Chapter 85: The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor
Chapter 85: Dust Settles (Part 1)
On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, also known as Little New Year.
On this day, the Mo family didn't set up their stall. Instead, they paid all the villagers who helped out for the day's work, taking turns to watch over the vegetable fields to prevent theft or mischief.
After breakfast in the early morning, the family got busy.
Mo Qingze used a cloth strip to tightly bind a small broom to a four to five-meter-long bamboo pole, using it to clean the spider webs and dust from the roof and corners of the walls. Li Zhong followed behind with a broom, sweeping away the dust stuck to the walls.
Mo Yan dismantled several bed sheets, washed them, and hung them out to dry. Li Yan was not idle either, tidying up the bottles and jars in the kitchen, washing them spotlessly clean, while Xiner was responsible for fetching water by the well, lending a helping hand.
The youngest, Zhen'er, had an easy task, tending to the stove and boiling water. Occasionally, he would throw in a few potatoes and sweet potatoes, roasted and peeled to share with his sisters.
After the two families worked together to finish all the cleaning, they had a simple lunch and then began preparing offerings for the Kitchen God ceremony in the evening.
Offerings for the Kitchen God included dates, candied melon, eggs, and liquor. Dates, eggs, and liquor could be placed directly on plates, while making candied melon required some effort.
The candied melon used in the ceremony was made by mixing roasted corn with maltose, resulting in a crispy and sweet delicacy. Mo Yan had eaten candied melon made from glutinous rice, maltose, and sesame seeds in her past life.
After asking a few of the children, none of them had tried this type of candied melon before, so Mo Yan decided to make two kinds, using corn and glutinous rice with sesame seeds, making plenty for them to snack on.
The maltose was bought from the store yesterday, weighing seven to eight catties, enough to make a large batch of candied melon, but due to the low temperature, it had solidified into a solid block.
Mo Yan used the back of a knife to break the basin-sized maltose into small pieces in a ceramic basin, then placed it in a pot of water and had Xin'er melt the maltose over the fire.
The outer pot was also not empty. After heating up, Mo Yan poured over two catties of salt. When the salt changed color, she added half a catty of corn kernels, using a spatula to stir-fry them. Using salt as a base not only prevented the corn from burning, but also made the corn crispier.
When the corn kernels crackled like popping beans and there was no more popping sound, the corn was considered fried well and could be removed from the pot. The fried corn was sieved to remove the salt, preventing it from tasting salty.
After frying ten pots in a row, when all five catties of corn kernels were fried, Mo Yan began frying the glutinous rice.
Compared to corn, glutinous rice grains were smaller and easier to fry, almost ready to eat within ten or so breaths. The fried glutinous rice was whiter and crispier than regular rice. As soon as the first pot was fried, Zhen'er ran in and scooped up a bowl to eat.
"Sis, this is delicious, it tastes even better when mixed with brown sugar!"
Before long, Zhen'er came back with an empty bowl, shouting about how delicious it was.
Upon hearing this, Xin'er couldn't wait to take a bowl, scooping up half a bowl of fried glutinous rice and adding a little sugar to mix in. After taking the first bite, she couldn't bear to put it down.
"Sis, it's really delicious, you should try it too!" Xin'er said, scooping up a spoonful and offering it to her sister.
Mo Yan smiled and took a bite, finding the taste quite good. She asked Zhen'er to take a clean bowl and fill it with a large portion, adding sugar for him to take to Li Yan.
There was no need for help in the kitchen, so Li Yan, who had nothing to do, held a needle and thread in her room, sewing the bed covers Mo Yan had cut a few days ago.
Zhen'er kept coming in and out with bowls, which made Mo Qingze and Li Zhong unable to resist entering the kitchen, smelling the fragrant fried glutinous rice and corn, feeling a bit hungry again, and happily taking bowls to eat.
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