Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Ms. Xu, Yang Xiaoni… all of them felt sorry for Ms. Zhou's family. But Qiao Xuan and Ms. Fang were the ones who knew what was really going on, so they exchanged a look and smiled at each other.
It made their relationship closer.
The water deer was soon handled and the meat was sliced. They were aware that the internal organs were good things too, so they held them in a basin.
It was a huge animal that should be shared with the other sections of the family, so Ms. Fang asked Shao Sanlang to cut a few medium-level meat for them.
She was not going to deliver it, nor would she let Taotao do that. She asked Eldest Uncle to do so personally.
She decided not to get involved with them in any case.
Eldest Uncle was very displeased. But he said nothing to counter her.
Sure enough, the second and the third sections of the family complained about getting very little meat. They did not say it straightforwardly, but that was exactly what they meant.
Eldest Uncle was feeling rather displeased inwardly.
But the first section of the family did not care. They started the fire and put all the inner organs inside the pot, adding different kinds of spices for braising.
The other stove was heated as well. The water deer was cut into different sizes of diced and stewed on the dried bamboo. Ms. Xu was slicing the meat for frying while Qiao Xuan intended to make a dish of stewed ribs.
Stewed ribs were easy to make. Rice and glutinous rice were soaked a little, fried in a pan until they turned brown, then ground and a little salt was added.
She had planned to add the five-spice powder, but it was not present at the moment. So she could only make a simpler version of it and tried to see what it tasted like.
Qiao Xuan did not think that it was going to taste bad, because the fried rice smelled good. Then she could add some more spices, like star anises, fennels and cinnamon to make it fragrant.
When it was time for dinner, a table full of delicious water deer was brought to the table. Everyone was attracted to the stewed water deer meat immediately.
"That is a new dish?!"
"It looks really delicious!"
They just could not wait to touch the dish.
The meat smelled fragrant, and the rice flour over it had locked the freshness of the meat.
As the scent of rice and meat were combined, it tasted best when eaten hot.
Qiao Xuan had not eaten this kind of dish in a long while, and she had not expected that water deer, when made this way, would taste especially fresh.
Then, she could make some more similar ones.
The following day, Qiao Xuan suddenly felt a bit tired. She suggested that they should deal with the already-existing honey first and get the beeswax, before paying a visit to the mountains.
Qiao Xuan's suggestion catered to what others were also thinking.
Actually, it was because Qiao Xuan sensed the moisture in the air, and she predicted that it was going to rain very soon.
She was very sensitive towards the air changes, and she could forecast the weather within one day's time.
Sure enough, clouds covered up the sun at lunchtime, and the sky fell into darkness.
Thunderstorm arrived and the rain poured down.
They were in the middle of extracting honey and beeswax, and felt lucky that they were not in the mountains. Otherwise the rain would have been too heavy for them to handle.
Qiao Xuan could tell that the rain would last for a very long time, maybe come down continuously for a couple of days..