Chapter 118 Weight Loss Meals Are So Troublesome!

Hmm, something seems to have happened over there?

Ning Jia hadn't yet decided what practical projects to prepare for Xue Cao when her attention was drawn to the commotion caused by the coffee table.

Xuecao immediately forgot her earlier troubles, hurriedly said "I'll go take a look," and ran away quickly.

Ning Jia watched her small figure running away, and for a moment she didn't know whether to laugh or cry:

It seems that what Xuecao is most interested in is actually gossip.

If she had internet access, she would definitely be a super-powerful gossip netizen.

Speaking of internet access, I need to settle things regarding my phone in the next couple of days...

As Ning Jia was thinking, she heard a loud wailing sound. Her heart tightened, and she quickly went over.

"What happened?"

Through the crowd of onlookers, Ning Jia spotted the tiny, snowball-like Luo Luo, who was lying on the coffee table, crying sadly.

"What's wrong? Did you burn yourself while eating? Or are you choking?"

Ning Jia asked nervously, but looking at the child's rosy complexion and lively appearance, it didn't seem quite right.

Xuecao already knew what had happened, and quietly whispered a few words in Ningjia's ear.

Ah, is that so...?

Ning Jia's gaze fell on Luo Luo's light pink dress, and upon closer inspection, she noticed the specks of soup that had splashed onto it.

If we had come any later, that little bit of white broth might have dried up and disappeared.

But little Luo Luo clearly cherished her little dress very much. Looking at the water stains on the hem, she was so sad that she kept wiping away her tears with her little hands.

Ning Jia brought over some tissues and gently wiped the soup stains off her skirt, comforting her:

"Don't cry, don't cry, it's okay. This pear soup doesn't have any oil in it, so you can just rub the clothes a little and they'll be clean."

"Really?" Lolo rubbed her eyes and sobbed.

"Really?"

Seeing that everyone else also had a "Is it really that simple?" expression, Ning Jia suddenly realized something.

She immediately went to the bathroom and brought back a basin of clean water, then gave a demonstration of "how to wash clothes" right there in the living room.

The little people had never really paid attention to how the giants washed their clothes. Anyway, afternoon tea was over, and everyone quickly started discussing it, gathering around.

Surrounded by a group of curious little figures, Ning Jia, who was squatting in the very center, immediately became the focus of everyone's attention.

Looking at so many curious eyes, Ning Jia couldn't help but ask in surprise:

"Really? Don't you all know how I usually do my laundry?"

The little people all shook their heads.

After all, even if their grass skirts get dirty, they can just wipe them clean, or make a new one if necessary. There's no need to "wash clothes" at all.

"Okay, then I'll give you a simple demonstration."

Ning Jia then explained the general process of washing clothes to the children:

"Like this, first soak the clothes in water until they are soaked, then apply some soap, then rub and rub to remove the dirt, then rinse with water, and they're done."

Ning Jia was afraid that she would use too much force and ruin the little people's clothes, so she didn't wash Luo Luo's little skirt directly. Instead, she used a small towel to demonstrate.

Once the little ones understood, she brought over a small plastic box filled with clean water and let little Luo Luo, who had already changed into a grass skirt, try washing herself.

Lolo carefully placed the pink dress into the water, patiently waiting for it to get wet. Then, she gently rubbed it a few times with the soap beans Ning Jia had given her, and her eyes widened as she smiled with delight.

"Wow, it really is cleaner now."

Am I right?

Ning Jia laughed and said, "If you have a lot of clothes, you can just use the washing machine to wash them, which saves you the trouble of hand washing them."

The little people didn't find this particularly convenient, since there was still an important step after washing the clothes: drying them.

Ju Ye had already taken out her little notebook, taking notes as she asked:

"After washing, will those clothes dry quickly, just like our grass skirts?"

Ning Jia shook her head:

“Cloth is different from hay. Cloth is particularly absorbent, so it won’t dry just by drying it in the sun. If the sun is strong, it will probably dry in about three hours.”

What?! It takes that long?!

That's too much trouble!

The little people all looked disappointed, while lazy ones like He Meng rolled their eyes, looking thoughtful.

...

After afternoon tea, Gancao and Sumu immediately began distributing the clan's autumn benefits, which were everyone's new clothes.

Since a space in the second bedroom became available, although the storage tools haven't arrived yet, licorice and sappanwood have already moved into this separate workspace ahead of schedule.

Ning Jia laid a new rug against the wall of the second bedroom and brought in a brand new sewing machine. When Gan Cao and the others dragged over their sewing toolboxes, it became a very spacious dressing room.

Previously, they were afraid of disturbing others in the living room, so they were very careful when sewing clothes.

Now that they have their own workspace, they can finally unleash their full potential and become increasingly skilled at using the sewing machine. In just an hour or two, they made quite a few little skirts.

Considering that most of the tribespeople are currently staying at home and wearing two layers of cloth skirts is already quite warm, they made double-layered skirts for all of them, and made a three-layered skirt for a few little people who need to go out for training.

Xuecao finally got to wear the three-layered dress she had been dreaming of, and it was the same light blue one as Baisu's.

She happily twirled around, but after a while, she found herself sweating profusely and had to change out of her three-layered dress.

Seeing this, the others simply tried them on, changed, and put them away, so they could wash them themselves if they got dirty.

Xuecao looked at the three-layered dress she had been wearing for half a day, then sniffed the scent on it with her little nose. After hesitating for a long time, she sighed and went to the yard to wash clothes.

She didn't want to go out for training in sweaty, dirty clothes...

...

The door to the room was wide open, and the little people were coming and going, enjoying their leisure time.

Unlike usual, there was a small plastic basin filled with clean water under the tap in the yard today.

When Xuecao carried her clothes over, she was surprised to find that there were quite a few people there to wash their clothes.

To be precise, it's not just for washing clothes, it washes all sorts of things.

A tiny person is diligently scrubbing a small mouse pillow made of handkerchiefs, their hands covered in soap suds, even their tiny chin has some foam on them, but they don't seem to care, and they say:

“I used to always bother Ningjia to clean these things, but looking at it now, we can actually do it ourselves.”

"Yes, yes, we should do what we can ourselves."

Another little figure holding a soap bean is lathering soap on a handkerchief or small blanket.

Although Ning Jia said that she usually uses that washing machine to wash everyone's pillows and blankets all at once without much effort.

Even if you don't wash them by hand, you still have to take them out to dry, and after drying they have to be put away one by one, which is still quite tiring.

Xuecao paused for a moment, then, while washing her little skirt, she slowly began to ponder amidst the chatter of her tribesmen.

Although the sunlight wasn't as bright anymore, the little figures stood in a circle around the basin, rubbing various fabrics and chatting idly. It was certainly less boring than washing clothes alone.

Under the persimmon tree, He Meng, along with Tuan Tuan, Meng Meng, and Luo Luo, made soapy water using a small yogurt container, following Ning Jia's method. They then held up a straw and blew bubbles with great enthusiasm.

Transparent soap bubbles floated slowly in the air, refracting rainbow colors in the sunlight, and the little ones stared in amazement with wide eyes.

Tiny figures made of rice sprouts, quartz, orange leaves, and licorice have climbed onto the flowerbed and are carefully examining the newly sown seeds.

As Xuecao washed clothes, she glanced enviously at the flowerbed:

Why do people have to wash clothes? Wouldn't it be wonderful if these household chores disappeared?

Xuecao's mind flashed back to Ning Jia's constant chores, and she fell into deep thought...

After she finally washed her little dress clean and hung it neatly on the rocking chair in the yard, she rushed into the room without waiting, almost bumping into Zhelan who was coming from the opposite direction.

"...Teacher Zhelan!"

Xuecao looked at Zelan with excitement, "I was just looking for you."

Zhelan smiled slightly, "What a coincidence, me too."

...

Xuecao was startled when she saw Ning Jia and several middle-aged men sitting on the sofa.

When she learned that everyone had gathered together to discuss the "social practice" proposed by Ning Jia, she felt both nervous and expectant.

Seeing that Xuecao seemed to have something to say, everyone decided to listen to the child's own thoughts first.

When Xuecao said she wanted to "reduce Ningjia's housework load," everyone clapped and laughed.

"What a good child! It's really thoughtful of him to think of that."

Ning Jia smiled and gently touched Xue Cao's head. "Thank you for thinking of me like this."

Xuecao shook her head. "There are some things that we should have done ourselves, but Ningjia never said anything, and we just didn't realize it."

Upon hearing this, everyone cast approving glances at the little girl.

Canglan nodded:

“Xuecao is right. The problem of housework has indeed existed for a long time. We were somewhat negligent when we first arrived, and now it is time for us to do many things ourselves.”

After discussing it for a while, they all agreed that having the children help with various daily household chores was definitely more beneficial than harmful.

"Let's settle on that then."

On the sofa, Canglan stroked her chin and made her final decision:

"Starting tomorrow, no, starting right now, Xuecao will begin her irregular social practice. If any of you need any help, just go to her."

Bai Zhi immediately said, "Then let Xue Cao stay with me and Yun Zhu for now. We're in a bit of a hurry to plan the space at home."

No one else had any objections.

Ning Jia then directly gave Xue Cao a new loose-leaf notebook:

"I think you should be able to use it."

Xuecao thought her memory was pretty good and wanted to decline, but then she suddenly remembered Bai Su and Juye's little notebook that they always carried with them, so she thanked them and accepted it.

...

Xuecao, who had just started her social practice, immediately joined Baizhi and Yunzhu in discussing the layout and planning of various parts of the house.

However, since the storage racks they purchased haven't arrived yet, the renovation of the second bedroom can't start for the time being, so they can only wander around the living room for now.

During their visit, they discovered something even more urgent than interior design.

That is, the problem of storing items in smaller rooms, that is, cubicles.

Originally, everyone had enough space to store their belongings, but after everyone got one or two new outfits, the original storage space became insufficient.

I heard that, at Ning Jia's suggestion, licorice and sappanwood were also given an extra set of double-layered dresses for everyone to change into, so there's even less room to store the clothes.

After hearing about the troubles of their people, Bai Zhi and Yun Zhu fell into deep thought, while Xue Cao simply said:

"Ning Jia has a lot of clothes, right? Let's just see how she organizes them, and we can learn from her, can't we?"

Upon hearing this, Ning Jia suddenly slapped his forehead:

"I'd completely forgotten about it if you hadn't mentioned it! I was thinking that everyone would definitely need a place to store their clothes in the future, so I bought some storage tools..."

She immediately found the daily necessities she had bought at the two-dollar supermarket and took out several different styles of small desktop storage boxes.

Ning Jia pointed to the diagram and said, "Look, these kinds of storage boxes are quite suitable for making wardrobes for everyone."

Everyone's eyes lit up immediately; this box with drawers looked very convenient.

Upon learning that they had a place to put their clothes, the little ones excitedly gathered around.

Ning Jia quickly took out a large box of plastic building blocks and casually demonstrated:

"If you don't like storage boxes, you can DIY your own. Like this, just put the blocks together and you can build the size you want..."

One of the little figures immediately said, "Then I want to build a cabinet with many, many layers, just like the little cart from before."

Another little figure asked, "Can these blocks be assembled into a bed?"

Ning Jia nodded, "As long as you know how to assemble it, you can try assembling any furniture you want."

Wow... The little people's faces all showed excitement.

Seeing this, Ning Jia immediately found some Lego building tutorials online, projected them onto the TV, and then went to the kitchen to prepare dinner while everyone was researching how to DIY new furniture.

...

In the kitchen, Dongkui confirmed with Ning Jia again:

"Are you really letting me cook tonight?"

Ning Jia nodded. "Don't worry, dinner tonight is easy to make. You'll definitely learn how to make it after just one try."

She wasn't lying to Dongkui; there was no need for separate meals tonight, and the dishes were simple because they were a very refreshing and healthy weight-loss meal chosen under the guidance of Dr. Canglan.

The difficulty of preparing this kind of food... is something everyone understands.

That's why Ning Jia simply let go and allowed Dong Kui, a novice who was really into cooking, to prepare the meal on her own, while she supervised and guided her from the side.

Due to the dwarf race's unique physique, this meal is simple to prepare, but the real challenge lies in handling the large (relative to the dwarfs) kitchen utensils.

To ensure safety, Ning Jia didn't have to lift a finger, but she kept a close eye on Dong Kui's every move the whole time, without relaxing her guard at all.

Dongkui was a little nervous at first, but she gradually relaxed once she got into cooking mode.

After a flurry of chopping, the broccoli, carrots, potatoes, tofu, and other vegetables, along with the leftover shrimp and chicken from lunch, were all lined up and given a hot bath in the small pot of shiitake mushrooms. Then they were placed in individual bowls, seasoned with a few simple condiments, and dinner was ready.

Although dinner was very simple to prepare, basically a mindless process, cooking a weight-loss meal for more than 30 people (excluding Ningjia) was quite a physically demanding task, and Dongkui spent a lot of time and effort on it.

Seeing the curly-haired little boy sweating profusely, Ning Jia's gaze couldn't help but fall on Dong Kui's... little floral apron.

As soon as Dongkui received the double-layered loungewear, she immediately put it on. She had originally wanted to change it while cooking because she was worried about getting it dirty, but Su Mu was very thoughtful and had even prepared a cute little apron for her.

Although Su Mu's original words were actually:

"Dongkui, do a good job! Whether we can have hot meals again depends on you."

After all, Ning Jia had already informed everyone that an important festival in the Giant World was coming up in a few days, and she would have to go home to celebrate.

In other words, the family chef will soon be going on another long trip.

If Dongkui could learn to cook before then, then everyone wouldn't have to survive on dry food reserves.

Dongkui, a novice cook who had only been cooking for one day, said she felt immense pressure.