Shen Da raised his voice slightly, "Things are already like this, and you still haven't given up on her? Laifeng, if we don't let her marry far away, we will be kicked out, and we won't even have a place to live. We still have several children."
Zhang Laifeng cried softly, "Why did Ruoxi become like this? It's all my fault..."
Shen Da sighed, "Laifeng, stop crying."
Zhang Laifeng turned her head, tears falling into the pillow along her cheeks, feeling regretful and sad.
...
In the Kitchen.
Shen Ruoxi gathered a large bundle of dry grain stalks, burned them to ash, and then put the ash into a bucket, added water, and stirred it. After stirring for a while, she set it aside in a corner.
Afterward, she brought over the Konjac Tuber, washed off the surface dirt, found an iron plate, roughened the surface with a hammer, and used it to grind the Konjac Tuber.
The ground Konjac paste was put into a pot with water and dissolved.
Fire was lit under the Stove. The Konjac paste in the pot was brought to a boil. After boiling for a while, the clean water from the top layer of the Wood ash water was poured into the Konjac paste. They were stirred together with a spatula, and finally, the surface of the Konjac paste was leveled.
During this time, Shen Ruoxi went to the well to fetch a load of water and returned, as the Water vat had been emptied by her.
This scene shocked quite a few people. Shen Ruoxi never did housework, let alone strenuous labor like fetching water; it made people feel like they were experiencing Blurred vision.
Shen Ruoxi was thinking about her Konjac Tofu and had no time to mind others.
After carrying the water home, she scooped a few ladles of cool well water into the pot. The Konjac Tofu had already set. She used a spatula to loosen the edges of the Konjac Tofu, and the Konjac Tofu quickly floated in the water.
Using the Kitchen Knife, the Konjac Tofu was cut into small pieces, the water was changed, and the Konjac Tofu was boiled.
It was boiled a total of three times.
This could remove the alkalinity from the Konjac Tofu, making it taste better.
Shen Ruoxi looked at her results and happily hummed a little tune.
Against the wall near the Stove were several small Ceramic Jars. Shen Ruoxi opened them to look: one contained some salt, one contained Polygonum thunbergii, and one contained mustard greens.
She took a sniff. "These are typical ancient seasonings," she recalled seeing in books.
After looking, she covered them back up. She didn't dare touch the things at home. After some thought, she spent five Favorability Points to exchange for some salt, oil, chili peppers, hot pot base, and soy sauce to make Maocai shortly.
Taking a Basket, Shen Ruoxi went to dig up some Houttuynia cordata, Plantain, Shepherd's Purse, and Artemisia japonica. These wild vegetables could all be added to the Konjac Tofu and cooked into Maocai.
"What is Shen Ruoxi doing?"
"I don't know. When things are abnormal, there must be a reason. It's too strange."
The villagers watched Shen Ruoxi's abnormal actions, discussing and speculating endlessly. These words quickly reached the ears of Shen Ruohao, and Xu Qinglan; the expressions of the three were strange.
Shen Ruoxi was unaware that she had caused another stir in the village. Upon returning home, she washed the wild vegetables, heated oil in a pot, and focused on the matter at hand.
There was no meat, but with her skill in preparing traditional Chinese medicine, the taste of the vegetarian Maocai wouldn't be bad either.
Soon, a fragrance drifted from the Kitchen.
Shen Ruohao and the other two returned home and immediately smelled the fragrance. The three looked at the Kitchen with strange expressions—
Shen Ruohan said in disbelief, "Is Shen Ruoxi cooking?"
Shen Ruohao stared at the figure standing by the Stove in the Kitchen, his expression even stranger. "It seems so."
Xu Qinglan watched for a moment. "I'm going to find Kang'er."
Shen Ruohan quickly said, "Sister-in-law, I'll go with you." Shen Ruoxi was too terrifying; she didn't dare stay home alone.
Shen Ruohao forced himself to walk toward the Kitchen. He was now taller than Shen Ruoxi, so he wasn't afraid of her causing trouble. However, upon entering the Kitchen, what he saw was not something bad, but a large basin of food.
"What is this..."