As expected, Mo Yunmei is behaving very strangely!

Normally, she wouldn't even listen to me light a fire, saying the smoke was too choking and she had trouble breathing. But this time, she came in willingly. Did she want a near-death experience and choke to death?

Mo Jiarong kindly reminded her, "Auntie, your feet are not very mobile, and there are many people around here. I'm afraid they might accidentally step on you. Also, I heard Grandma say that your feet shouldn't be near hot places. The fire in the kitchen is hot, and it's not good for your feet."

Mo Yunmei ignored them and insisted on staying in the kitchen. "I'm not leaving! You didn't leave me any last time, who knows if you'll do the same this time. I'm staying here to watch over things, so you can't steal any!"

The children looked helplessly at Su Nanxi. They couldn't do anything to Mo Yunmei; she was their aunt.

Su Nanxi ignored her. Let her stay if she wants, just don't ask to leave later.

Mo Yunmei managed to stay, but she soon couldn't sit still because Su Nanxi had added chili peppers. She had never eaten chili peppers before, and the smell was extremely pungent. Tears streamed down her face, and she coughed incessantly from the spiciness.

She wanted to go out, but the kitchen was filled with smoke and she couldn't see clearly. She didn't dare to open her eyes and wanted to ask someone to help her out. As soon as she opened her mouth, she inhaled a pungent smell that made her back stiff.

The children, covering their noses, gathered around the stove, completely oblivious to the person behind them. They were helping to dry the chilies and had developed a certain immunity to them.

Zhao came in to see how Su Nanxi cooked it, and then followed suit.

When the stir-fried snails were placed on the small table in the yard, ready to be eaten, Mo Yunmei moved out of the kitchen.

When everyone saw it, they were startled. It was covered in dust and dirt; had it crawled out of the stove?

Grandma Mo couldn't stand it anymore, so she scooped up a ladle of water and said, "Come and wash your face! Look at the mess you're making!"

Mo Yunmei said to everyone, "You all have to wait for me, don't finish eating!"

Grandma Mo glared at her, "Does washing your face take a whole day? And you still have time to finish eating! If you keep dawdling, there won't be any crumbs left."

Mo Yunmei quickly went over and scooped up water to wash her face.

Everyone waited for Mo Yunmei to arrive before starting to eat, which made Mo Yunmei very happy.

It smelled spicy, and it tasted spicy too. Mo Yunmei kept fanning her mouth with her hand because of the spiciness, but she couldn't help wanting more.

Just as they were enjoying their meal, an uninvited guest arrived.

Grandma Zhou came over with her granddaughter. Seeing everyone sucking on snails, she picked one up and ate it without saying a word, only to have her eyes water from the spiciness. Just as she was about to scold someone, she looked up and saw everyone busy sucking on snails, with no one noticing her, so she reached out and continued eating.

It's addictive once you start eating, and you eat faster and faster the more you eat.

Su Nanxi saw it and was quite impressed by how thick-skinned this person was; even the bricks of the city wall might not be that thick!

Seeing that her grandmother was only focused on eating and had forgotten about her, Zhou Pingping tugged at her grandmother's clothes.

"Ah, Pingping, this is delicious! You should try it too!"

When Aunt Zhou turned around and saw it was her granddaughter, she put a snail into her mouth.

The little girl inhaled, choked, tears streamed down her face, she coughed incessantly, and started crying.

Aunt Zhou was still grabbing food and didn't notice until the crying got louder.

"Pingping, why are you crying?"

Nobody hit her, right?

Was it because they gave too little?

Aunt Zhou then stuffed another one into her granddaughter's mouth.

Zhou Pingping dug it out, threw it angrily, stomped her foot, and shouted, "Spicy! Spicy!"

Aunt Zhou quickly fanned him and coaxed him, "It won't be spicy in a little while."

Zhou Pingping was still crying and shouting that it was spicy.

For Su Nanxi, this was only mildly spicy, not even spicy at all. These people hadn't tried it before, which is why they thought it was spicy. Seeing the Mo family eat it and not finding it spicy at all, they felt that spiciness was essential for deliciousness and enjoyment!

Aunt Zhou didn't understand. Seeing that she couldn't soothe the child, and afraid of being scolded by her daughter-in-law when she got home, she turned around and blamed the Mo family for putting too much spice in the sauce, saying it was too spicy for her child!

Zhao spat, "We ate at our own home, we didn't invite you over, let alone treat you to a meal. Not only did you eat, but you're trying to frame us! Did we drag your granddaughter here? Did we feed her? I haven't even asked you for money yet. Do you think we don't use artificial oil and salt when we stir-fry snails? Now you're trying to shirk responsibility. Why don't you call yourself a deadbeat!"

Su Nanxi gestured in Mo Qinghe's palm, and Mo Qinghe called Dongmei over and whispered a few words to her.

Dongmei stepped forward and said to Zhou Pingping, "This is how it is the first time you eat spicy food. You'll get used to it after eating more. If you still feel it's too spicy, just rinse your mouth a few times when you get home."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Pingping immediately turned around and ran home.

Seeing this, Aunt Zhou ran away without bothering to argue with the Mo family.

Instead of eating dinner, Zhao gathered the children to prepare snails as practice.

Fearing it wouldn't taste good, Zhao cooked it in two batches. The first time it wasn't flavorful enough, but after learning from the experience, the second time it turned out quite well.

Everyone was very happy and discussed practicing it a few more times until they were proficient, then they would go to the town to find restaurants and teahouses to sell the recipe.

The recipe is sold, so they can make it at home whenever they want to eat it.

Su Nanxi picked a lot of chili peppers from the mountains, dried them, and sold them along with the other ingredients. With the addition of chili peppers, the recipe would definitely fetch a good price.

At Su Nanxi's suggestion, the Mo family planted chili seedlings on all the vacant and wasteland. However, not knowing how to care for them, they treated them like ordinary vegetables.

The children run into the mountains every day, come back to collect snails, and help clean them up when they get home. Their days are fulfilling and happy.

Zhao and Qin practiced stir-frying snails, but Zhao's stir-frying was better, so Zhao was allowed to practice alone. After all, all that was needed was someone who could stir-fry them.

With practice, Zhao got the hang of it, and the more she cooked, the smoother she became, and the more delicious the snails tasted.

Qin was helping out, but the children were all vying to do it, so she stepped back. Seeing that the sun was about to set, she went to collect the chili peppers from the woodpile.

There were many chilies, so we put them in a large winnowing basket to dry in the sun until they were almost dry.

Qin noticed that the chili peppers seemed to have shrunk considerably, barely covering the entire basket. Even if they had dried out, they shouldn't have shrunk this much!

When we finally collected them all, ten baskets of chilies didn't even have as much as one basket of chilies that we dried yesterday!

Qin was certain that someone had stolen the chili peppers, and asked Mo Qinghe if he had seen anyone come in.

Mo Qinghe shook his head. "I went out for a bit and cut two bamboo stalks. I haven't seen any outsiders since I came back. Could something have happened?"

Qin brought over a winnowing basket, saying, "That's all the chili peppers we have left."

Su Nanxi came over to take a look and exclaimed, "Wow, someone stole my chili peppers?"

Tsk tsk, nobody would recognize this thing outside. Who would steal something they don't know?

Did you think it was for making steamed buns?

That's fine, but would these people dare to eat it like that?

Coincidentally, the whole family was out, so no one saw or knew who had come in.

After Zhao's stir-fried snails received unanimous praise, she compiled her own recipe. The next day, after selling her steamed buns, she went to town with Mo Laoda and Mo Laoer. After some investigation, they decided to try their luck at a teahouse first.

Teahouses offer a more relaxed atmosphere, serving tea and snacks, where a few people can chat for half a day.

The three of them had never done anything like this before, and they were quite nervous. After encouraging each other, they walked into the teahouse with their heads held high and chests out.

"You bought the recipe? When did you buy it?"

"yesterday."

Do you have this chili pepper?

"Yes, I have!"