Xia Ning nudged Xu Lai's arm: "This really is our next-door neighbor. I thought you were lying to me."
Xu Lai gave her a look that said, "You're overthinking it," and then asked Zhao Qingyun, "Are you going to keep running?"
Zhao Qingyun scratched his brow, his mind racing, trying to figure out how to ask her to go back with him.
He pointed to the pile of lotus pods and said, "Let me take this back for you."
Xu Lai was about to say no, but Xia Ning interrupted her: "Okay, sir, thank you for your help."
Zhao Qingyun sighed and introduced herself to Xia Ning: "Hello, my name is Zhao Qingyun. You can just call me by my name from now on, no need to be so polite."
Xia Ning wiped her hands on her clothes twice, then extended her hand and said, "Hello, I'm Xia Ning, Xiao Lai's good friend."
Xu Lai had already picked up the basket and started walking forward. "Stop with the small talk, let's hurry up and get going, the sun will be strong soon."
She delivered the lotus pods from the snakeskin bag to her third uncle's house, then returned home, shared some with Xia Ning, and also had Zhao Qingyun take a dozen or so back with her.
Xia Ning didn't answer. "I'm very lazy. My grandma is too old to do it. I'll just help you with some work. You can give me some lotus seeds later."
Xu Lai went upstairs to take a shower, then moved a small stool to sit and peel lotus seeds.
Xia Ning also went back to take a shower, saying she would come to help later. Not long after, someone did arrive. She looked up, about to say that someone had arrived, when she saw Zhao Qingyun take a small stool and sit down.
Xu Lai's words caught in her throat, so she asked instead, "Why are you here?"
Zhao Qingyun pointed to the dozen or so lotus pods, "I'll peel them right here and then take them back to dry."
Xu Lai peeled the lotus seeds fairly quickly. She used a mini knife to pull open the shell, then flipped it over with her thumb, and the lotus seed kernel came out.
Some lotus seeds were cut too badly by her, the flesh split in two, so Xu Lai took out the lotus core and put it aside, then put the lotus seed in her mouth.
Watching her actions, Zhao Qingyun couldn't help but ask, "Is this delicious?"
Xu Lai handed him one directly, saying, "Try it, I think it's pretty good, it has a sweet taste."
He tentatively put it in his mouth and tasted it, then stopped a second later because he realized something was wrong—it tasted bitter. She actually thought it was delicious?
But in order not to offend Xu Lai, he swallowed it and said with a smile, "Not bad."
Xu Lai burst out laughing, "Zhao Qingyun, don't you have a sense of taste?"
"Huh?" He was stunned by this question.
Xu Lai pointed to the green core and said, "I forgot to remove the core from the lotus seed I gave you earlier, so you didn't taste the bitterness?"
He coughed lightly, stubbornly replying, "No, I feel fine."
She peeled a small half bowl of mung beans, then got up and went into the kitchen to soak them, planning to make mung bean and lotus seed soup later.
She had brought several jars of white fungus with her when she went home before, and it took her a long time to find them in the kitchen.
There were also spare ribs in the refrigerator that she bought yesterday when she bought pork bones. She took them out, washed off the blood, and planned to make a spare rib soup for lunch.
As for lotus leaves, you can slaughter a chicken and make beggar's chicken to eat.
She saw online that some people coated lotus flowers in batter and fried them, and she wanted to try it too. Since she had all the ingredients, she decided to have a whole lotus feast.
Xia Ning finally arrived late. Instead of doing anything productive, she took a small tube, inserted it into the long lotus stem, and turned on the water pipe. Water sprayed out from the edge of the lotus leaf.
Xu Lai praised, "Truly worthy of being described as having a straight trunk and an upright posture, without any extraneous details."
But she quickly returned to reality. "Ningning, where did you learn to play like this? But stop playing now, there's a whole bunch of lotus seeds waiting to be peeled." She pointed to the shady spot over there.
Grandpa, Grandma Jiang, and Grandma Jiang were all peeling lotus seeds, and Zhao Qingyun was also working there. Xia Ning felt embarrassed by being watched by so many people, so she quickly moved over to help.
We won't be able to have beggar's chicken today. We didn't catch the chickens beforehand last night. Chickens have amazing reflexes during the day. She chased them all over the place, but she ended up sweating profusely and still couldn't catch them.
Xiao Hei and Lai Fu were also panting heavily as they chased after the rooster, which even crowed loudly twice on the mound of earth. Xu Lai pointed at the rooster and cursed, "If you crow again, I'll stew you tomorrow."
It wasn't that she was targeting the rooster, but it was just too uncivilized. Not only did it prey on its own hens, but it also went to other people's houses to mate with other hens. People had confronted her about this several times.
Xu Lai was so ashamed that she knew she couldn't let that rooster live.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
