Chapter 429 Are You Angry?

Back home, Song Chunxue prepared meat and vegetables in the kitchen.

Pickle what needs to be pickled, and boil what needs to be boiled.

This time she also bought mutton, planning to cut it into large pieces and skewer it on wooden sticks.

But I forgot to buy bamboo skewers. Most of the trees on this mountain are pine and cypress, and I didn't see any red willows, although there was one willow tree.

"Fourth brother, go cut some thin branches. Second brother, sharpen one end and let them dry overnight. Tomorrow, we'll put them on meat skewers and grill them outside."

The second son licked his lips. "Then should we roast some charcoal?"

"Hmm, charcoal is best. Coal produces smoke, but it can be used outside." Song Chunxue grabbed the chopped meat and mixed the seasonings.

The fourth son grabbed a machete and headed outside. Thinking about the food he'd seen on the street, he couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Mom, is hand-pulled rice noodles easy to make? Should we make some tomorrow?"

The second brother laughed and said, "You must want to eat this. Come to think of it, I haven't had hand-pulled rice noodles in ages. With so much meat and vegetables tomorrow, we won't need to knead the noodles, so hand-pulled rice noodles would be a good alternative."

"We don't have potato flour at home. I can't just chop up the potatoes and grind them into flour myself, there's no time to do it."

The fourth brother perked up, "It's okay, I'll go down the mountain to buy it, I can still make it back now."

“Then be careful not to be targeted,” Song Chunxue said with some concern. “Never mind, it’s not too late to go down the mountain tomorrow morning. Let’s go cut branches and trim willow tips first, and finish today’s work before we talk about it.”

The fourth brother nodded, "Alright."

The mother and her two children are busy preparing for tomorrow's Double Ninth Festival.

They felt the courtyard wasn't clean enough, so they tidied up the back corridor, garden, and fountain to prevent people from finding the back a desolate place when they went for a walk the next day.

It wasn't until I was busy that I realized how long it took to clear the weeds from the garden and pond alone; it took two hours.

They ate some potato noodles and then went to the backyard to work until dusk.

When they were too busy to continue, they went back to their rooms to rest.

Song Chunxue thought to herself that she had been naive. No wonder wealthy families needed so many maids and servants to serve them; they simply couldn't manage if they had too few people.

The corridors hadn't been cleaned for so long that some dust, mixed with rainwater, stuck firmly to the stone slabs.

Never mind, it might have to be demolished later.

She pulled the blanket over herself, thinking that she would do her best tomorrow to treat her guests to good food and drink.

Early in the morning, she took out the braised pork ribs that had been simmering overnight, and when the guests arrived, she stir-fried them with scallions to make them even more fragrant.

The fourth brother went down the mountain early and bought potato starch and alum.

Song Chunxue added alum water to a pot of hot water to make a flour paste. She then mixed the transparent paste into potato starch, kneaded it into a smooth dough, rolled it out, cut it into thin strips, and cooked it in boiling water. This resulted in chewy and springy hand-rolled rice noodles.

They scooped the rice noodles out and put them into the cool well water. Song Chunxue and Lao Si each scooped out a strand and put it in their mouths.

"Mmm, this is delicious. How does Mother plan to make it?"

Actually, in the past, all we had at home was fermented vegetable juice; we didn't have anything else of value.

It tastes good when seasoned with fermented vegetable juice, but if too much alum is added, it becomes a bit bitter, and the fermented vegetable juice can't mask that taste.

"Adjust it however you want, we'll see when the time comes. Anyway, anything is fine, like chicken soup for the soul." Song Chunxue looked at the fourth brother and noticed that something was off about him.

Why are you so excited?

The fourth brother smiled happily, "I ran into someone Uncle Zhang introduced me to on my way down the mountain today. He told me to come to him tomorrow and he'll find me a job. Soon I'll be able to earn money on my own."

"Even though I won't earn much, every little bit counts. I feel guilty about always taking money from my mother."

Song Chunxue nodded, "It's good that you're aware of this. If it really doesn't work out, you can go back to Zhuanglang County and take care of the business there for me. Mulan is probably going to get pregnant next year, and Sanwa still needs to go to school. If you go there, at least you'll be family, and I'll feel more at ease."

The fourth brother scratched his forehead. "Well, we'll talk about it later. I'll test the waters first. I need to earn some money before the New Year."

As they were talking, the second son's voice came from outside the door.

"Mom, we have a guest."

The fourth brother ran out of the house, saying, "I'll go greet him."

Song Chunxue hadn't expected so many people to come today.

Four carriages arrived outside the gate. Xie Zheng, along with Liu Chunshu and two servants, and Huang Mo, also with a servant, carried heavy objects into the courtyard.

"What are you doing here? Why did you bring so much stuff?"

Song Chunxue stood at the door and saw Huang Mo have several pots of bright chrysanthemums brought down from the carriage. She thought to herself that they had arranged them in a gaudy and flashy way.

Xie Zheng carried several exquisite boxes into the house. "Don't mind him. He just felt it wasn't right to eat for free. He knows you put a lot of effort into preparing this, so he brought some gifts."

Liu Chunshu, who was following behind, was carrying a pig's leg in his arms, which was wrapped in a burlap sack.

A pig's trotter was sticking out, and it looked like it was a hind leg. He seemed to be struggling to hold it.

Before long, the kitchen was piled high with things.

Surprisingly, Xie Zheng also brought a kitchen helper.

"It's a holiday today, and it wouldn't be right for you to work so hard for us, so I brought a cook with me. Sister Song can give him some pointers and he can assist you."

As he spoke, Xie Zheng walked into the kitchen, placed the bamboo basket in his hand on the cutting board, and took out a variety of beautiful pastries from it.

"..." Song Chunxue chuckled helplessly, "You're being too polite."

Xie Zheng corrected him, "No need to be so formal, is there anything I can help you with?"

As he spoke, he walked to the sink next to him and washed his hands. "I can also peel garlic and chop scallions for you."

"No need, no need, I'm all ready. My second brother peeled the garlic for me. You're not good at chopping scallions, don't blame me if you cry from the spiciness." Song Chunxue glanced towards the door. "Didn't you call your family to come along?"

Xie Zheng was puzzled. "What family? You know perfectly well I have no family..."

He suddenly realized something, "Was it you who went to the bookstore yesterday?"

Song Chunxue nodded, "It's me. The shopkeeper calls you Third Uncle, so he should be considered family."

It was obvious to the naked eye that Xie Zheng was flustered, and he awkwardly straightened his clothes.

“That man is my cousin’s son. He insisted on adopting him as my son, but I didn’t agree. So I made him call me Third Uncle.” He cracked his knuckles and explained with his head down, “He’s spoiled and doesn’t know how to speak properly. Please don’t take it to heart. If you have any questions, just ask me.”

“No,” Song Chunxue said gently, “he didn’t say anything.”

Seeing her distant demeanor, Xie Zheng became even more anxious.

“He knows that bookstore belongs to you, but he doesn’t know it was bought with your money. He’ll definitely misunderstand you…”

"Don't be nervous, he really didn't say anything. I didn't mean to question you." She smiled, the bright autumn sunlight falling on her face. "Why don't you go sit down in the yard first? The weather is lovely today, how about we have lunch there?"

Xie Zheng was anxious. "You can't fool me. Xie Zhao said yesterday that you asked him for the name of his bookstore. You must be angry."

Seeing his uneasy appearance, Song Chunxue nodded helplessly, "I'm not angry, I won't hold it against the child. Go sit down outside first, we can talk after dinner."

"No." Xie Zheng frowned slightly and reached out to grasp her wrist. "If you don't explain clearly, I can't eat this meal."