The General's Delicious Wife Chapter 014: Head Chef again
When Xia Yue Chu returns home, the house is already filled with the bitter smell of traditional medication. Madam Sun is squatting in front of a small stove in the kitchen and fanning the fire.
"Ni Er's mother, many thanks to you, I'll swap you out after changing my clothes."
Madam Sun sees that Xia Yue Chu is back, quickly pulls her aside and asks in a whisper. "Why are you only coming back now? Mother has come over here and scolded a few rounds."
But Xia Yue Chu whispers close to her ears. "I have negotiated with the Cui family. You are going with me tomorrow as the kitchen assistant. They will provide a meal at lunch, thirty coins."
Madam Sun's eyes brightens immediately, rubbing her hands and having trouble believing. "Giving thirty coins, so much?"
Thirty coins is enough for two catties and more of meat, enough for the children to eat better.
Madam Sun sees that Xia Yue Chu nods her head, suddenly she is overwhelmed by gratefulness. "Thanks to Sister-in-law for helping."
"People from one family shouldn't speak as if they are from two, are you not helping me with brewing the medicine now!"
Xia Yue Chu goes back to her room, removes her outer cotton grab and comes out after changing to her usual jacket.
She opens up the bundle, that is wrapped with a white cloth, in her hands. Inside, there are four big white flour steamed buns given by the Cui family.
Xia Yue Chu takes out two of them, places them into a bowl into the cabinet, and ties up the bundle again with the remaining, pushes them to Madam Sun. "Bring this back for the children to eat, don't let the Second sees it."
Madam Sun rejects profusely. "How can we do this, Sister-in-law, you should keep this for Big Brother!"
The two pushes the bundle here and there, finally, Madam Sun stubbornly takes out one of the bun and places it on the stove counter, deciding to only take one of it.
Xia Yue Chu stops pushing it as well, takes over the fan that is in Madam Sun's hand and instructs. "We need to go after breakfast tomorrow, how do you plan to settle the children, why not leave them at my place, let your Big Brother watch over them since your daughters are so obedient."
"We can't do that, Big Brother is taking medicine and needs to rest now. Can't let them disturb him." Madam Sun helps Xia Yue Chu splits the firewood into little pieces, stacking them onto one side. "The first bowl is already brewed, this one just need to be brewed until the liquid is reduced to one bowl full. Mix the two bowls together, one bowl in the morning, and one bowl at night. Don't throw away the medical dregs, add some hot water for a foot bath at night."
"Rest assured, I will watch over it."
Xia Yue Chu has yet to finish saying when Madam Sheng barges into the room unannounced.
"Yo, after fooling around outside for half a day, you finally care to come back?" Madam Sheng enters without anything nice to say, speaking sarcastically. "I am not depending on you for the chores in this family, but the chore within your own house is also not done, half a day is gone just like that once you disappear outside."
Xia Yue Chu explains as she fans the fire. "Mother, its my fault today, I was afraid Da Zhuang brother is not eating well, unable to catch up in his nutrition. I was finding a way to make some money and buy him some food, its just nice that the Cui family is looking to hire so I went. Never have I thought that it will be delayed until so late."
Madam Sheng simply wants to nag for a bit, upon hearing Xia Yue Chu mentioning the Cui family, she is suddenly reminded of her daughter's envious look yesterday. Suddenly, her heart becomes heavy and jammed.
But Xia Yue Chu using Xue Zhuang as an excuse, makes her unable to say anything for a moment. Suddenly, her sight has been distracted by the white flour steamed bun on top of the stove counter.
The Xue family's days in the village are passed inadequately. Although the number of people is not many, but Madam Sheng is lazy and greedy, her two sons are also not hardworking. The entire family basically depends on Xue Liang Ping's farming and harvesting, muddling along and waiting for their meals.
During their good times at home, they would eat steamed buns made from double mixed flours. But mostly for their daily meals, they will eat milled maize dry cakes. The pure white flour can only be eaten once a year over a special occasion, like the New Year's Day, being used to make dumpling skin.
This bun from the Cui family is big and white and fluffy. Just looking at it, you know that it is warm and soft and delicious. Madam Sheng cannot help herself but to swallow her saliva.
"Now that your man is back, you should behave honestly at home. Don't keep running about outside like in the past."
As Madam Sheng continues to grumble, she walks up to the stove, grabs the bun, and turns to leave.
Xia Yue Chu cannot be bothered to fight with her over a bun, once the medicine is ready and is cooled to a suitable temperature to be consumed, she serves it to Xue Zhuang inside.
Xue Zhuang frowns when he sees the bitter dark brown medicinal herb soup, but still, he stretches out his hand to accept it, tilts his head back and finishes it in one gulp. Although he tries his best to control his expression, his displeasure is evident from his eyes.
Xia Yue Chu seeing him like this, smile at him and stuffs something into his palm. Taking the medicine bowl back to the kitchen.
Xue Zhuang opens his hand and sees a perfectly round maltose candy on his palm.
Without much thought, he puts it into his mouth, the sweetness instantly washes away the bitterness in his mouth.
"Big Brother, you ate a sweet! Surprisingly!" Qin Zheng is stunned. "Don't you hate sweets the most!"
Xue Zhuang sucks on the candy in his mouth, speaking slightly unclearly. "I'm hungry!"
"The meal is starting soon!" Xia Yue Chu calls out from the Kitchen. "Qin Zheng, clear the table and set the utensils."
After going through these few days, she roughly has a gauge on how much Xue Zhuang and Qin Zheng can eat.
For lunch today, she cooks a big basin of potherb mustard tofu stew, a bowl of oil drizzled dried eggplant, and mixed a portion of sour and spicy white cabbage heart.
"Let's eat!"
Xia Yue Chu gives Xue Zhuang and Qin Zheng each a white flour steamed bun that is bigger than their personal bowls.
She serves herself two ladles of the potherb mustard tofu stew and takes a bite enjoyably.
This tofu is made by a family in the village, they grow their own soybeans, fetch spring water from the mountain top, and grind this little by little with a stone grinder.
Buying it fresh, the hot tofu has an appealing aroma. As you take a bite, amid its tenderness and smoothness, there is a pliable but strong texture. Crushing it in the mouth, there is not a speck of residue, there is only a mouthful of fragrance from the beans and sweetness that last for a long while. The taste is irresistible, just eating it alone, Xia Yue Chu can finish a big bowl by herself.
Qin Zheng briefly mentions how good it smells, grabbing the steamed bun and eating it with big bites. Xue Zhuang however is not in a rush to move his chopsticks.
These few days, seeing Xia Yue Chu bustling inside and outside, and as much as possible changes the variety for his three meals a day, Xue Zhuang is not unmoved in his heart.
But the more touched he is, the more guilt he feels. And this kind of guilt cannot be put into words currently.
Noticing the white flour steamed buns in his own bowl and Qin Zheng's bowls, and then the milled maize dry cake in Xia Yue Chu's hand.
Xue Zhuang silently moves the bun in his bowl into Xia Yue Chu's bowl, extends his hand and picks up one of the milled maize dry cakes.
Xia Yue Chu feels a warmth in her heart and not completely rejecting his goodwill. She splits the bun into two, places the bigger half back into Xue Zhuang's bowl.
Xue Zhuang has seen Xia Yue Chu's appetite over the past few days. The maximum she eats is a dry cake that is the size of her own fist, and her last few bites will be washed down by some soup. She surely will not be able to finish a steamed bun as big as this.
He grabs the steamed bun and takes a bite, mumbling. "It is like you are eating cat's food every day, no wonder you are skinny like this."
Upon hearing this, Xia Yue Chu looks down at her hand that is holding the steamed bun, her fingers are long and straight, but they are so skinny that the bony joints stick out and the green veins are obvious.
But what can she do about it, the space in her stomach is only so big, she cannot possibly stuff herself to death for the sake of gaining some weight.
After eating lunch, Xia Yue Chu tells Xue Zhuang about her going to the Cui family as the main chef. At this point of time, she has already categorised Xue Zhuang as her ally. She keeps herself accountable so that he can also act as her cover up when she needs it.
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Despite Xue Zhuang knowing that what Xia Yue Chu makes is delicious, his recognition is only limited to her homecooked dishes. He has not expected her capability to prepare a formal feast and is pleasantly surprised to know.
After Xia Yue Chu washes the dishes, she escapes silently while Madam Sheng is in the back yard.
She spends an entire afternoon getting busy in the Cui's house, completing the preparation of everything that can be done in advance. Since the weather is so cold that the outside will still freeze at night, there is no need to worry about the ingredients changing its quality.
The Cui family observes how much effort she is putting in and believes, even more so, that she is honest and down-to-earth.
When she is about to leave after cleaning up, Madam Guo gives her a small red string of copper coins and a few steamed buns.
Noticing the puzzled Xia Yue Chu, she explains. "Madam saw that you are working so hard so she told me to give you this, you just take it confidently!"
Xia Yue Chu thanks her consecutively and wipes off the perspiration on her forehead. Though it is a busy afternoon, she does not feel tired at all.
Handling these ingredients which she has not come into contact with after such a long time, and thinking that tomorrow she can return back to her position as the head chef, makes her heart overfilled with excitement.
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Translator Notes:
Translated by Yellow. Aug 2022.