Meng Chuying was initially looking forward to it, but after hearing Cheng Qingyan's explanation, she instantly had an "I knew it" expression on her face.
The dog with the white spot between its eyebrows is Wangcai, the one Meng Chuying brought home. The one with the black tip of its tail, Fugui, is the one that stayed at Cheng Qingyan's house.
In the blink of an eye, Cheng Qingyan had chosen names for the three little ones.
Not receiving the expected praise, Cheng Qingyan raised an eyebrow and asked, "You two aren't satisfied? Why don't you come up with the name yourselves?"
Ye Lingyu quickly took a step back and praised, "It's not that I'm not satisfied, it's that I'm extremely satisfied. I was amazed by the name my husband chose, and I was stunned for a moment."
Cheng Qingyan's smile froze. Why did Ye Lingyu's words of praise sound so sarcastic?
Meng Chuying stared in astonishment at Ye Lingyu, who uttered these insincere words without batting an eye. If she hadn't heard it with her own ears, she would never have believed that Ye Lingyu could say such things.
Is this what they mean by "one is influenced by one's company"? Has Ye Lingyu been corrupted by Cheng Qingyan?
The names of the three little ones were decided just like that, with no room for change.
The 24th day of the twelfth lunar month is also the day to worship the Kitchen God.
I spent the whole morning building the little guy's bamboo house. By noon, the dough I had kneaded earlier had risen and was ready to be used to make steamed buns.
Ye Lingyu and Meng Chuying helped with the construction of the bamboo house. Cheng Qingyan naturally wouldn't stand idly by while they made the steamed buns.
Ye Lingyu deflated the dough and kneaded it.
Cheng Qingyan chopped the filling, while Meng Chuying assisted her on either side. The three of them had been busy since morning.
The buns are big, so they're quick to wrap.
However, neither Cheng Qingyan nor Meng Chuying knew how to make pleats for steamed buns.
Although I tried to imitate Ye Lingyu, the pleats I made for the buns were always ugly and easily gave themselves away.
In the end, Meng Chuying could only roll out the dough, while Cheng Qingyan was still trying her best to learn how to make steamed buns.
After she couldn't get the bun right no matter how hard she tried, Ye Lingyu chuckled and went over to teach her how to make the pleats.
"Look, put the dumpling wrapper and filling in your left palm. Use your right thumb and forefinger to pinch and turn it in a circle, and you'll have a dumpling!" She tried to teach Cheng Qingyan, who also tried to pinch the dumpling pleats according to her instructions.
After failing to make the second one, and even after Ye Lingyu taught her three times, she still couldn't learn it and gave up in despair.
It's just a steamed bun; she doesn't necessarily have to make it.
"Wife, you go ahead and wrap them. Don't worry about me. I'll figure it out myself." At their pace, if she delayed any longer, it would be dark by the time the buns were steamed.
"Don't worry, if it's really not possible, then don't bother with the package, I can manage on my own."
"Don't worry, my wife, I know."
They say they know, but they're actually not sure.
No, what do you mean no? How can it not be?
Could a mere pleat in a bun possibly stump her?
But it really stumped me; if I continued to torture this steamed bun, it might die...
Cheng Qingyan was a little discouraged. Why was she so stupid that she couldn't learn it?
It's also the bun's fault, why do buns have pleats!
It's really a bit inconsiderate; can't it learn from glutinous rice balls? They're round and full of filling, just like steamed buns—foods with fillings. Glutinous rice balls are so considerate!
And dumplings too, she can make round dumplings and dumplings shaped like ingots, but she just can't seem to learn how to make steamed buns since she was little!
Her maternal grandmother tried to teach her when she was a child, but ultimately failed.
Ye Lingyu taught her three more times today, but she still couldn't learn it!
Is she really that stupid?
A single pleat in a steamed bun dealt Cheng Qingyan a second blow.
Angrily, he pinched the bun in his hand, which he couldn't get right no matter how hard he tried, closed it up like a pie, and finally rolled it into a ball in his palm!
A fist-sized round dough ball, filled with filling, appears among the buns placed to the side. That's fine, no one says buns have to have pleats, right?
Meng Chuying had already rolled out half of the dumpling wrappers, while Ye Lingyu hadn't even started kneading the other half of the dough.
I was amused by Cheng Qingyan's steamed buns. These weren't steamed buns at all; they were clearly giant glutinous rice balls!
She couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Brother Cheng, you've wrapped these buns quite uniquely!"
Cheng Qingyan huffed and puffed as she prepared to torment the second dumpling wrapper, placing filling onto the wrapper in her palm.
"What do you know? Who says steamed buns have to have pleats? What if this is the prehistoric form of steamed buns? Besides, it's easy to tell this way. You can tell I made these just by looking at them." He's just bragging. Anyway, Meng Chuying has nowhere to verify it.
How could she possibly be embarrassed by a steamed bun? Besides, don't they all taste the same? Essentially, they're all dough wrappers filled with filling; the only difference is their appearance.
"Brother Cheng, your attempt to make amends is a bit clumsy."
"Hmph, I'm not giving you any of the ones I wrapped!"
Ye Lingyu glanced at Cheng Qingyan sideways. Fortunately, he wasn't angry and was still preparing to continue the challenge.
Meng Chuying pinched a small ball off the dough and played with it.
In no time, she had shaped the dough in her hands into the shape of a puppy.
Then she pinched off pieces of dough and shaped them into the shapes of a puppy and a kitten.
She sculpted a fish and a bird effortlessly, creating shapes that were remarkably lifelike.
After Cheng Qingyan made three dumplings, Ye Lingyu had almost finished wrapping the rolled-out dumpling wrappers.
You can steam one batch first and eat it, then steam another batch of the rest.
If you steam all the buns together, you won't be able to steam that many at once.
"Which of you two will help me start the fire? We need to steam a batch of buns first." Ye Lingyu finished wrapping the last bun and got up to knead the remaining dough.
Meng Chuying was engrossed in sculpting the small animals and didn't immediately start a fire.
Cheng Qingyan stood up: "Wife, I'll go start the fire."
"Alright, add some water to the pot first."
After adding the water, Cheng Qingyan thought, "Isn't it a bit of a waste of firewood to boil plain water?"
Since we're going to boil it anyway, why not boil some bone broth?
There's so much lamb spine, and we haven't even eaten it yet!
Thinking about food made her happy: "Wife. Since we're going to cook anyway, why not put some lamb spine in the pot? Once the buns are steamed and the bone broth is ready, we can eat them together."
Ye Lingyu calculated the time; the buns would cook first, but they needed to be steamed twice. After steaming the buns twice, the bone broth would indeed be ready.
She was just worried that the flavors might mix. Even though the bun filling was made with mutton, she wondered if the soup would taste bad because of the water that dripped from the buns.
Seeing the expectant looks on Cheng Qingyan and Meng Chuying's faces, she smiled.
Life has really gotten better lately. She even has the leisure to worry about whether steamed buns and bone broth will mix flavors when steamed together.
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