Chapter 15: Garlic Spareribs!

The afternoon sun was just right, baking the messy pile of lumber in the Imperial Kitchen’s backyard until it was hot to the touch.

Su Mu had just finished installing a bolt on the broken door. Holding the chipped woodchopper, his gaze swept across the scrap wood scattered all over the courtyard.

He had time to kill anyway.

Since those two little gluttons showed up every day, he could hardly let an esteemed princess crouch by the woodpile watching him chop firewood day after day. It looked far too shabby.

Besides, the little girl was bursting with energy; without something to burn it off, she was bound to tear his stove apart sooner or later.

Su Mu picked out several evenly sized logs of mulberry wood, not even bothering to mark them with an ink line.

The blade rose and fell.

Wood shavings flew like snowflakes.

Under his God-tier knife skills, the rough bark peeled away in an instant, revealing the dense, pale-yellow grain beneath.

He planed, sanded, and cut the grooves.

Without a single nail, it held together purely by wood interlocking with wood.

In under an hour, a small slide about half a person tall stood in the shade at the base of the wall.

The chute had been carefully smoothed three times with fine sandpaper and buffed with a layer of lard, making it so slick that even a fly landing on it would do the splits.

Next to it, he used the leftover scraps to put together a simple swing set, hanging two sturdy hemp ropes with a wide wooden board suspended below.

Su Mu brushed the wood shavings from his hands, sank back into his recliner, and draped a cattail fan over his face.

He had only dozed off for a moment when the custom-made door bolt rattled loudly under a flurry of knocks.

“Big bwother! Open the door! It’s me!”

The little toddler voice had incredible penetrating power.

Su Mu leisurely got up and slid back the latch.

The moment the door opened a crack, Xiao Sizi shot in like a tiny cannonball, holding up two large peaches she had just pilfered from the Imperial Garden.

Li Lizhi followed behind, still carrying that exquisite food container. Today, however, she had changed into a simple, pale-pink court dress with her cuffs tied snugly, having apparently learned her lesson from dirtying her clothes last time.

“Big bwother, eat peaches!”

Xiao Sizi shoved the peaches into Su Mu’s arms, then spun around, ready to charge toward the stove.

Suddenly, the big contraption standing against the base of the wall caught her eye.

The little girl slammed on the brakes, her two small feet skidding and leaving two dirt streaks on the ground.

Tilting her head, she circled the slide twice in curiosity, reaching out to touch the slick wooden board.

“What kind of monstah is dis?”

Su Mu took a bite of a peach; it was crisp and sweet.

“A slide. Climb up, slide down. Try it yourself.”

Xiao Sizi eyed it skeptically.

Scrambling on all fours, she climbed the small platform that was only three steps high, sat at the top, and looked down.

It was a little high.

The little girl swallowed hard and looked back at Su Mu.

Su Mu leaned against the doorframe and gave her an encouraging nod of his chin.

Xiao Sizi took a deep breath, squeezed her eyes shut, and let go.

Whoosh!

Gravity and momentum sent the little meatball speeding down the slick wooden chute.

“Waaah!”

It was not a shriek of terror, but a cheer of pure excitement.

Xiao Sizi landed firmly on the ground. Before she even fully regained her balance, she scrambled up, her stubby little legs churning rapidly as she charged back toward the steps.

“Fun! Dis is so much fun!”

“One more time! Wheee!”

The courtyard was instantly filled with the little girl’s infectious laughter.

Standing to the side, Li Lizhi watched her sister play wildly, an unconscious smile creeping onto her lips.

Such unbridled joy was far too rare within the strictly regimented confines of the palace.

Her gaze fell upon the gently swaying swing beside it.

When she was young, before Imperial Father became emperor and they were still at the Prince of Qin Manor, there had been a swing just like this in the courtyard.

Back then, she did not need to put on the airs of Princess Changle, nor did she have to mind her etiquette at every waking moment.

As if drawn by an unseen force, Li Lizhi walked over and gently sat down.

The hemp ropes let out a soft creak.

Tapping the ground with the tips of her toes, she kicked off into a gentle swing.

The moment she rose into the air, the breeze brushed past her ears, and the hem of her skirt billowed in the wind.

Closing her eyes, Li Lizhi felt as light as air; the taut string that had wound so tightly in her heart finally eased.

“Pretty relaxed, aren’t you?”

An ill-timed voice shattered the tranquility.

Su Mu had walked over at some point, carrying a tattered bamboo basket that he thumped down beside the swing.

The basket was piled high with unpeeled heads of garlic, a pale white mound.

Li Lizhi brought the swing to a halt and looked at him, bewildered.

“You’ve had your fun, so it’s time to pay rent.”

Su Mu pointed at the pile of garlic.

“I don’t keep freeloaders. That slide and swing are the fruits of my labor. If you want to play, you have to work.”

Li Lizhi was stunned.

She was Princess Changle!

This man actually wanted her to… peel garlic?

“What? Not willing?”

Su Mu did not push her, making a move as if to take down the swing. “If you don’t want to, forget it. I might as well chop this swing up for firewood anyway; I happen to be short on kindling.”

Xiao Sizi, who had just zipped down the slide, immediately rushed over and hugged the basket of garlic the moment she heard her toy might be dismantled.

“Peel! Me peel!”

The little girl grabbed a head of garlic. Lacking the strength in her fingers, her face flushed red as she tried to bite the papery white skin off with her teeth.

“Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey! Burns my mouth!”

Seeing her little sister guarding her playtime just like she guarded her food, Li Lizhi let out a helpless sigh.

Stepping down from the swing, she crouched beside the bamboo basket and rolled up her priceless cloud-brocade^[1] sleeves.

“Let me do it.”

Picking up a head of garlic, she gently pinched through the skin with her slender fingernails.

That pungent, biting smell instantly stained her fingertips.

In the past, she would have covered her nose in disgust and walked away.

But now, listening to her sister’s squeals on the slide and watching Su Mu busy by the stove, she found that the garlicky smell was not so unpleasant after all.

It even felt a little… grounding?

Su Mu looked at the two sisters dutifully peeling garlic on the ground, one older and one younger, and nodded in satisfaction.

For tonight’s dish, garlic was indispensable.

He dug out several choice spareribs from beneath the woodpile.

In these times, pork was considered cheap meat, and ribs were scrap cuts nobody wanted, heavy on bone and light on meat. Su Mu had specifically asked for these to be set aside.

He chopped them into inch-long pieces, soaked them in cold water to draw out the blood, and drained them dry.

Su Mu walked over and scooped up a large handful from the pile of garlic Li Lizhi had peeled.

“Let me borrow some knife work here.”

Without even taking them back to the cutting board, he used the back of his blade right on the wooden stump beside Li Lizhi, slapping it down a few times.

The garlic cloves shattered, splashing out pungent juice.

Li Lizhi instinctively shrank back, yet her eyes still squinted against the sharp sting of the smell.

Su Mu squeezed the liquid from the crushed garlic and poured the cloudy juice over the ribs.

“Watch closely. For garlic spareribs, what you want is the garlic flavor, not the garlic bits.”

“The garlic bits will burn the moment they hit the hot oil and turn bitter.”

“Letting the meat soak up this garlic water completely, that’s what gives it that deep-to-the-bone fragrance.”

Once the spareribs absorbed the garlic water, he added salt and sugar to enhance the flavor, followed by a handful of sweet potato starch to coat them thoroughly.

He heated oil in the wok.

A generous amount of oil.

When the oil was medium-hot, Su Mu slid the spareribs in, piece by piece.

“Sizzle!”

Dense bubbles of oil instantly enveloped the pieces of meat.

The pale pink meat rapidly turned white, then shifted to a light golden yellow.

The savory aroma of meat mingled with garlic, rising with the cooking smoke to aggressively fill everyone’s nostrils.

Xiao Sizi, who was playing on the slide, froze.

Perched at the top of the slide, her little nose twitched, and drool began pooling at the corner of her mouth once more.

“Smells so good… Dat’s the smell of meat, and… garlic?”

Li Lizhi’s hands slowed down as well.

Watching the spareribs tumble in the bubbling oil and smelling that mouthwatering aroma, she suddenly felt that the faint scent of garlic lingering on her fingertips was like an overture to this delicacy.

Once cooked through on the first fry, he scooped them out.

The oil temperature rose.

A second fry.

This step was for crispiness.

In just over ten seconds, the spareribs turned an enticing golden-red, their crust crispy enough to crackle at the slightest touch.

Su Mu scooped out the spareribs, drained the oil, and plated them.

Without any unnecessary garnish, it was simply a heaping platter of glistening, golden ribs.

“All right, stop peeling.”

Su Mu set the plate on the small table between the two custom-made lounge chairs.

“Wash your hands and eat.”

Xiao Sizi gave a cheer and slid down the slide in a flash. Without even caring whether her hands were clean, she grabbed a piece and moved to shove it into her mouth.

“Hoo, hoo! Hot!”

She juggled the scalding rib between both hands, blowing puffs of air from her mouth, yet refused to let go no matter what.

Once it finally cooled a little, the little girl eagerly took a bite.

“Crunch!”

The crisp sound was exceptionally clear in the quiet backyard.

The exterior was crackling crisp, while the meat inside was so tender it burst with juice.

The rich garlic fragrance had long seeped into the crevices of the bone, savory and subtly sweet, growing more flavorful with every chew.

“Mmm!!!”

Xiao Sizi’s eyes went wide and round, and she stomped her feet in sheer bliss.

“So yummy! Even de bone is tasty!”

Li Lizhi washed her hands and picked up a piece with refined restraint.

Instead of devouring it like her little sister, she delicately bit through the crispy crust.

Savory meat juices flooded her mouth in an instant. The garlic aroma was rich without being overpowering, completely masking any gamey scent of the pork.

She could not help chewing faster.

After finishing the piece, Li Lizhi even sucked her fingertip, still craving more.

The scent of garlic from peeling still remained there, and mingled with the rich savoriness of the spareribs, it had become a uniquely wonderful flavor.

“More!”

Her mouth glistening with oil, Xiao Sizi spat out a clean bone and reached out her little paws again.

From the front courtyard’s Imperial Kitchen came faint, chaotic shouts, the clatter of pots and pans, and the shrill scolding of the managing eunuch.

That was the busiest, most snobbish place in the imperial palace.

Yet here in this run-down backyard, separated by only a single wall.

The setting sun shone at a slant, and the swing swayed gently.

Two noble princesses were devouring spareribs made from lowly meat without a shred of decorum, while beside them, a handyman in coarse linen sat with his legs crossed, lazily fluttering a cattail leaf fan.

Watching this scene, a corner of the rigid poise Li Lizhi had always maintained completely crumbled away.

“Um…”

She spat out a bone and glanced at the basket, which was still nearly half-full of garlic.

“Tomorrow… can I still come peel garlic?”