Li Xiangdong had no idea that in his previous life, Zhu Yanming's son and daughter-in-law had given birth to a son only after miscarrying three girls.

The arrival of this son emptied the Zhu family's coffers, and from then on, his two older sisters became his natural bloodsuckers, draining him dry from childhood to adulthood.

However, his words have essentially dashed the Zhu family's hopes of secretly having a son.

Li Xiangdong looked at Daxia, who was staring wide-eyed in his arms, and earnestly instructed her, "If anyone says such unreasonable things to you again, just spit in their face!"

Daxia nodded blankly.

After saying that, Li Xiangdong, with an air of grandeur, carried Daxia to his master's house.

Grandma Jiang was simmering chicken soup in a clay pot inside the house when she saw Li Xiangdong carrying Daxia in. She was delighted and asked, "Did you come back from the dam?"

Li Xiangdong nodded, "I went to Yanjing again."

He then recounted how he found deer antlers and velvet on the dam, acquired bear bile, bear skin, and bear meat, built a deer farm, and unintentionally saved Prince Jin Deji in Yanjing City.

Grandma Jiang smiled and said, "This is what young people should do: read ten thousand books, travel ten thousand miles, and experience different lives."

Li Xiangdong secretly lifted the lid of the clay pot and saw that the chicken soup inside was already simmered to a rich and fragrant flavor. He turned to Grandma Jiang and asked, "Did you stew this for yourself?"

"Otherwise what?"

Grandma Jiang handed him a spoon, "Serve him three bowls!"

Li Xiangdong ladled out three small bowls of chicken soup and placed them on the kang table. The three of them sat cross-legged on the kang and sipped the soup.

Grandma Jiang noticed that Da Xia's eyes were slightly swollen. "What happened? Who bullied Da Xia?"

At this point, Li Xiangdong got angry and recounted how he had gone to Zhu Yanming's house to block the door and yell at her. After finishing, he complained about his third brother-in-law, Hong Shui.

"I was overjoyed to have a son, like I'd eaten honey, and I doted on him all the time."

She also commented on her mother-in-law, Old Mrs. Hong, saying, "I never thought my mother was a person who favored sons over daughters. Why is it that she doesn't care about her granddaughter anymore now that she has a grandson?"

Finally, let me say something about Li Jin and Zhao Sufang: "I'm speechless."

Grandma Jiang said with a smile, "What's wrong with that? Your third sister just gave birth, so everyone is naturally paying more attention to her and the baby!"

Li Xiangdong retorted, "Can't four adults spare the time to take care of Daxia? She's still a child, you know!"

Grandma Jiang was too lazy to pay attention to her stubborn apprentice. She smiled and said to Daxia, "How about you sleep with Grandma Jiang for the next couple of days?"

Daxia's little tuft of hair wobbled, "Okay!"

Li Xiangdong added, "You're not allowed to go home for the next couple of days!"

Daxia nodded obediently, "Okay!"

Grandma Jiang glanced at Li Xiangdong sideways and said, "That's enough!"

Li Xiangdong downed the slightly chilled chicken soup in a few gulps. "I just can't stand these people. They gave birth to us, yet they don't treat us well. Do they deserve to be called parents?"

Grandma Jiang was slightly lost in thought, then pointed helplessly at her apprentice, "With your temper, what parent hasn't acted like this all these years?"

Li Xiangdong countered, "Is this the right way to be a parent?"

The curtain was lifted from the outside. "It smells so good! You've been sneaking some good stuff behind my back again?"

It turns out to be Doctor Gu.

As soon as he entered the door, he heard the master and disciple seemingly arguing, so he quickly went inside to change the subject.

Dr. Gu took a sip of the delicious chicken soup and sighed contentedly, "It would be even better if we used some hand-pulled noodles in the chicken soup and paired it with a spicy toon-flavored sandwich."

Li Xiangdong looked out the window at the Chinese toon tree peeking out from outside the courtyard wall, and sure enough, several clusters of red buds were growing on it.

Time flies, it's time to eat toon sprouts.

As the saying goes, eat what's in season; eat only what's available in time.

The group got right to work, and Grandma Jiang took out a bamboo basket and an iron hook from the side room and handed them to Li Xiangdong.

Li Xiangdong found a bamboo pole more than three meters long, tied an iron hook to one end of the pole, and thus the tool for picking Chinese toon was ready.

The sun was about to set, and the afterglow of the sunset sprinkled on the bright red toon buds, giving them a golden edge.

The lower-lying toon buds can be easily broken off by hand, while the higher ones require tools.

Li Xiangdong raised a bamboo pole, inserted the iron hook into the base of the toon bud, and then gently turned the bamboo pole. A cluster of toon buds would gracefully fall from the branch and land on the ground with a "plop".

Outside Grandma Jiang's courtyard wall are two Chinese toon trees, each about the size of a bowl, with branches covered with Chinese toon buds.

Li Xiangdong picked a whole bamboo basketful before stopping.

Wash the fresh toon sprouts with well water, then blanch them in boiling water for half a minute, until they turn from bright red to green.

Use a strainer to scoop out the toon sprouts and rinse them in cold water. Then chop them into small pieces, put them in a bowl, and sprinkle with bright red chili powder, white sesame seeds, crushed peanuts, a spoonful of salt, a pinch of sugar, and appropriate amounts of vinegar and soy sauce.

At this moment, Grandma Jiang had already heated the oil in the pot and scooped a spoonful of hot oil onto the chili powder.

"Sizzle—sizzle—"

The aroma of chili oil wafted over, and Da Xia, who was clinging tightly to Li Xiangdong's thigh, sneezed twice from the spiciness!

Li Xiangdong quickly put Daxia on the kang (a heated brick bed) in the inner room and let her play on it by herself.

Adding vinegar to chili oil makes it more fragrant and less spicy. This family consists of elderly people and children, so they can't eat too much spicy food.

Li Xiangdong mixed the toon leaves and chili peppers, while Doctor Gu prepared the dough.

He gave half of the dough to Li Xiangdong to make roujiamo (Chinese hamburger), and used the other half to make hand-pulled noodles.

Grandma Jiang's work surface was 1.6 meters long and 1 meter wide, and the rolling pin she held was also 1.2 meters long. Despite his advanced age, Dr. Gu was still vigorous. He quickly rolled the dough into a thin, large round sheet by turning the rolling pin, then folded it in half and cut it into thin noodles with a cleaver.

The most important step is to sprinkle flour on the noodles after cutting them and squeeze them back and forth with your hands. This will make the noodles chewy.

Li Xiangdong had also prepared several steamed buns and was baking them in a pot.

Cut the baked bun in half, put a generous amount of toon leaves on top, take a bite, and you'll find it spicy and delicious, with a mouthful of the unique flavor of spring.

Soon, a pot of steaming hot chicken noodle soup was ready, and the family of four ate it heartily with their steamed buns.

Just then, footsteps came from outside Grandma Jiang's house. Judging from the voices, they were Hong Shui and Zhao Sufang.

"Sister Jiang, are you home?"

It really was Zhao Sufang.

Li Xiangdong is also very dissatisfied with his mother now; he eats with his head down and doesn't say a word.

"I'm here, come inside!"

Grandma Jiang called out.

A short while later, Hong Shui and Zhao Sufang entered the house. They were relieved to see Da Xia sitting peacefully on the kang (a heated brick bed) eating from a small bowl.