Chapter 174
After Aunt Qingxi left, she never stayed in the house again.
She wrapped herself tightly in a thick, small-patterned kimono and began to toss and turn.
And the one who worked the hardest in this whole ordeal was Jiro.
I had promised to save the peaches for Jigoro Kuwajima, and now I have to deliver them to him before the New Year. Next are the New Year gifts for other people.
One copy must be sent to the families of Sister Aling and Sister Riko, and then to the other seven pillars of the family, excluding Tomioka Giyu, who will definitely stay in Butterfly House to recuperate during the New Year, and her and Xingming's own family, the lord's family, Honmaru... Just thinking about it made her scalp tingle.
Looking at his master who was "released" by Yagen Toushirou, who was in a hurry, even the lively and active Catfish Oo Toushirou felt like he couldn't keep up.
"Master, aren't there too many dumplings?" In the kitchen, Tsurumaru Kuninaga asked as he reached out to pick up a dumpling shaped like a gold ingot in the steamer to take a look. However, the girl glared at him before his hand even touched him.
Tsurumaru Kuninaga withdrew his hand awkwardly and gave her a big cute look that said, "Look, I'm very good."
Qingxi shuddered and said, "How can there be more? I was planning to wrap these up and take them back with me tomorrow when Xiao Wuhuan and the others return."
"There are too many people in Honmaru, and it's hard for me to prepare gifts, so I decided to bring some food for them to take back and have a meal together," Qingxi explained. "By the way, we can also bring some wine back, so it should be no problem."
After wrapping the dumpling wrappers, Qingxi glanced at the white crane squatting there with nothing to do, and began to assign him a task, "Tsurumaru, if you have nothing to do, take all the dumplings I made in the kitchen outside and find a clean snowy spot to watch them. When they are frozen, find a big box to put them away. Then put them in my gourmet backpack so that they can be taken when Karasuma and the others come back tomorrow."
"Master, what else are you busy with?" Tsurumaru Kuninaga gathered his sleeves with his arms, a bamboo dustpan in each hand, and prepared to go out. Seeing the girl busying herself again, he paused and asked, "What else are you going to do?"
"Let's make some more glutinous rice noodles, pumpkin cakes, dumplings, peanut cakes, sesame cakes, twisted dough sticks, as well as red date rice cakes, osmanthus sugar cakes, and glutinous rice cakes." Qingxi said casually.
"So many!" Tsurumaru Kuninaga said, his face aching with toothache. Suddenly, he thought again of the fear of being dominated by New Year's goods. "Time is tight, and the weather is too cold. I won't make anything else. I'll make a few more of these and take half to Honmaru. The rest will be given to people I know here and for our New Year's goods this year."
Tsurumaru Kuninaga was silent for a moment. He quickly completed the task assigned to him by Qingxi, and then rushed out to find someone.
Then, ten minutes later, all ten sword men gathered in the kitchen on the Raven House side.
"Master, speaking of New Year's goods, you haven't prepared this year's lucky bags yet, have you?" Tsurumaru Kuninaga was the first to speak up. He grabbed the bewildered Catfish Otoshiro and put his arm around his shoulder like a good friend. "Leave this to Catfish Otoshiro and me."
Yagen Toushirou adjusted his glasses, understanding Tsurumaru Kuninaga's intention. He continued, "In that case, we'll have another rice cake making team, a seafood purchasing team that will go to the seafood market early tomorrow morning, and the current team assisting the generals.
I'm familiar with this place. Who wants to go with me to the seafood market early tomorrow morning?"
"Let Xiao Jialuo and Hasebe go. They are more numerous and brought back more seafood." Tsurumaru Kuninaga raised his hand.
"Then I'll help the master." said Horikawa Kunihiro.
Xiao Karasuma's black eyes looked around, "Kotobuki, are you willing to go with your father to make rice cakes?"
Bonebami Toushirou: "Yeah."
In the end, only Jiang Xuesaimonji and Suzumaru Tsuneji remained silent.
Suzumaru Tsuneji: "I will also assist the master."
Jiang Xuesai, who couldn't even beat rice cakes by herself, said: "Me too."
The groups have been simply divided, and with Qingxi's food backpack as the perfect storage, the rice cake group is ready to start steaming glutinous rice and making rice cakes today.
Just like this, the kitchen that originally only had one person has now become more lively.
As for Tsurumaru Kuninaga, he handed over the responsibility of making the thousands of dumplings that Kiyokis had wrapped in the snow to the seafood team that Yagen Toushirou was in, as they had nothing to do today.
Suddenly someone started making rice cakes in the crow house. Upon hearing the news, the ghost hunters who were in the recovery period were a little bored and came over to watch the fun.
Maybe it was because the atmosphere seemed a little better, or maybe it was because a bunch of children were laughing and happily eating a plate of freshly fried fried dough twists, or maybe it was because of the white snow, the warm white smoke and the aroma of food wafting from the kitchen, which evoked everyone's nostalgia for home at this time when the New Year was approaching. Some people started to feel itchy, and after seeking the consent of Kokarumaru and Kotobuki Toushirou from the rice cake group, they enthusiastically took over their rice cake making activity.
There was a lot of noise outside the kitchen, so Qingxi, who was busy preparing some New Year's goods in the kitchen, couldn't help but put down her work and ran out to see what was going on.
When she found that the kitchen was blocked, she was a little confused, but when she saw that they seemed to be having fun, she seemed to understand something.
After thinking for a moment, she waved at the black-haired boy, "Yao Yan, come here."
Yagen Toushirou, whose name was called, walked up to the girl and asked, "General?"
She waved at him again, and after he bent down slightly, she whispered something in his ear for a while.
Yaogen Toushirou nodded and said, "Leave this matter to me."
Someone took care of the matter, so Qingxi returned to the kitchen.
She mixed four large pots of dumpling filling and rolled out the dumpling wrappers. By the time she finished everything, Yagen Toushirou was also ready.
Qingxi walked outside the kitchen, where two more people were already making rice cakes. She invited everyone, "Everyone, do you want to make dumplings together? Of course, one of the dishes for dinner tonight will be dumplings you made yourself."
The ghost hunters who stayed in the Butterfly House to recuperate looked at each other. Some of them were eager to try, while others knew they were in the right position. However, Qingxi's last words dispelled their concerns.
She said, "Don't worry about whether you make them well or not, because there are enough of them. When you put them in the pot later, no one will be able to tell whose is whose."
All the ghost hunters: "..."
That makes a lot of sense.
However, what they didn't know was that Qingxi had even prepared herself mentally for the huge pile of fillings and dough she would soon face.
Anyway, she did this only because she saw that everyone's mood would be bad for a few days at this time, and perhaps a collective "venting" activity like this might make their mood better.
The most important thing is that no matter how much they vent, they must also consume the products of venting themselves.
"Dumpling-making team, please wait for me to come over here." Yagen Toushirou spoke at the right time. With someone taking the lead, many ghost hunters really followed Yagen Toushirou.
They even took the dumpling wrappers and fillings needed for making dumplings from Jiang Xue Samamonji and Suzumaru Tsuneji.
"Don't you want to teach them how to make dumplings?" Suzumaru Tsuneji asked the girl with his eyes closed and head lowered.
Qingxi shook his head and said with the tone of someone who had experienced it: "It doesn't matter. As long as they don't reveal the truth, let them do what they want."
"Besides," she looked up at him, "don't you think the expressions on their faces will be very funny when they eat those weird dumplings they made themselves in the evening?
There might even be a little surprise.”
Sumamaru Tsuneji: "..."
The children at home have been locked up for so long and want to go out and have some fun. As a parent, can you really stop them from playing?
Moreover, the most important thing is that the starting point of this matter itself is due to the good intentions of the Shinsengumi, and it will not delay everyone's rest and recovery time too much, so it is harmless if it happens once in a while.
Thinking this in his heart, Suzumaru Tsuneji stopped talking.
Pulling Horikawa Kunihiro, Qingxi urged, "Let's go back, since Sister Kanae didn't object, let's all relax and have some fun today.
Fry more fried dough twists, more pumpkin cakes... and some glutinous rice balls, and prepare an afternoon tea snack for everyone... We need to speed up a bit, because I feel like the New Year's goods I want you to bring to Honmaru won't be ready by tomorrow."
"...Actually, it doesn't matter if you prepare less." Horikawa Kunihiro said.
The swordsmen in Honmaru can also understand the situation of the master. Compared to the master's hard work in delivering these things to everyone, they actually hope that she can live a more relaxed life.
However, the boy's good intentions were met with Qingxi's shake of his head.
The words "You don't understand" came out of his mouth and confused Horikawa Kunihiro.
Qingxi, who was preparing the filling for the glutinous rice balls, crushed the peanuts while saying, "For example, when a teacher is leading a class of children, in addition to imparting the knowledge he or she has learned to them, he or she also needs to treat the children equally.
The younger the students, the more you should pay attention to this.
Otherwise, young students will feel unfair and it will cast a shadow on their young minds.
Of course, this is just an analogy, as long as you understand the meaning, it’s fine.”
Horikawa Kunihiro, frying dough twists with chopsticks, tilted his head, his thoughts wandering a little. "Master, do you think everyone in Honmaru is a student?"
Moreover, he is still an elementary school student.
"No." Qingxi answered decisively.
It looked like she was worried that they would protest or something if she admitted it.
"But you have a lot," she said. "If I'm biased once or twice, you might not mind. But if it happens too often, Horikawa, you'll be the one being ignored. If I give everything to Izumi-no-mori and not you, won't you feel uncomfortable?"
"No," Horikawa Kunihiro said loudly. "If Kane-san likes it, I'll give it all to him."
Qingxi's mouth twitched, and then he complained: "Oh, I forgot, you are an Izumi Moribuki."
She shifted her focus, her gaze fixed on Jiang Xue Sawamonji, and used another analogy, "What about Mr. Jiang Xue? If I had something good and only gave it to the other daggers but not to Xiaoye, would you mind?"
Jiang Xue Sawamonji: "...I will give my share to Xiaoye."
Qingxi: "I didn't give it to you."
Jiang Xuesai: "...This world is full of sadness."
Qingxi looked at Horikawa Kunihiro and said, "See, he's still going to be unhappy."
Horikawa Kunihiro looked at Jiang Xue Smonji, who looked even more unhappy because of the questioning, and then looked at Qingxi, who looked like he had won a battle. He nodded with a helpless smile and said, "Yes, yes, you are right."
Qingxi lowered her head and continued to prepare the filling for the glutinous rice balls. "So, it's best to keep everything level."
"Master, don't you have a favorite knife?" Horikawa Kunihiro asked curiously.
"Yes." Qingxi took out his kitchen knife, "My favorite is of course Minghuang, my zodiac sign and my partner."
Kunihiro Horikawa's clear blue eyes watched the girl touching the kitchen knife tenderly. He thought that he would hear the name of Tsurumaru Kuninaga or Yagen Toushirou from her mouth. The reason was simple: they were the ones who had been with her the longest. However, he never expected to get such an answer.
But, surprisingly, he was not surprised.
"Everyone in Honmaru will probably make a fuss after knowing your answer, Master." Horikawa Kunihiro said with a smile.
"How could I change my answer to this kind of thing just because of a commotion?" Qingxi said.
As the noise here grew louder, Nezuko Kamado came out with her brothers and sisters to see what was going on.
When they heard that they were making dumplings, they came to the kitchen to see if there was anything they could help with.
Qingxi didn't hesitate and gave the task of making the glutinous rice balls to her and Kamado Takeo. As for the two youngest ones, she found a small bowl, put some twisted dough sticks, glutinous rice sticks and pumpkin cakes in it, and let the older Kamado Hanako and the youngest Kamado Rokuta eat there.
In the evening, during dinner, the people from Butterfly House and Crow House were all silent as they saw that in addition to the normal daily (emphasis) food, they were also given a few fried dumplings whose fillings were not exposed, and a bowl of dumplings that were made into soup dumplings because the fillings were exposed.
But immediately, all kinds of disgust and complaints were heard.
"Wow, who made the dumplings in my bowl? Why are they stuffed with stuffing? Is he an idiot?"
"What's your bowl? What do you think the contents of my bowl look like?"
"……shit."
"Asshole! Just tell me the truth when I ask you. How could I eat this? Ugh!!! Hurry up, whoever made these dumplings, come out and take them back. If you don't come out now, I'll find out and you'll get a beating from me."
The chattering and complaining of the crowd could even be heard by Qingxi and the others in the kitchen. It was conceivable how disgusting the dumplings made by the ghost hunters were.
It was precisely because of this that when she was about to put the dumplings they made into the pot, she immediately handed the matter over to Tsurumaru Kuninaga and Catfish Otoshiro. She believed that someone who could play so well with Tsurumaru Kuninaga would definitely not have any embarrassment.
"Hanako, Rokuta." Qingxi waved to the two children.
As the two people who had been fed by Qingxi the whole afternoon, they walked towards each other's "call" without any resistance.
Qingxi half-bent over and smiled at them, "I added something to the dumplings. Can you help me see who ate it and see their expressions?"
Both of them nodded in agreement to this small matter.
However, before leaving, Mrs. Liu still asked curiously, "Sister Axi, what did you put in the dumplings?"
"It's a coin." Qingxi did not hide it, "It was a custom that was popular in China. During the New Year, a few dumplings with coins on them were made and cooked together with other dumplings. It symbolized wealth and good luck.
The sweet dumplings eaten in the afternoon represent reunion and peace.
Well, reunion may not be possible anymore, but peace and safety is also a good meaning, isn't it?"
She waved at the two siblings and said, "Go quickly. Once you go, you won't have to see people's toothaches when they accidentally bite a coin."
The two wanted to laugh after hearing Qingxi's description. Hanako Kamado took her brother's hand and said, "Then Sister Aki, let's go over there."
"Um."
"Hey! Hanako, wait a minute, I want to go with you too." Shigeru Kamado, who also wanted to go and see, glanced at his brother. Since his eldest brother was not there, the only ones in the family were Nezuko and Takeo. Seeing that he did not stop him, Shigeru Kamado happily chased after him.
In the hospital bed, Giyu Tomioka, who had been in a coma for a week, finally woke up tonight.
He looked expressionlessly at the easily digestible vegetable porridge placed in front of him and the dumplings that he heard were made by the injured in the Butterfly House today.
Because he was a seriously injured patient and the dumplings were filled with meat, which was difficult to digest, he was served three soup dumplings as a token of his gratitude.
These are secondary. What he wants to ask is who made these three dumplings. They are of different types and appearances, but the only thing they have in common is that they are "ugly."
If he were to rank them, they would be ugly, extremely ugly, and super ugly.
Tomioka Giyu, who no longer wanted to look at them, picked up a spoon and put one into his mouth with an expressionless face. He took a bite and then stopped.
Seeing this, Butterfly Kanae, who happened to be inspecting the ward, couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Mr. Tomioka must have eaten the coin."
After hearing what the hard thing in his mouth was, Tomioka Giyu started moving his mouth again, eating the dumpling into his stomach and then spitting out the coin.
He asked, "Why put the coins inside?"
"Ah Xi said this is a tradition that's been around in China for a long time. Anyone who gets to eat these dumplings will be blessed with wealth and good fortune," said Butterfly Kanae. "Ah Xi only prepared twenty coins. Those outside who didn't get any are about to start a fight."
Tomioka Giyuu remained silent as he looked at the coin lying quietly in his palm, which still smelled of cabbage and pork.
Seeing this, Butterfly Kanae didn't say anything. After making sure that the person was fine, she left.
Not long after she left, Tomioka Giyu clenched his hand holding the coin into a fist and said in a low voice, "I'm different from you."
A person like him is not qualified to receive such wonderful blessings from others...
However, in the following time, he ate two coins one after another and he began to doubt.
There were twenty coins, and I got three of them, which is three-twentieths. Does that make sense?
I wonder if all the dumplings are filled with coins?
This question kept weighing on Giyu Tomioka's mind until the next day, when he asked the ghost hunter in the next bed and was sure that his guess yesterday was wrong.
However, although he understood it, the ghost hunter he asked felt jealous.
Why? Why is it that being able to eat a coin is already considered lucky, but why is it that someone here was given three soup dumplings and still ate three! ! ! !
No, he couldn't be the only one souring about something like this. He had to let everyone know.
If we want to be jealous, let's be jealous together.
Someone come here!!! Mr. Water Pillar ate three coins yesterday!!!
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