Chapter 194 Stir-fried Pine Nuts

Four children came back from school at noon. Their faces were red from the cold, but their mouths were like small chimneys. With their breaths, there was a white mist that looked like hot steam slowly dissipating in the air.

Ling Ling rushed to Lin Yue and shouted, "Mom, mom, we just met a strange aunt!"

Lin Yue was frying pine nuts. Hearing this, he turned around and asked with a smile, "What strange auntie? Are you a doctor or nurse from the military hospital?"

This is a military area with strict management, and no irrelevant people will come in, so Lin Yue is not worried.

"She was just an auntie. She didn't let us call her auntie. She insisted on giving us candies, but we refused. She also wanted to hug Sisi. I saw she was too enthusiastic and was a little scared, so I ran back with my brothers and sisters! Oh, by the way, she also knew our names and called them all correctly!"

Lin Yue thought that the people in the military area knew almost all the children, so even if they didn't know the names, they would still look familiar. This person knew several children and was so enthusiastic, so he must be a relative. However, it was so cold and the roads were not easy to walk on, so it was rare for a relative to come to visit.

She thought for a long time but couldn't figure out who this person was, so she simply gave up thinking about it and turned around to fry pine nuts again.

The pine nuts in the pot gave off a fragrant aroma, and the children immediately forgot about their strange aunt. They stood behind Lin Yue with their eyes wide open, stretching their necks to look inside.

The little mushroom stood there for a while, and finally couldn't help it. He sniffed and moved forward, asking flatteringly: "Mom, what are you doing? It smells so good!"

Lin Yue smiled and said, "Do you want to eat?" Seeing him nod violently, Lin Yue teased him, "Then I will give you a task. If you complete it well, you will be the first to eat it when it is ready!"

"Mom, what is the mission? Tell me now!"

Lin Yue handed him a basin and said, "Fill this basin with clean snow and bring it back to me. Remember, it must be clean snow, not the gray snow in the yard."

The little mushroom imitated the soldiers, stood at attention, with his belly puffed up, and shouted, "Yes!"

The remaining three children also came up curiously, and when Little Mushroom came in with a basin of snow, they became even more curious. They all stared at Lin Yue's actions, wondering what she was going to do.

Lin Yue asked the children to stand away, took out the pine nuts from the pot, and poured them all into the snow. There was a crackling sound in the basin, and the snow melted quickly.

Lin Yue picked out the pine nuts and put them back into the pot and stir-fried them until all the water was dried up before picking them out.

The little mushroom was so amazed that he ran out and brought back a basin of snow, saying, "Mom, I brought you snow again!"

Lin Yue was stunned, but still smiled and said, "Well, the little mushroom is great, you've been a great help!" She simply found an aluminum basin, scooped out all the pine nuts, and then put them on the basin of snow.

With this basin of snow, the pine nuts cooled down much faster. Lin Yue took a pine nut and peeled it. After the stimulation of alternating hot and cold, most of the pine nuts opened up and opened with a light pinch. She rubbed off the outer layer of skin, revealing the clean, white and oily kernel inside.

The four children all looked at her eagerly, swallowing their saliva as she moved her hands. Lin Yue waved the fruit pulp in front of them, and put it into her mouth in front of their expectant eyes.

Lingling and Wanli could still hold back, and just looked at their unreliable mother with a look of resentment, but Little Mushroom was not going to do it anymore, and asked anxiously: "Mom, mom, have you forgotten Little Mushroom?"

As soon as the pine cone entered his mouth, a unique fragrance filled his mouth. Lin Yue squinted his eyes, picked up one and peeled it gently, then handed it to the little mushroom: "Here, this one is for you, you have to peel the next one yourself!"

Little Mushroom had been waiting with his mouth open. As soon as the pine nut entered his mouth, he held his face with a happy look on his face, not caring at all about what his mother said.

Lin Yue grabbed a handful for each of Lingling and Wanli, and instructed them, "We're going to eat soon, so you can try some first, but don't eat too much. You can eat the rest after you finish your meal."

The two of them nodded quickly, and each of them brought a small pony to the stove and started peeling it impatiently.

Unfortunately, these three children were too strong. Lingling and Wanli were okay, and they quickly mastered the strength after crushing a few pine nuts. But it was different for Little Mushroom. He had a more impulsive personality and it was difficult for him to calm down. He could only peel the skin successfully occasionally.

Lin Yue's hands kept moving. She and Xiao Sisi worked together. She was responsible for peeling and Sisi was responsible for eating. The two of them worked together very happily, which made Little Mushroom very angry.

After crushing several pine nuts in a row, he finally exploded. He pouted and looked at Lin Yue aggrievedly, and said in tears: "Mom, why do you only peel it for Sisi and not for me? Mom, you are biased and favor boys over girls!"

Lin Yue suddenly laughed. She said with a smile: "What do you mean by favoring boys over girls?"

"That's right, that's right..." He groaned for a long time before finally remembering, "You only like sons, not daughters!"

Lingling patted the silly brother and said, "You forgot again that you are the son!"

"No, I'm a boy, not a son!"

Lin Yue laughed and did not try to correct them. He just watched the two siblings quarreling.

In the end, Little Mushroom didn't get to eat many pine nuts. After dinner, he watched his brother and sister peel the nut skillfully, but he still couldn't peel a complete pine nut. He was about to get angry. Wanli sighed and picked up a pine nut to demonstrate to him: "You can't squeeze it open, just like this."

He found the opening of the pine nut, put his fingernail in and pushed it open. There was a "click" sound and the pine nut opened.

Little Mushroom's eyes sparkled, and he picked up a pine nut and was about to do as he was told. Lin Yue quickly found a clean piece of iron and handed it over. She didn't help Little Mushroom because she hoped he could practice the strength of his hands, but children's nails were too soft, and she didn't want to hurt the child's hand by eating a pine nut.

Little Mushroom gave Lin Yue a flattering smile and said obediently: "Thank you, mother!"

Lin Yue suddenly felt a little guilty and felt that he was indeed a little biased towards Sisi.

With this feeling of guilt, she found a small piece of iron for Sisi, taught her how to peel the pine nuts by herself, and then ate half a pound of pine nuts in anger.

After she finished eating, she began to regret eating so many pine nuts, wondering if she would gain weight. So she sneaked into the space while the children were taking a nap, and ran around with the two grown-up little tigers for a long time, catching rabbits and gophers, and even caught two fish in the river, and then had a big meal.

Thanks to those ferocious tigers in the space, she is no longer the "delicate girl" who was afraid to watch others kill chickens. She is now very skillful in skinning a rabbit and can even gut a sheep without batting an eyelid.

Soldiers who had returned from the border said that Zhang Yuandong would be back in the next few days. Lin Yue hadn't expected him to be away for so long this time, and she hadn't brought him much food when he left before, so she had to prepare some easy-to-store food for him this time.

But she was not in a hurry. After processing the mutton and rabbit meat, she only kept a small piece of mutton for dinner and froze the rest in the cellar.

As soon as the children woke up, Zhou Aixiang from next door came to visit with her little son. Every time he saw her coming, Lin Yue knew something new was going on in the family compound.

As expected, as soon as she sat down, without saying a word of courtesy, she asked with a gossipy look on her face: "Do you know what Zhang Yulan has been doing all the time when she's been going out lately?"

Lin Yue handed her a handful of pine nuts and waited for her to continue. Zhou Aixiang couldn't help but start talking before Lin Yue asked further questions.

When Wang Tingting went out in the morning, she was still wondering what Zhang Yulan was obsessed with. Why did she have to run out of the camp in such cold weather? As a result, she brought her "obsession" back this afternoon.

However, because the road was difficult to walk on, the horse pulling the sled slipped halfway, and the sled behind flipped over, and she and another person in the sled, along with their luggage, all fell into the snow. Fortunately, the snow was thick enough, so the two of them were not injured, but by the time they climbed out of the snow, the horse had already run away.

The horses trained in the army were relatively obedient. By the time they had gone to great lengths to retrieve the horses and sleds, and then returned to the place where the sleds had overturned to find their luggage, a long time had passed. When they returned to the camp, they were covered in sweat, cold, and tired. Before they even entered their homes, they were sent to the hospital by the soldiers on duty at the gate.

"Do you know who she brought back?"

Lin Yue laughed and asked, "Who is this person? Why are you so secretive?"

"This is a big problem! Zhang Yulan said that this was her younger sister, who was bullied by her husband's family and had just divorced and had nowhere to go, so she came to her for help. But the two of them don't look alike at all, and we have been neighbors for so long, but I have never heard of her having a younger sister, let alone relatives who married here!"

"You talk as if you saw it with your own eyes!"

Zhou Aixiang was amused. "I saw it with my own eyes. I took Yangyang to the hospital today and happened to see it!" As she spoke, she pulled out her son's hand from his mouth and continued, "She really didn't cover up for her sister. She told her sister how she was bullied by her husband's family, how she escaped, and how she divorced the man with her help. She told almost everyone she caught, as if she wanted everyone in the hospital to know."

Lin Yue didn't quite believe it: "Are you sure you are talking about Zhang Yulan?"

"That's right! When I saw how eloquent she was, I thought I had made a mistake. It was Aunt Hua from before!"

Lin Yue nodded thoughtfully, "Then her sister won't try to stop it?"

Wang Tingting's voice came from the door: "You are talking about Zhang Yulan, right? I saw her today. Her sister is very fair and clean, and doesn't look like someone who has suffered at all."

Zhou Aixiang pulled her son's hand out of his mouth for the second time and patted his little butt gently. Little Xixi, who was sitting quietly playing, heard the noise and saw that it was his mother who came back, and stretched out her hands anxiously for a hug.

Wang Tingting was cold and didn't dare to pick up her son. She took off her fur coat and put her hands under the kang to warm them for a long time before she dared to pick up her son.

At this time, the little guy couldn't wait any longer, so he put his hands on the ground and tried to stick his butt back. After sticking it out for a long time, he suddenly stood up. This scared him so much that he sat back on the kang without paying attention, and he fell down and was stunned for a long time.