“Alright, the Sichuan Boiled Fish is done. Leave half of it here in the kitchen as an offering to the River God and take the rest out to be served.” Su Tang saw Luo Xingchen had already excitedly headed off to the main room in anticipation of the meal, so she sternly gave some instructions to Pu Wei.
As soon as Pu Wei heard the words “River God” her expression turned very anxious and nervous. She hurried over and respectfully divided the newly prepared dish into two halves. Then she used both hands to offer up one half, placing it on the small altar in one corner of the kitchen.
In fact, she knew that the biggest secret in this household was that their young miss had a special relationship with the River God. Other families also made offerings to the River God, but those offerings would never be eaten. However, her young miss’s household was different. Here, the offerings would really disappear – eaten by the River God!
In addition to this, sometimes new foods would mysteriously appear in their house. At first, all of the servants were very scared by this phenomenon, but later they realized that it always happened after the River God had eaten their offerings. It seemed that the River God was satisfied with their offerings and gave them these mysterious foods as a reward!
Their young miss was already a very extraordinary person who was very powerful, and this just cemented that image even further in their hearts. After all, in this era, most people strongly believed in gods and spirits, so these mysterious things only made them even more loyal to Su Tang, completely not daring to betray her.
This was a silent yet open secret in this household that none of them dared to discuss, even in private. However, Su Tang didn’t always tell them to leave offerings for the River God, it was only on certain occasions.
Moreover, they would sometimes leave their own offerings for the River God, but the River God would never accept those offerings. Only when the young miss instructed them to leave offerings would the River God accept them. From this, it could be seen that their young miss definitely must have a special relationship with the River God.
Of course, Su Tang didn’t care what her servants might be imagining. Anyway, their lives were in her hands, so as long as they didn’t go out and talk nonsense there was nothing for her to worry about and they could think whatever they liked.
Pu Wei set the Sichuan Boiled Fish down in front of the altar and they quickly retreated, not daring to look at the alter again. However, despite her efforts, she still noticed that the bowl and the offerings inside had disappeared almost as soon as she set them down, leaving only an empty altar. Pu Wei wasn’t worried though, she was already used to this. She even knew that, after a while, the River God would return the empty bowl back to them after He finished eating all of the offerings. This has already happened many times before.
Meanwhile, on the side, Su Tang was the one actually responsible for the magical disappearing act Pu Wei had just seen. She had decisively sent the offering bowl into her space the moment Pu Wei set it down. After all, the orange cat was still running around Sujia Village trying to dig up news and hadn’t come back yet, so he couldn’t take the bowl himself.
Thus, Su Tang decided to just keep the dish for him first and when the orange cat came back he would be able to eat it then. Snakehead fish were relatively big anyway, and Su Tang and Su Nuo couldn’t eat any because of their mourning period, so half a fish for Luo Xingchen and half a fish for the orange cat seemed like more than enough.
Luo Xingchen also noticed that half of the fish was gone, but she didn’t ask any questions. After all, she knew she couldn’t eat a whole fish by herself anyway.
Currently, it was just after the Spring Festival and, while the weather was warming up, it was still pretty cold outside. This warm Sichuan Boiled Fish along with fried vegetables and Tomato and Egg Soup seemed just right for the season.
It all seemed very appetizing.
Luo Xingchen reached out with her chopsticks and put a piece of fish in her mouth. Immediately she tasted an explosion of spiciness in her mouth, followed by a unique and heavy aftertaste.
“Ah!” Luo Xingchen opened her mouth wide and tears suddenly sprang out from the corners of her eyes. After taking a few bites of fish, she ate several mouthfuls of rice, and then looked over at Su Tang and said, “This taste is amazing.”
If Luo Xingchen hadn’t eaten this here with Su Tang today, she would really have never imagined that food could have such a taste. It was truly incredible.
Last time Su Tang had made the Hot and Sour Grilled Fish which had been seasoned with tomatoes and chili peppers, but the taste of that dish hadn’t been very heavy. This Sichuan Boiled Fish was different though. The sichuan flavor gave it a thick oily and spicy taste, and it was an unusually heavy taste compared to any other dish Luo Xingchen had tried before.
However, it was still quite enjoyable to eat even despite all that. The oil and the spice all mixed together and seemed to perfectly complement one another. The taste was completely different from the Hot and Sour Grilled Fish she had tried last time, and it was even more enjoyable.
“Is it delicious?” Su Tang giggled looking at her friend’s expression. Then, instead of the fish, she calmly reached out and ate a piece of the cumin potato.
The little guy wasn’t so calm though. He looked at the sichuan boiled fish and felt it looked very delicious, even subconsciously gulping a little. However, he still didn’t see what part of it was “boiled”.
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tl begging corner:
