mtl008 Chapter 101 Successfully Collected the Tofu Making Recipe
Chapter 101 Successfully Collected the Tofu Making Recipe
"Third Brother, I'm here..."
She couldn't really let her third brother strangle Wei Zhishu; Wei Zhishu was still very useful!
Summer's end once again uttered a weak sound.
This time, Xia Sange noticed it.
Xia Sange casually flung Wei Zhishu, whom he was carrying, away and rushed towards the direction from which the sound came, behind the artificial hill.
Seeing Xia Mo squatting behind the rockery, Xia Sange breathed a long sigh of relief and asked, "Little sister, is anything painful?"
Xia Mo called out weakly, "Waaah, Third Brother, I'm so scared."
However, what Xia Sange saw in Xia Mo's expression was this: Xia Mo winked at him playfully with a hint of suggestion, and grinned, revealing a bright smile with snow-white teeth.
Xia Sange: "..."
Xia Sange thought to himself: My little sister is so naughty and sly, but I like her just the way she is!
Before long, people gathered around the artificial hill again.
Xia Mo put away her playful smile, adjusted the color in her face, and looked pale as if she had been frightened.
Wei Zhishu had the twenty men who had fallen to the ground tied up with ropes and left aside. At the very least, he had to make it look like they were acting under his orders and not reveal that these twenty men were indeed acting on his orders.
"Little sister, are you alright?" Xia Sange's breath caught in his throat. Seeing Xia Mo's pale face, he remembered how weak and on the verge of death she looked after drowning, and his heart clenched in fear.
Xia Mo reached out and asked Xia Sange to help her up.
Xia Mo leaned her weight against Xia Sange, and with her small hand she gently squeezed Xia Sange's arm, silently conveying the message that she was acting!
Xia Sange also subtly squeezed Xia Mo's fingertips, indicating that he was cooperating with her acting!
The little devil in Xia Mo's heart laughed so hard he fell to the ground.
“Miss Xia, you are the only one who is still conscious. Come with me, I need to question you alone,” Wei Zhishu wanted to use this method to lure Xia Mo away first.
Xia Mo was contemplating whether or not to go with Wei Zhishu.
She wasn't worried even if she went with Wei Zhishu, but...
Xia Mo turned to look at Xia Sange, who was filled with worry, and understood.
Xia Mo shook her head and refused.
"Please don't refuse, Miss Xia, let's go," Wei Zhishu sent two old women over, intending to forcibly take Xia Mo away in front of everyone.
Huangfu Qian walked to the front of the guests expressionlessly, not even looking at Wei Zhishu, and asked, "What happened?"
Wei Zhishu's breath hitched the moment he saw Huangfu Qian.
Huangfu Qian has already left, hasn't he?! Why is he back?!
“Young Master Huang, he tried to take me away by force. I didn’t see anything,” Xia Mo said, pointing at Wei Zhishu.
Wei Zhishu shuddered in fright and hurriedly explained, "I just want to know what happened to these twenty people who collapsed. She's the only one who's conscious, and I want to take her to find out."
"She looks capable of taking down these twenty people?" Huangfu Qian's sharp, thin lips parted, and he found his own words somewhat amusing.
He saw exactly how Xia Mo took down those twenty people.
“Yes, yes, she’s just a frail little girl, how could she be a match for these twenty people? Even if she’s the only one who’s sober, she can’t see anything from behind the rockery,” some of the guests, who felt sorry for her, stepped forward to help.
"If she had seen it, how could the murderer have let her live? She would probably be just like those twenty people lying on the ground, wouldn't she?"
"..."
The guests chimed in, and because of their numbers, Wei Zhishu couldn't very well punish them for being so comprehensive, so they all stepped forward to offer their analyses.
Unwilling to accept defeat, Wei Zhishu knew he couldn't take Xia Mo away today!
After the engagement banquet ended, the guests began to leave. Xia Mo and Xia Sange followed the departing guests and left together.
She deliberately left a wisp of her divine consciousness to guard Ma Yiyi's side.
Ma Yiyi opened the light screen, unwilling to give up, and clicked "Simple" to complete the first side quest, "Invite Xia Mo to the Engagement Banquet," and obtained a tofu-making recipe.
The recipe for making tofu popped up, but Ma Yiyi didn't bother to look at it and just closed it.
Xia Mo used her divine sense to successfully collect the recipe for making tofu.
* * *
On the way back to Anjia Village—
"Little sister, why do you look so happy?"
Xia Sange, carrying fifty pounds of soybeans, followed beside Xia Mo. Seeing Xia Mo hopping and skipping around, he couldn't help but ask her a question.
They bought fifty catties of soybeans in Anping County.
Xia Mo winked playfully at Xia Sange, feigning mystery, and said, "Third Brother, don't ask yet, you'll know tomorrow!"
* * *
Early the next morning—
She placed the soybeans next to the stove in the kitchen, having soaked them in advance. She was still a little worried that they might not have been soaked properly, so she used her divine sense to check on them from time to time.
The family had a medium-sized millstone, a sufficient number of buckets, and the strong and capable Xia Sange.
Xia Mo woke up and called Xia San Ge, who was sleeping, to the kitchen.
Xia's father, mother, eldest brother, and second brother stood by watching the commotion. None of the family thought of stopping Xia Mo; they even helped with the task and spoiled her.
Xia Mo directed Xia Sange to start turning the millstone. Then, she used a gourd-shaped ladle to pour the soaked soybeans into the hole in the center of the millstone.
In no time, the soybeans turned into soy milk, which flowed out from under the millstone, along the groove, and into the wooden bucket.
Brother Xia and Brother Xia worked together, holding the four corners of the burlap cloth, to filter the soy milk into soy juice.
Pour the soy milk into a pot, bring it to a boil, add some brine, stir until it forms small lumps, and then the work is done by Xia's father and mother.
When it comes to controlling the heat, Xia's mother is the best. She doesn't worry at all about the heat being too high and ruining the soy milk.
Xia's father helped stir it.
Xia Sange went to move the large wooden basin again.
Line several wooden basins with fine linen, pour in the cubed tofu pudding, and then press it down with a wooden board.
Next, we just wait.
Xia Mo had figured out all the steps and arranged them well, but when pressing the bean curd with the wooden board, she didn't know how much force was appropriate and used too much force.
Two quarters of an hour later, filled with anticipation—
The tofu can be unmolded now.
Xia's father, Xia's mother, Xia's eldest brother, Xia's second brother, and Xia's third brother were all amazed as they looked at the firm tofu made from soybeans.
"Little sister, is this something to eat?" Xia Sange's eyes lit up, and he couldn't wait to put it in his mouth and taste it.
Xia Mo stared at the tofu, the recipe for making tofu flashing through her mind. It said that the tofu should be soft and bouncy after it was made, but hers... seemed a little too firm.
“Yes,” Xia Mo confirmed that the tofu was not poisonous.
Xia Sange couldn't wait to put a piece in his mouth, and then his mouth was full of grainy texture. It wasn't bad, but to say it was delicious... the texture was refreshing, but it had no flavor.
"It doesn't seem... very tasty," Xia Sange said with a serious expression.
"Let's cut this into pieces and put it in the braising liquid," Xia Mo thought it seemed like a good idea to braise it.
Xia's father and mother exchanged glances and immediately began to act.
December has arrived...
No matter how many reasons or excuses Wei Zhishu had, he could no longer stay in Anping County.
He wanted to take Ma Yiyi back to Beijing to get married, but when he thought of Xia Mo, a strong sense of resentment welled up in his heart, as well as... an inexplicable intuition. His intuition told him that Xia Mo should have been his!