Liu Rumei's interest was immediately piqued. "Really? Then I must go and broaden my horizons."
The two left the courtyard, chatting and laughing, and headed straight for the three tigers' den.
This had once been Chen Ermao's house, but now that Chen Ermao had been sunk into the river, no one would be fighting over the property.
Of course, necessary precautions were still in place. The courtyard gate remained locked, and the four surrounding walls were covered in thorns, which maximally prevented the tigers from jumping out.
After the two entered, Liu Rumei noticed that it was much the same as her previous visit. The doors and windows of the three main rooms were all nailed shut with thick wooden planks.
This was to prevent the tigers from getting into the courtyard.
Chen Xiaobei coughed and shouted loudly into the house. "Big Tiger, Second Tiger, Little Tiger, give me a few roars."
As soon as Chen Xiaobei's voice faded, a deep tiger roar came from inside the house.
Although the sound was not very loud, its penetrating power was strong enough to scare away the birds in the surrounding courtyards. A few fallen leaves slowly drifted down.
Seeing this, Liu Rumei exclaimed, "It's truly amazing."
Chen Xiaobei smiled and stepped forward, directly pulling down the wooden planks from the window.
To Liu Rumei's surprise, the three tigers poked their heads out tentatively, looked at Chen Xiaobei, but not a single one dared to jump out.
Chen Xiaobei waved his hand. "Alright, you can come out and run around."
As if receiving an order, the three tigers scrambled out and began to frolic in the courtyard.
Seeing this, Liu Rumei finally understood. These tigers were truly obedient now.
Chen Xiaobei looked at her and gestured, signaling Liu Rumei to say a few words as well.
Liu Rumei hesitated for a moment, then pointed a delicate hand at the little tiger and said in a low voice, "Little Tiger, lie down."
The little tiger, who was frolicking, paused. It looked at Liu Rumei and obediently lay down, even wagging its tail, as docile as a guard dog.
Seeing this, Liu Rumei laughed. "Brother Xiaobei, this medicine really works. How about I take them out for a walk?"
Looking at the childlike Liu Rumei, Chen Xiaobei smiled. "Alright, to be safe, you should only take Little Tiger out. Big Tiger and Second Tiger can stay home."
Liu Rumei called to Little Tiger and went out, while Chen Xiaobei called over the tiger couple. He asked them to lean against him and gently stroked their heads.
Chen Xiaobei basked in the sun with the tigers, and began to sigh. At this moment, he thought of his past life. To see these big cats, one would have to go to the zoo.
But now, two fierce beasts were as obedient as kittens in front of him.
Just then, a chill fell on his face. Chen Xiaobei subconsciously looked up and realized that the sky had darkened at some point, and snowflakes had begun to fall.
Chen Xiaobei became a little anxious. He shooed Big Tiger and Second Tiger back into the house, and then secured them with the wooden planks. Only then did he rush out to look for Liu Rumei. After some inquiries, he learned that Liu Rumei had taken Little Tiger out of the village and followed the road behind the village to Qingniu Mountain.
This terrified Chen Xiaobei. He quickly summoned two village guards to go with him to search.
About two miles into the mountain, they saw Liu Rumei and Little Tiger sitting on a rock by the side, resting. Seeing Chen Xiaobei arrive, Liu Rumei waved excitedly.
"Brother Xiaobei, we ran along the mountain path for a while and got a little tired. We're resting here. You don't need to worry."
All right, seeing that they were safe, Chen Xiaobei finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Rumei, it's starting to snow. Let's head back quickly."
Chen Xiaobei went forward, called to Little Tiger, and returned to the village with him. After locking Little Tiger up, the snowflakes were already falling heavily.
In such cold weather, Chen Xiaobei didn't want to go to the four acres to eat the communal meal.
He took Liu Rumei's hand and said, "It's so cold today, let's cook something ourselves!"
Liu Rumei also looked very excited. "Great, great! Brother Xiaobei, tell me what you want to eat, and I'll cook it for you."
Chen Xiaobei shook his head. "No, no. This time, I'll cook for you. I guarantee it will be something you've never eaten before."
Chen Xiaobei took Liu Rumei back to his new residence. At this moment, Chen Xiaobei recalled his past life. When encountering such rainy and snowy weather, there was a common saying called "overcast days," which meant to seize the opportunity to have a good meal. Of course, in winter, the best choice was hot pot. Chen Xiaobei first found some dried meat, soaked it in water, and then washed some cabbage. Next was the seasoning. In this era, seasonings were not as complete.
However, one could add a fish to make a seafood-flavored hot pot. There were no chilies, but there were Sichuan peppercorns. Crushed Sichuan peppercorn leaves also had a spicy taste. As for oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and the like, if available, they would be used; if not, they would be omitted.
Watching him busy himself, Liu Rumei smiled. Dried meat and cabbage, in her opinion, Chen Xiaobei was just going to stew meat with cabbage.
After he finished, Chen Xiaobei went to call Cui Hongyu over. As for Chen Qiao'er, she would probably go with Fang Jun to the four acres to eat.
When Cui Hongyu arrived, she also thought Chen Xiaobei was going to stew cabbage. She reached out to get the dried meat.
"Brother Xiaobei, I can make this stewed cabbage. I do it every day, so I'm used to it."
So that's how it was. No wonder Liu Rumei was also smiling.
"You're both mistaken. This isn't stewed cabbage. Today, we're going to try something new."
Chen Xiaobei then went to cut some winter melon. At this moment, he felt that it would be good to have some spinach. He had been careless when planting cabbages and should have planted some spinach.
Chen Xiaobei took a large pot, added water, and placed it on the charcoal stove in the house.
Then, Chen Xiaobei washed a small fish, wrapped it in gauze, and put it in.
The fish was also for flavoring and could not be cooked until it fell apart. Then he added a few large spices. In this era, he didn't worry about the taste; whatever was available was used.
Looking at this pot of water, Liu Rumei and Cui Hongyu were stunned. They didn't understand what was going on.
Chen Xiaobei beckoned the two to sit at the table by the stove. Bowls and chopsticks were prepared for each person.
Soon, the water began to boil. Sudancn.com
Chen Xiaobei took out the soaked dried meat. By now, it had absorbed enough water and had become slices of meat.
Chen Xiaobei picked up more than ten slices of meat and put them all into the water. He then covered the pot again.
Next was the seasoning. He poured the Sichuan peppercorn leaves, soy sauce, vinegar, and a little salt into each person's bowl.
Liu Rumei and the others had never experienced such a way of eating and were clearly bewildered. She picked up the seasoning bowl and asked in surprise, "Brother Xiaobei, what are you going to do with this bowlful?"
Chen Xiaobei chuckled. "You'll know soon."
Soon, there was a bubbling sound, and the pot boiled again.
Chen Xiaobei reached out with his chopsticks, picked up a slice of meat, and put it into Cui Hongyu's bowl first. Cui Hongyu quickly declined, "No, no, you go first."