After the rain, the sky clears up.
The rainwater in front of my house dries quickly.
Four girls were sitting in the yard embroidering.
Wu Huiniang was sitting nearby sewing clothes and shoes for the baby. Her belly was getting bigger and bigger, and it was inconvenient to do many tasks. Her mother-in-law stopped letting her do it. She couldn't sit still, so she made clothes for the unborn child every day. There are three or four sets.
The girls were embroidering outside the house, and a few boys were talking inside.
Zhao Dawang came over and pestered Zhao Ergou to ask about business matters: "Brother Ergou, I also want to do business. What do you think I am suitable for?"
He is one year younger than Zhao Ergou, he is fifteen this year, and he is also tall and tall.
Before studying, he didn't know what he would do in the future.
But after reading, he knew more and more what he liked. He really wanted to do business, just like Brother Ergou.
Zhao Ergou said: "Doing business requires settling accounts. Last time you took the exam, you only got a few points in the arithmetic class. After you have learned arithmetic, come and learn how to do business with me."
Zhao Dawang wanted to cry but had no tears.
Shen Zheng in the study was also on the verge of crying.
Zhao Sidan, a little bastard, asked him a sentence from the Four Books. He had no idea what it meant. He was afraid of damaging the dignity of Master Shen, so he talked nonsense, but Cheng Zhao heard it. , he was forced to read in the study by Cheng Zhao. It was not enough to finish reading. He also had to understand the meaning. Even if he did, he had to draw inferences from one example and express his own opinions.
His father didn't expect him to be admitted as a scholar, and he himself didn't expect it, so Cheng Zhao encouraged him every day.
It's not easy to have a confidant in life, so it's for Cheng Zhao's encouragement that he should also study hard.
Shen Zheng was intermittently complacent and read the book seriously.
Not even a quarter of an hour after looking at it, he smelled an alluring sweet scent on the tip of his nose, which made his mouth water.
A pot of sweet-scented osmanthus cake is ready.
It was autumn now, and the osmanthus flowers were blooming all over the mountain. When Cheng Wanwan saw the osmanthus flowers, she wanted to make osmanthus cakes.
Two days ago, Sidan asked Sidan to pick some osmanthus flowers and dry them in the sun. It came in handy now. The first step was to make osmanthus sugar. Add sugar water and osmanthus flowers and simmer over low heat. After a while, the sugar with the fragrance of osmanthus came out. .
While the osmanthus sugar is boiling, start stirring the glutinous rice flour. Stir the glutinous rice flour into a liquid, pour it into a plate, cut it into small pieces with a spatula, and then start steaming it over high heat.
The steamed glutinous rice cake is topped with osmanthus sugar. It is soft and slightly sweet, with sweetness and fragrance, and it smells very tempting.
Cheng Wanwan divided the sweet-scented osmanthus cake into several plates and brought them out.
The children had already smelled the fragrance, and followed it one by one to the back room.
Zhao Sidan sniffed: "It turns out that osmanthus can make such delicious things, it's so fragrant, so fragrant!"
Zhao Dashan said: "It's a pity that the third child can't eat the sweet-scented osmanthus cake."
Zhao Ergou swallowed his saliva: "Mom, you are so awesome, you can do anything."
Cheng Wanwan coughed a little guiltily. There was no technical content in this kind of steamed pastry. In fact, it was not difficult at all to make.
She walked outside the house and said, "Hui Niang, take the four girls to wash their hands and get ready to eat osmanthus cake."
Wang Damai quickly packed up his things: "I still have something to do at home, so I'll go back first."
Her parents were favored by Aunt Zhao and could earn more than one tael of silver a month. How could she live here for free? It was more like bringing food to Aunt Zhao.
Cheng Wanwan quickly pulled Wang Damai back: "There are spring flowers and summer flowers in full bloom. You three are not allowed to leave. You come to play at home. It's right for the aunt to entertain you. It's just a few pieces of sweet-scented osmanthus cake. The aunt can still invite you." Get up, okay, let’s go into the house.”
She has said so, and it is difficult for several children to refuse.
Cao Yingying said: "The snacks made by Aunt Zhao are very delicious. You will know when you try them later."
Zhao Dawang's saliva came out instantly.
Every time his aunt sent food to the old house, he could take a bite or two. It was simply the most delicious thing he had ever eaten.
He swallowed his saliva and said, "Thank you, auntie!"
He washed his hands, and as soon as he entered, Zhao Sidan stuffed a piece of pastry into his mouth.
"Well!"
His eyes widened with disbelief on his face.
The soft texture, sweet aroma, and faint floral fragrance were so delicious that he couldn't bear to swallow them.
After the last autumn harvest, grandma came back from the town and bought pastries. The pastries were not as good as the sweet-scented osmanthus cake from my uncle’s family.
"It's so delicious." Shen Zheng swallowed one in one gulp, "Auntie, look at me, I've gained a lot of weight since I came to Dahe Village."
Cheng Zhao also said: "I have also gained some weight."
Ah Fu said vaguely: "I have gained weight and grown taller!"
Cao Yingying was eating quite happily, but when she heard what they said, her fingers stopped.
She pinched her face, as if... she had gained weight. When she got home, she probably wouldn't be able to wear the clothes at home.
Chun Hua and Xia Hua were relatively quiet. They stood aside with the sweet-scented osmanthus cake and took small bites.
Chunhua took a small bite and stopped eating. The remaining half was secretly hidden in her sleeve. Her sister Donghua was greedy, so she took it back to her sister to eat.
But she had made cakes with osmanthus before, so why couldn’t she make something as delicious as this?
She used buckwheat flour to make it, and the taste was far different from this. Because it was too unpalatable, her mother even scolded her.
She hesitated for a moment and then said in a low voice: "Auntie, can I learn how to make snacks from you?"
She was really not interested in embroidery, but she really liked studying food, but her mother didn't allow her to waste food, so she never dared to mention it.
Of course, she didn't dare to waste the food from her uncle's family. She just wanted to help, learn from it, take a look, and explore on her own, and she should be able to do it.
Cheng Wanwan looked at the spring flowers.
This child is the eldest girl of this generation in the old Zhao family. She is fourteen years old this year and will be fifteen after the Chinese New Year. She has reached the age to say marriage.
If a girl has good cooking skills, she will be very popular in the marriage market of this era. Of course, she, an aunt, hopes that her niece can marry a relatively better man.
Another thing is that after Huiniang's child is born, their family is going to open a restaurant. As Huiniang is the chef, she will always have to arrange for a helper.
Before, she was still debating whether to let Dashan go to the restaurant to help, but she always felt that it was not right to ask Dashan to be a cook. Now Chunhua mentioned this matter, and she just arranged this matter for Chunhua.
Chunhua is quick at work and diligent with her hands and feet. Her biggest shortcoming is that she is afraid of her mother.
But as long as Chunhua can make money, Mrs. Sun will probably not embarrass this eldest daughter again. There is also an old lady guarding the old house.
Cheng Wanwan said warmly: "Recently, I am really busy with things in the kitchen and some work in the yard. I am very tired. You might as well help me. Go back and tell your mother, Come to my place in the morning and go back in the evening, eighteen cents a day, does your mother agree?"
Chunhua's eyes suddenly widened.
She just wanted to learn how to make delicious snacks and ask her mother to stop scolding her. Why did the aunt suddenly want to give her wages?
Eighteen cents a day was something she had never imagined.
When she got home, she was still feeling dizzy.
