Chapter 101 My
Two days later, when Gu Xixi and Mu Nanzhao returned to the village, another piece of news also flew to the capital.
Over the years, some deserters of the Northwest Army were supported by the former Qingtian County Magistrate Ma and gathered together to form bandits, resulting in long-term collusion between officials and bandits.
Recently, a small number of bandits have been causing chaos in the vicinity of Qingtian County. County Magistrate Ma was unable to stop them and was killed by the bandits instead.
The general of the Northwestern Army was determined to completely wipe out all the deserters and launched a large-scale search in the Northwestern territory.
All deserters, once caught, will be killed on the spot according to military law.
Gu Xixi asked Mu Nanzhao, "Among those killed by the Northwest Army, except for the ones pretending to be yamen runners and their accomplices, who were real deserters, are the rest assassins from the capital?"
Mu Nanzhao replied, "Yes."
Gu Xixi suddenly realized, "No wonder when I asked General Meng if he wanted to change into casual clothes that day, he said no, just go in broad daylight."
There is no better reason to catch a deserter.
The assassins from the capital were all dispatched secretly. These people usually had unknown identities and were not allowed to be seen in public.
The Northwest Army killed several people of unknown origin under the pretext of catching deserters, saying that they were deserters, and they could only be deserters.
Even the people who sent them here could only suffer in silence this time.
After He Jinghui returns to Beijing, he only needs to report according to the previous plan.
Anyway, all the relevant witnesses and killers are dead, and the person reported by County Magistrate Ma as suspected to be Mu Nanzhao is just a useless scholar exiled to the northwest.
Everything was back to normal after returning home.
Life is good this year, and as the New Year is approaching, Aunt Zhang has prepared many delicious foods.
Fried meatballs, fried meat strips, sweet glutinous rice with eight ingredients, Chinese sausage and bacon, steamed spareribs with rice flour...
It’s been freezing cold lately, so if you keep these foods outside, they won’t go bad until after the New Year.
Yesterday on the 28th, I kneaded the wheat flour and made the dough rise, and today on the 29th, I steamed buns and steamed bread.
This is a local custom before the New Year.
It means that the coming year will be prosperous.
Usually on this day, we have to steam enough buns for the family to eat and for entertaining guests during the New Year holidays, which takes at least half a day.
Aunt Zhang started working at dawn.
The kitchen was filled with fog all morning.
She prepared three kinds of fillings: sweet bean paste buns, dried gourd and egg buns, and radish and mutton buns.
The whole family joined in and divided the work.
There is no need to cook today. If anyone is hungry, just grab a freshly-made bun.
Gu Xixi, Shitou and Aunt Zhang are responsible for making the dumplings, and Aunt Zhang is also responsible for putting the dumplings in and taking them out of the pot.
The old doctor has been practicing preparing medicinal materials all day long, so even if he can't see, lighting a fire and adjusting the fire is a piece of cake for him.
The only task left was rolling out the bun wrappers, which was given to Mu Nanzhao.
There’s nothing we can do about it. Who made him make such ugly buns and his hands are so slow?
Originally, Aunt Zhang didn't even trust Mu Nanzhao to roll out the dough.
But he just observed Aunt Zhang's method of rolling the dough for a while, took the rolling pin, rotated the dough with one hand and pushed the rolling pin with the other hand, and the dough quickly bloomed under his hands.
Aunt Zhang picked up a bun skin and held it up to the light in disbelief.
"It's so thin, evenly distributed, and so round. How come it's better than the craftsmanship I've been using for decades?"
"Xiao Chen, you really have never made buns before?"
"No." Mu Nanzhao answered while continuing to move. One by one, bun skins flew out from under the rolling pin, fell to the side, and were neatly stacked into a pile.
And when viewed from the side, each skin is a perfect circle and the same size.
Shitou was dumbfounded and exclaimed, "Brother Chen, you just said no, were you lying to us?"
Mu Nanzhao didn't even raise his eyelids. "Do I have to lie to you? Hurry up and get to work."
Gu Xixi was making dumplings and said with a smile, "As expected, when it comes to your area of expertise, no one can compare to you."
Isn't that what I'm good at?
The soft and boneless sword can dance into sword flowers in his hand and kill people in an instant.
What's the big deal about using a mere rolling pin?
Mu Nanzhao said, "It's just a trifle. Thanks for the exaggeration."
In the afternoon, as the last pot of buns was steamed, everyone went back to the big kang in the main hall to rest and eat buns.
Gu Xixi used boiling water to make a bowl of sweet wine and egg drop soup.
When she came in with the basin, there was an empty seat next to Mu Nanzhao.
Gu Xixi just took a look and insisted on taking off her shoes and crawling to the wall to sit next to Aunt Zhang.
Gu Xixi poured the soup into bowls. When she handed it to Mu Nanzhao, he raised his eyes but did not look at her. He just said thank you.
Aunt Zhang couldn't help but look at the two of them in confusion.
When it was almost time to uncover the pot, Aunt Zhang got up and took the old doctor away.
The lid of the pot was lifted. In the hazy steam, Aunt Zhang looked out the window and whispered, "Have you noticed that Xixi and Xiaochen have become much more harmonious since they came back this time?"
The old doctor smiled and said, "Isn't this a good thing?"
Aunt Zhang said anxiously, "What's good about that? Not only are they getting along well, they are also very polite."
"In the past, Xixi was never so polite to Xiaochen, and Xiaochen was the same."
The old doctor nodded, "In the past, I was indeed not polite."
It can even be said that they dislike each other.
Aunt Zhang sighed, "That's why I said, although they get along well like this, they don't look like a young couple at all."
"Especially Xixi, she is much nicer to Xiaochen now, but I feel like she's been avoiding Xiaochen lately."
The old doctor was puzzled. "No, they both talked a lot. They didn't ignore each other."
"Oh, you don't understand." Aunt Zhang continued to worry.
Mu Nanzhao finished the last mouthful of soup and said, "I'm going back to the house first."
Gu Xixi quickly put down her chopsticks and said, "Okay, the kitchen has made some tea. You can go and drink some whenever you are thirsty."
"Yeah." Mu Nanzhao nodded slightly.
Gu Xixi watched him leave, and a hint of melancholy unconsciously appeared on her face.
Shitou tilted his head to look at her and said, "Sister Xixi, are you unhappy?"
Gu Xixi came back to her senses, "Ah? Why am I unhappy? I'm very happy."
She told He Jinglan that she had nothing to do with Mu Nanzhao.
He Jinglan also frankly admitted that she would wait for Mu Nanzhao forever.
As a friend, Gu Xixi felt that she should keep an appropriate distance from Mu Nanzhao, which is the so-called avoiding suspicion.
But in the past few days, she also found that Mu Nanzhao had become much more polite to her.
He didn't even look her in the eye when she spoke to him.
Thinking of this, Gu Xixi felt a little depressed.
Looking back, she shouldn't have offended him in any way, right?
At this time, Shitou swallowed a mouthful of meat bun and said, "Sister Xixi, are you going to grow vegetables next year?"
Gu Xixi put aside her worries for the moment and asked, "Why are you asking this suddenly?"
Shitou said, "Several of my friends asked me about this."
"I know that it was their parents who asked them to ask. They wanted to get some answers from me."
Gu Xixi laughed, "He is a little kid but very smart."
Shitou grinned and said, "But I don't think growing vegetables is that good. It's better to grow something else."
Gu Xixi lowered her head to drink soup and asked casually, "Well, what do you think is a good thing to grow?"
"Fruit trees." said the stone.
Gu Xixi glanced at him with a smile and said, "You think the same as I do."
"But this plan is currently known only to you and me."
"I mean," Shitou looked at Gu Xixi and reiterated seriously, "Use the fruit trees in my home."
Gu Xixi refused without even thinking, "No."
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