When they were in the countryside, it was mostly Xia Laosi who cooked by himself. He rarely let Xia Sanghuan and Xia Anying do it.
Even when Xia Laosi was too busy to cook, Xia Anying would find all sorts of excuses to order Xia Sanghuan to do it.
Although she had cooked congee many times, it was just plain white congee, which was different from chicken soup congee.
Chicken soup congee obviously looked very troublesome. She was afraid of ruining the congee, so she came to ask Wang Fu for advice.
Fortunately, since her mother and the mistress of the Leng family were close friends, Mrs. Leng also knew a thing or two about how to make chicken soup congee.
Later, after her friend passed away, out of nostalgia, she asked the butler to learn how to make it.
Although the taste couldn't be replicated exactly, it could at least leave a memory.
So, with the help of the butler, Xia Sanghuan started to make chicken soup congee.
First, she washed the rice and soaked it for half an hour.
Next, it was time to cook the chicken.
Just as she was about to get the chicken pieces from the refrigerator, the butler stopped her.
"Miss Xia, don't be in a hurry. Fresh chicken will be delivered soon."
Sure enough, less than ten minutes later, a freshly slaughtered hen was delivered.
The feathers on the hen had been plucked clean, and the bloodstains had been washed away. The only thing left to do was to cook it.
Wang Fu was just about to take the old hen, but Xia Sanghuan had already reached out and taken it. She calmly grabbed the chicken's claws and put the hen into the pre - prepared casserole.
The butler was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped.
"Y - you, miss, you'd better let us do this kind of thing in the future..."
Xia Sanghuan asked in confusion, "Why?"
"Well... after all, it's a chicken. I'm afraid it will dirty your hands, miss."
She smiled understandingly.
"It's okay, Uncle Wang. I often grabbed live chickens with my bare hands when I was in the countryside."
"Not to mention this kind of plucked and cleaned raw chicken, I've even grabbed live and kicking chickens."
The butler heaved a sigh of relief and couldn't help feeling admiration for her.
Although she was the young miss brought back from the countryside by the Fu family, since she came to the city, she hadn't picked up any bad habits.
She hadn't become overbearing or money - oriented. Instead, she was still as pure as when she first came.
This was a very rare and precious quality, as well as a very tenacious will.
Xia Sanghuan skillfully added water to the casserole. Then, under the butler's instructions, she cut the scallions, ginger, and garlic into sections, poured them into the pot, and sprinkled a little salt. Then she could start cooking.
Although she had never cooked chicken soup, she had cooked countless medicinal diets.
Both medicinal diets and chicken soup involved pouring ingredients into a pot and boiling them in water.
So, medicinal diets and chicken soup should be about the same... right?
After waiting for another twenty minutes or so, she started cooking the rice. Then she moved a chair over, took out the materials she had brought from the research laboratory, and while waiting for the soup and congee, she analyzed the data on the materials.
Seeing that the young miss of the Fu family, who had just recovered from illness, was starting to do research again, Wang Fu remembered what the third miss of the Fu family had told him before she left.
He took a box from his room and tiptoed to Xia Sanghuan.
"Miss Xia, this was left for you by Miss Fu San. She said that if she saw you working again, I should give this to you."
Xia Sanghuan took the box in confusion and opened it on her lap. She found that there was a small music player in it, and there was also a pair of earphones that looked very expensive beside it.
She plugged the earphones into the player and turned it on.
The interface showed a series of videos for relaxing the nerves.
She understood immediately. She knew that it was her third sister who was worried that she was too tired and had specially prepared this for her.
The worried faces of her father, elder brothers, and sisters seemed to appear in front of her eyes. She put the materials aside, put on the earphones, and started watching the videos.
After an unknown amount of time, she suddenly heard a gurgling sound.
She quickly put down the player, stood up, and walked towards the pot.
The lid of the casserole was shaking up and down regularly, and small bubbles were coming out from the edge of the pot.
She turned off the fire and then opened the lid of the pot where the chicken soup was being cooked.
The chicken soup had a slight milky white color. Since it was being simmered over a low fire, it had only been less than an hour, and it still needed a little more time.
She skimmed off the foam floating on the soup, covered the casserole again, and took the pot for cooking congee down first and put it aside for later use.
When the chicken soup was ready, an unexpected guest entered the kitchen.
Leng Wanqing was seen walking over in her nightgown, looking sleepy.
"Hey, you, quickly cook a meal for this young lady. I'm starving!"
Obviously, Leng Wanqing, who had just woken up, didn't recognize her and mistook her for a maid.
Xia Sanghuan sighed. It seemed that Leng Wanqing usually didn't treat the servants in the family well either.
"Okay, young miss."
She replied.
Leng Wanqing didn't notice anything wrong at all. She rubbed her eyes and walked out of the kitchen, sitting on the sofa waiting for her meal.
Wang Fu, who was standing beside, couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat.
The second miss had been lectured last night for offending the young miss of the Fu family. Now she was doing the same thing again. If the young master found out, she would probably be scolded again.
But Xia Sanghuan didn't care about her. She took the cooked chicken out of the casserole.
Since the meat of an old hen was usually very tough, she cut off the tenderest part of the meat and then sliced it into shreds one by one.
Seeing her not - very - skilled knife skills, the butler offered to help several times, but she declined politely.
Finally, after cutting the meat, she poured the chicken soup into the congee, slowly heated the congee over a low fire, and finally added the shredded chicken, red dates, and wolfberries, and sprinkled a small handful of salt. A pot of chicken soup congee was ready.
The rich aroma of the chicken soup congee made Wang Fu beside her couldn't help clapping and praising.
Xia Sanghuan served a bowl of congee for Leng Wanqing and personally brought it to her.
Leng Wanqing, who was sitting slantwise on the sofa playing with her phone, almost popped her eyes out when she saw Xia Sanghuan coming out with the bowl.
She walked to the table and sat down. Looking at the bowl of congee in front of her, she realized that she had misrecognized the person just now.
Remembering the lecture last night, the atmosphere became a bit awkward for a moment.
Seeing Leng Wanqing not knowing whether to eat or not, Xia Sanghuan sighed again.
"Eat it. It won't taste good when it gets cold."
"I won't tell Leng Chuanjin about this."
"You should be more sensible in the future and don't make your brother angry again."
Remembering Leng Wanqing's reaction last night, she was very considerate and didn't call Leng Chuanjin "Second Brother" in front of her.
Even though she was being lectured by Xia Sanghuan, Leng Wanqing, knowing that she had taken someone's kindness, snorted and picked up the spoon to eat.
She also mumbled while eating, "I wouldn't eat what you made if I wasn't so hungry."
Not planning to argue with her anymore, Xia Sanghuan sat down on the other side of the table, looking at the news pushed on her phone while waiting for Leng Chuanjin to come back.
"Miss Xia, aren't you hungry? Do you want to eat something?"
Wang Fu asked beside her.