Xu Yan accused, "Xu Lai! Did you do this on purpose? You hit me with a chestnut just because you don't like me?"

Xu Lai put down the pole, laughing as she checked on him. He had two small thorns on his hand and a cut on his back.

After arguing for a while, the two used tongs to pick up all the splinters on the ground and put them into a bucket, then poured them into a snakeskin bag. Finally, they filled the bucket to the brim before going home satisfied.

As soon as Xu Yan got home, he took off his shirt, which made his grandmother scold him: "Xiao Yan, are you crazy? What are you doing in broad daylight? Why are you taking off your clothes?"

Xu Yan exposed his back and said, "Grandma, look, my back is all red. Xu Lai is deliberately trying to hurt me."

Grandma patted his head and said, "Your sister must have done it accidentally, and you're still being so petty."

Xu Yan: Me, petty? Did I say anything?

Xu Lai washed her hands, took a pair of tweezers, and shone a flashlight, preparing to remove the splinter from his skin.

After taking out several, Xu Lai applied medicine to him and said, "Okay, put your clothes on now."

She emptied the chestnuts from the burlap sack, took a hammer and tongs, and used one hand to crack the shells open while using the other to remove the chestnuts.

Grandma and she worked together, and it took them more than half an hour to sort out all the chestnuts.

Grandpa took a basin from the kitchen and said, "What are you going to do with these pumpkin seeds? If you don't want them, I'll feed them to the chickens."

Xu Lai then remembered that she had forgotten to deal with the pumpkin seeds, so she said, "Grandpa, you can leave them here. I'll wash them and stir-fry them later."

Rinse the pumpkin seeds clean, pour salt into a pot and heat it up, then pour in the pumpkin seeds and stir-fry until the moisture evaporates. Slowly, you can smell a fragrance. She scooped one up with a spatula, tasted it, and said, "It's crispy and quite delicious."

She took a sieve, sifted out the salt, then put it in a plate and placed it on the living room table. When she had nothing to do, she would grab a handful and eat some.

It was still early before lunchtime, so she started cooking rice, put on a sun hat, and went to the riverbank. She planned to dig up some small stones to roast chestnuts.

The stream water was very cold, and Xu Lai searched for a long time before finally finding a basket.

As she was about to leave, she saw a large patch of houttuynia cordata on the shore. Few people in their area eat it, so it was growing very well.

Xu Lai didn't bring a hoe, so she found a stick, pried some out, and smelled it. "This smell is pungent."

When she got home, she emptied the stones from the basket, scrubbed them twice with a brush, washed them repeatedly, and waited for them to dry.

Xu Yan made a small slit in the chestnut so that it would open better when stir-frying and could be easily peeled open without needing to bite it.

She washed the houttuynia cordata clean, planning to make a cold dish with dried bean curd, kelp, potatoes, and bracken.

She picked the bracken fern around the time of the Qingming Festival. She picked a lot at the time, and since she didn't finish eating it, she blanched it and stored it in the refrigerator.

She took it out to thaw, while Xu Yan was burning firewood in the stove. He tried for a long time, but it still wouldn't light.

Xu Lai couldn't bear to watch any longer, so she took the lighter from his hand, grabbed a bunch of pine needles, lit them, and then put them into the stove.

Add some small firewood inside, and once the fire is lit, you can add more large firewood.

Xu Lai put the chestnuts in a pot, added water to cover them, boiled them until the water evaporated, and then poured them into a pot of heated stones.

She instructed Xu Yan, "Remember to keep an eye on the fire, add firewood from time to time, and also keep an eye on the water in the pot."

After explaining all this, she peeled the potatoes, and the dried bean curd and kelp were already soaked. She blanched the kelp, cut it into strips, and cooked the dried bean curd.

She added all the vegetables to a large bowl, along with chili oil, cilantro, chopped green onions, salt, MSG, and pepper, and mixed it well.

Xu Lai tasted it and said, "Delicious." She took off her gloves and used her chopsticks to transfer the cold dishes to her plate, filling two large plates to the brim.

She took a plate to the neighbor's house, where Zhao Qingyun was cooking. Seeing her arrive, he said, "Would you like to eat here?"

Xu Lai shook her head: "I just came to deliver some vegetables. Besides, I'm not married to you yet, so how could I stay here forever?"

Zhao Qingyun smiled and said, "Are you targeting me? It seems I need to take action."

After roasting the chestnuts, she divided them into three bags: one for the neighbor, and one each for Xia Ning and Xu Shen.

She peeled one, and it tasted especially soft and powdery, but Xu Lai was too lazy to eat any more, so she only ate a few before stopping.

Grandpa caught another chicken. It was a chick we raised in the spring, and it's ready to eat now, so we catch it every few days.

Xu Lai slaughtered the chicken, chopped it into pieces, and instructed Xu Yan to peel a plate of chestnuts, which would be added to the chicken to stew later.

Xu Yan was about to collapse from peeling them. Raw chestnuts are quite difficult to peel, and he spent a long time before he got only a few.

Xu Lai had rendered all the chicken fat, but when she saw that the chestnuts were still not ready, she went to the living room and found Xu Yan still peeling them.

She looked helpless. "Give it to me, stop being so slow."

She peeled off the outer shell, then soaked the chestnut in hot water, and then peeled it off easily.

Xu Yan's eyes widened. "Why didn't you tell me you had such a good method earlier? You're deliberately torturing me."

Xu Lai gave him an idiotic look. Her younger brother was truly useless, neither good in the kitchen nor in the living room.

Xu Yan stayed at home for a week. When the holiday ended, he took chestnuts and pumpkin cakes and prepared to go back to school.

Xu Lai saw him off at the station, gave him some instructions, and watched him enter the station before driving away.

She went to a shopping mall in the city center. Zhao Qingyun had bought her a necklace before, and she hadn't had a chance to buy him a gift. Since she was in the city today, she went to the store to browse around.

She took a fancy to a pair of cufflinks, bought a tie, and went to pay.

Xia Ning saw the gifts in her room. "How much? These two together cost over 30,000?"

Xu Lai nodded: "He gave me a necklace with small diamonds, this gift is about right."

Xia Ning disagreed, saying, "I think you can buy some more affordable things. This will help maintain a harmonious relationship. Your finances are not well-matched. He's a boss; he can have anything he wants. You can make some money through short videos."

Xu Lai hugged her pillow and tossed and turned in bed. "I know, but I just don't want to owe him anything. Although I've already used his connections and resources a few times, I don't want to rely on him for everything in the future."

Xia Ning knew that this was just her personality; she didn't like to owe others anything. She had told Xu Lai she didn't want any money when she helped her film the video, but Xu Lai still transferred the money to her via Alipay without giving her any room to refuse.

Xia Ning lay down as well and said, "Xiao Lai, sometimes in relationships, it's okay to be a little weaker. I know you want to be his equal, but that will make you very tired."

Xu Lai knew Xia Ning meant well, so she said, "I know. You should worry about yourself. Has Dr. Zhang's matter been resolved?"