The Chief Minister's Ferocious Wife

After Xie Jun and Zhao Meilan finished a bowl of soymilk, they wanted another serving.

“Go ahead and scoop yourself another bowl. But remember, the soymilk must be fully cooked through before drinking. Otherwise, it will cause nausea, diarrhea, and stomachache. Also, cooked soymilk can’t be stored for a very long time. It should be consumed within the day; don’t leave it out overnight.”

“Okay, okay. I got it.”

Zhao Meilan nodded. After getting permission from Zhao Chuchu, she went to scoop herself another bowl of soymilk.

After Xie Heng finished his bowl of soymilk, he went to treat the tofu with gypsum.

He succeeded in a single attempt!

Zhao Chuchu was speechless.

Xie Heng really made her mad at her own incompetence.

Zhao Chuchu felt like she was as good as Xie Heng in any aspect, except for food-related skills. It was as though all her cooking-related skills were completely disabled and could not be activated.

“It worked?” Zhao Guitang looked at the tofu, which had already curdled. He felt thrilled.

“Almost, just one more step,” Zhao Chuchu replied. “Where are the wooden molds that I asked you to prepare?”

“Here, here.” Madam He quickly brought the wooden molds over.

Zhao Chuchu lined the bottom of the wooden container with clean white cloth, then poured the curdled tofu into the container. Next, she covered the tofu and pressed it tight to remove any excess moisture.

After doing that, Zhao Chuchu made a bowl of sweet tofu pudding and a bowl of salty tofu pudding. “Try this too.”

“Is this already cooked?” Madam He asked curiously.

Zhao Chuchu smiled and explained, “This is tofu pudding. It’s really smooth and soft. You’ll know what I mean when you taste it.”

“I want some too.” Xie Jun immediately passed his bowl to Zhao Chuchu despite finishing two bowls of soymilk. “Sis, can I have a bowl, please?”

“You’re eating a lot. Aren’t you afraid of overeating?”

“That won’t happen. I can still eat more!”

Xie Jun touched his little stomach, which was already starting to bulge, then looked at Zhao Chuchu with a pitiful expression.

How could Zhao Chuchu refuse?

She couldn’t.

Xie Jun finally got a taste of the tofu pudding that he had been thinking about for a very long time.

Zhao Chuchu asked Xie Heng, “You want it sweet or salty?”

“Salty, thank you,” Xie Heng replied.

“Wah, this is amazing. Sister Chuchu, how did you manage to figure out how to make this?” Zhao Meilan felt like that was the best thing she had ever tasted.

Zhao Chuchu poked her forehead and said, “You’ll get to eat something even better later. But first, we need to make the rest of the tofu after you’re done eating. Auntie, Da Lang will teach you how to make tofu later.”

“What do we do with the tofu?” Madam He asked. “Do we leave it overnight and bring it to the county to sell it tomorrow?”

“No hurry, let’s give the tofu that we made today to the people in the village and let them taste it. Then, we’ll sell the tofu tomorrow at the county,” Zhao Chuchu said.

“Sure, we’ll follow your instructions.” Madam He felt that this novel food would definitely sell very well, which made her feel pumped about tofu-making.

After finishing her portion of tofu pudding, she got back to work.

Zhao Meilan went to help her as well.

Zhao Guitang was really anxious. He wanted to help his wife, but there was nothing that he could help with.

“Uncle Guitang, you should just rest for now. If you hurt your leg again, it will be very difficult to heal next time. Auntie and Meilan still have to depend on you in the future. So the most important task for you right now is to recover from your injury,” warned Zhao Chuchu as she looked at Zhao Guitang. “Otherwise, you won’t be the only one suffering.”

Zhao Guitang felt somewhat ashamed. He said, “I, I just wanted to see what I could do to help.”

“Just sit there and stop moving around,” Madam He scolded. “Chuchu is right. If you injure your leg again, Meilan and I will lose all hope in life.”

Zhao Guitang didn’t dare argue anymore.

Zhao Chuchu saw that Madam He was really slow, so she went forward and helped her with the stone mill.

She was stronger and could push the mill a lot faster than Madam He.

“Go filter the raw soymilk. I got this.” Zhao Chuchu saw that the bucket was full again, so she told Madam He to deal with it.

Xie Heng came over to push the stone mill together with Zhao Chuchu.

The two were very close to each other and worked together seamlessly.

Upon seeing that, Zhao Meilan nudged Madam He and looked in Zhao Chuchu’s direction as she said, “Mom, Chuchu and Xie Da Lang look so suitable together.”

“Did you just call him Da Lang? You should call him brother-in-law!” Madam He glared at her.

Zhao Meilan stuck her tongue out for a moment and said, “Alright, alright, I got it.”

Zhao Chuchu and Xie Heng heard every word of their conversation.

Zhao Chuchu pretended not to hear it.

The corners of Xie Heng’s mouth curled up slightly.

At noon, Zhao Chuchu made all the soybeans they soaked into tofu last night.

Xie Heng cooked the soy pulp into soy pulp egg pancakes, soy pulp balls, and soy pulp porridge. Then, he followed Zhao Chuchu’s instructions and made fried scallion tofu and Mapo tofu.

Xie Jun and the Zhao family couldn’t stop eating.

“I can’t believe that tofu can be made into something so delicious. All we knew back then was boiling or frying. What a waste of soybeans.”

“Chuchu, did you learn about tofu from books?”

...

“Being literate is such a good thing. We wouldn’t be able to figure this out even if we spent our whole life trying.”

They kept speaking right after one another. Zhao Chuchu wasn’t even able to cut in.

Zhao Chuchu felt a little helpless. She smiled and waited until they were done complimenting her before saying, “It’s not just white tofu. After lunch, we can try deep-fried tofu. That’s even more fragrant.”

“Deep fried tofu?” Zhao Guitang was startled for a moment, then said in an embarrassed tone, “But Chuchu, we don’t have oil. Deep-fried tofu would require a lot of oil, right?”

“I have some.”

“We can’t keep using your stuff…”

“It’s fine. Let’s get the tofu business started first. Then, after the business is set up, we can talk about splitting the profits.”

Zhao Guitang, Madam He, and Zhao Meilan all went silent.

Madam He said softly, “Chuchu, Guitang followed the Zhao clan and did so many ridiculous, scummy things to you. Why are you still treating us so well?”

Zhao Chuchu smiled and said, “Just take it that I’m doing good deeds to accumulate karma. Let’s forget about what happened in the past. Uncle Guitang has been punished accordingly, so we can put this behind us now. I’m not an unreasonable person. Since you guys are willing to turn over a new leaf, I’m willing to give you an opportunity to change for the better.”

“What about them?” Madam He asked.

...

“Them” referred to Old Man Zhao and other members of the clan.

“I won’t forgive them,” Zhao Chuchu raised her eyebrows and said. “I’ve already cut ties with them. They are complete strangers to me now. So as long as they don’t come and annoy me, I’ll just treat them as nonexistent. Otherwise, they will face the same consequences as Niu Ziming.”

Xie Heng kept quiet as though Zhao Chuchu had just described the weather.

Zhao Guitang rejoiced that he didn’t bully Zhao Chuchu back then. Otherwise, he couldn’t even imagine how miserable his family would be right now!

“I remember what other people have done to me, and I won’t mix them up,” Zhao Chuchu said. “I won’t just forgive everyone.”

Zhao Guitang’s family didn’t dare speak.

Although they were forced to do what they did, they still felt rather guilty about it.

Zhao Chuchu saw their reaction, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she went back home and returned with a bucket of oil to deep fry the tofu.

They first cut the tofu into smaller pieces, then fried them until they had a golden brown exterior and an incredibly tender interior. When Zhao Chuchu squeezed it, it became a ball, but the deep-fried tofu returned to its original shape when she released it. Deep-fried tofu was also known as tofu puffs.

But Zhao Chuchu remembered that in her previous life, there was a type of fried tofu in the southern part of her country. The exterior was golden, but the inside was more solid. People soaked it in water. It was fragrant and soft but tasted completely different from the silky, crumbly tofu puff.