Chapter 86: The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor
Chapter 86: Dust Settles (Part 2)
After the sesame seeds were fried well, the maltose in the inner pot had also melted.
Mo Yan scooped out the fried salt and wrapped it in oil paper for future use.
After washing the pot clean and drying it, Mo Yan poured the fried corn into the pot, then added a third of the maltose. She began stirring with chopsticks and a spatula until the maltose and fried corn were evenly mixed before starting to shape the candied melon.
Shaping the candied melon wasn't difficult; they just needed to be slightly smaller than fists. Xiner found it interesting to watch and, after washing her hands with hot water, joined in to help shape them. In the end, with five catties of fried corn and ten catties of fried glutinous rice, they made over twenty catties of candied melon using maltose.
Looking at the pile of golden-yellow corn candied melon and the black-and-white glutinous rice candied melon, Xiner suddenly hugged Mo Yan and burst into tears.
"Sis, Xin'er is so happy, really happy! Our family has so many candied melons now, we won't have to envy other families anymore!"
Mo Yan felt a pang in her heart. In previous years, not to mention making so many candied melons to eat, they only had two or three small pieces for the Kitchen God ceremony. After the ceremony, the family could only share them, and they hadn't enjoyed the sweetness enough before the candied melons were gone.
"Don't cry, don't cry. Our family is doing well now, and it will be even better in the future. We'll have plenty of candied melons every year."
Xin'er nodded with tears streaming down her face, looking at her sister and saying from the bottom of her heart, "Sis, our family has become so good, all thanks to you, sis, you're the best sister in the world."
"Silly girl, it's because we all worked together as a family that things turned out well. Sis only did what she had to do!"
Mo Yan touched her head, smiling openly. She felt relieved taking care of her sisters after occupying their sister's body; she would always treat them well.
With the candied melon done, Mo Yan busied herself chopping filling and making dough for dumplings. This was also one of the customs for Little New Year. After wrapping about a hundred plump and fragrant mushroom and pork dumplings, it was time for the Kitchen God ceremony.
Due to the custom of "women not participating in the Kitchen God ceremony," Mo Yan and the other girls went back to their rooms during the ceremony, leaving Mo Qingze with Zhen'er to busy themselves in the kitchen. Only after the firecrackers sounded and the ceremony ended could they come out.
Mo Qingze cooked a pot of dumplings, and the family gathered around the table, with firepots underneath, happily finishing the entire pot of dumplings.
In contrast to the joyful atmosphere in the Mo family, Old Mo's family was shrouded in gloom.
Since returning from the Mo family yesterday, Old Mo had a grim face and barely ate anything all day. Hong Shi sat on the doorstep, cursing at Mo Yan and her family all day long. Niu Shi also cried and did nothing, neglecting even the children, who were so frightened that they cried nonstop, disturbing the peace of the neighborhood.
Wu Shi didn't know what to do. She didn't even prepare candied melon for the Kitchen God ceremony. In the end, after some persuasion, she reluctantly borrowed two from another family who had also sought refuge from the Mo family's village.
On the second day of Little New Year, Old Mo took Mo Yongfu to the yamen. When he learned that he couldn't repay the silver, and his son would be executed, he was so frightened that he almost collapsed, supported by Mo Yongfu.
When they returned home, they began to raise the silver. However, when Mo Hongshi took out all the silver and counted it several times, they were still more than one hundred taels short. Old Mo's throat felt fishy, and he collapsed completely.
On the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, the day before the yamen was sealed, the magistrate of Jingzhao tried the case of Mo Yongshou and Mo Yonglu swindling money from others. Many villagers from Liuyang Village came specifically to watch the excitement.
However, unexpectedly, in court, Mo Yongshou shouted "unfair" in front of everyone, pushing all the blame onto Mo Yonglu. However, with the prison master and evidence as witnesses, his scheme ultimately failed.
Mo Yonglu, completely desperate towards his brother who wanted to harm him, didn't hesitate to expose every detail of his plan to harm the Mo family.
In the end, after the prison master received the over nine thousand taels of silver returned by Old Mo, and stopped pursuing the missing more than one hundred taels, Mo Yongshou, as the principal offender, was sentenced to thirty heavy canings on the spot and banished to a desert three thousand miles away, to be executed after the unsealing on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month next year.
Mo Yonglu, as an accomplice, was sentenced to thirty heavy canings as well and was imprisoned. After ten days of public humiliation starting from the sixteenth day of the first lunar month next year, he could return home.
After the verdict was announced, Old Mo spat out another mouthful of blood and fainted, while Hong Shi sat on the doorstep of the yamen, cursing Mo Qingze for not saving them. Some villagers approached to inquire, and Niu Shi exaggeratedly blackened the entire Mo family.
People always sympathize with the weak without realizing it. Seeing the situation of Old Mo's family, the villagers of Liuyang Village suddenly had a very subtle view of the Mo family...
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