By the time she finished giving her statement and got home, it was already very late, past dinner time. Lin Xiazhu rubbed her stomach and sighed, "Another day of neglecting my stomach."

"Sister, are you hungry? Let's hurry up." Xiao An stayed by Lin Xiazhu's side the whole time, watching silently without making a sound to disturb her.

He only spoke up when he saw Lin Xiazhu rubbing her stomach because she was hungry. He was so well-behaved, as quiet as a background figure.

"Xiao An, do you miss home? If you can't find your family, treat us as your family from now on. I will take good care of you, so don't be afraid."

It's been almost a year, and Xiao An hasn't regained his memory. His family hasn't come looking for him either. Poor kid.

I've long considered you my family. I love it here. You're great, and so is your family. As long as you don't kick me out, I'll stay here.

Xiao An stepped forward and took Lin Xiazhu's hand. The latter was slightly taken aback, then smiled and followed him.

Everyone eats the same food every day. She and Chacha have all gained a lot of weight, and even Yan Xin has become a little chubby. Only Xiao An is still thin. Although she is no longer skin and bones, she is still too thin.

It's all because of my poor health. I still have a ginseng at home. Should I use it to make chicken soup?

On the 29th, the food stalls only sold steamed buns and dumplings; they didn't sell anything else. There were fewer people shopping at that time, as everyone had almost finished preparing for the New Year.

Lin Xiazhu also busied herself buying fish and meat. She had already bought candy and firecrackers and kept them at home. All she needed to do was buy a few chickens and ducks.

After buying the goods, we put them on the cart and pushed it back together.

"Look at this girl, she's incredibly strong. That day, she was the one who beat people so badly they were internally injured. Several grown men were crying and screaming for their parents."

"It's really strange. There are no men in their family, and she does all the heavy work. She's the equivalent of two men."

"That's right. But they have a boy, and that boy is sickly. He can fall over if someone pokes him with a finger. It would be great if they had a girl instead. She's too strong. Who would dare to marry her when she grows up?"

That's right, Lin Xiazhu has become famous. Now everyone in Shanhe Town knows that she is as strong as an ox. People gather in groups to talk about her, and they don't say anything nice about her.

They were all secretly laughing, and a few were envious, thinking that if their own daughters were that strong, what job couldn't they do?

Let them say what they want. Lin Xiazhu doesn't care what others think. She doesn't want to pay attention to these gossipy rumors after living another life. However, deliberately talking loudly about her in front of her is forcing her to fight back.

"Ladies, if there's anything you don't understand or want to know, feel free to ask me. I'll tell you everything I can, it's no big deal, right?"

She paused for a moment, then continued, "What you're doing isn't right. If you're going to talk about me behind my back, then stay away and don't let me hear it. If you want to talk about me to my face, then just say it directly... Why are you being so sarcastic and ambiguous? Do you think you're some kind of hermaphrodite?"

"How about this, before the New Year, after I send the things back, let's find a spacious place and have a good argument. Don't hold back, or whoever holds back will have a rotten heart, lungs, and tongue."

Why does this child start swearing at the drop of a hat? The women who were chattering away earlier were now red-faced from being scolded.

"You have no manners at all. We were just chatting, and you specifically named you. You took it personally and then blamed us. We're really hard to deal with."

The man speaking is the owner of a grocery store on the street. Business is good, he's quite plump, and speaks with a lot of confidence.

"You guys were pointing and talking at me, you were practically stabbing me in the head. Even a blind man could see you were talking about me. If you don't admit it now, it'll be too late..." Since you've decided to settle this, then settle it thoroughly. You say she's hard to get along with? Then let's show them how tough she is.

The women were speechless and furious, but knowing they were in the wrong, they could only swallow their anger with grim faces.

After Lin Xiazhu vented her anger and was pushing her cart to go back, those people muttered resentfully behind her, "We won't buy snacks from your store anymore. Let's see how you do business then." Hmph.

"Buy it or don't, it's none of my business. Do you think I need a bunch of ugly ducklings to come and spend money? They'd starve to death. I'd rather not buy anything from you. Who's afraid of who?" Lin Xiazhu shouted back.

Hmph, don't be fooled by the fact that these people own shops in town and have a little money. They probably suffered too much in the past and are small business owners, so they are more thrifty than anyone else. They won't skimp on their own things, but they are incredibly stingy when buying things from other people.

In the morning, when I buy three steamed buns, I only want to pay for two. When I order two bowls of meat noodles, I only want to pay for one and a half. This stinginess is really annoying.

Even after Lin Xiazhu had walked away, these people were still talking, basically saying they wanted to isolate Lin Xiazhu's family. They had just moved from the countryside to the town, but they had been running the shop for several years. Most of them were locals, with only a few like Lin Xiazhu who came from the countryside.

Regardless of what those people thought, Lin Xiazhu wasn't affected at all. She went home and started preparing food.

"First, make braised pork, then fry tofu, fry fish, and then fry some meatballs. Let's fry everything that needs to be fried today."

"Sister, don't we fry rice cakes at home? Several families next door have fried a whole vat of them." Lin Chacha licked her lips; she wanted to eat rice cakes.

Banzi is a type of food made from glutinous rice or regular rice. People in Shanhe Town like to make banzi during festivals. There are many kinds of banzi, and they come in various shapes.

Deep-fried ones are called fried rice cakes. They are kneaded into round or oval shapes. Generally, glutinous rice flour and regular rice flour are mixed together and kneaded like dough. First, knead it into a large ball, and the longer you knead it, the more elastic it will be.

The process is roughly as follows: first, soak the glutinous rice and regular rice separately, then grind them into powder. Usually, the powder is ground and dried in the sun before use, and then taken out directly when needed.

The water used to knead the dough is sugar water. Brown sugar and a little white sugar are boiled in a pot until the sugar dissolves, then mixed with glutinous rice flour and kneaded into a dough. After kneading, it is shaped into small, round balls, about the size of a ping-pong ball...

However, the making of rice cakes also depends on personal preference and taste. Every household makes them differently. Some put in more white sugar, so the rice cakes are whiter. If you put in brown sugar, they will be reddish-brown.

In short, there are all sorts of ways to make it. Some people put all brown sugar in it, so the sweetness is not so strong, but the taste is particularly fragrant and it can be preserved for a longer time. In those days, people had few resources and often ate a rice cake as a snack when they had nothing else to eat. A whole pot of rice cakes could last until the Dragon Boat Festival.

Unfortunately, Lin Xiazhu doesn't like fried rice cakes. She prefers rice cake skin and bamboo-wrapped rice cakes. She also likes boiled taro rice cakes. However, none of these kinds of rice cakes can be kept for long and it's best to eat them on the same day.

However, if you don't make some rice cakes for the New Year, it's like northerners not making dumplings; it feels like the New Year isn't really here, and the festive atmosphere is gone.

Then let's fry some. Nowadays, grocery stores don't sell packaged glutinous rice flour and rice flour. Luckily, Lin Xiazhu bought ten catties from her neighbor in advance, just in case the kids clamored for rice cakes.

She had originally planned not to make it unless someone mentioned it, but since Lin Chacha was craving it, she had no choice but to make it.