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The calm tone in Jiang Yanyi’s voice made the woman’s outstretched hand tremble involuntarily.
This attitude convinced the woman that if she dared to take any action, Jiang Yanyi would certainly be bold enough to chop off her hand.
The woman awkwardly retracted her hand and continued peeling the taro.
She was the most skilled at navigating relationships among the group of women, and now that she had quieted down, the other women dared not provoke Jiang Yanyi any further.
With the atmosphere finally settling down, Jiang Yanyi focused on peeling the taro.
She worked quickly, becoming increasingly adept with the knife.
By the time Liu Cheng returned with a few other kitchen hands to collect the peeled taro, Jiang Yanyi had finished two large basins while the three women across from her had barely completed half a basin.
Liu Cheng’s first reaction was to scold the three women for slacking off.
His face darkened as he said, “If you delay the army’s meal, just wait for your heads to roll!”
The three women shrank back, immediately putting their heads down to work harder at peeling the taro.
Liu Cheng then turned his gaze to Jiang Yanyi, his eyes widening in surprise.
He had been in the military for years but had never seen a beauty as striking as her.
Putting on a more amiable expression, he asked, “What’s your name?”
“Jiang Hua,” Jiang Yanyi casually fabricated a name.
When the emperor(Male Lead) sent the original owner of this body here, there had been no official registration through the Dali Temple.
After all, sending a noblewoman from a prominent family to the frontier as a concubine would certainly cause an uproar in the court.
It would also affect the reputation of the male lead’s love interest, who was from the same Jiang family.
Only the small captain who used to manage the camp’s women knew her true identity, but that small captain had been executed by the newly appointed general three days ago, leaving her identity a secret here.
Now, she was simply an unregistered person in the Western State’s military camp.
Liu Cheng’s gaze lingered greedily on Jiang Yanyi, taking in her features several times. “The kitchen needs someone to tend the fire; come with me.”
At his words, the three women peeling taro looked at Jiang Yanyi with a mix of envy and jealousy.
Liu Cheng was confident that Jiang Yanyi wouldn’t refuse.
He had chosen to have Jiang Yanyi peel the taro not only because of Chunxiang’s influence but also because he figured she didn’t fully understand the local rules.
Everyone loves a beauty, but a compliant beauty is the most endearing.
He thought that once she experienced the difficulty of peeling taro, she would be grateful to him for allowing her to move on to the easier task of tending the fire, leading her to be obedient and compliant.
Jiang Yanyi saw right through Liu Cheng’s calculations, feeling a shiver down her spine.
However, she still politely replied, “Thank you, Military Master.”
With so many people around, if she refused, it would be a direct slap in Liu Cheng’s face.
Without any power or influence, offending a local bully like him would cause more trouble than incurring Chunxiang’s wrath.
Given the many people in the kitchen, Liu Cheng wouldn’t dare to do anything overtly harmful to her.
Her current identity was that of a camp prostitute, and today she had been called to help in the kitchen; who knew what tomorrow would bring?
With her culinary skills, working in the kitchen was certainly better than her current situation.
After washing the dirt from her hands, she followed Liu Cheng into the barrack.
Behind her, the three women peeling taro muttered insults like “vixen” and similar remarks, but she couldn’t be bothered to respond.
The barrack was filled with over twenty large pots, each bubbling with steaming hot food, as the kitchen hands bustled about in a frenzy.
Several kitchen hands familiar with Liu Cheng exchanged knowing smiles upon seeing him enter with Jiang Yanyi, commenting that the young man was enjoying some good fortune.
Chunxiang, sitting by the stove, nearly twisted her mouth in anger.
She kept shooting glances at Liu Cheng, but he pretended not to notice, making her grit her teeth in frustration.
The spot next to Chunxiang’s stove was vacant.
After Jiang Yanyi settled down, Chunxiang sneered, “Weren’t you all about chastity and virtue before? Why not keep up that facade today?”
Jiang Yanyi shot her a cold glance. “Have you forgotten what I told you?”
Under the chilling look from Jiang Yanyi, Chunxiang felt a shiver run down her neck as if she were being threatened by sharp shards of porcelain.
She didn’t dare speak further.
After Jiang Yanyi turned away, Chunxiang felt a pang of annoyance.
How could she keep being intimidated by this newcomer?
No matter how capable she was, with so many people around, what could she do?
To prevent a fire, there wasn’t much firewood piled around the stove.
Jiang Yanyi noticed that the firewood in her stove had already burned out, leaving only a single piece of dry wood still smoldering.
She glanced at Chunxiang’s high pile of firewood, and Chunxiang quickly protected her stash, saying, “There’s more outside. Go get it yourself.”
Grabbing a piece of firewood wouldn’t take much effort, so Jiang Yanyi didn’t waste time arguing with Chunxiang and stood up to head outside.
Seeing Jiang Yanyi walk away, Chunxiang hurriedly moved some firewood from her stove to her own, scheming that when the cook came to check, he would see Jiang Yanyi’s fire had gone out and scold her thoroughly.
There was no way Jiang Yanyi could stay there tending the fire!
Chunxiang was quite pleased with her plan.
Just as Jiang Yanyi returned with the firewood, she found Chef Li(Old Li) in a fit of rage.
He wasn’t scolding anyone else but Liu Cheng.
“I’ve told you countless times, the master leads you to the door, but the training is up to you! Look at this tofu you’ve made! You’ve wasted an entire pot of beans!”
Liu Cheng, who was typically imposing outside, didn’t dare say a word in front of Chef Li.
“Quickly ask the women outside if any of them know how to make tofu! I still have soup simmering in the pot for the general. It needs constant attention, or we’ll be in trouble!” Chef Li was frazzled.
Jiang Yanyi glanced at the pot of tofu, which was dark and obviously overcooked due to too much brine.
As she returned to her stove, she noticed that the fire had already gone out.
Chunxiang shot her a triumphant glance, reveling in her mischief.
Jiang Yanyi knew the wood couldn’t have burned out so quickly; this was undoubtedly Chunxiang’s doing.
Not bothering to waste words with Chunxiang, she directly approached Chef Li. “Military Master, I can make tofu!”
Chef Li was momentarily pleased to hear someone could make tofu, but as he looked at Jiang Yanyi, his expression darkened. “You look like you’ve never set foot in a kitchen.”
With hands as fair and soft as green onions, she certainly looked like someone who had never done a day’s work.
Jiang Yanyi confidently replied, “The tofu in the pot turned dark because too much brine was used.”
Chef Li had been cooking for decades; he could tell at a glance why Liu Cheng’s tofu was a failure.
However, seeing the insight in Jiang Yanyi’s eyes made him reconsider.
Maybe she really could make tofu.
Since this was a banquet for the army, time was of the essence, and the kitchen was short-staffed.
Chef Li decided to take a chance. “Fine, I’ll let you make the tofu. If you can’t manage it, I’ll hold you responsible!”
With those words, Jiang Yanyi quickly rolled up her sleeves and headed for the stove.
Chunxiang, watching from behind, was dumbfounded.
How could Jiang Yanyi just walk away and start working at the stove?
What about her scheme to embarrass her?
After Chef Li finished giving instructions, he turned to check on the pot of soup, only to find that it had stopped boiling entirely!
He was so angry that his beard trembled as he pointed at Chunxiang and shouted, “How are you starting a fire? Are your eyes blind? Can’t you see the fire is out?”
Chunxiang had no way to argue back: “I… it wasn’t my responsibility to start the fire…”
The cook, Chef Li, didn’t have time to listen to her excuses.
He knew that Chunxiang could start the fire here, which had to do with Liu Cheng, and he was even more displeased with his apprentice.
He turned and scolded him, “Look at the good job you’ve done! Hurry up and get her out of here!”
Liu Cheng was scolded so badly that he felt ashamed, not daring to rebut even a word, only lowering his head in response.
After being scolded by Chef Li, Chunxiang felt her face burning, worse than if someone had slapped her.
With her head down, she ran out of the barracks, covered in dirt and feeling humiliated.
Jiang Yanyi didn’t have time to worry about Chunxiang; the raw soy milk in the pot had already boiled, and she was busy scooping it up to filter out the soy residue with a clean cheesecloth.
The filtered soy milk was returned to the pot and boiled again.
Because the beans contained soybean oil, the oil floated on the surface, and Jiang Yanyi noticed the oil congealing together, forming a layer of oily skin.
The soy milk boiled this time could be consumed directly.
If it weren’t for the fact that there were so many people in the barracks, Jiang Yanyi would have wanted to taste what the ancient, pure, natural soy milk was like.
She glanced at the amount of soy milk in the pot and sprinkled some brine into a large wooden barrel.
The amount of brine used for making tofu is critical; if there is too little, the tofu won’t set properly, and if there’s too much, the tofu will turn black and have an odd taste.
How to achieve the right amount depends on experience.
In her past life, Jiang Yanyi’s family made a fortune by running a hotpot restaurant.
However, by the time it reached her grandfather’s generation, for various reasons, the restaurant had declined and was never reopened.
By the time it reached Jiang Yanyi’s father’s generation, he felt that there were too many hotpot restaurants on every street in the mountain city, and opening another one wouldn’t be profitable, so he switched to Sichuan cuisine.
Jiang Yanyi’s grandfather always said her father didn’t have the knack for running a hotpot business.
He hoped that one day the family’s old hotpot would see the light of day again.
From the time Jiang Yanyi understood things, her grandfather taught her how to stir-fry ingredients and make the base for the old hotpot.
The old man also had a unique skill: making tofu.
Tofu boiled in a red soup base, infused with flavor, was delicious!
The tofu for hotpot was different from the ones sold in the market; market tofu has small pores, while hotpot tofu needs to have more air pockets to absorb flavor, but it also shouldn’t be so soft that it falls apart upon contact.
Jiang Yanyi had worked hard to make qualified hotpot tofu.
Now, making ordinary tofu was a piece of cake for her.
She poured the soy milk into the large wooden barrel sprinkled with brine, and the soy milk in the barrel began to coagulate into soft, white tofu at a visible speed.
The barrel was full, looking like solidified milk, which was truly tempting.
Chef Li, the cook, had been keeping an eye on her because of the mistake made by his apprentice that ruined a pot of tofu.
Seeing the tofu Jiang Yanyi made was both plentiful and tender, not worse than what he had done in his lifetime as a seasoned cook, he was genuinely surprised.
This girl looked delicate, yet she was quite skilled when it came to work.
He asked, “Did your family used to make tofu?”
Jiang Yanyi was busy packing the tender tofu into molds to set, and half-truthfully replied, “My father is a chef, so I learned a bit by osmosis.”
Upon hearing this, Li’s face showed a trace of melancholy for some reason, and he said, “It’s good to have a skill; you won’t starve no matter where you go. Can you cook?”
Jiang Yanyi saw this as an opportunity and quickly said, “Yes, I can cook hot meals for a hundred or so people at once.”
This was the truth.
In her past life, after her father mastered Sichuan cuisine, he had been a head chef in a restaurant and later started a business.
He even organized banquets in the countryside.
Jiang Yanyi often went along to help.
While she wasn’t skilled at much else, she had a knack for cooking; she could learn any dish quickly.
When her father was busy, she often took over for him.
Chef Li looked at her with some disappointment, clearly thinking Jiang Yanyi was lying.
If Jiang Yanyi had said she could make home-style dishes, he might have believed her, but claiming she could cook for a hundred people was a boast even most of the cooks in the barracks wouldn’t dare to make.
The threshold to enter the cooking profession seemed low, but it actually required a lot of practice.
Cooking not only requires understanding but also hard work; just mastering knife skills could take a year or more to get right.
Jiang Yanyi’s hands were delicate; she hadn’t even touched a knife, let alone used one.
He believed in being steady both in life and in cooking.
He felt that his apprentice was too impetuous and was reluctant to pass on all his skills to him, wanting to train him for another two years.
The girl was a good seedling but needed some discipline.
With a stern face, Chef Li said, “I want to make shredded chicken, ham, and bamboo shoots. You show me how to slice them.”
The other chefs secretly shook their heads, knowing Chef Li wanted Jiang Yanyi to learn a lesson.
However, starting with slicing for the shredded dish was a bit harsh; chicken breast is soft, and ham is excessively hard, making it a challenge to cut them into fine strips.
Liu Cheng was preparing ingredients on the other side and didn’t dare to look up at Chef Li.
He felt resentful that both Jiang Yanyi and Chunxiang were so capable while also thinking that Chef Li was trying to set an example by punishing him.
Jiang Yanyi sensed the change in Chef Li’s attitude toward her but didn’t say much, just nodded and went to slice the ingredients.
To others, this clearly seemed like ignorance of her own limits, and someone even openly chuckled.
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this gurl is going to humble everyone who tries to push her around. badass as hell