Minghe nodded honestly: "Yes, I pushed it."
Jin Dabao and Tian Liu asked in unison: "Why did you push me?"
"I didn't mean it! I did it accidentally!" Minghe pointed his little meaty finger on the ground and said, "I accidentally stepped on the sweet potato slices, and then I slipped and pushed them to you, and then you all fell into the basin. "
Jin Dabao and Tian Liu looked in the direction pointed by Minghe, and sure enough they saw a piece of sweet potato. Jin Dabao said: "Ah, there are really sweet potato slices!"
Tian Liu affirmed: "You really didn't mean it!"
Minghe nodded: "Well, it's not intentional!"
"Then I forgive you." Jin Dabao patted Minghe's shoulder.
"Me too." Tian Liu said.
The children's emotions came and went quickly. Jin Dabao and Tian Liu stopped worrying about the matter and turned around to continue grabbing sweet potato chips.
"Wait a minute!" Minghe quickly stepped forward to stop him.
Jin Dabao and Jin Dabao turned to look at Minghe: "What's wrong?"
"You've made a mistake!" Minghe explained: "Sweet potato chips are for eating. If they get soiled, they will become dirty and cannot be eaten."
"Wash before eating." Tian Liu said.
Jin Dabao nodded in agreement.
"The sun will sprinkle dirt into the sweet potatoes and it won't be washed away!" Minghe was extremely serious.
"What should we do?" Jin Dabao asked together.
"It'll be fine if it doesn't get dirty, you see." Minghe pointed towards the yard with his little fleshy hand.
Jin Dabao and Tian Liu turned around and saw slices of sweet potato slices in the yard, either drying on wood, in bamboo baskets, or on tables. No matter whether it was wood, bamboo baskets or tables, they were all clean.
Only then did they realize what they had done wrong and frowned.
Jin Dabao asked: "It's already stained, what should I do?"
"It's okay, just wash it and don't throw it on the ground again." Minghe put the sweet potato slices in his hand into the wooden basin, then squatted down to pick up the sweet potato slices one by one.
"I'll pick it up too." Jin Dabao squatted over, his center of gravity unsteady, and he sat down on the ground, letting out an "ouch".
Minghe supported Jin Dabao and said, "Be careful."
Tian Liu came over and said, "Dabao, you can't even squat well. You're so stupid."
"Oh, Tian Liu, don't talk about Dabao. Dabao is young. If he grows up a little, he will be able to squat well," Ming He said.
"Okay, I won't say anything, I'll pick up sweet potato chips." Tian Liu said.
"I'll pick it up too," Jin Dabao said.
The three children did not let the adults interfere at all and started busy themselves. Master Yuan looked at Minghe and asked Xiao Yu: "Is Minghe as big as Dabao?"
Xiao Yu replied: "They are the same age, but only fifteen days older than Dabao."
Mr. Yuan said: "It looks smaller than Dabao."
Minghe was not thin when he was born. Later, there were repeated changes in the family, and life became more and more difficult. He was often hungry and malnourished, so he was shorter than other children of the same age.
Mr. Yuan added: "But it doesn't matter. The child is still young. If he eats something good, he can catch up."
Xiao Yu nodded: "Yes." As Jin Dabao and Tian Liu said, Minghe has really gained a lot of weight recently. Not only has there been fat on his face, but also on his arms, legs, and body, and his belly is bulging every day. , is no longer the skinny appearance it was before, and is much softer in my arms at night.
"Just in time, I brought food." Master Yuan suddenly changed the subject.
Xiao Yu didn't understand what Mr. Yuan meant.
Mr. Yuan glanced towards the courtyard gate.
The maid Xiaofang led a mule and the servant Agui to the door.
Mr. Yuan said: "Xiaofang, Agui, take everything down."
The two took down the two baskets on the mule, which contained chicken, fish, meat, eggs, vegetables, noodles, rice oil and various condiments.
Xiao Yu asked in surprise: "Master Yuan, what are you doing?"
Xiaofang answered with a smile: "Our master, I want to come to your house for dinner."
That's right.
Ever since Mr. Yuan discovered that Xiao Yu not only made delicious steamed buns, but also other foods, he had been thinking about it. Fortunately, he and Xiao Yu were now not just guests and owners, but also friends, so he Come and taste Xiao Yu’s craftsmanship.
Xiao Yu said: "Come here, why do you bring these?"
"We have three adults and two children, and we can all eat a lot. We were afraid that your family would be poor, so we brought our own ingredients!" Xiaofang said.
Xiao Yu suddenly couldn't laugh or cry.
Mr. Yuan said frankly: "Since I brought it all, don't be polite. Burn it and let's eat it together."
Knowing that Mr. Yuan is a down-to-earth person, Xiao Yu was not polite: "Okay, I'll prepare now."
"If you're not busy, let's dry sweet potatoes together." Mr. Yuan specially wore coarse clothes to come to Jinxiu Village. He just wanted to do some farm work. He walked up to Minghe and the others.
Minghe politely shouted: "Grandpa, you are here too!"
"Oh, if you hadn't shouted this, I wouldn't have thought to say hello. Dabao and Tian Liu, you also have to say hello to uncle Minghe." Master Yuan said.
After greeting each other, the four adults and three children cut and dried sweet potatoes together. Soon the entire small yard was covered with sweet potato slices. Xiao Yu took out the string from the inner room and, together with Master Yuan and others, dried the remaining sweet potatoes. The sweet potato slices were strung up and hung on the clothesline. Finally, all the sweet potato slices were dried.
"Uncle Minghe, you can hang all the sweet potatoes." Jin Dabao said.
"Yes." Xiao Yu nodded.
Jin Dabao's voice was tender: "Then why don't you hang up?"
"Because we don't have enough ropes at home."
"I have plenty of rope, I'll give it to you!"
"Thank you, Mr. Jin. We have already done it, so there is no need."
"Oh well."
It was almost noon. Xiao Yu invited Mr. Yuan and others to the outhouse, poured some water for them to drink, and asked Minghe to accompany them.
He entered the kitchen and started cooking. Unexpectedly, Master Yuan and others crowded into the small kitchen to watch him cook.
Fine.
They are all foodies.
He took out the chicken, fish, meat, eggs and vegetables. After thinking about it for a while, he came up with an idea and started washing the vegetables.
Master Yuan, Xiaofang and Minghe want to help.
Xiao Yu said: "The kitchen is small, so don't interfere for now, otherwise everyone will be crowded together and unable to move."
Master Yuan, Xiaofang and Minghe gave up.
Jin Dabao asked in confusion: "Minghe, why is your family so small?"
"My family is not small!" Minghe actively protects his family.
"Small, my family is so big."
"My family is also big." Tian Liu interjected.
"Well, your homes are all so big and beautiful, like heavenly palaces, but, but, I still like my own home very much," Ming He said.
Jin Dabao and Tian Liu were speechless.
Hearing this, Xiao Yu glanced at Xiao Minghe and felt warm in his heart. Then he stopped caring about Minghe and the others and concentrated on washing vegetables, cutting vegetables, and preparing ingredients. Everything was ready. He said, "Now you can help, who is coming?" Make a fire?"
Mr. Yuan and others are very active.
In the end, Agui and Xiaofang won.
After Xiao Yu got ten taels of silver from Mrs. Yuan Sanniang, in addition to buying fabrics, cotton wool, rice flour, grains, oils and condiments, he also bought an iron pot. Now there are two iron pots in the kitchen, Agui and Xiaofang. Burn a bite.
Xiao Yu continued to be busy. He added chopped mushrooms, shredded green onion and ginger, salt, and pepper to the fresh chicken pieces. After mixing them to create some stickiness, he sprinkled some starch on them and stirred evenly. While locking in the gouache, he added more Tenderness, then put it on the bamboo grate in the pot and start steaming.
Mr. Yuan asked curiously: "Is this a dish?"
Xiao Yu nodded.
"You don't need to blanch it or make some wine or anything, just add salt and pepper?"
"Onions, ginger, and mushrooms are also considered seasonings."
"Can this be delicious?" Mr. Yuan expressed doubts.
"It's delicious!" Minghe believed in his uncle unconditionally.
Xiao Yu smiled and said, "You can try it later." He continued busy.
Mr. Yuan boasts that he has eaten all over the country. Although he only knows how to stir-fry some bean sprouts and vegetables, he has seen many cooks' skills and can tell what the cook is going to do at a glance.
But Xiao Yu was frying, frying, boiling, and boiling again, and waves of aroma wafted out. He didn't know what Xiao Yu was doing. He couldn't help but become more curious, and followed Xiao Yu with his eyes. At this moment, a strong fresh fragrance floated into the tip of his nose, and he asked curiously: "What kind of fragrance is this?"
Xiao Yu pointed to a pot inside and said, "Steamed chicken with mushrooms."
"It smells so good!" Mr. Yuan was surprised.
"Dabao, you're drooling!" Tian Liu suddenly said.
Xiao Yu and others turned their heads, and sure enough they saw a stick of clear saliva hanging from the corner of Jin Dabao's mouth.
"Hey!" Mr. Yuan, Tian Liu, Agui, and Minghe looked disgusted.
Xiaofang quickly wiped it off with a handkerchief, and said at a loss of whether to laugh or cry: "Young master, you haven't eaten any delicacies from the mountains and seas, are you drooling?"
"It smells so good." Jin Dabao took another sip of saliva.
"Hey!" Mr. Yuan, Tian Liu, Agui, and Minghe once again made disgusting sounds.
"No rush, no rush, it will be fine soon." Xiao Yu said.
"Uncle Minghe, hurry up, I'm hungry." Jin Dabao touched his bulging belly.
"good."
The preparations have been completed, and Xiao Yu started to finish. Pour the fried tenderloin into the boiling tomato, sugar, vinegar, and salt sauce, stir-fry briefly and take it out. The homemade sweet and sour pork is ready.
Wash the pot, then cook tomato and meatball soup, fry tofu and green vegetables, stir-fry shredded chili pork, mix shredded three delicacies... In the blink of an eye, the chopping board is filled with vegetables.
Mr. Yuan personally brought the dishes to the table in the outer room.
At this time, Xiaofang and Agui no longer needed to light the fire. Xiao Yu opened the lid of the pot in the back room. In addition to steamed chicken with mushrooms, there were also steamed eggs and steamed buns.
Mr. Yuan’s eyes have been fixed on the mushroom steamed chicken.
Arriving at the outhouse, adults and children sat around a table.
Xiao Yu said: "I made some home-cooked dishes based on the dishes bought by Mr. Yuan. Both adults and children can eat them. Don't dislike them."
"Xiao Xiaolangjun, you are too humble." Xiaofang said.
"Try it first." Xiao Yu said.
Mr. Yuan has been thinking about steamed chicken with mushrooms. He immediately picked up a piece of chicken and put it into his mouth without looking at the part of the chicken. Before chewing, the juice spread in his mouth. The aroma of mushrooms and chicken juice were naturally soft. Together, they are salty, fragrant, and fresh with a slight natural sweetness, and every taste is just right.
Just at this moment, he felt that this dish was more than half successful, surpassing most cooks. He couldn't wait to take a bite of the chicken, and the richer juice burst out from the crevices of the chicken. He couldn't help exclaiming. A sound.
"Master, what's wrong?" Xiaofang and Agui asked together.
Mr. Yuan had no time to pay attention to them. All his thoughts were on the chicken. Every time he chewed it, juice burst out. The gravy was tender and smooth without losing the chewiness of the chicken.
tasty!
tasty! !
Delicious! ! !
It was the first time for him to eat such delicious mushroom chicken in Nanchuangbei. He looked at Xiao Yu in surprise and said, "Xiao Yu, how do you make this mushroom steamed chicken?"
"Master, haven't you been watching from the side?" Xiaofang interrupted.
Master Yuan suddenly understood, yes, he had been watching, just simply adding some onions, ginger, salt, carrots and starch. At that time, he thought this method was too simple, but he did not expect that it would be so delicious.
Seeing that Mr. Yuan didn't understand much, Xiao Yu analyzed the steps to Mr. Yuan: "Fresh chicken has the most natural flavor and does not need to be modified. The purpose of mixing is to make the chicken loose and tasty. The most important thing after that is to lock it with starch." Keep the moisture in the chicken, whether it is steamed, stir-fried or deep-fried.”
"It's that simple?"
"It's that simple."
Master Yuan really didn’t know this and asked, “Who did you learn cooking skills from?”
Xiao Yu never learned cooking seriously, but he followed his grandmother and watched her cook when he was a child. Later, he went to school and worked in other places by himself.
In order to save money, he bought and cooked his own food, and gradually became interested in it.
When he was bored at work, he would take time off to study and research, which could not only satisfy his hunger but also relieve his stress. Later, he knew how to cook all kinds of food. He said: "I didn't learn from anyone. I just read books and figured it out on my own."
This is talent!
Master Yuan said: "You can open a restaurant!" With Xiao Yu's skills, a restaurant will definitely be full every day.
"We will open it later," Xiao Yu said.
"Really?" Master Yuan was surprised.
"Really." Before, Xiao Yu just wanted to make a living, but gradually he found that everyone recognized his skills. He gradually came up with the idea of becoming bigger and stronger, and he also wanted to live a better life with Minghe.
"Then I'll wait. I will eat it every day."
"Definitely welcome."
"Then I wish you will become a restaurant owner soon." Mr. Yuan replaced the wine with tomato and meatball soup, and clinked the bowls with Xiao Yu.
"Thank you, Mr. Yuan."
"Your soup is also good!" Mr. Yuan praised as soon as he took a sip.
"The other ones are also quite delicious, you can try them." Xiao Yu said.
Mr. Yuan tasted them one by one.
Minghe, Jin Dabao, Tian Liu, Xiaofang, and Agui were also amazed.
The chicken, fish, meat, eggs and vegetables that Mr. Yuan bought were enough for seven adults. As a result, the four adults and three children ate them all. The three children Minghe, Jin Dabao and Tian Liu also took the steamed buns to dip into the vegetable juice and put the dishes on the plates. It's clean, no need to wash it.
"Are you full?" Xiao Yu asked.
"I'm full." All three children's stomachs were bulging.
Xiao Yu also knew that they were full.
Xiaofang and Agui took the initiative to wash the dishes.
Xiao Yu took Master Yuan and others around Jinxiu Village. It was getting late, and Master Yuan and others were going back.
The three children couldn't bear to leave each other.
"Minghe, I can't let you go!" Jin Dabao rushed towards Minghe, put his arms around Minghe's neck, and hugged Minghe, but they were both three-year-old children, and their center of gravity was not very stable, so they fell to the ground together.
Xiaofang and Agui rushed to help.
"Dabao! Look at you -" Mr. Yuan scolded Jin Dabao.
"Grandpa, it's okay, it doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt." Minghe was too poor in Jinxiu Village and had no friends. He finally got Jin Dabao and Tian Liu, and he cherished them very much.
Xiao Yu saw it and felt happy in his heart. It is a good thing for little Minghe to have family and friendship. He also said: "Master Yuan, when children play, it is inevitable that they will bump into each other."
Master Yuan stopped saying anything. In fact, Jin Dabao didn't care what he said. He kept looking at Minghe.
Ming He said: "You know my home is here, you can come and play with me."
"You can also come to me!" Jin Dabao said.
Minghe nodded.
The three children parted reluctantly.
When Mr. Yuan and the others turned a corner and disappeared, Xiao Yu and Ming He turned around and walked into the yard. By this time, the sun was about to set. The uncle and nephew began to collect dried vegetables when they suddenly heard someone shouting from behind: "Xiao Yu." Yu, Minghe."
Xiao Yu and Ming He turned back together.
Zhang Wu stood at the entrance of the courtyard with two bags of things. When he met Xiao Yu's gentle, clear and slightly surprised eyes, his face suddenly turned red.
"Zhang Wu, why are you here?" Xiao Yu greeted him with a smile.
Minghe ran over and stared at Zhang Wu again and again with his fleshy little face raised. Then he blinked his black eyes twice and said in a sweet voice: "Uncle Zhang, why are you blushing?"
