Chapter 218 Success

The headman's wife, Mrs. Li, couldn't help but stretch her head to look inside, but she couldn't see anything. She just smelled a sweet fragrance, but she didn't know what it was.

"Is he making dessert or something? Why does it smell sweet to me?"

"Also, why do I feel that your house is a little cool? Sister Meng, what good things are you making?"

Li was itching to know and also wanted to taste it.

There is no doubt that everything Shen Yueyao cooks is delicious.

When Li spoke, she looked at Madam Meng with envy.

Old Madam Meng really enjoyed this kind of look. She straightened her back and showed a proud look on her face. However, when she thought of popsicles and ice cream, the smile in her eyes was almost overflowing.

Madam Meng said with a smile, "Look, don't worry. I'll let you taste it once it's ready."

"Sister, this is what you said. I am looking forward to eating this delicious food."

"Don't worry, no matter who's missing, yours won't be missing. Besides, my mother Yao said that when the food is ready, we'll sell it out later. The price is not high, just a few cents a stick. You can eat as much as you want later."

When Li heard this, she felt more relieved and said with a smile: "That's right, Yao Niang is selling things outside, everyone will definitely rush to buy them."

"Okay, I won't nag you anymore. Go and get busy. We'll go enjoy the cool air first."

"Go ahead, I'll go help Yao Niang right away."

Now Madam Meng was full of excitement and turned around and hurried back to the house to busy herself.

Li looked at her figure, smiled, shook her head and walked out.

She couldn't help but sigh in her heart. She thought about how before, Madam Meng was skinny, not well fed and not well clothed, her eyesight was blurry, her hair was gray, and she had no energy.

But now, Mrs. Meng has completely changed. She is full of energy and vitality, and her face is filled with smiles when she speaks.

That is a smile full of hope for life.

In fact, not only Mrs. Meng has undergone tremendous changes, but the villagers have also changed as well.

In the past, many families in the village were hungry and cold, and everyone was listless. But since everyone started working for Miss Shen and could earn money, their lives have improved and they smile more.

The appearance of the village has changed.

In their spare time, the elderly people in the village sit and talk on the street, all with smiles on their faces.

The children can eat delicious food and wear new clothes, running around in the village, looking carefree.

And now villagers go to town more often.

Now that everyone has money, they dare to buy things.

I can eat white flour rice every meal, and occasionally buy some meat to satisfy my hunger.

Even their family's life is getting better and better. They have saved a lot of money. They are very content with having enough food and warm clothes every day.

The key is that working in the workshop run by Miss Shen is not tiring.

There is also plenty of rest time.

Li sighed for a while and went to a place to cool off.

Everyone was under a big tree. When the women saw her coming back and didn't see Madam Meng, they asked, "Aunt Li, why hasn't Madam Meng come out yet? Is there something wrong?"

"Yes, if there's anything we need help with, just call everyone and we'll all go help."

"Don't mention it, everyone is really not used to it when Sister Meng doesn't come out."

The old ladies all like Madam Meng very much.

Because Mrs. Meng also tells stories, and they are all stories about the outside world, about the world they have never been exposed to or understood, and they all like to listen to them.

Also, they all get together to talk every night, and they are not used to someone not coming out one day.

Li smiled and said, "Sister Ren Meng is at home helping Miss Shen make delicious food and tinkering with it."

"Oh, what delicious food! This Meng girl has such a good daughter-in-law. She can eat delicious food every day."

“That’s right, everyone in the village envies her, Miss Shen is really capable.”

"It's so hot, I'm just messing around with food. I don't know what it is, but do you think it's something that helps you cool down and feel cool?"

"Yes, it's too hot during the day, and only the breeze at night can cool it down."

"It's only the end of June now, and July is almost here. Mid-July to August is when it gets hot."

"Some children are not afraid of the heat. My son called a few friends to catch cicadas in the middle of the day. They worked all day and caught four or five cicadas. I fried them in oil and ate them. They were very crispy."

"It's only now that people's lives are better that they're willing to use oil. I remember a few months ago, we were reluctant to use oil to cook. At most, we would drip one or two drops of oil on the cooked food."

"That's right. Back then, eating was all about not being hungry. Now I find that rice fried with oil tastes better."

Nowadays, every household can earn a few taels of silver a month, which is enough to have enough to eat well.

Everyone's face was full of smiles when talking about this.

"My eldest brother from my mother's family said, find a time, burn something by the river at night, shake the trees, and the cicadas will fly towards the fire. Then you can just pick them up from the ground and eat a lot of them."

"You can stir-fry it and add more salt."

"I used to think salt was expensive and I was reluctant to use it, but now I can afford to buy more salt and use it when cooking. Needless to say, the taste is just as good."

Everyone chatted and laughed like this, and there were always many topics to talk about.

The children got bored sitting on the stools, so they got up and ran back and forth.

On summer nights, fireflies fly around, and children, curious and interested, chase them.

Generally speaking, everyone can catch one or two fireflies in their hands and then carefully observe where the fireflies glow.

"I caught a firefly."

"I caught it too."

The children were talking and jumping excitedly.

There were also elderly people holding their grandchildren, pointing at the stars in the night sky, and telling them how to see the Big Dipper and how to find the direction.

Tell the legends of the stars in the sky.

…

Madam Meng, Su Daya and Su Erya were all excitedly helping Shen Yueyao make popsicles.

Some popsicles have only sugar added, while others have sugar and strawberry juice added.

The family ate some strawberries and had a basket of strawberries.

Shen Yueyao squeezed out the juice, put it into sugar water, and made popsicles.

Making ice is much easier with saltpeter.

I was busy from the evening onwards, and after more than an hour (almost two hours) the popsicles were ready.

Shen Yueyao took out one and put it in her mouth to taste it. It was really cool and sweet.

Eating popsicles reminded Shen Yueyao of the coming summer in the technological age.

After taking a sip, I felt refreshed from the inside out and no longer felt so hot.

Dabao and Erbao both blinked their big eyes and looked at Shen Yueyao.

Even Daya and Erya stared at Shen Yueyao motionlessly, holding their breath, wanting to know whether it tasted good or not.

In fact, there was no need to ask, they could tell by looking at Aunt San's expression.

Shen Yueyao met everyone's expectant expressions and said with a smile: "It's a success, very good, everyone come and try it."

"But eat slowly, don't let the popsicle stick to your tongue."

Old Madam Meng, Su Daya and Su Erya also picked up the popsicles and started eating.

Shen Yueyao used a small spoon to scoop some popsicle smoothie for Dabao and Erbao to eat. It had the sweetness of sugar and strawberry, and tasted very different.

"Slowly, it's a little cold, eat carefully."