Having bid everyone farewell, they brought the horse carriage directly into the courtyard of the village chief’s home.
At that moment, Bai Sasa was bustling about in the kitchen, with the fragrance of food gradually wafting out, adding a touch of liveliness to the otherwise quiet courtyard.
Under the eaves outside the kitchen, there were pots and pots of watermelon jam.
Bai Lingyu, Xiao Shan, and Fool were at home eagerly awaiting the return of their eldest sister and Brother Wenli.
When they saw the two of them arrive in a large horse carriage, they were all dumbfounded.
What was this all about?
Bai Junjun nimbly jumped down from the carriage and said, "Hi."
"Wowwowwow~" Fool was the first to react, joyfully rushing up to the carriage to look it over from all sides.
After a while, he said, "Dongsheng Tavern."
Bai Junjun and Li Wenli both turned their heads, staring in astonishment at Fool. How did he know?
At that moment, Fool pointed at the sign hanging under the carriage window and said innocently, "It’s written here."
The realization hit them hard; Fool could read???
Bai Junjun and Li Wenli finally noticed something different about this fool.
A normal fool, no, an ordinary person might not know how to read, so how could Fool read?
If he could read even while being foolish, what about when he wasn’t?
"?" Fool looked at them in confusion: "What’s up?"
"Fool, what else can you do?" Bai Junjun asked gravely.
"I can do everything," Fool replied cheerfully, raising his hand to count, "I can eat, take a bath, cut melons, make fire, read books, write ..."
Li Wenli sighed resignedly and patted Fool on the shoulder, "Very good, very impressive."
At that time, Bai Sasa was cooking and, seeing her elder sister and Brother Wenli who had been gone for a day return, couldn’t help but smile brightly at them, "Did you sell the watermelon jam today, elder sister?"
Bai Junjun shifted her attention away from Fool and vaguely lifted the cloth bag she was carrying, the copper coins inside clinking loudly.
Bai Sasa’s eyes widened: "Did you really sell it?"
"Mhm," Bai Junjun handed the cloth bag to Bai Sasa.
Bai Sasa happily began counting the money in the bag, not noticing that Li Wenli and Bai Junjun were quietly taking a large piece of beef out of their space.
Upon his return, Li Wenli took over the kitchen, while Bai Sasa contentedly kept counting money.
Li Wenli diced the beef, then marinated it with millet wine provided by the grain mill’s owner, as well as salt, soy sauce, pepper, Sichuan pepper, bay leaves, and other spices.
Once that was done, he leisurely searched through his jars for the soybean paste.
Today he was going to cook braised beef sauce.
At that moment, Bai Junjun looked at Li Wenli full of anticipation; if glances could fuel, she would have filled him up by now.
Luckily, they had scavenged plenty of oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and spices the day before.
Although the bandits had been living in Zhao Family Village for half a month and ate a lot, they were used to hunger and roughness and had no time for slow cooking.
Thus, these sophisticated yet troublesome spices were all left untouched, which turned out to be a windfall for them. If the bandits had been gourmets, it would probably have all been gone long ago.
Then Li Wenli added oil to the hot pan, followed by chili peppers to fry the chili oil, a key step in making beef sauce.
Soon the bright red chilies began to change color. Li Wenli scooped them out for later use, added more oil, and sautéed onions, ginger, and garlic, then threw in the beef to stir fry, filling the entire kitchen with its aroma.
This delectable scent irresistibly enticed the taste bugs inside, making Bai Junjun increasingly fond of the skilled Li Wenli amidst the haze of cooking fumes.