A Bowl of Jjajang, The Son-in-Law of Jegalse - Chapter 597



Only Noblemtl

Fish-eating sheep

.

“hmm···.”

I thought I had dozed off for a moment, but when I opened my eyes, the sea was covered in a thick red sunset.

As I turned my gaze, I saw Cheonhwa’s face looking at the sunset.

The orange waves that still remain amidst the red sunset blend in with the golden eyes of the thousand flowers, creating a mysterious atmosphere.

I closed my eyes a little after lunch, but it felt like my head had been propped up for hours.

He quickly got up and spoke to Cheonhwa.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. Are your legs feeling numb? I must have fallen asleep, but I ended up sleeping too long.”

“It’s okay···.”

I felt like my back was hurting, so I quickly went behind her, hugged her from behind, and made her lean against my body.

This was because it was not easy for a person to sit still in a pavilion without anything to lean on.

“Doesn’t your back hurt? If it’s hard, wake me up. Why are you up until now···”

“···.”

The sight of Cheonhwa just staring at the setting sea without any response to my question.

He asked in a quiet voice.

“What do you think about when you look at the sea?”

After a short while and a cool breeze had swept through the pavilion, a slightly moist question was heard.

“···What if you close your eyes and open them again, and all your memories disappear?”

‘Ugh… What did I do today? It feels like I didn’t do anything special.’

Cheonhwa’s question made me think of that.

That’s a typical line asked by women who are very happy.

‘I’m so happy, oppa, but what if this is all a dream?’

To Cheonhwa’s question, he answered her by hugging her tightly because he loved her.

“Don’t worry. That will never happen. And even if I die, my soul will remember this moment. I will not forget it even after I die.”

Cheonhwa turned her head and glanced into my eyes, then turned her gaze back towards the sea and answered like the flowing wind.

“I wish that were the case···.”

Blonde hair swaying as if broken by the sunset in the blowing wind.

I thought my wife was just pretty, but she actually has a gangster vibe.

***

“I wish that were the case···.”

Cheonma, who had answered Cheongun’s words, felt the warm touch and warm heart of Cheonma embracing him from behind, and he held onto Cheongun’s sleeve tightly and recalled what had happened earlier.

This is the last thing Okso-gyo asked before leaving.

“But is it okay to leave the silver needle that went into the Baekhoe as it is? Won’t it leave a big scar later on?”

I asked because I was worried about the silver needle that Okso-gyo had put into Cheong-un’s head.

Oxo-kyo shook his head in response to that question.

“There is nothing left on your body, Holy Fire.”

“Is that so?”

I nodded at the words that there was nothing wrong with my body, but I felt uneasy on the part of Okso-gyo.

At that moment, Okso-gyo opened his mouth and spoke again.

“Mom, on your body···.”

“What does that mean?”

When Cheonma asked again, feeling strange at Oksogyo’s answer, Oksogyo answered with a very tense look.

“The silver needle of the soul-sucking ritual is to lock away all past memories. I don’t know why Cheongun-nim still has some memories, such as cooking.

However, if the silver needle is removed, all memories from after the silver needle was inserted will disappear···.”

“!”

After hearing those words, Cheongwoon thought about it several times while falling asleep.

How many times did he reach out to his Baekhui to see if he should just pull out the silver needle?

The memories that Cheonma and Cheongwoon are building now are like a castle in the sand.

Because it was said that it was like a castle built on sand.

Memories that are piled up precariously on the needles inserted by Okso-gyo.

I thought it would be better to just pull out the silver needle now that I didn’t have much of a memory left.

But that didn’t happen.

It was because the warmth I felt last night overlapped with the scene where he said he didn’t trust himself, and the coldness I would feel the moment I took it out seemed unbearable.

It was the first time since I remembered my mother that I could not let go of the warmth I felt.

That’s why Cheonma hoped that his answer that the soul would remember was true.

***

After spending more time at Cheonhwa and Jeongja, I almost ended up being late for dinner.

Since I was bragging so loudly about getting ready, dinner might not be ready yet, and if I was late because I was playing with Cheonhwa, my mother and aunt might notice.

I quickly grabbed Cheonhwa’s hand and ran to the kitchen.

‘But how do I know the kitchen?’

It feels like maybe I haven’t lost all my memories.

When I arrived at the kitchen, the ingredients I had requested were neatly prepared.

A few cinnamon fish, lamb, pork fat, soybean milk, ginger, star anise, fragrant herbs, fragrant vegetables, sesame seeds, sugar, Shaoxing wine, and pepper.

And in the kitchen, my aunt was waiting with her servants to help me.

“Well, shall we start cooking then?”

The moment I walked up to you, tied the string, and held the saturation in my hand.

A strange feeling of discomfort.

When I opened my hand and looked at my palm, something strange occurred to me.

According to my mother and aunt, I continued to live as the youngest son of this Ryu family, but it was because my hands were not the only ones that had studied writing.

His hands were somewhat calloused, as if he had been handling a wok and a frying pan for quite some time.

The grip of the knife in my hand could not escape my chef’s senses.

‘What the heck? At least you’ve been cooking in the kitchen for a few years? Seriously!?’

A fact occurred to me as I looked at my hands and thought deeply.

‘Oh, so it looks like I used to cook as a hobby like Su Dongpo from the Song Dynasty?’

Since it is the Song Dynasty, it seems that I also enjoyed cooking as a hobby, like Su Dongpo, a famous writer and hobby chef of the Song Dynasty.

Even if the memories of the past life are not perfect, the soul must have been guided.

‘I guess I was a bit of a trendy person?’

I placed a pot on the fire that was already lit and boiled the chicken, lamb, ginger, and green onions.

“Let’s prepare the broth like this and move on to the sogari next.”

Next, first of all, I placed the squid on the chopping board.

And after getting the chopsticks, I looked around the kitchen.

“What are you looking for, Cheongun?”

“Oh, I need a thin and long knife. This much should do…”

I was looking for a knife that looked like an oversized knife to clean the fish, and when I roughly explained the shape of the knife with my hand, my aunt took out a sashimi-like knife from her bosom.

“Is this enough?”

“Yes? Oh, yes, of course.”

“Then, use that and return it to me later.”

“Yes, I understand.”

‘What the heck, Auntie, why are you holding such a scary knife in your arms···.’

I looked at Cheonhwa’s face, slightly embarrassed…

That’s what I thought.

‘It must be a silver sword from the Song Dynasty.’

The face of Cheonhwa that makes doubts disappear.

After giving Cheonhwa a small smile, he took the knife and inserted it into the gills of the stingray, cutting off its esophagus.

-Crack.

Then, I put the chopsticks I had prepared next to my esophagus and swirled them around where my intestines were.

This way, the intestines will be wrapped around the chopsticks, and when they are fully wrapped, when you pull out the chopsticks, all the intestines will come out.

I turned the chopsticks like that and pulled out the intestines, then I put the knife I borrowed from my aunt into the gills of the stingray.

Very carefully following the spine of the stingray, leaving only a little bit of the tail.

He then moved the blade down both sides of the abdomen and back, separating the bones from the flesh.

The same goes for the gills on the opposite side where the blade was first inserted.

After doing this, the final task.

-Thud.

If you hold the tail and break it at the end, the fish’s spine will break inside at the tail. Now, if you put your hand in and pull out the largest spine, the fish’s large spine will completely disappear.

One more stingray left to be completed.

There might be some thorns left, but that’s up to the eater to deal with.

After removing the bones from the remaining stingrays, we started the next task.

-bang!

After placing the lamb on a cutting board, I cut it into pea-sized pieces.

-Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

-Bang! Bang! Bang!

As soon as all the lamb was cut, he smashed the ginger into pieces along the side of the skewer.

Then, after chopping the green onions, place the wok on another burner and immediately add oil.

-Crunch.

After adding enough oil to make it smooth, I waited for a moment and then threw in the ginger and green onions.

-Choooooooooo.

The fragrant, refreshing aroma that explodes the moment ginger and green onions are thrown into the oil.

The thick scent of ginger rose like a pillar, and the sweet scent of green onions enveloped the kitchen.

Green onions and ginger frying in oil in a wok.

When the outside of the green onions turned golden brown and the oil was full of the fragrance of ginger, I added all the lamb that had been cut up in advance.

-Whew! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh.

As I moved the wok to stir the meat, the flames that had landed on the tilted wok created a large flame above the wok.

The rich aroma of lamb was mixed with the scent of ginger and green onions.

Add some pepper, star anise, sugar, salt, and soy sauce to taste.

The last hint of gamy from the quickly stir-fried lamb was added, and the aroma of star anise and pepper was added, transforming it into a delicious and clean aroma.

When the meat was fully infused with the flavors of pepper and star anise, I transferred all the stir-fried ingredients into a bowl.

-Clang clang.

The next task is to bring the swordfish that was prepared earlier, open its gills, and stuff it with lamb.

He opened the gills and turned the stingray into a bloated fish.

-Crunch.

I poured water into the wok I used to fry the lamb in, rinsed it once, and then placed it back on the wok to add oil.

And when the oil is hot enough, throw in the stuffed squid.

-Whoa!

The unique, savory aroma of fish rose from the fish fried in oil.

Now it’s time to put soy sauce on it.

I pushed the soy sauce into one side of the bowl with a ladle and poured soy sauce into the empty space.

-Crunch.

-Choowaaaaak.

The delicious sound of soy sauce sizzling on a heated oil pan.

At the same time, a delicious fragrance rose up.

The soy sauce that sticks to the pan really gives off a savory aroma.

“Huh. Cheongun, it smells really delicious.”

My aunt also nodded as if the scent was good.

After smiling again at Cheonhwa who was looking this way, he quickly moved his hand.

As I soaked the surface of the stingray in the soy sauce bubbling on the surface of the wok, the sticky soy sauce made the golden brown surface of the stingray look like a tanned person.

Lastly, pour the broth that was boiling on one side of the wok and season with star anise, green onions, ginger, pepper, sugar, and salt.

Now lower the heat to its lowest setting and cook on a gentle heat for about thirty minutes.

Finally, I added the forgotten moon wine, Shaoxing wine, to get rid of the last of the unpleasant smell. Then, I heard Cheonhwa’s question, which had been quiet until now.

“What kind of dish is that?”

It seemed that he couldn’t wait until the end, but he smiled and answered Cheonhwa’s question.

I said I was making this for Cheonhwa, but this was a dish for me and her.

“Once upon a time, a farmer was crossing a river with four sheep he was raising. But by mistake, the sheep fell into the river.

In the end, the sheep died, but the fish that had gathered ate the sheep and became very full. A fisherman who was passing by caught all the full fish and boiled them, and it became the best dish in the world.

When the chefs heard about it and made a dish, the dish was called Eogyoyang (魚咬羊).

But I made this dish today with the meaning of you and me.”

“What does it mean to you and me?”

He nodded to Cheonhwa’s question.

“Yes. If you, who come from far away near the West, are a sheep, then I, who live on the shores of Bokcheong, am a fish.

“I have you in my stomach, a sea bream, so this dish contains the promise that I, Ryu Cheong-un, will hold you in my heart for the rest of my life.”

At my answer, Cheonhwa’s expression changed to one of bewilderment, and Aunt Sogyo opened her eyes wide and smiled.

“Fish and lamb. This is truly a dish that suits both of them.”

‘Maybe I was too romantic?’

I thought that at this point, intimacy would rise quickly.