Chapter 70

Pei Liu's accomplice Gu Ran was already in the bamboo forest at this time.

Because she had picked a lot of mushrooms before, she suddenly remembered that there should be bamboo fungi in the dense bamboo forest deep in the forest, so she turned back temporarily. Sure enough, she picked a lot of bamboo fungi, so she was delayed for some time.

After catching two bamboo rats in the bamboo forest, I walked along the trap route and found two pheasants and two wild rabbits.

Luckily, I left at the last minute, so the prey didn't have to stay in the trap for too long. It happened to be fat in the spring, so it could have gained a few more pounds of meat!

Walking back along the stream, he picked some wild berries and raspberries, then left the island forest and walked straight towards his house.

From a distance, she saw Pei Liuniang sitting under the osmanthus tree outside the cottage.

At their feet were three little ones who were still learning to walk, stumbling around.

Perhaps because he noticed that she was back, Pei Liuniang slowly stood up from the stone table. When she was a hundred meters away from the cottage, he strode towards her and reached out to take the bamboo basket she was carrying.

Gu Ran, knowing her strength, readily untied the heavy bamboo basket and handed it to her. He then removed his mask and said excitedly, "Sixth Lady! Look, we caught quite a few small animals and wild game this time. If we take them to the fur shop in the county town, I'm sure we'll be able to exchange them for quite a bit of money."

Pei Liu smiled at her: "That's good."

"Of course!"

"Come in!"

"Hey!" Gu Ran didn't need her to say anything. She turned around and ran to the stream to wash her hands. Then she ran back and reached out to rub the three little ones who rushed over to her. "Grandma has been away for so many days. Little Orange, Little Flower, Little Black, have you missed her?"

"Meow!"

"Meow~"

"Meow~"

Pei Liu carried the bamboo basket into the yard and placed it outside the kitchen. Seeing that Gu Ran did not catch up, he walked out again and happened to see her rubbing the heads of the three little ones equally. He couldn't help laughing.

Gu Ran just clasped the three little ones in his arms and stood up. Seeing Pei Liu smiling brightly in the sun, he was stunned.

After following her into the patio and washing up, she happened to see Pei Liu taking out the harvest from her trip to the mountains from the bamboo basket and processing it, while teasing the little kitten at her feet. She couldn't help but smile with her eyes narrowed.

Although Pei Liuniang had smiled occasionally before, her expression was full of sorrow and sadness. She had never been as relaxed as she was today.

At first, she thought that she had been living under the care of others in Pei's house for many years, and that she had been plotting revenge for her parents, which had held a knot in her heart for many years.

Did anything good happen during the few days she went into the mountains?

It seemed to make her let down her guard and she finally looked like a young lady.

"Gu Erniang!"

"Um?"

"What would you like to eat for dinner?"

"Hmm!" Gu Ran thought about the mountain products he brought back today, including shepherd's purse that he had just picked today!

"Can I make shepherd's purse dumplings and then stew some chicken soup?"

Pei Liu nodded: "Okay."

"Can you do it?"

"It's simple, it will happen naturally."

Pei Liu felt that Gu Erniang underestimated him.

When they were being trained as assassins and learning martial arts, they were sometimes thrown into the mountains to fend for themselves, and they had to rely on themselves to find and cook food.

Although he is not very particular, he still knows how to grill and cook the meat.

Not to mention, during the time he came to the cottage, he helped Gu Er Niang and saw how she cooked. Naturally, he could learn how to cook by imitating her.

Originally, he stood out among the assassin reserves because of his intelligence and quick learning ability. Cooking, a trivial matter, was not difficult for him.

However, Pei Liu still overestimated his talent.

Learning assassination skills is different from cooking. The stewed chicken was made quite well. The feathers were plucked, the chicken was cleaned, the belly was cut into pieces and placed in a porcelain jar. Then, under the guidance of Gu Er Niang, ginger, wolfberry and dried yam slices were added. After filling it with water, the jar was moved to the stove and slowly stewed.

In fact, it was because when he was thrown into the mountains, he also hunted pheasants alone and slowly learned how to deal with them.

It was the dumpling wrapper that tripped him.

He added flour to water and kneaded the dough, but no matter how he kneaded it, it was either too wet or too dry.

Pei Liu's confidence almost collapsed as he watched the dough grow bigger and bigger.

Gu Ran, who had been playing with the cat outside, came in to see what was going on. Seeing her situation, he couldn't help laughing, and Pei Liu's ears turned red.

"Okay, I'll make the dumpling wrappers. Liu Niang, you go chop the stuffing!" Gu Ran took over and assigned the task to Pei Liu. "You know how to chop stuffing, right?"

"meeting."

Pei Liu, as if saved, left the difficult task of making dumpling wrappers to Gu Ran. He turned to pick and wash the vegetables, then remembered something and asked at the kitchen door, "What kind of meat do you want to add?"

"Pork belly, the kind with fat that can make oil, and put the eel in the freezer to hold down the one underneath."

"good."

Pei Liu went to the warehouse and took out the pork belly that Gu Ran had specified. Just as he was about to start boiling the oil, he was stopped by Gu Ran, who was kneading dough beside him: "What are you doing?"

"Boil the oil?"

"No, just chop it up with shepherd's purse and make the stuffing."

Pei Liu was stunned.

This piece of meat has so much fat on it, it would be a shame not to use it to make oil.

However, he had eaten dumplings before, but had never made them himself. Seeing that Er Niang was an expert in cooking, could it be that dumplings with this kind of filling were particularly delicious?

While Pei Liu was chopping shepherd's purse and pork belly, Gu Ran had also kneaded the dough, divided it into several small balls, rolled it into a thin piece, and then cut it into pieces with a knife - square dumpling wrappers.

It doesn't matter what shape the dumpling wrapper is, as long as it can be wrapped into a dumpling shape.

When Pei Liu asked how to season it, Gu Ran came over. Seeing the evenly chopped meat filling, he was very satisfied. So he added salt, pesto, a little fish sauce, and some ginger and scallion oil that he had boiled before for flavoring. After mixing them evenly, he could start wrapping them by hand.

Pei Liu didn't know how to make dumplings, so he could only learn by watching from the side.

Watching Gu Ran quickly wrap the fillings with dumpling wrappers, making them into small white ingots naturally, and seeing her finish the third one, Pei Liu reached out and picked up a piece of dumpling wrapper and started wrapping it in the same way.

The first one was a little crooked, the second one was better, the third and fourth ones got better and better, and the fifth one was a fat little ingot.

"You learn really fast!"

Pei Liu raised the corners of his mouth unabashedly and said with a smile, "It's because you, Gu Erniang, are so good at wrapping that I learned how to do it."

Wow!

It was the first time that Gu Ran heard Pei Liuniang say such words, and he couldn't help but look at her twice more.

Pei Liu blinked and quickly lowered his head, but he didn't slow down the action of making dumplings.

He has a big appetite, and now that he knows how to make dumplings, he must make more for himself!

Finally, a pot full of shepherd's purse dumplings came out of the oven.

In addition to a jar of sweet and delicious chicken soup, the dumplings are also served with a small dish of cooked green sauce and a small cup of vinegar.

It was the first time in Pei Liu's life that he ate dumplings made by himself. He found that the pork belly was so delicious as the filling without being fried in oil. He felt extremely satisfied.

Because a lot of dumplings were made, there were still quite a few left, so Gu Ran decided to keep them. He would heat up the pan and fry them for breakfast tomorrow. They would then become ready-made fried dumplings. Paired with millet porridge and radish cake, it would be another hearty meal!

After spending two nights in the mountains, Gu Ran came back this time without the tiredness he had felt last year when he had to sleep on the desk in the workshop. The old grandma was in high spirits and enjoyed some family happiness with Daju's family before going back to rest with a reluctant heart.

When he heard the sound of rain the next day, Gu Ran almost jumped off the couch. His first reaction was that something was wrong and he had to prepare to walk again to avoid the miasma.

Later I thought, oh, there is a windmill in front of my house, so I am not afraid.

Despite this, she still got up and pushed open the door of the wing room. She saw that Pei Liu had moved all the dry goods and leathers that were drying on the eaves and might get wet by the rain to the side against the wall. He even moved the cat bed a foot in. He was sitting on a small table, with Xiaohua's head sticking out from his knees, staring at the raindrops that were dripping onto the ground one after another. She looked like a loving mother... no, like a grandma taking care of her grandchildren.

As for Sunzai's mother, Daju, she was lying lazily in the cat house, just sticking her head out to watch, while the other two little ones were rolling and biting each other beside Pei Liu.

Unable to bear to disrupt this peaceful and beautiful scene, Gu Ran said goodbye to Pei Liu and went to the kitchen to wash up.

Starting from the end of March, all places here will gradually enter the rainy season, and the rainfall in Xiaxi Village will gradually increase.

And it often lasts for several days.

Generally speaking, the first few months are the plum rain season, with continuous rain. From the end of May to June to October, it is the typhoon season, with heavy rain and abundant rainfall.

The drizzle in the streets these days was normal in Gu Ran's opinion. After all, it had only been a short time since the Qingming Festival, and it rained heavily around the time.

Because it rains a lot, but before the weather gets completely hot, we naturally have to pay attention to moisture-proofing. Fortunately, Gu Ran set up the warehouse on the second floor, which is ventilated and cool, much better than storing in a warehouse on the ground.

While the rain was still light, Gu Ran went out with an umbrella and went to the windmill room to untie the rope that tied the windmill.

If it were a violent storm, Gu Ran would not dare to untie the rope in advance, but the plum rain at this time was not heavy and it looked like it would stop at any time, so he could untie the restrictions of the windmill blades in advance and stay in the small house with peace of mind.

Sure enough, when Gu Ran returned to the cottage with an oil-paper umbrella, the rain gradually stopped.

Although the windmill had been proven to be effective before, Gu Ran still couldn't help but look at the windmill in the air, and so did Pei Liu.

After waiting for a long time and seeing that the windmill was still turning at a constant speed but no miasma was drifting over from this side, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, closed the door, and went about his business.

However, the other families in Xiaxi Village were not as relaxed as Gu Ran's family. They still had to keep an eye on the direction the miasma was drifting and flee in the opposite direction.

At the same time, he did not forget to nag Village Chief Wu: "Village Chief, why is our windmill so slow to be built and not yet completed?"

"Exactly. Look at Gu Erniang's family. Their windmill is so useful. They don't have to worry about losing their lives like we do when it rains."

"Village Chief, the windmill is really a great thing!"

"Did Master Huang give you a definite answer? When will it be delivered?"

Village chief Wu was also helpless.

"Do you know how long it took to build the windmill at Gu Erniang's house?"

"How long did it take?"

"Half a year!"

"Half a year?"

"So long?"

"Are we going to have to live like this for another half a year?"

"That's not entirely true. Master Huang said we don't need him to provide the wood..."

"Of course we don't want what he offers. We have all kinds of trees on the mountain. Should we pay twenty taels of silver to the Huang family? They're taking advantage of us!"

"that is!"

"So we have to find all the wood he wants and send it to him as soon as possible. He does it so quickly!"

"Well, you think we don't want to hurry up? It was the beginning of spring a few days ago, the beginning of spring!"

"That's right, we can't miss the farming season in the spring. We have to wait until the busy farming season is over before we can do anything."

"So if you want the windmill from Gu Erniang's family, take advantage of the slack season now and go to the mountains to find wood."

"Okay, okay, village chief!"

"We understand."

Not long after the rain stopped, Village Chief Wu came to visit the Gu family's cottage.

He also brought a pair of sisters from the Yang family.

Gu Ran knew their intentions from their demeanor, so he smiled and asked, "Village Chief, do you have something to talk to me about?"

Village Chief Wu naturally had something to ask Gu Ran.

This time, the miasma drifted towards the Yang family's big house, and the villagers living in that direction of the Yang family all took refuge and dispersed to other households.

Village Chief Wu came to ask Gu Ran for help in arranging a place for the Yang sisters to stay for a few days to avoid the miasma.

When Gu Ran was hiding from the miasma, he went to Village Chief Wu's house.

Because she was a single woman, she was accommodated by squeezing into the wing of any female member of the Wu family. Now that the small house has become a safe residence, the village chief naturally arranged for the villagers who wanted to take refuge to move here.

"Sure. I have a small side room in my house that's perfect for storing your bells. Would it be okay for you to live with me?"

The Yang sisters had met and gotten to know each other last year when they went to pick oranges with Mrs. Lin. They nodded, picked up their bags, and followed Gu Ran to the small side room on the second floor of the other side of the Jutou building.

Village Chief Wu followed him up and saw that the small side room was tidy and the bed was fully made. He nodded and said, "Jinling and Yinling, you will stay here for the next two days. When the miasma is over, you can go home."

Jinling and Yinling nodded, and the two looked at each other. Jinling then thanked Gu Ran, who had arranged a house for them: "Gu Er... Sister, thank you for taking us in."

"It's my duty. Anyway, only Liu Niang and I live in my little house. You are girls like us, so it's appropriate for you to live here." Gu Ran said with a smile.

Seeing Gu Ran's pleasant expression, the Yang sisters secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Rest for a while. If you need anything, feel free to come downstairs and find me."

"Oh, okay."

Gu Ran went downstairs, and the Yang sisters relaxed their tempers and looked around the small house. When they opened the window and looked at the windmill in front and the island forest, they exclaimed: "It's so beautiful here!"

"This little house is built at this end. There are no other houses in front of it, so the view is naturally beautiful."

"Why!"

Yinling opened the side window again and looked down towards the skylight. She saw a little kitten, and then two or three kittens all pounced at the feet of Gu Erniang who had just come downstairs. Her eyes widened. "Sister, cats! Second sister Gu actually has so many cats at home."

Jinling then came over to take a look, and her expression softened for a moment.

Then he saw the young and beautiful lady who was rumored in the village to have come to live with Gu Er Niang. She also walked from under the eaves to the patio, holding the biggest cat in her arms, and walked up to Gu Ran.

"Is it her? That Pei Liuniang!" When Yinling asked her elder sister this, she saw Pei Liuniang, who had noticed their gaze downstairs, suddenly looked up and glanced towards them.

Yinling shrank back quickly as if she had been caught doing something bad, and then patted her chest hard.

Jin Ling did not move, and her eyes met Pei Liuniang's directly. After a long confrontation, she slowly retreated and then breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sister?"

"fine!"

"That Pei Liuniang is as beautiful as a fairy. No wonder Second Sister Lin wants Third Brother Lin to marry her."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Jin Ling said with a hint of panic on her face. "It's all nonsense. Don't imitate others and say nonsense outside."

Yinling glanced at her sister and said with a smile, "Sister, Mrs. Lin also said that Village Chief Wu doesn't agree, so don't worry too much."

"What am I worried about?"

"How should I know what you're worried about, sister?" Yin Ling said, unpacking her bag and putting it away. "Only you know the answer, sister! I'm not the one who's worried about you!"

Jin Ling curled her lips, said nothing, and started packing her clothes.

At dinner that night, the table that was originally meant for two people was now used by four.

When people from the village come to stay overnight, they are guests, so Gu Ran naturally has to treat them well.

A must-try dish is red fermented fish.

The two side dishes are purslane scrambled eggs and mixed mushroom pot.

One soup is cabbage bone soup,

The dessert after the meal is naturally Qingming cake.

After all, you have to hide your shortcomings, but you can't be too shabby, otherwise you will both disappoint the guests and yourself.

After ruling out rabbit meat, bamboo rat meat, etc., we decided on the most common dishes. Fish is the least expensive thing in Fujian, and fish cooked with fermented lees is also very common. Purslane is a wild vegetable that can be found everywhere in the countryside, and villagers often dig it up and eat it. Eggs are even more common. As for mushrooms, who wouldn't go to the woods to pick one or two in early summer to enrich their diet?

Cabbage is a vegetable that villagers prepare all year round. It is also common to stew it with bones. Qingming cake is a seasonal pastry in April.

In this way, he would not be impolite because the food was not rich, nor would he cause the Yang sisters to make unnecessary assumptions because of the abundance of delicacies.

Sure enough, although Jinling and Yinling were a little surprised when they saw these dishes, their expressions were natural. It seemed that these main dishes were probably nothing in their eyes, and they probably ate better food on a normal day.

Apart from the miasma, the people in Xiaxi Village should have a pretty good standard of living. Gu Ran had a deep understanding of this since he first came to the village.

More than half of the families in Xiaxi Village live in large houses, not to mention that many families can afford donkey carts.

As a new household, she only got a donkey cart this year and relied on the money she earned from buying mountain products in the island forest, which they dared not enter.

It can be seen that although many families in Xiaxi Village are not rich, they are not poor either.

After dinner, the two sisters were no longer as awkward as when they first arrived, especially Yinling. After asking if she could play with the kittens, she excitedly pulled out a piece of dogtail grass and went to play with the three little ones.

The next day, when her family told her that the miasma had dissipated and she could go home, Yinling was still reluctant to leave and asked, "Second sister Gu, can I raise one?"

"They are a family, I really can't bear to separate them." Gu Ran refused and insisted on being a good grandma.

Before, Mrs. Lin brought Xiaolan to visit and also wanted to adopt the kitten. Pei Liu immediately took Xiaohua and went into his own room, leaving only his grandchildren Xiaoju and Xiaohei.

Gu Ran hesitated for a long time, but because of her deep friendship with Lin Ersao, she still did not agree.

Xiaoju and Xiaohei's palms and backs of their hands are all flesh. As a mother, I can't bear it, and as a grandmother, I can't bear to give my lovely grandchildren away.

As a result, Xiaolan was so angry that she wanted to break up with Gu Ran that she went back crying. I heard that Mrs. Lin tried to persuade her for a long time, until Gu Ran told Xiaolan that she could come to see the cat at any time. Only then did Xiaolan change from anger to joy and reluctantly reconciled with Gu Ran.

Therefore, it is both a headache and a source of pride when one's grandson is too popular and frequently coveted by others.

After sending Jinling and Yinling away, Gu Ran began to sort out the mountain products and dried leathers, planning to go to the county town to find Manager Zheng at the Hefeng Fur Shop to exchange them for money.

When she had sorted out a pile of mountain products, Gu Ran remembered the strange leaves she had picked from the tea tree.

He took out all of them while Pei Liu wasn't paying attention.

Pei Liu was helping to sort the various mountain products into categories. Seeing the leaves Gu Ran took out, he asked, "Are you planning to sell these?"

"This grows on a tea tree. I want to take it to a tea shop and ask what it is and what I can do with it!"

"This is tea ear, you can eat it."

Tea ears are another type of leaf that grows on the tea tree. After a spring of gestation, the tea tree absorbs too much nutrients, causing the leaves to mutate when it replaces new leaves.

In other words, these tea ears are the second type of tea that grows fat and big due to excess nutrition of the tea tree.

Pei Liu explained this, picked up one of the tea leaves, wiped it clean, put it in his mouth and started eating.

Since he had never eaten it before, Gu Ran would not lag behind. He immediately took a piece, wiped it and started eating.

Well, it’s refreshing, crispy, and a little sweet. The thickness of the texture is like thick and fresh kelp, and the taste is like a soft peach.

"In autumn, when tea trees are harvesting tea fruits, there is another kind of fruit besides the tea fruit, called tea buds."

"Can it be eaten like tea ears?"

"able."

Gu Ran decided that after autumn this year, he must remember to check the tea trees in the mountains to see if there are any tea buds to eat.

Gu Ran picked up a few more pieces of tea leaves, wiped them and put them into his mouth.

"Didn't you say you'd exchange this for money?"

"Hey, this is just a small amount. We can have it as a snack." Gu Ran replied, "Are tea ears available all year round?"

"It's only in spring. After mid-spring, there are very few. I'm afraid what you picked are the last ones."

"If I had known, I would have picked more."

Gu Ran stuffed a piece of tea ear into Pei Liuniang's hand and looked at her curiously, "Liu Niang, you are also very familiar with the mountain creatures in the forest!"

Pei Liu originally took the teapot brought to him with a smile, but when he heard Gu Erniang ask this, his smile froze.

In Gu Erniang's eyes, he was the poor Pei Jia Liuniang!

Should I take this opportunity to tell her the truth?