As soon as Xia Manni came out of Yan Zi's house, she saw Da Wa waiting in the yard.
She was not too surprised, after all, Da Wa was too meticulous.
It turned out that Da Wa heard someone going out in her sleep. When she went to Xia Manni's room to check, she found out that it was her who went out.
Da Wa followed Xia Manni all the way to Yan Zi's house. He heard the conversation between Xia Manni and Yan Zi's mother-in-law, and also heard the confrontation between Xia Manni and Yan Zi.
When Xia Manni asked whether he had learned it, he finally understood what it meant to kill with one blow and what it meant to really make the enemy afraid of him.
No one in the Xia family mentioned this matter again, but the eldest son became more calm.
After a few days, it was the winter solstice, an important festival for the Da Qi Dynasty.
The traditional custom on the day of the winter solstice is to eat dumplings.
On this day, the four children of the Xia family were already dressed and waiting for Xia Manni to take them to make dumplings.
The last time I ate dumplings was during the Chinese New Year. At that time, the dumplings were filled with wild vegetables and had no meat flavor at all.
This year is different. They have enough pork to eat from the winter solstice this year to the beginning of next spring.
"Hey, why are you all so happy?" This morning, Xia Manni took her four children to practice the Five Animal Exercises as usual and ran for a while.
Normally, these four children are quite active when eating, but this time, they all ate with smiles on their faces but were not so active.
"Mom, my second brother said that today is the Winter Solstice, and we have to eat delicious dumplings at home." Sanwa raised his little face and said happily.
"Haha, you little greedy cat. But we'll be eating dumplings until noon, so it won't affect our breakfast."
"No, mother, my second brother said that I can't eat anything else after eating dumplings, and he wants me to have an empty stomach." Sanwa looked at the rice porridge on the table with some grievance.
Xia Manni glared at Erwa, who was laughing foolishly beside her, and said, "Don't listen to your second brother's nonsense. Mom will let you eat your fill today. There will be dumplings in the evening as well."
"Mom, I didn't say that..." Erwa said as he patted Sanwa's head.
What else can these three kids do besides complaining?
"Okay, eat if you want to. If you don't want to, go wash all the wild vegetables at home. Mom will take you to make dumplings later."
As soon as Xia Manni finished speaking, the children put down their chopsticks.
Even Da Wa and Sinier became unusually excited.
Perhaps the excitement of the four kids infected her. After all, she hadn't eaten dumplings since she came here, so she put down her chopsticks.
"Haha, let's have lunch early then. Come, let's make dumplings together."
The children were not only excited to eat dumplings and meat, but also because they could participate in the activity of making dumplings. They had never even seen dumplings before, let alone touched them.
"Come, there are several important steps in making dumplings. First, kneading the dough. This requires strength and some skills, which is not suitable for you, so let mother do this job."
After Xia Manni finished speaking, the four children nodded in unison. They didn't know when their mother started to like referring to chores as work. Not only did Xia Manni always say strange things, but they were also used to it.
"Secondly, the more important thing is the dumpling filling. You guys have been very sensible lately, so Mom decided to make two kinds of dumplings today: one with pork and green onions, and one with wild vegetables and pork."
"Wow, great."
"Mom, you're so nice."
The third and second children finished speaking, while the eldest and fourth children just kept laughing foolishly.
"But this job can't be done by Mom alone. I need your help. There have to be processes like washing vegetables, cutting vegetables, and chopping meat. How can you guys arrange it?"
After listening to Xia Manni's words, Erwa, Sanwa and Sinier all looked at Dawa.
The eldest boy smiled and said, "I'll cut the meat. You guys don't have enough strength. The second boy will cut the vegetables, and the fourth girl will wash them."
"Brother, what about me?" Sanwa was a little anxious. Why did his brother forget about him? How could he make dumplings without him?
"Sanwa, don't worry. I have a more important task for you. I'll knead the dough and roll it out. Before I roll it out, can you help me flatten it? Okay?"
Sanwa didn’t quite understand what Xia Manni meant, but he was very capable and was sure he would learn it.
Sanwa nodded and assured Xia Manni that he would be able to do it well.
"Later, we'll start making dumplings. Everyone can try, but if you can't make them well, you'll just have to roll out the dough." Xia Manni never stops her children from trying. For her, life skills are acquired through trial and error. How can you know if you can learn without trying?
She remembered that she couldn't do anything when she was little. Her parents were still alive at that time and spoiled her very much, not allowing her to do this or that. Finally, after she lived with her grandparents, she had to do all kinds of housework, and slowly she learned how to do it.
After hearing this, the children couldn't wait to start cutting vegetables and chopping meat. It was the first time for them to do this and they were curious about everything.
Da Wa was having a hard time chopping the meat, so Xia Manni told him, "It's okay if you're slow, Da Wa, but you have to chop it finely, otherwise it won't be cooked well."
The eldest boy nodded and cut more carefully. When he got tired, he used his hands to cut, but he was no longer in such a hurry.
It wasn't difficult for Erwa to cut the vegetables, but because he used too much strength, the leaves flew around a bit.
By the time they finished cutting, Xia Manni's dough had also been kneaded.
"Come on, let's all try rolling out the dough." Xia Manni said as she demonstrated. Rolling out the dough doesn't require any skills, as long as the dough is rolled out flat and not broken.
Xia Manni asked the four children to try one by one, and found that only the second child could not roll the dough well.
"Second brother, why are the doughs you rolled all broken? Haha." Sanwa said while holding the broken dumpling wrappers rolled by Erwa.
Erwa scratched his head. He didn't use much force, but it still broke.
"Mom..." Erwa felt a little depressed, thinking that he had wasted food.
"It's okay, Erwa. Everyone has their own strengths. Look, chopping wood is what you're best at."
Erwa: I was comforted
When making dumplings at the end, only the dumplings made by Sini'er could stand up.
"I declare that Si Ni'er is the ultimate winner of this dumpling-making competition."
Si Nier stood on tiptoe happily, she liked her mother praising her.
The family was busy until almost noon before they finally put all the dumplings into the pot.
"Okay, go get the dishes and chopsticks, we're going to eat dumplings."
"Are the dumplings I made myself delicious?" Xia Manni looked at the children who were so busy eating that they couldn't even lift their heads. She didn't know if it was because the wild boar meat was more fragrant, but the dumplings were so delicious.
On the day of the winter solstice, the Xia family of five ate the dumplings they made together for the first time.
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