With a crisp, loud "snap," it rang out.

Xiao Yunying used force this time, and the man took several steps back before he could stand still, feeling a buzzing in his head.

"stepmother!"

Seeing this from a distance, Luo Chen ran over: "Stepmother, are you alright?"

"It's okay, let's go home."

Xiao Yunying slung her basket over her shoulder and glanced at the man again. He looked somewhat familiar, but she couldn't remember who he was.

The man, however, was not giving up and stopped the two women: "Miss, miss, I didn't mean to."

"Get out of my way, or I'll call for help again. I know you're a scholar, so I suppose you don't want anything to damage your reputation."

"this……"

Seeing the other person's eyes darting around in their sockets, Xiao Yunying knew he was definitely not a good person, so she called Luo Chen and walked past him.

The man wanted to follow, but Xiao Yunying said coldly, "If you follow me again, I'll shout that someone is playing tricks!"

Although the original owner was fat, she was good-looking. If she had shouted that, people would definitely have believed her.

Sure enough, after hearing this, the man dared not follow.

Luo Chen wanted to help Xiao Yunying carry her basket, but she declined, saying, "No need, we'll be home soon."

Luo Chen said in a low voice, "That person is not a good person. Stay away from him in the future."

"Who is he?"

“His name is Liu Ge, and everyone in the village calls him Liu Xiucai. The old people in the village say he is very smart and passed the imperial examination at the age of sixteen. But I think he is still a Xiucai and he is not that smart.”

Xiao Yunying agreed: "I think so too."

What good is intelligence if one's mind is not upright and one's conduct is not proper? Such flaws will be revealed in the lines of one's writing, and the officials in charge of grading the papers are all learned people who can naturally see through them.

Luo Chen's voice trailed off: "He's still not married. If you see him in the future, try to avoid him and don't let him get too close."

Xiao Yunying glanced at Luo Chen's head, then patted it with a smile: "Okay."

Luo Chen was rubbed, and he lowered his head even further.

It seems he just called her "stepmother"? Why isn't she reacting?

After rubbing Luo Chen's head, Xiao Yunying remembered that the man had touched her hand and exclaimed softly, "He just touched my hand, it's disgusting."

He strode home, put down his basket, filled a basin with water, and took out soap to scrub the backs of his hands until they were red.

Luo Xin, who originally wanted to hug her mother, missed the opportunity and asked Luo Chen, "Big brother, what's wrong with Mom?"

"Mom accidentally touched something dirty and rushed back to wash her hands."

Luo Xin said in a daze, "Dirty stuff, we should wash it properly. Mother said that if you eat the dirt on your hands, you'll get sick."

Xiao Yunying washed her hands and asked Luo Chen to take the things out of the basket: "Spread out the chestnuts to dry, take out the apples and persimmons, wash whatever you want to eat, it's time to eat soon, you two can only eat one, Luo Li can only eat half, and Xin'er can only eat half of half a fruit, put the snow fungus in my room."

After saying that, he rolled up his sleeves and prepared to cook.

Luo Chen suppressed her shock; she really had brought back snow fungus, and so much of it.

Luo Li picked up a big apple: "Big brother, this apple is so big! No wonder my stepmother always goes to West Mountain. Does she always go there to pick fruit to eat?"

Luo Chen didn't know how to explain to her younger brother: "Do you want to eat this, or the persimmon? Your stepmother said you can only eat half."

Luo Li's attention was immediately diverted to the food: "I want to eat this."

Xin'er was too short and afraid that her older brother couldn't see her, so she raised her little hand and said, "Xin'er wants to eat this red fruit too."

"Okay, big brother will wash you."

Xiao Yunying took out all the ingredients from the kitchen. Tonight she planned to stew the pork bones. She didn't need to worry about wasting time because she had two pots!

Rinse the large bones thoroughly, chop them with the axe she used for self-defense, put them in a pot of cold water, skim off the foam, add knotted scallions, ginger, goji berries, and red dates, and cook uncovered for a while to better remove the fishy smell. Then cover the pot and simmer.

Luo Chen washed two apples and took them into the kitchen, but the apples were too big for him to break open.

Xiao Yunying pretended to take a fruit knife from the cupboard and cut the apple into four pieces. Luo Chen said awkwardly, "You, you eat some too."

Xiao Yunying took a piece and ate it, saying, "Keep an eye on Xin'er and don't let her eat too much."

"knew."

Luo Chen went out and distributed the apples, then took two pieces for himself and came back to eat them while tending the fire.

These apples are crisp, sweet, and juicy; they're really delicious.

Xiao Yunying remembered that the newly bought large iron pot needed to be seasoned. She had never done this before, but had only seen it in short videos.

I rinsed it with hot water, heated the bottom of the pot to dry the remaining moisture, put a large piece of raw fatty meat into the pot, and used it like soap, rubbing it in a spiral motion from the inside to the outside of the pot to make the overflowing oil evenly cover the entire surface of the pot.

As the pot was continuously wiped, more and more melted black lard overflowed, and the fat meat turned black and shrank.

Turn off the heat and let the lard cool down. Pour out the black lard, rinse it with hot water and dry it. Then repeat the above steps.

Each time you wipe it, the surface of the pan will appear cleaner than before. Continue this process until the fat stops turning black.

Rinse the iron pot with hot water, dry it over low heat, and finally coat it with a layer of vegetable oil. You're all done!