One by one, the coins in the dumplings were eaten and found, but Shen Qingze never got one. He slumped over the table, looking gloomy.

Seeing that there was only one dumpling left on the plate in front of him, Meng Zhao reached out with his chopsticks and put it into Shen Qingze's bowl.

Shen Qingze was still unwilling to give up, so he bit down hard and heard a snap. His eyes widened, he spat out a copper coin, and shouted excitedly, "Ahhh, I bit it!"

He was immersed in joy, but he startled the others because the copper coin he spat out still had traces of blood on it.

Seeing the strange expressions on everyone's faces, Shen Qingze realized something was wrong. He shut his mouth, looked around for a moment, and then spat out a tooth.

When she saw her teeth, she realized it hurt. Her whole face scrunched up, tears welling up in her eyes. She quickly ran to Meng Zhao's side and buried her head in her arms.

Meng Zhao first comforted him and told him not to cry, then asked him to open his mouth to check. It turned out that he was in the process of losing his baby teeth, and the baby tooth that was already loose had fallen out when it was hit by the copper coin, with traces of blood seeping from his gums.

Meng Zhao examined him carefully and, after confirming that his gums were fine, gently patted his head. "It's alright, it's alright. It's normal for kids to lose their baby teeth. When baby teeth fall out, it makes room for the new ones. Look, Qingze has gotten a coin now, so he can make a wish."

Shen Qingze lifted his head from Meng Zhao's embrace, his eyes still red, with a hint of expectation in them, "I want my sister-in-law to stay in the Shen family forever and never leave us."

Hearing her brother say this, Shen Qingyu quickly came over, grabbed Meng Zhao's sleeve with her little hand, and looked up at him, echoing, "Yes, I also hope that my sister-in-law can always be with us."

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the room immediately quieted down, and everyone's expressions changed. In particular, Meng Dashan and Xu Yunrong turned their gazes to the direction where Gu Shi was sitting, their eyes filled with a mixture of complexity and inquiry.

Children are simple-minded and can't think so deeply, but adults can't think too much. Does what they're saying mean they don't want their daughter to remarry?

Meng Zhao didn't think that much about it. She knew the Gu family and Shen Qinghe's character. If they really had any ideas, they would definitely tell her directly. They would never use a child's mouth to test her.

So she gently patted Shen Qingze and Shen Qingyu's heads, "What's wrong with you two? Your sister-in-law is right here, why are you suddenly saying these things?"

Shen Qingze pouted and muttered unhappily, "But...but my sister-in-law spends less and less time with us these days."

Last year during the Spring Festival, Meng Zhao would personally teach him and his sister arithmetic and reading, and tell them stories at night to lull them to sleep. But in the past six months, his sister-in-law has been busy with more and more things. Sometimes she would take people out, sometimes she would stay in Shenjia Village for a few days, and sometimes she would stay in a teahouse. In short, these things filled Meng Zhao's life, and he spent less and less time at home.

But he knew that his sister-in-law had gone out to take care of important business. If they bothered her, they would only be causing her trouble and it would be their fault for being inconsiderate. So he could only keep it to himself and said it out loud during the opportunity to make a wish.

Meng Zhao noticed their emotions and knew that her frequent trips before the New Year had made them feel insecure, so she comforted them, "Haven't I been staying home with you these past few days? If you miss me, then grow up quickly. When you're all grown up, I'll take you with me when I go out, okay?"

Upon hearing that they could still live with their sister-in-law when they grew up, Shen Qingze and Shen Qingyu's eyes lit up, and their grievances vanished. Shen Qingyu even clapped her hands happily, "That's great! I must grow up quickly so I can always live with my sister-in-law!"

Shen Qinghe, standing to the side, looked somewhat forlorn. The child didn't understand, but how could he not? His sister-in-law would eventually get married. No matter how well they talked now, when they separated and time passed, his sister-in-law would have a new family and her own children, and their feelings would eventually fade.

But the thought of his sister-in-law marrying into another family and treating them as family makes him feel sad.

After calming the two children down, everyone got busy preparing ingredients for the hot pot.

There aren't many kinds of green vegetables in winter, the most common being cabbage. Meng Zhao asked Shen Qinghe to go to the cellar and get two large cabbages. After washing off the dirt, they kept the tender leaves in the middle. They also took two white radishes and cut them into chunks for later use.

Meng Zhao sat by the stove, holding a large iron ladle in her hand. She heated it over the fire, picked up a piece of pork fat with chopsticks, rubbed it on the inside of the ladle, then poured in some egg liquid. She gently spun the ladle, spreading the egg liquid evenly in the ladle. After the egg liquid solidified slightly, she used chopsticks to pick up a little of the remaining dumpling filling, placed it in the middle of the egg skin, and then gently lifted the egg skin from the side to wrap the filling.

"If the egg skin has already set, just use chopsticks to dip some egg wash and apply it to the edges, then fold it back together, and it will stick." Meng Zhao explained patiently as she demonstrated.

Meng Jianqiu stood aside, watching her movements intently. After Meng Zhao made a few, seeing that Meng Jianqiu was eager to try, she handed her the spoon and asked her to make more.

Fish tofu, beef balls, chicken balls, and lucky bags are all available at the braised offal shop, so there's no need to prepare them on the spot. They simply peel the fresh shrimp they bought that day, take out one-third of them, add a small amount of powder and pound them into a paste, then add the remaining two-thirds of the shrimp meat and stir to make shrimp paste, which is then shaped into balls for later use.

If we're talking about the most common foods to eat in winter, besides cabbage and radishes, it's tofu. The counter is practically a tofu army right now, with fresh tofu, tofu skin, dried tofu, and fried tofu puffs not enough. Meng Zhao even took some firm tofu from a jar outside.

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