She Only Cares About Cultivation-Chapter 855 - 795: Famine Era 36 (Second Update)

Sure enough, it didn’t take long before five military wives came over; the remaining three stayed home to watch the kids, not only because the kids can easily cause trouble, but they also always ask for food and drinks, which is too troublesome.

Ye Huan didn’t expect them to be so considerate, and she was quite moved.

Moreover, they were not only efficient but also came wearing sleeves and aprons, clearly ready to work.

"Oh my, Ye Huan, you’ve prepared so much already? Why didn’t you wait for us to come over? Doing all this by yourself is too exhausting!"

Ye Huan was the youngest among these military wives and felt awkward being called sister-in-law, so she volunteered to have them just call her by her name.

Seeing this, everyone readily introduced themselves with their names.

Among them, three were from rural areas and two were from the city. The remaining three, who didn’t come, were also from rural areas. Looking at it this way, the proportion of rural folks was indeed larger. As for the two from the city, one was from a cotton spinning factory, and the other was a teacher. So when they heard Ye Huan was a military doctor, they admired and envied her a lot.

"Ladies, I’ve already mixed the cold dishes. Let’s prepare the ingredients for the hot dishes, so we can start cooking as soon as they get back."

"Ye Huan, you’re really capable, preparing so much, including tofu and meat. It’s really considerate of your family."

"It’s no trouble, it should be this way. We didn’t have a proper meal with everyone at the wedding, so we’re making up for it now."

"What have you planned to make then?"

"We’ll start with frying meatballs, tofu, and lotus first."

"Ah, I know meatballs and tofu, but what is lotus?"

Ye Huan pointed to the one jin of ground meat beside her and said, "Look, it’s this. When I make it later, you’ll understand in no time."

Then they busied themselves cutting and chopping radishes; because red and white radishes have opposing properties, they used white radish with soaked soybeans and red radish with shredded potatoes to make two kinds of meatballs. After salting the radishes, they release water, so there’s no need to add any more water.

Actually, white radish and soybean sprouts make the best extract, but as the soybeans hadn’t yet sprouted, adding a bit more was fine.

Besides these, she also soaked some glass noodles and chopped them up and added in, making the flavor more robust.

White radish is mixed with starch to make it more chewy since these meatballs are to be simmered in the Big Pot Dish; flour can’t be used.

Red radishes are fried with flour, making a savory snack for the kids.

Just this one dish made the military wives realize she was a talented young wife in cooking, not only considerate but also adept at pairing flavors.

The key was that the flavors she blended were exceptionally good.

After frying the meatballs, she started frying the firm tofu she had prepared.

Ye Huan had cut roughly ten jin of firm tofu, frying them slice by slice, and putting them in the hall afterward. For this, she borrowed plenty of baskets and basins from the military wives’ houses.

"Eh? Ye Huan, why did you buy so much tofu? And besides, it’s packed in such a simple wooden frame?"

"I thought of stewing a big pot of dishes tonight. There’s fried tofu and white tofu in it. I only bought three jin of meat as they wouldn’t sell more, so I prepared more tofu for everyone to enjoy. Plus, there will be no soup tonight, but I’ll make tofu pudding for you."

The military wives looked at each other in disbelief and then at her: "So, this tofu, you made it yourself?"

Since she can make tofu pudding, this tofu must surely be homemade.

Ye Huan nodded, "My family used to make tofu. If there’s any leftover, everyone can take some back, don’t be shy."

"Wow, our brigade commander sure is lucky to have married not only a young wife but also a military doctor, and most importantly, someone so talented. Impressive, impressive!"

You could say Ye Huan, apart from her looks, had all the good qualities.

After frying the meatballs and tofu, she also fried lotus, using quite a bit of oil. Pouring five jin of oil into the pan, at least two jin was consumed.

Who wouldn’t feel the pinch for that?

Especially during these times when oil wasn’t abundant, some people thought Ye Huan was imprudent, while others felt the couple was genuine, willing to splurge several months’ worth of oil on a single meal for guests.

Regardless of what others thought, in Ye Huan’s mind, since she invited them, she couldn’t allow any room for dissatisfaction.

After all this frying, she still sliced a pumpkin, preparing to cook two dishes: one of stir-fried pumpkin and the other, the Big Pot Dish.

Along the edge of the Big Pot Dish was cornmeal cakes. Without these with stewed dishes, it always feels like something’s missing.

Around five or six o’clock, the men returned home and praised the simple honesty of the brigade commander’s family upon seeing the spread the women prepared. Then, they started moving tables and chairs into the hall, guiding the children over, washing bowls and chopsticks in the courtyard, cooking in the stove room, bustling with activity.

The cooked Big Pot Dish was left warming on a small stove in the courtyard to keep it from getting cold.

After arranging the tables and chairs, they began plating the dishes, setting them one by one.

Ye Huan invited everyone inside while she stayed busy in the kitchen, filtering the soy milk, boiling it, adding a certain ratio of salt brine, and then withdrawing the fire. As the tofu pudding gently set, she prepared a stew sauce on the side stove, mainly made of minced meat.

Then two tables for the men were joined together to form one table, and three tables for the women and children were joined together for another.

Each person got a bowl of Big Pot Dish mixed with pumpkin, with hot steamed buns available to take and eat as desired, and cold dishes were laid on the table, allowing everyone to pick what they liked.

The children were enthusiastic about the lotus in the Big Pot Dish, the tofu, glass noodles, and especially the fried meatballs made just for them, while the men favored Ye Huan’s dishes paired with alcohol.

No matter what they ate, due to the sincerity of the host, everyone was very happy, naturally showering all possible praises.

Once almost finished with the meal, each person enjoyed a hot bowl of tofu pudding, truly making the happiness surpass even that of New Year’s.