The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

Chapter 31 The Space Where Nothing Can Be Taken
Chen Sufen and Liu Yue'e quickly prepared dinner.

The delicious mutton soup, paired with scallion pancakes, was the most satisfying meal Tong Huaqiong had ever had at the Gu family's house.

After the meal, Liu Yue'e rushed to clear the dishes, while Gu Dashu crawled into the stove to wash the pots and pans. Even Gu Yaozu picked up a broom and started sweeping the floor.

Tong Huaqiong watched coldly, hoping only that Gu Dashu's family could continue to maintain their status quo.

"Mother, I already made the mung bean paste during the day," Chen Sufen said.

She has mastered the method of making mung bean paste and mung bean puree. She made it during the day so that her mother-in-law wouldn't have to stay up late making pastries at night.

After pondering for a moment, Tong Huaqiong said, "I won't set up my stall tomorrow. I'll stay home for the next couple of days to work on a new recipe and focus on making pastries for Master Huang."

When Gu Taohua heard that she wouldn't be setting up her stall the next day, she jumped up excitedly.

Emma, ​​she can finally get a good night's sleep. She's been working herself to the bone these past few days.

"Mother, you're so amazing! You came up with such a wonderful recipe. I smelled the mung bean cake yesterday, and it smelled so good!" Liu Yue'e said as she came in.

"Alright, stop flattering me. From now on, you'll have to get rid of your lazybones and become my assistant. Do you know how hard it is for me to earn money?"

Liu Yue'e chuckled awkwardly and nodded vigorously, saying, "I'll do whatever Mother asks me to do from now on, without a second thought."

"You'd better keep your word," Tong Huaqiong said.

After scolding Liu Yue'e, Tong Huaqiong felt exhausted. Chen Sufen brought hot water, and she soaked her feet before going to bed to rest.

Despite being exhausted, she couldn't sleep. Lying in bed, she pondered what kind of pastries she should make to please Master Huang and to spread the word about them during Master Huang's mother's birthday celebration.

Mung bean cakes and mung bean pancakes are essential. If you have red dates and walnuts at home, bake some date cakes and walnut cakes, and then bake a batch of waterless sponge cakes.

Open-faced shortbread, horned honey cake, honey three-cut pastry... these sugar and oil pastries that are common in later generations are mostly made with simple ingredients and are not difficult to make.

Based on her observations from her previous visit to a pastry shop in the county town, she learned that these kinds of pastries were rarely found in Pingchuan County, perhaps because they required a lot of sugar.

After all, sugar was still a rare commodity in this era.

Perhaps only in the prosperous city of Shengjing were sugary pastries widely popular.

Red date paste pastry, peach pastry, pea flour cake, Sachima, osmanthus cake—these are all easy to make and can be prepared.

Since it's a dessert for a birthday banquet, if she could make a birthday cake, she would definitely steal the show, but the ingredients for a birthday cake are not available in this era.

Tong Huaqiong was a little worried about what to use as a substitute for a birthday cake that was both festive and stylish.

Got it!

Tong Huaqiong's eyes lit up. "A longevity peach!"
When her grandmother celebrated her birthday, a large longevity peach was placed on the table, surrounded by a bunch of smaller longevity peaches. The old woman clearly liked it very much.

Moreover, longevity peaches are not difficult to make; you can steam them using the same method as steaming buns. The most important part is shaping them, and Tong Huaqiong has skillful hands, so making longevity peaches is no problem for her at all.

Tong Huaqiong became more and more excited as she thought about it.

"Grandma." As the door was pushed open, a soft, sweet voice interrupted Tong Huaqiong's thoughts.

"It's Man'er." Under the clear moonlight, Tong Huaqiong saw Man'er standing at the door of her room.

"I want to sleep with Grandma," Man'er said timidly.

"Alright, come on then." Tong Huaqiong sat up.

With Tong Huaqiong's permission, Man'er ran to Tong Huaqiong's bedside with her short legs, and Tong Huaqiong bent down and pulled Man'er onto the bed.

Man'er quickly burrowed into the blankets and snuggled close to Tong Huaqiong.

It was the first time she had slept with her grandmother, and she was filled with excitement.

"Grandma smells so good, Man'er loves Grandma so much," Man'er said, hugging Tong Huaqiong's neck.

"Man'er smells nice too." Tong Huaqiong ruffled Man'er's hair and gave her a big kiss.

The six-year-old girl was delicate, soft, and extremely cute.

“Grandma, I told my aunt today that Grandma is doing really well now, but neither she nor my cousin believe me. Man’er is very angry.”

“Da Ya and the others don’t believe that Grandma loves Man’er. Grandma bought Man’er some floral fabric, and Mom made me new clothes. I’ll wear them out to show Da Ya and see if they believe me.”

……

Man'er mumbled something to Tong Huaqiong, who responded only half-heartedly.

The grandmother and grandson quickly fell asleep.

In her dream, Tong Huaqiong entered another space and pushed open a door to enter the house from her previous life.

"I'm home again!" Tong Huaqiong exclaimed in surprise. She went straight to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and the cake she had just made was still there.

Tong Huaqiong reached out her hand towards the cake.

"Damn it," Tong Huaqiong cursed.

I still can't pick it up.

God knows how much she wanted to swallow that piece of cake.

The refrigerator was full of butter, eggs, milk, condensed milk, lard, coconut flakes, red bean paste... all kinds of baking ingredients, each one of which she longed for.

She tried to pick up the butter, but couldn't.

I tried to pick up the egg, but I couldn't.

Everything was just something you could look at, but you couldn't take it out.

"What kind of space is this? Isn't this a scam? They just let people in to look around, but they can't take anything," Tong Huaqiong cursed inwardly.

She was definitely not one of the lucky ones among women who traveled through time.

In this situation, it would be better not to let her in at all; that way, at least she would give up.

She's stuck in this limbo, feeling incredibly uncomfortable.

Tong Huaqiong paced back and forth in the room, feeling dejected, before wandering into the storage room.

Having experienced the lockdown of her neighborhood, she felt very insecure. Therefore, she constantly shopped online, and her storage room was piled high with flour, cooking oil, seasonings, and various unopened dried fruits and honey.

Conservatively speaking, even if a disaster strikes, the things in the storage room can hold out for three years.

She looked on with envy. If she could bring all these things to the Gu family's kitchen, wouldn't she be even more powerful and able to make pastries that would surpass those of the entire Pingchuan County?

It's a pity, she can't take it with her.

"Huh, where am I?"

"Grandma, what are you doing here?"

A familiar voice sounded behind Tong Huaqiong. Tong Huaqiong turned around and saw Man'er standing barefoot behind her.

"Man'er".

Tong Huaqiong's voice was filled with disappointment.

Since Man'er is here, it means she's dreaming.

Because Man'er couldn't possibly be in her modern room.

The hope of having space was completely shattered.

"This house is so big and beautiful," Man'er said in a soft, sweet voice.

"This is a table, this is a chair, what is this? I don't recognize this."

Man'er ran around the room with cheerful steps, pointing at the table, chairs, TV, and computer with a look of curiosity on her face.

"Hey Grandma, what's this? Can I eat it?"

Man'er stood by the living room table, pointed to the snacks on the table, and asked.

Tong Huaqiong wanted to shake her head.

The snacks on the table were ones she had ordered online before she moved to the Gu family. They were piled up on the table, and she tried to lift them but couldn't open them.

"It's food. Why don't you open it and try it?"

When Tong Huaqiong saw Man'er pick up a piece of pastry, tear open the packaging, she blurted out something unconsciously.

The next second, Tong Huaqiong was stunned.

This must be a dream; she can't do it. How could Man'er possibly do it?

What shocked Tong Huaqiong even more was that Man'er actually ate the pastry.

As if remembering something, Tong Huaqiong took Man'er's hand and led her to the kitchen. She picked Man'er up, opened the refrigerator, and pointed to the block of butter, telling her to take it.

Man'er picked it up effortlessly.

Tong Huaqiong's mouth dropped open in surprise.

(End of this chapter)