TGDW – Chapter 64 The Sequelae From Loaches

The General's Delicious Wife Chapter 064: The Sequelae From Loaches

As the saying goes, a clever woman faces difficulty cooking without rice.

No matter how good Xia Yue Chu's cooksmanship was, she could not conjure food out of thin air, so she turned towards the water tank in the corner.

There were still loaches in the tank that they had not eaten. If they go buy a piece of tofu and stew it together, they could make a dish out of it.

A while ago, they caught small fishes everyday, and Xia Yue Chu prepared them differently so they would not get tired of eating it.

But there were side effects, which was an inevitable replenishment of energy and vigorous blood circulation.

Hence, ever since that embarrassing night when Qin Zheng did not return home, Xue Zhuang began to refuse eating loaches again.

Sure enough, there was no more embarrassing situation over the next few days, convicting to him that the culprit were the loaches.

Now as he heard from the inside the room, Xia Yue Chu sending Qin Zheng to buy some tofu, saying that she was going to make stewed loaches, he started fretting all of a sudden, raising his voice, "Eating loaches all day long, can't we change the taste?"

Qin Zheng paused his steps that was heading out when he heard those words and looked at Xia Yue Chu with a complex embarrassment.

He would naturally follow Xue Zhuang's words and commands, but after these days of getting along, he also saw Xia Yue Chu's difficulty with his own eyes.

In order to make delicious and satisfying food for the two of them, she had racked her brains hard.

Under normal circumstances, Big Brother should not be a picky and irritable person, in private, he would often tell him to help Xia Yue Chu out with more chores. He did not know what was doing on with him today.

Xia Yue Chu did not think too much. They were indeed eating too much loaches recently. Even if it was cooked differently, it was still loaches at the end of the day. It was normal for Xue Zhuang to get tired of it.

While Xia Yue Chu was worried about dinner, she suddenly heard Aunt Chen's cautious voice calling from the outside, "Da Zhuang's wife, are you home?"

Xia Yue Chu immediately put the things in her hand down and went out to greet her.

Aunt Chen was carrying a wicker basket that was more than half a person in height on her back. The wild vegetables inside were already piled up to the tip, making her hunched over at her waist. She was cradling something wrapped in a floral cloth like a baby in her arms, and she was sneaking peeks inside through the door.

"Aunt Chen, why are you looking for me for?" Whenever she had the time in recent days, Xia Yue Chu would go up the mountains foraging with Aunt Chen. So the two of them were much more familiar than before.

Aunt Chen saw that only Xia Yue Chu came out by herself, her expression relaxed instantly, she pulled her outside and stuffed her with the cloth bag in her arms.

Xia Yue Chu opened the cloth bag and saw that it was actually a bundle of thorny old buds Aralia shoots, and there were many acanthopanax underneath.

Thorny old buds are rare in the mountains, and the branches were covered with hard spikes, which would stab your hands if you are not careful when picking.

Moreover, the thorns on the old buds were slightly poisonous, and it would be very painful if they pierce through the skin, making them challenging to find and pick. The price was also the most expensive among other wild vegetables.

More importantly, the picking season of these prickly old buds was very short, and the best time of year would only be around these ten days or up to a half a month.

Picking it too early, the aralia shoots would be too tender to enjoy its the unique fragrance, and picking it too late, the aralia shoots would be over the harvest season, too bitter to swallow.

A bundle of fresh, old and moderately tender prickly old buds like this, if you take it to the city, it could be sold for a couple hundred coins.

"Aunt Chen, what are you doing!" How would Xia Yue Chu dare to accept such a valuable thing, she refused desperately, "If I want to eat it, I can just go up the mountain to pick it. This should be yours to sell, what are you doing giving me this."

Aunt Chen managed to force the parcel into Xia Yue Chu's hand, telling her, "Hurry up and take it. The fish you gave the last time, those boys all said it was delicious, this is just some mountain vegetable, I picked it myself and it didn't cost any money."

"Those fish were only worth a few dollars. This mountain vegetable is too expensive. I..."

Xia Yue Chu was incomparable in strength to Aunt Chen, so she could not push it back at all.

Aunt Chen finally left the bundle and walked away quickly.

Xia Yue Chu hugged the mountain vegetables and did not try to catch up again.

She could understand Aunt Chen's thoughts. She would rather suffer a little more and present the best things to those who have helped her. That was a kind of self-esteem that would not be overwhelmed by poverty or suffering.

Xia Yue Chu returned to the house with the wild vegetables, and told Qin Zheng who didn't know what to do, "Aunt Chen sent some wild vegetables. There will be delicious food tonight!"

As soon as Qin Zheng heard that there would be something delicious, he burst in joy and hurried over to help.

Aunt Chen was a person with very particular standards. Not only were the aralia shoots delivered about the same size, they were all cleaned of its old leaves and neatly tied with straw ropes. It only required washing them clean them before eating them.

No matter how rare mountain vegetables are, they were also vegetarian dishes. Although the loaches were small, they were meat after all.

Xia Yue Chu thought about it, then proceeded to prepare a bowl of loaches and put it in the pot, added soup and began to stew.

Qin Zheng came over after washing the ingredients, and whispered sheepishly when he saw it, "Sister-in-law, don't be angry with Big Brother, he won't eat the loaches, I'll eat it."

Xia Yue Chu knew his little thoughts, and gave him a blank look, "From your perspective, am I such a petty person?"

Qin Zheng smiled and scratched his head, squatting down to help burning the firewood.

It was rare to eat such expensive wild vegetables, and Xia Yue Chu simply did not skimp on the oil. The yellow soybean oil rippled in the pot, plating the inner wall of the black iron wok with a shiny shine.

The washed aralia shoots were wiped dry with a cotton cloth, gently rolled in a mixed batter, and slid into the hot oil against the edge of the wok.

The wonderful sound of oil splattering suddenly sounded on the stove.

Qin Zheng squatted next to the fire, watching the oil tumbling in the wok, he was so happy that he almost shed tears, constantly swallowing the saliva that was gushing out.

Back then when he was in the army, although he often had to risk his life, he was following beside Xue Zhuang and at least he did not miss out when it comes to food.

Now that he had come to Seng Head Village, despite the delicious meals that Xia Yue Chu made, for a growing boy of his age, sometimes more important than the taste was whether there were oil and substance in his stomach.

When the thin batter interacted with the hot oil, it instantly became a translucent crispy shell.

It was as if the aralia shoots were emerald green jade wrapped within thin ice, showing a hazy beauty, continuing to be moisturized by the tumbling oil and gradually dyed with a charming golden color.

When the prickly old shoots were all fried, the stewed loaches were ready be served.

Qin Zheng was sent into the room to set up the dinner table, and Xia Yue Chu efficiently used the remaining batter with chopped acanthopanax, fried a bowl of vegetarian meatballs and brought it into the room.

Xue Zhuang glanced at the table, and right in the middle was a large bowl of sauce-stewed loaches, and he immediately moved his gaze away.

But the remaining two dishes were deep fried, which made him frown involuntarily.

Unlike Qin Zheng, although Xue Zhuang also enjoyed eating meat, he did not like food that was too greasy, and he would not land his chopsticks on the fried food as much as possible.

But he knew in his heart that it was hard enough for Xia Yue Chu to prepare three meals a day, he should not longer pick and choose selfishly.

Fortunately, compared to the embarrassment caused by the loaches, fried food turned out to be less unacceptable.

Xia Yue Chu did not know Xue Zhuang's entanglement, and was very satisfied with today's dinner.

She had not eaten aralia shoots for many years, and she did not expect to have this kind of blessing again after her transmigration.

The aralia shoots were similar to Chinese toon, only the tender buds could be eaten and it had a unique fragrance.

Some people love it, some people respect their boundaries with gratitude.

Xia Yue Chu was one who loved it till no ends. When she was a child whenever its the harvest season for the aralia shoots, she would go into the woods every day. If she could find a few of those, it was enough for her to be excited over several days.

She only found out after following her master to Japan, the practice of deep frying this type of vegetables with a thin batter, it was somewhat similar to the Japanese tempura.

But to be honest, within Xia Yue Chu's memory, this method of cooking was already known to her as a child.

It was just that every family was going through a tight time in that era, and fried food was even rarer than meat. It was reserved for special celebrations like the New Year's holiday.

But every year when it was the season of wild vegetables or mushrooms, even those who were frugal in saving money, they could not help it but dip the fresh mountain goods in a batter and fry them until golden, and seasoning them in sesame salt or salt and pepper. It was so delicious.

The stems and leaves of the aralia shoots were more plump and flexible than the Chinese toons, and they did not have an astringent taste.

Being wrapped in crispy fried shell, when a bite was taken, they would be crisp on the outside and a resilient chew on the inside, the unique fragrance of mountain vegetables would instantly diffuse in the mouth.

Despite it being fried food, because the fried layer was extremely thin, it did not absorb too much oil. On the contrary, it firmly locked in the original sweet taste of the mountain vegetables, making the taste of the mountain vegetables even more prominent, without being too greasy, making people unable to stop their chopsticks in their hands.

Xia Yue Chu noticed Xue Zhuang's chopsticks spinning between the two dishes of aralia shoots and vegetarian balls, he did not touch the sauce-stewed loaches at all. It seemed that he was really tired of it.

However, after dinner, Xia Yue Chu still called Qin Zheng to set up the fish traps in the river.

Its a good idea to prepare a return gift for the wild vegetables from Aunt Chen today. There should be comings and goings to maintain a healthy relationship.

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Translator Notes:

Hahaha, laugh die me. The way gifts were forced into another hands was so accurate.

Translated by YellowBean.