TATLC Chapter 09 – Yam Porridge

Lu Lin quickly cleaned the skin off the three yams, chopped them up, and set them aside. He then poured the brown rice into the pot to cook.

After hesitating for a moment, Lu Lin opened a bag of white rice from the convenience store and added a bowl of it to the pot. The house only had brown rice that still had tiny pebbles mixed in, which Lu Lin really couldn’t get used to eating.

After the rice was about half-cooked, Lu Lin added the yams to cook together…

In his previous life, many people believed store-bought rice contained too many chemical fertilizers and pesticides, making it toxic. Lu Lin thought dryly that being poisoned was better than starving to death, and eating it occasionally shouldn’t be a problem anyway.

Living here required a lot of physical activity each day. Without eating enough, he really wouldn’t have the strength to work.

Regarding the convenience store, Lu Lin didn’t plan to keep it secret for long. He intended to let the three Chen brothers gradually accept its existence.

Lu Lin checked the salt jar, then took out a bag of salt from the convenience store and poured a little into the jar. Modern salt was very cheap, just one yuan per bag, but salt here was precious. Selling private salt was a serious crime.

By the time Chen Xiaomi returned from the old hunter’s house, the porridge was ready.

Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomai sat together happily drinking the porridge, while Chen Xiaocai stood to the side with a sullen face and bright red ears.

The yam porridge looked appetizing, soft and thoroughly cooked, but Chen Xiaocai had previously declared he wouldn’t eat “earth sticks.” Despite being tempted, he stubbornly refused to eat it.

Chen Xiaocai secretly glanced at Lu Lin, thinking that if Lu Lin invited him to eat, he’d give him face and try some. But that bastard Lu Lin seemed to be deliberately did not invite him.

Catching Chen Xiaocai’s darting eyes from his peripheral vision, Lu Lin felt mischievous and purposely ignored the child.

Lu Lin looked at Chen Xiaomai and asked warmly, “Is it good?”

Chen Xiaomai nodded, his face beaming with happiness. “It’s delicious.”

Seeing Chen Xiaomai’s reaction, Chen Xiaocai mentally cursed his foolish brother repeatedly. His little brother was such an idiot, whoever fed him became his best friend. He’d been completely won over by that coward.

Chen Xiaomi entered the house after delivering the pheasant.

“Would you like some porridge? There’s plenty in the pot,” Lu Lin warmly greeted Chen Xiaomi upon his return.

Seeing Chen Xiaomai’s half-finished bowl, Chen Xiaomi realized he was hungry too. He scooped a small bowl for himself and quickly slurped it down while standing by the stove.

A gleam flashed in Chen Xiaomi’s eyes, revealing pleasant surprise.

He didn’t expect that yams in porridge could taste so good. He didn’t believe Lu Lin when he said earth sticks were delicious.

After finishing one bowl, Chen Xiaomi filled another and drank it down, finally feeling somewhat satisfied.

The warm, thick rice porridge in his stomach gave him an indescribable feeling of contentment.

From the side, Chen Xiaocai watched, hesitating to speak.

Chen Xiaomi glanced at Chen Xiaocai and said, “Xiaocai, this tastes really good! I didn’t expect the coward to be such a good cook.”

Chen Xiaocai: “…” Is it really that delicious? He hadn’t tried it yet.

“Is it really that good?” Chen Xiaocai mumbled.

Chen Xiaomi asked with confusion, “You haven’t tried it yet?”

Chen Xiaocai blushed, but he didn’t explain. He simply scooped himself a bowl of porridge and drank it.

“It’s delicious!” Chen Xiaocai exclaimed in surprise. “I can’t believe earth sticks can be prepared this way. But how did that coward Lu Lin know? Nobody digs up yams in these parts!”

Chen Xiaocai’s mind began working quickly. Did the Lu family know yams could be eaten this way? Did they know but choose not to tell anyone?

Chen Xiaocai thought that if he knew this secret, he wouldn’t go around telling everyone either. After all, food was scarce in winter, and if too many people found out, there might be none left to dig up.

Chen Xiaocai secretly made up his mind to dig up more yams. Grain cost money, but yams just required some digging. They could save wherever possible. Chen Xiaocai understood the importance of frugal housekeeping.

“Gege, the rice in this porridge seems different,” Chen Xiaocai commented after a few sips.

Chen Xiaomi hadn’t enjoyed such delicious porridge in a long time and had been drinking too quickly to notice. After tasting it more carefully, he looked confused.

“It seems like there’s refined rice mixed in. Where did the refined rice come from? Could cooking brown rice with yams somehow turn it into white rice?”

Chen Xiaocai rolled his eyes. How could that be possible?

“Maybe it’s his special cooking technique,” Chen Xiaomi suggested. “I’ve heard that skilled cooks in wealthy households can make ordinary food taste amazing. I never expected him to be such a good cook. Strange to find a man with such cooking skills, isn’t it?”

In this era of male superiority, men generally stayed away from kitchen work. Cooking was considered women’s work, so Lu Lin’s cooking skills genuinely surprised Chen Xiaomi.

The original owner of Lu Lin’s body couldn’t cook at all. His mother had always done the cooking for the family.

Lu Lin’s cooking skills were actually quite ordinary. He just had more knowledge and wasn’t stingy with ingredients.

Chen Xiaocai pouted, “This porridge is very salty! He probably used a lot of salt. We’ll need to buy more salt now. What a wasteful thing.”

Chen Xiaomi frowned, feeling somewhat worried. With all this oil and salt being used, his new husband seemed expensive to maintain. He would need to work harder to earn more money.

Chen Xiaocai glanced at the salt jar and felt confused. There’s still so much left? I thought it was almost empty. And this salt is so fine. It looked like the kind rich families in town used. We only had coarse salt before!