CH 4

Lost Sister (2)

In recent years, the Huan family’s reputation had grown, but after the death of Huan’s father, the Huan family’s business had plummeted. Neither of the Huan brothers inherited the craftsmanship of wine making. They all became guards selected by the government. First year, they were guard in Bianzhou, and then deployed to the capital on duty the following year.

Therefore, although Huan’s family was a merchant, there was not much money available at home. Huan’s mother was thrifty and did not buy good pork. Instead, she chose some stick bones and pig offal that no one wanted, and required less money to buy.

There was some white porridge left in the morning. Zhuo Lian brushed a porcelain jar, scooped the white porridge in, and cooked it on the stove. The actions were very neat, as if she had done it thousands of times.

Huan Yun couldn’t help but walk a few steps forward. It has been more than a year since the sister-in-law married into Huan’s family, but she had never seen her cooking. She did not expect that her skill would be better than the mother.

“Sister-in-law, can I help you?”

Seeing Zhuo Lian busy working alone, the little girl couldn’t help feeling a little guilty, but unexpectedly Zhuo Lian waved her hand without looking back, “Just sit back and relax, and the pork congee will be ready soon.”

This pork congee was learned by Zhuo Lian from a Chaozhou cook. After she became the owner of the wine shop, she had to study the wine recipe every day to increase the coix wine taste. There were so many restaurants in Peking. Apart from wine tasting in the store, she would also taste some delicacies.

After all, Peiping was once the capital city, and there were people visiting from all over the world. Some customers loved the taste of coix wine. They often patronize the wine shop and gradually become familiar with Zhuo Lian. She has also learned a few skills, and though her cooking skills were not superb, it was a bit better than ordinary people.

The pig offal was placed in a cold water tank, and some dust was there in the end of it. Zhuo Lian washed it with clean water and then soaked it. She took salt, and other seasonings and put them on it. Then, she brought a jar of wine down from the wooden rack, tore off the red cloth, glanced at the murky wine soup inside, and frowned.

Even though she knew that most of the drinks in the Great Zhou Dynasty were muddy, and the sake was expensive and the amount was small, when she saw the white wine brewed by mother Huan, she looked sad, poured some in a small bowl, and measured it with a disgusting gaze.

“My sister-in-law has been staring at this jar of wine, is something wrong?” Huan Yun asked suspiciously.

Zhuo Lian shook her head, and secretly muttered in her heart, no wonder the business of Huanjia Winery was getting bad. Even if the brewing method of muddy wine is simple, the taste of this wine is not good, the color is turbid, and there is almost no fragrance at all.

She took out the pork offal soaked in water, poured some wine, wiped and rubbed it repeatedly with ginger slices to remove the smell of the meat itself, and then put it in the boiling white porridge. As soon as the hot porridge water touched the pig offal, a strong fragrance ushered in the vicinity. As the rice glued at the bottom of the porridge were extremely viscous, it firmly wrapped the offal and kept it fresh and tender.

Huan Yun stood next to the stove, unable to move at all, staring straight at the bubbling pork congee. She didn’t expect that this kind of off-the-shelf product could be so delicious.

The scent grew stronger and stronger, overflowing from the small kitchen, swirling in the wind, and spreading to Huan Shen’s house.

Even if her body was extremely exhausted, the man did not dare to continue sleeping. In case Zhuo Shi took advantage of him while he was off guard and repeated the same technique, he would be tied up with twine, and the arsenic would be poured…

The feeling of powerlessness made Huan Shen extremely anxious, and he had bloodshot eyes and an indescribable look.

He smelled the strong scent, and instead of calming down, his emotions were a little more vigilant.

‘Counting the time, mother hasn’t returned from the wine shop. She is the only cook in the kitchen. While Zhou Lian was the most lazy in the past, she didn’t know how to cook at all. Today is so abnormal. Is it because she wants to poison the food and harm her whole family?’

Huan Shen’s complexion became more and more gloomy, he turned over and got out of bed, walking quickly to the kitchen. When he saw his sister who was holding a spoon and scooping porridge to her mouth, he sternly scolded, “Lay it down!”

The little girl was already timid. Seeing her second brother’s complexion with blood red eyes and bulging veins, her heart trembled with fright. She hurriedly put the dishes aside and couldn’t help swallowing her saliva.

Seeing Huan Yun’s pale face and slightly horrified eyes, Zhuo Lian was indescribably distressed. She was very clear about Huan Shen’s thoughts. It was nothing more than speculating about her having some malice. After all, arsenic had been put in the medicinal soup by her just now.

She walked to the edge of the table and sat down. Zhuo Lian picked up the soup bowl, blew the heat on it, and ate half a bowl of pork congee one bite at a time. Then she raised her head and stared at the young man in front of her.

“Uncle, there is no poison in the porridge, what are you afraid of?”

Huan Shen choked, and didn’t know how to argue, so he could only stand still and motionless.

Huan Yun looked at her sister-in-law with blank eyes, her hands covering her abdomen, and her eyes flushed with grievance.

Fortunately, Zhuo Lian chose a large porcelain jar. Just now, she was afraid that the little girl would be starving her stomach, so she served a bowl in advance. At this time, some wolfberry leaves were added to the porridge, and white radish juice was added to improve the freshness. The aroma almost made people salivate.

Under his sister’s accusation filled eyes, Huan Shen pursed his lips, and didn’t say anything. When the porridge bowl was placed in front of Huan Yun, she didn’t even care about it being hot. She blew it hastily and swallowed it in with her mouth wide open. She ate a few mouthfuls before she slowed down.