Xuan'er loves sour jujube cake the most; she's been talking about it several times these past two days, and luckily I have some time today.
Pei Yao then picked up her basket and prepared to leave. When Pei Yichen saw that Pei Yao was about to go out, he quickly put down what he was holding and followed behind her, taking the basket from her hands as well.
He was afraid that if he ran too slowly, his father and second uncle would drag him back to continue reading.
"Sister, I'll carry it."
Pei Yao glanced at Pei Yichen, who had suddenly appeared, and asked in confusion, "Didn't your uncle and my father ask you to go read?"
Pei Yao knew that Pei Erlang was the one in the family who placed the most importance on education, and he always tried to encourage Pei Yao and Pei Yichen to read more books whenever they had time.
However, Pei Yao always managed to escape quickly or find another excuse.
Pei Yichen wasn't so lucky; he was always forced to read books.
Pei Yichen sighed helplessly at Pei Yao.
"Sister, let's hurry up, or Uncle will probably catch up with me and drag me back to my studies if we're too slow."
Pei Yao couldn't help but laugh out loud when she saw Pei Yichen's expression.
Indeed, there is no child in the world who doesn't hate reading.
Pei Yao remembered that Liu Yan and Qiao Hui had both said that sour jujubes were delicious last time, so she invited them along when she went to find Aunt Niu.
Upon hearing that they were going to make jujube cakes, the two perked up immediately, picked up their baskets, and followed.
Aunt Niu's house was at the entrance of the village. The group went to her house at the entrance of the village to call her. Aunt Niu had just finished dinner. When she heard that they were going to pick wild jujubes to make wild jujube cakes, she took her tools and followed.
Niu Qingshan, who was still collecting the bowls in the yard, saw this and, worried that Aunt Niu Er wouldn't be able to carry the sour dates, he came over as well.
When he left, he even took a thin bamboo stick from home.
"We'll need it when we're picking sour jujubes later," Niu Qingshan explained.
The group arrived at the place where Pei Yao had picked sour jujubes before. After not being there for a while, the sour jujubes on the tree had ripened considerably.
Pei Yichen found the stick he had used to knock down jujubes last time, and stood on the hillside with Niu Qingshan to knock down jujubes.
"Sister, move away a bit, or you might get hit on the head by a sour jujube."
The people under the tree responded and walked away a bit.
A large number of ripe sour jujubes will fall off with just a slight tap.
After Pei Yao and the others waited until the two had finished fighting and there were no more jujubes left to fall, they carried their baskets and went over to pick up sour jujubes together.
When they were picking them, Aunt Fang and her daughter Juhua happened to be coming back from the field and saw them picking sour jujubes.
When she visited the Pei family a while ago, Pei Yao gave her some sour jujube cake.
I heard from that girl last time that it was made from these sour jujubes, and today when I saw everyone picking sour jujubes, I joined in too.
Pei Yao greeted Aunt Fang warmly when she saw her.
"Aunt Fang, Sister Juhua, have you eaten yet?"
"You've already eaten, Yao'er. Are you picking sour dates here to make that delicious sour date cake from last time?" Aunt Fang asked curiously.
Pei Yao smiled and nodded: "Yes, my younger sister likes to eat it, so I came to pick some more to take back and cook."
"That jujube cake was really delicious," Chrysanthemum, who was next to Aunt Fang, chimed in.
“Yes, Aunt Fang, would you like to come with us to make it? We’re all planning to make jujube cakes.” Pei Yao asked Aunt Fang with a smile. Since she was going to teach Liu Yan and the others anyway, one more person wouldn’t hurt.
Aunt Fang was just waiting to hear those words, so she immediately joined in after hearing Pei Yao's suggestion.
"That's great! I've been craving that taste ever since I ate it last time."
Everyone picked them together, and the sour jujubes under the tree were quickly picked up, but their baskets were still not full.
Fortunately, Niu Qingshan and Aunt Fang were very familiar with the village, and they immediately suggested that everyone pick the fruit in another place.
“I know a place nearby where there are jujube trees. I’ll take you there.”
Niu Qingshan picked up a bamboo stick and led everyone to the place he had mentioned.
The place Niu Qingshan described was indeed the same as he had said. It was only a short distance from where they had just arrived, and there were many more jujube trees there. This time, the group quickly filled their baskets.
Next, we went back to make jujube cake. Since we were going to learn from Pei Yao, she suggested that we go to her house to make it. Luckily, she had two big pots, so it would be convenient to cook it.
However, they still need to go back and get the ingredients they need for making sour jujubes themselves.
During this period, everyone in the village earned some money by selling mountain products, and their lives began to be less strained than before. So, everyone had sugar on hand. Only Aunt Fang's family didn't have any, but Aunt Niu's family had extra, so Aunt Fang went to Aunt Niu's house to buy some.
Everyone left the sour jujubes at Pei's house and went home to get their things.
Pei Yao had told them in advance that they could bring some sweet potatoes and pumpkins, which could be added to the jujube cake later.
"Aunt Hui, why did you bring firewood with you?"
Qiaohui arrived first, and Pei Yao looked at the firewood in her hand with suspicion.
Qiaohui explained with a smile, "I was thinking of cooking sour jujubes later, so I brought some firewood with me."
“Yao girl, you’ve already taught us how to make jujube cake, how can we still use your firewood?” Aunt Fang was the second to return, also carrying a bundle of firewood.
Pei Yao was both amused and exasperated when she saw that the others had also brought firewood.
Looking at the sky, it was getting dark, so Pei Yao didn't dare to waste any more time and led everyone to start making jujube cakes.
When the Pei family saw this, they came over to help.
This time, Pei Yao prepared dried perilla leaves in advance, which she had bought from a spice shop in the county earlier.
This time, she plans to make another flavor that combines perilla and chili peppers.
By the time the group finished making all the jujube cakes, it was already dark, and lanterns had long been lit in the Pei family courtyard.
After everyone finished, they stood up and stretched. Aunt Fang looked at the jujube cake in her hand and said in a good mood, "This jujube cake is delicious, but I didn't expect it to be so troublesome to make."
Although everyone was tired, they were still very happy to see so many jujube cakes that had been made. There were enough to last for a long time.
The main reason is that they learned this skill so they can cook for themselves in the future.
It was getting late, so everyone packed up and took their belongings to go home.
Pei Yao also placed all the homemade jujube cakes on the roof to dry.
Then she went to wash up and rest. In the past, Pei Yao always had a hard time falling asleep at night, but now that she's here and busy every day, she falls asleep more easily and almost every day she goes to bed on time.
...
Pei Yao got up early the next morning to prepare the ice jelly to be delivered to the Su residence.
After finishing, Pei Dalang put the prepared ice jelly on the carriage he had rented from the horse shop, and the two set off.
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