Meanwhile, at the Lin family's house on the east side of the village, Yue Jiuyue was watching her two sons personally prepare meat and vegetables for her hot pot. One was in the kitchen slicing meat and keeping an eye on the bone broth on the stove; the other was washing vegetables in the yard, then taking them to the kitchen to peel and slice the vegetables. For some reason, they wouldn't let the maids or servants help.
Yue Jiuyue didn't care about these things. As long as she had something to eat, she was happy. She just hoped that when she ate, she wouldn't have to worry about what flavor she wanted, because she didn't like food that was too bland.
Sigh! Another day of being disciplined by my sons.
Sure enough, once everything was ready, the soup base was just plain bone broth, and the dipping sauce was also light. The two children ate happily, and her two adopted sons also ate with relish. Only she was filled with resentment. She would take a bite, glance at the two brothers, and they wouldn't say anything, just grin at her with their teeth showing.
What else could Yue Jiuyue do?
Just keep your head down and eat!
She doesn't like many kinds of food. Once the dipping sauce is prepared, she just needs to wrap a slice of meat in a cabbage leaf and dip it in the sauce. Sometimes, just these two kinds of food are enough. Occasionally, she will also pick up a slice of potato or radish with her chopsticks. It's easy for her to fill herself up.
"Mother, are you full?"
The eldest brother stared wide-eyed and asked a question.
Yue Jiuyue glanced at him irritably and snorted, saying:
I'm full.
"Are you really full, Mom? You only ate so little?"
Lin Chaodong found it hard to believe; his mother's appetite seemed to have decreased considerably.
Yue Jiuyue rolled her eyes and said irritably:
"I said I'm full, so I'm full. Would I lie to you? What's there to lie about?!"
If it weren't for the slight boredom of being cooped up at home all the time, and the lack of any good way to pass the time, she would always feel the urge to eat something. Today, with her two sons around, it would be difficult to take the things she bought from the mall out, but she had plenty of hawthorn, persimmon cakes, apples, dried fruit, and dried sweet potatoes at home, so her stomach was never empty.
Knowing that even eating hot pot today wouldn't be enough to fully enjoy, her expectations for hot pot were only 50%, so of course she wouldn't deliberately wait on an empty stomach.
"Oh, as long as I'm full."
After Lin Chaodong finished speaking, the next second she saw her two adopted sons go out and bring back chili powder, sprinkling it into the dipping sauce bowl right in front of her.
Yue Jiuyue: (╬￣?Pan￣?╬)
These two sons of dogs are no longer acceptable!
Out of sight, out of mind. Yue Jiuyue stormed back to her room in a huff.
Then she took out her spicy strips, spicy skin, pickled chicken feet, etc., and opened one package after another.
While gnawing on chicken feet, Yue Jiuyue muttered: If she weren't really full, she could have taken out a bowl of spicy hot pot and eaten to her heart's content!
Spicy hot pot, mini hot pot, jianbing guozi (Chinese crepes), and vegetable jianbing are all available in the shops in town. Steamed buns, fried dough sticks, dumplings, wontons, various kinds of porridge and soy milk are also sold in the shops, as well as various snacks.
These were all skills that the maids, servants, and young men who had signed indentures at home learned before going to town to cook. In a month, they earned much more in wages and bonuses than they would have at home, so every servant in the household was full of enthusiasm and eager to learn.
Of course, if someone neglects their job because they want to learn to read or learn a trade, not only will their wages be deducted, but they will also be dismissed from their current job and become the busiest and poorest servant, with few opportunities to learn. In severe cases, they may even be sent back to the brokerage firm. So, no one dares to neglect their work.
Aside from the fourth son and his wife visiting the wife's family, Yue Jiuyue's family had no other relatives to visit. Adding to the woes, it had snowed twice during the first month of the lunar calendar, keeping the ground frozen, leaving them with absolutely nothing to do. So, a group of people in their twenties, thirties, and forties started studying with Mr. Huang.
Perhaps it was because of her age, but Yue Jiuyue simply couldn't sit still. Besides, as the head of the family, no one could stop her from learning, not even Mr. Huang. So she happily continued to laze around like a lazy bum.
After eating glutinous rice balls on the Lantern Festival, the year was considered over. Lin Chaodong and the others went back to their busy lives, leaving only Yue Jiuyue and the two children at home.
As the weather gradually warms up, the busy farming season has already begun in March.
Yue Jiuyue had long since stopped participating in the family's busy farming activities. Just looking at the fields covering the mountains and plains made her feel sore all over, as if she had collapsed from exhaustion after a day's work. If she were to appear in the fields one day, it would definitely just be a whim of hers.
People were planting sweet potatoes, early spring corn, beans, millet, and cotton. Some were even planting medicinal herbs with Yue Jiuyue's family, such as scutellaria, salvia miltiorrhiza, and ginger. Every household was bustling with activity. Even four- or five-year-old children were helping out in the fields to sow seeds. Little girls would curiously go to the fields to watch the servants plant spring crops, with Dazhuang's little tail following behind them. Only Yue Jiuyue, the lazybones, was lying peacefully at home.
Occasionally, when she still retains her childlike innocence, Yue Jiuyue will break off a willow branch, cut both ends with scissors, twist out the wooden stick inside the branch, scrape off the outer bark of one end with her fingernail, and then blow a willow whistle.
The music was neither melodious nor tuneful; it was purely a whim. However, it inspired the two little ones to learn how to make willow whistles. For several days, the Lin family's house was filled with the sound of willow whistles, which echoed throughout the entire village, along with the adults' scolding.
It was so noisy that Yue Jiuyue regretted her impulsive decision. The whistling made her hallucinate, her head buzzing with the sound of whistling.
"Grandma, is there anything else fun?"
After playing with willow whistles for several days, Xiaoman'er got tired of it and came to Yue Jiuyue to ask for new games.
Upon hearing this question, Yue Jiuyue quickly shook her head, regardless of whether it was true or not:
"It's gone!"
The little girl, who had been so excited, immediately wilted upon hearing this.
"All right."
Then he left dejectedly.
Although Yue Jiuyue felt a little sorry for the little girl, after all, she was pretty, cute, and fair-skinned, and her pitiful little expression was really heartbreaking.
However, Yue Jiuyue kept her mouth shut and resolutely refused to talk about any other games with Xiaoman'er, lest her ears suffer again.
However, they didn't notice that as the little girl walked out dejectedly, she kept stealing glances at Yue Jiuyue, just waiting for Yue Jiuyue to feel sorry for her!
Unfortunately, she didn't hear the words she wanted to hear until she left Yue Jiuyue's courtyard, and she was really dejected.
Could it really be gone?
What to do? She had already made a big promise to the children in the village!
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