TCFSRMR |Chapter 12

With the three little dumplings and Shi Heng with her, she went into the house again, only to see Shi Jie coming over from the chicken coop side, carrying a chopping block.

“Second sister.” Shi Ying took the initiative to greet her. They were the same age, and Shi Jie was two months older than her.

Unlike Miao Xiuxiu, who treasured her daughter and was reluctant to let her do even a bit of work, Yin Zhaodi had always been strict with her two daughters. The eldest daughter, Shi Ting, was the first child, so she was a little better off, but Shi Jie had been made to do this and that by her from a very young age.

When the adults were not at home, Shi Jie was just like the little housekeeper of this family. At this moment, seeing Shi Ying and the others come over, she put down the chopping block, then lowered her head and went into the kitchen to serve up the rice.

Seeing Shi Ying take the initiative to greet her, Shi Jie nodded shyly. Her gaze at Shi Ying was a little curious, and also a little admiring.

Third sister is really amazing. She is not scared of Uncle Duhai at all…

Breakfast was the green vegetables picked from their own yard. The piece of knife-cut meat, Yin Zhaodi had originally wanted to make into cured meat and eat it again during the festival season, but it was once again rejected by the old lady and Miao Xiuxiu, who were judged by Yin Zhaodi to “not know how precious firewood and rice are.” The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law simply cut off a piece to render out the oil, then used the pork cracklings to stir-fry a big bowl of greens, and pickled the rest. They said that when there was time in the evening, they would also make braised pork for the children to eat.

Shi Ying followed them into the kitchen and helped pick up the corn cakes in the bamboo tray. She first gave one to Shi Heng, then called out to the twins.

“Come over and eat.”

It had to be said that the old lady’s skill was truly impressive. The cracklings were roasted golden yellow, and when chewed in the mouth they still gave a crisp crunch, and paired with a mouthful of greens, well, perfect.

After breakfast, Shi Ying walked around the yard once. Several chickens had just finished eating the greens. Seeing Shi Ying, they stuck out their necks and began clucking “gu gu gu” again. Shi Ying suddenly thought that in the system she still had some wheat bran left after extracting the flour, so she immediately grabbed several handfuls and mixed it with the chopped wild vegetables that Shi Jie had cut up.

The chickens stopped clucking, squeezed over, and started snatching at it to eat.

After walking a few more steps forward, Shi Ying was pleasantly surprised to discover that in the corner behind the chicken coop, there were actually more than ten strawberry plants.

Seeing Shi Ying crouch down, Shi Nan also came over. Just now she had seen Third Sister being so impressive, and in an instant Shi Nan had transformed into Shi Ying’s little fangirl. Just like Shi Heng, wherever Shi Ying went, she followed.

As Shi Ying observed the strawberries, Shi Nan kept circling back and forth beside her.

“These were dug up from the mountain by my dad…”

“Dad said, if you take good care of them, they can bear strawberries. My mom likes strawberries the most. When the strawberries bear fruit, Mom will come back…”

“Third aunt is not at home?”

From yesterday on, they had not seen Third Uncle Shi Guoliang’s wife.

“Her mom doesn’t want her anymore…” Shi Juan, who had also been following behind them, suddenly said.

Shi Nan, who had just a moment ago been red-faced and full of yearning, immediately had tears welling in her almond-shaped eyes. While wiping her tears, she went to push Shi Juan. “That’s not true. My mom didn’t not want us…”

After Shi Juan finished speaking, she also realized that she was at Shi Nan’s house, and even though she was being pushed, she did not dare move, but she also began to cry sadly and intermittently.

Shi Ying immediately had a headache. She hurriedly coaxed the little dumplings.

“Don’t cry. How about I take you to plant strawberries? Very soon we’ll be able to eat bright red big strawberries…”

She had already seen that these few strawberry plants had already borne fruit, but the fruits were not just small, they looked to be only the size of beans.

But who was Shi Ying? She was the system’s only recognized baby. For just these more than ten strawberry plants, a little bit of nutrient solution would be enough.

In a few days, they would be able to eat sweet and delicious strawberries.

Shi Ying also took a special look. The locations where these more than ten strawberry plants were planted were remote, and looking at the surrounding weeds growing thickly, it was obvious the adults at home had usually never paid attention to their existence. Even if she did something to them, it would not be seen as anything wrong.

Right away, she directed Shi Nan and Shi Bei to fetch water, and after she and Shi Ting used a small shovel to remove the weeds and cover the soil again, they built around it with small stones.

Taking advantage of everyone not noticing, she poured the nutrient solution into the water and shook it evenly, then watered the strawberries one by one.

Seeing her do it in a proper, serious manner, Shi Jie and the others did not even dare breathe too loudly. Each of them stared at the strawberries as if they could be picked in the next moment.

“Will there really be big, sweet strawberries?” Shi Nan looked at Shi Ying’s hands with awe, then looked at the strawberries. She did not know if it was just her imagination, but she felt like those strawberries had grown a little bigger.

“Mm, they can.” Shi Ying nodded heavily.

Somewhat infected by the two of them, Shi Bei had already stuffed a little finger into his mouth and kept sucking on it, Shi Jie also swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and only Shi Juan remained a spoiler:

“You can’t eat them. My mom said these are wild strawberries from the mountain, they can only bear fruit the size of beans, and they will also fall off…”

When Shi Guoliang had just transplanted the strawberries home, Shi Nan and Shi Bei could not help but show them off to their little friends, and Shi Juan looked on with great envy. As soon as she got home, she started making trouble with Wang Xiujiao, insisting that she go up the mountain to find wild strawberries too.

How could Wang Xiujiao be willing to waste that effort? What was so good about wild strawberries anyway? Not only did they only bear bean-sized fruit, but they would also naturally fall off when they were almost ripe. Even if there were some that turned red, they tasted more sour than sweet. At the time, she only told her daughter two things: first, Shi Nan and Shi Bei’s mother did not want them anymore, so even if there were strawberries, she would not come back; second, wild strawberries simply could not bear any good fruit.

At first Shi Juan did not believe it. Every year, when the strawberries ripened, she would run over to look, and in the end she discovered that it really was just like what her mother said: Shi Nan and Shi Bei’s mother had not come back, and the strawberries in their yard also could not be eaten.

Shi Ying sensitively realized something was off, because even if Third Aunt had gone to visit relatives, it was impossible for her to go for years on end. Then she saw that the twins were about to shed golden beans again, so she hurriedly comforted them.

“You have to believe your sister. Sister will definitely help you grow delicious strawberries, and Third Aunt will definitely come back too.”

Only then did the two little girls break into smiles through their tears.

Seeing that it was also almost noon by now, Shi Ying asked Shi Jie when the people in the family would come back.

“My mom said they would come back at noon. She asked me to boil the water first,” Shi Jie said, then went to wash the pot. Shi Ting, the older sister, was already able to cook, while she at the moment only knew how to light the fire and boil a soup. She still could not do anything else.

If it had been a few days earlier, the adults would also have eaten lunch in the fields. Right now the wheat harvest was nearing its end. The main thing was to haul the wheat to the threshing ground, and after it had dried, it would need to be crushed with a stone roller. The threshing ground happened to be at the village entrance, so of course they could come home to eat.

Shi Ying went around the kitchen once. In a busy season like wheat harvesting, men and women alike had to exert a lot of strength, so every household would prepare as much good food as possible. But even if it was good food, it was only that each family would exchange a few extra jin of white flour beyond coarse grains.

Aside from that, after the wheat was harvested, the production team would also divide it row by row among the members. Everyone could take the wheat ears they picked up home, and they could also dig up the wheat stubble from their own allocated plots to bring back and use as firewood.

Other than Miao Xiuxiu, who had not been able to do much work before because she was mentally dazed, everyone in the Shi family did not spare any effort. The wheat ears they picked up could not be called many, but there were still twenty or thirty jin. After bringing them home, the old lady led the daughter-in-law and used their hands to rub the wheat grains out, and after drying them, they carefully put them into the jar.

Shi Ying took some white flour, bean flour, and sorghum flour from the system and mixed them together. Thinking that there were many people in the family, this lump of dough was inevitably a bit big, and with her being so thin and small, kneading the dough inevitably took effort.

Turning around and seeing Shi Heng still following behind with his head lowered, she immediately had an idea and tugged at Shi Heng’s sleeve.

“Brother, can you help me knead the dough?”

As she said that, she pulled Shi Heng over. After washing his hands for him, she took his hands and pressed them onto the dough to pound it.

Shi Heng really did learn to press on the dough. Shi Nan and Shi Bei had been following beside him the whole time. Seeing this scene, their little mouths immediately formed an O shape.

They were used to seeing Brother sitting alone in the corner, not responding even when they brought food over to him. But now Brother could actually knead dough?

Shi Ying let the twins circle around Shi Heng as if they were seeing some rare treasure. Taking advantage of this, she cut up some diced meat, then poured some wheat from the spatial storage into the stone mortar and had Shi Jie help pound it into wheat flakes together.

When she was done over here, she turned her head and saw that Shi Heng had already pounded the huge lump of dough into a flat, large mass.

Although it did not look pretty, because he had pounded it for long enough and with enough strength, it was unusually chewy.

Shi Ying held Shi Heng’s hand and was very happy.

“Brother is amazing.”

Shi Nan and Shi Bei were also so happy they were about to jump up.

“Brother is amazing, Brother is amazing!”

As they said that, they even sniffled. Brother’s kneaded dough smelled so good.

Shi Ying naturally knew that it was not Shi Heng’s kneading that smelled good, but the wheat itself. According to 001, the future was a star system world, and because human-usable space was so vast, they did not pursue yield, but instead attached great importance to the food’s own nutritional value and taste. Of course, this lack of pursuit of yield was relative. Compared with current productivity, the grain output of the star system was still quite high.

They had already eaten scallion pancakes made from wheat grown with nutrient solution before, and now Shi Ying was truly looking forward to how fragrant the minced meat noodles made with the same dough would be!

Over there Shi Jie had already washed the pot and lit the fire. Shi Ying quickly drizzled oil into the pot. Once the oil was hot, she immediately put in the diced meat, which had been chopped up, marinated with seasonings, and then coated evenly with white flour. With a sizzling sound, a rich meat fragrance spread in all directions.

No one knew how this third little sister did it, but Shi Jie only felt that the smell of the meat was especially fragrant, and she was so greedy her saliva was about to come down.

As the diced meat turned a beautiful golden yellow, Shi Ying threw the chopped peppers into the pot. After bringing out the peppers’ fragrant spiciness, she added the homemade sauce and the diced meat and stir-fried them together. Finally, she added the shredded carrots.

Watching the dark red diced meat, soaked through with rich sauce fragrance, begin to roll in the water, Shi Ying grabbed the small scallions beside her and cut them into shreds. She smashed the peeled garlic, thickened it with flour paste made from the white flour in her spatial storage, and after taking it out of the pot, sprinkled the scallions, garlic, and schisandra on top.

The gold of the diced meat matched the green of the scallions and celery, and then there was the red of the lightly swaying shredded carrots. It looked not just enticing, and the steaming aroma drifted far away with the wind.

Right at this moment happened to be the time to get off work. Everyone was already exhausted to the extreme. Even the farm tools in their hands were listlessly dragged behind them, but they suddenly caught the nose-pricking aroma carried over by the wind, and for a moment each and every one of them was jolted awake.

“Oh my, whose family is cooking, and why does it smell so good?”

“Exactly! Even during the New Year, I’ve never smelled such a fragrant smell…”

“Oh my, my greedy虫 are about to come out…”