Chapter 98 Is the Alkali Surface So Easy?

Seeing that the supplies were almost all stockpiled, Ning Jia took a short break, then busied herself around like a little bee.

She pushed the electric scooter into the second bedroom, locked the doors and windows, and filled all the windows in the house with windproof strips to strengthen the airtightness. She also reinforced the window glass with tape in a star pattern, and then drew the curtains to add a little more protection.

The little creatures didn't rest either. They had stopped working and collected all the finished and unfinished sachets into cardboard boxes. They also packed all the small odds and ends in the living room into cardboard boxes and dragged them under the bed.

As for the items on the table by the window, Ning Jia moved them all to other places.

Ning Jia had just carefully moved the dollhouse from the table by the window in the second bedroom onto the bed when He Meng suddenly rushed over.

She instinctively stopped at Ning Jia's feet, then, realizing it wasn't right, consciously took a few steps back to maintain a safe distance. Only then, tilting her head back, did she loudly remind her:

"Ning Jia, Ning Jia, the clan leader asked me to tell you—"

"Don't forget to protect our persimmon trees!"

Ning Jia nodded, "Yes, don't worry, I haven't forgotten. I'll go reinforce them later."

She put on her windbreaker, mask, and protective goggles, grabbed the tree support frame she had bought beforehand, quickly opened the door, and rushed into the yard.

The wind outside is sometimes strong and sometimes weak. Right now, the wind is particularly strong, howling and making the leaves on the trees rustle.

Ning Jia stood under the persimmon tree, the strong wind making it hard for her to stand, so she had to hug the rough and sturdy trunk.

Once the wind subsided a bit, she immediately got to work:

First, the cups were placed on the bamboo poles and nailed in. Then, thick nylon straps were tied to the trunk. Soon, bamboo poles surrounded the persimmon tree in a pattern resembling the Chinese character "个".

With so many bamboo poles supporting it, there shouldn't be any problem, right?

After reinforcing both persimmon trees, Ning Jia touched the trunks, whispered "Keep it up," and then looked around to check for any potential hazards she might have missed.

The courtyard was now completely empty.

Large items like vehicles were moved inside, while smaller items like compost bins were placed in a large water tank under the shed by Ning Jia, covered with a large wooden board, and weighed down with several large bricks, making it as stable as a rock in the strong wind.

...It should all be almost done.

Ning Jia took one last look at everything in the courtyard, then installed the flood control boards that Song Ling and the others had brought at the front door, and piled up heavy sandbags on both sides to prevent rainwater from leaking in through the gaps.

"Bang."

The door was tightly closed.

Ning Jia then added windproof strips around the door to make sure there was no draft before taking off her gear, collapsing onto the sofa, and letting out a sigh of relief.

She had barely lain down for a second when she suddenly sat up, picked up the radio she had just bought, put in the batteries, turned it on, and tuned it to a local channel.

"Breaking news: Typhoon Stardust has followed its latest path..."

As the calm and steady voice of the announcer rang in, Ning Jia placed the radio on the coffee table before lying back down with peace of mind.

No wonder she was so nervous.

If she were alone, and there were any risks to the house, she could easily run to the nearby police station for refuge.

But what about the dwarves?

They can't be exposed to others. Even if someone comes to rescue them, it will be difficult to take so many villains away in full view of everyone...

The only way forward is to protect this home so that the children can be safe.

...

Compared to Ning Jia's tension, the villains were completely relaxed.

After all, Ning Jia had already said that the house definitely wouldn't collapse. As for other dangers, such as windows being blown apart or rain flooding the house, those were minor issues.

The little ones weren't afraid at all, after all, today's afternoon tea (or afternoon tea?) was very delicious ice cream.

With delicious ice cream in front of you, who has time to worry about a typhoon!

Mengmeng's mouth was covered in ice cream as she ate, whispering to Luoluo as she ate:

"I think typhoon days are actually quite nice, otherwise I wouldn't be able to get ice cream today."

Lolo licked the cream from her lips. "Mmm! I think so too!"

Over there, Bai Su was also eating ice cream and chatting with Ju Ye:

"How much food is left in the fridge? I see a lot of food piled up on the counter. Is there going to be another big meal tonight?"

With milk ice cream in her mouth, Ju Ye mumbled:

"The refrigerator is so big, if we want to eat everything in it, we'll definitely have to cook a lot of food."

That's right, Ning Jia is standing in front of the refrigerator right now, taking out the food one by one, preparing to empty it out!

Otherwise, if there's a power outage, these ingredients will spoil very quickly in the middle of summer.

But there's way too much food in the fridge!

Ning Jia frowned in distress:

She is usually quite restrained when buying groceries, always buying only the amount she needs. However, today she was in a rush and didn't have time to plan ahead. She also forgot that she had already bought groceries in the morning, so she ended up buying a lot more than she should have.

Many of these ingredients don't keep for long, so it looks like I'll have to cook another big meal tonight.

"It's getting late, let's hurry up and cook."

After we finish eating, we'll have to seal off the kitchen too.

Thinking of this, Ning Jia quickly tied on her apron and was about to start cooking when she saw a small figure with light green hair on the counter, and couldn't help but smile:

"Winter Okra, are you here to learn cooking techniques today too?"

"Um."

Dongkui nodded, then hurriedly said:

"Ning Jia, can we bring a few more people today?"

Ning Jia asked, puzzled, "Does anyone else want to learn how to cook?"

"No, no," Dongkui shook her little head, "They just thought you were too tired today and wanted to help you."

"Sure, come whenever you want."

Ning Jia was indeed a bit tired today, and accepted everything offered, then said to Dong Kui:

"Then later, could you please teach them how to help in the kitchen?"

"No problem, leave it to me!"

Dongkui puffed out her little chest, opened her big eyes, and tried her best to appear very reliable.

...

After Ning Jia categorized the ingredients according to the menu, Dong Kui led one, two, three, four, five...

A dozen or so little figures came over.

Ning Jia, looking at the row of tiny figures standing on the kitchen counter: ...

Are these the people you were talking about?

Upon closer inspection, almost all the able-bodied young and old members of the clan had arrived, along with winter mallow, licorice, sappanwood, sap moss, white perilla, snow grass, rice sprouts, quartz, orange leaves...

Ning Jia looked at the familiar little faces and couldn't help but smile slightly:

It's really great that so many workers have come at once.

She glanced at the time, suddenly changed her mind, and said to the little people, including Xuecao and Daoya:

"By the way, anyone want noodles tonight? The kind of staple food you guys haven't tried before."

The little ones were all stunned for a moment, then excitedly raised their little hands:

"Me! Me! Me!" "I want to eat!" "I want to eat! I want to eat! I want to eat!" I want noodles!

Daoya shouted the loudest, "I want noodles! Not instant noodles!!!"

Ning Jia chuckled, "Don't worry, it's not instant noodles, it's noodles that taste even better than instant noodles."

"Wow—" "Wow~!"

The kitchen erupted in exclamations of "Wow!" as the children craned their necks, their faces beaming with anticipation.

“However,” Ning Jia changed the subject, “it’s not so easy to get delicious noodles. There’s a lot of preparation work to do, so there will be a lot of work and a lot of fatigue in the kitchen tonight.”

"I'm not afraid!"

Inagi chimed in, her little face brimming with confidence, "I'm very strong!"

"It's okay!" "We'll do our best!" "Just let us know if there's any work you need!"

The other villains also chimed in, saying it was no big deal at all.

Only Dongkui and Hemeng exchanged a glance, wanting to say something, but seeing that the tribespeople were in high spirits and excited, they kept their mouths shut and said nothing.

Anyway, they'll find out soon enough!

...

The first task, unsurprisingly, was washing vegetables.

Both vegetable basins in the sink were filled with various kinds of vegetables, floating in the water in all sorts of colors, which made the little people happy.

Hehe, wow, so many vegetables to wash! Looks like we'll have something to eat tonight.

Soon, He Meng, who already had experience washing vegetables, led Dao Ya, Shi Ying, and several other little figures to stand by the vegetable basin and begin washing the vegetables.

Daoya lifted one end of the cucumber out of the water, while Shiying stood opposite her and lifted the other end. The two little figures slowly washed the long, emerald-green cucumber underwater.

Daoya found washing vegetables not tiring at all, and even had the mood to chat and laugh with Shiying:

"Do you think this cucumber is for making cucumber salad?"

"I think so!" Shi Ying said, licking her lips as she washed the cucumbers. "Cucumber salad is the best!"

They chatted for a while, and thinking they had washed enough, they were about to lift the cucumbers into the draining basket when He Meng quickly stopped them:

"Wait a moment!"

"Did you scrub this cucumber with salt?"

What? It's just washing a cucumber, why do you need to scrub it with salt?

He Meng's little face was serious and tense:

"Ning Jia said that these cucumbers have pesticide on them... they're poisonous! If you don't wash them with salt, you'll get poisoned!"

What?! That's terrifying?!

Both Daoya and Shiying were dumbfounded, and in their fright, the cucumber in their hands fell into the basin with a "plop".

Under He Meng's supervision, the two little ones jumped from the vegetable washing basin to the edge of the sink, grabbed some salt from a small plastic box, held it in their little hands, jumped back to the vegetable washing basin, sprinkled the salt on the cucumber peels, and started scrubbing the cucumbers again...

On the vegetable basin next door, Bai Su and Xue Cao were each holding a round tomato and rinsing it under the water.

They naturally noticed the rework on Daoya's side and were hesitating whether to get some salt to wash themselves when Hemeng quickly ran over, grinning, and said:

"Ningjia always peels the tomatoes, so there's no need to wash them with salt."

What?

Daoya and Shiying, who were scrubbing cucumbers with salt, both looked on with envy.

Bai Su and the others are so lucky, they don't have to wash again...

...

The vegetable washing team had just finished washing the first batch of vegetables when the vegetable chopping team on the counter began their task.

Ning Jia had already beaten five or six eggs in one go, stirred them into an egg mixture and set it aside. Seeing that the cucumbers were washed, she immediately took them over.

On the countertop lined with plastic wrap, she placed a large cutting board, laid out the cucumbers, picked up a knife, and quickly sliced ​​them into pieces. Then she instructed:

"Dongkui, could you please lead everyone to cut all these cucumber slices into shreds, just like last time?"

As he spoke, he handed each of the little figures a kitchen knife.

Dongkui, a skilled second-level kitchen helper, picked up her knife and said, "Okay, got it."

As for the remaining few little figures, they were given a strange task at the other end of the cooking counter.

Ning Jia took a cylindrical object from the cabinet, placed it in front of them, and introduced it:

"This is called alkaline water noodles, and your job is to break each of these noodles into several small pieces."

Seeing the children's blank expressions, Ning Jia pulled out a thin noodle from the inside, gently folded it in the middle, then folded it again, dividing the noodle into four small sections of roughly the same length.

Ning Jia picked up a small piece of noodles and compared it to the little figure. "Hmm, this length should be about right."

"Please, everyone, just like I did before, fold all the noodles here to this length and put them into...this big bowl."

"...Oh, okay."

The little creatures looked at each other in bewilderment. Finally, Gan Cao mustered up her courage and stepped forward, slowly pulling a long noodle from the noodle tube and placing it on the plastic wrap.

He looked around and found the middle of the long noodle. He squatted down and slowly picked up the long noodle with his small hands. Just as he was about to use all his strength to break it, the noodle broke in two with a "snap".

Licorice was stunned: Breaking noodles... is it really that easy?

The others also noticed this and, without hesitation, all crowded around, pulling out noodles one by one.

Soon, each of the little ones had a noodle in their hand, as if they were holding long bamboo poles.

"Snap!" "Hey-yo~" "Snap~!" "Hey-ha!"

In an instant, the sounds of noodles breaking and the shouts of the little people straining to break filled the air.

Among them, Su Mu was the most enthusiastic in breaking the branches, her little face beaming with a bright smile.

Previously, he always felt that he wasn't strong enough and lacked confidence in his strength, always envying Shi Ying, Dao Ya, and He Meng.

Surprisingly, I was able to easily break this seemingly sturdy noodle into several pieces!

Does that mean that I'm not as weak as I thought?

As he snapped the noodles apart, he thought to himself with satisfaction:

Working in the kitchen is so relaxing and fun, it's fantastic!

Well, it would be even better if his forearms weren't so sore...

...

Seeing that all the little people were doing their jobs—some washing vegetables, some chopping vegetables, some breaking noodles—Ning Jia smiled with satisfaction.

No one's coming here for nothing; today, I'm making sure every one of you experiences the joy of working in the kitchen!

She glanced at the orderly Lilliputian food preparation line, then returned to the stove. She heated oil in a wok, poured in the beaten eggs, and scrambled them until they became fluffy, golden-brown pieces. Then she poured in the pre-mixed sauce (a light version) and continued scrambling…

When Ningjia reduced the sauce over high heat and ladled the stir-fried eggs with soy sauce into a large bowl, all the little figures simultaneously stopped what they were doing and took a deep sniff:

Wow, what delicious food is this?!

It smells so good!

On the kitchen counter, there was even a tiny figure with red eyes and tears streaming down its face, as if moved to tears by the aroma...

Ning Jia placed the braised eggs on the table, turned around, and said, utterly speechless:

"Juye, why did you chop the onion too? It's really painful to cut directly into your eyes..."

"Oh, it's nothing, I just wanted to... study its internal structure."

The expression on Ju Ye's face remained as calm and composed as ever.

But at the same time, her two big eyes were red and swollen, and tears were streaming down her face, forming two thin streams...

Seeing this bizarre scene, Ning Jia couldn't help but advise:

"The orange leaves are so spicy, can we figure it out another time?"

"It's okay, I'm not afraid of spicy food. I haven't figured it out yet."

Orange Leaf, her face expressionless, wept uncontrollably, then stubbornly raised the knife in her hand once more…

Finally, Ning Jia had no choice but to let Bai Su and the others help Ju Ye rinse her eyes, which had been stung by the fumes, while she hurriedly left the kitchen to start making her own solution.

She rummaged under the bed in the second bedroom, found a small piece of floral fabric, cut two small holes in it with scissors, and then stuck on some transparent tape. A smoke-proof eye mask was ready.

After washing her eyes with orange leaves, and putting on Ning Jia's homemade "anti-fume eye mask," she continued cutting onions and was surprised to find:

Hey, it doesn't sting my eyes anymore!

Dongkui asked anxiously from the side, "Sister Juye, will it sting my eyes too?"

"I won't do it at all."

Ju Ye shook her head and smiled sweetly at Ning Jia:

"Sister Ningjia, you're so kind! Juye likes you so much!"

After their initial surprise, the other little figures looked at Ning Jia with emotion and clapped their hands enthusiastically.

"Ning Jia, you're amazing!" "So incredible, Ning Jia!" "Ning Jia, I like you too!" "I like it, I like it, I like it!"

Amidst the children's enthusiastic applause, Ning Jia's face flushed suspiciously, then she quickly said:

"Don't just stand there, get back to work! We have a lot of things to do later!"

"Okay!"

The little people responded with smiles.