"If you don't want to send it, then you don't have to. But the beef is even better than the pork. It's so fragrant! This braised beef is delicious even just eaten on its own."
As he spoke, Li Chenyang stuffed another large piece into his mouth.
The Lunar New Year is just around the corner. Ah Ying managed to finish making all the clothes Ye Xiaoxiao wanted before the New Year.
When the clothes arrived, Aying was happy. Although it took several days to deliver, she and her daughter each got a new set of clothes for the New Year for free.
When Ye Xiaoxiao asked Li Chenyang to deliver the clothes to the old house, she received another notification from the system.
[Completed 12% of the task to transform Li Chenyang. Reward: 1000 yuan.]
[Another thousand! System, you're so great. I'm about to reach the pinnacle of my life.]
How could Ye Xiaoxiao not be happy to receive the reward? Now she has nearly three thousand yuan in her hands.
These days, people have enough money to build big brick and tile houses.
Li Chenyang carried his family's new clothes in a basket, feeling very happy.
From now on, if anyone says anything bad about their wife, I'll beat them up.
Although he couldn't beat his wife in a fight, she made him proud. No one's wife could be as good as his.
For the three days leading up to the Lunar New Year, every household steams buns and various kinds of flower-shaped steamed buns.
Ye Xiaoxiao's task for Li Chenyang was to tidy up the room, boil water, and let his younger siblings take a bath in the room.
The younger ones can bathe at home. The fifth, sixth, and seventh children, as well as the youngest, Li Yanhong, bathe at home. The third and fourth children, who are already adults, and their parents-in-law go to town to bathe because they are too embarrassed to go to their daughters-in-law's room to bathe.
Li Yanni is still young and can't help her mother-in-law much, but she can come over to help take care of her child.
When Li Yanni arrived, the sixth and seventh brothers also came over. They liked their sister-in-law's house because she would often give them delicious food.
"Just close the gate and play at home. Don't go to other people's houses today. Everyone is preparing food, so it's not okay to go to other people's houses," Ye Xiaoxiao instructed her three younger siblings.
"Yes, I understand, sister-in-law."
The sixth brother ran into the kitchen to start a fire for Ye Xiaoxiao. The fifth and seventh brothers followed behind their eldest brother, helping to carry things. The youngest sister played with the child.
Ye Xiaoxiao was rendering oil in the kitchen herself, and she had taken out the pork that the system had given her earlier. When asked, she said she had bought it herself in town.
They cut off the fat and rendered it into lard, then cut the lean meat into strips, mixed it with flour and seasonings, and fried it into crispy pork strips. They also used the oil to scald some dough and fried some oil cakes.
The little ones were very tempted by the delicious aroma wafting from the kitchen. However, they didn't dare to go closer, mainly because when their own mothers were deep-frying food, even speaking was considered wrong.
Ye Xiaoxiao looked at the little ones, took a small bowl, grabbed a handful of food for them, and told them to eat it.
She was busy chopping cabbage and radishes. She chopped them into filling, mixed them with some flour, and fried them into meatballs.
Sweet potatoes are steaming in the back pot, and sweet potato balls will be fried later.
On the first day, she fried quite a lot of things in the fryer alone. By the afternoon, she had filled a basket with a bowl of various fried foods for her younger siblings to take home.
There's a big basin of dough in the house, which is going to be fermented tonight so we can start steaming buns and mantou tomorrow.
The temperature in their room is high, so they can leave the dough inside. Other people usually put it on the kang (a heated brick bed) and cover it up when making dough.
It mainly needs to be at some temperature.
The next day, steamed buns were made with red bean paste, cabbage and vermicelli, and brown sugar.
The main reason is that the children like to eat it, but Ye Xiaoxiao still prefers steamed buns more.
Don't ask Ye Xiaoxiao how she knows how to cook; the system gave her basic cooking skills. She can even cook the simplest dishes from the countryside.
The last day was mainly spent making dumplings.
The first half of the day was fine; I just held my child outside in the sun for a while and sat chatting with a group of older women.
When they talked to her, they were all teasing her about how rich her family was.
"Hey, eldest daughter-in-law, you've spent almost all your money this year, haven't you? What are you planning to do to make money next year? Do you have any ideas to share with everyone?"
The person speaking is Chen Lixia, who is of the same generation as Wang Ailing, so Ye Xiaoxiao has to call her aunt.
"Aunt Chen, let's talk about next year's things next year. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to buy a TV next year."
Ye Xiaoxiao knew exactly what they were thinking; they were just hoping she'd spend all her money and be penniless next year.
"Then we'll have to wait. Xiaoxiao, if you ever get a TV at home, you can't hide it from us!"
Li Shulan, the great-aunt, chimed in.
After all, she's his own family's daughter-in-law. He still needs to be somewhat protective of her in public.
"Of course! If I had a TV, I would put it at the door every day for everyone to watch."
Ye Xiaoxiao thought to herself, "Let's not talk about others. My own younger brothers will definitely come over every day, so I can't just stop them from watching."
I definitely won't put it in my own room, it's too noisy.
"Why haven't I seen your neighbor next door today?"
Li Shulan and her group of friends would often sit together and chat at the village entrance whenever they had nothing to do.
The daughter-in-law does all the preparations for the Lunar New Year at home.
"They probably cook at home," Ye Xiaoxiao casually remarked.
"How could that be? Every year during Chinese New Year, Ma Yanling goes to the old house to eat. She says she's separated from the family, but during Chinese New Year, she doesn't do anything and just freeloads at her in-laws' place."
"Is that so? Didn't they already split up the family?"
Ye Xiaoxiao then realized that if she cooked something delicious at home, the aroma should have attracted Yuanyuan from next door, but she hadn't seen her. It turned out that Ma Yanling had taken her to her in-laws' house.
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