Miao Chu

Chapter 163 Clean
After the man who was urinating called out, another shifty-eyed man chimed in, "Who said there wasn't? I'm holding my pee too!"

As expected, he came over and urinated into the earthenware jar.

Watched by a room full of people, whether excited or embarrassed, the man shuddered and misaimed, spilling some urine. Inadvertently, some of it landed on the person holding the vat next to him.

The man holding the vat tried to let go, but it was too late; his shoes and robe were soaked in the filthy water.

The man was unexpectedly urinated on half of his body, and naturally, he couldn't stand it and immediately started cursing.

The man who had urinated in the wrong direction was initially somewhat embarrassed, but now that he was being scolded, his anger flared up, and he no longer cared about being embarrassed, immediately joining in the cursing.

Seeing the commotion raging in the kitchen, bystanders rushed over to mediate.

The man said, "Stop arguing, stop arguing, we're all on the same side!"

The man who was urinated on angrily retorted, "Who's talking to his own people? He can't even urinate properly! Is that guy crooked? A spineless coward! Don't ever go to Yihonglou again, you're useless anyway!"

Which man can withstand such insults?

The one who was lying down flew into a rage and retorted, "I don't sleep with the girls in the red brothel, I'll sleep with you instead! Even if you're lying down, I'll make you scream! You lie down, I'm coming right now!"

As he spoke, he rolled up his sleeves and was about to step forward.

To receive such a remark and then such an action is truly unbearable.

Enraged by the urine, the man clenched his fist and lunged forward, punching the man opposite him in the face.

His movement was sudden and unexpected, catching everyone off guard. The man opposite him, who had been merely making a show of force by rolling up his sleeves, was waiting for someone to intervene. After taking that punch, his mouth was filled with the taste of rust, his mouth and teeth were burning, and he was seeing stars. But he couldn't care less about anything else and shouted angrily, "You dare hit me? Just because I haven't shown my teeth doesn't mean I'm a pushover!"

As they spoke, they stepped forward and began to wrestle.

The people in the room were completely taken aback by how things had turned out. They hurriedly stepped forward to pull the people apart, offering further advice and finally saying, "If you want to fight, go back and fight. Be careful not to make a big scene and ruin things. If the clerk blames you, you'll have to apologize."

The two were both disheveled and exchanged a few curses before finally giving up.

Then everyone busied themselves cleaning up the scene, righting the overturned stools, chairs, ladles, pot lids, and other items, arranging them haphazardly, and then picking up the earthenware jars.

When the vat was being set up, since the two people were not exactly clean, and both had excrement and phlegm, the vat inevitably had a strong, foul odor.

The man urinating knew the smell was strong, so he quickly called to the other person. The two of them emptied the filth from the earthenware jar, rinsed it briefly with water, and then poured a bowl of turbid wine into it.

The others watched the two of them act, each one secretly laughing. When Dabing returned, they all pretended that nothing had happened.

The man who had been urinating even stepped forward and said, "The earthenware jars have all been washed, Liu boy, would you like to check them?"

Although Dabing sensed the disrespect in his address, knowing his own young age and lack of experience, he didn't want to cause trouble over such a small matter, so he said in a serious tone, "Let me see!"

He was meticulous in his work, and sure enough, he went up and checked each one by one. After checking one, he moved the checked jar to the side.

After checking a few of the large and small jars, the others, seeing that things were not going well, exchanged glances.

One of them stepped forward and interrupted, "Master Liu, this young lady Song said she wants us to peel lettuce. Where is the lettuce? Why don't you put it in first, and we can work while you check it? Let's not waste time!"

Then someone asked, "How do you peel lettuce? Is it enough to just peel the skin?"

Someone else said, "My merciful hands have never even crushed an ant, and I've never touched a knife or axe before. This is my first time cutting, what if I don't do it well? Liu Xiao'er, you won't tell Song Xiao Niangzi, will you?"

"Hurry up, or we'll have to go back!"

A group of people were laughing and joking.

Although Dabing had been scolded and beaten by the head chefs before, this was the first time he had to face so many people all by himself.

At this moment, he was caught in a mix of cleverness and aggression from this group of people, some playing the good cop and some the bad cop. He was still young and inexperienced, and his composure was somewhat disrupted. He quickly grabbed a knife and a peeler and took the lead outside, saying, "Come outside with me, I'll teach you how to peel!"

While Dabing went out, the man urinating inside the house, along with another person, hurriedly moved the dirty vat into the pile of vats that Dabing had previously inspected, and followed them out with lewd smiles.

The two walked the slowest, and just as they got outside, they heard someone shouting.

"You've gone to such lengths to peel a skin? Liu brat! Are you deliberately targeting us?"

Big Pancake retorted angrily, "What do you mean by targeting me! The young lady said that peeling the lettuce after removing the tough stems would make it very crisp and delicious. It's not only tasty, but it can also help you practice your handicrafts. Doing this little thing is neither strenuous nor tiring. How can you say it's targeting me?!"

He added, "Don't say anything unpleasant. I'll sit here and peel the skin with you, and I'll repeat those fifty-two rules to you again, okay?"

"That rule is too long. No matter how many times you say it, it's useless. I can't remember it!"

"So many stinky rules and tedious rules for cooking! What?!"

Dabing pretended not to hear anything, picked up a washed lettuce, and demonstrated to everyone how to peel it in the basin in front of him.

Lettuce usually has two layers. The first layer is the outermost pure "skin". Make a cut, insert the knife into it, use your hand to help hold it down, and gently peel it off with the knife.

The second layer is the layer between the green flesh of the lettuce and the pure skin, which contains many thick stems. Since there are only thick stems that can get stuck in your teeth, you can just peel them off at this point.

It sounds like there are only two steps—shave off the first layer, then shave off the second layer.

However, it's impossible to peel all the skin off at once for the first layer; it needs to be peeled off piece by piece, which is a time-consuming and meticulous task.

As the man urinating walked over, he happened to see the pancake being demonstrated. He first exclaimed "Ouch!" and then said, "Isn't Miss Song too pitiful? Did she never eat lettuce in her past life? Or is she really so poor that she won't even let a few pieces of lettuce peel go? If all else fails, you can make her drink a cup of wine with me mouth to mouth, and I'll give her half a string of cash!"

Laughter filled the air.

Dabing had been instructed by Song Miao not to argue with others, and if he encountered any unpleasant words or ugly things, he should not confront them directly, but write them down and tell her when she came back.

However, in Dabing's heart, Song Miao's position was truly extraordinary. Seeing that the man was saying such vulgar things to her again, he could no longer tolerate it. He grabbed the small knife in his hand, stood up angrily, and shouted, "Watch your mouth! If you make fun of Miss Song again, I may not be as good with a knife as her, and I'm short, but I can still lift a small knife. I'll just swing it randomly and see where it goes!"

As she spoke, she glanced down at the man's crotch.

He was a man himself, and he knew best what men were afraid of. At that moment, he brandished the knife, and since he was not very tall, it was obvious that he could cut an adult's crotch with a single swing.

The man urinating felt a chill run down his spine when he saw the big pancake staring fiercely at his crotch. He was furious and stepped aside, determined to utter a harsh threat. He sneered, "Kid, you just wait! If you've got guts, don't try walking around Weizhou City at night!"

Regardless, after Big Pancake's outburst, everyone finally calmed down and sat on the drying ground peeling lettuce. Soon, Big Pancake realized something was wrong.

Although everyone was working, the pace was ridiculously slow.

Normally, an experienced person can peel five or six lettuce stalks in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, and even a novice can definitely peel two, if not three.

But these people seemed to have made a pact; after the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, they still hadn't finished peeling a single lettuce.

Not only that, when they were peeling, they also peeled off the thick stem layer along with the outer lettuce skin, leaving it in a shapeless form, but rather like small bamboo leaves, piece by piece, filling the whole basin.

After a few prompts, everyone knew how to complain. One said he didn't know how to peel, another said he couldn't handle a knife, and yet another said he would slowly remove the thick white stems of the lettuce later. Some even bluntly said, "I'll do it this way. If you don't like it, then don't ask me to do it. Just do it all yourself!"

***
Not to mention that the group of people here were covered in bumps and there was nothing they could do, in the other shop, Song Miao had already bought most of her purchases and returned to the fish stall.

Seeing that Song Miao was carrying a bamboo basket on her back and some shrimp in her hands, the laundry vendor hurriedly asked, "Young lady, are you going to eat these shrimp for lunch or in the afternoon?"

Song Miaohui said she would eat in the afternoon.

The woman looked relieved and said, "Then I'll deliver it to you, young lady! It looks like there's half a bucket here, but after filtering the water, it weighs less than a pound."

He added, "My husband is bringing over some freshly caught fish and shrimp around noon. If we gather a bit more, I'll carry the bucket to your door! I also have something I'd like to ask you, young lady!"

Seeing that she seemed to have something difficult to say, Song Miao didn't want to ask her in public, so she didn't refuse. She made an agreement with her that the food would be delivered before a certain time before taking it away.

When she returned to the official post station, she heard a commotion as soon as she entered the back. When she went to see what was going on, she found that Dabing was arguing with several cooks, their faces red with anger. Dabing was shouting, "I told you to wash it before peeling it! You peeled it without washing it! What are we going to do later?"

"Why don't you just wash it after you've peeled it? If you can't stand it, why don't you wash it yourself?"

"If you peel it and then wash it, the outside will be covered in mud. Washing it will just make the lettuce meat even dirtier. Are you here to work or to cause trouble?"

I don't like hearing that!

"That's right, didn't we do any work? We washed the earthenware jars, peeled the lettuce, and memorized the rules that Miss Song made us memorize. We just have bad memories and poor knife skills, so what can we do if we can't do it well?"

"Push me any harder, I can't take it—ouch, my heart is pounding—you little punk, don't you have a knife? Stab me in the chest, kill me and you'll pay with your life!"

This was because the same man who had urinated earlier started causing trouble again.

Dabing had never seen such a scene before. He was both anxious and angry, and for a moment, he couldn't muster any of his eloquence.

Seeing that he was at a disadvantage, Song Miao didn't go to release it first. Instead, she walked straight over and asked, "What are you all talking about here? Have you finished reciting the rules? Have you washed the earthenware jar?"

When the man who was urinating saw Song Miao, he chuckled and said, "I've washed the vat and memorized all the rules. If you don't believe me, little lady, come closer and let's kiss first, then I'll tell you!"

But once outside the kitchen, seeing that Song Miao didn't have a knife, the man started causing trouble again.

Song Miao ignored him and said, "Now that you've washed it clean and memorized it, let's start the inspection."

Instead of checking how well everyone had memorized it, she led a group of people back to the kitchen.

It was not yet lunchtime, and the kitchen was empty except for a dozen large earthenware jars placed in the middle.

Upon seeing Song Miao, Dabing's heart, which had been pounding with anxiety, immediately settled back into his stomach.

As he entered the kitchen, he quickly pointed out to Song Miao which side he had inspected and which side he hadn't had time to inspect, adding, "I was really in a rush and didn't finish inspecting everything, but I didn't see anything wrong with the rest that I had inspected."

Song Miao nodded, but as soon as she entered the room, she couldn't help but frown after taking only a few steps.

She was a cook, and her sense of smell was extremely sensitive. Besides the smell of alcohol, she always felt there was an unbearable stench of urine.

The smell in the kitchen was both disgusting and unsettling.

She took a few steps forward and followed the scent, first finding a spot on the ground—a small puddle of water—and then a few more steps led her to the earthenware jar.

She checked everything and found nothing wrong until she got close to one of the large earthenware jars. As soon as she got close, she smelled a stronger aroma of wine than the other jars.

Even with such a strong smell of alcohol, it couldn't mask the fishy, ​​musty odor.

Song Miao noted down the location, then checked the remaining earthenware jars again before turning to the group of laborers and asking, "Are they really all clean? So clean that there's not a single flaw?"

Everyone nodded.

The man who was urinating, still grinning, chimed in: "It was all washed according to Miss Song's rules. First, well water, then two washes with a cloth, then three more washes with well water, then the remaining water was poured out, and then wine was used to rinse the bottom of the vat twice—it's so clean that I'd dare to crawl in and lick it!"

Song Miao glanced at him and asked, "What's your name?"

The man urinating was taken aback for a moment, then grinned and said, "What, young lady, you've taken a fancy to me? My surname is Gong, and since I'm a few years older than you, you can just call me Old Gong!"

Upon hearing that his surname was Gong, Song Miao pointed to a ceramic jar and asked, "Gong Liang, is this the ceramic jar you washed with Liu Yong?"

Gong Liang nodded at first, then paused, and asked, "How did you know?"

Song Miao said, "When the work was assigned, it was recorded. The two earthenware jars, Jia San and Jia Si, were both recorded under your names."

He pointed to a mark on the outside of the pottery jar and called Gong and Liu forward, saying, "Look closely, these two are correct, aren't they?"

The two suddenly felt that something was not right, but they could only nod.

Song Miao didn't give the two time to react, but said, "It's washed so clean, but I don't need you to crawl in and lick it..."

Then he said to the flatbread, "Have someone fetch you a bucket of water."

The well water was quickly drawn back.

Song Miao filled two bowls and poured them into many large vats. Then she pointed at everyone and said, "I told you all before that the most important thing in the kitchen is 'cleanliness'. After you came in, you all signed a document to guarantee that you will abide by the rules and regulations."

"Since everything was done according to the rules and the vat was washed so clean, then let's pour out the water. Whoever washed the vat should drink the corresponding two bowls—a clean vat filled with clean water. Surely that's not too difficult?"

(End of this chapter)