Chapter 52: Batter-Fried Small Yellow Croakers

Chapter 52: Chapter 52: Batter-Fried Small Yellow Croakers

Zhen Jili could no longer be bothered with idle chatter. Clutching his rumbling stomach, he reached for the food, giving the fine-sounding excuse of helping her "test the seasoning."

Ji Huan moved the plate directly to the chopping block behind her and gestured for him to keep stoking the fire.

Unable to reach it, Zhen Jili stared longingly at the plate.

The pot Dabao was watching contained rice. It had just come to a boil for the third time and was still the consistency of porridge. Ji Huan used a ladle to skim off a container of the starchy rice water, then replaced the lid and told Dabao to keep the fire going.

She washed the wok, added two ladles of water and a spoonful of salt, and brought it to a boil. She cut the soft tofu into thumb-sized strips, blanched them in the boiling water, and removed them. Then, she finely minced the green vegetables.

She heated some lard in the wok, poured in the starchy rice water, and brought it to a boil. First, she added the soft tofu and simmered it until it absorbed the flavor, then added the green vegetables and cooked them until tender.

Soon, the dish of green vegetables and tofu simmered in rice water was ready.

Other than a bit of salt, no other seasonings were added—not even ginger or garlic. This allowed the flavor of the rice water to bring out the true essence of the vegetables and tofu.

Ignoring Zhen Jili’s embarrassing state—he looked like he was about to drool on the floor—Ji Huan prepared to make batter-fried small yellow fish.

These weren’t the yellow croakers from the sea that later generations would know, but a common type of small, flat fish from the local rivers. They were small with tender meat, perfect for deep-frying.

The fish had already been cleaned before she started cooking the other dishes and had been marinating in a basin with salt, scallion segments, and slivered ginger for a quarter of an hour.

Ji Huan cracked an egg into the basin and mixed it in, then added flour and stirred to ensure the marinated fish were evenly coated.

When the oil was about seventy percent hot, she placed the battered fish into it. Once they firmed up, she flipped them, frying until both sides were golden brown before draining the oil and taking them out.

The first two dishes had been fragrant, but it was a gentler, more mellow aroma. Now, with the combination of fish and oil, the scent was overwhelmingly rich, burrowing straight into one’s stomach. Even Dabao was staring with wide, expectant eyes.

Ji Huan smiled, picked up a piece of the well-drained fish, and blew on it lightly to cool it before holding it to his lips. The fish wasn’t large, and he took half of it in a single bite.

Seeing this, Zhen Jili was instantly displeased. "You can’t play favorites like that! I’m a guest, you know!"

’Oh, so *now* he’s a guest again.’

Ji Huan used her chopsticks to pick one up for him. He didn’t care if it was hot or not, eagerly stuffing it into his mouth.

The batter-fried fish was golden and crispy. Even the bones had become tender and brittle. With one bite, the flesh was fragrant and succulent, while the bones and batter provided a delightful crunch. It was absolutely delicious!

Zhen Jili didn’t even spit out a single bone. After finishing, he smacked his lips. "I ate that too fast to even taste it. Let me have another."

His only answer was the back of Ji Huan’s head.

By the time all the fish were fried, the rice was cooked as well.

For this meal, Ji Huan and Dabao only ate a single bowl each. The remaining half-pot of rice and all the dishes went straight into Zhen Jili’s stomach. Ji Huan was genuinely afraid he would eat himself to death.

After he finished eating, Zhen Jili wiped his mouth and began to complain between burps.

"Haven’t eaten... HIC... a meal this good in so long. It’s a shame I have to go back to the barracks soon. You have no idea, the slop they cook in those big pots at the camp is hardly fit for human consumption. No salt, no oil, and you can forget about meat. The food is so bland I think my tongue is about to fall off!"

"That can’t be right." Ji Huan was a bit skeptical. The army’s food was supposed to be good. "Putting everything else aside, you’re one of the General’s favorites. You can’t even scrounge a single meal with meat?"

"The General eats from the same pot as us, can you believe it?" Zhen Jili pursed his lips and frowned. "I wouldn’t have believed it before either. I always thought generals were the type to have their own private meals cooked for them..."

To be honest, Ji Huan had thought so too.

"In that case, General Kou sounds like a decent person. So why doesn’t he improve your food? Never mind you, but those soldiers charge into battle every day, risking life and limb. They can’t keep going without proper nutrition."

"What do you mean, ’never mind me’? I’m lacking that ’proper nutrition’ too, you know."

Zhen Jili scowled but decided not to argue with her.

"You think our General doesn’t want to? People say that ’when a general is in the field, he can ignore some of his sovereign’s commands.’ That sounds impressive, but the truth is, our lifeline is still in their hands. The provisions and supplies have to be allocated by the Capital City, right? But the court is pleading poverty, saying the national treasury is empty. We get an urgent dispatch every three days and an imperial edict every five, and every single one is just urging the General to win faster."

The more Zhen Jili spoke, the more indignant he became. "They don’t understand the situation at all; all they know is how to be armchair strategists! Do they think the General doesn’t want to win as quickly as possible? Those old coots in the court bicker back and forth, and in the end, it’s the Northern Pass’s military budget that gets cut... Slashing the budget at a time like this, do they want the General to win or to lose?"

Such was the cruel reality for a general.

They had to face not only the life-and-death crisis of dying on the battlefield, but also the political games played by various factions in the court, hundreds of miles away.

How many famed generals had died not on the battlefield at the hands of the enemy, but from their own sovereign’s suspicion or a colleague’s treacherous arrow in the back?

Ji Huan didn’t want to dwell on such a heavy topic, so she deliberately joked, "I never would’ve guessed. You’re quite protective of your General. I thought he was just another stepping stone for you."

At first, that really had been Zhen Jili’s intention.

If General Kou had been some fat, useless official just occupying a post without doing his duty, then for the sake of climbing the ladder and getting rich, he might very well have become a sycophantic bootlicker.

But General Kou wasn’t like that.

Zhen Jili hadn’t been by his side for long, but he had already come to understand one thing: people were, in the end, different.

He snorted. "I may be determined to climb up in the world, but I’m not completely heartless. Whoever defends our Northern Pass is a hero to the people of the Northern Pass, and a hero deserves respect."

Ji Huan respected heroes, too. They threw their lives on the line, spilling their own blood in exchange for peace and stability, allowing the common people to live their days in safety. It was no exaggeration to call them guardians of the peace.

But beyond looking up to them, there was nothing she could do to help.

Zhen Jili started sighing again, his complaints returning to the food. "Right now, even though we don’t have meat, at least there are still some vegetables and radishes. In a little while, we won’t even have those. I reckon we’ll be reduced to gnawing on steamed buns and eating pickled vegetables."

An idea sparked in Ji Huan’s mind, and she turned and left the room.

A moment later, she placed a full wicker basket in front of Zhen Jili.

"Aren’t these those wrinkly things you were drying in the yard? What are they for?"

"Dehydrated vegetables," Ji Huan said, repeating the explanation she had previously given to Widow Xie and Hu Liang.

Zhen Jili was skeptical after hearing her out. "Can they really last that long? And still taste like fresh vegetables? You’re not trying to trick me, are you? Even if you pity me, you can’t just make me eat dried leaves."

Not wanting to waste her breath, Ji Huan went straight to the kitchen and made a simple vegetable soup using the dehydrated greens.

Having witnessed the magic of the dehydrated vegetables with his own eyes, Zhen Jili was finally convinced. Of course, he also drank the entire bowl of soup down to the last drop.

"Have you ever thought about making a fortune with these dehydrated vegetables?"

’Zhen Jili is truly one of a kind,’ she thought. ’His mind is always churning with ideas.’

Ji Huan didn’t hide it from him. "I’m planning to go into business with Aunt Xie and start selling these once winter sets in."

"Where are you going to sell them?"

"In town, of course. If things go well, maybe I’ll make some trips to the county seat." She had been worried about not having enough startup capital, but now with the fifty taels that had fallen from the sky, she didn’t have to worry anymore.

"Are you stupid?!" Zhen Jili scorned her without reservation. "You have a ready-made path right in front of you, and you don’t even know how to use it?"

"You mean sell the dehydrated vegetables to the army?" Ji Huan’s eyebrow twitched. "But didn’t you just say the army’s budget is tight...?"

"No matter how tight the army’s budget is, it just means they can’t have lavish feasts. They still have to provide basic, filling meals, don’t they? And don’t forget, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. If you supply the army directly, you’ll save yourselves the trouble of running around selling it bit by bit. It’s not just hard work; your business would also suffer during heavy wind and snow."

Ji Huan thought for a moment before speaking. "How about this? We’ll still do business in the town and county seat. As for the army, we can make a batch and send it over... for free."

Zhen Jili burst out laughing. "You won’t take money? Then the vegetable rations will go straight into the procurement officer’s pocket. You don’t naively believe that the money saved will be used to give the soldiers an extra dish, do you? Oh, you’re killing me! Do you have any idea that we have hundreds of thousands of men stationed there? Your little contribution wouldn’t even be enough to pick their teeth with!"

Ji Huan felt a little embarrassed. She truly felt it wasn’t right to take money from the soldiers who were protecting the country, but she hadn’t considered the practical realities or her own limited capacity.

"You just focus on getting paid. I’ll be the one to pull the strings for you. This is a good thing; the General will definitely agree. All you have to do is make the stuff—and make a lot of it. I’ll have someone come and pick it up when the time comes."