Aunt Liu had only run a short distance when a woman standing by the roadside quickly came up to her.
After helping her up, he asked, "How is it, Mother? Has this brat agreed to marry him?"
"Don't even mention it! That brat has debts outside, and debt collectors are coming to our door, demanding I pay them back. She's a worthless piece of trash," Aunt Liu said viciously.
This woman is Aunt Liu's daughter-in-law, who is also the sister-in-law of Liu Yuanyuan's original self—Sun Xiaomei.
Sun Xiaomei was clearly cunning. With a quick glance, she said to Aunt Liu, "Mother, you can't just let it go like this. They're offering a dowry of ten taels of silver, and your son still has to go to the academy."
Upon hearing about her son, Aunt Liu's anger lessened somewhat: "Of course I know my son has to go to school; he's aiming for official rank. It's just that this brat is in debt; I don't know if they'll be willing to marry her."
“Mother, if you don’t tell us, who will know that she owes money? When we marry her off, the debt collectors won’t be able to find us. That old widower is almost forty years old and extremely ugly. He finally got a young wife, how could he not be happy?”
"While her dead mother-in-law is away, we should hurry up and get her married off. Once the deed is done, that old hag won't be able to do anything about it."
Aunt Liu was tempted: "What if she absolutely refuses?"
"You are her own mother; it was an arranged marriage."
......
"That's how it is. This original owner of the body is really pitiful. She has such a mother. I'm so angry." Liu Yuanyuan told Pei Yuezhi what had happened in a fit of rage.
Liu Yuanyuan's family background is truly disgusting. They disliked her because she was a girl and abused her in every way. After her younger brother was born, she was treated like a servant in the family.
Later, when she was six years old, her newborn brother fell seriously ill. The family was very poor, so her parents sold her to the Li family for two taels of silver. The son of that family, Li Congnan, also fell ill.
I've seen all sorts of doctors, but I'm still very weak. I heard from others that raising a child bride can bring good luck.
The Li family, which was already well-off, bought Liu Yuanyuan, but they were afraid that the child would not want to get married when she grew up, so they would nominally adopt her as their daughter.
Perhaps it was because Liu Yuanyuan was lucky, but Li Congnan's health really improved day by day. The Li family was kind-hearted to begin with, and from then on they treated her like their own daughter.
But her good fortune didn't last long. Li Congnan died young, and Liu Yuanyuan became a widow at a young age. She was then taken a liking to an old widower, which led her own mother to set her sights on her again, wanting to sell her once more.
Pei Yuezhi also felt sorry for Liu Yuanyuan's original body. This Aunt Liu insisted that she was her biological mother, and there was nothing that could be done.
The debt can be delayed for a while, but not forever.
"Yueyue, don't think about it anymore. The original owner's mother-in-law will be back in a couple of days. This 'mother' won't be arrogant for long. What should we eat today?" Liu Yuanyuan asked coquettishly, clinging to Pei Yuezhi's arm.
Just when she was having a headache about what to do, this sentence suddenly woke her up.
Liu Yuanyuan's mother-in-law! In ancient times, a woman was expected to follow her husband after marriage, and a widow needed her husband's family's consent to remarry. Her mother-in-law, Wang Manxiang, treated Liu Yuanyuan like her own daughter. This Aunt Liu must have come while she was away from home.
Having figured this out, Pei Yuezhi was no longer so worried.
"We haven't decided what to eat yet. Oh, and where are the kids?"
"She's in her mother-in-law's room."
When the group returned to the Pei family home, Pei Yuezhi went to the kitchen. Looking at the oil residue in the cupboard, she thought of a dish that she and Liu Yuanyuan both loved—steamed dumplings with sauerkraut and oil residue filling, which could also be called sauerkraut and oil residue filling.
The pickled cabbage balances out the oiliness, making it not greasy at all and especially fragrant.
There wasn't much pork crackling, but this filling tastes better with more pickled cabbage. One head of pickled cabbage weighs about two pounds, so we used one head of pickled cabbage with pork crackling.
It's best to make the dough first when making dumplings, and let it rest for a while before preparing the filling. The dough for these steamed dumplings is scalded dough; add a little salt to the flour and knead it with boiling water.
This will make the dough translucent and chewy, and it won't harden after it cools down.
While the dough is resting, you can use the time to prepare the filling.
Chop the pork cracklings and set them aside. Finely chop the ginger and scallions as well. This filling doesn't have many seasonings, so add plenty of scallions.
First, shred the pickled cabbage, then chop it finely, but not too finely. After chopping, rinse it several times with cold water; if you're worried about it being too sour, you can soak it for a while.
After washing and squeezing out the excess water from the pickled cabbage, put it all in a bowl and start seasoning.
Add appropriate amounts of salt, MSG, soy sauce, thirteen-spice powder, and lard, and mix well. This filling doesn't need too many seasonings.
With everything ready, we started making steamed dumplings.
Pei Yuezhi was kneading dough when she saw Fan Mu crouching at the kitchen door.
"Mother, what are you doing?" she asked, blinking her big eyes at Pei Yuezhi.
Seeing Pei Yuezhi wave to her, Fan Mu jogged over.
Pei Yuezhi pinched her little face and said, "Mom will make dumplings for you. Do you like them, Mu'er?"
Fan Mu's eyes lit up when he heard the word "dumplings." He usually only got to eat dumplings during the Chinese New Year, and his mother was actually going to make dumplings for them!
"Great! Mu'er loves dumplings! I want to help too!"
"Okay, then go wash your hands and help your mother flatten the dough."
I don't know when Fan Chao and Li Nian'an came in, but they followed Fan Mu to wash their hands.
The sight of the three little ones lining up to wash their hands was rather funny, but the smile vanished when the camera panned to Liu Yuanyuan sitting in the yard.
"Liu Yuanyuan! Even the children know to come and help, what are you doing!" Pei Yuezhi shouted into the yard.
"Oh dear, you never let me do anything before, but things are different now that we have a child."
Liu Yuanyuan muttered as she entered the kitchen. The small table was surrounded by several people, making it a bit crowded.
Pei Yuezhi looked at the children, whose faces were full of anticipation and eagerness to help, but she couldn't let them go out. Besides, she really didn't need Liu Yuanyuan's help.
He casually tore off a small piece of dough and handed it to her, saying, "Go play outside, it's a bit crowded here."
Liu Yuanyuan waved her hand dismissively: "I'm too old for that! I'm not playing. I'll come over and boil water in a bit."
After saying that, he took the steamer basket and went out to wash it.
Pei Yuezhi started rolling out the dough, making the edges thin and leaving a thicker center. Then she carefully asked Fan Chao and Li Nian'an to make dumplings.
The two kids didn't give themselves away, but Fan Chao's wrapping was really ugly.
Fan Mu wanted to learn how to make dumplings after seeing this, and her brother even offered to teach her.
One dared to teach, and the other dared to learn; the more they wrapped up the kids, the uglier they looked. Pei Yuezhi was speechless.
I really don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to let them come and help.
But the two of them were looking at him expectantly, so he couldn't say anything harsh. He could only tell them to watch carefully and teach them a few more times.
Making dumplings with three kids was actually slower than making them by myself; by the time we finished, the sun was almost setting.
When they were almost finished wrapping the dumplings, Liu Yuanyuan came over and started a fire. By then, the dumplings were all wrapped and the water had boiled.
Steam for fifteen minutes, and the fragrant steamed dumplings with sauerkraut and oil filling are ready!
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