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墨書 Inktalez
Ziyan, nestled in Ling Yuxuan's embrace, felt her mind go blank, lacking the energy to think. She simply leaned quietly against Ling Yuxuan's chest.
She didn't want to speak or move, and in a daze, she dozed off.
After a short nap, Ziyan slightly opened her eyes and looked up at the sky. The sun was positioned about 20 degrees southeast of the zenith.
Forcing herself to endure the soreness in her body, Ziyan finally emerged from Ling Yuxuan's arms and stood up, brushing off the dogtail flowers, weeds, and dust from her clothes.
At the same time, Ling the Handsome also got up and patted his clothes. He walked over to Ziyan and gently brushed away two or three stray weeds from her hair.
"Let's head back; I need to prepare a big meal."
Thinking about how harshly she had treated him earlier, Ziyan felt a twinge of guilt and gazed affectionately at Ling Yuxuan. Her eyes were gentle as water, and she took his hand, ready to walk back together.
"Okay! I'll help you."
Feeling the softness in the little girl's demeanor now, Ling Yuxuan was thrilled inside. He looked tenderly at his beloved little one and picked up the Bamboo Basket he had previously thrown on the ground with his free hand, obediently following her as she prepared to step forward.
Just as Ziyan took a step ahead, she suddenly felt something slippery underfoot. Her body stumbled forward as she nearly fell.
Fortunately, Ling Yuxuan noticed the situation and quickly reached out with his long arm to catch her tightly around the waist.
Once steady again, Ziyan looked down and realized that she had stepped on an old turtle about the size of a sea bowl.
"Haha—" Ziyan burst into laughter, doubling over.
"Slow down, my little darling."
Ling Yuxuan shook her head helplessly and set down the basket to support her, gently patting her back, afraid that she might choke again if she turned around.
"Go on, who is your little darling?"
Shyly pushing away Ling Yuxuan's big hand, she squatted down to closely observe the big turtle with its head tucked inside its shell. It seemed that this creature had been hiding in the bushes and was scared out by her and Ling Yuxuan, but it didn't have the courage to run far, so it shrank its head into its shell to minimize its presence.
Ziyan couldn't help but tap on Old Turtle's shell with her finger. After a "thud," Old Turtle actually tried to stretch out a small part of its head to take a look, only to quickly retract it again. This made Ziyan even more amused. "This big turtle—so funny."
"Alright, we should go now."
"Mm."
Ziyan responded while moving Old Turtle into the bamboo basket and handed the basket to Ling Yuxuan. Then she linked her arm with his and they walked side by side towards home.
...
When they reached the front door, they saw Yard where Zhou and Ziying were busy washing and picking vegetables.
The River Clams and Snails were soaking in water, and there was a large, plump White Trout swimming quietly in a rectangular stone tank that had been carved out long ago and had not been used until now.
Various fresh wild vegetables and some homegrown greens were washed clean and placed in bamboo trays of different sizes. On the Stone Table, there were two large bowls of previously chopped King Cobra meat, with only the skin of the King Cobra, still soaking in vinegar brine, left unprocessed.
Thus, Ziyan turned the heavy wooden bathing tub upside down next to the water well in the yard for Old Turtle, digging a tiny hole in the soil at the bottom for it to breathe without being able to escape. After doing all this, she decided to leave it be for now.
Next came the time for cooking delicious food. Looking at these ingredients in the yard made Ziyan feel incredibly pleased.
So she glanced at the tall man standing beside her.
"Directly instructed, 'You go and clean all the scales of that Snake Skin thoroughly. Remember, don't damage the skin; I need it for something important later.'
What important use? Isn't it just for eating? Ziyan secretly delighted in her heart.
Then she began to categorize the ingredients: Bamboo Shoots paired with cured meat, and she instructed Ziying to slice both the Bamboo Shoots and cured meat into pieces.
Green peppers paired with smoked sausage, she directed her sister to cut the green peppers and smoked sausage into small circles.
Ziying's knife skills were quite good, especially after this period of hands-on training from her sister, she had made significant progress.
Once Ziying finished cutting those ingredients, Ziyan took a kitchen knife and cutting board outside to the yard to scrub the board clean, pouring some rice vinegar on it to soak for a while.
While washing the knife, she muttered to herself: It seems I need to ask Dad to make another cutting board; raw and cooked ingredients should be cut separately to avoid cross-contamination.
After thoroughly washing the knife and disinfecting it with rice vinegar, she placed the kitchen knife on the cutting board. She went to the sink, took out the fish, scooped out the water from the sink, scrubbed it several times, and refilled it with fresh Well Water.
Then she used a clean cleaver to chop off the tail of the White Trout and put it back into the water.
Thus, the White Trout swam in the clear water, its tail swaying as it bled out thin streams of fresh blood. After a while, the once clear water slowly turned a light red color; as time passed, the light red deepened until the entire sink was filled with rich crimson water.
Ling Yuxuan, who had just finished scaling the Snake Skin, had been paying attention to what was happening at the sink, watching as the Big White Trout struggled and swam in the water.
Unable to help but glance at Ziyan beside her, she said, 'Little one, I didn't expect you to have such a cruel and bloody side!'
'Come on, I'm a Chef, not a bodhisattva.'
'Still cruel!'
Ling Yuxuan shook her head in disagreement.
"Then don't eat any of the dishes I make, because every dish here has been ruthlessly and bloodily prepared by me."
"Uh? Forget I said anything."
As soon as she heard that she couldn't eat any dishes, Ling Yuxuan quickly shut her mouth, afraid of offending her 'little darling' and missing out on her cooking.
Ziyan rolled her eyes at him in a very ungracious manner.
"That's more like it."
Seeing that the Big White Trout was no longer thrashing around, Ziyan immediately scooped it up and cut open its belly to remove the entrails.
However, she couldn't bear to throw away the fish roe, fish intestines, and swim bladder; those were good things. She set them aside temporarily. Then she went to the gills and rinsed them thoroughly with Well Water several times.
After washing, she placed the fish on the cutting board that had been disinfected with vinegar and began to carefully slice it into thin pieces.
As the saying goes, "Slow work produces fine products," so after a considerable amount of time, the fish slices were finally ready and arranged neatly on a shallow large plate.
At this moment, Ziyan straightened up to admire her plating. The thin red slices of sashimi looked like a large blooming sunflower.
Ziyan then inverted them into a clean large basin and placed it on the Stone Table, while the fish bones and head were chopped up and tossed into a nearby Sea Bowl.
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