Siheyuan: It’s so nice to be Lao Liu

"You are Xiao Yan, right? Come in quickly."

As Yan Jiefang got off the car, a kind-looking woman came out of the house.

"Hello, Auntie!" Yan Jiefang took the initiative to greet her.

Before a small person like him could even knock on the door and enter, people already opened the door to welcome him and greeted him warmly, which shows that this family is easy to get along with.

Besides, since the leader’s family could treat a commoner like himself politely, this big leader couldn’t be a bad person, so Yan Jiefang felt at ease making friends with him.

After Yan Jiefang followed the woman into the courtyard, the woman introduced him, "Little Yan, my last name is Hong, you can just call me Auntie Hong. I heard from Lao Liu that I want you to help with the cooking, so I'm really sorry to bother you."

Hearing the familiarity of the person in front of him, and knowing that the man who bought her fish was surnamed Liu, and should be the husband of the person in front of her, Yan Jiefang also said politely: "Auntie Hong, you are too polite. The things that Uncle Liu gave me are much more valuable than this fish. I have wanted to buy a bicycle for a long time, but I have never had a bicycle ticket. If I go to the pigeon market to sell it, the price is too expensive, and I will definitely be ripped off."

"What's the trouble with cooking for the table? What I cook is delicious, and what I want most is people's praise."

After Yan Jiefang's polite remarks, he won Aunt Hong's favor.

After calming down, she took Yan Jiefang to the kitchen and said, "Xiao Yan, the ingredients are ready. See if there's anything missing and I'll prepare it for you."

"Aunt Hong, how many people are there this time? What kind of food do you like? Is there anything you cannot eat?"

Yan Jiefang looked at the ingredients prepared in the kitchen. They were all there, and a lot of ingredients of all kinds were prepared. He had an idea in his mind. He was good at cooking all kinds of cuisines, so now as long as he knew what the guests wanted to eat, he could prepare it immediately.

When Yan Jiefang asked what kind of cuisine the guests were, Aunt Hong thought for a moment and said, "There are eight guests in total, including Lao Liu and I, making a total of ten people. As for taste, Lao Liu, I and the other two are from Northeast China, so we can eat anything. Lao Chen and Xiao Li are from Sichuan, so they can eat spicy food. I don't know where the other four are from. I know that none of them have any dietary restrictions."

Knowing the number of people and their general tastes, Yan Jiefang said to Aunt Hong, "Aunt Hong, how about this? Although there are ten of us, judging from your and Uncle Liu's ages, the guests should be quite old and their appetites may not be as good as those of young people. I will cook less, just six dishes and two soups. Since they mainly eat fish, I will make two dishes and two soups with fish, and two Northeastern dishes, chicken stewed with mushrooms and sweet and sour pork. As for Sichuan dishes, I will pick two non-spicy ones, boiled cabbage and mapo tofu."

After saying that, Yan Jiefang looked at Aunt Hong and continued, "Aunt Hong, do you think these are okay? If they are, I will start preparing. It will take about two hours. After all, we need to boil the soup. Because the time is too short, the boiled cabbage may not be as good as those made by the imperial chefs, but the other dishes will definitely be fine."

Aunt Hong made Yan Jiefang's arrangements very clear, and she felt that there was nothing wrong with what he said, so she nodded and said, "Just do as you say. I have the final say. Open fire, and I'll learn from the side."

Aunt Hong told him to do it without worry while she was learning. In fact, she also wanted to see if Yan Jiefang had real skills. If he messed up, she could stop the loss in time and take over. She couldn't let Lao Liu and his comrades go without dinner.

Yan Jiefang started to make the broth for hot pot, and the first thing he prepared was the soup for boiling cabbage.

Boiled cabbage is made from the heart of northern Chinese cabbage, boiled with chicken, duck, and spareribs, and seasoned with clear chicken and pork broth, and finally some chicken oil is added to the soup. The dish is fresh and elegant, with a rich aroma and a strong soup flavor, but it is refreshing and not greasy.

Because he was just making broth, it was hard to tell how good Yan Jiefang's cooking skills were, but after the broth was prepared and boiled over high heat, he began to process the herring.

Aunt Hong’s cooking skills are pretty decent, but when she saw the way Yan Jiefang processed the fish scales, fish meat and fish heads, she was stunned and had only one thought in her mind: Is this something a human could do?

Yan Jiefang placed the fish on a wooden board next to the faucet, and swung a kitchen knife quickly to peel off the fish scales. He cut the fish meat into several piles of different shapes, but the fish meat in each pile was the same size and neatly placed together.

Aunt Hong never thought that a kitchen knife could be wielded so skillfully. Her eyes couldn't keep up with the speed of the knife, and a trace of afterimage appeared.

After processing all the ingredients, Yan Jiefang looked at the stove in front of him and felt helpless. There were only two pots, and these two soup pots just occupied them. He could only wait until the fish soup was ready before cooking.

After seeing Yan Jiefang putting two pots of soup on the fire, Aunt Hong was relieved and asked, "Xiao Yan, where do you work now?"

Yan Jiefang was delighted. He came to the leader's house just to build relationships with the leader and ask the leader to find a good job for him and He Yushui. So he immediately said, "Aunt Hong, I'm still in the third year of high school and will graduate soon. I don't plan to go to college. I want to work first, join the workforce early, and contribute to society early."

Aunt Hong didn't say anything after hearing this, but just took note of it silently, and then changed the subject: "Since you are a student, who did you learn this cooking skill from?"

Yan Jiefang could only make up a lie, saying, "There used to be a chef in our courtyard. I heard that his family's cuisine is the Tan family cuisine. He became a disciple and learned Sichuan cuisine. I often went to his house and heard him teaching his son to cook. I went there so often that I learned how to cook by watching. I also cooked at home a few times and I think I'm pretty good at it."

The two chatted while waiting for the soup. After about an hour, Yan Jiefang looked at the fish soup and found it was cooked to the right temperature, so he immediately took it out of the pot and prepared to cook.

Yan Jiefang looked at Aunt Hong who was sitting on the side waiting, and said while washing the pot: "Aunt Hong, in half an hour, I will need your help to prepare the soup for me."

Seeing Yan Jiefang stir-frying skillfully and easily, Aunt Hong readily agreed: "Okay, I'll learn how to cook boiled cabbage too."

It took two hours, and with the joint efforts of the two, six dishes and two soups were served steaming on the spare table in the kitchen.

Aunt Hong, who tasted the dishes herself, gave Yan Jiefang a thumbs up and praised him, "Little Yan, at the beginning, Lao Liu told me that he had invited a great chef to cook at home, saying that the dishes were at the level of a state banquet. I didn't quite believe it, but now I do. The state banquet chefs may not be as good as you. Take the boiled cabbage for example. I've eaten the one made by the state banquet chefs, and it doesn't taste as good as what we two make."

Then Aunt Hong smiled and said, "I never thought that one day the dishes I cooked would taste better than those at the state banquet."

"Auntie Hong, please don't flatter me. I know my own level. I can't compare with the state banquet chefs. I still need to learn their cooking experience." Yan Jiefang said modestly.