Chapter 377: Gourmet System of the Eighties (15)

Five-spice tea eggs were the first dish she taught Xiao Rong to make.

For breakfast at the Canteen, besides porridge, steamed buns, and cornmeal buns, they would occasionally sell eggs, but they were generally just boiled eggs.

Xie Yang saw that last year's coarse tea stems were a bit damp, so she suggested Xiao Rong try making tea eggs.

Don't let its simplicity fool you; to make them fragrant, flavorful, beautifully marbled, with tender egg whites and shells that are easy to peel, requires a certain amount of skill.

Xie Yang recalled the "Suiyuan Shidan" she had read to pass the time while living in retirement in her previous plane, which contained a section dedicated to the preparation of tea eggs:

"One hundred eggs, use one tael of salt, boil with coarse tea leaves, for the duration of two sticks of incense..."

Of course, if conditions allow, you can also add some star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, Sichuan peppercorns, and dried Chili; these spices can give the tea eggs more depth of flavor.

However, for selling at the Canteen, salt and coarse tea stems are sufficient.

Under her guidance, Xiao Rong was very successful the first time he boiled tea eggs.

He was so happy that he paid out of his own pocket to buy half a pot, gave ten to Xie Yang, and wanted to take the rest home for his family to taste.

To see if they would still oppose him apprenticing to learn cooking.

Shuisheng was eating the tea eggs Xiao Rong had given him with great relish while begging Xie Yang to tell him how to make them.

Before he had even finished the egg, he leaned into Xie Yang's ear and whispered a report: "Mom, that strange thing rewarded me with a basket of eggs and half a catty of tea leaves."

Xie Yang: "..."

Fine! If she can't think of a better way to make a living later, selling tea eggs on the street is also a path to wealth.

Ever since they moved into the small house with a private courtyard, Xie Yang didn't restrict Shuisheng as much, and would occasionally use the food ingredient rewards he obtained through the Gourmet System to cook for the two children.

The first meal they ate was the three catties of pork belly he had obtained while in the Tube Building.

Xie Yang divided the meat into two, stewed half as red-braised pork, and the mother and two children enjoyed a hearty meal to celebrate their move.

She salted the rest to make cured meat.

As the weather got hotter, slicing a few pieces of cured meat to cook with winter melon or making a loofah soup were both good appetizers.

The main thing is that cooking with cured meat doesn't send an enticing aroma wafting out of the chimney.

Unlike when she stewed red-braised pork, when the neighbors all opened their doors at once, sniffing and asking whose house was stewing meat when it wasn't a holiday or festival? Why did it smell so good.

Fortunately, Xie Yang had bolted the courtyard gate at the time, so even if they guessed it was her house, they could only stand on tiptoe and look from across the wall.

It wasn't like when they lived in the Tube Building, where some children in the building would follow the scent to her house, stick their bottoms out while lying on the ground, and peek inside through the cracks in her door.

"Mom, so many, many eggs."

Dinner was already finished, but Shuisheng was still worrying about that basket of eggs:

"Won't they go bad if I don't eat them?"

Xie Yang whispered to him: "They won't go bad if you don't take them out."

Shuisheng, who had originally wanted to secretly stuff a few eggs into the kitchen cupboard at home, decided not to hide good things at home anymore.

He even wanted to hide the eggs from home inside the Gourmet System.

But before he could hide them, he worried about another problem: "Mom, it won't make my things disappear, will it?"

Xie Yang: "..."

The Gourmet System felt its system dignity had been insulted: 【Host, I am not like you humans; I do not go back on my word.】

Shuisheng blinked: Then are you greedy?

【...】

There is no communicating with human cubs.

"Dani! Dani! Are you home?"

Liu Shen came over for a rare visit, carrying a basket and bringing Daniu along.

Xie Yang gave Daniu a tea egg and grabbed a handful of her own stir-fried five-spice peanuts for each of the children, telling them to go play in the courtyard.

She and Liu Shen pulled up two chairs and sat under the eaves, watching the children play while cracking melon seeds and chatting.

"Auntie, you should try a tea egg too; the taste is quite good."

"No thanks, I just finished dinner and I'm still full. You save them for Shuisheng and Musheng to eat."

Liu Shen refused to eat the tea egg and grabbed a handful of melon seeds to crack.

"Did you stir-fry these melon seeds yourself? They taste really good!"

Xie Yang: "It's quite simple; add some star anise, cinnamon, and fennel, and the five-spice flavor comes out."

Liu Shen clicked her tongue in surprise: No wonder it tastes so good; she even puts so many spices in just to stir-fry melon seeds.

She didn't come to visit today just for idle chatter; she had something to tell Xie Yang.

"You should be careful of the Hu family lately. Hu Baosheng and his wife have made up; it's likely he spent money to coax his mother-in-law's family. Today while I was cooking in the kitchen, I heard Hu Laotai cursing and swearing; it seems she's going to come and cause trouble for you."

"They can make up after that?" Xie Yang expressed disbelief.

The woman outside is already pregnant with Hu Baosheng's child and is due to give birth soon; how could his wife endure that?

"What else can she do? The child is already on the way; is she really going to get a divorce?"

Liu Shen was actually quite understanding of Hu Baosheng Xifu's choice.

"However, Hu Baosheng promised to break it off with the woman outside and absolutely not keep in touch. If the child born is a boy, he'll bring it back and put it under his wife's name; if it's a girl, he won't care about it."

"..."

Seeing Xie Yang's speechless expression, Liu Shen said with a bitter smile: "His wife is in a difficult position too; everything is for the sake of the child. If there were no children, she would definitely have been strong enough to leave."

"But what is the point of a marriage like that?"

"Marriage is meaningless to begin with; who isn't just muddling through?"

"..."

Seeing Xie Yang's look of disapproval, Liu Shen laughed out loud: "You haven't officially entered into marriage yet, so it's normal that you don't understand. By the way, were you serious about what you said to Chen Laotai that day? That if you remarried, you would definitely take the Shuisheng brothers with you? And that you would pay for them to go to university?"

Xie Yang nodded: "Of course! Since they call me Mom, I must certainly take on the responsibilities of being a mother."

Liu Shen patted her hand: "Your intentions are good, but you should also think about yourself. After all, their biological mother is still around; aren't you afraid that after you raise them, their biological mother will come and reap the fruits?"

Xie Yang: "If their biological mother really comes to reap the fruits, then I will accept it."

In any case, she was here to retrieve the Golden Finger, and raising the children was just a side task.

Once Shuisheng and the Gourmet System unbind, if staying in this plane becomes uninteresting, she will activate the "Set Off Immediately" special Prop, leave early, and head to the next Task plane.

Liu Shen, however, felt she was too sincere and advised: "If Xue Lihua comes to take the Shuisheng brothers away, just let her take them. I know you have developed feelings for the two children, but Xue Lihua is their biological mother after all; if she really comes to take them, it would be good for both you and the children."

Xie Yang: "..."

What?

The children's biological mother is coming to take them away?

Take them where?

Then is she going to move next door?

If she doesn't move, what if the Gourmet System unbinds from Shuisheng one day while she isn't nearby—wouldn't she be unable to retrieve it in time?

If the Gourmet System happens to run off and bind to another Host, would this Task still be completable?

Main System: 【Host, absolutely do not let Xue Lihua take the children away. That woman is very bad!】

Xie Yang: How do you know? Did you investigate her? Wasn't it agreed that you aren't allowed to mess with my points without my consent?

【...】