Su Wanqing gave him a sideways glance and said a little proudly, “I cook really well. Just you wait, don’t fight me for food later.”
Lu Shiyan said nothing, but in his mind he was already thinking that he had eaten all kinds of good food before, so how could he possibly compete with his wife for a meal.
Su Wanqing secretly calculated in her heart. Before transmigrating, she had been a food blogger and loved studying all kinds of delicious dishes. She could handle frying, stir frying, boiling, and deep frying with ease. During this time after arriving here, she had not had many chances to show her skills, and the food had been bland and often undercooked, leaving people with no appetite at all.
Now that she finally had the chance, and with flour and various seasonings from her space as a foundation, it was the perfect opportunity to show off her skills and let Lu Shiyan properly taste her cooking.
Lu Shiyan still felt a little uneasy. “How about I do it instead? You can sit and cut window decorations. The kitchen smoke is heavy.”
“No need, no need,” Su Wanqing pushed him toward the courtyard seat. “Just wait to eat. I guarantee you will not be able to stop.”
After saying that, she turned and walked into the kitchen, rolled up her sleeves, and prepared to show her skills.
Su Wanqing tied on an old apron and secretly placed the seasonings she took from her space inside the cabinet under the stove, hiding them carefully before starting to prepare the fish.
The fish Lu Shiyan bought was a fresh grass carp, its scales still shiny and its body slippery to the touch. She picked up scissors and quickly scaled it, removed the gills, cut it open, and cleaned out the insides. Her movements were sharp and efficient. In no time, the fish was cleaned thoroughly, even the black membrane inside the belly was scraped clean.
She placed the pork belly on the cutting board and sliced it into thin pieces, neatly arranged in a bowl. The fat and lean layers were evenly cut, each slice uniform in thickness and looking very appetizing.
She picked and washed the greens twice in clean water and drained them in a bamboo basket, water dripping from the leaves.
She cracked eggs into a rough porcelain bowl and whisked them with chopsticks. The mixture of yolk and white quickly turned into a foamy, glossy liquid.
While cutting vegetables, she always felt a gaze behind her, making her slightly uneasy.
When she turned around, Lu Shiyan was leaning by the small kitchen window, holding a tomato and taking a big bite while saying vaguely, “Just watching you cut vegetables.”
“What is there to watch?” Su Wanqing frowned, her knife still moving. “Don’t you have anything better to do?”
“It looks good,” Lu Shiyan added. “Your knife skills are really good.”
That was not flattery.
Su Wanqing’s cutting was indeed clean and efficient. The knife rose and fell quickly and steadily. The potato shreds were thin and even, each one distinct, as if measured with a ruler, without the slightest mess.
After watching for a while, Lu Shiyan could not help but ask, “Who did you learn your knife skills from?”
Su Wanqing did not look up. “Self taught. Is that not allowed?”
Lu Shiyan said nothing. He took another bite of tomato and kept staring at her without moving his gaze away.
Feeling uncomfortable under his stare, Su Wanqing suddenly turned around, raised the kitchen knife, and waved it at him fiercely. “Keep staring? If you keep staring, you will not get dinner tonight and you will go hungry.”
Lu Shiyan was stunned for a moment. Looking at her puffed cheeks and the knife in her hand, she did not look scary at all. Instead, she looked a little cute, and he could not help but laugh.
He quickly raised his hands and stepped back. “Alright, alright, I will not look anymore.”
Su Wanqing huffed and waved him off. “Go tidy up the bed inside. Take out the quilts and blankets to dry. This place looks like it has not been lived in for a long time. It must be damp, and it will not be comfortable to sleep in.”
Lu Shiyan nodded and agreed before turning to go inside.
After hearing his footsteps fade, Su Wanqing quickly closed the kitchen door and bolted it, afraid he might suddenly come back and discover the secret of her space.
She leaned against the door and let out a breath, feeling a little nervous.
She did not want Lu Shiyan to know about the space for now.
It was not that she did not trust him, but the matter was too strange. If she said it out loud, it might scare him. Besides, they had just registered their marriage, and their feelings were not yet deep enough. It would not be too late to explain later when they were more familiar with each other.
She turned back and took out more ingredients from her space.
A jar of lard, white and solid, with a rich fragrance. In this era, lard was a precious ingredient and not used casually.
A small bottle of soy sauce. In 1973, this was also rare. The soy sauce sold at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative was thin and bland, almost watered down. The one from her space was thick, rich, and flavorful.
There were also Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, and dried chilies, all wrapped in paper. Once opened slightly, their strong aroma filled the air, far better than anything sold outside.
She opened the window to air out the room, hid the seasonings again, and began cooking.
First, she marinated the fish with salt and a few slices of ginger to remove the fishy smell and add base flavor.
Then she lit the fire and added a spoon of lard to the pan. Once the oil heated, she added the pork slices. With a sizzling sound, the meat immediately curled in the oil and released a rich aroma that filled the kitchen.
She stir fried it a few times. Once the pork turned slightly golden at the edges, she removed it from the pan. She left some oil behind, added scallions, ginger, and garlic to release fragrance, then returned the pork to the pan and added soy sauce. The color turned glossy and rich.
She added water, covered the pot, and let it simmer slowly, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.
On the other stove, she started frying the fish. The moment the fish entered the hot oil, it splattered, and she quickly stepped back while carefully turning it until both sides turned golden. Then she added water, ginger, scallions, soy sauce, and let it simmer over low heat.
Next, she stir fried the greens, keeping the heat perfect so they stayed bright green and fresh looking. Finally, she made an egg drop soup and sprinkled scallions on top, making the aroma even richer.
The kitchen was filled with steam and fragrance, spreading throughout the courtyard and even drifting outside.
Su Wanqing was busy and sweating, strands of hair sticking to her forehead, but she kept smiling.
Before transmigrating, she loved cooking and used to study recipes every day and upload videos. Her followers often said watching her videos made them want to eat three extra bowls of rice.
After coming here, she had been eating dull meals at the educated youth residence, bland and often undercooked, almost like pig feed, leaving her completely unsatisfied.
Now she could finally cook a proper meal and eat something she truly liked.
She carried each dish to the old table in the room.
The braised pork was tender and glossy, with fat that looked translucent and lean meat perfectly separated, rich in sauce and shine, making it impossible not to crave it.
The braised fish lay on a coarse porcelain plate, topped with scallions and ginger strips, the sauce thick and fragrant with no fishy smell at all.