Chapter 15 I pulled back all the orange trees from Huzi’s house

The willow tree was not far from here. Ma Yinghe was worried about Wen Yongnan going alone, so she followed him.

Wen Zhenyi and his wife, Old Man Wen, picked ferns and cudweed.

When Ma Yinghe returned, their backpacks were already full.

Old Lady Wen walked beside Wen Zhenyi and said, "Yiyi, do you have to come here every day to pick these things you are going to make?"

"Grandma, let's rotate the ingredients. If we only make one type, it won't feel fresh anymore."

"You seem to be right."

Ma Yinghe smiled and said, "It just so happens that the butcher's stall doesn't sell meat anymore, so selling some snacks wouldn't be bad either."

Wen Yongnan nodded: "We can also help."

Wen Zhenyi smiled and looked at his brother who was half a head taller than him: "Brother, of course you have to help me, otherwise I wouldn't dare to make so many things."

When they got home, Wen Yongman ran over and pointed to the basket in the yard and said, "Sister, look, I picked it for you. Isn't it amazing?"

Wen Zhenyi looked at the basket full of orange leaves in the yard and asked, "Xiaoman, do they have a lot of orange trees?"

"No, just one. Hu Zi told me to pick whatever I wanted, so I picked them all."

The people at home twitched their lips: "Did you pick all the leaves from their orange tree?"

"About the same."

Ma Yinghe turned to look at Old Lady Wen. I hope the Hu Zi family won’t come looking for them!

Wen Zhenyi looked at the basket full of orange leaves, which still had some old yellow leaves on them. It seemed like nothing was left for them. "You've picked them all, didn't Hu Zi say anything?"

"He cried, but I told him to wait for me to give him something delicious, and he happily carried it back for me."

Wen Zhenyi was speechless. Is this child's world so simple?

Mrs. Wen thought for a moment and said, "I'll go and apologize later."

"Grandma, I'll make something for you to take as an apology."

"Okay."

The family members started to get busy again, picking out the dead leaves and old leaves, washing them, drying them in the sun, and blanching them in water. These preparations were very tedious.

The most troublesome thing is the orange leaves. Pick out orange leaves of similar size and set them aside. Cut off the petioles of the other orange leaves with scissors, then cut the leaves as small as possible. Then put them on the chopping board and chop them repeatedly into foam.

This is not the end. You also need to put it in a stone mortar and pound it, wrap it with clean gauze, and squeeze out the juice.

This job can only be given to Ma Yinghe and Wen Chengwen, who just came back from shopping.

Given Wen Zhenyi's current physical condition, all he could do was cheer him up from the side.

She left the preparations to her family. She looked at what Wen Chengwen had bought and decided to make some simple spring rolls, which she would ask Old Lady Wen to send to Hu Zi's house as an apology.

Wen Zhen grabbed Wen Yongman and took him into the kitchen, asking him to help light the fire.

She was preparing to make spring roll dough. There are many ways to make spring roll dough, and one method takes a whole day. She decided to use the simplest method.

After kneading the dough, press small pieces of dough like rolling dumpling wrappers, soak them in oil, and after soaking for a while, pinch them into thinner round doughs and continue soaking them.

She was not idle during this time. She ran to the backyard and picked some vegetables, including coriander, radish, lettuce, carrots, and leeks.

Wash them, peel them, cut them into strips, and place them on a plate for later use.

Wen Yongman's mouth opened wide: "Sister, the shreds you cut are all the same thickness and length."

"This is knife skills. Food made this way will look better and taste better."

Wen Zhenyi saw that the soaked dough was almost done, so he took out a rolling pin, pinched the dough together, rolled it into dough sheets of the same size, and put them in a pot to steam.

She put the shredded food into a bowl, added various seasonings, mixed well and set aside, but she left some of it unmixed.

Wen Yongman pointed at the shredded vegetables that he hadn't mixed: "Sister, you missed it."

"I left this here on purpose. There are two ways to eat spring rolls: one is deep-fried, and the other is eaten raw with seasoning like this. But there are also vegetarian spring rolls and a combination of meat and vegetables."

"Is there such a thing as this?"

"Yes, you will know more later."

Wen Zhenyi was busy while talking to him and started preparing the dough for tomorrow. She would go to the market to make it tomorrow, so she made the dough rise in advance. All of this takes time.

Wen Yongman saw that she didn't even stop to rest, and wanted to help, but he couldn't, so he could only circle around her.

Wen Zhenyi looked at him amusedly: "Want to help?"

Wen Yongman nodded: "Yeah."

"You can help me later. You can't carry these now." Then he thought of something: "Xiao Man, do you have any iron plates at home?"

Wen Yongman was stunned: "I don't know, I'll go ask Dad and the others." Then he ran out of the kitchen.

Wen Zhenyi could hear him running out to talk even from the kitchen.

Mrs. Wen walked into the kitchen: "Yi Yi, do you want a metal plate?"

"Well, is there?"

Old Mrs. Wen thought for a moment and said, "I remember there are one or two. Let me find them for you. I wonder if they can still be used." Then she started rummaging through the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen.

Wen Zhenyi originally wanted to say that it didn't matter if he couldn't find it, but before he could open his mouth, he saw Old Lady Wen take out something wrapped in oil paper from a cabinet.

The outer paper was soaked with oil.

Old Lady Wen opened it and took a look. There were three iron metal plates inside: "Yi Yi, do you think it's okay?"

Wen Zhenyi took the plates and looked at them. The size was just right. There was still oil on the plates, and they were well protected, without any rust.

"Grandma, it's very suitable."

When Wen Yongman ran in, the steamed dough she had just finished cooking was just out of the pot.

She took out the pig lungs again and planned to make olive pig lung soup for her family in the afternoon.

The pig lungs are cleaned, blanched and soaked in cold water for a while, then add clean water, dried olives, and ginger slices, bring to a boil over high heat, and simmer over low heat for half an hour.

Wen Zhenyi called out to Wen Yongman: "Xiaoman, come and help."

When Wen Yongman heard he could help, he dropped the fire stick in his hand and ran over: "What do you want me to do?"

Wen Zhenyi looked at his little black paws and said, "Go wash your hands."

Wen Yongman immediately went to get some water to wash his hands, and then checked carefully before coming over.

Wen Zhenyi showed him how to roll spring rolls: "Do you know how to do it?"

"I know. It's not difficult."

Wen Zhenyi ignored him and let him roll the spring rolls slowly. She washed the other pot, poured in sesame oil, and prepared to fry the spring rolls.

I made two kinds of spring rolls, and both their appearance and taste were impeccable.

Old Mrs. Wen also poured a bowl of cooked pig lung soup, took a plate of half-eaten spring rolls, and prepared to go to Hu Zi's house to apologize.

Wen Zhenyi also went with them. Her family was worried about her before, but now they hope she can go out more often.

As soon as the two arrived at Hu Zi's house, they heard a quarrel coming from inside.