Chapter 167 (1/2)
Chapter 167
Chapter 167 - Protecting His Daughter
Yu Xiaocao’s clothing chest had so much clothing in it that she could wear new pieces every day until the next year and still have more to use . As for her small jewelry box that was used to hold beautiful pieces that weren’t very expensive, it was also almost filled to the brim . Once, Zhou Shanhu came over to play and saw her box, which Xiaocao had forgotten to tidy up . The other little girl was so envious that drool almost came out of her mouth .
Since all of these were given to her by her G.o.dfather, she couldn’t just give them away . In addition, she wasn’t a true little girl, she didn’t really like to wear them . The box full of hair pins, bracelets, earrings, and other jewelry could only sit there and gather dust .
When Third Young Master Zhou saw Fang Zizhen leave the courtyard, he let out a deep sigh of relief . He scuttled over to the kitchen door and was about to say something when Yu Xiaocao ordered him to do work, “Go! Go to the west room and take a few mud-covered eggs from the kang bed and bring them over…”
Zhou Zixu obediently followed her orders and came back with six to seven century eggs in his arms . From the size of the eggs, one could tell that some were made from chicken eggs and others from duck eggs . Yu Xiaocao glared at him and then scolded, “You’re stupid! These are obviously two different types of century eggs . Go back and grab six of each!”
“You said to bring some mud-covered eggs over but didn’t tell me what type of eggs you wanted…” Zhou Zixu complained as he felt wronged . However, he didn’t dare to resist and returned to grab the rest of the eggs .
“Gently strike these eggs on the ground and peel off the mud sh.e.l.ls . Be careful not to dirty the insides of the century eggs!” Yu Xiaocao thought that he didn’t look reliable and couldn’t help but warn him repeatedly .
Zhou Zixu’s eyes lit up and he looked at the mud-covered eggs in his hands with interest . He carefully pinched off a bit of mud, revealing the inner sh.e.l.l . He picked one up, carefully looked at it and asked Yu Xiaocao, “Is this ingredient needed for the ‘century eggs and lean meat congee’ that Lord Fang was talking about? Why does it need to be coated in mud? Why don’t century eggs need to be cooked before eating? Why…”
Yu Xiaocao was being driven crazy by his questions and gave him a fierce look, “Why do you have all of these questions? Are you Ten Thousand Questions [1] ah?”
Zhou Zixu didn’t understand her reference and hollowly chuckled a bit, “I don’t have that many, just a few questions, that’s all! Xiaocao, what is the vermicelli in ‘pork stewed with vermicelli’? Is it like century eggs, a new food ingredient that you’ve come up with?”
Yu Xiaocao took out a bunch of vermicelli that wasn’t h.o.m.ogenous in thickness from a kitchen cupboard and soaked it in some warm water . Zhou Zixu rushed over and squatted down to pick up one strand to investigate . When Xiaocao turned around, she didn’t notice him there and almost tripped right over him . If Zhou Zixu wasn’t there as a sacrificial cus.h.i.+on, then she likely would have fallen straight into the water basin .
“You little good-for-nothing, get out of here! If you continue to hinder me making food, then you can go to the docks and eat instead!!” Yu Xiaocao exploded as she put one hand on her hip while she held a large cleaver in the other . The combination made a ferocious sight that made Third Young Master Zhou tremble in fear .
Zhou Zixu hastily shrunk next to the corner of the stove and pitifully hugged his knees as he squatted down . He placed a piece of firewood into the clay stove and carefully said, “I . . . I can help you watch the fire, isn’t that okay?”
Yu Xiaocao cut pieces of streaky pork as she glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes . She stated somewhat in disbelief, “Eldest Young Master Zhou [2], do you know how to control the flame in the kitchen?”
”I’m not Eldest Young Master Zhou, I’m Third…” Zhou Zixu seemed like an abused young married woman . He raised his head to look at her expression and then hurriedly placed a whole bunch of firewood into the stove, “How could burning firewood be hard? Don’t you just add wood to it?”
By adding several sticks of firewood in at once, he almost smothered the flame that was burning . The kitchen immediately seemed as if it had caught on fire as thick smoke billowed out of the room . The smoke choked the two people in the kitchen as they coughed endlessly .
Xiaolian, who had just gotten back from the docks, immediately saw the thick smoke when she entered into the courtyard and thought that the kitchen had caught on fire . She ran toward the room in large strides and discovered the disaster that Third Young Master Zhou had caused .
She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as she took out half of the firewood from the stove and blew air into the fire . The fire slowly grew and heated up again . However, the thick smoke in the kitchen lingered and it would be a while before the air cleared .
Yu Xiaocao felt tears and mucus streaming down her face from the smoke . She kicked at the main offender and scowled, “This is your doing!! You wanted to choke me to death with smoke!”
Xiaolian hurriedly pulled her furious younger sister back and laughed as she reprimanded her sister, “Younger Sister, you’re too much! Third Young Master Zhou is our guest, how can you order him to mind the fire? He’s used to a life of servants giving him food and picking out clothing, so how could he possibly know how to do this?”
Yu Xiaocao used the back of her hand to rub her eyes . Both of her eyes were as red as a rabbit’s as she glared fiercely at Third Young Master Zhou, who was still coughing endlessly, “Who told him to add wood to the fire? He was the one who had nothing better to do so he had to cause trouble!”
Zhou Zixu had a wronged expression on his face as he lamented, “Wasn’t I just trying to help you?” “Help me? I think the more you tried to help, the more trouble you caused! Psh, go rest somewhere out of the way ah!” Yu Xiaocao glanced at him with eyes filled with disdain .
After a decent amount of time pa.s.sed, the smoke finally dissipated from the kitchen . Yu Xiaocao swiftly finished four dishes and one soup . All of them had generous portions . Among them included Fang Zizhen’s requested ‘pork stewed with vermicelli’ and ‘century eggs and lean meat congee’ . She also made stir-fried pork liver, ‘three earthy treasures’, and sliced up century eggs seasoned with garlic paste and aromatic vinegar .