Sword drawn from the constellations, poison as its edge.

Chapter 23 Dog Peeing

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!"

The kitchen was filled with black smoke, and Azi was running around in circles, clearly panicked.

As soon as Jiang Mingzhe entered the kitchen, he was almost knocked over by the smell of cooking oil. He covered his mouth and nose and looked down to see a greasy iron plate on the stove, with a large, black object on it, billowing smoke.

Did the fried dough stick burn?

The kitchen connects to the backyard. Jiang Mingzhe quickly pushed open the window and door, grabbed a wooden spatula and scooped the burnt pancake out the window. He then moved the iron plate away from the stove, picked up a fire fan, and fanned the black smoke out of the window and doorway.

Seeing how decisive he was, and then looking at her own helpless state, Azi felt ashamed and quickly shifted the blame: "It's all your fault. If I hadn't been in such a hurry to save you, how could you have gotten burned?"

"Yes, yes, I am flattered by your concern, senior sister."

Jiang Mingzhe quickly accepted the favor, and Azi finally smiled and said, "Hmph, you're sensible."

After saying that, he pointed to several sticky, wet lumps of dough on the wooden table next to him: "Luckily I prepared a lot, enough for us to eat. Hehe, my dog ​​pee is really delicious."

Dog urinating on his face – this was the first meal Jiang Mingzhe had after arriving in the Northwest with the inspection team.

It's basically just making fried dough cakes; you can use wheat flour or barley flour.

If you follow the modern method, you need to mix baking soda, vegetable oil, and sugar into the flour, then slowly pour in boiling water, knead it into a dough, roll it out, spread oil on it, sprinkle bean flour on it, roll it into a long strip, cut it into small pieces, roll them into round pancakes, heat a pan, brush oil on it, and start cooking, pouring oil on it and flipping it over from time to time.

Because people in Northwest China mostly use oil jugs and their stoves are high, the way women pour oil while making these pancakes, leaning to one side, resembles a dog urinating, hence the less-than-elegant name.

Jiang Mingzhe helped his parents cook since he was a child. After growing up, he lived alone and would cook for himself in his spare time. He was considered an unofficial disciple of a group of master chefs such as Douyin Lao Fan Gu and Uncle Xia. Although his cooking skills could not compare with those of a professional chef, they were far superior to those of A Zi.

Therefore, as soon as he saw the dough, he knew there was something wrong with it. He rolled up his sleeves and said, "Senior sister kindly saved me, how can I let you be busy? I'll wash my hands, senior sister can just wait to eat."

Azi exclaimed happily, "That's right! You said you can cook, but do you mean you can even cook dog pee?"

So, in this little girl's mind, cooking and making pancakes are not the same thing.

Jiang Mingzhe nodded, and Azi ran happily to the water vat, took off the ladle, scooped up a full amount, and slowly poured it into Jiang Mingzhe's hand.

Jiang Mingzhe's hands, having first crushed the little devil-faced spider and then torn Mingzhu's skin, had to be washed five times before he felt they were roughly clean.

Jiang Mingzhe had Azi fetch the wheat flour, then piled the sticky dough together, sprinkled some wheat flour on it, and started kneading. He kneaded for a while, then sprinkled some more flour on it. In no time, he had kneaded a smooth and slippery dough, which he then rolled out into a large sheet of dough.

Since Azi didn't have any bean flour, Jiang Mingzhe chopped some scallions, mixed them with soybean oil and salt, spread them evenly on the dough, rolled it up, cut it into pieces, and rolled it out. In no time, he made ten pancakes the size of plates.

By then, the iron plate had cooled down. Jiang Mingzhe took it to the backyard, used a bamboo brush to remove the burnt bits, rinsed it clean, and brought it back to the stove.

Seeing that he, a grown man, handled these kitchen tasks in an orderly manner, even more efficiently and skillfully than Zhui Fengzi, A Zi felt both admiration and joy.

She couldn't help but think to herself: Master often makes me help out in the canteen, and says that I don't know how to do women's work and that I will never get married in the future. Hmph, look how nimble Big Ginger is. It is clear that these jobs are better done by men. Alas, there are probably not many men in this world who are willing to work like Big Ginger.

But then I thought about it again, and that wasn't entirely true. My third senior brother, Zhui Fengzi, could also do that!

With that thought, Azi immediately pouted and shook her head. Even if it were of any use, she was so fat and ugly.

The fire in the stove was still burning. Jiang Mingzhe placed the iron plate on the stove opening and waited for it to heat up. Then he lifted the small oil bottle with its curved spout, poured some oil onto the iron plate, spread it with a spatula, and then cooked the pancakes, added oil, and flipped them over. After repeating this several times, the pancakes turned golden brown and smelled delicious.

Azi couldn't help but take a deep breath and exclaimed, "The dog pee you made smells so good!"

Jiang Mingzhe took a plate, filled it with fragrant pancakes, and placed it on the table: "Senior sister, you eat first, I'll make the rest."

Azi skipped over and sat down, about to start eating, but then stopped, got up and went back to Jiang Mingzhe's side: "Hmph, you're not my cook, I'm going to wait until you've finished cooking before we eat together." Jiang Mingzhe casually said, "The pancakes won't taste good if they get cold."

Unexpectedly, Azi was very stubborn: "Even if it doesn't taste good, I'll wait for you to eat it together."

Jiang Mingzhe's heart stirred, and he couldn't help but turn his head to look at her.

Azi's cheeks flushed instantly, realizing that her words were quite intimate, and she quickly tried to cover it up: "I... I meant that I actually don't like eating alone, I prefer to eat with everyone."

Jiang Mingzhe's eyes swept over the chopstick holder, where there was only one pair of chopsticks.

He sighed softly, said nothing more, and simply quickened his pace.

Before an incense stick could burn, ten pancakes were finished. The two sat facing each other, each using a chopstick to pick up a pancake, one for you and one for me, eating with great relish.

This was the first time Azi had ever eaten scallion oil and salt fried dog pee. She ate and praised it, her mind racing with ideas on how to get Jiang Mingzhe to cook every meal for her.

Jiang Mingzhe ate four pancakes and felt full. He drank some hot water and said, "Senior Sister, I have a question to ask you. Last night I practiced my internal energy..."

Before he could even voice his question, Azi's ears twitched, and she shouted, "Who dares to trespass on my property!"

He tossed aside the unfinished pancake, leaped up, and floated out the window like a purple cloud.

Before Jiang Mingzhe could react, he heard Azi exclaim in surprise. Jiang Mingzhe rushed into the backyard and saw Azi with a face full of joy, pointing at the wall and shouting, "Poisonous monkey! Poisonous monkey!"

By this time, the sky was already quite dark, but fortunately, the setting sun still had some glow. Jiang Mingzhe looked in the direction she was pointing and found a small monkey squatting on the wall, only slightly larger than an adult man's fist.

The monkey's fur was a mixture of gray and brown, with extremely large eyes that were staring intently at Azi and Jiang Mingzhe. The fur around its eyes was darker, making it look somewhat like a miniature panda. It was quite adorable and had no tail. It was tightly holding the burnt fried dough that Jiang Mingzhe had just thrown out the window.

Is that... a slow loris?

After a moment's examination, Jiang Mingzhe confirmed that it was indeed a slow loris.

He couldn't help but wonder. He remembered that these strangely shaped little monkeys should live in tropical and subtropical regions, and in China they were only found in the Yunnan-Guizhou area. How did they end up in Xingxiuhai?
Xingxiuhai is located within the territory of the Tubo Kingdom, which was later part of the QH Province. Obviously, it does not meet the requirements of the slow loris for its living environment.

"Do you know this monkey?" Jiang Mingzhe asked. Azi had just called it the Poison Monkey, so it wasn't just a random name.

Azi nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, this is a poisonous monkey. Don't be fooled by its stupid appearance, it's actually covered in poison. Master said that there's poisonous flesh in its armpits. If it licks the poisonous flesh and then bites you, you're doomed."

He glanced around, a sly look on his face, and tiptoed to Jiang Mingzhe's ear, saying, "This poisonous monkey was stolen from the Miao people by my master. Its venom isn't innate; it's acquired by eating too many centipedes and scorpions. To become even more poisonous, it seeks out the most venomous scorpions and centipedes to eat. No matter how powerful the scorpion or centipede, it meekly awaits its death upon seeing the poisonous monkey. My master specially brought it back so that the poisonous monkey could catch the most dangerous poisonous insects for him..."

Jiang Mingzhe's expression shifted, and he suddenly understood Azi's purpose in speaking so secretly.

He whispered, "I understand. Master accidentally let this monkey escape. Now you want to catch it and make it catch insects for you instead of returning it to Master."

Azi looked up at Jiang Mingzhe and after a moment said, "Then... will you tell Master about me?"

Jiang Mingzhe looked down and saw Azi staring at him fiercely, but her fierceness was not firm. Her eyelashes trembled slightly, revealing unease, fear, expectation, and hope.

He didn't say yes or no directly, but pondered for a moment before slowly saying, "Senior sister, as the saying goes, ignorance is no excuse. I'll raise this monkey and give it to you if it catches any poisonous insects. If Master finds out, I won't know it's his monkey. I can just return it to him. Master probably won't punish me."

"Wow! That's a great idea!"

Azi's eyes lit up instantly, and she instinctively grabbed Jiang Mingzhe's sleeve and shook it repeatedly: "Big Ginger, you're so smart! But—"

She looked at the little monkey on the wall and said with difficulty, "This poisonous monkey is covered in venom and climbs so high, how are we going to catch it?"

(End of this chapter)