[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-challenge-of-a-farmhouse-son-in-law":3,"chapter-the-challenge-of-a-farmhouse-son-in-law-the-challenge-of-a-farmhouse-son-in-law-chapter-119":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","The Challenge of a Farmhouse Son-in-Law",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1543454,2006,"Chapter 119 - 119 119 The Professional Chef","the-challenge-of-a-farmhouse-son-in-law-chapter-119",119,"\u003Cp>119: Chapter 119: The Professional Chef 119: Chapter 119: The Professional Chef Such a pity that the people here don’t yet eat chili peppers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this era, the main spices were Sichuan pepper, ginger, and cornelian cherry, with chili peppers only used as ornamental plants and medicine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such a good thing, utterly wasted!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Youyou found some wild chilies not far from the hill behind her house.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this time of the year, the chilies were still tender and not as spicy as the ripe red ones, so she picked a few more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She started by gutting and cleaning the fish, then salted it for marinating, and stuffed the fish belly with Sichuan pepper, chili, and ginger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Start the fire for cooking rice first!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Jin Zijin returned, he could see the smoke rising from his house from a distance, and he quickened his pace in slight surprise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, Gu Youyou was putting the fish into the pan, and a thick enticing fragrance wafted from the pot—it was the aroma of various spices she had sautéed in oil!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Zijin is back, have a seat for a while, we’ll be eating soon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We’re having fish today, and you can also taste my cooking skills!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was this the first time Gu Youyou cooked alone, and the first time she took charge of the wok, and she chose to cook fish which is the most difficult?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This fish had a strong fishy smell, hard to make palatable if not handled properly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not many in the farming community were good cooks, so they rarely ate fish.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet there were plenty of fish in the river, as long as one was willing to eat, there would be more than enough!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jin Zijin put down his tools and the newly bought soybean oil, looking intrigued, and then sat by the stove to stoke the fire!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You know how to cook fish?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Youyou was taken aback, feeling slighted, and said, “Are you the only one allowed to be capable?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Can’t I be capable as well?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jin Zijin: “…” Was her way of speaking always so pointed?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, Gu Youyou was just concerned about Jin Zijin’s own secrets, and his continual, subtle attempts to coax information out of her!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Never did she expect Jin Zijin to say, “I can’t cook fish!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Well…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>no wonder she had never tasted fish cooked by him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fish is very fishy, I don’t like that smell!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Youyou turned to look at him, smiling slightly and said, “The fish I cook isn’t fishy!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jin Zijin said, “To make fish that isn’t fishy, one must be a professional chef!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Gu Youyou’s expression darkened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a while, she said, “Alright then, I am a professional chef!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jin Zijin looked at her and inexplicably chuckled!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Youyou knew what he meant, always trying to pry words out of her and not allowing her to get annoyed!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Make the fire a little smaller!” Gu Youyou said irritably.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After smelling the aroma, which was spicy and delightful, she sprinkled a little sugar into the pot to enhance the umami taste of the fish!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This sugar had been secretly given to Gu Youyou by Gu Feng, who said her medicine was too bitter, and a little sugar would make it more bearable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She hadn’t taken her medicine for a long time, and as sugar was a valuable commodity, she had kept it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But to use sugar for cooking fish…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jin Zijin seemed to have never seen this, so he asked curiously, “Is the sugar for removing the fishy smell?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No!” Gu Youyou shook her head and said, “Adding some sugar makes the fish taste better!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jin Zijin frowned and said, “The sugar Grandfather bought you was to ease the bitterness of your medicine after drinking it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Are you wasting it on fish?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Youyou couldn’t stand to hear this and justified herself, “This isn’t wasting, it’s to make the fish tastier!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Being able to eat one’s fill is enough, what’s the need for fussing over taste?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Look at the villagers of Lotus Village, who cares whether their food tastes good or not?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gu Youyou was left speechless!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She never expected that Jin Zijin would be such a miser.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was just a bit of sugar, was it worth making such a fuss over?\u003C\u002Fp>",720,"2026-06-06T06:54:47.694Z",1,"novelbin.me","caa2660b38b76507d9a8c906e85f36f2470a640723b53e94a11c648145f4ac8b","the-challenge-of-a-farmhouse-son-in-law-chapter-120","the-challenge-of-a-farmhouse-son-in-law-chapter-118",1812,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-challenge-of-a-farmhouse-son-in-law-cover.jpg"]