Quick Transmigration: The Supporting Female Lead Stays Out of It - Chapter 11: Chef 10

At noon, everyone indeed ate the stir‑fried hazel grouse and the braised rabbit meat. There were nine people in total, which was originally not enough to eat, but Shopkeeper Lin’s skill was simply amazing. She made the two dishes very flavorful, and a spoonful of the vegetables mixed with a bowl of rice was completely sufficient. After the meal, a layer of red soup still floated in the ceramic basin, and Luo Tietou and Zhao Liu immediately took out their steamed buns and ate them up, dipping them in the soup bit by bit.

“Comfortable, really comfortable!” Luo Tietou lay on the grass and rubbed his belly. If he could be with Shopkeeper Lin on every task in the future, he would be willing to be out and about every day of the three hundred and sixty‑five days. That wouldn’t be called rushing around, that would be called enjoying life.

“One hazel grouse is still a little too few, not enough to eat. How about we go hunt for a few more later, and let Shopkeeper Lin cook them for us tonight?” Zhao Liu said in a low voice.

“I think it’s a good idea. Since we’ve already hunted them, Shopkeeper Lin has to cook, even if she doesn’t like to cook the same dishes again. Wild game must be killed and cooked fresh to taste good.” Luo Tietou kept smacking his lips, apparently still savoring the taste of the lunch just now.

The handsome man glanced at them and didn’t say anything, obviously acquiescing.

After resting for a short while, the convoy set off again. When they reached a dense forest, Zhao Liu and Luo Tietou heard the sound of small animals running through the grass, and immediately took up their bows and arrows and chased after them. They had already made up their minds to hunt more wild game to have a good meal in the evening.

The handsome man just turned his head to look, but did not go with them. After walking for a while, he gradually felt that something was wrong. He was just about to tell the carman to slow down when an arrow shot the horse pulling the cart, and startled the other horses. Some of the horses reared up, and some whinnied, and suddenly everything was in chaos. Fortunately, the carman pulled the reins in time to calm the frightened horses, otherwise Shopkeeper Lin would have suffered a great loss.

But the fact that the goods were not damaged did not mean that the situation would be better. More than a dozen burly men emerged from the dense forest, each holding a machete and a bow and arrow. At a glance, they were habitual bandits.

The handsome man went to Shopkeeper Lin’s carriage at the first moment, and lowered his voice, “Don’t resist, go with them first. Zhao Liu and Tietou are still behind, they will find a way to save us.” Although he was highly skilled in martial arts, it would not be a problem to deal with more than a dozen bandits, but there were many people in the convoy, and he couldn’t protect them all.

Lin Dan tapped on the carriage window with her fingertips, indicating that she understood.

The group of people, along with the carriages, were all pulled up the mountain by the bandits. A small mountain stronghold was built in the mountains, with five or six adobe houses surrounded by wooden fences, which looked somewhat crude. This was obviously hastily built by the fleeing bandits and had not yet taken shape, but if no one governed them, it would definitely become a major problem in the area in three or five years.

Lin Dan’s hands were tied with ropes, and she stumbled forward, calculating the number of bandits as she walked. The five or six adobe houses couldn’t accommodate many people. Coupled with what she had seen along the way, this was just a small den of twenty or thirty people. There were also some women who had been robbed and were working, and their faces were full of numbness. After being escorted into the largest adobe house, a large, fierce‑looking man immediately came up and asked in a gruff voice, “Did you get anything good this time?”

“Damn it, they’re all pickles and dried vegetables, not worth a penny!” A bandit spat, and then added, “Fortunately, we’ve kidnapped three little beauties, the brothers will be in luck tonight.”

The bandit leader was a little disappointed at first. When he saw Lin Dan and the other three, he immediately gave a lecherous laugh, “Good, good, good. Although their skin isn’t white enough, but their figures are quite attractive!”

Lin Dan was out and about all year round, so her figure was naturally very healthy. Her slender waist was tightly cinched by a cloth belt, making her chest even fuller, and her hips were perky, which was completely different from the current popular aesthetic of unhealthy thinness, but it was exceptionally charming. She had seen a lot of big waves, so she was still calm at this time, but her servants were all angry and shouted, so they were quickly gagged and stepped on the ground.

The handsome man looked up at the bandit leader, and a dark light quickly flashed through his eyes.

Lin Dan gave everyone a reassuring look, and finally slowly said, “Leader may not know, but my ancestors were imperial chefs, and I also learned some skills from my father. As long as the leader can spare my servants, I am willing to stay and cook for the brothers.”

She naturally wouldn’t expect these vicious thugs to let people go. The reason she said this was just to divert their attention. For ordinary people, imperial chefs were people they couldn’t get in touch with in their lifetime. If they happened to meet them in reality, wouldn’t they be curious? As long as they were curious, Lin Dan could buy more time for everyone. With time, there was a chance to escape.

“You are an imperial chef?” The bandit leader’s lecherous smile indeed subsided, and he looked at her with surprise.

“My master was an imperial chef, and my father also worked as a chef in Yongding Marquis’s Mansion.” Lin Dan explained.

This family had served the emperor and also served the Yongding Marquis, and those two were people that others could not even dream of! The bandit leader’s gaze at Lin Dan gradually changed, and after thinking for a moment, he said, “How do I know if you are telling the truth or not? It just so happens that two cows were just robbed in the village, you kill the cows and make a dinner for us. As long as everyone is satisfied with the meal, I can consider letting your people go.”

“Then I will thank the leader first.” Lin Dan cupped her hands and said, “Killing a cow is quite a lot of work, so I ask the leader to let my two maids help me.” If Shao Yao and Dujuan were left behind, she didn’t know if there would be some bandits who couldn’t restrain themselves and would bully them. Lin Dan couldn’t be at ease.

Killing a cow was such a dirty and tiring job that the bandits naturally didn’t want to do it. In addition, Shao Yao and Dujuan were only twelve or thirteen years old, and were small and not very tall, so there was no threat. So the people were quickly released. The rest of the people were tied up and thrown into the woodshed.

After the bandits left, Xiao Zhu arched to the handsome man like a worm, and whispered, “This big brother, do you think Zhao Liu and Tietou can find our tracks? When will they arrive?”

The man lay quietly on the ground, his eyelids slightly closed, and his voice was low, “They can find them, and we wait until nightfall.”

Xiao Zhu was still a little panicked. He raised his neck and looked out the window, murmuring, “I don’t know how Shopkeeper Lin and them are doing now.”

Lin Dan was doing well now. She was squatting on the ground, carefully sharpening a sharp knife, and from time to time, she tested the sharpness of the blade with the tip of her finger, her expression very serious. The two bandits were originally staring at her like a tiger watching its prey. Seeing that she was only busy starting a fire, boiling water, and sharpening a knife, and hadn’t said a word to the two little maids in between, nor had she secretly peeked at the surrounding environment, they gradually relaxed their vigilance and sat aside to chat.

The two cows were very strong, and their coats were also well cared for. They were obviously the workhorses robbed from the foot of the mountain.

After Lin Dan sharpened the knife, she walked around the two cows a few times, touching them up and down, seeming to be choosing the target. When the two bandits saw that she was finally ready to slaughter the cow, they quickly gathered around to watch the fun. Slaughtering a cow was a technical job. It was often impossible for three or five strong men to work together, not to mention a woman.

The two bandits didn’t say they would help, just stood aside and sneered, their eyes full of malice.

But soon, Lin Dan’s actions made their hearts grow cold. She chose one of the cows and told the two little maids to lead the other one away, and covered its eyes with a cloth strip to prevent it from being stimulated and going crazy. Then, she plunged a knife into the cow’s neck, severing the jugular vein, and immediately stepped back, and scooped a ladle of water to slowly rinse the bloody tip of the knife.

Five meters away from her, the sturdy draft animal had slowly fallen, without even having time to call out, and a large amount of bl00d spurted out of its neck, quickly dyeing the ground red.

The two bandits were stunned. Lin Dan didn’t stop. After the bl00d was drained, she scalded the cowhide with boiling water and scraped off the hair. Finally, there were still some hair stumps that couldn’t be scraped clean. The two little maids used a red-hot iron rod to burn them, and the smell of burnt skin and flesh was accompanied by a hissing sound that made the scalp tingle.

After completely cleaning the cow hair, Lin Dan plunged the tip of the knife into the cow’s belly, and slit it open extremely neatly. The internal organs instantly flowed all over the ground, and she put them into ceramic basins by category, and also cut the cow’s limbs from the joints. She dissected the cow in three strokes, not more than an hour, and the knife was both ruthless and precise.

The two bandits no longer dared to look down on her at all. They stood outside the pool of bl00d, shrinking their hands and feet, and thought at the same time: this kind of woman should continue to be a cook. She can’t be put into bed, otherwise they wouldn’t know when they would be killed.

“Two big brothers, how many people are there in your village?” Lin Dan put the last piece of beef into the ceramic basin and asked seemingly unintentionally.

“Why are you asking this?” The two bandits felt their hearts growing hair, and were naturally more wary of her.

“Only when I know how many people there are can I cook, otherwise there won’t be enough for everyone to eat.” Lin Dan wiped the bl00d spots on her face with a handkerchief, and her expression was very calm.

This reason was very sufficient. The two bandits counted in their hearts and replied, “There are twenty or thirty mouths, cook more.”

Lin Dan nodded, and didn’t ask any more questions. She took the beef into the kitchen with the two little maids, cut it into two‑inch squares, marinated it with soy sauce, cooking wine, flying salt and other seasonings, and also processed the cow’s trotters, calf cover, ribs, cow bones, and other ingredients one by one, and set them aside for later use.

“Master, how do we escape?” The two little maids couldn’t hold back, and whispered to her ear.

“Make this meal first.” Lin Dan was seriously peeling the garlic, her expression calm.

The two little maids were helpless no matter how panicked they were, so they had to accept their fate and go to wash the side dishes.

After one hour, the beef was marinated. Lin Dan poured half a jar of cooking oil into the large pot, heated it to eighty percent, and then slowly added the beef. She used the spatula to stir‑fry it, and once the meat was half‑cooked, she scooped it out and set it aside. She poured out the remaining oil, washed the pot, added fresh oil, and put in ginger slices and scallions to stir‑fry until fragrant, then added the half‑cooked beef, and added soy sauce and star anise, continuing to stir‑fry. After a quarter of an hour, she added water and boiled it, and when the soup came to a boil, she removed the excess firewood from the stove and simmered it over low heat.

When the braised beef was almost done, she washed the beef tendons, cut them into strips, and put them in a pot to fry. She planned to make another dish of braised beef tendons. The two little maids were completely convinced. They never expected that their master would still be focused on cooking even after entering the bandit’s den. They didn’t know what she was thinking, whether life was more important or cooking was more important?

TL notes: Changed arc name from cook to chef as it’s more professional and fits better for our mc who has trained super hard.