Chef Hua

The kitchen in Zhenwei Garden always kept some food ingredients on hand.

Lei An’s wife was good at making everyday dishes. Although Zhou Yunyun usually prepared the meals and sent them over, when she had free time, she also liked to busy herself in the kitchen and make a couple of extra dishes for the workers. Therefore, those commonly used vegetables, fruits, and meats were never in short supply. However, in terms of both quantity and variety, they naturally couldn’t begin to compare with a proper eatery.

As Zhenwei Garden was currently busy and Wang Tonghe, the old man, refused to follow Hua Xiaomai back to the Meng Family courtyard, the two simply went around to the front yard. After greeting Lei An’s wife, they slipped into the Sauce Garden’s kitchen.

Several hams and cured meats hung from the ceiling beams, purchased from an old established shop in Fuzhe County during the winter months. Before steaming rice, two slices would be tucked at the bottom of the pot. When the pot started to boil, wafts of meaty aroma would emanate, each grain of rice shining with fat, making the dish even more delectable.

In the corner was a vegetable basket with a bunch of yellow chives and two cabbages, and in the water basin were soaked tofu skin and mille-feuille tofu. In addition, there were several freshly cleaned quails, likely leftovers from dinner, while on the windowsill sat several pieces of thoroughly smoked and dried bamboo shoot strips, the surface coated with a layer of honey, nearly transparent. Just a bit closer, and the smoky aroma would drill straight into your nose.

Wang Tonghe walked around the kitchen with his hands behind his back, looking at this and touching that, as if he was being very picky. Finally, standing in the middle of the room, he sighed and grabbed a piece of ham, "This will do. Girl, come over and take a look."

"Since you’ve said you would teach me, please take it seriously and don’t just whip up some dish to fob me off. I’m not so easily dealt with," Hua Xiaomai half-joked, but her feet didn’t dawdle in the slightest as she quickly followed him.

Wang Tonghe scolded with a laugh, "Be thankful I’m willing to teach you. Don’t be so choosy." Before his words finished, he had already taken down the ham, picked a piece of bamboo shoot strip, a half bunch of yellow chives, and immediately started to chop them up on the chopping board.

Hua Xiaomai had seen Wang Tonghe cook before.

This old man was not like some famous chefs who loved to show off "fancy tricks". His speed was not particularly fast either. Instead, his movements were grand and open. A ham firmly placed on the chopping board, slicing it seemed casual, yet each cut was steady, accurate, and forceful, and the slices of meat were virtually identical in size and thickness.

The same went for cooking. He did not use those fancy wok tossing and pan flipping moves. Every action was firm and sure, radiating a sense of grounded simplicity that made one instinctively feel that the food he made could not possibly be anything but delicious.