each swing of the sickle, a swath of rice fell.

Lady Lin was intent on showing her capability. She had always been skilled in farm work, cutting the rice both quickly and well.

At her side were Jindou and Jinhu. Although they were not as fast as Lady Lin, they were closely following her pace.

Wang Yonggui and Lady Sun were far behind. Wang Yonggui was slightly better; although slow, after being scolded twice by Old Granny Zhang and threatened with no lunch if he dawdled any further, he also picked up the pace.

Only Lady Sun, who was young when living in the countryside and then served as a maid, found herself clumsy with a sickle.

At one moment, the sharp straw cut her face, and at another, the rice awns got into her neck, itchy and painful, while worrying about the sickle slipping and cutting her own hands and feet.

And then there were her cloth shoes. Although the water in the paddy field had been drained, it was still wet. Stepping into it, the soft, mushy mud covered the tops of her feet.

Wearing cloth shoes made it even more difficult, but when asked to take them off and walk barefoot in the mud, she was scared.

Beset by one concern after another, she rapidly fell behind.

As everyone was lined up in a row, it was clear at a glance who was quick and who was slow.

Lady Lin had nearly finished cutting half of her ridge, while Lady Sun was still dawdling at the edge of hers.

Her pace was truly slower than a turtle’s crawl.

Old Granny Zhang couldn’t help but scold, hands on her hips: "Haven’t you eaten? Did I feed the two buns and the thick porridge that could stand chopsticks this morning to a dog? Even a dog would wag its tail at me after eating, but what about you? What can you do? Look at you, have you no shame? My grandson, just over ten years old, can do better than you! Look up and see for yourself, see! Are you hatching eggs down here at the edge of the field?"

"Stop putting on airs and acting strange, thinking you’re some charming widow from the town, seducing men to feed and drink. Now, in my Old Wang Family, pack up those unseemly thoughts. If you continue to dilly-dally like this, you won’t get your meal today if you don’t finish this ridge!"

With her head down, Lady Sun bit her lip hard, unable to help but cast a pleading look toward Wang Yonggui, positioned diagonally ahead of her, and whispered softly, "Sanlang, I can’t do it—"

Wang Yonggui was hardly able to help himself, unable to complete the task, his now cold-hearted mother definitely wouldn’t feed him. He had no time to worry about Lady Sun.

Impatiently, he said, "What are you shouting for? What can’t you do? Just look and learn, can’t you? Or do you think just by looking at me, you’ll be done with it? Cut quickly, we only get to eat after we’re done..."

Having said that, he only took care of himself.

Lady Sun was so frustrated that she could have fallen backward but, knowing there was no hope, she bit down hard and persevered.