Chapter 55: Family and inheritance (Congratulations to Chen Mu on the birth of a son)
Chen Mu is newly married and is in the honeymoon period of her relationship. She doesn't feel tired even if we are together every day.
During this time, I stayed at home, accompanying Luo Fu's parents, siblings, and occasionally took Luo Fu back to her parents' home.
Anyway, Qinjiazhuang is not far from Linzi City, so it is a good thing to go out and walk around frequently, although it is indeed a bit cold recently.
Chen Mu originally planned to return to Taishan Academy to teach this year. He would teach primary school students in the academy in the morning and teach college students in the academy in the afternoon.
But newlyweds always feel as if they can't live apart. They get very anxious when they don't see each other for a while. On the contrary, they are delayed because they are with Luo Fu every day.
But it's not a delay, because the new year is approaching, and the academy will soon have a provincial holiday, which is the annual leave. Even if he goes back, he won't be able to teach for a few days, so he might as well spend time with Luo Fu.
A month and a half passed in a flash, and it was almost the end of the year.
At noon that day, Chen Mu came back from the College of Chemistry. He held a small cloth bag in his hand and walked straight to the kitchen.
Mrs. Fang is working in the kitchen with her two maids. Even though her family is now wealthy, she is still used to cooking by herself. There was no cooking in the Han Dynasty, and the four main methods were steaming, boiling, roasting and roasting.
, the reason for this is the lack of iron pans and cooking oil.
There is nothing we can do about the iron pot, and Qingzhou is also short of iron. The ore collected from several open-pit iron mines in the territory is now used to make weapons to prepare for future hegemony, and it cannot take into account people's livelihood.
As for edible oil, it is already on the road of research.
The reason why stir-frying appeared in the Song Dynasty was due to the improvement of oil extraction technology. Qingzhou was already studying the lever oil press that only appeared in the Song Dynasty, and used human power to squeeze soybean oil from soybeans, which are soybeans.
Therefore, as long as the iron problem can be solved, Qingzhou will be able to popularize cooking in a short time.
However, the absence of cooking does not mean that such things have not appeared. There are records of cooking as early as the Southern and Northern Dynasties, but the lack of iron and oil has not spread to the public. Chen Mu is used to cooking. As a powerful man, he is not short of oil and iron, so naturally he cannot treat them badly.
Own.
Seeing him wandering into the kitchen, Mrs. Fang thought he was hungry and came to see if there was anything to eat. So while cooking the food in the cauldron, she said with a smile: "Is my son hungry? Don't worry.
, just wait a moment.”
Chen Mu came over and saw that she was stewing chicken. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, so he said to his mother: "Why are you stewing chicken every day? I've almost eaten chicken for more than half a month. Let's eat something else today."
"If you don't want to eat, then don't eat. You're going to be hungry! Give it to Luofu Azhi and A Feng. It just so happens that one chicken is not enough for four people."
Mrs. Fang was a little unhappy. When her family was poor, she might not even be able to kill a chicken during the Chinese New Year. Now she has chickens to eat every day, and she still dares to dislike them. Could it be that she is tired of eating and thinks that my mother's food is not delicious?
Chen Mu was such a smart person that he didn't notice his mother's little mood. He immediately walked over to help his mother pinch her shoulders and said with a smile: "Mom, don't be angry. I've seen my family eating chicken every day for the past month. I'm afraid everyone will be bored."
I want to change my taste. Besides, eating chicken every day is not good for your health."
Is eating chicken not good for your health?
Fang was confused and said suspiciously: "What are you talking about? How can eating chicken be bad for your health?"
Chen Mu explained: "Any kind of food will provide the nutrients needed by the human body. Eating chicken occasionally is good for the body, but if it is eaten for a long time without eating other foods, it will cause the human body to lack nutrients that chicken does not have."
Substances are naturally harmful to the body but not beneficial at all.”
Fang: "..."
She stopped talking, couldn't understand at all, and couldn't find any reason to refute.
However, Chen Mu didn't lie to her. Chicken was indeed a great supplement, but it was protein and the nutrition it provided was very simple.
The human body not only needs protein, but also vitamins and minerals. If you eat chicken every day to supplement protein, you will be deficient in vitamins and minerals.
Therefore, if you have money, it is not advisable to eat a lot of fish and meat every day. You must also have vegetables and cabbage.
After a while, Mrs. Fang sighed and said: "My son has read books, knows Chinese characters, and understands common principles. Why does my mother know nothing and can't help my son? She can only cook a few dishes. Ruo'er thinks that my mother
If it doesn’t taste good, let someone else do it.”
Chen Mu said with a smile: "It's not that the food cooked by my mother is not delicious. My child means that I must eat all kinds of food, not just one kind. No matter how expensive it is, it can only provide very little."
"What does Zhao Mu'er mean?"
Fang asked tentatively: "Mother, will you cook a fish for Mu'er?"
Chen Mu said speechlessly: "Mom, fish and chicken are the same, they provide the same kind of nutrition."
"Then what to cook? Do you want to eat grilled meat or steamed vegetables?"
"It doesn't have to be steamed or grilled. I taught my mother a new way of cooking."
"In what way?"
Fang looked over curiously and saw Chen Mu taking out a round pot from the corner of the kitchen.
The pot looks different from the pots usually used for "cooking", it looks like a bowl.
"Cooking" means frying, which was practiced in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
Governing a big country is like cooking small dishes.
However, the pan used for frying is a ceramic or bronze pan. This is the first time that Fang has seen a round iron pan like this.
Chen Mu put the pot on the stove, took out the vegetable spoon, dug out a little lard from the lard can on the stove, poured it into the pot, and then said to the maid who was lighting the fire on the other side of the stove: "Bake the fire bigger."
.”
"yes."
The maid began to add firewood to the stove.
Since the beginning of Han national civilization, Han people have had extremely deep feelings about eating.
Foodie nation is no joke.
Wang Chong's "Lun Heng. Ridiculing the Sun" says: "Think of life as a matter of death, and of people as a matter of ghosts. Seeing that living people have food and drink, if you die as a ghost, you should be able to eat and drink again, and you should be sensitive to things and your relatives, so you can offer sacrifices."
Therefore, stoves related to eating were already very developed in the Western Han Dynasty.
There are many small holes on the kitchen stove, and you can use the mechanism to adjust and control the heat.
This can be proven by the ceramic models of stoves unearthed in the Han Dynasty.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Controlling these mechanisms is also simple, a bit like a dry pot. If you want the fire to be bigger, just remove the fire baffle. If you want the fire to be smaller, just
Pull up the baffle, leaving only a gap.
Chen Mu directly fried the oil at the highest heat. After a while, the solidified lard melted. There were eggs in the kitchen. Crack five and throw them in.
Sizzle!
The oil splashed onto Lao Gao's hands. Although it hurt his hands, Chen Mu couldn't suppress the joy on his face as he watched the changes in the eggs in the pot.
The dishes made by steaming and grilling are really boring.
Imagine what it would be like to have no cooking and only have soup and barbecue every day?
Life will be boring.
"Chop some green onions."
Chen Mu began to stir-fry the eggs with a vegetable spoon while giving instructions to the maid.
The maid chopped some green onions, put them on a plate and handed them over.
Chen Mu took it, poured the green onions into the pot, added a little salt, and stir-fried a few times until the eggs gradually turned golden brown.
Seeing the eggs that were completely cooked, Chen Mu immediately lifted the pot, took it out and put it on a plate.
The eggs were scooped into the dish.
The first stir-fried dish in history - scrambled eggs, freshly baked.
"Mother, taste it."
Chen Mu handed the dish to his mother, and the smile on his face became even stronger.
This is the first stir-fry in history.
Because in historical records, the first appearance of stir-fried vegetables was in the "Essential Art of Qi Min" in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and it was also a dish of scrambled eggs. Before the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was no record of stir-fried vegetables.
Therefore, the plate of scrambled eggs that Chen Mu is holding now is definitely the first in history, something that can be written into history books, and is of great commemorative significance.
Of course, Mrs. Fang didn't know that she had become the first person in history to taste stir-fried vegetables. Smelling the aroma of eggs, she couldn't help but increase her appetite. She took out a pair of chopsticks and asked, "Shall I try it?"
"Try it."
Chen Mu smiled.
Fang took a piece, put it in front of his nose, smelled it, and stared at it carefully for a long time. It was really different from the appearance of a boiled egg. After a slight hesitation, out of trust for his son, he opened his mouth and put it in his mouth.
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At first, her expression did not change much, but as she chewed the eggs in her mouth and her taste buds entered her brain, her eyes became brighter and brighter.
"Mom, is it delicious?"
Seeing her expression, Chen Mu asked with a smile.
Fang swallowed the piece of egg and sighed: "I never thought that eggs could be so delicious."
"That's natural. Stir-frying can greatly enhance the flavor of food. If mother likes it, I will cook another dish for her."
Chen Mu smiled.
When Han people deal with eggs, they often can only boil or steam them.
The eggs produced in this way naturally don't taste as good as fried ones.
"Is there anything else you can do?"
Fang was curious.
Chen Mu searched around the kitchen and saw celery. There were very few vegetables that could be preserved until winter, and celery was one of them.
Because celery is a cold-tolerant vegetable and likes low temperature and humid environments, it is generally planted in autumn and harvested before winter arrives, so that it can be eaten in winter.
“Beef stir-fried with celery!”
Chen Mu did not hesitate to name a dish he liked to eat in his previous life.
Now while the pan is being heated with oil, ask the maid to get the beef and mince it.
When the pot is hot and the beef is chopped, put it in the pot and fry it directly.
Stir-fry until it reaches a certain level, add the chopped celery, and stir-fry again for a while. When the beef and celery are cooked, sprinkle a little sugar, pour a little soy sauce, and add ginger slices.
When it came to the final step, Chen Mu took out some white crystal particles from the small cloth bag he had brought out from the School of Chemistry.
This is mannitol obtained from kelp.
Our country actually does not produce kelp. These kelp were fished back from the waters of the Samhan tribe, which was later known as the Korean Peninsula.
Nowadays, Qingzhou is vigorously developing the shipbuilding industry in Dongnai County for the purpose of fishing for fishery products and kelp.
Many elderly people should have heard of big neck disease.
It is goiter caused by iodine deficiency.
It was still very popular in my country in the 1970s and 1980s. It was not until salt was iodized that the disease was completely eradicated.
In ancient times, goiter was difficult to cure. The treatment method for this disease in the Jin Dynasty was to eat seaweed containing iodine, but it was very limited.
Therefore, in order to eliminate this disease, Chen Mu sent a fleet to fish for kelp and asked the School of Chemistry to study the extraction of iodine.
With kelp, MSG is naturally indispensable. However, without the technology to extract MSG, we can only dry the kelp and extract the mannitol on it, which is the white powder on the dried kelp.
There is MSG in this stuff, so when put into dishes, it can have the same effect as MSG.
Pour in the mannitol, stir-fry a few more times, and remove from the pan.
"smell good."
Fang's eyes are getting brighter and brighter. The smell must be so good.
Chen Mu was afraid that the winter vegetables would get cold soon after being fried, so he said to his maid: "You bring the dishes over first and invite everyone to eat."
The maids who have been serving Fang are actually women in their thirties. They have been working with Fang in the kitchen, and their cooking skills are not bad, but today they are attracted by this new style of cooking.
After hearing Chen Mu's words, the two maids reluctantly carried the dishes, bowls, chopsticks and cooked rice to the front hall.
Chen Mu continued to cook a few more dishes in the kitchen while teaching his mother the techniques.
In fact, he also knew that Mrs. Fang didn't like cooking very much, but that she was getting older and felt that she was incompetent and couldn't help her son, so she wanted to cook some food for her son, at least let him eat something delicious.
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This is the same mentality as many older people in later generations rushing to help their children take care of their children. Many housewives work hard to do housework at home.
First, I really want to contribute a small amount to my children and their families, and I don’t want to make myself a burden. Second, I want to prove my presence at home and make them feel needed.
In the final analysis, it is because they love their families too much.
Chen Mu is naturally very aware of this kind of psychology, not to mention that he once watched a drama "Reply 1988", which also talked about this kind of psychological state, so he has no objection to his mother's liking to do things for him.
On the contrary, she was very supportive of her food and specially taught her how to cook.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Soon, a few more dishes will be cooked.
The mother and son carried the dishes to the front hall. There was a round table in the hall with a few chairs around it.
The Chen family has never followed the rules, and tables and chairs are also things that need to be promoted, so the family always eats on chairs at the table. Daily life has gradually moved closer to the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
After all, sitting on your knees all year round is bad for your legs and feet. Secondly, although it is also an ancient feudal society, it is true that life in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was more advanced than that of the Han Dynasty.
"What are you eating today?"
"Why have I never seen these dishes before?"
"Wow, it smells so good."
Lunch was served. Chen Qing was called back from the fields by his slaves, while Chen Zhi and Chen Feng went home from Taishan Academy for lunch.
After entering the door, everyone was very surprised to see the presentation of stir-fried vegetables for the first time.
I do recognize the dish in the middle. It’s the stewed chicken that my mother often makes, but are the bowls and plates around it also a dish?
Chen Zhi and Chen Feng were very surprised.
Chen Mu greeted with a smile: "Come and try the dishes I made. These are stir-fried dishes."
"I'll try."
Chen Feng has always been bold, outgoing and carefree, and was the first to grab the chopsticks.
Chen Zhi became much calmer, frowned and said, "A-Feng, you're rude."
Chen Feng likes the more easy-going eldest brother, but is afraid of the usually dignified second brother. Seeing that the second brother is unhappy, she sticks out her tongue and dare not move.
Chen Mu smiled and said nothing. Not following the rules did not mean that he had to be disrespectful. The elders hadn't sat down yet, so it was really outrageous, so he said to Chen Qing and Fang: "Father and mother, sit down and try the taste."
"Where's Luo Fu?"
Fang noticed that Luo Fu hadn't come yet.
At this time, Luo Fu and A Cui Xiaohuan came over, their faces slightly pale. They came in and said apologetically: "Uncle and Auntie, I'm late."
"What's wrong?"
Chen Mu was puzzled. He saw her fine this morning, but now her face looked a little strange.
Luo Fu didn't know why, so he shook his head and said, "I just felt a little dizzy just now. I almost fell down. I don't know what happened."
Could it be that my aunt is anemic?
Thinking of Luo Fu saying that the past few days were the days when her aunt came, and she specifically asked to sleep in separate rooms these days, maybe this was the reason.
"Sit down and eat first. After dinner, I will accompany you to the medical center to find a female doctor."
Chen Mu frowned and asked Luo Fu to sit next to him.
In ancient times, it was very troublesome for women to get sick because there were very few female doctors. It has been seven or eight years since Hua Tuo came to Qingzhou to help set up a medical school, and less than ten female doctors have been trained in total. This shows how difficult it is for women to study medicine.
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Fortunately, there are at least eight or nine female doctors, so it is not like other places in the Han Dynasty where there were almost no female doctors.
Qin Luofu came over and sat down. He was also a little surprised that today's dishes were different, so he asked: "This is it?"
"This is Mu'er's new dish, called stir-fried vegetables. Try it quickly."
Mrs. Fang greeted her eldest daughter-in-law warmly.
Qin Luofu looked at the two elders with a smile. They didn't move their chopsticks. No one was moving here.
Chen Qing was the first to move his chopsticks, picked up a piece of beef and put it into his mouth.
Everyone looked at him, waiting for his father's response.
After a while, Chen Qing nodded slowly and said only two words: "It's delicious."
Chen Feng immediately extended his chopsticks for the second time. After a while, his eyes suddenly lit up and he said repeatedly: "Wow, this dish is so fresh."
It's not fresh if it contains MSG.
Chen Mu smiled and helped Luo Fu put two pieces of beef on her plate.
Luo Fu tasted it slowly and chewed it in her mouth. The chewiness of the beef and the deliciousness of the MSG stimulated her taste buds so much that she couldn't help but make a sound.
"vomit!"
Luo Fu turned around and vomited out.
Chen Mu was startled and quickly patted her back: "What's wrong? What's wrong with the food?"
Chen Qingfang, Chen Zhi, and Chen Feng all stood up and looked over in surprise.
"No... ugh..."
Luo Fu said with difficulty: "The food is delicious, but I don't know why, I just want to vomit."
Just want to vomit?
Thinking of Luo Fu's previous dizziness, Chen Mu's face suddenly became serious.
Fang's expression was almost the same as his.
The mother and son looked at each other and realized the seriousness of the matter.
Chen Mu thought for a while, then whispered a very sensitive question into Luo Fu's ear.
Luo Fu's face turned slightly red, but he still nodded in affirmation.
Seeing this definite answer, Chen Mu couldn't suppress the ecstasy in his heart. He looked at everyone and said word by word: "Father, mother, Aluo, maybe we are pregnant."