readytorunbook Chapter 123 Turning decay into magic
Chapter 123 Turning decay into magic
Jiang Lili picked up the spoon and took a bite of the seafood porridge. Before it even reached her lips, her nose was immediately filled with the fishy smell of seafood.
Looking at Wen Xiaomei's eyes as she watched the show, Jiang Lili immediately understood that things were not simple.
But Su Sanniang's scorching gaze was too scorching. Jiang Lili put the seafood porridge into her mouth and swallowed it quickly.
She smiled and said to Su Sanniang, "This seafood porridge is quite filling, and the shrimp and crab meat are very fresh."
Su Sanniang was a straightforward person. When she heard Jiang Lili say that, she waved her hand and said, "I know my cooking is bad, but I don't have the money to hire an extra cook."
"Miss Jiang, you don't have to be polite. What's wrong with it this time? Is it too salty or too bland?"
Jiang Lili had no choice but to tell the truth: "It's too fishy."
"Hey...I have cleaned the shrimps and crabs thoroughly..."
Su Sanniang slapped her forehead and said, "Oh no! I forgot to use ginger and mint to remove the fishy smell first!"
She was afraid that she was careless, so she placed the shredded ginger and mint in a conspicuous place, but... Su Sanniang frowned, how could she forget again?
The boatmen who were serving porridge on the side also complained: "Sanniang, are you the one who cooked the meal again this time?"
"This is too fishy. What a waste of good ingredients. We finally reached the shore and got some fresh ingredients."
One of the boatmen couldn't help but ask, "Why isn't Sister Wen cooking?"
The "Sister Wen" mentioned by the boatmen is Li, the wife of Wen Kang, the eldest son of the Wen family. Although Li's cooking skills are not particularly good, with the contrast of Su Sanniang and no one else to cook on the boat, Li has become a savior of the cooking god.
Li, who was standing by, heard that the boatmen all wanted her to cook and thought that the food she cooked was delicious, so she smiled with a hint of success.
When Su Sanniang heard the boatmen's question, she replied, "My sister-in-law said she was too tired today and didn't want to cook."
When Li heard Su Sanniang's answer, she was speechless.
She was not tired, she just wanted Su Sanniang and the boatmen to understand his importance to the ship and to raise their wages.
When preparing the meal earlier, Li and Su Sanniang frantically hinted that the cook's job was too tiring and that they would not cook unless their wages were increased.
As a result, Su Sanniang, who was very straightforward, not only spoke directly herself, but also could not understand other people's roundabout talk. She mistakenly thought that Su Sanniang had not slept well and asked her to rest.
A young boatman saw through Li's trick and exposed it: "How can Sister Wen be tired? The cook on the boat only cooks a few times, and the rest of the time we eat dry food ourselves, and the seaweed rice balls invented by Wen Qiao can also fill us up."
What Li wants to do is none of his business, but it is wrong to affect the meals of the boatmen. Everyone is already working very hard on the boat.
Li said aggrievedly, "I, I just think my salary is too low, and I want my sister-in-law to give me a raise. You are too stingy to your sister-in-law."
"Sister-in-law, please be honest with yourself. Is the salary I pay you too little?" Su Sanniang was upset. This was the third time that Li asked for a salary increase. Now her salary was higher than that of the helmsman, but she was often lazy. She couldn't say this in public.
"If you say so, then I won't do this job anymore. You can just be a cook and save a lot of money."
Li said to the boatmen, "From now on, you will all eat the food that I cooked for you. I'm done with this!"
After Li said this, the boatmen suddenly became worried when they thought about the future.
The boatmen had a heavy workload and a big appetite, so Su Sanniang prepared two buckets of porridge.
These two buckets of porridge had rich ingredients but no one had the desire to eat them.
"Sanniang, why don't you give your sister-in-law a raise? You are all family after all."
"Look, this porridge today is a complete waste of ingredients. How can anyone eat it? We still have to work later."
Everyone started to persuade Su Sanniang, and Li watched smugly from the side.
Jiang Lili felt that there was still so much porridge left, it would be a shame to throw away the shrimp and crab meat.
She suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
She used to work in the kitchen of a chain restaurant. For the sake of convenience and to ensure the taste, the restaurant usually uses cooking bags to season the seafood porridge, which can bring out the seafood flavor.
Of course, these meal packs from chain restaurants have all undergone food safety inspections.
Jiang Lili pulled Su Sanniang over and said to everyone, "Hey, don't be in a hurry! These two buckets of porridge are still edible. If they are too fishy, just process them a little."
Seeing that Jiang Lili was interfering again, Li was annoyed and said, "How can you process such fishy porridge? If it's too salty, you can add water. If it's too bland, you can add salt."
Wen Kang shook his head: "Do you want to add some pickled mustard or something? I'll say yes, everyone here likes light tastes and can't get used to heavy flavors."
"No, I guarantee you'll eat it."
Jiang Lili sent a message to Zhang Xiaopang: [Xiaopang, does your supermarket sell seasoning packets? I need a seasoning packet for seafood porridge.]
[@张小胖: I remember that they do have this kind of seasoning packets, and they sell quite well, especially popular with kitchen novices. Wait a minute, I'll go downstairs to look for them.]
Jiang Lili said to Su Sanniang, "Come, aunt, take me to the kitchen. I'll teach you how to save these two buckets of porridge!"
Su Sanniang looked at Jiang Lili as if she had seen a life-saving straw. "Is there really a way? I'll take you to the kitchen right away. Just tell me if you need anything!"
Su Sanniang picked up the two buckets of porridge that were still half full and took Jiang Lili to the small kitchen. The cooking conditions on the boat were rather simple.
In the kitchen was a simple stove made of mud, on which was a casserole with a diameter less than half an arm's length.
There is still plenty of dry firewood now because we replenished it when we docked today.
The kitchen is small, with poor lighting and air, and is very cramped.
The kitchen at sea is quite special. The cook is required to watch it all the time. There cannot be any mistakes, otherwise it is easy to catch fire.
Jiang Lili was quite impressed when she thought that Su Sanniang cooked these two big pots of porridge under such conditions.
"Is this pot too small? Will it take a long time to remix these two buckets of porridge?"
Su Sanniang didn't want to tire Jiang Lili out: "Miss Jiang, why don't you just forget it? I'll apologize to them and give the boatmen some of the dried meat we brought with us."
Jiang Lili smiled and said, "It's okay, wait a little longer, I'm trying to remember the formula for removing the fishy smell."
If it was someone else it would be fine, but this was her friend's mother, there was no reason not to help.
As Zhang Xiaopang went downstairs to look for the seasoning packets on the supermarket shelf, he asked Jiang Lili: [Sister Li, I just saw you invite the school bully in our class to join the group. Why didn’t the school bully speak in the group? ]
【@侯潇潇: Yes, there has been no news about Wen Qiao for two years, and everyone misses her. With the school bully around, we feel very safe. 】
Everyone in the class group was very excited about the school bully joining, but the school bully had been slow to speak, making everyone unable to suppress their curiosity.