Chapter 370: First Mention of Marriage for Little White Cabbage Female Lead (Part 6)
Chapter 370: First Mention of Marriage for Little White Cabbage Female Lead (Part 6)
As noon approached, Mo Yan entered the kitchen to start preparing lunch, with Li Yan assisting her. Ever since the family had enjoyed hotpot, the children had been longing for it, but they hadn't had it again in over ten days due to concerns about overheating.
Today, with the family gathered together under the warm sunlight despite the low temperature, enjoying a lively hotpot meal was a wonderful idea!
With Xiao Hua and Da Bai bringing in wild game regularly, the eaves outside the kitchen were adorned with rows of preserved wild meats, suitable for consumption or as gifts for relatives and friends.
Li Yan carried a basket to the backyard and soon returned from the greenhouse with a basket of fresh vegetables. As she washed them, she remarked, "It's been such a cold winter this year, but our vegetables are still growing well. In the village, the greenhouse vegetables like loofah and chili peppers aren't producing at all. Only greens and spinach can fetch a few coins. Those villagers are suffering losses so badly; some households even borrowed money, and if they can't pay it back by the New Year, they might have to sell their daughters to settle debts!"
"Selling daughters to settle debts?" Mo Yan was shocked. "Can't they take it slowly and pay back when they have money? Even if they have to pay a bit more later, it's still better than separating families by selling their flesh and blood!"
Li Yan sneered, "That household is led by a woman, and it was a woman who borrowed the money! She's a stepmother, and the daughter she's thinking of selling isn't even her own biological child. Why would she care? She's probably just looking for an excuse to sell off that stepdaughter to secure more dowry for her own two daughters!"
Mo Yan frowned but remained silent. Not all stepmothers were bad, but everyone had their selfish tendencies and tended to favor their own flesh and blood. It was human nature. However, if this partiality led to intentionally harming others, then it became malicious!
Li Yan didn't stop gossiping and continued, "I heard that when they were fleeing, that woman wanted to abandon her stepdaughter. But that girl was tough and kept following behind, surviving by drinking water and eating wild roots. Now that things have settled down, that woman is targeting the stepdaughter again. It's truly vicious!"
"And the girl's father does nothing?" Mo Yan couldn't help but ask. While there were stepmothers, there were also stepfathers. No matter what, that was still their own biological daughter. Could he really stand by and watch her being mistreated?
Li Yan shook her head, "Her father is useless, letting that woman take charge of everything. Besides, she gave birth to his only son. Does he dare to intervene?"
Mo Yan sighed. This stepdaughter sounded like the "little white cabbage" female lead from those countryside novels in her previous life, where fathers didn't care and mothers were absent. She wondered if this girl could succeed in rebelling like in those novels, transforming into a wealthy beauty and turning the tables on the villains.
Not realizing Mo Yan's thoughts had flown far beyond, Li Yan continued to recount various stories about stepmothers and stepdaughters, as intriguing as a serialized novel.
Since these were real-life events happening around her, Mo Yan couldn't treat them as mere entertainment stories. She couldn't help feeling more sympathy for that poor girl, but as for doing something for her, she couldn't interfere in other people's family affairs.
Mo Yan kneaded the dough vigorously. When it was ready, she lit a fire in the stove, heated a pot, and placed the basin of dough on top. With the temperature so low, the dough couldn't rise on the cold stove, but the warmth from below would speed up the process significantly.
Next, she and Li Yan washed and prepared the ingredients, busying themselves for over half an hour until everything was ready, and the dough had risen.
Mo Yan took out a large winnowing basket, poured the risen dough onto it, added honey, and shaped it into long strips. She then used a kitchen knife to cut them into small rolls, arranged neatly. She covered them with a clean white cotton cloth and placed them on the pot to continue proofing with the residual heat from the stove.
When the rolls were fully proofed, Li Yan tended the fire under the stove, while Mo Yan added water to the pot and began steaming the rolls. Once they were steamed, she cleaned out the pot, heated it up again, and poured in half a pot of oil. When the oil was hot enough, she began frying the steamed rolls. The resulting fried rolls were fragrant, soft inside, and crispy outside, incredibly delicious.
Smelling the aroma of the fried rolls wafting from the kitchen, Zhen'er, who was being tested on her homework by her father, struggled to recite a passage she had already memorized perfectly, earning a few stern words from Mo Qingze.
On the other hand, Yun Zhao performed admirably. Despite his stomach growling with hunger, he maintained his composure, reciting a difficult passage flawlessly and accurately analyzing its main points, greatly satisfying Mo Qingze.
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