How To Melt An Ice Cube

Between the four female servants that were now serving Mai three of them were older while one was the eldest servants daughter. All of them had gossiped amongst themselves about how a n.o.ble lady would actually know how to use the equipment in the kitchen. They were curious if Mai would just burn the food that she was given.

A knock sounded on the door followed by all four of the servants walking in. One was a old lady that would have been retired for years if she was back on earth. There were two that looked to be about forty while the last girl appeared to be around Mai"s age.

"Greeting miss Mai, we have been sent to serve you" the oldest servant said. "My name is Zhi Ruo, if you have any problems tell me and I will fix it for you."

"My name is Ying Yue said one of the middle aged servants.

"While I am Feng Mian" said the other middle aged servant. "we are responsible for you food, clothing, and anything else you may need."

Where the youngest step out from the others and said "This is my great granddaughter her name is Zhi Yan, and she will be your companion!" Zhi Ruo said. Zhi Yan"s face was filled with excitement as she wondered about her new master.

They all bowed after they were done introducing themselves. Mai who had never been bowed to before in her life was suddenly left a little speechless. "Am I not his prisoner? Why all the fuss with servants, it will make trying to get out of here difficult. Also I"m stuck in this room to begin with, how much I"m I actually going to need a servant around? At least I"ll have someone to talk to though." she couldn"t help but think if the situation had gotten better or worse.

"h.e.l.lo, my name is Mai and I look forward to having you guys." Even if they made escaping harder, no reason to make them dislike her. Mai was going to try getting them on her side and help her.

"Has the kitchen been prepared yet?" Mai asked.

"Yes, follow us miss" Zhi Ruo replied.

Mai followed the servants as they took a lot of twist and turns around the manor going towards a deserted looking area. It was quite obvious that they had taken a scenic route to their destination instead of going directly towards it.

Mai was lost as she tried making a map in her mind of the layout. All the turns had made it difficult to remember which direction her room was even located.

They arrived at a run down building that hadn"t seen any activity in a long time. After opening the door Mai saw a table full of ingredients. There was rice, half a pig, cabbage, onions, red peppers, salt, and other spices.

"c.r.a.p" Mai thought "I dont know what to do with a half of a pig or how to cut it."

The servants seeing Mai stand there and not doing anything started to doubt if she could even cook but not wanting there new mistress to look bad in front of the young master asked if she needed help.

"I just need a moment to think about what I should make for dinner tonight" Mai replied.

After much deliberation Mai decided on roasted pork loin.

"Can one of you cut the pig so that we have a long piece of meat from the back with the bones attached" Mai had asked while trying to remember exactly what type of cut pork loin came from.

"Yes I can" said Ying Yue. She grabbed a large knife and started to chop the pig into smaller pieces.

"Excellent!" Mai replied with a smile, glad that she could make this dish.

Mai soon found other problems to deal with there was no oil and no oven.

In the ovens place stood a old fashioned stove that you would see in museums however instead of a flat top there were bowls that were built into it.

She looked at Feng Mian and asked in a low embarra.s.sed tone "How do you work the stove, is there any way to roast the meat inside it?"

All the servants looked at her in shock, with a face saying how could you even claim to know how to cook plastered on all of their faces.

"Roast the meat inside? That is where the fire is lit and anything that goes in there will burn to a crisp."

Mai looked inside and thought that if only a small portion was lit then the other edge should be okay. Deciding to take a chance she went with it.

"light the very far right side and let it get hot," Mai told Feng Mian.

Ying Yue had finished cutting up the pig and was proudly showing off her work to the others.

Mai took a fatty piece from the leftover pig and put it in one of the bowls on top of the stove to melt down and use it as a oil.

Mai took a pan and placed the pork loin bone side down. Taking the melted fat out and placing it in another bowl she mixed every spice that she could recognize with it. After blending the spices Mai poured it over the pork loin and rubbed it in. She then prayed that it would work out in this makeshift oven and popped it in.

The servant had been staring the entire time trying to understand what they were seeing. They had never seen someone put food inside of the stove before.

Mai knew that the pork loin would take awhile, so she sat down and relaxed while asking the servants more about themselves. They went over what they enjoyed doing and how working in the manner was like.

Mai was feeling excited about how the meat would turn out, she had been starving. Not long later they smell of roasted meat filled the air. Mai opened the stove door to check on it and found that the cooking process was working just like a regular oven.

"Can someone make rice?" Mai asked while she gathered the vegetables together to make a vegetable stir fry. Mai cut the veggies and then put them in the bowl on the stove with the pig fat. While they were pan frying she added in the spices.

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The wind spread the roasted meat smell beyond the manor. Others had gotten jealous of the smell and tried to discover where it was coming from. Han Bing who had never smelt anything so delicious instantly knew that it was Mai"s food. His stomach had started to growl as he longed for dinner time to arrive.

"Zheng Li get Mai a reward, I already know this food is going to be fantastic" Han Bing called out.