Upon hearing Qian Duoduo's words, Li Xiaohua's eyes lit up, and she immediately nodded and said, "Okay! I agree!"
Qian Duoduo smiled as she looked at Li Xiaohua, whose eyes were shining brightly.
Looking at the warm-hearted Qian Duoduo, Guo Ni's eyes also filled with affection. She now truly felt that such a little girl deserved the love and pampering of these older brothers!
Qian Duoduo said, "Sister Xiaohua, wait for me a moment, I'll go find Uncle Zhang and tell him!"
Li Xiaohua suddenly called out to Qian Duoduo and said, "Duoduo, there's something I want to ask you."
Qian Duoduo asked, puzzled, "What's wrong?"
Li Xiaohua took a few steps forward and stood in front of Qian Duoduo. She said softly, "Um, could you tell everyone except Director Zhang that I'm still cooking in the kitchen?" Seeing Qian Duoduo's eyes, she continued, "My in-laws all depend on my money for a living, but they treat me badly because I gave birth to a daughter, and they treat my daughter badly too." As she said this, her eyes reddened, and her voice choked with sobs, "It's only because I work in the tofu shop that they can give my daughter a meal."
Guo Ni's eyes immediately reddened. As a mother herself, she couldn't stand seeing children mistreated. She asked, "Didn't you tell your father?"
Li Xiaohua said, “Why didn’t he say that? But when my father went there, he pretended to be very nice to me and the child. But as soon as my father left, he treated us coldly in a roundabout way. We couldn’t even get a meal all day, and he wouldn’t let us leave the house.”
Qian Duoduo sighed. Every family has its own problems. Uncle Li didn't let Li Xiaohua go back to her parents' home because he had a young son who wasn't married yet. He couldn't let his daughter affect his son's marriage, especially with Aunt Li's personality. Sigh, it was just that Li Xiaohua and the child had to suffer.
She thought for a moment and said, "Sister Xiaohua, are you planning to live like this for the rest of your life?"
Li Xiaohua was taken aback: "What else can we do?"
Guo Ni said, "Hmph, if anyone dares to treat me like this, I'll tear their roof off."
Qian Duoduo coughed lightly. "Brother Qian Xiang, do you know how fierce your wife is?"
Guo Ni was startled when she heard Qian Duoduo cough. Forgetting that her sister-in-law was still there, she turned around and chuckled apologetically, "Duoduo, I was just kidding."
Qian Duoduo laughed and said, "Sister-in-law, don't worry, you can't lift the roof off my uncle's house. In our Beian Village, how many men like my brother Qian Xiang love their wives as much as he does?" The main problem is that his wife is too fierce and strong. If he doesn't coax her, he really can't control her!
Watching the interaction between Qian Duoduo and Guo Ni, Li Xiaohua felt envious and regretted his shortsightedness once again.
Guo Ni asked, "Duo Duo, is Xiao Hua's plan going to work? I heard that her husband collects her salary."
Qian Duoduo looked at Li Xiaohua: "Really?"
Li Xiaohua nodded awkwardly: "He won't let me touch the money, so I wanted you to tell everyone that I'm still cooking in the kitchen."
Qian Duoduo said, "This won't do. I'll talk to my dad about it later. How can someone be in charge of the wages? If everyone does it this way, it'll be chaos!" She said to Li Xiaohua, "Sister Xiaohua, let's put this matter aside for now. Let's help make the spiced tofu today. I'll think of a way to deal with the wages!"
She then looked at Guo Ni, who was still indignant, and said, "Sister-in-law, have someone bring the tofu over. Xiao Hua and I will prepare the seasonings here."
Guo Ni nodded. She didn't care that Qian Duoduo hadn't brought her to mix the seasonings this time. Her status as the sister-in-law was there for her. Besides, Duoduo had already stated that she wanted to make spiced tofu in the future. Whether it was sooner or later, it didn't matter.
Qian Duoduo looked at Li Xiaohua and said, "Sister Xiaohua, let's begin."
Li Xiaohua nodded and followed Qian Duoduo to a large pile of seasonings. She saw Qian Duoduo take out a triangular bag and a scale used for weighing soybeans from the side and said, "Sister Xiaohua, take a look. I need to know how much of each of these things to weigh. I can only keep this in mind."
Li Xiaohua nodded, looking very carefully at each seasoning and its weight. If she didn't understand something, she would ask, and Qian Duoduo would answer in great detail. After everything was weighed, Guo Ni returned with the items.
Seeing her carry two slabs of tofu in by herself, Qian Duoduo once again sighed in his heart: This woman is really something!
After seeing that the seasonings had been weighed out, Guo Ni asked, "Shall we begin now?"
Qian Duoduo shook her head and said, "Wash these seasonings first. They've been sitting in the shop for who knows how long, and they're covered in dust. We food business people have to be hygienic. Sister Xiaohua did a good job; look how clean the kitchen is."
Li Xiaohua was flattered and shyly lowered her head after receiving Qian Duoduo's unexpected praise. How long had it been since she'd heard such praise? She couldn't even remember!
While leading them in their work, Qian Duoduo turned on her gossipy side and asked Guo Ni, "Sister-in-law, you only have one child, Yi'an, so why haven't you had a second one yet?"
Guo Ni said with a smile, "Qian Xiang doesn't want it. He said having a son is enough. He said that when I was in the delivery room, he was so scared that he almost peed his pants outside. Such an embarrassing thing only needs to happen once!"
Listening to Guo Ni's words, Li Xiaohua felt envious again. Her man wanted a boy, but she hadn't been able to conceive.
Seeing that it was all done, Qian Duoduo said, "Put the seasonings in the pot and bring them to a boil first."
The three of them got busy, but in the end only Li Xiaohua sat by the stove, watching the fire. Qian Duoduo said, "Simmer this for a while longer. The water level should not be lower than the bottom of the pot. If it is low, add hot water. Xiaohua, remember, it must be hot water, not cold water."
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