After working for half an hour, Su Xuanhe's originally dark skin color completely turned into a "black-spotted cat". Su Xueyan's legs were numb from squatting for too long, so she went outside to play shuttlecock.

Su Xuanhe looked at the flames that finally rose in the furnace and clapped his hands with joy.

"Look, sister! I know how to light a stove!" Su Xuanhe's face, streaked with gray, was filled with a rare joy that hadn't been seen before, even when his pranks had succeeded. "Sister, am I really that good?"

"Well, you are really great. I was not that fast at making a fire!" Of course, it doesn't matter how fast she actually makes the fire. What matters is that children need some encouragement and some white lies.

Su Xuanhe became even happier after hearing what Su Qingluan said. He ran to the yard and shouted at his sister to come and see the stove he had lit.

Su Xueyan had been squatting for a long time but still didn't see anything, so she was very happy to hear that. She threw the shuttlecock in the yard and left it there. She excitedly ran over hand in hand with her brother, squatted down, and watched while talking.

It was clearly the same stove chamber that he usually used, and there was no difference except that the flame was a little less strong. However, looking at the two little guys, one big and one small, gathered in front of the stove and whispering about something, Su Qingli felt inexplicably that the color of the flame in the stove was particularly beautiful today, and the temperature it emitted was also particularly warm.

After watching her brother show off for a while, Su Qingluan observed the flames in the furnace and warned him, "Su Xiaoer, if you keep showing off to your sister like this, the fire in the furnace will be extinguished. We'll have to start all over again."

Upon hearing this, Su Xuanhe hurriedly turned around and saw that the fire in the furnace was indeed much smaller than at the beginning. He suddenly said anxiously, "I only added two pieces of firewood. It must be too little!" Then he added two or three more pieces of chopped firewood.

Seeing that his firewood was about to block the firewood filling port in the furnace, Su Qingluan couldn't bear to watch and hurriedly said, "Hey, pull out the thickest firewood. That way, no wind from outside can get in at all. Wouldn't it be a matter of seconds for the flame to go out?"

"Brother, bring out the firewood!" Su Xueyan was obviously very anxious beside him. She quickly reached out to get the firewood, but Su Xuanhe pushed her hand aside.

"Don't touch this firewood. It's dirty and has splinters. Be careful or you'll get pricked and cry." Su Xuanhe looked at his sister, turned around, took out the firewood and put it aside.

Although the top of the firewood was a little charred, basically nothing was burned and it was still a complete piece of firewood.

Su Qingluan was a little surprised when she heard her brother's warning to her sister: "Oh, our Su Xiaoer even knows that firewood has splinters?"

"Humph, of course I know. I've been stabbed many times!" As he said that, Su Xuanhe wanted to pull out another piece of firewood, but was stopped by Su Qingluan.

"Alright, alright, the firewood's all out. Why are you still burning it? Your flames are weakening not only because you don't have enough firewood, but also because they're too close to the outside. Not only will they be easily blown out by the wind, but the furnace won't be warm, and that's a waste of firewood."

When Su Xuanhe heard what his elder sister said, he quickly used the thicker piece of firewood he had just pulled out as a fire stick and pushed the few pieces of firewood that were originally on the outside towards the center of the furnace.

"Is this okay?" He turned and looked at Su Qingluan.

Su Qingluan nodded: "That's it. When you need air, just pull the bellows next to it." Su Qingluan pointed to the bellows next to the stove. "If the fire doesn't seem too strong, or you want it bigger, add more firewood and blow the air from outside in like this."

"Like this?" Su Xuanhe pulled the bellows twice, and the bellows made a whirring sound, which made Su Xueyan beside him eager to try it: "Brother, I want to try it too!"

"Then go slowly. This requires a bit of strength. Here, put your hand in the groove of this handle."

Su Qingluan looked at Su Xuanhe: "Wow, I didn't expect that our Su Xiaoer is quite skilled."

Upon hearing this, Su Xuanhe looked away guiltily, but this made Su Qingluan interested: What? Is there any hidden secret in this?

But it seems that her sister should not know about it, because if she really knew about Su Xuanhe's embarrassing things, she would definitely share it with Su Qingluan as soon as possible.

However, Su Qingluan estimated that it was most likely that Su Xuanhe was looking at the bellows box next to the stove out of curiosity or amusement. He must have been, and might even have played with the chopped firewood as if it were something to play with. The consequence was probably that he was rewarded with a meal of "bamboo shoot stewed with meat" by Yang, otherwise this kid wouldn't have looked so guilty.

Seeing that the fire was almost done, Su Qingluan talked to her brother about the tricks of starting a fire and keeping it high or low, and added, "The most important thing is that the fire is not static. You have to look down and check after a while. If the firewood is not enough, add some. If the fire is not strong enough, use a blower to fan it. Of course, if you want a low fire, turn down the air outlet a little - be careful not to let the fire go out directly."

Su Xuanhe nodded repeatedly. Su Qingluan looked at the water tank at the back of the yard and said, "Go get some water and boil it."

Boiling water is relatively simple compared to making a fire, but it is also quite boring. Su Xueyan watched her brother struggling for a while and felt that it was boring, so she went out to play shuttlecock.

Su Qingluan didn't dare to look at him wrongly - she said that she wanted Su Xuanhe to be punished and taught a lesson, but after all, the open flame in the kitchen was dangerous for a seven-year-old child. Su Qingluan couldn't really let her brother get burned, otherwise she would feel bad.

While Su Xuanhe washed his hands and waited for the water to boil, Su Qingluan first used a small piece of black flour to teach him how to knead the dough - of course, this piece of flour used in the experiment was very little, and the dough was only the size of Su Xueyan's little bun.

After all, Su Qingluan knew very well that if one wanted to teach a child how to make dough, the dough itself, as a "teaching aid", would most likely be unusable after it had fulfilled its purpose.

In this case, the "teaching aids" cannot consume too much flour, and the grade of flour must not be the more expensive white flour.

Su Qingluan put the flour into a larger open bowl, pointed and said: "Use this for mixing first. There is no need to add any hot water, just ordinary cold water will be fine." Anyway, the flour used for mixing does not need to be relaxed or kept at any temperature.

"Such a small amount of noodles is not even enough for me to hold in one hand..." Su Xuanhe muttered with some dissatisfaction and gave his elder sister a look full of contempt.

The subtext of that look was very clear: "I can't even start a fire, what's a mere meat ball?"

Su Qingluan obviously understood that this kid had just succeeded in something and was getting cocky again, so she silently swallowed the "key trick" she was about to tell him and said, "Since you are so confident, it should be fine without me teaching you, right?"

"Of course. Isn't it just adding water to flour and stirring it?"

"Well, that's not wrong." Su Qingluan nodded with a smile.

Su Xuanhe snorted in a very arrogant manner, not realizing how sinister his elder sister's smile was.