The next day, He Fengmian came to pick up Shulan.
He Xiaobao was also with them.
"Aren't you going?" Shulan looked at Xiaocui and Luo Chenxuan, thinking that they would have to stay in the mountains for two days, so she wanted them to come along and have some fun.
But now that the two girls have completed their massage training, they no longer want to go out and play. They only want to focus on their careers and make their beauty salon business bigger and stronger.
So he said, "I have a massage appointment with Mrs. Zheng today, so I won't go. You guys go ahead and have fun with Xiaobao."
Xiao Cui also made an appointment with Miss Zhao for a massage and treatment, and nodded: "Have fun, Miss."
Even Huang Qi said, "Junior Uncle, it's okay to stay a few more days. We're here, so don't worry."
Shulan watched as everyone was in good order, looking as if they would be perfectly fine even without her, and felt relieved.
Seeing He Fengmian arrive in a carriage, he waved goodbye to everyone.
As they boarded the carriage, she asked with a smile, "Did you know Xiaobao would be coming?"
He Fengmian smiled and said, "With his clingy nature, you'll definitely take him to the military camp today."
While holding the chubby baby, Shulan didn't forget to give a thumbs-up, indicating, "The General is amazing."
“No problem.” He Fengmian waited until they were seated before driving the carriage toward the military camp.
Once they arrived at the camp, they went to He Fengling's place first.
The chubby boy looked at his father and obediently called out, "Daddy."
He Fengling looked at his son nestled in his sister-in-law's arms and teased him, "Missed your dad?"
The chubby little boy, not wanting to be seen, slowly and very slowly moved his little body, turning his plump little bottom towards his father, as if he wanted to avoid seeing him altogether, which made Wang Yaozhi chuckle.
He Fengling cursed, "You heartless little brat."
The chubby boy didn't care. He clung to his aunt and wouldn't let go, looking like he would go wherever she went and wouldn't leave him with his father.
Shulan smiled and said, "Then I'll take Xiaobao to play."
He Fengling waved his hand casually: "Go ahead, let Jian Xing accompany you."
He Fengmian ignored his brother, but said to Shulan, "I'll take you to see the hawthorns. You can decide what to do."
"OK."
The three left.
Lying on the bed, He Fengling watched the three figures leave, chuckled softly, and said, "Not bad."
Wang Yaozhi asked curiously, "What's so good about it?"
He looked at his friend and asked, "Didn't you notice?"
Wang Yaozhi looked bewildered: "Found what?"
He Fengling did not answer, but said in a very good mood, "As expected of my younger brother, He Fengling, tsk."
Wang Yaozhi: "???"
Looking at him with a puzzled expression, she asked, "What's going on with you being so mysterious and clean?"
He Fengling was in a good mood: "Guess."
"..." He Qichen said irritably, "He Qichen, can you please stop making me guess? I'm not a tapeworm in your stomach."
He Fengling said something that even Shu Lan, who had walked away, seemed to hear: "Big brother and senior brother have such a good relationship."
"Um."
The two carried the chubby baby to the place where they had boiled syrup the day before.
Seeing everyone starting to boil syrup again, even going from one pot yesterday to three large pots now, and almost finished, I wondered how long they had started.
On the other side, there were quite a few fresh hawthorns.
The chubby boy couldn't tear himself away from the bright red hawthorns and their fragrant aroma. He stared at them longingly, clearly thinking they were delicious.
Shulan looked at the hawthorns, which were quite large, and said with a smile, "You can't eat these yet. How about Auntie makes you candied hawthorns later?"
"Okay~~" The chubby boy nodded his head like a chicken pecking at rice, and he really stopped craving hawthorn.
Shulan selected a lot of the larger ones, intending to make some candied hawthorns. The others were washed, cut open, and the seeds were removed.
While everyone was taking them out, just smelling the sour aroma made their mouths water.
The hawthorns in these mountains are quite good; they're all pretty big, with small seeds and thick skin.
After finishing, I cut up three large bowls of hawthorns.
After being cooked in a pot, it surprisingly had a very pleasant fruity aroma.
After it's cooked, start crushing it in the basin with a wooden stick.
The fruit pulp was already cooked until it was soft, so it was mashed easily with a few gentle poundings. In no time, everyone had mashed it into hawthorn paste.
Shulan saw that a pot of syrup had been cooked, so she asked them to scoop out only half of it and put the rest in the pot. She then put the mashed hawthorn puree into the pot and started stir-frying it.
"Madam, shall we just keep frying them like this?" Everyone had never seen hawthorns prepared and eaten this way before, and they were all very curious and eager to try.
After all, if they're stir-frying it, we can get a taste of it later.
"Yes, I said it's okay, so I served it."
"OK."
Everyone started stir-frying with great enthusiasm.
When it was almost done cooking, Shulan noticed the color had deepened and, when it was about right, said, "It's ready to be served."
"Okay." Everyone quickly spread out a large sheet of oil paper that they had prepared beforehand, spread the stir-fried hawthorn paste on it, and then dried it in the sun.
While they were drying the fruit, Shulan saw that after they had made the wooden skewers, they started making candied hawthorns with syrup.
After the candied hawthorns were made, Shulan gave a skewer to Xiaobao.
The little guy took a lick, found it sweet, and immediately beamed with joy, saying, "Sweet, delicious!"
He gave Shulan a quick kiss on the cheek and said sweetly, "Thank you, Auntie."
Shulan smiled and pinched his chubby little face: "You're welcome."
He handed another skewer to He Fengmian, smiling as he said, "Try one."
Looking at the glistening hawthorns, He Fengmian smiled, revealing his white teeth, and said, "Okay."
Shulan, seeing him smile like that for the first time, was indeed dazzled and thought he was quite cute when he smiled.
Little did they know, this was done on purpose.
Even after he ate one, he said, "Delicious."
Naturally, he held the candied hawthorn skewer to her lips and said, "Try one too."
I instinctively opened my mouth and took a bite.
When I took a bite, I realized: Isn't this a little too ambiguous?
But seeing him naturally start eating other candied hawthorns, and everyone else looking at it as if it were perfectly normal, I thought maybe I was overthinking it.
Little did she know, when she lowered her head, He Fengmian was laughing like a big bad wolf.
Since she wasn't interested in him, he would try his best to make her accept him, even fall in love with him, and make her unable to leave him.
When Shulan looked up, the person's burning gaze had already withdrawn, and he pretended to be nonchalant again: "Do you want to go with Big Brother and Yaozhi?"
"Okay." Completely unaware, she was already the prey being watched by a big bad wolf, who was just waiting for her to fall into his trap step by step.
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