CH 17

C17 – Secretly Cooking

The next morning, while Tang Yue was still sleeping, some servants arrived to construct a stove using mud and other materials. The stove was basic, with a rectangular shape and a square surface that made it easy to add firewood. The end of the stove was tilted slightly upwards to allow smoke to escape, and there were three holes on the surface where pots could be placed.

After some thought, Tang Yue suggested that they add a hollow bamboo to the end of the stove to vent the smoke outside and prevent the house from becoming dark.

Everyone was impressed with this idea, and even the other courtyards and the large kitchen followed suit, replacing the bamboo with copper pipes.

With the new stove, Tang Yue’s mind was buzzing with ideas. However, after studying for a while, he couldn’t think of anything to cook since frying pans did not exist during this time. Nonetheless, soup and steamed desserts were still possible. Unfortunately, flour was scarce in the south, so many desserts couldn’t be made.

After carefully planning the menu, Tang Yue decided to try his hand at stewing soup and adding two desserts to the menu on the first day.

This way, the four maids in his yard could focus on their work and not spend the whole day trying to catch his attention.

During dinner that evening, a bowl of milky white bone soup and two plates of stewed white bone soup were served. No one had ever seen it before.

“What is this?” The old mistress, who had a bad tooth, picked up a piece of white rice cake and took a bite. Her eyes lit up immediately. “Which chef made this? They deserve a reward!”

The rice cake was soft, sticky, and sweet, and was adored by all the ladies present.

Tang Yue stood up and bowed, saying, “Thank you for the reward, grandmother!” He then playfully winked at the old mistress.

“Aiyo, did my talented grandson make this?” At that moment, nobody paid attention to the intrusion of a gentleman who had peeked into the kitchen.

“The idea came from my grandson, but it was my mother’s maid who actually made it. I never expected them to be so young and talented in the kitchen.”

“Haha… I like the way you talk. You may be around the same age as me,” Yueyang Marquis laughed heartily. He regretted not bringing his son back a few years earlier. He was very filial.

The Marquis’s Wife’s mouth was sore from laughing. Nevertheless, the two plates of desserts on the table were truly delicious and could not be compared to the ones sold outside. She did not expect this child to be such a great cook.

“Grandma, this soup is amazing! It smells so good and tastes even better than the usual vegetable soup,” Tang Yun, the youngest one, licked her lips and exclaimed excitedly.

“Really?” The elderly mistress took a sip. The aroma was indeed strong, and the milky white soup looked very appetizing. She asked Tang Yue, “Did you come up with this soup too? What ingredients did you use to make it?”

Tang Yue nodded. “I boiled it with pig bones for half a day. I know our family usually throws away the bones, but in fact, this bone soup is the best. Drinking more of it is beneficial for the body.”

Upon hearing that it was soup made from bones, the Marquis’s Wife pushed it away in disgust. “Yue’er, how can you use bones that even the poor won’t eat to make soup?”

Tang Yue raised his chin and said proudly, “That’s because nobody knows how good it is when it’s cooked. If I didn’t tell you it was made from bones, would you have known? Traditional medicine says that drinking more bone soup can strengthen the bones.”

He asked the Marquis’s Wife, “Grandmother, do you experience back pain when you stand or sit for a long time? Do you get spasms in your feet at night when they are cold?”

The Madame was taken aback. “How did you know?… But when you grow old, these issues are bound to arise.”

“It may be inevitable, but it can be managed. Have someone prepare a bowl of bone broth every day and drink it regularly to observe its effects.”

The old Madame was deeply concerned about her well-being. As there was no harm in trying, she decided to give it a shot.

After tending to the old Madame, Yueyang Marquis had a bowl of bone broth himself, but it didn’t suffice. He ordered another bowl and resolved to secretly brew it at home from then on, without informing anyone.

Following dinner, Tang Yue strolled through the courtyard to aid digestion. As he satiated his appetite, other ambitions arose.

Being a womanizer, waiting to perish in the Yueyang Marquis Mansion was not a lifestyle Tang Yue could tolerate for the rest of his days. He needed to build his career gradually.

Medical science during that period was primitive. Although Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) was comprehensive and profound, it had been developed over millennia.

Tang Yue was not well-versed in TCM. He had taken some TCM courses in university and possessed a fundamental understanding of herbs and minor prescriptions, but that was all.

Whether to relearn TCM or devise a method to incorporate surgical expertise was a quandary that perplexed Tang Yue.

Though he had a rudimentary grasp of TCM, Tang Yue was not accustomed to performing without a scalpel in his hands.

Tang Yue absentmindedly twirled a branch on his fingertip while his mind wandered to thoughts of TCM doctors. When he snapped out of it, he realized that his fingers were now less nimble than they used to be.

He had never really trained his hands in this way before, so his knuckles felt stiff. He knew that it would take some time to adjust if he wanted to be able to handle a scalpel with ease.

Reflecting on it, Tang Yue had been passionate about the surgical field in his past life, and he saw no reason to give up on this hobby even in this new world. He resolved to become adept at it once again.

Tang Yue headed to the small kitchen and scavenged a few pieces of charcoal that had been burnt. He retrieved a white tunic from the wardrobe and laid it out on the table. He sketched out a few surgical instruments that he had previously used and set out to see if he could get someone to forge them for him the next day.

Stainless steel was not available in this era, but thankfully iron was. Although iron could rust easily, with proper maintenance, the instruments could last for a long time.

That night, Tang Yue had trouble sleeping as visions of his two worlds constantly intermingled in his dreams. At times, he dreamt that he was still in a hospital performing surgery on a patient, and other times he dreamt of using a rusty scalpel to make an incision on a person’s skin. Upon turning the patient’s head, he recognized the face of the young man he had encountered at the dilapidated temple.

When he awoke in the morning, Tang Yue felt disoriented and unsure of his surroundings. Instinctively, he reached out for his phone, but it was not there. His hands did not brush against the silk sheets that he was accustomed to, but instead, a rough bamboo mat.

He sat up and ran his hands through his hair to clear his head. After he was fully awake, he got out of bed and went to freshen up.

Breakfast consisted of rice cakes and soy milk. Tang Yue found himself craving deep-fried dough sticks when he saw the soy milk. He resolved to try making them the following morning. The cuisine in this time period was too simplistic, and Tang Yue still yearned for more satisfying meals.