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墨書 Inktalez
"Uncle, a great helper at home, the future Husband!"
For Xia Muxin, who occasionally threw out some quirky phrases, Shen Muhan had already learned to decipher her words. At this moment, hearing her praise made Uncle Shen feel like he could soar; his mood was exceptionally good.
With one more person in the kitchen, Xia Muxin asked Xia Jihua to help start the fire while she washed the pot and heated the oil. Then she began to fry the thin slices in the hot oil.
When the bright red and white slices came out of the pot, everyone looked on in disbelief.
After frying several batches, Xia Muxin filled a plate and took it to her mother’s room. Seeing that a few people were chatting happily, she didn’t linger but simply asked them to taste it before stepping back out.
Returning to the kitchen, she called for Xia Jihua and Xia Tieshu to eat. The two had long been drooling and immediately grabbed a few slices to shove into their mouths.
The flavors were fragrant, crispy, sweet with a hint of saltiness. As they devoured each piece, they felt as if their taste buds were overwhelmed, continuously praising the dish. Seeing this, Xia Muxin also took a few pieces to try; indeed, it tasted great, especially since it was freshly fried, making a delightful crunch with each bite.
"Uncle, you should try some too."
After finishing a few pieces and feeling extremely satisfied, she grabbed a small handful and offered it to Shen Muhan, who was still slicing.
"My hands are covered in flour; how about... you feed me?"
Shen Muhan glanced at her and said lightly. He then leaned forward, parting his lips slightly as if waiting for her to feed him. Xia Muxin felt a shiver run through her body at his unexpected closeness; an electric thrill coursed through her limbs. Annoyed, she shot him an irritated look, but Shen Muhan seemed completely unfazed by her reaction. Instead, he chewed seriously on what was in his mouth and after swallowing, leaned closer with a mischievous grin.
"It tastes good; I want more."
Saying this, he opened his lips like a baby waiting to be fed by Xia Muxin.
Over there, Xia Tieshu and Xia Jihua were already laughing, but their gazes didn’t even glance in her direction. Xia Muxin's pretty face flushed with heat as she bit her lip. Finally, with a determined bite of her silver teeth, she grabbed a handful and stuffed it directly into his mouth.
"Let you take advantage of me, let you tease me in front of my family—let's see how I feed you properly."
However, Shen Muhan was much more clever than she anticipated. Just as her hand reached toward his mouth, he promptly closed it and looked at her with amusement. Taking advantage of her moment of carelessness, he opened his mouth again and nibbled a few pieces away, grinning smugly as he lowered his head to slice more.
Xia Muxin was so irritated that her teeth itched. This guy must have x-ray vision or something; otherwise, how could he always know what she was about to do? Ahhh...
After frying all those cat ears, it was already noon. Fortunately, there was more than one stove in the kitchen, and this lunch was prepared by Ermiao. However, they were eating quite late.
“Muxin, what are these fried things? They’re delicious—so fragrant and crispy!”
Xia Muxin had left a jar of Wine-Pickled Fish for the family. The lunch was simple because there were many people—almost twenty—which made cooking a bit time-consuming. Everyone had already tasted Xia Muxin's cooking before the meal and praised it with thumbs up. Songzi was like a greedy cat; in no time, he dashed into the room to grab a handful and ate happily.
Aunt Xia was about to give birth but still had a great appetite. Xia Muxin didn’t let her eat too much since fried food could cause heatiness. Yet, Aunt Xia still asked eagerly.
“This is called Xiao Huapian, commonly known as cat ears.”
Shen Muhan picked up a piece of fresh fish, removed the bones, and placed it in her bowl. Xia Muxin’s face turned slightly red as she lowered her head to take a bite of rice and replied somewhat indistinctly.
“Cat ears? Hey, that’s an interesting name; easy to remember.”
Songzi also had a mouthful of rice and his eyes lit up as he said that.
Upon hearing this, everyone burst into laughter.
After finishing the meal, Xia Muxin did not take a break but started to get busy again. Naturally, she left the task of collecting and washing the dishes to Ermiao. This was quite normal in the village, and besides, the Xia Family treated Ermiao like their own daughter, never being harsh or forcing her to do a pile of household chores. The tasks she had were merely light chores, and she felt a bit guilty about it. After all, there were many things to do at home, and several of her close sisters had already married. However, they complained that their in-laws looked down on daughters-in-law from outside the village, making them do all the hard and dirty work. Ant Jihua was a clear example of this. Therefore, she felt very fortunate and would often volunteer to help.
Moreover, the Xia Family was also very good to her parents, sending them things whenever they could. Her mother's face had regained some color; it was said that she could help with heavy work again in a few days, which made both of her parents extremely happy.
"Brother, I will be making a lot of new things these days. You might have to work hard for a few days. If everything goes well, we can open a Workshop after the New Year and sell our products throughout the Tianli Kingdom."
In the kitchen, Xia Muxin was mixing flour while Shen Muhan helped knead the dough. Ming Yi and others had been sent out to chop wood because they needed some small wooden boxes for future use.
Ming Peng took a few brothers to dig a fish pond. This had always been Xia Muxin's dream; a home needed to feel like one. It wasn't enough just to have fields; they needed to raise fish and shrimp as well; otherwise, all the resources in Donghe would be wasted.
When Xia Tieshu heard this, his eyes lit up. Building a Workshop was something even the Wang family had never done! Shen Muhan paused his kneading, his obsidian-like eyes fixed intently on Xia Muxin before he finally looked away after a moment.
No wonder she had bought over a thousand pounds of flour; it turned out she had already planned what to make.
Next on her agenda was making dough sticks.
This was even simpler than cat ears; the ingredients were just eggs, flour, and sugar mixed together, rolled into thin pancakes, cut into strips, and then fried in oil.
This was just one flavor; there were also variations using sesame instead of eggs. Of course, the sesame needed to be heated with salt or sugar first. Once the dough sticks were fried, they would be drained of oil and tossed into the preheated sesame before being mixed in a bowl until evenly coated.
There was also an option that replaced eggs and sesame with orange peel. However, the orange peel needed to be finely chopped—preferably crushed—and mixed into the flour along with sugar before being cut into strips and fried. This version would have a fragrant orange peel aroma when eaten, but not everyone liked it. Therefore, Xia Muxin only fried one batch of this flavor while making plenty of the other two varieties.
Finally, she made Cartoon Cake; this was not fried but baked instead.
"You girl," someone remarked. "No wonder you had me make over ten of those strange molds a few days ago; it turns out you were using them for this."
At this moment, Xia Muxin, Shen Muhan, Xia Tieshu, Xia Jihua, and Xia Xiaosong each held a wooden block the size of a mahjong tile. These blocks were square and each was intricately carved with the likeness of an animal, representing the Zodiac Signs. Xia Muxin had whimsically instructed Xia Tieshu to create twelve such molds.
Now, all one needed to do was press the wooden block onto the dough and then remove the molded piece to set it aside. To maintain aesthetic appeal, Xia Muxin had designed the small blocks cleverly; one side functioned as an active button. A gentle press would cause the embedded dough to pop out automatically, so there was no need to worry about damaging anything. Of course, the inside of the block needed occasional oiling, but not too much. Initially, she had considered applying a thin layer of wax inside but ultimately abandoned that idea for safety reasons.
She had kneaded about fifty pounds of flour, resulting in several wooden basins full of dough. Seeing there was so much, Xia Muxin took it outside to bake.
In this era, acquiring an oven was quite challenging. She went to town and had a blacksmith forge a thick iron plate nearly five centimeters thick, one meter wide and two meters long. She also had him create a charcoal basin of the same dimensions. The basin was rectangular with two iron rods about two centimeters high on the front to support the iron plate above it. Then she carefully spread out the Cartoon Cake batter on top. The charcoal could not be piled too high, nor could the fire be too fierce. Thus, after starting the baking process, Xia Muxin stood guard over it without leaving her post. At first, she flipped the cakes cautiously, fearing she might distort the soft dough; later on, she simply used a spatula to scoop them.
After baking for over an hour, she finally produced a batch of cakes that turned out beautifully. The Cartoon version of the Zodiac Signs was vividly detailed, and each cake was only about the size of a thumb. Originally intending to name them Thumb Cakes, she found that name too common and eventually settled on a more obscure title: Cartoon Cake.
After all, "cartoon" was a fresh term in this era.
Before long, night fell. Shen Muhan had lanterns hung at the entrance; even though it was dark outside, the house remained brightly lit with kerosene lamps inside. Two large candles burned on the altar in the main hall, flickering in the breeze and making a soft hissing sound.
Xia Muxin was exhausted after a long day and had eaten very little for dinner. Shen Muhan felt sorry for her and prepared bathwater after their meal so she could soak and relieve her fatigue for a good night's sleep.
At that moment, as Xia Muxin soaked in the large tub feeling drowsy with her eyes closed, she was suddenly startled by the sound of running footsteps. Moments later, she heard her father's voice calling out:
"Midwife! Midwife! Come quickly! It seems my daughter-in-law is about to give birth!"
- End of Chapter -
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