Chapter 84 Mingdai makes candy, Zhou Sinian: So sweet!

When Auntie Huang came to the educated youth center to find Mingdai, she was busy making candy.

Aunt Huang knocked on the door and it was Zhou Sinian who opened it. When he saw the two people, he tilted his head and thought for a moment. He seemed to know them, so he stepped aside to let them in.

Aunt Huang moved inside by rubbing against the door panel, and Mrs. Huang followed closely behind.

After seeing them come in, Zhou Sinian immediately closed the door, and the sound of it startled the two of them.

Zhou Sinian ignored them and went straight to the kitchen.

The two of them followed the noise from the kitchen and just in time heard Mingdai asking Zhou Sinian who had come.

Aunt Huang took the opportunity to speak: "Ms. Xiaoming, I am here to deliver some things that my old sister needs to exchange. Is that convenient?"

Ming Dai's voice came: "It's convenient, it's convenient, auntie, come in quickly, it's warm here."

The two men opened the door and went in. The room was filled with heat and steam.

"Auntie, there are stools over there, please sit down for a while."

Only then did Huang see clearly where Ming Dai was. She put down the basket in her hand and said, "My dear Miss Xiao Ming, I brought some dried apples for you to try."

Ming Dai came over with a kettle of hot water and looked at the big bag of dried fruits in her basket: "Auntie, why did you give me so much? Why didn't you leave some for the children?"

Aunt Huang waved her hands and said, "I will definitely bring it back when my family comes over. You guys can eat this."

Ming Dai didn't hesitate to take a bowl and made two bowls of fried noodles for the two of them: "Why didn't you bring Tiedan and Goudan with you?"

Mrs. Huang took a sip of the sweet fried noodles and said with a smile, "They are two naughty kids. They went skating with the kids early in the morning. They are nowhere to be seen now. They will definitely not come back until dinner time."

"skate?"

Ming Dai was a little surprised: "Can we skate now?"

Auntie Huang nodded: "Small rivers are fine, but we'll have to wait for big rivers. The most famous river here is Yudai River, which runs through the entire Song City. Our village is located at a bend, so it's called Liujiawan. When Yudai River freezes over, Auntie will take you to go ice skating. We can also break the ice and go fishing. Your uncle catches a lot of fish every year."

Mingdai nodded excitedly. In her previous life, she had specially gone to watch winter fishing, which was very interesting. She also had no problem skating, but she had only played it on an ice rink and had never skated on wild ice.

Suddenly, a strong sweet fragrance attracted their attention. Looking up, they saw Zhou Sinian couldn't wait to open the lid of the pot.

Ming Dai got up and went to take a look. The glutinous rice mixed with malt in the warm water had already fermented.

Huang's wife and grandma came over to take a look and said, "Xiao Ming, what are you doing?"

Mingdai asked Zhou Sinian to bring out the basin and put it on the dining table.

"This is for making candy. Zhou Sinian likes to eat candy, but I can't afford to buy it with his old money, so I thought of making some myself. It just so happens that his package this month contains glutinous rice, so I wanted to try making some candy."

Huang is now blindly confident in Ming Dai: "You are such a smart girl, you can even make candy."

Ming Dai said sheepishly, "When I was little, I had a neighbor who sold candy. I saw how to make it, so I'll try and see if I can do it."

Mrs. Huang sniffed and said, "Of course it will work. It smells very sweet."

Ming Dai nodded: "My sister-in-law is here, let me help."

Mrs. Huang happily agreed.

After finding a clean basket cloth, the two poured the fermented glutinous rice into it and squeezed it. Soon, abundant juice leaked out, filling up half a basin.

Zhou Sinian secretly reached out his hand to dip a little and tasted it, then squinted his eyes happily.

So sweet!

Mingdai called him to light a fire, but he didn't hear her.

Mrs. Huang quickly responded, "I'll go and cook it! I'll go and cook it!"

She wanted to do more work and ask Xiao Ming, the educated youth, to give her a piece of candy to taste later. The pine nut candy that Xiao Ming gave her last time was so delicious!

Auntie Huang is simply too disgusting to watch, how could she be so greedy!

Mingdai didn't hesitate and turned to the counter to get the peanuts and pine nuts she had fried in advance.

"Auntie, please help me remove the skin."

Aunt Huang nodded in agreement, washed her hands and began to peel the peanuts and pine nuts.

After thinking for a while, he said to Mrs. Huang who was lighting the fire: "Old man, go home and fry our half bag of hazelnuts and bring it over."

Mrs. Huang's eyes lit up: "Mom, we still have some sesame seeds at home, how about frying them and bringing them over?"

Aunt Huang laughed and scolded her: "You greedy devil, I only have half a jar of sesame seeds, and you still want them? Go ahead, fry them and bring them over!"

Mrs. Huang quickly got up and ran home.

Ming Dai smiled and praised Aunt Huang: "You are such a good mother-in-law, just like the real mother and daughter in my eldest sister-in-law's relationship."

Auntie Huang shook the small basket in her hand and threw out the peanut shells: "They all came from my daughter-in-law, so we should be tolerant. Besides, your eldest sister-in-law is a little greedy, but she is very filial and treats your uncle and me very well. Before the New Year comes, she made a pair of shoes for each of us to wear after the New Year. She thinks of everything in advance.

If someone is nice to you, shouldn't you be nice to them too?

Just put yourself in their shoes."

Ming Dai really felt that Aunt Huang was one of the few sober people she had seen since she transmigrated into the book. The other one was the senior bachelor nobleman Mr. Liu Sanye, both of whom had sober cognition beyond that of ordinary people.

She stuffed a handful of cooked peanuts into Zhou Sinian's mouth and asked him to light the fire. Mingdai poured the syrup into the pot and stirred it constantly with a spatula.

Auntie Huang looked at Zhou Sinian who was illuminated by the firelight. This time he was not wearing his red headscarf and looked much more normal.

His black hair was neatly cut, his eyes were lowered, he was fiddling with the peanuts in his hand, he looked well-behaved, and there was no sign of madness. On the contrary, because of Mingdai's feeding him during this period, he had gained a lot of weight. Although he was still thinner than the average person, he at least looked like a human being and a handsome young man.

This person is so lucky to have met the educated youth Xiao Ming.

The two chatted about gossip while Zhou Sinian ate peanuts. The atmosphere was very harmonious.

After a while, the soup in the pot became thicker, the color gradually deepened, and big bubbles appeared on the edges.

Mingdai saw that it was almost done, so she took an enamel basin greased with cooking oil and shoveled the boiled sugar into it.

Aunt Huang also chopped the peanuts and laid them out on the chopping board.

Mingdai carried an enamel basin over and scooped a small amount of syrup into it. Aunt Huang quickly began to stir it until the peanuts and syrup were evenly blended together.

Mingdai took out the wooden frame mold that had been polished long ago, put the mixed peanut candy syrup into it, squeezed it flat, and got a peanut candy brick in the shape of a slab brick.

Use a knife to cut the large block of peanut candy into small pieces and place them in a bamboo sieve to dry.

Zhou Sinian looked at her with bright eyes. Mingdai couldn't resist the coquettish look of the big dog and handed him a piece.

"Now, if you want to eat something sticky, lick it first and then bite it when it cools down. OK?"

Zhou Sinian nodded vigorously, took a piece, sat aside and licked it. It was so sweet!

If it had a tail, it would have turned into a small fan by now.

After making the peanut candy, the two of them made another piece with pine nuts, but they used fewer pine nuts and only cut a dozen or so slices.

Finally, she took out some fried soybean flour from the cupboard, poured some syrup into it, and pulled out some silky candy while it was still hot.

Aunt Huang and Zhou Sinian were amazed by her skill, and Zhou Sinian even wanted to try it himself.

Mingdai was afraid that he would get herself dirty, so she refused. She took two chopsticks, picked up a piece of syrup, and let him play with it.

As expected, Zhou Sinian stopped making a fuss about pulling the candy threads and was having fun.

Before Mrs. Huang came over, Mingdai added a ladle of water to the big pot and brought it to a boil. She scooped out the water and poured it into a teacup to drink. She then added more water to the pot and placed an enamel basin in it to prevent the syrup from hardening.

Each person had a bowl of sugar water, and Auntie Huang smiled happily as she bit into the crunchy peanut candy.

"I've never eaten as much candy in my life as I have today. I'm enjoying myself with Miss Xiao Ming!"

Ming Dai smiled and said, "Auntie's fortune is yet to come. It's too early to say it."

Aunt Huang laughed out loud at the sweetness, and Zhou Sinian looked at her strangely.

After a while, the door rang. Mingdai went to open the door. Mrs. Huang was holding a small basket, followed by two little ones.

She was very disgusted: "These two little bastards got entangled with me and insisted on following me."

Goudan didn't mind his mother's dislike and gave Mingdai a naive smile with gaped teeth.

"Aunt Ming! We are here!"

Mingdai responded with a smile and took the three of them into the kitchen.

The two little guys were stunned by the candies drying in a sieve!

Mingdai placed them next to Zhou Sinian and picked out two lumps of syrup for them. They ate while playing, and soon the three of them were playing together.

Mrs. Huang brought a lot of cooked sesame seeds, so the syrup was not enough.

Aunt Huang waved her hand and said, "Just make a little less. Grind the rest and add some salt to make sesame salt. It's delicious!"

Mingdai agreed happily. Compared with sweets, she prefers snacks with peppers and salts, and sesame salt sounds good.

I brought out the enamel basin and made hazelnut candy and sesame candy one after another.

Fortunately, Aunt Huang was here. Her hands were resistant to burns from cooking. If Mingdai had been kneading the sugar, she would probably have gotten a lump from the burns.

After everything was done, it was already noon time. Mingdai wanted them to stay for lunch, but Aunt Huang was reluctant.

But Mingdai suggested that they use the leftover rice residue from making candy to make cakes, and only then did she agree to stay.

Mingdai asked Zhou Sinian to wash the millstone, put the remaining rice residue on the millstone, added a little water and ground it into rice slurry.

Aunt Huang looked at the millstone and said with emotion: "It is convenient to have a millstone. You can eat fresh corn milk buns in autumn. They are sweet and delicious."

Zhou Sinian’s ears moved: Fresh corn milk buns... sweet... delicious!

Ming Dai: Oh well! He heard it again!

Add some glutinous rice flour to rice milk and knead it into a dough. Apply some oil to the pan and stick it along the bottom of the pan. Fry until both sides are golden brown. It tastes soft, glutinous and sweet when you bite it. Paired with sugar water, it makes people very happy.

Goudan even shouted that it was the Chinese New Year!

At this moment, at the captain's house, Liu Dazhui was eating cornmeal cakes and drinking hot water, sighing at his two unlucky sons.

He didn't make his wife angry, did he? Why didn't he come back to cook?

Thinking that his eldest daughter-in-law was not at home, he stretched out his chopsticks and hit his eldest son on the head.

“Boom!”

Whose tears burst out!

"You idiot, did you make your wife angry? That's why you don't come home to cook?"

Liu Laifu covered his head with his hands, tears welling up in his eyes: I'm not the only one whose wife isn't at home, isn't my mother also not at home? !

But he didn't dare to say it, for fear that the old man would beat him again.

Liu Laifa munched on the cake silently, feeling lucky that he didn't have a wife.