Life is a Game

In the end, Accountant Liu didn’t agree on the spot. He hadn’t eaten minced meat and egg drop soup and hadn’t learned Cao Guixiang’s cooking skills.

Dinner is still simple sweet potato rice and fried vegetables, but the egg drop soup is gone. During the whole meal, Liu Sangen held a bowl and stared at Cao Guixiang with his starry eyes, and cooked the rice while watching, as if just looking at Cao Guixiang's food was particularly delicious.

Accountant Liu:?

As Cao Guixiang expected, the team leader came to Zhang Chu after dinner, saying that some wooden furniture in the house needed to be repaired, and wanted to invite Zhang Chu to take a look at it tomorrow. Zhang Chu agreed without any mention of money, and set the time for the afternoon.

Early the next morning, Zhang Chu got up early to check how much furniture Accountant Liu had that needed to be repaired. In his opinion, Accountant Liu’s furniture was old. Just don’t pay attention to whether it can be used at all. Unless you have a missing arm or a broken leg, you don’t usually ask a carpenter to repair it—sometimes repairing is more time-consuming than redoing.

Cao Guixiang was carrying a basin and was going to wash clothes by the river, but she was stopped by accountant Liu's daughter-in-law as soon as she reached the door, she dragged her to a corner and said mysteriously: "Sister Cao, I have something I want to discuss with you."

"Tell me." Cao Guixiang nodded.

"It's like this. Isn't it Sangan's birthday tomorrow? The two minced meat and egg drop soup you made yesterday were really delicious. I'm convinced of your cooking skills. I want to ask you to help me tomorrow." You don’t need to cook a lot of dishes, you can just cook meat dishes, I’m a waste of pork compared to your level of cooking.” After the baptism of minced meat and egg drop soup, Accountant Liu’s daughter-in-law has a clear understanding of her craftsmanship Know.

Cao Guixiang was waiting for this sentence: "Of course."

"If there is anything, I have to talk to you first. You are an educated youth from Beiping, and you may not know the rules here. A few years ago, you were paid for others to cook for you, but now you don't let them. Stuff, leftovers. Take whatever you want. You know my situation here. There are a lot of pork left over from the slaughter of a pig. It is impossible for you to take it casually. I will give you two catties at most. You can take more corn and sweet potatoes. I can give you a pig's tail, too," Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law said.

Cao Guixiang didn't expect to get much. It's hard to get a bite of pork these days. She helps cook and can sit in the kitchen to eat. Another two catties of pork is already a big profit. If Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law hadn't been amazed by Cao Guixiang's craftsmanship, she probably wouldn't have sold two catties of pork.

"Sister Liu, you're too polite, it's just a trivial matter." Cao Guixiang agreed on the spot, "By the way, if there is any leftover meat, can you sell me and Zhang Chu a few extra catties, we can buy as much as others buy, It doesn't matter if it's fat or lean."

Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law thought about it, and agreed: "Okay."

"But, there is one more thing."

Cao Guixiang:?

"I want to ask you to help me, my old Liu disagrees."

Cao Guixiang:? ? ?

Seeing Cao Guixiang's expression, Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law quickly explained: "It's like this. Lao Liu didn't eat the minced meat and egg drop soup yesterday. How can he imagine your craftsmanship with this knowledge, so I disagree. I just don't agree. Like asking you to make minced meat and egg drop soup again at noon, let him taste it, and he will definitely agree after tasting it."

Speaking of this, accountant Liu's daughter-in-law couldn't help licking her lips, as if she was reminiscing about yesterday's soup.

Cao Guixiang thought for a while: "It's okay to make soup, but if you only make soup, I'm afraid Liu accountant will not be completely convinced. After all, soup and vegetables are still different."

"Then what should I do?" Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law was taken away by Cao Guixiang again.

"I remember that when I divided the meat yesterday, I specially divided a piece of pork belly that was very fat and thin. Do you know Wanfu meat? If I take a small piece and make a piece of Wanfu meat, it should be fine." Cao Guixiang said.

Jiang Feng was shocked.

Cao Guixiang actually wanted to make Wanfu pork. In this case, making Wanfu meat is a royal dish.

Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law shook her head blankly: "What is Wanfu meat?"

“A delicious roast meat.”

Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law immediately understood.

"By the way, is there rice wine in the kitchen? I didn't seem to see it yesterday. It's better to have rice wine to remove the smell of roast meat." Cao Guixiang asked.

"Some, some. I specially asked someone to buy them from the supply and marketing cooperative in the town, as well as star anise and peppercorns. I heard they said that roasted pork and these delicious foods were bought by someone." Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law for her son's birthday The wine was well prepared, but the cooking was not in place.

"You take out all the seasonings. I'll wash the clothes first, and I'll come back to make them after washing. This Wanfu meat is a bit troublesome and wastes time. If you don't start preparing earlier, it will delay your cooking later." Cao Guixiang said .

"No delay, no delay." Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law repeated.

Cao Guixiang went to the river to wash clothes, while Zhang Chu was still checking the furniture. Liu Sangen didn't have to go to school today, he killed the pigs and didn't need to cut the grass. He was very leisurely, so he wandered around with Zhang Chu. When Cao Guixiang didn't come back, Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law seemed a little absent-minded. She wandered around the house without doing any work, looking at Zhang Chu from time to time, and finally walked to Zhang Chu's side uncontrollably.

"Carpenter Zhang, I have something to ask you." Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law said.

"Um?"

"What kind of meat is Wanfu meat?"

As soon as Zhang Chu heard Wanfu Meat, Zhang Chu immediately became energetic and cheered up: "Sister Liu, who did you hear about Wanfu Meat?"

"It's your daughter-in-law, who just told me to make Wanfu pork when she comes back. I've been thinking about it for a long time, I've never heard of the name, but braised pork. What kind of meat is this Wanfu pork? If it's spoiled Your old Liu will definitely scold me when you come back from work." Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law is still worried.

Zhang Chu said with a smile: "Don't worry, Guixiang's cooking skills in Beiping back then were... almost equivalent to the well-known chefs in these ten miles and eight villages. Wanfu meat is our dish in the north, and you must have never heard of it in the south."

Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law felt a little relieved.

After about half an hour, Cao Guixiang walked back unhurriedly with the washed clothes. After drying the clothes, she went to the kitchen to prepare for cooking. Seeing Cao Guixiang enter the kitchen, Liu Sangen immediately left Zhang Chu and ran into the kitchen like a little fan of Cao Guixiang.

Jiang Feng was no stranger to Wanfu Meat. He had seen it in Xia Mubing's memory before, and he also ate it when he went to the Yongheju Teeth Ceremony. As a palace dish, Wanfu Meat is firstly arranged very delicately. The meat on the table is like a flower in full bloom. If you want to make the meat look like a flower, you have very high requirements for knife skills. There are not many chefs in Yonghe Residence. Can make Wanfu meat well.

Jiang Feng felt that if he wanted to make Wanfu Meat a level that was truly in line with its status as a court dish and loved by Lafayette, he had to be a master at least for knife skills, maybe not even an ordinary master, but someone with a particularly high level of experience.

Cao Guixiang belongs to the kind with particularly high experience.

Wanfu pork is generally boiled in a pot of clean water until it is half-ripe, then taken out, then cut into cubes about three centimeters in size, and then cut into horizontal slices along the sides. The horizontal slices should be thin and even, until At the corner, turn the knife and slice again, without breaking in the middle, until it is turned to the center.

The first thing Cao Guixiang did when she entered the kitchen was not to cut the meat first, but to find the bones that had been shaved yesterday, wash the pork bones, cut them into pieces, put them in the pot and add two slices of ginger to start the stew.

Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law loves pork but not pork bones at all. If she came to get pork bones, she would definitely make soup like this, but it's just useless. She was going to use so much pork to make birthday wine for her son, and she didn't care about the firewood, so she didn't stop her from watching Cao Guixiang make it.

After processing the pork bones, Cao Guixiang began to look at the piece of pork belly that she had cut yesterday. Stretching out his hand to compare the pork belly for a while, Cao Guixiang finally cut off a small, rectangular piece. Jiang Feng felt that this amount was probably only enough to make two pieces of Wanfu meat.

After the meat was cooked, Cao Guixiang cut it into 4 small cubes with a knife. If these 4 small pieces of meat were used to make Wanfu meat, it would be a pocket version of Wanfu meat.

Big kitchen knife, small meat, the smaller the meat, the more difficult it is to slice. Cao Guixiang didn't dare to cut too fast, so she could only cut slowly one by one. The small piece of meat swirled in her hands like this, and finally turned into a twisted strip of meat.

It took nearly an hour to cut 4 pieces of meat.

Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law and Liu San looked dumbfounded when they looked at it. They felt that Cao Guixiang was not cutting meat but performing juggling.

Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law thought of the meat she chopped yesterday, and lowered her head in shame, once again deeply realizing how bad her cooking skills are.

Cao Guixiang turned the 4 meat strips back to their original shape, and neatly stacked them in the bowl with the skin facing down. Pour rice wine and soy sauce along the meander, sprinkle a little sugar on the meat, put two slices of ginger, a handful of green onion, a few star anise and seven or eight peppercorns on the top and side of the meat.

After all the ingredients were put together, Cao Guixiang lifted the lid and looked at the bone soup in the pot. After cooking on high heat for more than an hour, it was almost ready to use. There were only bones and no meat, and the soup with nothing added except ginger slices could not be expected to be stewed. what it looks like. Even so, the soup stewed with only bones still exudes a false meaty aroma. Cao Guixiang scooped two spoonfuls of soup into a bowl, covered the pot to let the bone soup continue to cook, and pulled out a few sticks of firewood from the stove. The fire should not be so big, and then put the bowl into another pot and steam it.

"Sister Liu now mainly waits for the meat to be steamed until it's cooked, and then thicken it. It may take some time. You see, I'm going to cook tomorrow, and I haven't done much with the meat. It doesn't matter if Brother Liu disagrees. You tell me what kind of meat you want to use for cooking first, and I will help you deal with the meat first." Cao Guixiang said.

Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law was stunned for a long time before she spoke with difficulty: "Isn't everything handled? Do you have to deal with it again?"

The latter question was asked cautiously, like a poor student who couldn't answer the teacher's question.

Cao Guixiang nodded.

Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law was completely impressed by the level she showed in cutting meat just now. Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law now only thinks that Cao Guixiang is the best cook in the world, and she probably has never really learned how to cook. , The rice cooked in these years is probably fake rice.

"I...I don't know, you...you can figure it out." Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law didn't even dare to speak casually.

"Then I'll help you with some of it first."

Cao Guixiang began to process the pork, cutting the pork into small pieces, or marinating the pork in advance. Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law bought a lot of seasonings for tomorrow's banquet, but in the end she didn't use a single prickly ash, and Cao Guixiang used them all. However, she also wished that Cao Guixiang would use up all of them. She could see that the same dishes, the same ingredients, the same knife, and even the same pot were completely different things in Cao Guixiang's hands and in hers. . Cao Guixiang's cutting meat with a knife is called cutting meat, and she is killing pigs with a knife.

As time passed, the Wanfu meat in the pot gradually became rotten, and the meaty flavor enhanced by rice wine, light soy sauce, star anise, pepper and pork rib soup began to spread from the tightly closed pot.

This is only for Liu Sangen and Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law, who have never eaten this kind of meat dishes. The smell of meat is a baptism for their noses.

Wanfu meat is inherently fragrant. Even though there is no broth, it is a bit of a fly in the ointment, but this does not prevent Liu Sangen and Liu accountant's daughter-in-law from sniffing the smell of meat in the air with fascination.

How can meat smell so good!

The meat itself is already very fragrant, but I didn't expect it to be so fragrant!

The two of them almost wrote these two sentences on their faces.

Jiang Feng felt strange why Zhang Chu hadn't come here since the meat smelled so delicious, so he went out to see where he was.

Zhang Chu was repairing the corner of the table in the living room. He originally wanted to go to the kitchen to have a look, but before he got up, he bumped into Accountant Liu who came back to get his notebook. The two looked at each other, and the atmosphere seemed extremely awkward for a moment.

Accountant Liu had never smelled such a delicious smell of meat, and he almost thought that his nose was hallucinating.

"What, what does this smell like..." Accountant Liu asked in a daze.

"Guixiang is making Wanfu meat in the kitchen. It should be ready by now. Accountant Liu, would you like to go and have a look with me?" Zhang Chu said.

"Okay... okay..." Accountant Liu was still a little sluggish. Although he was sluggish, his legs and feet were not sluggish at all. Before Zhang Chu could make a move, he went to the kitchen by himself.

Wanfu meat is indeed almost ready.

Cao Guixiang stopped the movement of her hands and waited for time with her hands on the side of the pot, without even noticing that accountant Liu had entered.

The other two didn't notice either. Everyone was staring at the pot without the lid off.

Cao Guixiang lifted the wooden cover.

Accountant Liu's family all let out an uninformed wow sound.

In fact, the Wanfu meat in the pot is not very good-looking now. There are no side dishes, no presentation, and even no thickening, but it already has the shape of a flower.

This is enough.

Cao Guixiang picked off the onion, ginger and star anise on the surface with chopsticks, poured the soup back into the pot, and put the meat upside down into the plate. I added a piece of firewood and a little straw to the stove to make the fire burn quickly. Accountant Liu didn’t have any starch and couldn’t thicken it. To be precise, Accountant Liu didn’t have any flour, so Cao Guixiang could only thicken the soup. Just in time to pour over the meat.

The meat is done.

4 pieces of Wanfu meat were quietly placed on the plate.

Liu Sangen was already swallowing silently.

Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law began to pay attention to her side, and found that accountant Liu came back at some time, and Zhang Chu also came in.

There are 5 people in the kitchen, but there are only 4 pieces of meat on the plate.

This made Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law a little bit troubled. Although the firewood is her family's meat, and even the seasoning is her family's, it stands to reason that her family should have the final say on how to divide it. But accountant Liu's daughter-in-law knew very well that these things belonged to her family, but after making Wanfu meat, it seemed that they did not belong to her family.

Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law was a little confused.

As a mother and wife, she is used to being humble at the dinner table, but at this time she doesn't really want to be humble.

Who knows if I can eat it for the second time in this life.

Cao Guixiang said: "Try each of you. I was negligent. I only thought that 4 yuan is better. I forgot that there are 5 of us, so I will not eat."

"This is so bad." Accountant Liu and Accountant Liu's wife said in unison.

"It's okay." Cao Guixiang smiled.

Everyone is not polite anymore, and the saliva in their hearts is almost flooding. Liu Sangen was the most restless as a child. He touched the chopsticks first, took a bowl and crawled the meat into the bowl.

"You child, what does it look like to eat like this!" Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law felt that her son was a bit ashamed for the first time.

Then she found that accountant Liu was also licking, and the movements of the father and son were even a little synchronized.

Accountant Liu's daughter-in-law: ...

She also licked silently.

Then the actions of the family of three are synchronized.

Jiang Feng \u0026 Cao Guixiang \u0026 Zhang Chu: ...

Zhang Chu didn't move. It was Cao Guixiang who urged him to eat quickly. If he didn't eat a bite of the meat, it would be cold and taste bad. Then he found a bowl and chopsticks to pick up the meat, took a bite, and chewed.

Accountant Liu has regained his composure, and felt that he should say something to flatter Cao Guixiang, but he didn't know how to do it. After all, this question was seriously beyond the scope of his knowledge.

"Cao Zhiqing, your skills are really... yes... you can go directly to the city to be a chef in a state-run restaurant!" Accountant Liu sighed.

Cao Guixiang and Zhang Chu were stunned, and Zhang Chu's expression became visibly disappointed, but he stopped soon.

Cao Guixiang smiled at Accountant Liu.

It's getting foggy.

Jiang Feng began to lose sight of Cao Guixiang's face.

"Maybe, if I have a chance to go back to the city, maybe I can still be one." Even the voice began to become a little ethereal, like a sigh.

Jiang Feng left his memory.