Chapter 22: Pickled Vegetables
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Su Wen went to the kitchen and opened the cabinet to see if there were any ingredients left. All the good food had been consumed by the original character, and the sisters were malnourished; they needed to be nourished.
It would have been great if there had been milk!
She sighed inwardly and planned to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to purchase some malted milk and get Su Qing to send it to school for Fourth and Fifth sister.
Those poor girls; who knew what kind of life they were leading in school!
When Su Wen was young, she had eaten in the school canteen. Not only had there been no oil used, but the food was also extremely unpalatable and of poor nutritional value. With Fourth and Fifth sisters’ status, they could probably only eat some pickled vegetables, steamed buns, and drink some cold water.
Her heart ached at the thought of it.
“Big sister, what are we having for dinner?” After cleaning up the yard, little sister Su quietly washed her hands before entering the kitchen.
She knew that her elder sister prioritized basic hygiene. If she was unhygienic, her elder sister would not like her.
“We’ll have egg pancakes and fry up some pickled vegetables for dinner.” Su Wen made her decision and started to take action.
She took five eggs from the drawer, then began to mix some white flour and water into cornmeal to make the batter. She then went to their plot outside, pulled out a few shallots, washed and chopped them up before putting them into the batter.
When she was done, she realized little sister Su was clutching her chest in pain.
“What’s wrong with you? Are you feeling uncomfortable?”
Little sister Su’s eyes were filled with tears. “Big sister, do you want to eat five eggs? We only have fourteen eggs in total. If we finish them, we’ll have none left! Let’s not eat them. I’m not hungry at all, really. I ate such delicious meat and bones yesterday. I can live without good food for a year.”
They usually couldn’t bear to eat even a single one.
“Big sister, let’s not eat eggs! We’ll just have cornmeal paste. That will be delicious enough.”
Su Wen was silent for a long time. It turned out that when her little sister had eaten meat the day before, she had already decided not to eat it for the next year.
“Listen to me, you’re malnourished now and need more nutrition. From now on, you have to eat eggs every day. Not only eggs, but also meat, bones, fish, and a lot of other delicious food.”
Little sister Su looked at Su Wen, startled, her little heart in great shock. In her eyes, her elder sister had such a tall and tough image, even more radiant than it had been when their father had been alive.
“Don’t worry. There will be eggs, money, and beautiful clothes in the future.”
Her little sister was too sensible, which was really gratifying.
“Come, help me start the fire. Let’s start cooking!”
“Oh!” Little sister Su had yet to recover from the shock. She sat on a small stool with a dazed expression on her face as she started the fire. Her hands, however, were very skilled. She added firewood little by little when she was filling the stove, allowing the iron pot to be heated evenly without needing to use a fire fork.
With someone helping her with the fire, she would be able to cook twice as quickly. It would be more convenient than the natural gas in the city, and the food she made would be more fragrant.
Su Wen deftly wiped the heated pot with oil before spreading out flour in the pot to make a pancake, subsequently adding a whipped egg. Soon, the fragrance of corn mixed with scallions and eggs filled the air.
Little sister Su couldn’t help but swallow her saliva. Her eyes were fixed on the egg pancake, and she couldn’t bear to look away. She had long forgotten what she had just said.
Su Wen couldn’t help but laugh. No matter how sensible a child was, she was still a child.
She repeated the process four times and made four egg pancakes. Dinner was ready.
It wouldn’t do to have a main course without side dishes. Little sister Su made a fuss about not wanting side dishes, saying that it was sufficiently delicious and blissful to have the egg pancakes. However, Su Wen ignored her. From what she knew, what was a meal without side dishes?
There must be a sense of ceremony in life, and it was important to pay attention to the pairing of items.
She opened a small jar of pickled vegetables from the corner of the kitchen. Inside were pickled vegetables with beautiful coloring. The tangy smell made one feel like eating a big bowl of rice.
It would go well with the egg pancake.
She didn’t expect the original character to have a unique skill in pickling vegetables.
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