Chapter 352 - Proving Him Wrong (1/2)
After Zhu Junyang’s morning exercise, he came down from the mountains. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he could smell a strong fragrance drifting in the air. He didn’t think that the little lass could actually make dishes with such alluring taste with those unattractive and somewhat disgusting bugs that were dug up from the soil.
“It’s time to eat!” Yu Xiaocao held a big plate in each of her hands and walked out of the kitchen unsteadily. The fragrance came from the two plates.
The large plates, which were piled up with fried cicadas, could almost break her two wrists that were as thin as a stick of firewood. Zhu Junyang’s feet moved faster than his brain; he walked forward and took the plates from Yu Xiaocao’s hands.
Seeing him, Yu Xiaocao grinned widely and said, “Young Royal Prince, your nose is comparable to that of a ‘barking alien’ [1]. You have followed the smell over as soon as the cicadas are fried!”
If Zhu Junyang knew what a ‘barking alien’ was, he would definitely be furious. She actually compared him, who was wise and skilled in martial arts, to a canine that only knew how to stick its tongue out and wag its tail to please others. Such disrespect! Fortunately, most of his attention was focused on the fragrantly scorched cicadas, and thus overlooked the meaning of ‘barking alien’.
Xiaolian and Liu Yaner, who were helping in the kitchen, each brought out a plate of different flavored fried cicadas. After they put them on the table, Xiaolian said, “You guys eat first. I’ll take these to Eldest Maternal Aunt and Older Cousin so that they can also have a taste.”
There was a simple kitchen in the piggery. Normally, Xiaolian, Eldest Maternal Aunt and her daughter would cook their meals there. When the family made delicious food at home, they would also send some to them. Since the piglets in the piggery had sufficient food and Xiaocao regularly supplemented them with a light concentration of mystic-stone water, they were all in good health, had good appetite, and grew very well. The first batch of piglets weighed close to one hundred catties after being raised for four months, as if they ate ‘four months fat’.
Liu Yaner also delivered a full plate of fried cicadas to the Qian Family next door. After all, the Qian siblings also contributed two jars of cicadas yesterday. Qian Wu didn’t take a single one home for this very reason. Who told Xiaocao to be such a good cook? Even if he brought it back, his mother, Madam Mao, wouldn’t know how to cook it. Moreover, even if she did, she wouldn’t be willing to waste oil to fry the cicadas as snacks for him. One must admit that this fellow Qian Wu usually seemed quite foolish, but he had quite a lot of tricks up his sleeves!
In the Yu Family’s courtyard, the women helping to pick vegetables had arrived. Smelling the scent, one of the women, who usually had a close relationship with Madam Liu, said with a smile, “Dahai’s wife, what novel food did your youngest daughter make this time? It smells so good that I’m about to drool!”
Madam Liu took out some and placed them on a small plate for them to taste. They had just experienced a disaster year, so they knew about the importance of food. The matron resisted the temptation of the food and shook her head, saying, “Dahai’s wife, please don’t lure out the gluttonous bugs in our stomachs. We’re going to be the ones suffering if it rebels. Quickly take the plate back. Don’t you know that putting such delicious food in front of us is like a cruel torture to us ah?!”
Madam Liu glared at her with a smile and said, “It’s fine if the gluttonous bugs are lured out. It’s not like these are anything precious. Do you hear the cicadas on the trees? These are the larvae that just crawled out of the soil and haven’t shed off their shells. They can be found in batches in the forest at night. After catching them, they need to be properly cleaned and marinated with salt for a while. They are edible when they are cooked!”
During locust plague last year, the Yu Family had spread the news that locusts were edible. Nearly every family caught a large amount back to eat, which saved them a lot of grain. They had already eaten locusts roasted over fire, so why would they be afraid of these cicada larvae?
Seeing that it wasn’t some expensive ingredient, the matron stopped acting courteous and picked one up to put in her mouth. A strangely refreshing taste instantly erupted within her mouth. It tasted better than the fried dish they had during the New Year! Her eyes lit up and she had a wide smile on her face as she said, “It tastes really good. Tonight, I’ll have my husband and the kids catch some back, and I’ll fry some for the kids to eat.”
The other women also gave up on holding themselves back and each tried a piece. The group of people catching cicadas in the evening grew even bigger. Madam Liu told them to eat some more, but they refused. The members of the Yu Family and the Liu Family added up to more than ten people. How many cicadas could several children catch? They probably didn’t have enough to eat, so even if they wanted to eat more, they had to control themselves. How could they take food from the children?
Moreover, Royal Prince Yang was here. Right now, his existence in Tanggu Town was of someone superior to the county magistrate. All the villages within the vicinity of Tanggu were under his ruling, so they were also considered his people. They had to at least leave a good impression for the royal prince, right?
They were worried about the royal prince, but Royal Prince Yang, who had the innate quality of a glutton, focused all his attention on the different flavored fried cicadas. His favorite was actually the spicy and numbing flavor. Not only did it have a golden color, but it also had a crispy shell and tender flesh. With a dry and fragrant taste and numbingly spicy mouthfeel, he felt as if all the taste buds in his mouth were jumping. This caused him to eat one piece after another, unable to stop.