Beauty and the Beasts

Several types of edible vegetables, as well as garlic and ginger, were planted in the yard. As for meat, several pieces of lean preserved meat were hung on the wall.

Mm, there was a sumptuous spread of ingredients.

Bai Qingqing pondered for a moment and decided to make noodles stewed with preserved meat.

The flint in the kitchen was of superior quality, so Bai Qingqing easily started a fire. After the water in the pot started boiling, she added in the starch noodles.

In the meantime, she sliced the preserved meat.

The moment she picked up the knife she ran into difficulties which she hadn’t seen coming.

The knives at home had been replaced to those made of iron, which was pretty much similar to the ones Bai Qingqing was accustomed to using in the modern ages. Nonetheless, cutting the dried rock-like preserved meat was an endeavor that required strength.

Bai Qingqing sawed through it for a long time before finally managing to cut through the meat. She then pressed the meat on the chopping board, huffing and puffing as she sliced it, beads of perspiration forming on her face.

By the time she finished cutting the preserved meat into ten-odd one-millimeter slices, the water had boiled and the noodles had turned soft from soaking.

Bai Qingqing wiped her sweat and shook her sore arms. She wiped the interior of the pot dry and poured vegetable oil into it. After the oil heated up, she began to stir-fry the preserved meat.

A simple dish of preserved meat stewed with noodles kept Bai Qingqing busy in the kitchen for over an hour.

An hour later, the fragrance of preserved meat wafted from the kitchen.

Bai Qingqing came out with a big bowl of preserved meat stewed with noodles. As the piping hot aroma entered her senses, she slurped in a mouthful of the soup. It tasted pretty good.

She was rather satisfied with her creation.

As she ate, she went to look for Curtis, wanting to show him the fruit of her efforts.

At the time, Curtis had cleaned his way up to the top floor and was about to wrap up, when Bai Qingqing found him with the bowl in her hands.

“Curtis.” Bai Qingqing called out to him incoherently as she chomped on a slice—no, a lump—of preserved meat.

“You’re only done now?” Curtis turned his head towards her, instantly revealing a smile on his face.

Standing at the door with the bowl in her hands, every inch of Bai Qingqing’s face was covered in firewood ash. It was as though she had squeezed her way into the stove.

Alas, she was completely clueless about that. Focused on chomping the incredibly tough preserved meat, her endearingly silly manner reminded one of a hamster locked in a fierce battle with nuts.

“What did you cook?” Curtis asked curiously. He didn’t remember Parker ever cooking such tough foods for Snow before.

“Preserved meat!” As she spoke, her chopsticks slipped, causing the preserved meat with her bite marks to fall to the stone floor with a thud.

That’s right, with a thud, just like the sound of rock colliding against the cobblestone.

Preserved meat made using pork in the modern ages was tough enough. The meat Bai Qingqing cooked with was made from ferocious animals with firm muscles. With its tough texture, should the meat be sliced into strips, it could easily be used as a rod in a fight.

Bai Qingqing, who found her teeth sinking into the air, awkwardly froze when she heard that conspicuous sound.

“Were you cooking rocks?” Curtis asked with a smile as he got up and walked to Bai Qingqing’s side, then raised a hand to wipe off the firewood ash on her face.

Seeing Curtis’s fingers turn black from touching her face, Bai Qingqing let out a yelp and quickly touched her own face.

“Is my face covered with firewood ash?”

Curtis responded affirmatively with an “Mm”.

Feeling even more embarrassed, Bai Qingqing wiped her face haphazardly, causing the ash to smear all over her face, upon which not a clean patch could be seen now.

The smile in Curtis’s eyes intensified. He lifted her with an arm and said, “I’m done cleaning up. Let’s go down and eat.”

“Mm.”

Bai Qingqing picked up a piece of preserved meat and fed it to him. “Tastes really good. It’s just that the meat’s a tad tough.”

A tad was an understatement. Despite chomping on it for a long time, Bai Qingqing had yet to finish eating a piece of meat.

Out of curiosity, Curtis bit the piece of meat and, after some chewing, said with an amused expression, “You’d better stop eating it. Wait for Parker to come back and cook for you.”