Chapter 289: Playing with a big axe in front of Lu Ban
Su's mother had her back to the two of them, her upper body trembling slightly as she rolled out the dough. She pinched the dough with her left hand and used the stick with her right hand. In just a few seconds, a round dumpling skin took shape in her hands.
Zhao Xiaojing had finished mixing the stuffing long ago and was staring at Su's mother's movements without blinking, amazed.
She knows how to make some noodles, but people from the Central Plains are not that good at it. The only thing she is good at now is soup dumplings, which she learned to make for the sake of favorability.
But looking at how skillfully and smoothly Su's mother rolled out the dough and made dumplings, she had already surpassed the normal level of people here.
You should know that Zhao Xiaojing's family used to eat dumplings, but they never rolled out the dough themselves, let alone made round dumpling wrappers. They always bought square wrappers from the vegetable market and made them into Yuanbao dumplings.
Back then, every household in Yangcheng ate dumplings this way, including relatives. This led to Zhao Xiaojing's childhood indifference and incomprehension towards the dumplings eaten during festivals. Aren't they just thin dough wrapped in filling? The dough often broke, letting the filling leak out.
It was not until I went to school and ate northern dumplings on the street that I realized how deep my misunderstanding of dumplings was over the years after I was amazed by them.
But misunderstandings aside, they still had to continue eating the thin dough wrappers from the vegetable market when they got home. After all, the skill of rolling out dough needed to be cultivated. Not only did Zhao Xiaojing not know how to do it, but Zhao Xiaojing's mother, third aunt and other relatives also didn't know how to do it.
Zhao Xiaojing patted Su Yuchen, who was lost in thought, and seeing her come to her senses, she gestured for her to take the twenty or thirty sheets of wrappers that Su's mother had already rolled out and wrap them. As she did so, she would occasionally admire Su's mother's deft movements. "Auntie, how do you roll your dumpling wrappers so well? No one in our place knows how to roll these round dumpling wrappers."
"Oh my, mine is nothing. Chenzi's grandmother's dough is the best. Her grandmother also said that us sisters were not adapted to the local climate and that we are all hopeless. Her grandmother's rolling pin skills are like boxing from the bottom of a well - she has profound skills. I can't compare with hers." While Su's mother was speaking, she rolled out three or five more dough sheets and piled them aside.
"Could it be that grandma is from the north?" Zhao Xiaojing asked curiously.
"Yes, people from Henan Province are very good at making noodles. They escaped here during famine and scolded us, saying that we were born in this place and had no talent. We couldn't even use a rolling pin properly." Mother Su said with a smile.
"I'll take you to my grandma's house tomorrow. You'll know once you try it. My grandma's hand-rolled noodles are so delicious that I can't stop thinking about them." Su Yuchen muttered on the side.
Zhao Xiaojing nodded excitedly, looked down, and couldn't help laughing.
"What are you laughing at?...Hahahaha!" Su Yuchen followed Zhao Xiaojing's gaze and also laughed.
When Su's mother heard the noise, she turned her head and looked, her eyes suddenly narrowed into slits with laughter, "Oh my god!..."
I wasn't paying attention to what the three of them were saying just now. They were chatting while doing their own things. Now I looked down.
I saw that the dumplings made by Zhao Xiaojing and Su Yuchen were clearly separated on the dustpan. Su Yuchen made northern big-bellied dumplings, and had already made six of them, with one still in her hand. The dumplings made by Zhao Xiaojing were in some strange shape, like ingots with long skirts. They looked very awkward, and she had just finished making three.
"It turns out you're so good at making dumplings!" After laughing for a while, Zhao Xiaojing looked at the dumplings made by Su Yuchen in surprise.
"So you don't know how to make dumplings!" Su Yuchen looked at Zhao Xiaojing's ugly dumplings in surprise.
"I taught her dozens of times. If she doesn't make it well again, I will punish her! Xiaojing, make another one so I can see how you do it." Su's mother stopped rolling the dumpling wrappers and stood by the table holding a rolling pin.
"This is how I used to make square dumplings. My family always bought wrappers from the market, so I only know how to make them this way."
Zhao Xiaojing laughed embarrassedly, reached out and took another piece of wrapper, scooped a spoonful of stuffing with a small spoon and placed it on the waistline halfway below the wrapper, then turned the bottom wrapper up, pinched the opening, turned it up again, pinched the opening, and then folded the two sides of the wrapper in half and pinched them tightly. A twisted, skirt-like dumpling was formed.
“Hahahahahaha!”
"Ouch! I can't take it anymore..."
Su's mother and Su Yuchen laughed again. Seeing that they were laughing happily, Zhao Xiaojing couldn't help but laugh too.
"Wow, are you guys having such a good time making dumplings?" Father Su came in from outside with a dark face. It would be bad enough if the mother and daughter brought their guests and abandoned him to sit alone in the main room, but why are they laughing so happily here?
"Dad, look!" Su Yuchen picked up Zhao Xiaojing's dumplings and showed them to his father.
"Oh, who made these thick-skinned wontons?" Father Su said while staring at the dumplings, trying not to laugh.
The three of them burst into laughter.
After Father Su washed his hands, he sat on another bench, took the skin in his hand, and held it in front of Zhao Xiaojing, "Come on, Xiaojing, I'll teach you!"
"Oh my god, you're so impressive. After all these years, you finally got one!" Su's mother had just finished demonstrating to Zhao Xiaojing the correct way to make Yuanbao dumplings and big-bellied dumplings. Seeing Su's father showing off, she put down the dumplings, stood up straight, and waited to watch.
"Of course not. You and your daughter usually look down on me when I help you with small favors. Today it's my turn to show off my skills! Come on, Xiaojing, learn from me." Father Su picked up a small spoon and measured the filling two or three times. After skimming off the filling in the spoon and scooping it up again, he filled the center of the dumpling wrapper with the filling.
Seeing how slow Su's father was taking, Su's mother and Su Yuchen looked at each other and rolled their eyes. They continued to watch in silence, and Su Yuchen even stopped making dumplings.
Zhao Xiaojing watched Su's father's actions, scooped a spoonful of stuffing similar to Su's father's, skimmed off a little bit of stuffing, and filled the center of the dumpling skin with the stuffing.
"Right, you measured very accurately." Father Su smiled as he folded the dumpling wrapper up and down, placing the dumpling between the bases of his thumbs. Then he spread his thumbs outwards and pressed them inwards. "Then close it. Just press like this! Easy, right?"
"...Simple." Zhao Xiaojing said this against her will as she looked at the dumplings made by Su's father, which were obviously not as good as the ones made by Su's mother as she was taught to make, nor as good as the ones made by Su Yuchen.
With Su's mother's demonstration in front of her, Zhao Xiaojing seemed to be learning from Su's father, and her hands unconsciously imitated Su's mother's more standard movements, closing and pressing.
A dumpling that looks more sturdy and stylish than the soft and ugly dumplings made by Su's father was born!
Father Su: ...
"Hahahaha, Dad, why don't you go and pick up Third Grandma!" Su Yuchen couldn't help but pounded the table and laughed.
"Oh my god, you're teaching your apprentice to starve the master to death, right? What do you call this? Waving an axe in front of Lu Ban - you're asking for humiliation!" Su's mother wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, laughing uncontrollably.
When the laughter gradually died down, Su's mother took over and corrected Zhao Xiaojing's technique of making dumplings and the authentic way of making Yuanbao dumplings. Zhao Xiaojing gradually got the hang of it, and Su's mother returned to the chopping board and continued to roll out the dough.
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