Chapter 011
In the kitchen.
Chen Sisi was lighting a fire behind the stove.
Su Yun, Li Qiao and Gu Yuzhu were figuring out how to knead the dough.
At noon, the boys went to the mill to grind flour.
According to Han Ting, they are now steaming buns in the kitchen.
They asked their fellow villagers how to steam buns.
It is said that water is added to the dough, kneading it into the right softness and hardness, and then forming it into steamed buns.
After boiling water in the pot, put the steamed buns on the steamer and steam them until cooked.
It sounds simple, but it is not that easy to do.
Li Qiao scooped some water into the basin, mixed it with his hands and found that he had added too much water. The dough had become a porridge-like paste and could not be kneaded into dough at all.
“…”
Li Qiao, Gu Yuzhu and Su Yun looked at each other.
Gu Yuzhu came up with an idea and said, "Add more noodles."
So she scooped another bowl of noodles and poured it all into the basin.
After kneading it a few more times, I found that I had put too much flour and it was too dry to be kneaded together.
“…”
Next, I added water and dough several times alternately.
It was so hard to get the dough to the right hardness and softness, and the dough almost filled a bowl.
But we finally made peace, and the next step was naturally to roll it into buns and steam them.
Li Qiao, Su Yun and Gu Yuzhu were rolling buns together. Their movements were clumsy but they made the buns smoothly. After they were done, they put them on the steamer one by one. When it was full, they put it over the boiling water in the pot to steam.
They kneaded a lot of dough, so after steaming this batch, there is enough for two more.
While the first steamer was being steamed, Li Qiao, Gu Yuzhu and Su Yun all sat down to rest for a while.
The four of them chatted for a while, and suddenly heard a voice from the yard: "Tang Chuxia, she's gone."
Hearing it was Lin Xiaohan's voice, the four people showed surprise on their faces at the same time.
After being in the countryside for so long, this was the first time they heard Lin Xiaohan asking people to go out together.
This is a very strange thing, it feels like the sun is rising from the west.
Li Qiao couldn't help his curiosity, so he stood up and looked out the window.
Then Chu Xia was seen coming out of the west dormitory and walking out with Lin Xiaohan.
Chen Sisi sat behind the stove and asked, "Is it Lin Xiaohan?"
Li Qiao retracted his gaze, turned back, nodded and said, "I went out with Chu Xia."
Chen Sisi exclaimed: "Are they really in league with each other?"
Li Qiao thought that was impossible, "That's impossible."
Gu Yuzhu snorted and laughed, "With her brain, she wants to partner with Lin Xiaohan? Lin Xiaohan sold her out, and she is still paying Lin Xiaohan money. It would be fine if she doesn't partner with him. If Lin Xiaohan really partners with her, he must have planned to profit from her, so she can just wait to be cheated."
Chen Sisi thought about it and felt that it made sense.
She felt soft-hearted and couldn't help but say, "Should we ask her clearly and try to persuade her?"
Gu Yuzhu immediately answered her, "What's there to persuade? Su Yun persuaded her the night before yesterday. Do you think it worked? We might as well wait and watch how she is tricked by Lin Xiaohan and falls into a big pit. Only when she is hurt can she learn from her mistakes. Otherwise, no matter how much we say, she won't listen, and she may even think that we are trying to harm her."
Think about the acrimonious state of these two days in early summer.
Chen Sisi nodded and agreed: "You are right."
***
At the entrance of the East Boys' Dormitory.
Guo Gai stretched his head to watch Chu Xia follow Lin Xiaohan out of the yard, then turned back to look at Han Ting and said, "Brother Ting, Chu Xia followed Lin Xiaohan out, aren't you going to step in and take care of this?"
Who is Lin Xiaohan? He is a sinister villain.
Chuxia is close to him, and sooner or later she will suffer a great loss. Can she just watch and do nothing?
Han Ting felt filled with anger.
He wanted to intervene, but Chu Xia no longer listened to him like before. She was always fussy with him and didn't care about his face at all. She spoke to him in a harsh and sharp tone.
Last night she protected Lin Xiaohan and prevented him from hitting Lin Xiaohan.
Now he followed Lin Xiaohan out again without even telling him where he was going.
He was naturally worried about Chu Xia, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel angry.
He really couldn't understand why Chu Xia suddenly became like this.
Is it just to piss him off?
He was silent for a while, then suppressed his temper and said, "Who cares? She will know when she suffers."
"Oh." The pot lid responded, "Then I'll go to the kitchen to see if the steamed buns are ready."
After saying this, Guo Gai went to the kitchen.
I went into the kitchen, opened the door curtain, and saw that the first tray of steamed buns that Li Qiao and the others had just come out of the pot.
Li Qiao slowly lifted the lid of the pot, and a burst of hot steam rose up.
The pot lid moved closer to the pot and said with a smile, "Wow, that looks good."
Li Qiao and the others were very happy and felt a sense of accomplishment when they looked at the fruits of their labor.
Li Qiao smiled and said to Guo Gai: "You came at the right time. I'll let you try the first one first to see how it tastes and whether it's the right softness or hardness."
The pot lid smiled and said, "Then I won't be polite."
As he said this, he reached out his hand to take the steamed bun from the pot. It was scalding, but he finally endured the heat and picked it up. He brought it to his mouth, blew on it, opened his mouth and took a big bite.
He still had a smile on his face when he bit it.
But after chewing the bun twice, he suddenly stopped and frowned.
Seeing him like this, Gu Yuzhu asked, "What's wrong? Is it not tasty?"
Guo Gai held the bun in his mouth, glanced at the four girls in front of him, and finally spit out the bun, saying honestly: "It's full of sand and stones, it hurts my teeth, I can't eat it."
Is it all sand and gravel?
Li Qiao looked puzzled and quickly picked up a steamed bun, broke off a small piece and put it into his mouth.
As a result, she hurt her teeth after chewing it twice and didn't dare to chew any further.
She covered her mouth and shook her head, "I really can't eat it."
Gu Yuzhu, Su Yun and Chen Sisi also frowned and broke off a piece of steamed bun and put it in their mouths.
The result was always the same, the steamed buns were filled with sand and stones and were impossible to chew.
All four of them spat out the buns in their mouths.
Li Qiao frowned and asked, "How could this happen?"
They worked so hard to steam them, but in the end they were all inedible.
Can't figure out where the problem lies.
Li Qiao glanced at the cupboard next to her and hurried to open the door of the upper left cupboard. There were steamed buns made in early summer inside. She picked one up and took a bite directly.
I chewed it until I swallowed it, but I didn't feel any sand or stones.
She turned around and said to Guogai and the others, "It's not a problem with the grain. When we kneaded the dough, the basin was always clean, and the water was also clean. Is it possible that the grain was not cleaned when we ground the flour?"
When Guo Gai heard this, he was stunned.
Then he uttered a word: "Does it still need to be washed? We... haven't washed it yet..."
"Not washed?" Li Qiao and Gu Yuzhu asked in unison, almost fainting.
Normally they wash the vegetables before cooking porridge, and of course they have to wash the flour before grinding it, otherwise it will be full of tiny pieces of dirt and will be completely inedible.
Guo Gai mumbled again, "So all the flour we grind this time can't be eaten?"
Gu Yuzhu suppressed her breath and said, "Then you definitely can't eat it."
Chen Sisi would panic when something happened, "What should I do?"
Guo Gai turned around and was about to walk out, "Don't worry, I'll go talk to Brother Ting, Brother Ting has a solution."
Before Guo Gai could take a step, Li Qiao came over and grabbed him.
Guo Gai looked back in confusion. Li Qiao looked at him and said, "It's already like this. What good solution can Han Ting have? He can only cook some coarse grain porridge for a meal. When he has time tomorrow, he can go to the mill to grind flour and steam buns again. Do you still want to eat coarse grain porridge for this meal?"
Guo Gai thought for a moment, "What other options are there if I don't eat it?"
Li Qiao held up the steamed bun she had bitten off and suggested, "We just finished steaming the buns, and the water under the steamer is still hot. The steamed buns will be ready soon, but if we cook porridge, it will take quite some time. Otherwise...we can eat the early summer porridge first..."
Li Qiao proposed this at noon.
Guo Gai looked at her and said, "Brother Ting doesn't agree to do this."
Li Qiao whispered, "Then why don't we just keep it a secret from him? We can grind new flour and steam new, clean buns tomorrow, and then give it back to her, right?"
Pot Cover hesitated and did not agree immediately.
Li Qiao looked at Gu Yuzhu, Su Yun and Chen Sisi again.
Seeing that they were silent, she added, "If you don't agree, then hurry up and cook the porridge."
After saying that, she put the bun in her hand to her mouth and took another bite.
Looking at Li Qiao eating steamed buns and thinking of coarse-grain porridge, everyone felt uneasy.
Gu Yuzhu became cheerful and said, "I agree. I don't want to eat whole grain porridge..."
Chen Sisi also hesitated and continued in a soft voice, "It's not like we're eating her for nothing. When she comes back in the evening, we'll tell her and return the buns to her tomorrow. Based on her previous behavior, I don't think she would be so stingy as to make a fuss with us, right?"
Su Yun thought of what Han Ting said last night and said, "She was so nice before, she didn't care about anything, let alone such a small matter, but now I can't say for sure."
Li Qiao and Gu Yuzhu looked at each other.
Guo Gai was getting tired of wasting time, so he made a decision and said, "Let's do this, let's finish this meal first, and don't let Brother Ting know for now. I'll take responsibility if anything goes wrong."
He also didn't believe that Chu Xia would really bother with them about such a small matter.
After Guo Gai said this, Li Qiao and the others did not hesitate any more.
Li Qiao went to the cupboard and opened the two doors on the upper left. He took out a small bamboo basket containing steamed black and yellow buns.
Chen Sisi came close to Li Qiao and whispered worriedly, "Are you sure these steamed buns are from Chu Xia? Don't take the wrong ones and take Lin Xiaohan's?"
If I eat Lin Xiaohan's food, I will be in trouble.
Li Qiao carried the bamboo basket and walked towards the pot. "Don't worry, it's right. The flour and steamed buns in this cabinet are Chuxia's, and the ones in the cabinet on the right are Lin Xiaohan's."
The cupboard that the villagers provided for the educated youth center was very old, but still quite large.
The cupboard is divided into two layers, and the upper layer is divided into two halves. Chuxia used the left one and Lin Xiaohan used the right one. There was a large layer left at the bottom, which contained flour for the ten of them.
Seeing that Li Qiao was very sure, Chen Sisi felt relieved.
She hurried to the stove and lit the fire.
Gu Yuzhu took an empty bamboo basket and put the steamed buns they had just steamed into the basket one by one, leaving the steamer empty. Li Qiao then put the steamed buns from early summer back on the steamer one by one.
After all the steamed buns were put in, it was just enough for their meal.
Li Qiao took the lid and put it on the pot, then took Chuxia's bamboo basket and put it back in the cupboard.
When I put everything away and was about to close the door, I glanced at the empty bamboo basket and felt suddenly uneasy. She paused to think for a while, then turned to look at the steamed buns they were making.
An idea flashed through Li Qiao's mind. After hesitating for a while, he decisively went over to take the steamed buns they had made and put them one by one into Chuxia's bamboo basket.
After filling the bamboo basket half full with their own steamed buns, Li Qiao felt relieved and closed the cabinet door with satisfaction.
Seeing Li Qiao doing this, Gu Yuzhu asked in a low voice: "Do you want to get away with it like this?"
Before Li Qiao could say anything, the door curtain was suddenly pulled up by someone from outside.
Han Ting walked in and asked, "Are you not ready yet?"
Li Qiao, Gu Yuzhu and Chen Sisi subconsciously held their breath and tightened their expressions.
Guo Gai smiled, as if nothing had happened, and said to Han Ting: "It's almost there."
Fellow villager’s home.
Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan are patiently persuading a couple to send their children to school.
Just as Chuxia was talking about the benefits of reading and writing, her right eyelid twitched violently.
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