Meng Xiaozhi Sugar Core

"This is it!" Teacher Song was directing, "Don't litter randomly. All garbage must be recycled. Our classmates should picnic together as much as possible, and don't mix with students from other classes. When we go back, we can also see which class has left the most plastic garbage!"

"Okay~" We agreed, took the items we brought from the car, and walked towards the riverbed.

"Let's choose this place!" Tang Xin took the lead and led us down the river bank and came to a relatively flat place.

"I think it's okay. Let's take out the things first, and you light the fire first!" I said to Jiang Yu.

"Oh..." He didn't say much. He just unpacked the barbecue grill from the box and started to build the barbecue grill.

"The other girls, please prepare the picnic blanket, tableware, ingredients and other things~" I assigned the remaining team members to do the work.

"Xiao Meng, what are you going to do?" Tang Xin asked me curiously.

"Secret~" I put my finger on my lips and made a hushing expression.

I think the soul of a picnic is roasting sweet potatoes! I remember when I lived in the countryside, my father would always take me to the fields to roast sweet potatoes. I will never forget the taste of roasted sweet potatoes. The essence of roasting sweet potatoes is that they must be roasted over charcoal after the firewood is burned out, so you have to find some firewood.

After finishing the group's work, I ran to the small forest by the river to pick up dead branches and leaves, sticks, or some bamboo pieces. These things are very easy to find on the mountain now, and it only takes about ten minutes to pick up a large bundle.

My classmates couldn't help but stop what they were doing when they saw me coming down the mountain with a large bundle of firewood.

"Li Xiaomeng? You..." Teacher Song, who was sitting next to me and browsing his phone, also noticed me and his jaw dropped in shock.

"Hey~" I threw all the firewood on the ground and turned to look at the six people standing there in a daze.

"What are you standing there for? Where's the fire?" I asked curiously. How come after more than ten minutes, the charcoal fire in the barbecue grill hasn't been lit yet?

"The fire...is not lit." Jiang Yu didn't dare look me in the eye, "The lighter can't light the charcoal I bought."

Seeing that I was about to get angry, Zhang Xueyan quickly came out to smooth things over: "It's really not Jiang Yu's fault. The charcoal we bought seemed to be a little damp and couldn't be lit."

"We tried to ignite it with paper, but it didn't seem to work." Tang Xin followed.

"Oh, okay, okay. Fortunately, I expected that you wouldn't be able to start a fire." I shook my head helplessly. In fact, I had already made a plan in my mind. It was really too much to ask these kids who grew up in a forest of steel and concrete to start a fire.

"Let me do it~" I picked up a few pieces of pine wood from the pile of firewood.

"Look at this kind of wood and break it first." I gestured and broke the small wooden stick in my hand into two ends. "You can see that there are relatively sharp and small structures at the break. We can just use a lighter to light this part first."

Under my guidance, the small pine wood firewood was quickly lit.

"Wow~" the team members shouted in surprise.

"You have to act quickly now. Find a larger piece of wood and put it on top. Remember to place it at an angle to leave space for air circulation at the bottom~"

After one minute, the firewood will be burning. Then put the charcoal on the firewood and the barbecue charcoal will be lit smoothly.

"The advantage of doing it this way is that there won't be any flying paper ash that contaminates the food after the paper is ignited, and there won't be any paper blocking the grill's vents, causing incomplete combustion and causing smoke." I looked at the grill with satisfaction and explained to everyone, "Because the firewood will turn into charcoal after it burns."

"Wow, Xiaomeng is so awesome!" Tang Xin was the first one to come over to flatter her, her eyes full of stars.

Even though it took quite a bit of time, our group was still the first in the class to light the charcoal.

"Are all the ingredients ready?" I turned around and asked.

"Alright, alright!" Zhang Xueyan came over with a large pot of red meat. "I just started marinating it. Now it's well seasoned. Let's start grilling it!"

As I watched the girls busy putting the meat on the grill, I built a small stove with small stones and started a small fire.

"I'm sorry..." Jiang Yu walked to my side at some point, lowered his head and apologized to me softly.

"Sorry? Why are you saying sorry to me?" I didn't look at him and continued to make a fire.

"It is my fault."

"What went wrong?" I stood up and dusted off my hands.

"You shouldn't have done that."

"It's too late to say anything, you know? Jiang Yu." I shook my head, "Fulfill your promise and don't let me look down on you again. Go help the girls and don't come over to cause trouble for me."

"Oh..." He ran away happily.

"Here~ Xiaomeng's!" Tang Xin chewed on a skewer of meat and handed me the other skewer of barbecued meat. "We made you a skewer of the best ones~"

"Thank you~" I smiled with relief. It turns out that being a girl is better!

However, when I took a bite of the meat and tasted it carefully, I found that... well... there was a bit too much salt...

-

I’ve been feeling a bit annoyed lately, a bit annoyed!

Chapter 2 Picnic ()

The essence of roasting sweet potatoes is to use charcoal fire that has been burned by fierce fire. Place sweet potatoes of similar size evenly in the middle of the charcoal fire, and cover them with red charcoal around them, so that each sweet potato is evenly bathed in the charcoal fire. And keep burning pine wood on the charcoal fire to replenish the burned charcoal. But be careful not to burn the fire too strong, otherwise the sweet potatoes will be burned easily. Controlling the heat is also of utmost importance.

The reason for using pine wood is that it emits a unique pine scent when burning, which makes the sweet potatoes smell better when eaten. If you don't like the smell of pine, you can consider using bamboo as the main fuel, which will also have a bamboo scent.

"Xiao Meng, have you burned enough wood to burn such a small hill?" Tang Xin looked at the pile of charcoal in front of me and found it a little funny.

"Hahaha, yes, I didn't expect it to be so big!" After all, it is indeed difficult to roast 7 sweet potatoes.

"Come and have something to eat? You must be hungry too?" Tang Xin grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the barbecue grill.

"Ah, Li Xiaomeng, come and try this!" The chef was Yuan Weiting, "I put too much seasoning in the dish just now."

"Oh, thank you." Tang Xin and I each took a skewer of pork tenderloin and started to bite it gently.

"Hmm! It tastes good this time! It's delicious! The flavor of the seasoning is just right, and it doesn't cover up the taste of the meat itself. The tenderness is also relatively perfect." I nodded with satisfaction, "Is Yuan Weiting good at cooking?"

"Well, Dad is not here, so I have to cook for Mom." Yuan Weiting nodded.

"Oh, so that's it." My smile froze, and I touched someone's sore spot again.

"It's okay, Li Xiaomeng." She chuckled, "I got over it a long time ago. I think cooking is really a happy thing. Every time I cook, I feel happy both physically and mentally."

"Me too!" Hearing her say that, I immediately became excited, "I also love cooking~"

"Really!"

Seeing Yuan Weiting and I chatting enthusiastically, Tang Xin stood aside like an inflated pufferfish, with her cheeks puffed up so round!

"I can cook too!" she interrupted unwillingly.

"Oh~ Tang Xin can do it too?" Zhang Xueyan said in surprise.

"Of course!" She nodded confidently, "I can make scrambled eggs with tomatoes!"

"Hahahaha..." For a moment, the team members around couldn't help but burst into laughter, leaving Tang Xin alone with a red face.

"What's wrong? Scrambled eggs with tomatoes is not a dish!"

"Yes, yes, yes~ My Tang Xin is the best." If she continued to make trouble, I was worried that Tang Xin's self-esteem would be hurt, so I quickly stood up to comfort her.

"That's more like it!" Tang Xin nodded with satisfaction and took my arm. To others, this was a normal action between girls, but in my eyes, it seemed a bit intimate, and my face flushed slightly.

"Let Teacher Song tell you quietly what your group is grilling?" At this time, Teacher Song put his hands behind his back, stretched his head and looked at our barbecue grill.

"Chicken wings, grilled steak, cartilage, chicken gizzards, corn, eggplant..." Teacher Song counted them one by one, "It's very rich~"

"Can I have a taste?" Teacher Song's eyes were shining, and he looked so greedy that he was almost drooling.

"Of course~" Everyone nodded collectively.

Teacher Song looked around and finally chose a string of chicken cartilage and started to taste it in small bites.

"Delicious! Give me another one!" Teacher Song stopped pretending to be a lady and picked up another string and put it into her mouth.

"Eh? Teacher Song! That string belongs to Bai Xilu!"

“Ahahahaha…really?”

The greatest joy of a picnic or barbecue is that everyone participates in the process of making food. Whether it is success or failure, the joy it brings is real. In the tense days of high school, it is very rare to have such an opportunity to relax. Although, this joy is short-lived.

"Xiao Meng! Do you want to go catch fish in the water?" Zhang Xueyan was the craziest one among the girls. She was obviously no longer satisfied with the barbecue and was ready to challenge more exciting activities.

"Catching fish?" I was shocked. "In the water?"

"Yes! Look over there, there are so many fish!" Zhang Xueyan shouted, pointing to a small stream not far away.

"Your shoes will get wet, do you want to go into the water?" I frowned and said a little worriedly.

"Don't be afraid, I'll just stand on the shore and fish it out! Look what I brought!" Zhang Xueyan took out a small net bag from somewhere.

? ? You can prepare this in advance? I couldn't help but twitch a few times, "But this fishing net is too small."

That’s right, Zhang Xueyan was holding a small net bag that contained an old whale from a small fish tank.

"Just wait for my good news!" Zhang Xueyan said and ran to the stream to fish alone.

When she left, Jiang Yu followed her. I sighed, not because I was worried about her safety, after all, the water here was probably only up to her ankles. I sighed, it turns out there are girls who are more masculine than boys.

Another half an hour later, a fragrance gradually emanated from the charcoal pile nearby. The sweet potatoes were almost cooked! I ran over excitedly, poked the charcoal fire with a wooden stick, and rolled out seven black sweet potatoes.

"Wow, Xiaomeng, is this the sweet potato we bought the day before yesterday?" Tang Xin had been watching me from the side, and she was a little surprised when I took out the sweet potato.

"Yup!"

"Ah, it's black outside, is it still edible?" Tang Xin sniffed, "It smells quite fragrant."

"Of course you can! Don't be greedy when the time comes~"

I picked up a sweet potato, but it was obviously still very hot as it had just been taken out of the charcoal pile. It hurt so much that I had to pour it from my left hand to my right hand, trying to cool it down with air.

"Ouch!" The sweet potato finally fell to the ground. I was so scared that I quickly squatted down to check to see if it was broken.

Fortunately, the outer layer of the sweet potato had been carbonized due to the high temperature, and after falling, the hard and brittle shell cracked. The high-temperature charcoal on the outer layer also scattered, and I could barely hold it in my hands.

As I gently broke the sweet potato, white steam came out of the golden sweet potato, and the fragrance spread everywhere. The classmates a few meters away smelled this unusually delicious aroma and gathered around us.

"Come, try it!" I dug out a piece of sweet potato. It looked like a piece of watermelon, but the skin was black and the flesh was yellow.

At first, Tang Xin couldn't eat it, but the fragrance was like the devil's temptation, which made her determined to take the first bite. As her mouth chewed slightly, her eyes widened at a speed visible to the naked eye!

"What is this!" she said in disbelief. "What does this smell like! It's so sweet!"

Seeing Tang Xin like this, the classmates naturally scrambled to eat it.

"Don't be in a hurry, everyone has a share~" I picked up the sweet potatoes from the ground one by one, broke them apart and divided them among them, "Don't be in a hurry to eat them, they are very hot, and you have to be careful when you pick them up, there may be small sparks that have not been extinguished."

Jiang Yu seemed to be hesitant to speak, and it was obvious that he wanted to eat too.

"Here, this is yours." I gave him a sweet potato helplessly.

"Hehehe..." He grinned.