Because Luo Chen was losing his baby teeth, Xiao Yunying didn't cook any sweet, sour, or spicy dishes for lunch. She simply stir-fried two green vegetables with pork and made a winter melon and pork rib soup.

At the dinner table, Xiao Yunying explained to the children the things to pay attention to during the process of losing their baby teeth, and told Luo Chen to be careful about what he ate and to rinse his mouth with the mouthwash she had prepared after each meal.

"You must resist the urge to eat until your new teeth have fully grown in, and you must rinse your mouth after eating."

Don't think she's making a fuss. You know, there are no dentists here, so if you have dental problems, there's no one to fix them.

Luo Chen listened attentively to everything she said and replied, "I understand."

He didn't find Xiao Yunying nagging; he really enjoyed feeling cared for.

After the family finished eating, Xiao Yunying took a stroll around the greenhouse. The sun was shining brightly today, and the windows on the greenhouse were rolled up.

"Have your parents come?"

Luo Yang said, "I came by this morning and said the sun was shining brightly today, so I wanted to let the seedlings get some sun."

Xiao Yunying went inside to inspect all kinds of seedlings, found nothing wrong, locked the gate with an iron chain, and went home.

She used a lock from the supermarket, and only she and her mother had the key. They would lock the door whenever they went in or out to prevent anyone from sneaking in.

After entering the kitchen and rolling up her sleeves, Xiao Yunying began preparing the ingredients for making sausages.

Cut scallions and ginger into shreds, put them in a small porcelain bowl with Sichuan peppercorns, add a little salt and stir well to draw out the moisture from the scallions and ginger, then soak them in water for later use.

Soak the pre-processed sausage casings from the supermarket in water with cooking wine. Cut the pork foreleg into large chunks and rinse it.

Cut the drained pork foreleg into small cubes and put them in a bowl. Add a little bit of minced fat and set aside.

The ratio of lean to fat should be about 2:8. You can't use pure lean meat, as it will be too dry, and you can't use too much fat, as it will be too greasy.

She likes sausages with chunks of meat in them, feeling they taste better than those with just minced meat.

The sausages I made for the kids were minced meat, not minced too finely, leaving a slightly grainy texture, but the flavor was the same for everyone.

The children went into the kitchen, and Luo Xin asked, "Mom, why are you cutting so much meat?"

"Mom wants to make sausages."

"What is a sausage?"

"You'll know when your mother makes it."

"Xin'er, come and help. Is there anything I can help you with, Mother?"

Xiao Yunying thought for a moment and said, "Yes, Luo Chen, take out some corn husks, tear them into long strips along the grain, and use them to tie sausages."

Luo Chen took out a stack of corn husks: "Is this enough?"

"Take these first, don't tear them too finely, they'll break easily."

Xiao Yunying cut all the meat by herself until her palms were sore from cutting.

She makes a variety of dishes, and the number of cooking bowls at home is not enough, so when the children are not paying attention, she takes a few large stainless steel bowls from the supermarket, washes them clean, and uses them to marinate minced meat.

The first thing I prepared was the sausage that my maternal grandmother's family used to make every year in my previous life—a traditional, old-fashioned flavor.

Add appropriate amounts of thirteen-spice powder, dark soy sauce, salt, light soy sauce, and white sugar to the minced meat. Pour in high-proof liquor, scallion, ginger, and peppercorn water. Wearing gloves, vigorously pound and beat the meat until it becomes elastic and mix well.

For a spicy flavor, simply add appropriate amounts of chili powder, Sichuan peppercorn powder, and black pepper powder to the above seasonings.

Then I made black pepper, sweet corn, and salted egg yolk flavors, marinating them separately into meat chunks and minced meat.

They moved the bowl that wouldn't fit on the long table to the stove and went to the grain storage room to get red beans.

Luo Li looked at the bowls of minced meat with slight disappointment: "Mom, aren't you making sausages anymore?"

"The meat needs to be marinated for several hours; otherwise, the sausages won't taste good."

Luo Chen placed the torn corn husks on the stove and said with a pursed mouth, "Mom, do you want to sprout beans? The mung bean sprouts you made to teach Grandma a couple of days ago are sprouting today."

During this period, Xiao Yunying had been thinking about the greenhouse vegetables. Considering that it usually takes too long for vegetables to grow from seed to edible or fruit, she wondered if there were any vegetables that could grow quickly.

The supermarket's vegetable section gave her the answer: the fastest way to grow vegetables is to sprout beans, which can be harvested in an average of five or six days.

She recalled the food blogger's method and tried it at home with soybeans and mung beans. After failing twice, she successfully got two pots of bean sprouts.

"Instead of sprouting the beans, I plan to make some sweet bean paste to use in a dish tomorrow."

The food she makes may not taste as good as the ready-made food from the supermarket, but it has the advantage of not having various additives, so it won't put a burden on Chen Yuancheng's body.

She said she considered Chen Yuancheng a friend, but in reality, she was eight years older than him and somewhat regarded him as a younger brother.

The thought that he suffered from asthma evoked an indescribable feeling of sympathy and empathy in her, making her want to treat him kindly.

Luo Yang caught the meaning of the word "tomorrow": "Are there guests coming tomorrow?"

Xiao Yunying poured the red beans and mung beans into two small basins respectively: "Yuancheng is going to come and see the vegetable greenhouse tomorrow. If I'm not mistaken, his younger brother and sister will come too."

Yuan Cheng?

It was the eldest son of the Chen family who came to offer his congratulations the day before the house was officially opened.

How could Mother address a man from another family so intimately? It's so inappropriate.

Luo Yang frowned slightly, but quickly relaxed again.

My mother is used to being carefree; a name is just a label to her, and she probably didn't think about it that much.

"Is Mother and Young Master Chen very familiar? Why would he come to our house to look at our vegetable greenhouse?"

The last time the Chen siblings came, they ate at separate tables and didn't have much contact after exchanging greetings. He didn't know what the relationship was between the Chen family and his mother.