jdhmnovel Chapter 138: Cannibalism Caused by Shrimp
Chapter 138: Cannibalism Caused by Shrimp
So everyone decided to have dinner together in the activity area in the evening. Each family cooked a few dishes, and everyone brought their own rice, bowls and chopsticks.
After a few ladies found out, they said they would be responsible for notifying everyone.
So when it was dinner time, each family started preparing meals, and the children also helped out.
The wooden barrel of large river shrimps had been washed and sent to Lin Wan's kitchen, and the garlic that was needed was also brought over by Aunt Li.
Lin Wan was also ready to start making pepper salt. She had already prepared bottles to store the pepper salt so that she could use it anytime in the future.
Li Ke helped to light the fire and peel garlic. Li Chongle had already brought the stone mortar as instructed by Lin Wan and was waiting for his task beside him. While waiting, he also helped to peel garlic.
Lin Wan put the needed peppercorns, fennel and salt into bowls according to her estimated amounts. She had never made pepper and salt herself before, she just bought them and used them directly. She could only try them based on the taste in her memory.
If there is no white sesame rice, just leave it out.
Everything was ready. She asked Li Ke to heat the iron pan on low heat. She poured in the peppercorns and stir-fried them slowly on low heat.
When the peppercorns changed color slightly and gave off a rich fragrance, she scooped them out and handed them to Li Chongle.
Li Chongle poured the peppercorns into a stone mortar and slowly crushed them with a pestle.
Lin Wan then poured the fennel into the pot and continued to stir-fry it over low heat. When the fennel was cooked, she took it out and handed it to Li Chongle to crush it.
Then she poured the salt into the pot and stir-fried it gently. When the color of the salt gradually turned slightly yellow, she scooped it out and put it into a large bowl.
After Li Chongle had pounded the peppercorns and fennel, Lin Wan poured them into a large bowl filled with salt, stirred them evenly, and then put them in a ceramic bottle.
She then set about making braised shrimp, garlic shrimp and salt and pepper shrimp.
As bowls of shrimps with different flavors came out of the pot, Lin Wan’s kitchen was filled with mouth-watering aroma.
As bowls of shrimps with different flavors came out of the pot, all kinds of tempting aromas wafted out of Lin Wan's kitchen.
When each dish of shrimp was about to be served, Li Ke would immediately come over, pick up his chopsticks, and offer to help taste the saltiness.
Lin Wan saw through her thoughts and always smiled and used a spatula to help her scoop out the food so that she could pick it up more easily. She also called Li Chongle next to her to try it together.
Of course, there is Xiaobai who has been circling around the stove, crying and urging for a share of the food.
Li Ke would pick up one or two shrimps for it, and Xiaobai would wag its tail excitedly and start eating happily.
All the shrimps have been cooked. Lin Wan looked at the three bowls of each flavor in front of her, a total of nine bowls of shrimps.
The braised shrimps are bright red in color and the soup is thick. The garlic shrimps have a strong garlic flavor and the shrimp meat is fresh and tender. The salt and pepper shrimps are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and are salty and delicious.
Well, I’m quite satisfied.
She put it in three baskets and arranged it carefully to make sure nothing would spill along the way.
"Okay, we each carry a basket and bring them all to the activity area at once."
Li Ke and Li Chongle quickly responded and each picked up a basket.
Lin Wan also picked up the remaining one, and the three of them walked towards the activity area.
Considering that she had to cook so many shrimps, when Aunt Li sent the garlic over, she told her not to cook as she would cook the required amount for them.
When we arrived at the activity area, we saw that people from every household had already arrived and the tables were filled with a variety of dishes.
"Lin Wan, you are finally here. I've been waiting for your shrimps!" Luo Fang hurried over and shouted.
"Yes, I can't forget the shrimps you fried." Li Chongwu echoed his wife.
Lin Wan took the shrimps out of the basket and placed them on the table. The two siblings also placed their own portions on the table.
"Thank you for your compliments, these are just some new methods. Once you learn them, the food you make might taste better than mine."
"Wan'er, don't be so modest. Come quickly, let's have dinner." Third aunt Chen Lian greeted with a smile.
The children were already sitting around the table, waiting for the adults to call for dinner.
At a command from the oldest uncle, Mr. Li, everyone stretched out their chopsticks towards the bowls of shrimps.
Although they are not the spicy shrimps that everyone wanted to eat before, these novel flavors still make everyone enjoy them.
The adults praised Lin Wan's cooking skills while eating, "This braised shrimp is absolutely amazing, it tastes so good!" "The garlic shrimp is delicious too."
Lin Wan responded to everyone's compliments with a smile. Although she liked shrimp and black bean clam soup, she didn't dare to eat too much. Both foods were cold in nature, and she didn't forget that she was having her period.
I don’t want to suffer from menstrual pain like in ancient times, because there are no convenient painkillers here.
She also specifically told Fang Yun not to drink too much black bean and clam soup, just a small amount to taste it.
She remembered that her modern cousin ate too much of this soup when she was pregnant and had spotting, which scared her terribly, so she had a very deep impression of it.
The children were eating with their mouths full of oil, chattering as they ate, "I like the salt and pepper shrimp, it's fragrant and crispy." "I think the braised shrimp is the best, I want another one."
"I like the black bean clam soup, it's very fresh and sweet."
"I like it too. Let's get another bowl."
The adults were chatting and laughing, the children were playing, and the entire activity area was immersed in warmth and joy.
Since entering the deep mountains, we were busy building secluded caves at first, and then we started farming and went out to the mountains to hunt and gather supplies. Every day we work hard to live a good life.
Today we all get together to relax and eat shrimps.
They decided to live in seclusion in the cave and have a meal together like this on the last day of every month.
Lin Wan had been too busy these days and she had secretly hidden in Xiaoshan County through the help of the King of Chu. She thought that the war would not last too long, so she relaxed her attention to news from the outside world.
Li Changli said that recently He Lizheng and his colleagues had been digging konjac and kudzu vines outside the mountain in order to store food for the winter, and they met some villagers they knew who were hiding in the mountain.
They learned from them some news circulating outside, saying that the King of Chu was indeed injured and hid in their small county, and the county has been sealed off ever since.
The villagers hiding in the outer mountainous areas were a little worried that the King of Chu would send troops into the mountains to capture able-bodied men to expand the military force.
After hearing this, Lin Wan felt that the King of Chu should be more worried about the issue of food reserves in the city.
When he was in Jingzhou before, there were several counties under him that provided him with food and military supplies. Now they have all retreated to a small county in the south. She was worried that he could not protect himself and might not have the troops to go into the mountains to capture people.
It is not cost-effective to go into the mountains simply to capture people, unless you can get both food and people by going into the mountains.
They took advantage of the autumn harvest to launch a surprise conscription, and those who fled into the mountains could not carry much food.
Therefore, Lin Wan speculated that the King of Chu’s top priority now is how to solve the food problem in the city if the city continues to be closed, rather than going into the mountains to capture people.
Moreover, the terrain in the mountains is complex, and sending people in rashly may not be able to gain any advantage.
Uncle Li, Li Changli and others were also analyzing the situation over there. They all felt that the possibility of going into the mountains to arrest people was not great. They followed the routine to increase their vigilance and regularly went outside to gather information. Anyway, they never relaxed their daily training.
Soon they changed the topic and said that it was the season for digging winter bamboo shoots and asked everyone if they wanted to go digging together.