Transmigrated as a Stepmother: Time to Bring the Family to Prosper!-Chapter 64 - 63: Eight-Tenths Full

Chapter 64: Chapter 63: Eight-Tenths Full
However, with so many birds, it took the five of them quite some effort to clean them up.
Qin Yao boiled a large pot of water, poured it into a wooden basin to cool it down, and then put all the birds in to roll around twice.
Then, Da Lang Brothers and Sisters were responsible for plucking feathers while she used scissors to gut them, keeping busy until noon and getting a big basin of bird meat.
Last time when the family made stir-fried sparrow, the four siblings happened to be punished and weren’t allowed to eat any meat, so they missed out.
This time, seeing this big basin, they were extremely excited, eagerly waiting for the oil to be heated before it even got dark.
Knowing there would be many people eating later, Qin Yao decided to fry the whole basin of bird meat in advance.
The freshly fried meat was crispy, needing just a pinch of salt for it to taste really good.
Qin Yao served a small bowl, sending out the expectant four children from the kitchen, and fried all the bird meat, filling a whole basin.
The aroma drifted to the riverbank where Old Liu and his five sons were setting up a shed. The smell made their mouths water, prompting them to speed up, eager to finish the job and enjoy the delicious dinner sooner.
With so much bird meat, Qin Yao divided half of it, leaving the other half, which could last for two or three days after frying, for the family to slowly enjoy later.
When Qin Yao finished preparing the fish, her elder sister-in-law He and second sister-in-law Mrs. Qiu arrived with their kids.
Mrs. Zhang stayed by the river, keeping an eye on the stone mill grinding wheat.
Once they arrived, without needing Qin Yao to instruct them, her kitchen was as familiar to them as their own homes, and they immediately found tasks to do.
Mrs. Qiu brought vegetables from her own garden, including beans, greens, and gourd, and washed them at the sink. She even took a moment to organize the water celery Qin Yao had picked in the morning, keeping only the tender parts.
Then she went into the kitchen, set down the chopping board, and began to cut the vegetables.
He took out a large gourd ladle for rinsing rice and asked Mrs. Qiu how many people would eat so she could measure the rice for porridge.
Qin Yao quickly reminded her, "Second Sister-in-law, count me as five people."
Unexpectedly, this made both sisters-in-law burst out laughing.
He wiped tears of laughter from her eyes and said, "I know, you don’t need to tell me I already mentally calculate you as five people, rest assured, we’ll make sure you’re full."
Qin Yao shrugged awkwardly, thinking to herself that she feared they’d only assume she’d eat seven-tenths full.
Mrs. Qiu calculated the number of people and ed it to the elder sister-in-law. He had it figured out; today, the men were all working hard, and their physical exertion was considerable. The third sister-in-law eats a lot, the second sister-in-law is pregnant and shouldn’t eat less, so they should all eat until 80% full.
She picked up the rice cup, more precise than a calculator, not a single grain of rice would be over the measure.
The ingredients were prepared for He to take charge of cooking.
Seeing the half-basin of fried bird meat, He couldn’t help but swallow her saliva.
"Third Sister-in-law, it has to be you. Otherwise, how else could we have such a delicious treat?"
This fine bird meat is the most fragrant, but also the hardest to catch. Suddenly being able to eat so much, this is a first.
With such good ingredients and Third Sister-in-law willing to use oil and salt, she decided to showcase her culinary skills today.
She heated the pot, poured in oil, and first fried green onions, ginger, garlic, and dried chili peppers to bring out their aroma. Then she quickly stir-fried the bird meat, added half a bowl of soy sauce for color, then a bowl of water, covered with a wooden lid to simmer.
When the water was almost dry, she uncovered the pan, added the chopped sections of water celery, sautéed until the moisture completely evaporated, added a pinch of salt, and stir-fried a few more times before serving it in a large ocean bowl.
The aroma of the dishes filled the yard, and the sauced meat shone with a tempting gloss, making it perfect for pairing with rice.
Da Lang and the children stopped playing long ago, helping to set the utensils and waiting at the table for the meal to start.
He continued cooking fish, stewing a pot of thick fish soup, with tender fish, adding beans and slices of gourd, making another fresh and appealing dish.
She stir-fried the greens quickly until they changed color, then served them immediately, topped with minced garlic, added a few drops of hot oil, and the garlic aroma burst out instantly.
With the dishes ready, the shed by the riverbank was almost done too.
The enticing aroma in the courtyard urged the five men to hastily fix the last two pieces of thatch in place.
"Done, let’s go home to eat," Liu Ji clapped his hands, standing up first to leave.
Mrs. Zhang finished milling the wheat, instructing Liu Bai to carry it to Qin Yao’s yard first, to take back home later.
"Wash your hands!"
Seeing his father and three brothers sitting down to eat without washing their hands, Liu Ji quickly shouted.
Old Liu glared at him, "What’s the fuss? We just washed by the river; they aren’t dirty."
Liu Ji quickly glanced at Qin Yao, determinedly saying, "No, washing hands before eating is our rule!"
As he spoke, he winked furiously at his father and brothers, directing them towards Qin Yao.
Liu Bai and the others understood; if it was Qin Yao’s request, they should wash their hands.
Old Liu, though finding it a bit troublesome, chose to respect it.
Watching his father and three brothers lining up to wash their hands, Liu Ji felt a bit awkward suddenly.
How come, when he called for washing hands, they didn’t do it, but once they knew it was Qin Yao’s request, they complied obediently?
"Sit down, let’s eat," Qin Yao invited.
Liu Ji finally sat down, feeling a bit troubled.
However, the sight of the lavish dishes on the table made his worries vanish instantly.
Tonight’s dinner was silent, with no one speaking, afraid that talking would mean one less mouthful of food.
Yet, the amount was so precisely managed by He that everyone was, basically, eighty percent full, just right.
Liu Ji thought, with so many people at home today, Qin Yao might leave him some face, allowing him to laze around a bit.
Who would have thought that as soon as the last person put down their chopsticks, Qin Yao would habitually call him: "Clean up."
He and Mrs. Qiu, just about to get up and clean the tableware, were surprised, hesitating whether to stand or sit.
However, Qin Yao smiled and told them not to move, and they seated themselves again.
It’s true, at the third household, seeing the third child doing chores is nothing surprising.
Only Old Liu and his four sons watched in disbelief as Liu Ji adeptly cleaned up the tableware for washing, finding the whole scene absurd, like the sun rising in the west.
Old Liu looked at Qin Yao, wanting to speak but hesitated. He wanted to say, normally, without outsiders, letting the third son cook was their mutual interest, and they avoided intervening.
But now letting the third son do women’s housework in front of outsiders seemed inappropriate, didn’t it?
Yet, before he could say anything, Qin Yao had already stood up, eager to see how the shed built by the riverbank turned out.
He and Mrs. Qiu followed; they’d been busy cooking all afternoon and hadn’t had time to check it out yet.
Mrs. Zhang looked around, seeing the four men’s astonished expressions, unable to suppress a smile.
Old Liu had never entered the kitchen in his life, let alone cleaned or washed dishes and pots.
However, as men typically did the heavy farm work, Mrs. Zhang and her daughter-in-law naturally took on the household chores.
But nobody stipulated that men must farm, and women must do housework.
In the third household, Yao Niang did the heavy work, and the third son’s doing housework felt natural, didn’t it?
Mrs. Zhang could understand it quite well, and besides, the third son had become quite a good cook.
After all... it was her who taught him the cooking skills personally!
Thinking about it made her a bit proud.