Tin Aino washed her hands and walked into the kitchen. At the same time, she had already tied the small apron that had been modified from the all-purpose bedsheet around her waist.
In the basin, fish were jumping and shrimps were jumping. On the chopping board was a lump of mutton.
In the time it took Yang Fan to blink a few times, the rice had been washed and put into the pot. The scallions, ginger, and garlic had been peeled, flattened, and shredded.
In the time it took Yang Fan to blink a few more times, a fish had been gilled, scaled, cleaned, and placed on an open plate.
The scallions, shredded ginger, cooking wine, soy sauce, and other condiments were poured on the fish that had been cut into pieces. The plate was pushed to the side, and Tin Aino picked up the knife again.
The knife flew up and down in her hand. Even though she was only using one hand, in a short while, the mutton had become a lump of bright red meat.
With a "dong" sound, the knife stabbed into the chopping board. The handle was still buzzing. Tin Aino had already bent over to add a few pieces of firewood into the stove. She cleaned her hands with honey locust in a basin that had been prepared beforehand. She picked up a few large dates, removed the cores, and threw them into the rice pot.
A fat chicken that had already been cleaned when the waiter brought it over was washed again. The stomach was stuffed with all sorts of condiments to flavor it. The date meat porridge was already cooked, and the fragrance of the rice wafted into the air. She placed the fresh fish into the steamer and casually grabbed a handful of shredded ginger and scallions to cover the fish.
Yang Fan was in a daze as he stared at the big fish covered under the shredded ginger and scallions. A few pieces of cheese were thrown into the water. Tin Aino's jade-like movements and casual movements made her look like a calligraphy master waving a brush and splashing ink, writing a wonderful piece of calligraphy with ease.
The fresh fish didn't need to be steamed for too long. When the fragrance of the fish and the cool milk escaped from the edge of the pot along with the steam, making Yang Fan salivate, the fat chicken was sent into the steamer again. At this time, the bouncing fresh shrimp had already been filtered out of the water and were ready to be used.
The old man leaning against the door felt very hungry, getting hungrier and hungrier, but he couldn't bear to leave. He never knew that it could be done so beautifully and elegantly. Men didn't cook. They probably wouldn't even enter the kitchen once in their entire lives. But if there was such a beautiful scene in the kitchen, what was wrong with going into the kitchen?
Yang Fan stared at Tin Aino, who was wearing a small green apron around her waist. Her waist was as slender as a fresh cabbage.
In Yang Fan's opinion, she was undoubtedly the most delicious dish in this kitchen. Her beauty was truly a feast for the eyes.
The plate of delicious cabbage was still busy in the kitchen. Whether it was waving the ladle, picking up the kitchen knife, sprinkling the chopped green onions, or swiftly cutting the lamb with the knife, even the way she stooped over to add firewood was full of artistic beauty. It was as if she wasn't stir-frying, but dancing.
As if sensing Yang Fan's gaze, Tian Ainnu suddenly asked without turning her head, "Do you know what my favorite thing to do is?"
Yang Fan shook his head and said, "I don't know!"
Tin Aino took a deep breath of the aroma of the food and said excitedly, "Cooking! My favorite thing is to cook!! "
Yang Fan was slightly embarrassed. So, she's a foodie …
…
Vinegar and scallion chicken, steamed fish, grilled bright prawns, stir-fried lamb, and jujube porridge were all placed on the table.
Yang Fan and Tin Aino sat on both sides of the table, kneeling and raising the table.
The dishes on the table were very sumptuous, but there were no vegetables.
It wasn't easy for Yang Fan to improve his life. Of course, he wouldn't buy vegetables. Tin Aino wasn't picky about the ingredients he bought. Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Barbarians and the Han lived together. The culture, clothing, food, and other aspects of the Central Plains were influenced by the Barbarians and the Barbarians. There were many changes. Nowadays, it was very difficult to see vegetables on the menu of the rich and powerful.
Yang Fan ate with great relish. His belly was very round. A fat fish that was one catty, eight taels and six qian, a fat chicken that was three catties and four taels, half a catty of mutton, and a plate of river prawns were almost swept clean by him. Even the pot of porridge was eaten by him.
Tin Aino held the rice bowl and looked at the empty plate. He asked Yang Fan. "Are you a reincarnated hungry ghost?"
Yang Fan held his round belly and sighed. "This is the most delicious meal I've ever eaten in my life. Why don't … you stay."
Tin Aino glanced at him and said indifferently. "You can afford to hire a cook like me?"
Yang Fan coughed and said. "You must be a cook."
Tin Aino took small bites of the porridge. He picked up some leftovers from the plate that Yang Fan had wiped out. He didn't care about Yang Fan at all. Yang Fan rolled his eyes and suddenly laughed. "Let me see. Aiya, today is the third day since you came to my house."
Tin Aino raised his pair of watery eyes and said. "Huh?"
Yang Fan smiled. "On the third day after the bride's marriage, she needs to cook."
Tin Aino snorted. He still ignored Dong Xuebing.
Yang Fan rubbed his nose and said tentatively, "That's right. The hairpin you gave me was exchanged for two thousand eight hundred coins. I'm getting more and more curious about you. From your speech and mannerisms, and the fact that you can casually take out a hairpin that is worth so much, you must be from a wealthy family. Why would you need to be a thief?"
Tin Aino put down his chopsticks. He said indifferently, "You still can't help but want to know about my past?"
"Uh … you don't have to say."
Tin Aino shook his head. He said after a pause, "There's no harm in saying. But … I can only tell you about my past before I was six. "
Yang Fan said excitedly, "That's fine. Tell me."
Tin Aino thought quietly for a while. He said softly, "My family lived in Guanzhong's Zhouzhi County. There was nothing special about our family. My father was an ordinary farmer with a dozen or so acres of dry land. In the fifth month of the first year of Yongchun, there was a great drought in Guanzhong. The land was scarlet for thousands of miles. Then locusts came. The crops that had already withered were eaten up by the locusts. "
This beginning was probably not a happy story. Yang Fan couldn't help but stop smiling. He listened quietly.
Tin Aino said, "The government couldn't gather enough food for disaster relief. In order to survive, grandpa (father, the most common colloquial name at that time) sold the family's dozen or so acres of farmland. But at that time, the price of rice had already risen to ten thousand coins per bushel. How many days could this bit of money last? Very quickly, the city and the countryside were filled with people eating each other. The dead piled on the streets. "
Tin Aino said sadly, "Misfortune never comes alone. Soon after, there was a great plague. The victims dragged their children. They begged during the day and slept on the streets at night. Many people vomited yellow liquid in their sleep. Their corpses were left by the roadside." At that time, there was a folk song that said, "Li Si buried Zhang San in the morning, Li Si ascended to heaven at noon. Liu Er and Wang Wu went to the funeral. Yue Luo and Shuang went to the gates of hell … "
"The starving people began to resort to any means necessary. The bread that someone had just bought was snatched away by the starving people. Just as they were about to catch up, the starving people threw the bread into the horse urine and stepped on it. The person who was robbed had no choice but to give up. The starving people picked up the bread again and wolfed it down. The bark was peeled off, revealing the white trunk. The leaves were also eaten by the locusts and the starving people.
Many people began to eat the Guanyin clay. They knew that they would still die if they ate it, but if they didn't fill their stomachs, they would really be starving. There was a man in our village who sold his land and his wife. In the end, he buried his four-year-old son who had starved to death in a brick bed and fled for his life.
There was also a widow. Her family had more than a hundred acres of farmland. She was considered very wealthy in the village. At this time, it was difficult for her to support herself. She had a son and a daughter. They were both young. In order to support her son and preserve her deceased husband's bloodline, she personally pressed her young daughter into a basin of water and drowned her alive. "
Tin Aino raised her head and looked at Yang Fan. She seriously explained, "Do you think that this has nothing to do with me? I'm saying all of this because I want to tell you how miserable it was back then. Many people who were far richer than my family couldn't even survive. So … no matter what my parents did to me, I never hated them. Never! "
Yang Fan's heart trembled slightly. She stared into Tin Aino's sparkling eyes. She wanted to tell her not to continue speaking, but facing that kind of gaze, she couldn't even speak.
Tin Aino was silent for a moment. She continued, "Groups of starving people headed east, fleeing towards Luoyang. There were as many people as there were hairs on an ox. Their clothes were ragged, and they were as thin as sticks. As they walked, people would collapse. The wilderness was filled with wolves and wild dogs that were as vicious as wolves. They were not afraid of people at all. They even ran into the empty villages and used the remaining humans as their food.
There are many people from Longxi who come to Guanzhong to buy wives, but they are not allowed to bring children. I saw with my own eyes a Longxi man lift a rather good-looking young woman onto the back of a donkey, but he snatched the child from her arms and threw it into the dry gutter. Grandpa … "
Tin Aino's voice trembled. "Grandpa had no choice but to sell Mother. But the food he got wasn't even enough to eat for three days. Who cares? At that time, as long as he could have a bite to eat, as long as he could live a moment longer, what wouldn't he be willing to do? Many women were forced to sell their bodies. Every time they sold their bodies, they could only get a bowl of rice soup. "
Tin Aino gave a long sigh and faintly said, "After the food I got from selling Mother was finished, Grandpa stared at me. At that time, I was very afraid. I thought Grandpa was going to eat me. In the end … he only called me to a dry well and pushed me down …"
Yang Fan's body shook. His lips moved a few times, but he could not say any comforting words.
Tin Aino said, "Grandpa threw some bricks and debris down, and then I don't know where he ran for his life."
Yang Fan gently held her hand. Her hand was cold and trembling. When Yang Fan held her hand, she immediately held Yang Fan's hand in a death grip. She was like a person who had fallen into a dry well grabbing onto a rope hung down by a kind-hearted person, unwilling to let go.
Yang Fan said in a low voice, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked about this. Please don't say anymore."
Tin Aino gently shook her head and mournfully said, "The stone thrown by Grandpa hit my head. I fainted. But I don't hate him. I really don't hate him. He couldn't do anything about it. At least … he didn't eat me … "
Note: Stir-Frying existed in the Tang Dynasty. But because it consumed a lot of oil and the quality of the raw iron wok was not good, it was easy to break. Soy sauce was invented in the Jin Dynasty. It was already popular in the Tang Dynasty. Before that, it was known as clear soy sauce, bean sauce, soy sauce, soy sauce, black bean sauce, black bean sauce, pomelo oil, tanning oil, seat oil, fu oil, autumn oil, etc. After 755 AD, the soy sauce production technology was spread to Japan with Master Jianzhen. Then it was spread to Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and other countries.
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