153 Let Her Choose Any Man She Wants
Recalling the intense battle just now, Little Peach’s eyes were filled with excitement. She clapped her hands in admiration and said, “Second Brother Zhao beat them until they peed their pants! They were crying their hearts out and were in a sorry state!”
Bai Wutong didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at her for using so many idioms. “Then why aren’t you happy after winning?”
Zhao Erwa suddenly lowered his eyes again, his pure gaze filled with sympathy. “They’re too pitiful, so I let them have the mulberry.”
Bai Wutong asked curiously, “Why?”
Zhao Erwa said in a manly manner, “We won’t go hungry even if we don’t pick the mulberries, but they will go hungry if they don’t have any. So it’s better to let them have it.”
The other children also said, “Yes, it’s uncomfortable to be hungry. We promised to give them all the mulberries on the mountain.”
The hardest period of a farmer’s year was not winter, but spring.
In the spring, the food supply was almost depleted. If they did not dig for wild vegetables and plant some vegetables to make do, some families would not even be able to eat a full meal meal each day.
At this time, having fruits to fill the stomachs was no different from a good meal for the children of the Lintian Village.
Bai Wutong felt a little sad when she heard the children’s words of kindness. She reached out and touched Zhao Erwa’s head with a smile. “You guys are awesome.”
Little Peach smiled sweetly. “Madam, we won’t pick the mulberries tomorrow. We’ll pick cherries and prickly berries for you, okay?”
Bai Wutong nodded. “Okay.”
Zhao Erwa’s eyes lit up. “Then can we still exchange for copper coins?”
His father did not know how to do carpentry. Other than farming, he could only help the 30 families of Qinghe do some hard work in exchange for some copper coins to buy some things for the house.
Moreover, his mother had always been worried that his sister, Zhao Lanzhi, would not have a proper dowry. Now that her reputation had been affected, she was even more worried.
Zhao Erwa had earned seven copper coins the day before. The entire family had praised him, and Zhao Erwa set a huge goal in his heart.
He wanted to earn a huge dowry for his sister and let her choose any man she wanted.
If one wasn’t enough, five or ten would do.
He was just that bold!
Cherries and prickly berries could be made into jam. If they couldn’t finish it, they could even give gifts to guests.
Bai Wutong nodded and smiled gently. “Okay.”
Zhao Erwa thought of the group of thin children in the neighboring village and recalled the tragic situation they experienced on the way to escape. He looked conflicted and finally couldn’t help but pity them. “Madam, do you also accept the fruits picked by the children in the neighboring village?”
Bai Wutong was stunned. Zhao Erwa hurriedly explained, “They said that once spring passes and the fruits are gone, they will be hungry again. If they can exchange for some copper coins like us, they can buy some food in town.”
The children’s kindness moved Bai Wutong. She gently held Zhao Erwa’s small hand and comforted his nervous emotions. “Sure, Madam accepts it in the first place. I would like to thank you on their behalf.”
Zhao Erwa smiled in embarrassment. “I just can’t stand them being too weak.”
Bai Wutong pinched Zhao Erwa’s little face again. “Okay, go wash your hands. Madam will make you something delicious.”
When the children heard that there was good food, they immediately rushed to the stone trough to wash their hands.
It would taste better if she put some lemon juice in the cherry sauce. Unfortunately, there was none here.
There were eight lemons in Bai Wutong’s Space, each containing a few seeds. However, it would be a long time before they grew up and bore fruit.
She and Chu Tianbao entered the mountain and specially found a few mint plants.
They planted the mint in her little garden. Bai Wutong was going to use it that day, so she went to the garden to pick some.
After boiling a pot of water with mint and letting it cool, Bai Wutong began to prepare the cherry sauce.
She poured the cherry sauce, which had been stirred with white sugar, into the pot, then poured in mint water and slowly simmered it over low heat.
During this period, Bai Wutong did not stay idle. She kept stirring with a spoon, afraid that it would burn the pot.
Looking at the pot of bright red cherry sauce that was bubbling and smelling the alluring fragrance, Chu Tianbao and the surrounding children swallowed their saliva.
It turned out that the sour cherries could actually become so delicious.
Seeing that they were looking so gluttony, Bai Wutong smiled. “Go and bring the jar over. It is ready to be served soon.”
Hearing Bai Wutong’s words, the children brought over a porcelain jar in unison and lined up in front of her.
With the two baskets of hairy cherries, Bai Wutong used quite some white sugar to make eight jars of cherry sauce.
She said that she would treat the children to good food. After making the cherry sauce, she went into the kitchen and brought some biscuits that she had baked in the cellar the day before.
Bai Wutong placed the two plates containing the cookies on the long wooden table under the grapevine. She went to get four small plates and poured out some cherry sauce. She introduced to the children. “You can eat the biscuits dipped in cherry sauce.”
The cookies made by Bai Wutong were very popular with the children. It was also because of the number biscuits made by Bai Wutong that the children had learned the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division method from one to ten. The exquisite arithmetic method and strange Arab numerals were discovered by Scholar Yang. He even said excitedly that this was a new milestone in the field of arithmetic.
He even came to Bai Wutong without shame to learn arithmetic, and even ate many number biscuits. However, his multiplication was not as good as the children’.
The biscuits were delicious enough. When dipped in the fragrant cherry sauce, how much more delicious would it be?
Chu Tianbao picked up a biscuit. The children stole a glance at him. Seeing that Chu Tianbao was not angry, they heaved a sigh of relief before daring to reach out and touch a biscuit.
Chu Tianbao dipped a biscuit in cherry sauce and was about to put it in his mouth under everyone’s gaze.
Suddenly, his hand paused and he brought it to Bai Wutong’s mouth.
Chu Tianbao smiled brightly, revealing two rows of white teeth. He let her eat first. “Wife, eat first.”
The little kid looked at him with wide eyes. Bai Wutong was embarrassed and reached out to take it. She glanced at him and smiled. “Tianbao should eat too.”
The biscuits, which had been dipped in the sweet and sour cherry sauce, had a fused flavor in the mouth. Bai Wutong felt like she was eating a sandwich biscuit from the modern world and it brought back memories.
The jam had been a success. Now, if it was accompanied by a cup of creamy yogurt, it would be even better.
There was an expression of enjoyment on Bai Wutong’s face. The children took a swallow of their saliva and sent the biscuits into their mouths. In an instant, pairs of bright eyes shot out lasers.
It was too delicious!
It was so delicious that they almost bit their tongues.
...
Madam Bai was simply the best cook in the world!
The children ate all the biscuits and jam. Before they left, they generously gave all the remaining mulberries to Bai Wutong.
Bai Wutong shook her head and wanted to give them a few copper coins. They looked at each other cleverly and suddenly ran far away before waving goodbye to Bai Wutong. “Goodbye, Madam Bai, Master Chu ~”
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