NOVEL NEXT Chapter 31 - I
“Young master, I have always been your servant and have never been in the kitchen,” Li Wu shook his head violently. It was not like he wanted to be lazy, but he really couldn’t make anything to eat.
“I have only done the work of washing vegetables and helping in the kitchen,” Xiao Liu had done odd jobs in the kitchen before but had never tried cooking. “How about I give it a try?”
Li Wu heard that Xiao Liu had done some kitchen works; he hurriedly said, “There is a farmer’s house not far from us on the way here just now. I’m going to see if I can buy some rice and vegetables.”
They were used to eating ready-made food in Li Mansion, and yesterday they only bought a carriage along with some daily utensils; they had forgotten about three meals a day. Seeing that it was almost noon, the pots and stoves were still cold here. It didn’t matter about him and Xiao Liu; but the young master and the young madam must be hungry.
“Well, you go ahead,” Li Tianyan thought for a while and gave Li Wu ten taels of silver. “From now on, you will be responsible for purchasing and keeping accounts. When the money is used up, you can bring the bill to me.”
“Yes, young master.” Li Wu took the silver and quickly harnessed the horse and left. Xiao Liu also went into the kitchen to pack things and prepare to heat the stove.
It didn’t take long for Li Wu’s carriage to come back. When Xiao Liu came out to help get things, he saw that Li Wu had bought a few live chickens, with a happy smile on his face.
Xiao Liu, who was sold into slavery since he was a child, longed most to be able to farm and raise chickens like an ordinary farmer, but now it unexpectedly came true.
.
“I seem to hear something,” Cheng Qi heard a cooing sound in the room and ran out curiously to ask.
“Young madam, look, Li Wu bought some chickens.” When Xiao Liu saw Cheng Qi coming out, she immediately pointed to a few hens in the chicken coop and told him.
“It turns out they are chickens, so cute.” Cheng Qi squatted next to the chicken coop and poked the hens with his fingers in novelty.
“I saw that the chicken was good, and the farmer was quite authentic. They only charged twenty-five cents per chicken, so I asked them for a few more.” Li Wu saw that the young madam and Xiao Liu were so happy; he knew he bought the right chicken.
“Brother Li Wu is very thoughtful. From now on, the young madam will have eggs to eat.” Xiao Liu lifted the cage containing the chicken to the utility room and locked it up.
The young master didn’t like smelly things, so Xiao Liu planned to wait until the afternoon to go to the backyard to find a place far away from the young master’s room to build a fence and raise these chickens.
By the time Xiao Liu brought the two green vegetables to the table together with the rice, it was already past lunch time. Li Tianyan glanced at the green vegetables on the table, put some in Cheng Qi’s bowl first, as he was used to, and then picked up his bowl to eat.
“Young master, you can eat too.” Cheng Qi picked up the chopsticks and picked up the vegetables for Li Tianyan in a similar manner. Then he smiled and stuffed the vegetables in the bowl into him mouth along with the rice. The next moment, he suddenly stopped laughing.
He peeked at Li Tianyan’s expression and found that there was nothing strange on his face. Cheng Qi was immediately confused. What he served to the young master was obviously the same dish as what he ate. Could it be that there was something wrong with his own taste?
“What’s wrong, young madam? Is the food not to your taste?” Xiao Liu couldn’t help but ask nervously when he saw Cheng Qi frowning and staring at the two plates of vegetables in front of him.
“No, no, it’s delicious.” Cheng Qi shook his head and picked up the bowl of rice carefully. Seeing that Xiao Liu still had a worried look on his face, he picked up another chopstick of green vegetables, stuffed it into his mouth, and smiled at him.
“Then, young master and young madam, you eat first.” When Xiao Liu saw that there was nothing wrong with the food he cooked, he finally left with peace of mind and returned to the kitchen to eat with Li Wu.
.
“Sit down and eat, I’m starving.” When Li Wu saw Xiao Liu coming, he added two bowls of white rice and sat down to start eating. He just took a mouthful of green vegetables but almost couldn’t swallow it.
“Xiao Liu, why does this dish have an earthy smell?” Li Wu said with a wrinkled face. Not only did it have an earthy smell, without any seasoning, it tasted weird.
“Earthy?” Xiao Liu was surprised when he heard this and quickly took a taste himself. “Bah! Bah!”
“How could it taste so bad?” Xiao Liu used to see the chef cook a lot of vegetable while he was in the kitchen.
After being stir-fried in the pot and taken out, the taste had completely changed from what he knew.
“Did you not boil hot water first or add seasonings?” Li Wu hurriedly took a few mouthfuls of white rice. Fortunately, the rice was cooked; otherwise, he would be really hungry today.
“Do you need to boil hot water? I didn’t see the seasoning in the kitchen,” Xiao Liu looked at Li Wu inexplicably.
Li Wu suddenly slapped his forehead. How could he forget this? “Let’s just eat for now. After eating, I will think about what else we need and buy it all at once.”
Xiao Liu listened. Just as he sat down, something suddenly occurred to him, and he exclaimed, “It’s over, the young master and young madam are still eating.”
Cheng Qi observed for a while and found that Li Tianyan only ate white rice after taking the first bite of the dish. He blinked and asked strangely, “Young master, why don’t you eat vegetables?”
Li Tianyan paused with the hand holding the chopsticks, and saw Cheng Qi staring at him with a pair of dark eyes. He said seriously, “I’m a little tired today and want to eat something light.”
“Is that so?” Cheng Qi said, but he felt even more strange in his heart. Were these two green vegetables greasy?
“Yes.” After saying this, Li Tianyan sped up his eating movements, and when the bowl of white rice hit the bottom, he left the table with his feet greased.
Cheng Qi looked at the two plates of almost untouched dishes on the table. After struggling for a while, he still couldn’t bear to waste them all and put them all in his stomach. Then he patted his butt and went to find Li Tianyan.