Chapter 18 Visiting Neighbors
Feng's mother-in-law came out from the backyard and saw Feng with the door closed in broad daylight, clinging to the door like a thief. She threw the broom in her hand to the ground and scolded with a cold face:
"Feng, if you really have nothing to do, follow the boss to move goods outside the city."
Feng was startled by her mother-in-law's sudden voice. She patted her chest and muttered, "Mom, why are you walking so quietly? I was scared to death."
After saying that, without waiting for her mother-in-law to say anything, she quickly hid in the kitchen.
"What sin did I commit in my past life to end up with a lazy daughter-in-law like you? Feng, let me tell you, if you go out and cause trouble again, I will personally send you back to your parents' home without you having to ask for permission."
Hearing her mother-in-law yelling and cursing outside, Feng hid in the kitchen and dared not say a word, but she was very dissatisfied in her heart. Ever since she entered the house, the old woman had been clamoring to send her back to her parents' home, but more than ten years had passed and her children had grown up. If it weren't for her husband's stubbornness, she would have dealt with this old woman long ago.
Konjac sat in the yard, pouting, "The footprints on the girl's door must have been made by that woman. Let's go find her and ask her what she wants to do."
Cui Qingyi was busy looking at the things she bought yesterday. The woman's visit today gave her a reminder that since she had moved in here, she didn't have to have a good relationship with her neighbors, but at least she shouldn't make enemies with them.
She planned to make some cakes and visit each household to get to know them.
"She did it. Did you see it yourself?"
Konjac choked, "I didn't see it with my own eyes, but I'm sure it was her who did it."
After wiping the basin clean and estimating the households in the alley, Cui Qingyi took three scoops of white flour and put it in, added the starter and brown sugar she had bought, added warm water and stirred the flour into a paste, covered it with a white cloth and left it in the sun to rise.
"If you go to a thief's house and don't see anything with your own eyes and you don't take the blame, you might even get bitten back."
Knowing that Cui Qingyi was right, Konjac sulked for a while, but when he saw Cui Qingyi bringing out a basin, he hurriedly got up to help.
"Girl, what are you doing?"
"We make some sweet cakes and give them to our neighbors, just to say hello door to door."
As for why they didn't buy ready-made cakes on the street and send them over, firstly, the cakes in the shop were not cheap, and ordinary people only ate them once or twice a year. If they bought them as gifts, it would inevitably attract attention; secondly, there were many families in this alley, and a bag of cakes from each family would cost more than ten taels of silver, which would easily make them be regarded as being taken advantage of.
While waiting for the dough to rise, the two began to prepare ingredients for the evening meal. Konjac's mood immediately brightened up, and he pointed to the corner of the yard and said, "Girl, I see many people in this alley have trees in their yards. Why don't we plant one too? It will provide us with shade and fresh fruit to eat."
Cui Qingyi didn't object: "Okay, let's go to the street and take a look some other day."
The temperature is high in summer, and the dough will rise in less than an hour after being placed in the yard. Cui Qingyi decided to make the sweet cakes and send them out before dark.
The method of making sweet cake is simple. Stir the fermented dough to expel the gas, then pour the stirred dough on the steaming cloth and steam it on high heat for more than a quarter of an hour.
The sweet cake with brown sugar is fluffy and soft. Cui Qingyi is willing to add brown sugar, and you can taste the strong brown sugar flavor when you take a bite.
Konjac took a bite and nodded repeatedly: "Hmm, delicious."
Cui Qingyi was obsessed with baking in her previous life and learned a lot from watching videos on the Internet. Although she doesn’t have as many fancy tools here, the advantage is that the ingredients are all natural, and the things she makes are also very delicious.
"If you like it, we'll make some more another day. Let's send these out today."
After dividing the cooled sweet cake into more than ten portions, the two of them went out carrying the baskets.
In the evening, people who had gone out to work came back from all households. The women in the houses were busy preparing dinner. The younger children were playing in the yard. When they saw a stranger coming, they hurried to the kitchen to call for help.
"Mom, mom, someone is coming."
Amidst the children's cries, the plainly dressed woman came out, wiping her hands. When she saw two pretty young girls standing outside her yard, she stopped.
"Who are you looking for?"
Cui Qingyi: "Sister-in-law, my sister and I have just moved to Huaihua Lane and live in the eighth courtyard."
The woman looked in the direction Cui Qingyi pointed and understood instantly: "It was you who bought the Wang family's house. I heard from my mother-in-law this morning that the house was sold.
Then we will be neighbors from now on, come in and sit down."
The woman warmly invited Cui Qingyi and Konjac to come in and sit down. It was dinner time, and who would be so tactless as to visit someone else's home?
"Sister-in-law, we're just here to get acquainted today and we'll come back another day. Here are some snacks we prepared to sweeten the kids at home.
Sister-in-law, please bring out a bowl."
Konjac opened the basket, revealing a dozen or so neatly arranged sweet cakes. The subtle sweetness of brown sugar instantly spread, and the woman was a little embarrassed: "Oh, you just came, why did you bring anything?"
Seeing that Konjac had picked up a piece of sweet cake, he hurriedly called his children to get a bowl.
Holding the bowl of sweet cakes in her hands, the smile on the woman's face was visibly more sincere:
"Sister, my husband's last name is Li. You can call me Sister Li. Come to my house and talk some other day."
"Okay, Sister Li, let's go to another house first."
"Hey hey hey, okay."
For the next period of time, Cui Qingyi and Konjac kept repeating the same words. Most of the families in the alley were very polite, except when they arrived at the door of Feng's house.
Feng looked at the piece of sweet cake in the bowl, then pointed at the one in the konjac basket and said, "Sister, my kids at home don't have enough to share with us. Please give me another one." She said as she reached for it.
Having never seen such a shameless person, Konjac rolled his eyes and took a step back: "No, we still have to go to other places, and giving you more won't be enough."
Seeing that she failed to take advantage of him, Feng withdrew her hand and grumbled in dissatisfaction, "How stingy! It's just a piece of brown sugar cake, and you act like no one has seen it before."
She spoke in a loud voice, but she didn't return the things in her hand.
Feng's mother-in-law, who was busy in the kitchen, thought that Feng was slacking off again. When she came out, she saw Feng reaching into someone else's basket. Her face immediately turned red with embarrassment.
He wanted to yell at this shameless guy, but was afraid of making a fool of himself, so he could only yell for Feng to come back and light the fire.
Feng was reluctant, and when she turned around, she quickly broke off a big piece of the sweet cake and stuffed it into her mouth, as if there was someone in front of her waiting to grab it.
Bringing gifts to the door, Cui Qingyi and Konjac got to know all the residents in the alley. What made them relieved was that, except for that Feng, all the others seemed to be normal people.
After finishing their social interactions, the two began to prepare the evening's warming dishes.
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