Wang Lan smiled and said she was grateful for the village chief's care over the years. It was normal for an outsider to be ostracized by the villagers. Fortunately, although the village chief was not a great philanthropist, he was at least fair and conscientious in his work. In the past two years, when the Lu family sold their land and house, the village chief acted as the middleman, running around and helping a lot.
"What are you saying, sister?" The village chief's wife was pleased to hear this. "He's the village chief, so he should take care of the villagers."
After talking for a while, Wang Lan came out and went to Wang Gui's house again. It was dinnertime, and Li Fengxian looked at her with disdain and said sarcastically, "Why are you coming over at this time? Aren't you busy?"
The Lu family now has a large flock of chickens and ducks. Although they still live in the old house, those chickens and ducks are worth a lot of money. In a few months, they will lay eggs, and selling the eggs will bring in another source of income. Countless people in the village are envious.
Wang Gui invited Wang Lan inside. Wang Lan put the basket on the table and brought out a plate. "I made some food for the kids who are craving something, and brought it over for them to try."
Li Fengxian stared at the plate of pastries for a moment, then exclaimed, "Oh, you've struck it rich? You're willing to eat such good food."
Wang Gui's two grandsons reached out and grabbed mung bean cakes, wolfing them down in two bites each, almost choking. Li Fengxian angrily slapped her grandsons on the back, "Are you a reincarnation of a starving ghost? You might as well choke to death! Drink some water, it's bad luck if you die."
Li Fengxian had never liked Wang Lan. When she first married into the family, Wang Lan was still unmarried. Her in-laws didn't treat their sister-in-law very well. Wang Lan had to do all the housework, including washing clothes, cooking, feeding chickens, and cutting grass. Originally, they were going to marry Wang Lan to Lijiaba to be her cousin's second wife. However, her first cousin's wife had been tortured to death by her aunt, so Wang Lan wouldn't have a good outcome if she married into the family.
Wang Lan was heartbroken for a long time after she found out. At that time, Li Fengxian felt sorry for her sister-in-law, so she often helped her sister-in-law with chores in private. She felt inexplicably happy to see her sister-in-law trying to please her. However, later, Wang Lan took a fancy to Lu Ji, who had fled famine. In order to marry Lu Ji, she didn't even care about her reputation and secretly made love to him.
The Wang family naturally looked down on Lu Ji, a bachelor who had no money, no house, no land, and couldn't even afford a dowry of three or five taels of silver. Wang Lan seemed determined to marry him, resorting to crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide. In the end, she broke off all ties with him to get the marriage.
Li Fengxian thought Wang Lan would suffer hunger and cold with Lu Ji, but unexpectedly, Lu Ji went into the mountains and within half a year, Wang Lan was well taken care of. A year later, a house was built in the village. Lu Ji treated Wang Lan very well and was in charge of the household. Many young women in the village envied her. Others had mothers-in-law and fathers-in-law to care for, several mouths to feed, and had to endure beatings and scoldings from their husbands. But Wang Lan had no mothers-in-law or fathers-in-law, and Lu Ji always went along with her. Her children were also doing well. It was no wonder that those resentful women were envious.
Wang Lan lived a life of plenty from then on, which infuriated Li Fengxian. However, fate had mercy, and two years ago the Lu family fell into poverty again. Wang Lan began to fawn over her, and she regained her sense of superiority.
But now, the Lu family is showing signs of rising again. Lately, Wang Lan has stopped trying to curry favor with the Lu family by bringing them anything good, which infuriates her.
Wang Gui scolded Li Fengxian, "You woman, how can you talk like that? My sister brought good things, but it's still wrong. Hurry up and prepare the bowls and chopsticks for dinner."
Li Fengxian looked indignant, but dared not argue with Wang Gui. She rolled her eyes and said, "Who knows if he's bringing good things for the children or just here to freeload? Who would go to someone else's house at this hour?"
Most villagers eat at the same time. After finishing their meals, they stroll along the riverbank or in the middle of the village to chat and gossip. They don't go to other people's houses because no one is wealthy and their food is limited. If you go to someone's house and eat there, that family will go hungry.
Wang Lan looked embarrassed and, after exchanging a few words with her older brother, could only hurry home.
That evening, a freshly baked cake appeared at the Lu family's house. Lu Yan circled the table, saying, "Sister-in-law, is this really edible? It's so beautiful!"
The cake was decorated with eight single-petaled flowers made of cream, white in color, which looked a bit monotonous. Qin Xiaozhou rested her chin on her hand and asked, "Are there any flowers or plants that can be used for dyeing? Or fruits that are safe for people to eat?"
“Yes!” Wang Lan already felt that white flowers were unlucky, but dared not say so. Now that she heard that it was going to be dyed, she was happy. “Artemisia annua is everywhere. It can be made green when making green dumplings.”
Lu Yunfeng thought for a moment, "Mulberries can be dyed purple, but they're not ripe yet these days. They'll be ready to pick in another month or so, and then there will be loquats and apricots too."
Qin Xiaozhou was excited. As long as the fruit was ready, they could put the fruit directly in the container without having to do so many fancy steps.
Lu Yan asked expectantly, "Sister-in-law, can we eat now?"
She really wanted to eat it, but the flower was so pretty that she couldn't bear to part with it. Qin Xiaozhou smiled and said it was fine, but there wasn't a proper knife for cutting the cake, so they would have to make do with a kitchen knife. Everyone would get a piece, and each piece would have a flower, so no one would be treated unfairly.
Lu Yan looked at the flowers from left to right, her eyes filled with envy as she looked at Zhao Fen and Lu Yu. She wanted to learn too, but her sister-in-law hadn't offered to teach her. Was it because she hadn't done something right that her sister-in-law didn't like her?
A hint of sadness flashed in the little girl's eyes, but no one noticed.
They sat together and happily shared the first cake. The Lu family kitchen was filled with laughter and harmony. Suddenly, Qin Xiaozhou smeared a small dot of cream on Lu Yan's nose, making Lu Yan look both cute and funny. This amused Qin Xiaozhou, who burst into laughter. Lu Yan knew she was being teased and chased after Qin Xiaozhou, but she was reluctant to smear cream on her and simply chased after her playfully.
Lu Yan felt that her sister-in-law knew a lot of things, and if she could make her happy, she might even teach her other things in the future!
Wang Lan quickly stopped her, "No, no, no! These are such good things, we can't waste food like this!"
Lu Yu had already seen Qin Xiaozhou make flowers today and thought it was just as interesting as embroidery. "Niece-in-law, I'll try making these flowers tomorrow too."
It was rare for Lu Yu to say so much and volunteer so readily, so Qin Xiaozhou was overjoyed and naturally agreed. She added that flowers didn't have to be on cakes; they could be placed on any dessert as desired, according to one's own ideas, even if it meant writing poems or drawing pictures on them.
Lu Yu lowered his head and pondered silently.
The next morning, Qin Xiaozhou went to the county town to furnish the house. She didn't trust others to choose the teacups and plates, so she went herself. The Lu brothers and she took a boat to the county town and went to the blacksmith's shop to get the things to be made: two rectangular iron boxes with wooden handles on one side to open the iron cabinet doors.
There were also four relatively deep iron basins, perhaps more like the inner pots of modern rice cookers, two large iron ladles, and some other miscellaneous items. The three of them carried the items into the shop.
There was a large, square hole in one of the walls, where a fire could be lit. The walls were surrounded by pipes made of mud bricks, allowing heat to circulate and be heated from all sides. Qin Xiaozhou was so excited that his blood was boiling. Lu Yunxing and Mud installed two metal boxes on top of each other, which could bake at the same time, baking four cake bases at a time.
It's too early to try it out, but Qin Xiaozhou was itching to get started. Seeing that the kitchen renovation was almost complete, he decided to take his two brothers out and head straight for the porcelain shop.
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