"Yiyi, Third Brother, open your mouth."
Yun Yiyi and Third Brother Yun opened their mouths at the same time. They saw Yun the Butcher cut a fried crab into two halves and stuffed them into their mouths.
"It smells so good, Dad."
"It's so delicious, I want more."
Zhang's face turned serious. "You can eat it if you want. Wash your hands and eat it yourself."
"Your father still has to make noodles. He doesn't have time to feed the greedy cat here.
Yun Yiyi and Yun San Ge smiled embarrassedly and quickly ran to wash their hands.
Butcher Yun went back to rolling the noodles. He was very strong, so kneading the dough was effortless.
Xie Zirui had been making a fire, so he watched the whole process, which was really funny.
Not only him, but Zhang couldn't help laughing as well.
She picked up a bowl of fried crabs and put it on the table.
When Yun Yiyi and Third Brother Yun came back, they shared the bowl of crabs with Xie Zirui.
Even many years later, Xie Zirui still remembered the aroma of fried crabs.
Zhang quickly fried the remaining crabs. She poured some of the oil from the wok, leaving a little at the bottom, and then added the chopped pickled ginger, dried chilies, and shredded potatoes to the wok and stir-fried them.
The smell of chili peppers was too strong, so Zhang sent the children far away. She lit the fire and cooked the food herself.
After a while, the spicy and sour potato shreds were out of the pot.
Big Brother Yun and Second Brother Yun also went down the mountain.
"Big brother, second brother, go wash your hands and get ready for dinner." Zhang called out.
"Here I come, mother."
"Right away, mother."
After a while, everyone sat down and started eating.
Everyone had a delicious lunch, eating freshly steamed buns from the morning, chewing on the fragrant fried crabs, and eating the spicy and sour shredded potatoes.
After dinner, the children went to bed.
Zhang and Yun the butcher, one kneaded the dough while the other cut the noodles.
"Boss, how do you say we should dry the noodles? Should we put them on mats or use bamboo poles to dry them?"
Butcher Yun was a little confused. "Wife, we're just drying some noodles. Do we need to be so particular?"
"Anyway, I feel like it doesn't matter how you dry it, as long as it's dry."
Zhang thought for a moment and said, "Well, Master, what you said makes sense. How about we just dry them on the mat. It's easy and convenient."
"Okay, wife. Once I've finished kneading this dough, I'll get the mat and spread it over the table."
"It's better to pave it inside. If it's not close to the roadside, it won't be so conspicuous."
"By the way, Boss. I'll go talk to the Wu family next door and see if they're going to dry their noodles."
"Wife, how about I talk to the village chief and ask him to tell the villagers that whoever wants to dry the noodles can do so. It will be convenient for everyone to eat them later."
Zhang smiled and said, "You should have said something. You can make noodles with corn flour or white flour. Of course, you can also make noodles with a mixture of the two, like we do at home."
"People in our village should all have the conditions to dry noodles."
Zhang suddenly thought of an idea. "Boss, if I add chopped wild vegetables to the dough, can I make noodles?"
Butcher Yun didn't know either. "Wife, if you make it into juice and mix it into the dough, the dough will be very easy to knead."
"But if you add chopped wild vegetables, I don't think the dough will be able to form a ball."
"That's right. Let's try it later when we have time. We're too busy right now to try."
Zhang mixed two large bowls of noodles. It took the two of them an hour to cook, but they only used less than half of the noodles.
At this time, the children all got up.
Brother Yun continued to go up the mountain with his younger brothers and sisters.
Butcher Yun added water to the iron pot, put a bamboo sieve and a cage cloth in it, covered the pot, and asked Xie Zirui to light the fire. When the water boiled, he would steam the buns.
Zhang skillfully kneaded out a steamed bun and put it aside.
Yun the butcher went to the village to find the village chief and came back half an hour later.
"Wife, I just stopped by to talk to the Wu family about drying noodles. You don't have to make another trip."
"Okay, then I won't go."
"By the way, Boss, why are you back so late?"
Butcher Yun suddenly laughed, "Wife, I told the village chief about the noodles. He was very surprised."
"Later, he discussed with the elders that if many people in the village came to dry noodles, they would stay another day. They would set off again after the noodles were dry."
"Oh, that's a good thing. If we really don't leave tomorrow, we must make more noodles today."
"The village chief said that once he notifies the villagers, they'll know that there aren't many people drying noodles anymore. Then he'll come and tell us."
"That's great. Besides, children love noodles. I think if they eat noodles every day, they will be happy to eat them."
"Auntie, I think I can eat noodles every day without getting tired of them. Noodles with meat sauce are so delicious."
"Zi Rui is right. But, Zi Rui reminded me, we are still making meat sauce today."
"Wife, there's no rush. Let's steam the buns and roll the noodles first. Once we're done, there'll still be time to make the meat sauce."
"This is the only way. We only have two hands, so there's no way we can do it faster."
"No hurry, wife. Let's take our time."
While the people of Yunjia Village were frantically steaming buns, drying noodles, and preparing food for the journey, Qingfeng Village was also bustling with activity.
There are still many people imprisoned in the dungeon inside Qingfeng Village.
After Li Huailiang asked his men to inquire clearly, he found out that they were all passers-by and were caught as fat sheep by the previous bandits.
Li Huailiang had no way of returning all their belongings to them. Moreover, much of the food and silver had been taken away by the bandits from Qingfeng Village in advance.
Li Huailiang planned to distribute some of the food and silver in the stronghold to those imprisoned in the dungeon so that they could continue on their journey.
He had to use the remaining food and silver to support his troops and could not use them casually.
Except for a few people who were beaten by bandits and could not move freely and had to recuperate in the mountain stronghold, the others who were able to continue moving forward received food and silver and continued to head south.
The bandits also captured some people from nearby villages, but were also released by Li Huailiang, who also gave them some food and silver.
Only after Li Huailiang had dealt with all those messy matters did he finally have time to sit down and read the letter sent back by the military advisor via carrier pigeon.
The military advisor asked him when the young master could go back and whether he would send someone to send him back.
Li Huailiang didn't actually think about it that much, because before he came here, he wasn't sure if he could find the young master. So he didn't consider how to get the young master back.
However, it’s not too late to consider it now.
Li Huailiang thought that he could send someone to send the young master back, and then ask the military advisor to send someone to meet him on the road.
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