Chapter 154: The Mushrooms Picked This Morning
They only started to eat after drinking the pork ribs soup. Guan Chixi could not wait any longer. He rubbed his hands together to scoop and eat the white rice with sweet potatoes.
The Guan family’s food was getting better.
Even if Mother Rong and the rest did business and could not bear to eat expensive white rice every day with the money they earned, Guan Chibei ensured that his family ate well at home even if he had to hunt.
Because this method of stewing pork ribs was completely light, the seasoning dip required a lot of effort to be made.
Salt, cooking oil, chili oil, pepper oil, garlic, soy sauce, stir-fried chili, and a little ready-made soup. When stir-fried, there was a fresh spicy smell that rushed straight to one’s nose!
Ye Lulu’s dip was about the same as everyone else’s. However, she didn’t have any chili or pepper oil. Instead, she only had stir-fried non-spicy farmhouse sauce.
The entire room was filled with an enticing spicy smell. Ye Lulu’s eyes welled up with tears. Damn it!
The pork ribs were stewed until they were extremely flimsy. The pork ribs that were about to break free with a slight poke looked less enticing than the ones stewed with heavy flavor, but it also felt inexplicably warm in this weather.
The pork ribs themselves did not have much taste. At most, they had a fresh taste of their own ingredients. However, when a big piece of pork ribs was put into the dip bowl and rolled around until the dip with red chili oil and stir-fried chili enveloped it, the plain pork ribs suddenly had an indescribable temptation.
She took a big bite and had a big mouthful of meat. It was refreshing! Following that, the stewed meat was coupled with the taste of the sauce. The texture of the original ingredients was maximized, but it was not too light. It could be said that it was just right.
“Why didn’t I think that this pork ribs could be stewed so well in the past?!” Guan Chixi held his bowl and ate in large mouthfuls.
It was true. It was not like farmers did not know how to make soup. They had stewed like this before, but they did not feel this way.
Didn’t one need to talk about the heat when making soup?
“Why did the pork ribs soup I made in the past feel clean and tasteless? I don’t like meat either.”
A farmer had plenty of firewood. There was no difference in stewing the soup for one or two hours?
“It smells too good…”
The family ate their dinner happily. Ye Lulu asked, “Where are the other children?”
She remembered there were a bunch of children at home.
They usually went out to have fun all day long and Ye Lulu rarely saw them in the house. However, she would often hear them talking about something exciting during mealtime.
“We’re going to dig the pond today. Although there are many people at home, we’re not that free.” Eldest sister-in-law Guan replied, “Didn’t someone just try to carry a child away? Father, Mother, and the rest are afraid that something will happen. They sent the children to Youngest Aunt’s house in the city to stay for a few days. We’ll talk about this after the pond has been dug.”
Ye Lulu asked, “There’s still an aunt in the city?”
“Yes, did you forget?”
When Guan Chibei looked over, Ye Lulu frowned and searched through her memories. “I didn’t forget, but I remember that Fourth Sister’s family… doesn’t seem to like us visiting them.”
She deliberately changed the topic.
The Guan family had two daughters in the city. The people from Guan Chibei’s generation should be like this: Guan Chidong, Guan Chinan, Guan Lihua (Third Sister), Guan Xinghua (Fourth Sister), Guan Chixi (Fifth Brother), and Guan Chibei (Sixth Brother).
These two daughters had already been married into the city because the Guan family’s appearances were generally not bad. However, the families they married into were not rich. They were just ordinary families.
Ye Lulu had just married into the Guan family and was later pregnant. She did not have a lot of memories of these two sisters, but the Guan family usually sent the children to the sisters in the city so that they could take care of them for a day or two. It was most likely when they were too busy to do something.
It was also convenient for the men to bring the children out when they went to work in the city.
However, in her memories, her third sister, Lihua, seemed to be gentle and amiable. The children often went to her house, but she didn’t know about the rest. Her fourth sister, Xinghua, didn’t have a good temper, and the children rarely went to her house.
As expected, at the mention of Fourth Sister, Eldest sister-in-law Guan’s eyes flickered. She said, “They went to Third Sister’s house. When Mother and the rest return later, they will bring the children back. The children ran around at home during the day. When people enter the village, we are afraid that they will be stolen.”
Ye Lulu nodded and the family went back to eating. They ate half of the pork ribs and added some hot water. Then, they added a few clean mountain herbs, the fresh mushrooms picked today, and green spinach.
The casserole boiled and the remaining pork ribs and soup were quickly boiled to cook the vegetables. The smell of meat and the strong fragrance of the soup were boiled into the vegetables.
The mushrooms were fresh and tender, and they were soon cooked. Ye Lulu picked them up eagerly. Although there was a shortage of resources in ancient times and they were generally poor which resulted in everyone’s preference to eat meat, she did not lack meat after transmigrating. Instead, she was salivating over fresh mushrooms!
The fresh mushrooms were tender and were of the most ordinary kind. They trembled slightly when picked up with chopsticks and looked delicious.
Ye Lulu dipped it in the sauce and placed it in her mouth. After chewing it, she realized that the incomparably tender texture, the fresh taste of the mushrooms, and the sauce were all very delicious. They could be considered to have attacked her taste buds!
Ye Lulu took a deep breath. Mushrooms, especially fresh ones, were her love!
As soon as the soup pot was opened, everyone quickly picked up the vegetables. Steam rose from the pot and it was warm.
The pitter-patter of rain sounded from outside. As they were eating from the pot and the window was slightly open, Ye Lulu wrapped herself in a blanket and sat with her back facing away.
A cold aura wafted in from the window. Autumn in the mountains was really cold.
Hence, the casserole was eaten even more happily.
The pure white mountain herbs looked to be of very good quality. They were grown in the mountains and washed clean. After boiling them for a while, they were cooked and quickly powdered.
After one bite, it was clear, sweet, and powdery. The texture was different from sweet potato and taro. The whole mouthful of mountain herbs was very filling, not to mention that it had perfectly blended with the taste of pork ribs.
The spinach was crispy and fragrant. It was green and tasted the best when dipped in the sauce, especially one added with chili. It was equivalent to the chives in a barbecue.
The food was obviously light, but it made one feel warm all over. It felt comfortable from their feet to their heads. Their stomachs were warm, and Guan Chixi’s head was covered in sweat.
“Are there any noodles?”
In the end, Ye Lulu put down her chopsticks and drank a mouthful of warm water. “Place some noodles inside.”
They had eaten all the way to the bottom of the soup. There were only one or two pieces of pork ribs left. There was still a little bit of the other ingredients left so Ye Lulu suggested cooking some noodles.
Eldest sister-in-Law Guan doted on her very much. She quickly got up and took the noodles. She placed them in the pot and quickly cooked them. Guan Chixi was still the first to grab the bowl and mix it with the remaining sauce. He ate…
“Oh!” Guan Chixi let out a cry.
Ye Lulu was speechless. “…”
However, it had to be said that the habit of putting noodles at the end of a hotpot wasn’t unreasonable. In the end, the soup with the most meat flavor seeped into the noodles. The noodles were chewy and had a strong flavor of the soup. Together with some mushrooms, it was very refreshing to eat.