At this moment, everyone's eyes were focused on the cards in the second sister's hand. The second sister flipped them over one by one, revealing six, seven, five, and four.
Seeing this hand, Meng Zhao's lips curled up slightly, while Shen Qingze said loudly without hesitation, "You've miscalculated. Your hand is over twenty-one."
Upon hearing this, the second sister looked puzzled, frowned slightly, and retorted, "No, it's twenty-one, not more than that."
This time, Meng Zhao didn't need to teach her; Shen Qingze and Zheng Ying gathered around the second sister and calculated for her one by one.
"Six plus seven equals thirteen, thirteen plus five equals eighteen, eighteen plus four equals twenty-two. See, this is more than twenty-one."
When the second sister saw that her number was indeed more than twenty-one, she realized that she had miscalculated. She felt wronged and sad, and tears welled up in her eyes.
Meng Zhao gently patted her second sister's shoulder and comforted her tenderly, "It's okay, second sister, let's play another round. This also requires practice. Once you practice more, you'll naturally stop making mistakes."
My second sister is young, so when she comes to memorize the multiplication tables, she mostly treats it as a rhyme and hasn't fully understood the meaning yet. But that doesn't matter. She can memorize them first and then gradually understand them later.
So everyone played a few more rounds, with each person winning and losing. The people around them watched them having a great time, laughing and crying, and getting quite nervous, so they came over to join in. Before long, everyone had grasped the rules. Meng Zhao got up and gave his seat to someone else, then went to do other things.
Meng Zhao hadn't steamed buns for several days, and she was craving some. After telling everyone, she decided to make buns for dinner that evening.
I just happened to have a lot of cabbage at home, and Li Hua'er brought some tofu today, so I can make a cabbage and tofu bun.
Then I took out another piece of pork. When I was making New Year's gifts before the Lunar New Year, the irregular ends of the potato starch were cut off to make it look nicer. There are still a lot of loose potato starch at home, so I can mix it into the pork filling.
Even though Meng Zhao was kind and gentle, the eldest daughter of the Lin family was still a little reserved when she arrived at someone else's house. She kept observing and when she saw that Meng Zhao seemed to be preparing to cook, she led the second daughter to go home. The other children also prepared to go home when they saw that it was about time.
The Shen family was left to prepare steamed buns. Madam Gu first kneaded the dough and let it rise, while the rest of the family prepared their fillings. Once both fillings were ready, they sat down together to make steamed buns.
Meng Zhao's hands worked together very well. One hand rotated slightly while the other hand moved up and down, pinching and kneading. Before anyone could see how she was pinching, a large, round, and plump bun with even pleats was placed on the table.
Seeing that everyone wanted to learn, Meng Zhao slowed down and taught them little by little. In the end, even the two little ones were wrapping the dumplings quite well.
Everyone made two large baskets of buns in one go. Since the small kitchen pot was too small to steam them, Shen Qinghe went outside and washed the large pot that hadn't been used for days, and then put it in the large pot to steam.
After steaming the buns, Meng Zhao also cooked a pot of millet porridge in the small kitchen. When the buns were almost done steaming, the aroma wafted out through the gaps in the pot lid, making them truly mouthwatering.
Just as the courtyard was filled with fragrance, there was a knock at the door. When she opened it, she saw Wu Rongzhou standing outside. Meng Zhao quickly greeted him with a smile and said warmly:
"Brother Wu, you've arrived. It's cold outside, please come in and sit down."
As soon as Wu Rongzhou approached the courtyard, he smelled the delicious aroma of steamed buns. He hadn't originally planned to come at mealtime, but he happened to hear the news and, worried about being late, hurried over.
Meng Zhao first led him into the main room, asked him to sit down, and poured him a cup of tea. "Brother Wu, it's really kind of you to make this trip. Please have a cup of hot tea to warm yourself up before we talk."
Wu Rongzhou gratefully accepted the teacup, took a small sip, and felt the warm tea slide down his throat, dispelling some of the chill in his body. Only then did he slowly speak:
"Before the roads were closed, many messages couldn't get through. Now that the snow has stopped, we know that there are just too many people affected by the disaster. Our county is in a better situation, so many people who were affected elsewhere have come here. These people lack food and clothing and are difficult to manage, which is very worrying. I heard in the yamen today that the county magistrate is planning to set up a donation office at the entrance of the Huimin Hospital. He hopes that the people of the county can show their benevolence and donate some money and food to help these disaster-stricken people."
"Of course, it's not just about money. Now that the weather is cold, we hope that everyone can donate some cotton clothes and bedding that they don't need at home to help the disaster victims and give them a place to shelter from the wind and cold."
Upon hearing this, Meng Zhao quickly asked, "When exactly does it start?"
Wu Rongzhou shook his head helplessly, a hint of apology on his face. "I don't know either. I only know that yesterday the county magistrate met with several wealthy households in the county, hoping to get them to donate money for relief. But it seems that the result was not good. The county magistrate was very angry today. After arriving at the county office, he had someone set up a donation office. I only heard about it this afternoon, so I rushed over to tell you."
Meng Zhao said gratefully, "Thank you so much, Brother Wu. You've really helped me a lot."
Wu Rongzhou said somewhat embarrassedly, "It's nothing. I'm just a small constable. What I know is definitely not a secret. Everyone will find out sooner or later. I'm just giving you a heads-up. It's nothing."
Meng Zhao didn't think this was a small matter. These days, there are too few ways to get information. Everything is spread by word of mouth. If he didn't have any channels, he probably wouldn't even know the fundraising office had been open for several days.
Therefore, he valued his relationship with Aunt Zhang and Wu Rongzhou very much, and would send them some whenever he had something new.
"Well, it's kind of you to make the trip. We're not close to the yamen, and the journey isn't easy. Luckily, I just made some steamed buns at home today, so I'll take some back to Aunt Zhang. You and Aunt Zhang can try them and see how they taste."
Meng Zhao took a double-layered food box, filled a plate with freshly steamed buns, both meat and vegetarian, made sure the lid was tightly closed to prevent steam from escaping, and then handed it over.
Wu Rongzhou accepted the food box with both hands and said gratefully, "Madam Meng, you're too kind. I can't accept this."
Meng Zhao smiled and waved his hand, "Brother Wu, don't be so formal with me. You've helped me so much, this is just a small token of my appreciation."
"These buns are fresh out of the steamer and still warm. If they get cold when you get home, just put them back in the steamer to reheat them a little, and they will still taste just as good."
Wu Rongzhou didn't refuse anymore. He sat in the room for a short while, and the fragrant smell of the steamed buns kept wafting into his nose. He really couldn't resist.
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