Duoxi was too young and fat, and after squatting for only a few times, he couldn't help but sway from side to side. Hua Zi caught the little fat boy who was about to fall on him.
Hua Zi: "Duo Xi, why don't you go play over there?"
The chubby boy, Duoxi, twisted his small body to steady himself and stubbornly said, "I don't want to play, I want to wash Ai Ai."
Seeing that there were enough people washing the mugwort leaves, Yu Rujia did not squeeze through: "Erdan, Duofu, I'll leave the task of washing the mugwort leaves to you. Auntie will go and make other preparations."
Duofu: "Auntie, you go ahead."
Erdan: "Aunt Yu, I'll take all the mugwort here."
Yu Rujia: "Thank you."
While the children were washing mugwort leaves, Yu Rujia went to the other side to get a handful of dry straw, burned it to ash, added water, filtered out the alkaline water, and set it aside to settle.
While she was doing these tasks, Gao Guojing returned with two baskets of freshly picked mugwort leaves. Seeing that he was about to go back up the mountain, Yu Rujia quickly stopped him: "Guojing, go pick more tomorrow or the day after. Go boil some water first."
Upon hearing this, Gao Guojing put down the basket: "How much should I burn?"
Yu Rujia: "Cooked most of the pot."
By the time Yu Rujia finished washing the lye water, Duofu and the others had already washed some of the mugwort leaves clean.
Yu Rujia took the washed mugwort leaves into the kitchen. When the water was about the right temperature, she poured the mugwort leaves into the pot and said to Gao Guojing, who was tending the fire, "Guojing, watch the mugwort leaves here and stir them every two or three minutes."
Boil all the mugwort leaves until they are soft, then Yu Rujia grinds them into a paste using a stone mill.
A few children were discussing it nearby. Hua Zi said, "It's like making tofu. Is it made into blocks like tofu in the end?"
Duofu: "Maybe, but tofu is so delicious, I haven't had it in ages."
Erdan pouted: "What's so good about tofu? I don't like it."
As someone who also loves tofu, Duo Shou retorted, "It's not that the tofu is bad, it's that your family's tofu isn't made well."
The eldest child nodded in agreement: "If we're talking about which family has the best food, Duofu's family is definitely number one."
After grinding the mugwort leaves and filtering the juice, put it in a pot, boil it, pour it into a wooden bucket, and add lye water.
Considering there were many children, Yu Rujia made more than she needed, filling two buckets to empty all the mugwort juice from the pot.
He then instructed Gao Guojing to fetch fresh well water and to divide some of the mugwort juice into porcelain basins and pour them into the well water.
The well water was icy cold, so things would cool down quickly inside. The remaining mugwort juice was left in the wooden bucket to cool.
Yu Rujia: "Alright, you guys go play for a while, it'll be ready to eat in an hour or two."
Hua Zi: "It really tastes just like tofu, but I don't know how it tastes different from tofu."
Doro sniffed: "It smells delicious, can I eat some now?"
Duofu: "Auntie said we have to wait a while before we can eat. You can't eat random things."
As a group of children waited expectantly, the mugwort juice finally solidified into a block.
Yu Rujia took out bowls according to the number of people, put a spoon in each bowl, and then brought out the prepared sauce. Thinking that children would like sweet food, she also took out some white sugar.
Yu Rujia: "Duofu, go and call your uncle to come and eat together."
Duofu responded and ran over to Gao Shujing.
Surrounded by the children, Yu Rujia washed her hands, cut the mugwort jelly into small pieces, and used a large spoon to divide the jelly into individual bowls.
The light, fragrant, and vibrant green jelly attracted everyone's attention.
The beauty-loving Duoshou was the first to praise, "The color of this tofu is so beautiful!"
Yu Rujia: "This is not tofu, it's jelly. You can add something to it when you eat it. For example, if you like it sweet, add sugar, stir it, and wait two minutes before eating."
"If you like it salty and spicy, add sauce, stir it, and let it sit for two minutes before eating."
As he spoke, he picked up a bowl of cold noodles, added some sugar to it, and demonstrated for them.
The children lined up to add sugar. Gao Guojing noticed that no one was at the sauce station, so he took his jelly to the sauce station and scooped a spoonful of sauce onto the jelly.
The child was impatient; after adding sugar and stirring it casually for a couple of seconds, he couldn't resist scooping up a spoonful of jelly and putting it in his mouth.
After taking three bites, Da Wa finally had a moment to say, "Aunt Yu's cooking is really delicious. This is the first time I've ever had such delicious noodles. They're even better than meat."
Duo Shou said smugly, "I told you, my aunt's cooking is the best."
Dog Egg looked on with envy: "Duoshou, Aunt Yu is so kind. Can I be a child of the Yu family? I also want to eat delicious food every day."
Duolu felt a surge of crisis, pulled her little face out of the bowl, and glared at him: "Auntie is ours, you're not allowed to take her from us."
Gao Guojing smacked him on the head: "Just eat yours, you little brat, what kind of possessiveness do you have?"
Erdan had finished a bowl of sweet jelly and looked at Gao Guojing, who was eating his second bowl of savory jelly, and asked, "Uncle Guojing, is the savory jelly delicious?"
Gao Guojing praised, "It's sour and spicy, soft and fragrant, very delicious."
Erdan's eyes lit up: "Right? I want to eat too."
Yu Rujia: "If you want to eat, just take some from the basin. Let's eat our fill today."
Erdan said thank you and then took the bowl to the basin to make jelly.
Gao Shujing came over after washing his hands: "We've already started eating, is it good?"
Erdan: "Uncle Gao, it's so delicious, even better than meat!"
Dog Egg: "When I get home tonight, I'm going to ask my mom to make me some cold noodles."
Every time Gou Dan eats something good at Yu's house, he asks Huang Guihua to cook it when he gets home. Every time, he ends up with a meal of stir-fried pork with bamboo shoots. This kid never learns his lesson. It seems he's had quite a bit of meat to eat again today.
After finishing his bowl, Duoxi picked up his bowl and walked to the basin to get some more jelly. The little guy was short, and he stretched his chubby arm toward the big spoon in the basin, but he just couldn't reach it.
Gao Shujing took the bowl from him: "Here, Uncle will serve you some."
Amidst the praise of a group of little kids, a bowl of jelly was visibly emptied. Duolu, who wanted a third bowl, looked at the empty bowl and said pitifully, "Auntie, there's none left."
Erdan and the others felt a little embarrassed when they heard this. It was just too delicious, and they couldn't control themselves, eating two or three bowls in a row.
Yu Rujia glanced at the basin and saw that it was indeed empty: "Don't worry, we have plenty more. Auntie will bring them up right away. You can eat as much as you want."
Yu Rujia brought over a bucket of jelly. Because the bucket hadn't been chilled in the well water, some of the bottom part hadn't solidified yet, but the top part was edible.
Yu Rujia cut the top layer into small pieces and used a large spoon to scoop them all into the bowl in front, quickly filling it to the brim: "Look, isn't that a lot? Enough for you to eat, right?"
The children happily continued eating.
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