Her Cultivation Diary
Chapter 336 - Chapter 336 Cold Mixed Watermelon Rind_1

Chapter 336: Cold Mixed Watermelon Rind_1 Chapter 336: Cold Mixed Watermelon Rind_1 This time, without the rinds, everyone ate with even more gusto. A full basin was soon chomped down to empty.

Seventh Uncle originally wanted to caution them to take it easy, but before he could speak, the basin was empty. In the end, he could only switch his approach–

“You guys really can eat.”

The ravenous group was still not satisfied, belching while holding their stomachs, eagerly anticipating the cold watermelon rind salad for lunch.

Seeing this, Seventh Uncle could only sigh in resignation:

“How about we skip preparing lunch and make porridge instead? I don’t think you have much room left in your bellies to eat anything else. We could cook the porridge now, it’ll be nice and cool after a nap, and goes well with the cold watermelon rind salad.”

In the sweltering summer heat, having an appetite wasn’t easy, and neither was cooking over the stove.

What a great idea!

As soon as this proposal was made, everyone agreed.

Nowadays, it was too hot at noon and nobody worked. Sleeping until 3:00 PM and then getting up was nothing out of the ordinary.

But while the porridge could wait until after the nap, the cold watermelon rind salad was something they had to try right away.

Upon hearing this, Seventh Uncle was at a loss for words.

He simply put the watermelon rinds in a basin and handed out two scrapers: “If you want to eat it, then scrape off the outer green skin cleanly.”

With the promise of food, Zhang Yanping and Xin Jun, two strapping young men, approached the task with great enthusiasm.

Over here, Seventh Uncle guided Qiaoqiao with one hand holding a kitchen knife and the other pressing on the watermelon rind, carefully cutting along just beneath the green skin.

Soon, a complete, emerald green watermelon rind was separated out. So thin that it would be considered subpar even for feeding pigs.

However… the technique was not bad.

Seventh Uncle commended, then instructed, “Help them clean the rind slowly.”

“I’ll prepare some seasonings first.”

Making a cold watermelon rind dish was incredibly simple. He reached into the vegetable basket and took out two red chili peppers, then smashed a few garlic cloves, chopped some ginger and scallions, and everything was ready to go.

The watermelon rinds were almost prepared as well.

Seventh Uncle simply stacked the thin slices of rind, and then with knife in constant motion–

Chop chop chop chop!

Very soon, the green-tinged red and white watermelon rinds were cut into even strips and then he salted them in a bowl to marinate.

At this time, on another stove, the rice in the pot had just begun to “bloom.”

Standing in front of the stove in such heat was not easy. Beads of sweat had formed on Qiaoqiao’s fair face. Now, stirring carefully with a large spoon and then checking the fire, she said:

“Seventh Uncle, no need to worry about the fire.”

Once the fire died down, the porridge would be ready. Covering it with a lid to keep out the ash, they could eat it after waking from their nap, perfect timing.

After marinating the watermelon rinds for half an hour, the water was squeezed out.

This time, Qiaoqiao, who had become proficient at several cold dishes, seamlessly fished them out and wrung them dry without needing any instructions from Seventh Uncle.

Seventh Uncle took the opportunity to teach her how to mix in salt, cooking wine, soy sauce, and chili, among other things.

With just a simple stir of the chopsticks–

“Clap!”

The bowl was placed on the table: “Give it a taste.”

The bright red chili peppers, blush-pink watermelon flesh, accompanied by the light green of the rind–truly the most beautiful colors of summer.

At this moment, just mixing them simply immediately brought out their delicious flavor.

The group couldn’t wait to reach out with their chopsticks–

“Mmm!”

It was hard to describe the taste.

The moment it entered my mouth, the salty fragrance of the salt and sauce spread first, followed closely by the bursting of the pink melon flesh, mixing its sweet juice in my mouth.

Sweet and salty intertwined, yet not a bit off-putting, but instead, perfectly layered.

Before the aftertaste of sweetness had faded, the crisp and tender white rind burst with freshness between my teeth and lips. The more I chewed, the fresher it felt, and then, swallowing it down, the heat from the red chili slowly ignited in my mouth…

Though it was such a simple dish, everyone found it incredibly satisfying and refreshing to eat.

What’s more to say?

What’s the need for porridge? This kind of cold dish should be eaten as is!

Before long, everyone was staring at the empty bowl and then turned their innocent gaze to Seventh Uncle.

“So… Seventh Uncle, when we wake up from our nap and it’s time for porridge, what will we have with it?”

Seventh Uncle was almost too amused to be annoyed, “It’ll be you guys eating, that’s what!”

However, despite his joking manner, he felt a touch of pride in his heart: See! This family really couldn’t do without me.

So he turned and gave instructions with feigned modesty:

“Later, go pick some more cucumbers from the vegetable garden and put them in the fridge. After waking up from the nap, we’ll have cold cucumber salad.”

Just thinking about the refreshing taste of the cucumbers in the garden, ten a day wouldn’t be enough, and instantly, everyone salivated!

Ah! There’s so much delicious food, why do we only have one stomach!

If it weren’t for the fact that our stomachs were already bloated and round, we might have already started eating again by now.

While everyone collectively drooled, Song Tan wore a serious expression, her face solemn.

Zhang Yanping couldn’t help but ask, “What’s the matter with you?”

All we heard was her deep sigh, “If I had tasted this cold melon rind earlier, the watermelon shouldn’t have been just 20 yuan per kilo.”

Everyone: …Come on, be human!

Just one melon already costs over a hundred bucks!

…

After waking up from the nap and having a meal of warm and cool porridge, plus the chilled cucumber salad, everyone was indeed full of energy and ready to take on whatever came next.

Thankfully, it was only the end of May, not hot enough yet, otherwise, even in the late afternoon around four or five, temperatures could still soar to thirty-seven or thirty-eight degrees–what watermelon picking then? Just lie down and call it quits.

While picking melons, Zhang Yanping did not forget to take out her phone and tally:

“We have about 150 orders from the app, I’ve calculated them all at five kilos each, more or less will be refunded or collected. Our melons are expensive, so we don’t need to pick too many… I reckon about 200 today should do the trick.”

“Okay.”

These melons ripened nicely, and Song Tan didn’t plan on stacking them high to avoid squashing the ones at the bottom–probably would all explode otherwise, aiming between 230 to 250 should be about right.

After all, aside from those gifted away, there were also the 20 melons for Xin Jun!

With everyone working together, 200 melons were picked quickly. Zhang Wang’s family was in charge of driving the triumphant little three-wheeler–

Who said a pickup truck can’t make it to the back hill!

By the time the vehicle arrived to transport the melons, Song Tan also specially chose a few large ones to place in the back seat.

After thinking it over, it wouldn’t look good to deliver just one to my uncle’s house, Tantan wasn’t that kind of inconsiderate person!

So she picked out three particularly small ones and set them aside separately.

This way, things were fair for all the relatives!

However, when it comes to who would help Grandpa build his house, my uncle had to perform well.

Otherwise… I would be upset.