Rebirth: Splendid Marriage in the 80s

Chapter 376: Chapter 376: It’s Just So Fragrant

After returning, she prepared the items she was going to send to Meng Xinian.

The mushrooms, after a day of sun drying, were somewhat dried and exuded a unique, aromatic fragrance.

”Little, how do you want to cook these?” Ge Liutao looked on curiously as Chiang Xiao was busy at work.

”I’m making salt and pepper fried mushrooms,” Chiang Xiao said while she stir-fried the Sichuan peppercorns with the ground salt until aromatic, then set them aside for later use.

She then tore the mushrooms into strips or slices, beat a few eggs, coated the dried mushrooms in the egg, heated some oil, and deep-fried the egg-coated mushroom strips.

A delicious scent quickly filled the air, attracting Chiang Songhai’s attention.

”Little, where did you learn this from? It looks so appetizing,” he commented.

Chiang Xiao grinned without revealing too much. ”I’m just clever. I picked it up from what I heard and figured out the rest on my own.” She drained the golden-brown mushrooms of oil and let them cool to the side, then dished up some on a small plate for them to try. ”Actually, this already makes a dish by itself. We can taste it tonight. Adding the stir-fried salt and pepper gives it a different flavor, and it can last for a couple of days without spoiling,” she explained.

The remaining fried mushrooms mixed with the just-stir-fried salt and pepper had her almost drooling with eagerness.

Tomorrow, she would need to send the express package, estimating that Meng Xinian would receive it the day after tomorrow when it would still be good to eat.

Once cooled, she filled a glass jar with the mushrooms, covered the top with a cloth soaked in coarse salt, and tightly sealed the lid—a jar of exceptionally flavored salt and pepper mushrooms was quietly waiting to be shipped to someone.

Of course, Chiang Xiao took the opportunity to hide this jar of salt and pepper mushrooms in her Space when Chiang Songhai and Ge Liutao weren’t paying attention.

In the Space, the freshness could be preserved, even keeping the taste at its best. When she took it out tomorrow to ship it, it would be as delicious as when she had just fried it.

Afterward, she was busy making fried chestnuts.

Although she didn’t know how Xu Linjiang’s experiments were going, she had brought some chestnuts back and decided to fry them herself.

As she couldn’t find the stones typically used for roasting chestnuts, she used coarse salt instead. She had previously nicked each chestnut with a knife, then fried them in salt for quite a while before adding a small spoonful of sugar and continuously stirring.

These fried chestnuts, although not exactly authentic sugar-fried chestnuts, were still fragrant, sweet, and sticky, very delicious indeed.

Both Chiang Songhai and Ge Liutao tried some and had a hard time stopping. However, Chiang Xiao didn’t allow them to eat too much.

By the time she finished, it was late at night.

Accustomed to retiring early, both Chiang Songhai and Ge Liutao were sound asleep. Only then did Chiang Xiao quietly fetch a pheasant from her Space, took an iron basin, and stealthily processed it by the light of the stove flame.

She was busy until well past midnight, but managed to make two hand-shredded chickens, tearing the meat into strips and drying it over the stove fire. She taste-tested it and found it very chewy and exceptionally delicious—it was hard for her to stop eating it. Perhaps the meat tasted especially good because the pheasant had been raised in her Space.

It made her somewhat reluctant to send it to Meng Xinian.

After washing up, Chiang Xiao entered her Space and looked at the three items lying on the table on the second floor of Bamboo Hut; she was still not sleepy. So, she took out some drawing paper, spread it out on the table, and started painting the landscape she saw on the mountain.

Two days later, Meng Xinian revisited the communications office.

Although he kept his aura suppressed, everyone he passed by still swiftly moved out of his way.

This obvious tension, ready to snap at any moment—how could it make someone seem so frightening?

Speaking of Meng Xinian, who in the Alliance District didn’t know of him?

Even though his position wasn’t very high, his combat strength was formidable. Offend him, and he wouldn’t care about your rank; he’d beat you up first and discuss it later.