Chapter 135: Chapter 135: Corn Steamed Bun
Ryder didn’t always stay over at Kaelen’s house, and the two little ones couldn’t speak yet, so they couldn’t demand their Papa let the little mouse sleep over.
Thus, since their meeting that day, Edward hadn’t seen them again for the next few days. He would often act spoiled to demand berries, then secretly hide a few under his pillow. Afterward, he would ask to go for a walk to collect dry leaves.
Every day, except for his fixed sleeping times at noon and night, Edward’s other naps were all feigned. He tried hard to learn how to correctly draw the array on the leaves; only after achieving complete mastery did he begin to infuse it with his spiritual power.
Infusing spiritual power into an array was by no means a simple task, and Edward frequently ended up crumbling the dry leaves into dust.
On the afternoon of the third day since Edward began probing the servants’ outing schedule, he finally succeeded in drawing the invisibility charm array. As the final stroke was completed, an ancient array flashed with golden light and sank into the leaf’s veins. Looking at the flawless, pristine leaf before him, Edward raised his head high in pride.
He was indeed the son of the two greatest geniuses on the Beastman Continent; an array that took others years to learn took him a mere three days. Hahaha!
Despite his smugness, Edward didn’t forget the main task. He tentatively placed the leaf against his chest, then looked down to observe the transformation. Sure enough, after applying the leaf, it emitted a faint golden glow, and his arms and legs gradually faded into transparency.
Edward waited for about a minute before quietly slipping out of bed. He strolled back and forth right in front of the servants. The servants remained standing rigidly, staring straight ahead, completely unresponsive. Edward then ran over to a highly polished stone in the room and peered into it for a while, seeing absolutely no reflection of himself.
He shifted into his beast form, squeezed through the crack in the wooden door, and casually slithered outside. The guards and servants were entirely oblivious to his presence. Edward hurried to the backyard kitchen and stole a small bone knife and a flat piece of wood. The chefs were busy preparing dinner for the Temple Master and the two Holy Sons, completely unaware that their kitchen tools were suddenly missing a sharp bone knife meant for peeling fruit.
After successfully swiping the items, Edward deliberately slithered a lap right in front of the head chef. Seeing that the man showed no sign of noticing him, Edward breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the items he held also turned invisible; otherwise, people might think there was a ghost, drawing the attention of that Sub-Beast.
Currently unsure of the depth of the Temple Master’s strength, Edward didn’t dare to wander near his residence.
After securing the bone knife and flat wood, Edward retraced his path back. He wasn’t in a hurry to remove the leaf, wanting to test how long the effect of his drawn array would last.
Edward sneaked back into his room, hid the bone knife and the wood in a crevice beneath the bed, covered them with an animal skin cushion, and waited silently. About twenty minutes later, the array gradually lost its effect, and Edward’s body returned to normal.
Edward estimated the duration, guessing the charm’s effect probably lasted around an hour and a half. For an array drawn with berry juice and leaves to last an hour and a half was considered very long. If he wanted it to last as long as his Papa’s invisibility array, he would have to carve it onto wood.
However, carving an array was different from drawing one; it consumed a massive amount of spiritual power. With his current level of spiritual power, he could carve at most two to three per week.
Drawing the arrays this afternoon had tired him out a bit, so Edward decided to take a nap to regain his strength; tonight, he would pull an all-nighter to carve the array. Fortunately, afraid that he and Uncle Wofu might be scared, the torches in their room were always kept lit. Edward could absolutely rely on that faint light to carve his array.
Edward let out a yawn, burrowed under his blanket, and snored loudly.
Meanwhile, in Crimson, after guiding the clansmen on how to plant the seeds and saplings brought back, Kaelen looked at the fragrant, ripe pineapples and the cassava tubers on the ground, contemplating how to use them. Since Aaron had only brought them back as samples, there wasn’t much of either. The bananas, on the other hand, fearing they would spoil, had all been eaten by the merchant caravan members on their way back.
With cassava available as a catalyst, Kaelen decided to make buns using cornmeal and sorghum flour, filled with stir-fried glass noodles, wood ear mushrooms, and Vietnamese Bantam eggs.
First, he peeled the cassava, cut it into sections, soaked the peeled cassava in water, and then placed them into a steamer basket to cook. He tossed the Vietnamese Bantam eggs directly into the boiling water beneath the steamer basket to cook two items at once.
While waiting for the cassava and partridge eggs to cook, he soaked the glass noodles and wood ear mushrooms in warm water to let them expand. For the meat, he selected a half-lean, half-fat cut, minced it finely, and marinated it with Sima seed powder, fish sauce, and mushroom extract.
By this time, the glass noodles and wood ear mushrooms had softened. He scooped both out, chopped them finely, then minced them just like the meat, and mixed everything evenly with finely chopped scallions.
Next, he melted some pork fat in a pan and tossed the meat in to stir-fry. When the surface of the meat slightly firmed up, he added the wood ear mushrooms, glass noodles, and scallions, stir-frying until their fragrant aroma bloomed. He set the filling aside. By now, the sweet aroma of the cassava in the steamer basket wafted out. Kaelen lifted the lid and used chopsticks to pinch a piece of cassava to test its doneness. Seeing the cassava break apart easily under the chopsticks, revealing its pure white starchy interior, he turned off the heat and removed the steamer basket.
Using a ladle, he scooped the partridge eggs from the pot and soaked them in cold water to make them easier to peel. He brought out the cornmeal and sorghum flour. He removed the tough cores of the cassava and used a pestle to mash it smoothly. Next, he poured the cornmeal and sorghum flour into a large basin, added boiling water at 100 degrees Celsius, and quickly stirred it with a wooden ladle. The boiling water partially cooked the cornmeal and sorghum flour, releasing a sweet fragrance and helping the dough become more cohesive.
Then, he added the mashed cassava into the dough basin, coated his hands with a thin layer of fat, and began kneading. Kaelen had never strictly followed recipes when cooking; he always estimated the measurements himself. The specific ratio was about 500g of mashed cassava mixed with 200g of cornmeal, 100g of sorghum flour, and 150ml of boiling water.
Very quickly, the loose mixture came together into a golden, smooth dough with excellent elasticity. Kaelen covered it tightly with a wooden lid to let the dough rest. While waiting for the dough to rest, he went to peel the partridge eggs.
Vietnamese Bantams were originally wild jungle fowl, later captured and domesticated by the tribe. Partridge eggs were very small, about the size of a quail egg, but they tasted incredibly fragrant. After peeling a whole basin of eggs, Kaelen set them aside along with the meat filling. He lifted the lid to check the dough’s resting state.
Unlike wheat flour, the dough mixed from cornmeal and sorghum didn’t rise significantly, but when Kaelen pressed it, he felt a fairly good elasticity. He poked a hole into the surface of the dough with his finger, and the hole remained exactly as it was without changing.
He took the dough out and began making the buns. First, he dusted the cutting board with some dry cornmeal, pinched off a piece of rested dough the size of a chicken egg, placed it on top, and used a wooden rolling pin to flatten it. Once one wrapper was done, he set it aside and continued to the next until the dough in the basin was entirely used up.
Next, he placed a wrapper in his palm, scooped a spoonful of the meat, glass noodle, and mushroom filling, placed a peeled partridge egg on top, and carefully pinched the edges of the dough together in a circular shape. He gently pressed his finger down to flatten the excess dough on top, then placed the finished bun on a dong leaf to prevent it from sticking to the steamer basket, and placed it inside.
He continued until all the wrappers were used up. There was a little filling left over, which Kaelen decided to sacrifice straight to his own stomach. (=]])
The dough and filling yielded over a hundred buns. Kaelen had to use a three-tiered steamer basket and steam them in three batches. Keeping one basket for his own family to eat, Kaelen divided the remaining two baskets equally, wrapped them in oil paper, and delivered them to the homes of the department heads and the tribe’s elders.
After finishing the distribution, there was one final bag left. Kaelen brought it over to Nyx, taking the opportunity to pick up his two little ones at the same time.
The two little ones had already been bathed clean and fed full by Nyx, yet they still couldn’t resist staring fixedly at the oil paper bag. Kaelen smiled and said,
"There are still more at home. When we get back, Papa will get some for you to eat."
These buns weren’t as sticky as normal corn cakes; as long as they were torn into small pieces, the two children could eat them. Hearing their Papa say that, Finnick and Oliver were overjoyed.
However, as they passed by the preschool, the two brats started acting up, constantly pointing in that direction and gesturing to Kaelen. Kaelen smiled helplessly and walked over, but just like every other day, Ryder had already been picked up by Weston the moment classes ended.
The two brats’ faces fell, silently cursing Weston in their hearts. This uncle had way too much free time, didn’t he?! Why pick the kid up so early for no reason!
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Author’s note:
Everyone, do not eat eggs that have been left in the refrigerator for a long time. My husband did not listen to my advice and insisted on eating the eggs given by grandmother. Grandmother had kept the eggs in the fridge for at least three months.
Afterward, he suffered from a stomachache and bloating, which has been going on for three days now. Today, I am at the hospital taking care of two people at the same time, and I am exhausted to death.
