Chapter 167: Chapter 167. What Else Can This Girl Su Qing do?
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“Alright,” she said.
Su Qing didn’t stand on ceremony. It was always faster to have someone help. Ji Shuisheng pushed the millstone, and she placed the soaked soybeans into the eye of the millstone. As the millstone pushed and squeezed, white soy milk flowed down. A large soaked soybean was ground into three basins of soy milk.
The newly-cooked soybean milk was fragrant, thick, and delicious. Su Qing boiled and filtered a large pot of soybean milk with sackcloth. A portion of the filtered soybean milk was served for everyone to drink. Even Qin Feng, who was used to eating good food, was still unsatisfied after drinking a large bowl.
Su Qing didn’t add sugar, but everyone already loved it.
Su Qing ordered another pot of tofu pudding. The tender white tofu pudding trembled and was already delicious without any ingredients.
Southerners liked to eat sweet tofu pudding, while Northerners liked to eat salty tofu pudding. The White tofu pudding was poured with marinade, sprinkled with coriander and scallion, and then dripped with two drops of sesame oil. The taste was terrific.
However, they had limited resources. They needed soy sauce to make the marinade. Xiao Qi had just finished the first step of steaming the soybeans. It was only the first step of a long journey. If she wanted to eat soy sauce, she would have to wait at least ten days to half a month.
As such, Su Qing didn’t put anything in the tofu pudding. Instead, she gave everyone a small spoonful to try.
“It’s so delicious. Su Qing is indeed the descendant of a Royal chef. We’ve never seen such a dish before. I didn’t know soybeans could be made into such delicious food.”
Old master Qiu praised Qin Feng as he ate the soft tofu pudding. The warm tofu pudding slid down his throat without even chewing. It was so fragrant.
“Your daughter’s cooking skills are already so good; your cooking skills must be even better.”
Old master Qiu looked at Qin Feng expectantly. As soon as he finished speaking, the villagers of Peach Blossom Cove turned to look at Qin Feng in unison, their eyes filled with anticipation.
Qin Feng had just taken a spoonful of tofu pudding and choked on it when he heard old master Qiu’s words.
“Cough, cough, cough…”
…. Was there such a thing?
However, he was Su Qing’s fake father. How could he have any cooking skills?
Ji Shuisheng came over to help his grandfather out.
“Su Qing learned her cooking skills from her grandfather.”
“Ahem, that’s right. I’m not interested in cooking.” Su Qing learned it from her grandfather.
Hearing his grandson’s words, Qin Feng looked at him gratefully and hurriedly took the opportunity to get off the donkey.
“If that’s the case, then it’s a pity.”
Old master Qiu smacked his lips and put down his empty bowl regretfully. He looked at Su Qing’s new dish with anticipation.
What else was more delicious than this?
Not only old master Qiu but even Qin Feng was also looking forward to it. What else could Su Qing do?
Su Qing asked Xiao Qi to make some brine for her. Tofu made with brine was the best, and it had a more tofu-like flavor than tofu made from plaster.
Making tofu required a special board, but they didn’t have one. Su Qing used a basin to make tofu. The tofu made this way was round, and the cut-out pieces were not as neat, but the taste was the same.
Making dried tofu was a little more complicated, requiring a lot of cloth. Su Qing took out the sackcloth that Ji Shuisheng bought to make cotton jackets to wrap the tofu.
The girls surrounded Su Qing, learning and working as they watched. They were happier than they were during the new year.
Ji Shuisheng saw that Su Qing still needed a long time to finish, so he went to look for Qiu Yongkang,
“Yongkang, the road ahead is too narrow for the carriage to pass. I want to change the carriages to unicycles so that it won’t be a waste and we have space to store our things.”
“Alright, that’s a good idea. We’ll change it back when we reach the Urban area. I was still worried about this yesterday. I spent a lot of money on these carriages. I’m not willing to throw them away.”
Qiu Yongkang’s eyes lit up when he heard Ji Shuisheng’s suggestion.
Ji Shuisheng did as he said. He first dismantled a cart to test it. A coach had two wheels, so it was just right to make two wheelbarrows. It was not a waste at all.
Ji Shuisheng dismantled the cart and made it into a wheelbarrow while Su Qing continued to cook the second pot of soy milk. Ji Xiaoying ran to start the fire. The fire couldn’t be strong, and she needed someone to stir the soy milk constantly. Otherwise, the smell of the soy milk burning at the bottom of the pot would be inedible.
Li Shuang’er rolled her sleeves and stirred the soy milk in the pot with a spoon. She cooked the soy milk together with Ji Xiaoying.
Su Qing went to deal with the wild rabbit that Ji Shuisheng had caught and the four wild wolves he had shot the night before.
Wolf meat was not delicious, but it could be made into jerky to be eaten along the way. Su Qing asked Zhong Yong to skin the wolf while she dealt with the rabbit.
She wanted to make this rabbit into a roasted rabbit. She would spread salt on the rabbit, wrap it in banana leaves, and sprinkle a layer of soil on top. She would then light a fire and roast it.
This was not the first time she had done this. Everyone remembered the taste of roasted meat and was looking forward to it, especially the little ones who were reluctant to leave.
After Su Qing was done with the rabbit, Zhong Yong had already skinned a wolf. Su Qing went over and picked up the wolf. She cut off its head, legs, and feet and didn’t want it to enter the water.
The heart of a wolf and the lungs were the most unpalatable things!
While making it, Su Qing suddenly had a strange idea. She wanted to make the wolf meat into dried sausage. She still had wolf intestines anyway to make good use of them.
To make the air-dried sausage, the meat had to be chopped up. She handed this task to Li Daniu while she went to bring back the second wolf. This wolf was made into dried wolf meat, which was cut into long strips.
Aunt Li and the women of Peach Blossom Cove couldn’t help, so the girls did all the work.
Jiang Yuyan took a piece of meat that Su Qing had cut, found a wooden block, and cut a large portion of wolf meat over, cutting it according to the thickness of the meat.
The other girls followed Jiang Yuyan’s example and helped Su Qing cut the meat.
After Su Qing had cut the meat, she marinated it with spices. The spices were used up too quickly, and not much was left. The spices, garlic, sugar, wine, pepper, and other spices were all snatched back from Ji Ren Tang.
Su Qing heated the lard from the wild boar yesterday and poured it on the wolf meat. Even though the fat would solidify when it cooled, it was more fragrant than peanut oil. There wasn’t much oil in the wolf meat, so lard was more effective. Usually, peanut oil would be added to dried meat, but they didn’t have it.
Su Qing had marinated three large pots of wolf meat, and they still had to cook it.
After the meat was cooked in a large pot, it still needed to be dried. This cooked dried meat was taken to the sun on the road. After a day of sun-drying, they would return to the pot and bake it with a small fire at the next rest point.
The process was very troublesome, but Su Qing loved to cook and didn’t find it disturbing. The three big pots of meat were still unfinished by noon.
After making the jerky, Su Qing busied herself preparing and filling the air-dried sausage. She was so busy that her feet didn’t even touch the ground.
Ji Shuisheng hadn’t finished modifying the car and decided to stay here for another day. He would continue moving forward after he was fully prepared.
The women and men were not idle either. The clam was so delicious yesterday, so they went into the mud to dig for it without anyone’s order today.
Those river mussels were also unlucky. In this wilderness, they could not escape the fate of having their entire family killed.
Qin Feng was addicted to squeezing the pearls. The more he squeezed, the more addicted he felt. After old seven and the others peeled the mussels, he would help them squeeze the pearls. He didn’t even feel tired doing this. There was always a surprise waiting in front of him. It was a job that he looked forward to.
This was like a paradise. There was no running around, no killing, no danger, no soldiers, and no hunger. Everyone in Peach Blossom Cove was relaxed and enjoyed this hard-won joy.
After two days of preparation, they resumed their journey. This time, there was no carriage to sit in, and the old and weak people had to follow, which made the speed even slower.
When the team was about to leave the mountain, they heard the sound of weapons clashing and fighting..