"Okay, you can arrange it as you see fit. Get ready, let's start eating!"
"Okay, I'll arrange it right away."
After Xu Han looked around, she went to the backyard. The two children had finished their lessons and were playing chess with Grandpa Zhao inside the house.
When Xu Han arrived, Ze'er was sitting opposite Grandpa Zhao, playing chess with him.
Mu'er watched from the side, occasionally letting out a sigh, silently shaking her head, with a hopeless expression on her face.
Xu Han was completely bewildered, thinking to herself, "Has the sun risen in the west today? Why is Ze'er sitting opposite Grandpa Zhao?"
Mu'er was the first to see Xu Han and called out, "Mother, you're here."
Xu Han nodded, her eyes asking inquiringly what was going on.
Mu'er explained with a look of disgust, "My little brother saw me playing chess with Grandpa Zhao and insisted on trying it himself. I really don't know where he got his confidence. He can't even beat me, yet he wants to play chess with Great-Grandpa."
Seeing her eldest son's expression, Xu Han couldn't help but cover her mouth and chuckle.
I wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh too loudly. I couldn't look down on the child, so I decided to give him a little jab while I was at it!
It was really tough on Grandpa Zhao. Even though his opponent was playing so badly, he couldn't bear to just kill him outright. Instead, he patiently played chess with Ze'er, bit by bit.
Finally, seeing that the time was almost up, Grandpa Zhao began to deliver the fatal blow to Ze'er. Amid Ze'er's repeated cries of regret, the situation finally came to an end.
Xu Han couldn't stand it anymore and said, "Alright, alright, Ze'er, you have to accept your loss."
Ze'er looked dejected and said, "Alright then."
Seeing her younger brother's frustrated expression, Mu'er couldn't bear it and said, "I'll play chess with you after class from now on. Practice hard and try to improve your chess skills as soon as possible. Then you can go play chess with your great-grandfather."
Ze'er's fighting spirit was reignited, and he said with great enthusiasm, "Yes! I must practice hard and try to defeat my great-grandfather as soon as possible."
Xu Han looked at her youngest son, whose fighting spirit had been ignited, and couldn't bear to dampen his enthusiasm. She thought to herself, "Never mind, given his personality, he won't be able to keep it up for long. It's better if I don't interfere."
"Let's go, dinner is ready, let's go eat."
After Xu Han finished speaking, she took her two sons' hands and walked forward one on each side. Seeing this, Grandpa Zhao went to the side and called the Taoist priest. The two of them followed him to the front hall for dinner.
During the meal, Lu Chuan arranged, "Tomorrow our family will start digging sweet potatoes. In the morning, I will have Zhu Qiang take some people to flatten the yard over there with a stone roller, and the rest of you will dig sweet potatoes in the field."
In the afternoon, Han Qi and I went for a walk in the mountains to see if we could hunt some wild game.
Xiao Han said she's going to have a meal over in the valley in a couple of days, and that will definitely require a lot of meat. We'll go hunt some beforehand and raise it so we can eat it anytime.
Grandpa Zhao had no objections. In any case, he wasn't needed for farm work anymore, so he didn't concern himself with such matters.
Grandpa Zhao now spends his days either writing medical books, fishing, playing chess, or tending to the flowers and plants in his yard, in addition to teaching his two children. He lives a very happy life.
The Taoist priest had no objection to the arrangement, but he said, "I'm going hunting too. It's been a long time since I've been to the mountains. I'll go for a stroll in the mountains tomorrow morning, and I won't come back for lunch. I'll come back in the evening."
Lu Chuan asked, "Master, should I go with you?"
"No need, you guys do your thing, I'll go by myself."
Xu Han said, "Okay, I'll tell Dan Niang in a bit and ask her to prepare some cakes and water for you to eat at noon."
After finishing his meal, the Taoist priest slumped in his chair and said, "Hmm, I don't eat coarse grains. Tell her to get me some white flour steamed buns."
"Okay, I understand."
The next day, Xu Han got up early. After breakfast, everyone got to work according to yesterday's plan, and the fields and homes were bustling with activity.
This year, they planted fewer sweet potatoes than last year, and they dug them up much faster. They had already cut down all the sweet potato vines this morning and were now transporting them away.
Xu Han had nothing to do at home, so she took advantage of the fact that the weather wasn't too hot and went to the fields with them.
As she picked up the sweet potatoes, she instructed, "First, put the sweet potato vines on the woodpile over there to dry in the sun. Once they're dry, we can collect them and keep them as fodder for the winter."
"Alright, madam, we'll do it."...
She worked in the field for a while, but as the sun got stronger, she prepared to go home.
On the way back, I picked up a few sweet potatoes and said, "You guys go ahead with your work. I'll take a few sweet potatoes back first and fry some sweet potato balls for the kids later. Mu'er has been asking for them for the past two days, but I haven't made them for him yet."
Upon hearing Xu Han's voice, Dan Niang asked, "Madam, shall I go back to help you?"
Xu Han waved her hand, "No need, I'm not making much, just a little for the kids to snack on. I can make it myself, you go ahead with your work!"
After she finished speaking, she left without looking back. Dan Niang knew her mistress's personality, so she didn't stand on ceremony and continued picking sweet potatoes.
When Xu Han got home, she first steamed the sweet potatoes. After they were cooked, she took them out and mashed them with a tool. While they were still hot, she added some sugar to taste, and then added some glutinous rice flour and wheat flour that she had ground herself.
Divide the dough into small, evenly sized pieces, roll them into round balls, and start frying sweet potato balls.
The freshly dug sweet potatoes weren't very sweet, and they didn't taste as good as those that had been stored for a few days, so Xu Han didn't make much today, just enough for one meal, mainly to satisfy the little ones' cravings.
Xu Han had just started frying when Ze'er smelled the aroma and ran out from the backyard.
"Mommy, Mommy, what delicious food did you make today? I could smell the aroma from behind."
Xu Han kept stirring the sweet potato balls in the pot with a slotted spoon, afraid that they would burn if she wasn't careful. She said, "Mother made fried sweet potato balls for you today. They'll be ready soon. You can go back first. I'll bring them to you when they're done."
"Alright, Mother, I'm off now. Don't forget me later."
Xu Han chuckled, "If you can't forget, go quickly."
Freshly fried sweet potato balls are the best. As soon as the first batch came out, Xu Han took it to the backyard. "Take a break first, come and try today's sweet potato balls."
When Mu'er saw that her mother had brought her the sweet potato balls she had been longing for, she grabbed one with her hand and ate it without caring that it was hot.
While eating, he kept exclaiming, "It's so hot, so delicious!"
Xu Han handed over a fork and said, "What's the rush! No one's going to take it from you, and there's plenty more! You won't burn yourself eating it this way."
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