Qi Jiao knew that Aunt Zhu had her concerns. She smiled again and said, "Rather than talking a lot, how about I cook two dishes for you?"
Seeing Aunt Zhu hesitating, Aunt Ye tugged at her and said, "Whether Jiao Niang can do it or not, we'll know after a try. Hurry up and take her to the kitchen."
Only then did Aunt Zhu come to her senses and led Qi Jiao to the kitchen.
The Zhu family ran a liuchen shop.
The so - called liuchen shop mainly sold rice and was stocked with all kinds of goods such as wheat, beans, tea, wine, oil, salt and sundries.
Therefore, the Zhu family's kitchen was well - stocked with seasonings, lacking nothing.
Qi Jiao saw some cleaned pork spareribs, processed shrimps and half a head of Chinese cabbage with dewdrops on the chopping board. Presumably, these were the ingredients the Zhu family had reserved for lunch, all fresh.
Then she noticed some orange - red hawthorn fruits drying on the ground.
Qi Jiao immediately had an idea. She washed her hands and got to work deftly.
First, she marinated the shrimps with yellow rice wine and salt for later use. Then she put the pork spareribs into a pot of cold water, brought it to a boil, skimmed off the blood foam, fished out the spareribs, rinsed them with clean water and drained the water.
She heated up a wok, put in scallions, ginger slices, rock sugar and star anise. When the rock sugar turned amber, she added the spareribs and quickly stir - fried them over high heat to color. Then she sliced the hawthorn fruits and put them into the pot, added soy sauce and simmered. Finally, she thickened the sauce over high heat.
After finishing this dish of hawthorn spareribs, she prepared a plate of Kung Pao sauce. She coated the marinated shrimps with starch and deep - fried them in 50% hot oil. She added a little Chinese prickly ash and garlic slices, stir - fried until fragrant, then poured in the Kung Pao sauce and fried the shrimps again.
When the sauce turned bright red and thick, she fished out the shrimps and stir - fried them slowly in the wok. Finally, she drizzled with red oil and sprinkled a handful of peanuts for fragrance before taking the dish out of the wok.
This Kung Pao shrimp balls was done.
Finally, Qi Jiao selected some Chinese cabbage leaves. With a few quick moves of her knife, two white and green flowers appeared.
She placed them on the plate, which instantly made the dishes look more elegant and high - class.
Aunt Zhu was dazzled. Her look at Qi Jiao had changed greatly.
Aunt Ye looked proud and quickly picked up a pair of chopsticks and handed them to her.
Aunt Zhu picked up a piece of hawthorn sparerib and put it into her mouth. Her expression paused, but she didn't say a word. Then she tasted the Kung Pao shrimps. They were sweet and sour, crispy and tender.
She asked Aunt Ye to have a taste too. Then she put down the chopsticks and planned to steam an extra pot of rice for lunch.
The dishes were so delicious that they would surely go with a lot of rice!
Aunt Zhu was already satisfied with Qi Jiao in her heart, but she wasn't in a hurry. She pulled Qi Jiao to sit down and eat with them. She carefully asked Qi Jiao about the raw materials and costs for the banquet.
The two sides discussed for a long time. Qi Jiao smiled throughout and explained to Aunt Zhu softly. Her attitude was so good that there was not a single flaw.
Now Aunt Zhu had no more concerns. She paid Qi Jiao 500 wen as a deposit and listed the basic dishes, just waiting to go shopping the next day.
Qi Jiao thanked her repeatedly. She mentioned a few more things to prepare, then bid farewell to Aunt Zhu and left the Zhu family with Aunt Ye.
On the way back, Aunt Ye looked at Qi Jiao again and again, as if she had found a treasure. She couldn't help sighing, "My goodness, Jiao Niang, you're really capable. Just that knife - work. I'm afraid it would take at least ten years to master. It didn't look like Chinese cabbage stems at all. I thought they were real flowers."
Qi Jiao smiled and just said, "I practiced it deliberately for a while before."
Knife - work was the most basic skill.
In her previous life, she had studied under the leaders of the eight major cuisines, integrated them, worked in a five - star hotel for a while, and finally chose to start a business in new media and became a food blogger.
For her, it was not difficult to be responsible for the preparation of a banquet for 20 tables.
Qi Jiao was grateful to Aunt Ye for finding this job for her and helping her strive for everything. So she took out 200 wen and put it in Aunt Ye's hand.
When Aunt Ye saw the money, she seemed to be scalded and raised her voice, "What are you doing?"
Qi Jiao smiled sincerely, "If it weren't for you, how could I have taken on such a big job? Besides, now I'm your daughter. I don't have much to offer. Please accept this little token of my gratitude."
She spoke so earnestly that Aunt Ye couldn't refuse anymore. She had to accept it and said, "You'll be busy these days. After the Zhu family's matter is over, I'll take you back to my home to recognize the family. Recognizing a god - parent is a big deal! We can't be careless."
Qi Jiao listened to her rambling and nodded with a smile.
When she got home, she saw the village head of Biwu Village had come.
Zuo Lide was sitting in the main room, chatting with Pei Xia.
Zuo Lide had sent his grandson in the county town to inquire and confirmed that every word Qi Jiao had said was true.
His grandson, Zuo Yi, was studying in the county school and had a day off every ten days. So the news had just been sent back.
Zuo Yi was a young and straightforward lad. He went straight to the Guo Mansion to inquire about Qi Jiao's previous affairs. As a result, he was tricked into telling the truth by the Guo family's steward in a few words.
Then the eldest miss of the Guo family knew about Qi Jiao's experience after leaving the Guo Mansion.
It was said that she was very indignant and even asked Zuo Yi to give Qi Jiao ten taels of silver for her daily use.
Qi Jiao entered the room and greeted Zuo Lide. Pei Xia returned all the things that belonged to her.
Qi Jiao held the deed of indenture and the silver in her hands. Her heart was filled with indescribable sadness.
The eldest miss of the Guo family and the original owner had a deep master - servant relationship.
Freedom was the best gift she could give to the original owner.
It was a pity that the original owner was no longer alive.
Qi Jiao had inherited all the memories of the original owner and could clearly feel her joys, sorrows, anger and happiness.
She would live on with the will of the original owner and not let down the sincere hearts of the people around her.
After seeing Zuo Lide off, Pei Xia saw that Qi Jiao looked a little unwell. He whispered, "Are you not feeling well? Mother left some food for you in the kitchen. You rest for a while. I'll go and bring it."
Qi Jiao shook her head and said she was fine. She handed the deed of indenture and the silver back to Pei Xia, "Please burn this for me. And you take this silver..."
Ten taels of silver should be enough for her accommodation and food expenses for this period.
Pei Xia only took the flimsy piece of paper and pushed the silver back, "Keep it for yourself."
Qi Jiao saw that his smile suddenly disappeared. She didn't know what had offended him. So she changed her tone and said, "Didn't we agree to try duck - raising? I'll use this money as my share and buy some ducklings first."
Only then did Pei Xia smile again. A smile appeared on his lips, "Okay. After you finish the Zhu family's banquet, we'll go to the county town."
Qi Jiao was sitting at the table eating. Tang Guiniang came back from the fields and asked if her trip to the Zhu family had gone smoothly today.
Qi Jiao told her everything and showed her the deposit. She also gave her 200 wen.
How could Tang Guiniang take her hard - earned money?
But Qi Jiao said, "You've taken good care of me these days and helped me find such a good god - mother. This is the money I earned from work. It's just a little token of my gratitude. If you don't accept it, I'll feel bad."
Her voice was clear and bright, and her smile was innocent. Tang Guiniang couldn't refuse anymore. She said with a smile, "Later, I'll ask A Xia to take you to the Zhu family and let him help you."
Pei Xia hadn't been to the county town to set up a stall these days.
Although there were a lot of seafood he caught every day, there were very few precious and rare ones.
It was too troublesome to go back and forth. So he simply sold the catch to the shipmaster at the dock after the net was retrieved.
The shipmaster had long - term cooperative customers with a large demand, but the price was 30% lower.