Thirty-Five Reunions (Part 1)

  Actually, many things in this world are not something that can be fully expressed or controlled by humans. As the saying goes, "there is a destiny beyond human control". What exactly is this destiny? Is everyone's fate predetermined at birth? These are also difficult questions to answer. Obviously, those who know the answers are all dead people. Whether there is still spirit and consciousness after death, these are the deepest secrets of the world that living people cannot understand.

  So there is a famous saying: The planning of a thing is in man's hands, but its success is in the hands of Heaven.

  Su Ning looked at Wang Shi sitting on the kang, his mind a complete blank. But he was thoughtful and deeply understood some things, understood some extraordinary truths, such as the meaning of the phrase "man proposes, God disposes". He suddenly felt that everything he had experienced was predestined, even the most difficult hurdle he currently faced seemed to have no difficulty at all.

  The Wang in front of her was exactly the same as her own mother, except for the clothes and hairstyle.

  Is there anything else to say? Is there anything else to worry about? Is there anything else to resist?

  He rushed forward with all his might, and then there were no other thoughts...

  What was originally a big deal for Su Ning was all resolved with just one hug and a heartfelt "mom", the blood is thicker than water emotions that have been produced will not change, Wang looked at Su Ning tearfully, also tearfully, only tears flowing, constantly stroking Su Ning's head, at this time Su Ning would not say don't touch my head or I'll get angry nonsense, what can't his own mother touch?

  "Mother, today is a grand day, wait for the child to cook a table of food, and we'll celebrate as a family." Su Ning felt that on such a grand day, not celebrating would be inexcusable. However, she didn't trust the cooking skills of their household chef, nor did she trust the culinary skills of the chefs of the Tang Dynasty. There was no way around it - the food of this era simply wasn't up to par. The pinnacle of Chinese cuisine began in the Northern Song Dynasty, not in the early years of the Tang Dynasty.

  To make a family eat comfortably, it's still better to cook personally!

  "Second brother, you can't! The kitchen is for lowly people to work in. You're a noble with a title, how can you personally go into the kitchen?" Su Dingfang was the first to express his discontent. His own brother was someone who could leap over the dragon gate and soar through the nine heavens, how could he go to that lowly place to do those lowly things? Wangshi and Liushi also expressed their disagreement with this idea, saying that if they wanted to eat something, they should let the servants do it. How could a noble gentleman like him do such a thing?

  Su Ning smiled and said, "Who says being a cook is lowly? In the Su household, it's not like that! When I followed my master to travel all over the country, I was the one who cooked for him myself. If I can show filial piety to my master like this, why can't I do the same for my family members? Besides, how can these cooks compare with me in terms of culinary skills?"

  "Big brother, today little brother will show you a hand, guaranteeing that even if you get hit in the mouth, you won't let go! Mother, auntie, you two don't need to worry either. And little sister, second brother isn't that scary, second brother can make many, many delicious dishes. In the past, you and mother suffered hardships, but now with second brother and big brother, we won't let you suffer again!"

  As soon as she said this, Su Xiaomei's face immediately turned red. Thinking about how she had just turned around and run away, leaving her brother behind, made her feel uneasy in her heart. However, looking at her brother who seemed to be very easy-going and filial, even willing to go down to the kitchen for their mother, she thought that they should get along well.

  Saying that, Su Ning ignored them and directly walked to the kitchen door and went in. The two cooks saw that it was the second master and were so scared that their legs turned soft, immediately kneeling down: "Second Master, Second Master, this is a dirty place, someone as noble as you can't come in! You'll get dirty, Second Master, please leave quickly!"

  Suning shook his head and tried to help the two cooks up, but they just wouldn't get up. He didn't know if they were scared silly or their legs had turned soft and couldn't move. Suning was furious and kicked the two cooks out with a loud shout: "Come back when you can walk! The dishes you made are inedible, learn from me!"

  When Suning was working in the restaurant, he was known as the "Kitchen Little Overlord" and was in charge of the kitchen. As soon as he entered the kitchen and picked up a knife, he became unstoppable. Several older chefs who were jealous of his skills and didn't want him to steal the show secretly tried to sabotage him, but Suning kicked them out of the kitchen with just a few moves. From then on, Suning had absolute authority in that restaurant's kitchen.

  Su Ning's big move has caused a commotion in the Su household, with all the servants rushing to watch the second master personally go down to the kitchen. This is something that has never been heard of before in the Tang Dynasty. Wang Shi and Liu Shi supported each other as they came, and Su Dingfang brought Su Xiaomei along, dispersing the servants.

  Wang Shi and Liu stood there with tears in their eyes, saying that Su Ning was a filial and good child, who even went to the kitchen himself for the sake of his family. Su Xiao Mei's eyes were also red, feeling extremely ashamed of her behavior just now in the house. Where can you find such a good brother? Su Ding Fang's eyes reddened as he entered the kitchen: "Second brother, big brother is here to help you!"

  Su Ning felt a wave of frustration, this old man only knew how to wield his knife and chop people, at most he could chop horses, cows, and sheep, but delicate work like cooking was not something that rough men from the military could do. However, Su Dingfang had already made up his mind, if his second brother could do it, why couldn't he as the eldest brother?

  Su Ning was extremely depressed, but he couldn't drive him away either. He had no choice but to take out a large piece of mutton that was sent by either Li Jing or Li Shimin's family and hand it over to Su Dingfang, along with the kitchen knife. He told him how to do it, and so Su Dingfang grasped the knife as if he were holding a weapon, using the same techniques he used on the battlefield to slaughter people. With one slash after another, he tenderized the mutton, complaining all the while that the knife was too short...

  Such actions made Su Ning's heart skip a beat, thinking that this sheep was truly pitiful. Not only did it not die a good death, but its body was also brought from thousands of miles away to be flogged in the kitchen by Su Dingfang. This sheep must have been human in its past life and done something wrong to end up with such a tragic fate.

  At that time, there was no orange peel, no ginger, no soy sauce or MSG, only salt, this dry thing, it's really hard to make a big meal. The so-called food in the army is just one pot of rice and one pot of dishes. When things are good, you can still get some salt, when things are bad, you can only use vinegar to mix it up. Everything tastes bland, and you can only eat with sauce, it's really frustrating!

  Suning had to avoid these temporarily unattainable seasonings and coloring agents, and take a detour. As the saying goes, "A living person cannot be starved to death", there is always a way out.

  Since there's no way to make mutton into a supreme delicacy, then just grill the mutton, cut it into blocks, spread some salt on it, and after grilling, it's still delicious; grilling also has its own rules, absolutely not like those rough outdoor grilled chunks in the army, where the outside is all charred but the inside is still raw, only people in the army can stomach that, Su Ning simply can't swallow it, how can you grill mutton like that? Why do you have to cut it into blocks and string them up, absolutely crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, full of flavor and juicy.

  That big piece of beef was the same, to say that beef is really hard to come by. At this time, the Tang Dynasty treated cows as if they were human beings, and if a cow died without a clear cause, the government would investigate the case and punish the perpetrator severely, not far from taking their life. So this piece of fresh beef could only have been cut from one of the unlucky animals that had been killed in the batch of cattle, sheep and horses captured from the grasslands, continuing to undergo secondary tenderization...

  Su Ning's favorite dish, braised beef with potatoes, couldn't be made at this time. There were no potatoes, no soy sauce, and no MSG. Potatoes were easy to handle, they could just be grown; soy sauce wasn't difficult either, the old man had taught him how to brew high-quality soy sauce, which was absolutely better than the supermarket's mass-produced goods. That was an essential seasoning and coloring agent for braising, indispensable. Without soy sauce, many dishes couldn't be made well, such as braised lion's head, whose color wouldn't be right.

  As for MSG, well! That's a chemical product, it's hard to make, let's see if there are any tutorials on Baidu later.

  Since it's not possible to use methods that will only be available in a few hundred years to make this delicious food, and the ingredients can't be prepared in just one day, for now we can only settle for roasting some beef. Additionally, we'll prepare some beef and mutton with vegetables to stew a pot of soup. Although we don't have tomatoes to make borscht, it's still absolutely delicious! And most importantly, today's main dish is chicken! Su Ning loves eating chicken the most, and there are many ways to eat chicken! We have eggs, chicken, and wheat flour, isn't that just perfect?

  The Great Tang version of Su's KFC is born!

  Selected several tender little chicks, got some mud, no lotus leaf used oil paper, wrapped the prepared little chicks, then applied mud, stuffed into the ground, lit a fire and didn't care, told Su Dingfang to stare tightly, when the fire went out wait for half an incense time, then you can take out the buried "begging chicken" from the ground, put it on a plate and bring it closer to serve yourself.

  Take this opportunity to drive Su Dingfang out, and call in the two cooks standing outside who are at a loss, let them start beating eggs, pouring flour, cutting chicken pieces, preparing all the remaining chickens, then sprinkle a handful of salt in the flour, also add a little salt to the beaten eggs, and hand over all the cut chicken pieces, chicken wings and legs to Su Ning. First put it in the egg bowl and roll it once, then put it in the flour bowl and roll it again, ensuring that the salty flavor can enter the chicken meat itself. No way, there is no fried chicken seasoning, only primitive ones, so start frying.

  That flavor, ah, so fragrant!

  Call over two cooks, let them watch the entire process, and also the specific time and standards for judging whether the chicken is cooked or not. Tell them to learn this, otherwise get out of Su's house! The two cooks nodded hastily like little chickens pecking at rice, looking like they were about to take the college entrance exam, only missing a red headband shouting "I will work hard!"

  Sunning instructed the chef and began to prepare roasted mutton and beef. After taking a look at the miserable state of the mutton, Suding Fang shook his head and re-processed it, cutting the beef and mutton into suitable-sized blocks. However, they then discovered that there were no skewers available for threading the meat blocks, which would require forging, but such things did not exist in the Tang Dynasty at present. After some thought, Sunning came up with a solution, taking out his own sword and Suding Fang's sword, as well as several arrows, all of which he cleaned and used instead.

  Su Ning couldn't help but laugh at himself, thinking that he was also a bit of an oddball, holding a treasured sword and arrow while roasting beef and mutton. If this got out, wouldn't it become a joke? Didn't they see Su Dingfang's shocked expression?

  Regardless of Su Dingfang, Su Ning decided to simply and brutally settle everything! Give them a rich and delicious meal that transcends time and space!

  About an hour later, Su Ning looked at the many things that had been prepared, especially the fried chicken, which was ready, and a large pile of beef and mutton kebabs. The fried chicken pieces, legs, and wings were also basically done. So Su Ning called two servants to bring over two food boxes, took out two fried chickens, prepared a whole plate of roasted beef and mutton, and had a big box of Su's KFC ready. He sent them to deliver the food to Li Jing's and Li Shimin's residences.

  Li Jing was fine, Li Shiming lived in Puningfang, northwest of Chang'an, which was quite far from Yongningfang where he lived. Fortunately, the curfew in Datang was very strict, and there were no shops on the 38 main roads, and there were not many pedestrians, so it would never be congested, oh, jammed with horses. Immediately, Suning sent two servants to deliver food to Li Jing and Li Shiming's homes quickly, absolutely not allowing them to be late, if they were late, the food wouldn't taste good.

  "Second brother, who are you sending these food to?" Su Dingfang was a bit surprised, looking at Su Ning packing two large food boxes. These delicacies were going to be sent out; Su Ning said: "They are for General Li Jing and General Li Shiming. We have just arrived in Chang'an and don't know the local customs, we need some people to guide and take care of us. As for General Li Jing, he is my recommender, I will rely on him for the rest of my life; as for General Li Shiming, he has also taken good care of us. This friendship is not easy to come by, it needs to be maintained."

  Big brother, there aren't many people in this Chang'an city who have a good impression of us, and there are quite a few who don't. As you said, following the crowd is the right thing to do, so we should become one of them. How can we do that? It's like this! Also, the food I made has an effect far better than sending gold or silver."

  Su Dingfang nodded and said: "Second brother, this is a reasonable thing to say. Second brother, let's discuss something with you."

  Su Ning said: "Brother, please speak."

  Su Dingfang stood up and said, "Second brother, I've been thinking that our two families only have five people in total. In this vast city of Chang'an, we are the closest relatives. Our mothers have also relied on each other for many years, so our two families are essentially one family. The general has also hinted to me that the emperor will likely grant me a mansion, but I don't want it. From now on, I'll live with you instead, how about that?"

  Su Ning smiled and said, "This is what I, a younger brother, would very much like to see. Our Su family has few people, living together is also good for chatting and making things lively. It's just that I don't know if Your Majesty will agree or not. After all, my two brothers are both officials in the imperial court, so even if it's just to avoid suspicion, we should still separate households."

  Su Dingfang smiled and said, "As long as you have no objection, big brother will also have some confidence. Big brother is a military man, often not at home, mother is alone, if separated to live, lonely and helpless, big brother really can't put his heart at ease. Living together, there is someone to take care of each other. Besides, big brother is really not good at socializing with people, if separated to live, it's inevitable that something will happen, if it affects you, how can big brother be at peace? From now on, everything will be up to you, big brother will definitely listen to you."