Chapter 133: Chapter 76: Teaching the Apprentices (Part 2)

Juhua smiled helplessly. “Alright, everyone can come. But we have to agree on this: once I’ve taught you, you’ll have to cook me a few good meals to thank me, your master.”

The girls quickly agreed, making a heap of promises and agreeing to all sorts of conditions.

Yan and Jinxiang were overjoyed. They told the others to go on ahead, then flew home to let their families know before rushing to catch up with Juhua’s group. Little Shitou also told Zhao San he was going and came along.

Yang Family saw Juhua return looking delighted, with several other girls in tow, and was absolutely ecstatic.

She didn’t find it the least bit troublesome that they were coming to eat. In fact, she was unspeakably pleased that these girls wanted to spend time with Juhua. She welcomed them with a smile so broad it seemed to fill her entire face, threatening to spill over.

Seeing her mother’s almost fawning smile, Juhua felt a pang in her heart. ’Her mother had never smiled at anyone like that before. Just the other day, she’d complained about how much she disliked having to put on a fake smile for customers all day while selling vegetables. Now, for her daughter’s sake, she was fawning over a few young girls.’

“Mom, let’s just cook this big grass carp for lunch. We can chop up some pickled vegetables and boil it all in a big pot. That way we can eat and go watch the excitement. We still have to drain Tiaozi Pond this afternoon,” Juhua said to Yang Family, worried she would try to make too many dishes. It wasn’t that Juhua was being stingy, but there wasn’t enough time to cook more, not with the afternoon’s activities.

Yang Family readily agreed, adding that they also had some steamed pork with rice flour. She could quickly cook some greens and tofu on the stove, and that would be plenty.

Juhua had to agree. With so many people, the grass carp, even at over three jin, probably wouldn’t be enough. She had personally witnessed the appetites of Meizi and the others; she couldn’t compare.

Yang Family waited for Zheng Changhe to return, then took the big grass carp to the river to kill and clean it. Meanwhile, Juhua, surrounded by the gaggle of girls, moved from the vegetable garden to the well, and from the well to the kitchen. They chattered nonstop the whole way, like sparrows in the treetops.

When Zheng Changhe and Qingmu saw them, they both broke into knowing smiles, not finding the noise bothersome at all. The two of them poured the loaches into a broken pot, only half of which remained, to keep them alive. Then they hurried to clean the small assorted fish they had received. Little Shitou trailed after Qingmu, careful not to disturb Juhua while she was cooking.

Juhua saw how animated Yan was, constantly asking her how to make the hat, how to make the scarf, and other questions like whether she should take off her pretty face-scarf when she ate. Juhua couldn’t help but laugh. ’This girl’s vanity is really something else!’

Looking at Yan’s double-looped buns, she praised with a smile, “Yan, you’re very skilled. Your hair looks beautiful.”

Yan’s face flushed with excitement, and she said a bit shyly, “Really? Big Sister Juhua, I can teach you if you want to learn. It’s really easy, not hard at all.”

Jinxiang laughed. “You think everyone’s like you, fussing with their hair all day? Staring at your reflection in a basin of water nonstop.”

Juhua laughed. “I’m always moving around. I’m afraid a pretty hairstyle like that would come undone in no time. How did you get so clever? Or did you learn it from someone?”

’Besides, she had to wrap her head in a cloth when she cooked. And with her habit of always ducking into the vegetable garden, she had to wear a straw hat when the sun was strong in spring and summer. The moment that hat went on, any hairstyle was ruined!’

Yan smiled and said, “It was my sister-in-law’s younger sister. She learned it from a woman at Xiatang Market.”

Juhua finally understood. ’So the style came from town. No wonder! Heh.’

Mei was making the cutting board go THUMP THUMP THUMP—she was chopping the pickled vegetables. Meizi stared at her without blinking and asked admiringly, “How can you chop so fast? And without cutting your hand.”

Mei glanced at her. “If you chopped vegetables every single day, you’d be just like me. I find it strange. How come your mother doesn’t even let you cook?”

Hearing this, Meizi jumped up in anger and shouted, “Who says I don’t cook? It’s just that every time I do, my grandma helps me, so I don’t get to chop as much. I’m just not as practiced as you all. Do you think I’m some pampered young lady? I have to do a lot of things every day, too!”

Seeing her get flustered, everyone started laughing.

Jinxiang chuckled. “It’s true, Meizi is very diligent and well-behaved. Why else would her mother dote on her so much? But the more she’s doted on, the less practice she gets with cooking, so her skills are a little lacking.”

Meizi resentfully fell silent. ’I have to learn how to cook properly from Juhua,’ she thought. ’Otherwise, this is just too embarrassing. They’re already laughing at me all the time, and I’m still at my own home. What will it be like when I get to my husband’s home? I don’t even want to think about it.’

Yan looked at Meizi with envy. “Big Sister Meizi, isn’t it a good thing not to have to cook? Why are you so worked up about it? I don’t want to cook at all, but my mom always makes me tend the fire, and my clothes get covered in ash. I have to wear a ragged old robe over my clothes when I cook, but it doesn’t help much. My hair gets a layer of it too, and I always have to wash it.”

Looking at her fastidious expression, the other girls couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter.

Juhua thought, ’She was born into the wrong family. She should have been born a young lady in a wealthy household, but somehow she ended up in a poor, humble one.’

Meizi pouted and lectured in a very mature tone, “You’re still young. Once you’re married, you’ll understand that a woman has to know how to cook.”

Yan blinked, looking unconvinced. ’She probably wants to marry into a wealthy family, too,’ Juhua thought.

Juhua finished cooking the rice first. When Yang Family returned after cleaning the fish, she took the three-jin grass carp from her and said to the girls, “A fish this big needs to be cut into several pieces, or it won’t cook through. Let’s chop this fish into five pieces. We also need to score the thicker parts along the back a few times. We’ll do it outside so we don’t get this cutting board dirty. Remember this: you need a separate cutting board for meat and fish. Don’t mix it with your everyday cutting board, or the fishy smell will be impossible to wash out.”

She couldn’t very well talk about bacteria and such, so she just said it was hard to wash. The girls nodded repeatedly—it wasn’t like their families were short on cutting boards.

After chopping the grass carp and rinsing it again, she brought it inside. Juhua waited until the wok was smoking before she poured in some oil, explaining as she did, “If you don’t want the fish to stick to the wok, you have to get the wok very, very hot before adding the oil. If you add oil to a cold wok, the skin will stick and peel off when you fry it.”

Then, she tossed in some ginger to fry for a moment before placing the fish pieces in the wok to sear. She turned to Li Jinxiang, who was tending the fire, and said, “A smaller fire. Use thatch, not firewood. You can’t use a high flame when you’re pan-frying fish.”

Jinxiang quickly added a handful of thatch, then scrambled to her feet and ran over to Juhua to watch her fry the fish. Meizi, Mei, and Yan also stared into the wok without blinking.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep