Chapter 4 Verification of Authenticity

Back at the table, Mrs. Xu said, "Since Qiyunshu has entered the Zhao family's door, she should follow the custom for new brides to cook in the kitchen."

This is something that all new brides in Bajiao Village must do, intended to test whether the new bride can manage the household.

"Cook?" Qiyunshu looked up from her struggle with fish bones.

"Don't tell me you don't know how. It's the custom for new brides to do this. When you entered the family on the day of lotus picking, you already did it!" Mrs. Xu gave her a disdainful look, feeling extremely fortunate that this woman did not adhere to proper conduct before marriage, causing their family to break off this marriage proposal. Otherwise, if their scholarly son had married such a person, where would their family's face be?

But when she marries Zhao Jing, it will be different. After all, the elders in the family have long passed away, and they can easily find a reason to separate Zhao Jing from her. Then their family will have two fewer mouths to feed.

Zhao Jing advised, "Sister-in-law, Yunniang, she..." She didn't have any culinary skills, and she was known as the lazy girl in Bajiao Village.

But Qiyunshu interrupted Zhao Jing and readily agreed.

These past few days, she had been eating either watery porridge or hard black bread. If she cooked a meal herself, at least she could eat properly.

But when it was time, Mrs. Xu only handed her half a bag of black flour and told her to figure it out herself.

"I don't care if you steam the bread or make a paste, this meal is your responsibility!" Qiyunshu knew that Mrs. Xu was deliberately making things difficult for her, but she wasn't afraid. She rubbed the rough cloth in her hands, finding it difficult to handle. She was definitely not going to steam the bread, but making a paste with this flour, it was like bran, and she probably couldn't make it into a paste.

After thinking for a while, she came up with an idea at the front pond!

She remembered seeing a type of wild vegetable while wandering around before, and it might go well with this black flour to make pancakes.

She went to the pond, crouched down, and lifted the grass to find the purslane hidden among them.

She pulled out a handful, and Zhao Jing, who was watching from afar, said, "If you don't know how, I'll do it for you!"

Qiyunshu shook her head and said she didn't need help, pointing to the pond and asked, "Are there fish in there?"

"Yes, I'm afraid you won't be able to catch them!" Zhao Jing took a basket and wanted to take her into the mountains to try their luck and pick some wild mushrooms!

"I'm not going!" Qiyunshu shook off his hand, dropped the purslane at the edge of the pond, and plucked a few strands of grass with small purple flowers, throwing them into the pond. Soon, several big grass carp with swaying tails floated to the surface.

"Do you know about drunken fish grass?" Zhao Jing was surprised. Although this grass grew nearby, not many people knew about it.

"I've heard of it!" Qiyunshu smiled.

Of course, she knew about this kind of grass, which was often used in modern times. Just five plants could intoxicate the fish in a pond.

She easily caught four grass carp and two small crucian carp, cleaned them by the river, and quickly started cooking in the kitchen.

Smelling the aroma of the oil, Qiyunshu couldn't help but feel grateful that Mrs. Xu had only withheld the ingredients and not the seasonings.

Soon the fish was ready, and the whole house was filled with a delightful fragrance.

Smelling the aroma and looking at the four fish on the table, Zhao Jing's expression was complicated. He couldn't believe that this was the same willful, rude, and unreasonable lazy girl, Yunniang.

She couldn't do anything, could she? And this fish pond belonged to the Li family, not just anyone could catch fish in it...

"What's wrong? Hurry and serve it up!" Qiyunshu wiped her apron with her hands and urged gently when she saw him still in a daze. She was hungry and eager to eat.

But when she brought the black flour dough and purslane pancakes to the table, the bowl of fish was already reduced to fish bones.

"Not bad cooking!" Mrs. Xu picked her teeth and said flatly.

Qiyunshu stood frozen in place, her stomach was cramping from hunger, and she was just waiting to eat a piece of fish to fill her stomach, but who would have thought...

"Your cooking is so good, I'll have to ask you to handle tomorrow's breakfast as well!" After everyone finished eating and left their empty plates and dishes...

Qiyunshu, with a wild vegetable pancake in her mouth, felt a surge of anger. These people...

But they all left one by one, and only Zhao Jing silently cleared the dining table and brought her into the room. "You didn't eat enough, did you?"

How could she have eaten enough! Qiyunshu bit her lip.

But then, Zhao Jing suddenly, as if performing magic, took out a ceramic plate from the cabinet.

On it were two small crucian carp.

It was the two she had caught earlier, and she had prepared them for him to serve first.

"You brought them in?" Qiyunshu picked up the chopsticks in surprise.

"You worked hard to cook, you can't go hungry." Zhao Jing said calmly, knowing well the temper of the Zhao family, and had already anticipated this.

Qiyunshu glanced at him, and in the dim night, the figure of Zhao Jing in front of her overlapped with the image of Liang Tian in her heart, and a strange warmth arose in her heart.

It was midnight, and the moonlight poured into the room like a waterfall through the window.

Zhao Jing, who had already fallen asleep, suddenly got up and turned his clear eyes towards the woman lying beside him, emitting a steady breathing sound.

He got up quietly and gently patted her, "Yunniang?" He called her several times, but Qiyunshu was fast asleep...

He suddenly reached out and moved the hair entwined around her neck, and in the bright moonlight outside the window, he looked at her half-exposed fragrant shoulder.