Splendid peasant girl busy farming

Chapter 12016

Cao Bamei looked a little embarrassed because Yang Ruoqing did not join in condemning Jiang Guiling as she had expected, but instead said something to smooth things over.

"That's true. I didn't mean anything by it; I was just chatting with you." She added, trying to justify herself.

Yang Ruoqing smiled and nodded, "Then you go ahead and do your work, I'll go deliver the rest of the spicy strips."

"Okay, go see them off, thanks a lot." Cao Bamei saw the mother and her two children to the front yard and waved goodbye.

Next, Yang Ruoqing, with her two little followers, delivered the spicy strips one by one.

After going around once, the butter paper package in her basket was empty, but the pockets of her two little tails were stuffed full of snacks and treats given to her by each family.

"We've made a fortune!" Tuantuan patted her bulging bib, her eyes crinkling into crescents as she smiled.

Yuanyuan was also very happy, but suddenly he remembered something: "Mom, Sister Jiang Lan doesn't have any spicy strips."

Yang Ruoqing slapped her forehead, oh dear, she had indeed forgotten about that.

"It's okay. I'll tell your grandma later. She still has a bag of spicy strips. We'll take it to your sister Jiang Lan."

"I'll go find Grandma right now and ask her for it." Yuanyuan took the lead and ran out, heading straight for the third house courtyard.

……

Yang Ruoqing and the others ate lunch at the third house.

Not only did the four of them eat here, but they also went to the neighboring Luo family's courtyard and called over Wang Cuilian and Luo Wuyou.

Yang Huazhou and Liu also stayed here for a meal.

Sun used freshly ground tofu, three pounds of pork belly, a large cabbage from the garden, and a few cloves of garlic and dried red chilies hanging under the eaves. Then, a pot of braised cabbage, pork, and tofu was served piping hot!

Xiao Hua cooked rice and specially stewed minced meat, sesame oil, and egg custard for the two little brothers to mix with rice. Everyone gathered around the stove, holding their bowls, some standing, some squatting, some sitting, and enjoyed a lively, casual, and down-to-earth lunch.

After lunch, Luo Fengtang stayed to continue grinding tofu, while Yang Ruoqing originally planned to take the children home for a nap.

As a result, when the children heard that their grandpa Yang Huazhong was going to deliver tofu and spicy strips to the grassland and pick up their cousins ​​Feng'er and Fuwa, they all clamored to go to the grassland to play.

Luo Wuyou was worried that her two younger brothers would cause trouble on the playground, and she also wanted to visit her aunt and cousins ​​at the grassland before the New Year, so she volunteered to go along as well.

“The children aren’t home, so you can go back and get some sleep for a couple of hours to refresh yourself,” Luo Fengtang said to Yang Ruoqing.

“Aren’t you going back to rest? My fifth uncle and my mother are keeping an eye on things here,” Yang Ruoqing said.

The three families are making tofu together, with a total of nearly six doors. They have already finished two doors in the morning and will finish the other four in the afternoon. They can finish before dark.

Luo Fengtang said, "I'm not sleepy. My father-in-law just went to the pasture, so I'll stay here to help my mother-in-law and fifth uncle."

When it comes to making tofu, Luo Fengtang is actually a 'master craftsman'. He was Yang Ruoqing's first apprentice. Back then, Yang Ruoqing was the first person in Daqi to know how to make tofu from soybeans. He was the chief disciple of the first person to know how to make tofu. The master and apprentice earned their first pot of gold by making tofu and began to embark on a prosperous road.

Therefore, Luo Fengtang stayed here not to make tofu, but to express his feelings.

Yang Ruoqing saw what Luo Fengtang was thinking, smiled gently, and did not stop him from seeking his feelings. She went straight home to take a nap.

When Yang Ruoqing woke up, the sun was already setting, and Luo Fengtang and the children had not yet returned.

She stretched, got up, dressed, and washed up. Just as she was wondering what to do to pass the time, Ronggu came to the backyard to relay Wang Cuilian's message.

"...Several of your aunts have come over and are talking in the main room of the front yard. They said they want to ask you how to make spicy strips. The old lady wants you to come over as soon as you wake up."

"Okay, I'll be right there."

Yang Ruoqing recalled that when she went to deliver spicy strips to each household earlier that morning, she found that almost none of the children in their families were home today.

Only after asking did I learn that today, Yang Yongjin and Yang Yongqing were handing over business at the restaurant in town. Yang Yongjin had been teaching Yang Yongqing how to manage the restaurant and introducing him to all the managers and waiters.

He even took Yang Yongqing to visit each of the restaurant's suppliers for various ingredients, discussing the price fluctuations of different ingredients throughout the year...

So that after the New Year, the two brothers, with the permission of their employer Yang Ruoqing, would smoothly exchange jobs. Yang Yongqing would go to town to manage the restaurant, while Yang Yongjin would return to the village to take over the farming of the three families' hundred or so acres of land.

So today, not only did Yang Yongjin take Xiao Sanzi and Yongxiao to town, but Yang Yongqing also took his two children and Yang Yongzhi's eldest daughter to town to play.

So when Yang Ruoqing delivered the spicy strips before, the children weren't home. Now, the children must have come back from town, eaten the spicy strips, and then couldn't stop eating them.

That's why Zhao Liuer, Xiao Mo, and the others came to ask for advice on how to make spicy strips...

Doesn't this also prove that my first attempt at making spicy strips today was a success?

Although the adults' reactions were okay, half of them were probably just emotional responses given out of politeness.

But children are innocent and pure, and their reactions are the most genuine reactions.

Soon Yang Ruoqing arrived at the main room and saw Wang Cuilian sitting at the octagonal table with several of her sisters-in-law, drinking tea and chatting. Not only was Zhao Liuer, who had just finished her postpartum confinement, there, but even Cao Bamei had come over.

Their conversation revolved around the fact that the children had gone to a restaurant in town that day.

Their conversation temporarily stopped upon seeing Yang Ruoqing's arrival.

Cao Bamei looked at Yang Ruoqing with a smile and said, "Qing'er, my two little ones love the spicy strips you make so much that they almost fought over them. Uncle doesn't acknowledge his nephews, and the nephews don't give their uncle any face either. I had no choice but to promise to make spicy strips for them tomorrow. Please teach me quickly!"

Zhao Liuer chimed in with a smile, "Our eldest daughter is such a picky eater, but she only likes these spicy strips. Qing'er, you should teach me too." Little Mo didn't say anything, but her face clearly showed her desire to learn from a master!
"Haha, what you said makes me feel so good," Yang Ruoqing said with a smile. "It's rare that the kids in our Yang family like it so much, so as your aunt, I'll naturally teach you how to make spicy strips without holding anything back!"

Upon hearing this, the three sisters-in-law's eyes lit up. Zhao Liuer immediately put down her teacup, "Then let's not delay any longer, Qing'er, please sit down and teach us!"

Cao Bamei nodded repeatedly: "Yes, we all came here with our brains to become your apprentices!"

It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish. Especially when these three women came with great sincerity to learn how to make spicy strips, Yang Ruoqing taught them everything without reservation.

"...What I just told everyone was all theoretical and verbal. As for the practical implementation, we'll have to wait until tomorrow."

After explaining the steps for making spicy strips from soybean skins to them in one breath, Yang Ruoqing added some more.

After all, no matter how comprehensive the theory is, it still needs to be put into practice. Take peeling the bean skin, for example. It requires quick eyes and hands, and the force and angle must be controlled just right. Otherwise, the skin may slip or break.

“That’s easy. I’ll soak the soybeans when I get back. We can all get together tomorrow and grind tofu in the small room,” Zhao Liuer said. She glanced at her two sisters-in-law beside her, and after receiving their tacit approval, she continued to Yang Ruoqing, “Qing’er, tomorrow morning, we’ll need to ask you, the master craftsman, to come and give us some pointers, especially on peeling the skin and adding the seasonings. We beginners might not be able to handle that.”

Cao Bamei and Xiao Moshi quickly nodded, "Yes, with the master craftsman here, we are not worried."

Yang Ruoqing thought about the schedule for tomorrow morning... Tomorrow morning, it's the day her maternal relatives next door make rice candy and sesame candy, and the Luo family will also make some.

She and Luo Fengtang will definitely have to lend a hand, but when they're exposing the skin on Xiao Erfang's side, she can easily spare half an hour to go and provide on-site guidance.

"Sure, just call me tomorrow morning. If I'm not home then, it means I've gone to my parents' house next door."

"Okay, okay, it's settled then, we'll be going now."

"Won't you ladies stay a little longer?" Yang Ruoqing got up and saw them to the door of the main room.

"Come visit again when you have time, I'm in a hurry to get back and sort and soak the soybeans!"

They make tofu at home to eat, not to sell it for money, so of course they select plump soybeans as raw materials, without any adulteration.

After seeing off her sisters-in-law, Yang Ruoqing returned to the main room, where Aunt Wang Cuilian and Ronggu were tidying up the teacups they had used earlier.

Upon seeing Yang Ruoqing return, Wang Cuilian asked her, "Qing'er, your uncle has been staying in Zhoujia Village for two days now. When are you and Tang Yazi planning to bring him back?"

Yang Ruoqing calculated the days and said, "Auntie, the day after tomorrow is the 27th of the twelfth lunar month. Tang Yazi and I will go to Zhoujia Village after breakfast the day after tomorrow."

"We're making rice candy and sesame candy tomorrow, so we can bring some over for the Zhou family kids to try."

Although these two types of candy are a must-make for every household in the Mianniu Mountain area during the Lunar New Year in the twelfth lunar month, and are not particularly rare, it is still a thoughtful gesture for relatives and friends to exchange these candies with each other so that the other person can also taste the flavor of their own candy.

Wang Cuilian was pleased to hear Yang Ruoqing's arrangement. She nodded and said with emotion, "Yes, we should bring some candy over. These days, Xiaohuan and the others have been eating sweet potatoes from the sandy soil and roasted dried tangerine peel melon seeds. We've eaten quite a lot of their food, so it's only right to bring them some candy."

Yang Ruoqing just smiled and didn't say anything, thinking to herself that Auntie, your calculations are a bit biased. Although the Zhou family sent more than ten catties of sweet potatoes from the sandy soil and two or three catties of sunflower seeds with dried tangerine peel to the Luo family during this period, when have the Luo family members ever gone back to Zhou Family Village empty-handed again?
Yang Ruoqing was too lazy to say these things to Wang Cuilian. Relatives exchange gifts, not for profit, but for the emotional value of the gifts they give each other.

In short, not to mention that the Luo family is the wealthiest among all their relatives and friends, even if the Luo family were just an ordinary family with enough to eat and wear, they would never have had any despicable thoughts of taking advantage of their relatives and friends.

Therefore, Yang Ruoqing has a clear conscience!

……

"Strange, why hasn't any news come back from Changhuaizhou today?" Yang Ruoqing was sitting at her dressing table doing her usual skincare routine when she suddenly thought of this. So she turned to ask Luo Fengtang, who was sitting on the soft couch and routinely wiping his sword.

Luo Fengtang paused in his movements, looked up and thought for a moment, "Yes, I didn't receive any carrier pigeons today."

"Could it be that I spent all day making tofu at my in-laws' house and forgot about the carrier pigeon? That shouldn't be the case."

He muttered to himself, then put down his sword, got up, went to the door, and snapped his fingers.

In the shadows of the treetops in the courtyard, a figure dressed as a guard quietly appeared.

Luo Fengtang asked the other party a couple of questions, then waved them away and returned to his dormitory.

"How so?" Yang Ruoqing asked again.

Luo Fengtang shook his head: "It's not that we missed it, it's just that no news came back today."

"Oh." Yang Ruoqing nodded. "Why not? Is there no progress in Da'an? Or were the carrier pigeons hunted down and eaten by someone else along the way?"

Luo Fengtang said, "There are two carrier pigeons. One was roasted, but there will be a replacement."

Therefore, it should be the situation described above, with no progress made on the Changhuaizhou side.

But that doesn't make sense. We agreed that even if there was no progress, we would send a message back every day to let you know.

"I'm starting to wonder if Da'an discovered the secret guards we sent to keep watch?" Yang Ruoqing suddenly thought of this possibility. "And then Da'an bribed our secret guards, or rather, made some kind of deal, which is why they didn't send any messages back today?"

Luo Fengtang thought about it seriously, then shook his head firmly: "Impossible. The guards who follow me are almost no different from assassins. They only obey our orders."

There is absolutely no possibility of being bribed or negotiated, because they don't even care about death, so why would they care about anything other than life and death?
Yang Ruoqing sat there, resting her chin on her hands, completely baffled...

It's a pity that there are no cell phones or airplanes in this era, otherwise I would definitely make a video call or take a flight overnight to see what's going on!

Today, while my mother was making tofu at my parents' house, she secretly asked Yang Ruoqing about how things were going in Da'an, and whether she could come back for a family reunion before the New Year.

"Don't overthink it. If we still don't get any news by this time tomorrow, I'll send two more guards to Changhuaizhou." Luo Fengtang came up behind Yang Ruoqing, gently placed his hands on her shoulders, and gently massaged them.