Chapter 237 The Thresher Arrives

"Mother, Second Aunt, Third Aunt, thank you for your hard work." Su Ying said to the three sisters-in-law.

"What?" The three sisters-in-law looked at Su Ying.

"Peel the entire winter melon, cut a quarter into thin strips, and cut the rest into finger-sized strips."

"What? Cut it all up?" Mrs. Du exclaimed. "How can we finish such a big melon?"

"I made winter melon candy and winter melon stuffing. I promised Zhaoyan and Bingyan to make delicious food." Su Ying smiled.

"Aying, look at how spoiled you are. Bingyan is almost ten years old, and he is still greedy." Wei said angrily.

"I'm craving for it too, this is a good opportunity to satisfy my craving! Hehe!" Su Ying pushed her three sisters-in-law to start eating.

While Mrs. Du and Mrs. Wei were still struggling, Yang Chunhua had already cut the meat into four parts with a knife, one part was cut into shreds, and the rest into strips.

"Second sister-in-law, you..." Mrs. Du was trembling with fear, "You only spoil Ah Ying. This big one needs so much candy!"

"Sister-in-law, when has anything made by Aying ever been in vain?" Yang Chunhua protected Su Ying.

Soon the winter melon shreds and strips were cut.

Su Ying mixed lime water in a wooden barrel and soaked the winter melon strips in it.

"Why do we need to soak in lime water?" the three sisters-in-law were puzzled.

"Soak the winter melon in lime water for a day to make it hard so it won't become soft and shapeless when you cook it." Su Ying put the bucket of winter melon strips aside and covered it with a lid.

Bring the water to a boil, blanch the winter melon shreds in the water for one minute, remove them from the water and cool them in cold water, then put them in gauze and wring them dry.

Add honey and brown sugar powder to the shredded winter melon and mix well.

Pour into the pot over low heat and stir-fry slowly until the juice is boiled dry and becomes thick, then remove from the pot.

Ah Ying picked up a little, blew on it, and put it in her mouth. It was sweet and sticky. "You guys try it too!"

The three sisters-in-law took a little to taste, and found it had a very special taste, soft, sticky, sweet and greasy.

"Just eat it like this?" asked Mrs. Du.

"No, knead the dough to make stuffed pancakes!" Su Ying went to rummage through the flour bag.

Mix them into oil dough and oil pastry separately, roll out the oil dough to wrap the oil pastry, then fill it with winter melon candy filling and flatten it.

Brush the surface with egg yolk liquid and make two cuts.

Put a layer of oil in the pan, put the stuffed pancakes in the pan and bake them over low heat. Soon the kitchen will be filled with a sweet smell.

"Mom, what delicious food do we have for dinner today?" The little kids came back from school and all rushed to the stove.

"Sister, what's this delicious?" It turned out that my sister was making some new food.

"Winter melon pancakes!" Su Ying used a spatula to gently pick up and turn them over one by one.

"Sister, why did you make delicious food again today?" Zhao Yan asked. He loves sweets the most.

"Didn't I promise you and Bingyan yesterday that I would make delicious food for you?" Su Ying said with a smile.

"But we already had dumplings last night?" Zhao Yan thought that the dumplings from last night were a promise.

"Oh, I bought that on the way, and this one is specially made for you!" Su Ying bought meat to improve the family's meals as they hadn't eaten for a long time.

It’s different from what Zhao Yan understood.

No matter which one, there is delicious food and the children are very happy.

Watching quietly and waiting patiently, after a quarter of an hour, they took the pots out of the water one by one and started making the next one.

The old lady also came in following the smell. The food on the stove smelled better than what was on the table.

"Come. Try it!" After it cooled down a little, Su Ying distributed it to the old lady and the anxious little kids.

Take a light bite and the crunch will drop, revealing the sweet and soft winter melon candy filling that can even be pulled into threads.

Well, the country version of wife cake is freshly out of the oven!

"Oh, sister, it's so delicious!" the little greedy cats cheered.

"Zhao Yan, Bing Yan, take it to the village chief's house." Su Ying picked up a bowl.

"Oh!" The two little brothers carried their bowls and ran to the village chief's house.

Today's lunch was a little late by two quarters of an hour, and the table was full of the rustling sound of falling crumbs, crispy and sweet.

Paired with porridge and spicy and sour cabbage salad, it is quite refreshing.

The old lady thought it was delicious, but it was a waste of sugar, so she wanted to say something but she endured it.

These days are not as good as those in Chang'an. Many things you can't eat in Chang'an, but here you can eat brown sugar and honey as much as you want.

It's better than Chang'an. There is no one within a radius of ten miles, and the nearest town is more than thirty miles away. There is endless work to do every day.

No matter what, it's much better than when we first arrived.

The next morning, Su Ying checked the winter melon strips and found that they had become hard.

Pour out the lime water, rinse several times with clean water, and then soak in clean water again.

"Sister, what are you going to do now?" The little kid squatted beside her with a basket of books and watched.

"Winter melon candy!" Su Ying said.

"Winter melon candy? Wasn't it in the stuffed pancake we ate yesterday?" Zhao Yan mumbled with rice still in his mouth.

"They're different!" Su Ying said, "That one has candied winter melon filling, and this one is just for fun."

"Can we eat it after school?" The little ones were so happy.

"We have to wait a few more days!" Su Ying smiled.

"It's time for class. Do you want to stand in the corner as punishment?" Su Boyan took the books and went out, greeting the little ones.

"Hurry!" The little guy, carrying a basket of books, giggled as he passed Su Boyan and ran into the school building first.

After dinner, pour the winter melon strips soaked in clean water into boiling water and cook them, then take them out, drain and let them cool, coat them with brown sugar powder and put them into a clay jar to pickle.

Three days later, there was a lot of sugar water in the earthenware jar.

The winter melon strips have been pickled into a reddish-brown color. Pour all the juice into the pot and stir-fry slowly over low heat.

Cook until the juice on the winter melon strips is dried up and the brown sugar sand is separated, then remove from the heat and let cool.

Brown sugar winter melon candy is different from that made with white sugar. It is reddish-brown and plump.

"Is it delicious?" Zhao Yan's mouth was full of saliva, it smelled so good.

"Try it!" Su Ying took one, broke off a piece and put it in her mouth.

It is very sweet, with the sweetness of sugarcane mixed with the fragrance of winter melon, and it is not as greasy as white sugar.

Well, quite a success!

"This candy will definitely sell for money during the Chinese New Year!" Yang Chunhua felt that he was becoming greedy.

"Well, when the winter melons are ripe in autumn, our village will make winter melon candies from them and sell them to Jiangnan and Chang'an, making a lot of money!" Su Ying agreed.

Winter melons in autumn are not valuable, but they can be processed into sugar and sold everywhere.

As long as it's sugar, it can be sold for a lot of money.

"Old man from Aying Village, old man from Aying Village!" Hu Zi was shouting outside, and many other children were shouting along with him, looking very anxious.

"What's the matter?" Su Ying came out.

"Hurry, hurry! My father told you to go quickly! The threshing machine is here!" Hu Zi ran out of breath.

"I know!" Su Ying returned to the house and stuffed a handful of winter melon candy into Hu Zi's pocket, "Here!"

Hu Zi looked at the strange thing, carefully put it in his pocket, and said happily, "Thank you, Aying Village Elder!"

When we arrived at the village entrance, ten pedal threshers had been unloaded and ten ox carts were parked on the side of the road.

The villagers gathered around the thresher, touching it here and there.

"Be careful, don't damage it!" Old Man Yang shouted. "It's used for harvesting wheat. Whoever damages it will lose his share."

After hearing this, everyone immediately took three steps back, fearing that it would happen to them.

"The old man from Aying Village has arrived!" the children shouted along the way.

"Aying!" The villagers called out affectionately and made way for her.

"Are you Miss Su?" asked the leader of the ox team.

"Yes!" Su Ying felt strange and waited on purpose. Could there be something else?

"Here is another gift, given by the governor! I have instructed you to make sure it is delivered to you." The team leader pointed to a separate ox cart.

There are several large wooden boxes, but I don’t know what they are filled with.