freenovelworld Chapter 179 Cooking for the First Time
Chapter 179 Cooking for the First Time
The old man bent down again to cut the grass. There was so much grass here and it was sharp that one would easily get his palms cut if he wasn't careful. Even though he had thick skin, he was still cut many times.
Zhou Guo held the machete and worked attentively, chopping at the roots. The roots in the ground could only be dug out.
The two men cut down the thorny bushes little by little, and the land gradually returned to its original appearance.
"Hey, sir, why are you cutting down weeds? Come on, let me do it. Guoguo, how can you let the sir work?" Li was driving the cart but had not yet reached the door of her house when she saw the old man bending over and working hard from afar. She was startled and quickly jumped down to stop him.
The old man said, "Why can't I work? I'm not made of porcelain. I'll be exhausted by working. I run around in the mountains all day and it's much more tiring than this. Okay, Guoguo's mother, you go and do your thing and don't worry about me. Guoguo and I will definitely be able to cut this piece of land before dinner."
Zhou Guo stood up and said with a smile: "Master, you are much faster than me. You are ahead of me in just a short while. You really look like a farmer."
Li gave her a reproachful look, "How can you let your husband work with you?"
Zhou Guo said, "Why can't the gentleman work? It's so boring to be alone. He can't run to the mountains all day long. It's better to do some work. It will stretch his muscles and not be bored. He can also eat food. How good is that."
The old man nodded, "Yeah, that's right, drinking is even better after work. With so much work, I have to drink three big bowls at night."
Zhou Guo objected immediately, "That won't work. Even if you opened up this piece of land by yourself, it won't work. If you say two bowls, it means two bowls. Half a bowl won't work."
The old man blew his beard and glared, "Why not? I've been working, I've done so much work, why can't I drink one more bowl?"
Zhou Guo shook his head and said, "Master, I told you that a little wine can make you happy but too much can hurt your body. For your health, the daily limit is two bowls. If you keep asking, the two bowls will only be one and a half bowls."
"This..." The old man stared angrily, then bent down and cut the weeds fiercely.
Zhou Guo smiled proudly.
Li shook her head. The master and disciple were willing to fight and be beaten at the same time. It was useless for others to say anything. She just came back to see how her daughter was doing. She still had a lot to do. She turned around, unloaded the cart of straw and left with the ox cart.
The two men cut down the trees inch by inch, and before it got dark, they had cut down all six or seven acres of the field. The land that was originally covered with dense thorns and bushes was now bare, with only stumps left. At first glance, it looked very open.
Zhou Guo was very satisfied and said to the old man, "Master, look at how big this piece of land is. I will open it up tomorrow and divide it into plots. I will plant radishes on that plot and cabbages on that plot. These two vegetables are indispensable in winter. Plant more and store them in the cellar when the time comes.
We'll depend on them for the whole winter. We can also grow some carrots on this land. Oh, we need to plant some coriander, and onions. We can't do without onions. Go back and ask Aunt Chen for some seeds. It would be best if we plant some beans and harvest them in autumn. The leftovers can be pickled in a jar and served with porridge."
The old man asked, "Have you checked the cellar?"
Zhou Guo nodded, "I've checked it, it's a little small, I'll have to expand it later."
The cellar was located in the corner of the courtyard wall at the east end, where the terrain was higher. Zhou Xing and his companions were the first to discover the cellar. They didn't know what the cellar was used for and were very curious.
Later I heard that it was used to store vegetables in the winter. It was quite magical. In the north, you have to build a house for vegetables.
The old man cleared his throat and said, "Okay, the land has been cut. We can do the rest tomorrow. It's getting late. It's time to cook dinner."
Zhou Guo looked up at the sky. It was getting late. The people who were working at home had not returned yet. He didn't know where his eldest brother and his friends had gone to make bricks. They hadn't returned for the entire day.
I think the bricks should be made in a day's work, and it won't take that many to fill the holes in the wall.
We can start mowing the grass together tomorrow. It should be almost done in another day. We can start work tomorrow. The bricks that were dried last time must be dry and can be used.
As she thought about this, she took the hoe and machete back to the house, but the hoe was useless.
I washed my hands, took out the pots and pans, and started cooking.
I opened the things the old man brought back from the mountains, there were two badgers, a pheasant, and two sacks of matsutake mushrooms.
She followed Zhou Xing's example and boiled a pot of hot water, planning to scald the chicken and make a pine mushroom stewed chicken. She had to change the way of eating from time to time, as there were plenty of pine mushrooms in the mountains anyway.
But she had never done this job before, and it was not easy to pluck the chicken feathers cleanly.
When the old man came back from fetching a bucket of water, he saw his apprentice plucking the chicken feathers. He was so scared that he immediately took over. Thinking of the chicken with a mouthful of feathers he had eaten last time, he was still frightened. "You, you, you go take care of the pine mushrooms. Don't touch this chicken."
Zhou Guo didn't take it seriously. She turned around and picked up a bag of pine mushrooms. She took out a bamboo knife and started scraping them. After scraping half of the basket, she looked up at the sky again, stood up and looked at the two roads in front of her house. No one was coming back.
She had no choice but to bring the clay pot and cook by herself. She had never cooked before since she came here, so she didn't know how much to cook or how much water to add.
There are eleven people in the family, and everyone has a big appetite. Although she deliberately ate less at dinner, she still had to eat three large bowls of rice, which means she had to have a bowl of rice. She scooped out a bowl. Her uncle and eldest brother also had big appetites, so they had one bowl. Her two brothers also asked for one bowl. Her master, her mother, and her aunt also asked for one bowl. The remaining bowl was enough, which made five bowls.
She took the pottery pot to wash it, but she was in a dilemma after washing it. She really didn't know how much water to add. Finally, adhering to the principle of more but not less, she added half a pot. At most, she could cook porridge, but if it was raw, she couldn't eat it and would have to go through the trouble of cooking it again.
Place the pottery pot on the stove, light the fire, and then process the pine mushrooms.
When Li and others hurried back, they found that the rice was already cooked, the chicken had been prepared, and a large pile of pine mushrooms had been scraped. They just had to wait for the rice to be cooked and the vegetables to be eaten.
Zhou Xing was puzzled and asked Zhou Guo, "Who cooked this meal today?"
Zhou Guo said: "How can Master cook for me?"
Li opened the lid and looked at it. She was silent. "How many bowls did you cook?"
"Five bowls."
Zhou Xing also fell silent.
Zhou Guo touched his head and asked tentatively, "Too much? I also counted the number of people. Two people get one bowl. There are eleven people in our family, so I have to have one bowl for myself. The remaining ten people have four bowls. Is that too much?"
Zhou Xing looked at the pot and found it was not full yet. If it did, the rice would be pushed out. She took a bowl and scooped out some of the excess rice while advising, "Guoguo, at our house, we only cook four bowls per meal. At this time of night, we eat and go to sleep, so usually three and a half bowls are enough. Sometimes, three bowls are enough. Your five bowls won't fit in the pot. You have to cook them in two pots."