"Aunt, just say what you want to say!" Li Yan said.
"Well, I want my mother's family to hatch some chicks. Can Erya also take some in when the time comes?" asked the aunt.
Last year, my mother's family emptied out all the money in order to pay off my brother's gambling debts! My mother refused to accept any of the money I gave her.
Now that the second girl has such a way to make money, Liu thinks of her own parents' home!
Li Yan nodded and said, "There's no problem with collecting the money, but we'll have to wait another month until the opening. I've already booked five or six families, so it's better to stagger the hatching times!"
When Liu heard this, she agreed. A month's delay wouldn't matter. After receiving the confirmation, Liu happily went to work. When Dalang finished digging the pond, she would take her husband back to her parents' home to visit and inform her parents about this matter.
Li Yan saw the two children playing happily together, gave them a few words of advice, and then went home first.
In the morning, she saw some tofu left in the kitchen, so she thought of making tofu-filled buns for lunch today.
Lin was holding two fish she had collected. Seeing her daughter coming back from outside, she handed one to Li Yan and said, "We've been planting spring crops lately. Thanks to your grandparents' help, I'm sending this fish to them!"
"Mom, don't send me off. Just invite my uncle's family to come over for lunch at noon, and invite the two brothers from Zhou's family as well!" Li Yan said.
Lin thought about it and agreed. After all, the fish was a gift from someone else, and it would be bad to take someone's things for free!
Li Yan stepped forward and took the two fish from Lin's hand: "I haven't eaten pickled fish in a while. Why don't we have pickled fish for lunch today?"
Lin nodded.
Li Yan carried the fish back to the kitchen and started working. After a while, Li Xiaomei also came to the kitchen to help.
"Auntie, please help me knead the dough. We'll make tofu buns for lunch today!"
Li Yan was marinating the fish fillets, while Li Xiaomei was busy kneading the dough.
After Li Yan finished her work, she started to make tofu filling.
Li Yan went to the front yard and picked a bunch of green onions. After removing the yellow leaves, she washed them with clean water and prepared them for later use.
She first cut the tofu, took some spice powder that she had ground yesterday, found some soy sauce and sesame oil from the kitchen and poured it in, and finally mixed in the chopped green onions.
"It looks quite appetizing!" Lin praised.
Li Yan felt a little sorry that there was no pepper, and she didn't know if she could find some peppers after the market was established. Li Yan was secretly looking forward to it.
After preparing the filling, the three of them began to make dumplings. Compared to Li Yan's unfamiliarity, Lin and Li Xiaomei were more skilled in making dumplings. The folds on each dumpling were very beautiful.
Li Xiaomei looked at Li Yan's flustered hands and feet. Either the skin was broken or the filling was missing. She smiled and said, "It's done. You put it aside and we will wrap it!" It's just for the family to eat, and it will be ready in a while.
Li Yan didn't make it hard for herself, she pinched two pieces of dough and made two cute little rabbits, preparing one for each of her two children later!
Seeing her daughter's playful side, Mrs. Lin did not stop her.
The wrapped buns are placed in the steamer one by one. As the temperature rises, steam rises and the whole kitchen is filled with an enticing aroma that makes people salivate.
Li Yan was filled with anticipation. She wondered if the tofu buns without the spice would be delicious.
After the buns were steamed, Li Yan carefully picked up a few with chopsticks, placed them on a white porcelain plate, and brought them to the main room for the two of them to taste.
The soup from the bun filling seeped through the bun's skin. Li Yan tore open half of the bun, which was rich in color and looked very appetizing.
Li Xiaomei exclaimed, "The colors of these fillings look tempting, just looking at them makes me hungry!" Then she picked up a bun and ate it while exclaiming, "Delicious!"
"It's really good. Yan'er, give some to the two children to try!" Lin said to Li Yan while eating.
Li Yan responded, finished the bun in her hand in a few bites, took a few buns that had just been cooked from the steamer, and carried them to the next room.
Maomao, who was squatting on the ground playing with wooden toys, saw Li Yan coming over with a plate of food. He immediately rushed to Li Yan like a firecracker and asked, "Second sister, what are you carrying?"
Tietou, who was following behind Maomao, was also staring at the plate in Li Yan's hand.
Li Yan looked at the two people's blackened hands from playing and said, "Go find big sister and ask her to help you wash your hands, otherwise I won't give you any food!"
After hearing Li Yan's instructions, the two little guys immediately ran to fetch water to wash their hands.
Li Yan handed the plate to Wu and Liu: "These buns are fresh out of the pot, try them!"
On weekdays, whenever Li Yan had something delicious to eat, she would send a portion to her grandparents. In the past, Mrs. Wu would even talk to her little granddaughter and let them keep the food for themselves. Later, Mrs. Wu realized that talking was useless and simply stopped nagging.
Mrs. Liu took a bite of the bun. The smoothness of the tofu and the softness of the white flour were really good. "Second girl, these tofu buns are good. I think they can be sold!"
Wu rarely refuted her daughter-in-law's words.
At this time, the two children who had washed their hands also came over, and Li Yan distributed the buns on the plate to them one by one.
After distributing the buns, Li Yan said to everyone, "Grandma, don't cook lunch today. Let's all go and eat!"
"Why should I go to your place? I just need to heat up the extra multi-grain steamed buns I made this morning and eat them!" Mrs. Wu refused.
It has to be said that the Li family only started eating three meals a day after the busy spring plowing. Although the spring plowing has ended now, the old man’s wife and eldest son still have to go to dig the pond every day, so the habit of three meals a day still continues!
"This morning, Tietou's father brought two fish over, and my mother asked me to give one to you. I thought since they gave us fish, we should at least treat them to a meal! So I cooked the fish, and you can come back as soon as you leave!" Li Yan explained.
That was true. Erlang was not at home right now. With all the women in the house, it would not be appropriate to invite two men into the house for dinner. In the end, she did not refuse: "Okay, I get it!"
When the group finished work, Zhou Dalang came to Zhou's house to take Tietou back.
At this time, Tietou was having fun playing with his friends. He blinked his eyes and begged, "Daddy, I want to play here again!"
At this time, Wu said hurriedly: "Second girl has already told you to eat here today. The food is ready. Don't go back!"
After hearing what his wife said, Mr. Li didn't give them a chance to refuse. He stepped forward and pulled them together: "Come on, come on, it's just some simple food, don't be disgusted!"
Mr. Li really likes this young man Zhou Dalang. He secretly looked at him several times today. He works without any effort and is a sincere and hardworking person!
Zhou Dalang was dragged along and had no choice but to follow Mr. Li to the next door!
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