Cooking Personally

In terms of being insensitive, Li Shouji had to be ranked top on the list.

“…” Jiang Danhe pulled back the corner of his shirt and looked to the side gloomily. “What are you doing?”

“You’re a magnanimous person. Since you are already shielding one person, it makes no difference if you shield another one.” At this point, Li Shouji took the opportunity to sneak under the shade again. He smiled cheekily and said, “Just let me stay in the shade. Although my skin is thick, it’s not as thick and rough as you think. Please take pity on my tanned and tender skin…”

Xiaoguo was pushed to the side by him. The shade that Jiang Danhe could provide was limited. Once Li Shouji got under the shade, Xiaoguo was in danger of being exposed to the sun.

“Get out!” Jiang Danhe pushed the man out again. The roomy shaded space belonged to Xiaoguo alone.

However, apart from being insensitive, Li Shouji had another “strength”. He was shameless and persistent.

In the end, after some efforts, he finally won himself some shade. Although it was just a small shaded area, this was not a problem for him.

Although the sleeves were small, they were still able to block out the sun.

Xiaoguo looked away and laughed softly for a long time.

After a short while, Xiaoguo made Jiang Danhe put down his arms. It must be tiring to stand with his arms up like this. Even if he didn’t feel sorry for himself, her heart was aching for him.

—-

After fishing for four hours, Xiaoguo only lifted her fishing rod four times. Moreover, the line was empty three times out of four.

It was the same for Li Shouji. In the end, they only had two sea fish in the bucket.

When he saw Xiaoguo looking so dispirited, Jiang Danhe was prepared to reel in the rods and row the boat back. Looking at her sad face, he comforted her. “Two fish is enough. No more, no less. It’s a good number.”

Xiaoguo broke into a few dry laughs. Two fish were indeed enough for them. After deep frying the two fish, it would be finished in a few mouthfuls.

Jiang Danhe chuckled and retracted the anchor, getting ready to row the boat. However, Li Shouji’s eyes were sharp and he spotted something.

“What’s that rope under your leg?”

When Jiang Danhe heard this, he looked down and remembered that he had thrown down the net earlier.

Xiaoguo looked at Jiang Danhe expectantly. There could be some big catch in the net.

Jiang Danhe tried to lift up the net. Xiaoguo and Li Shouji’s results were not fantastic so he didn’t have high expectations for the catch in his fishing net.

However, when he pulled at the net, it wouldn’t budge. The three of them looked at each other with interest in their eyes and pulled at it together.

The catch was less than they had imagined. Judging from the weight, they were expecting it to be a big catch. To their surprise, there wasn’t much seafood caught in the net. However, it was several times more than what Xiaoguo and Li Shouji had caught. Most importantly, there were many rare items that they had never tasted before.

Xiaoguo was no longer discouraged. She began to count the seafood in excitement. There were dozens of prawns, two ribboned fish, and one jellyfish. They had probably fished the jellyfish up accidentally when they were pulling up the net. There were also a few sea cucumbers and three big crabs.

“What is this? It’s disgusting.”

Li Shouji nudged the sea cucumber with his foot and took a few steps back with a disgusted expression on his face.

Jiang Danhe didn’t know what it was, so he pulled Xiaoguo away from it.

Xiaoguo, who was squatting down and sorting the seafood seriously, suddenly felt herself being pulled backwards by Jiang Danhe. She said in a curious tone, “That’s sea cucumber. It’s especially delicious and beneficial for health.”

Xiaoguo slapped Li Shouji away and looked at him reproachfully. How could he kick and step on such a delicacy? It was really heartbreaking.

“Sea cucumber? Is it edible?”

Li Shouji’s eyes widened. This thing looked so disgusting. How could he eat it?

“I’ll cook a dish out of this tonight. The fragrance will knock your teeth off.”

“That’s great! We’re in for a treat!” Li Shouji clapped his hands happily. Suddenly, he was blinded by a flash of light and he covered his eyes in discomfort. He asked, “What’s that glowing thing?”

Xiaoguo followed his gaze and couldn’t help but swallow her saliva. It was sparkling and fat. “That’s a ribbonfish.”

Li Shouji nodded and lost interest. Although it was glowing, it was still a fish. He had gotten sick of eating fish over the past few days.

Jiang Danhe looked at Xiaoguo from the side. At this moment, she was glowing in his eyes. The way she spoke with confidence was very attractive. As he watched, he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.

Xiaoguo had no time to deal with the two of them. She busied herself with the seafood and threw the smaller ones back into the sea. Those small creatures could not be eaten—she released them back into the sea so that they could continue growing.

“Alright! I’ll make a delicious seafood feast for you tonight!”

Xiaoguo said confidently. As a seafood fanatic, she loved to make seafood dishes. She could come up with more than a dozen different ways to eat seafood.

Jiang Danhe and Li Shouji looked at each other with joy in their eyes. They completely approve of Xiaoguo’s culinary skills.

“Hurry, hurry, hurry. Let’s go back and cook!”

Xiaoguo put the seafood into a bucket and urged the two of them to row quickly. Once the fish were brought ashore, they would die. At this moment, the scales were still silvery and glowing. They would lose their luster very soon. She had to cook them while they were still fresh.

“Sit tight and hold on to the boat,” Jiang Danhe said softly. After ensuring that Xiaoguo was seated, he and Li Shouji quickly rowed towards the shore.

Jiang Danhe followed behind Xiaoguo with a bucket of water. The two of them went to the kitchen at the back of the residence and spoke to the butler inside. After getting his permission, they began cooking.

The kitchen was bustling with activity. It was almost time for dinner, so the servants were all busy cooking. The two of them went to a corner where they would not get in anyone’s way. Jiang Danhe started cleaning the seafood while Xiaoguo prepared some sauces for the dishes.

The kitchen was huge and there were many condiments. She also found many interesting condiments there.

Although there was no soy sauce in the kitchen, they had a substitute for it. There were all kinds of powders in various jars. Xiaoguo couldn’t see what they were, but she could smell them to identify them. She was able to recognize most of them, so she only had to cook with those that she could identify. The selection available was more than enough for her needs.

Jiang Danhe finished cleaning a whole basin of prawns according to Xiaoguo’s instructions. But he was unsure what to do with the sea cucumbers. Xiaoguo taught him to cut open the stomach and remove all the guts.

The crabs were even simpler. He only had to wash them clean, then remove their stomachs and gills. After which, Xiaoguo chopped them into pieces and set them aside. These would be coated with flour and deep fried in oil later on.

The ribbon fish was also gutted after its head was removed. They were then chopped into smaller pieces for later use.

Left with a large piece of transparent jellyfish, Xiaoguo decided that she would not cook it. When no one was looking, she stuffed it into the fridge, planning to save it for another day.

While Jiang Danhe processed the seafood in one corner, Xiaoguo steamed the rice first before going on to prepare the dishes.

Since there was ample time, she didn’t rush herself. After all, seafood cooks rather quickly. She walked around the kitchen and realized that there were many small round pumpkins in one corner. She took one and borrowed a pork rib from the kitchen.

When she returned to the stove, Xiaoguo put down the pumpkin and pork ribs and took another look at the ingredients.

There were many prawns. She planned to make two dishes—spicy prawns and sweet sour prawns. She had to deep-fry all the prawns and stir-fry them with sauce. The two dishes were simple so she could take her time to make them.

She only had a few sea cucumbers and crabs, so she would stew them with the pork ribs. When they were 80% cooked, the pumpkins would be hollowed out and placed in a casserole. The stew would be transferred into the pumpkins. After another half an hour of simmering, the pumpkins would have turned soft. By then, the flavors of the pumpkin and meat would be melded together. This dish would go very well with rice. But it would take more time to prepare, so she had to make this first.

There were also two ribbon fish. Fresh ribbon fish taste best when they are fried. This was easy to make so there was no hurry.

As for the remaining big fish, Xiaoguo did not plan to cook them at first. But she was concerned about having too few dishes. Li Shouji and Jiang Danhe had big appetites. In the end, she decided to add another soup dish to her menu. Since there was tofu in the kitchen, she will make sea fish tofu soup in a while.