Chapter 35

The bone broth had turned milky white. Xiaoguo took out a spoon and tried a sip of the broth. “Mmm… sweet.” She turned to try the mushroom soup—it was delicious too. Xiaoguo put down the spoon in satisfaction. She was not in a hurry to prepare lunch, so she went outside to check on the starch to see if the drying process was complete.

As soon as she was outside, she saw Zhuang Zhuang touching the donkey. Xiaoguo quickly reminded him, “Zhuang Zhuang, don’t go behind it. It may kick you.”

Seeing that Zhuang Zhuang had shifted himself to stand beside the donkey’s head, she felt more relieved. Xiaoguo came to the potato starch and squatted down to observe them carefully. It looked like there was no water left, but she still reached out and picked up a small piece. The minute she pressed on the starch, it disintegrated into smaller pieces. Xiaoguo got up happily and brought the starch to the millstone. She had to grind all of it into powder before she could make potato starch noodles.

Xiaoguo took her time grinding the starch. Zhuang Zhuang had stopped playing with the donkey when he saw Xiaoguo move the starch towards the millstone. His eyes were glued to what she was doing. Xiaoguo saw him looking and placed a piece of starch in Zhuang Zhuang’s hand. She carried him up so that he was at eye-level to the millstone and began to teach him how to grind the starch. Zhuang Zhuang tossed the starch into the hole of the millstone and tried with all his strength to work it, but it didn’t move an inch. Xiaoguo watched him turn red in the face from straining so hard. Her eyes narrowed into curved slits as she broke into a smile. “He’s so cute.” She thought as she helped Zhuang Zhuang push the heavy stone. The millstone began to spin. The pieces of starch slowly got grounded into powder. At Xiaoguo’s signal, Zhuang Zhuang picked up a small broom and swept the powder into the basin below the millstone. He had gotten the hang of grinding and wanted to keep going on. Xiaoguo didn’t stop him—she let him work to his heart’s content—only helping him when he was in trouble.

When the grinding was done, the soup was almost ready too. Zhuang Zhuang leaned over the counter and watched as Xiaoguo lifted the lid. The rich fragrance of soup wafted out, and Zhuang Zhuang took a deep breath greedily. Xiaoguo smiled and said, “You little glutton.”

Xiaoguo’s hands did not stop moving. She extracted half of the firewood and placed it in the empty fireplace below the stove. Only a piece of firewood was left burning below each pot, allowing the soup to boil on low heat. By now, the soup had already turned into a milky white broth. Xiaoguo scooped out a spoonful of bone soup and stir-fried a plate of baby cabbage in golden broth. She then put in a couple of buns and let them steam in a pot. Next, Xiaoguo scooped out a few soft and mushy bones from the soup and made a dip out of it for the buns. With another two bowls of bone broth placed on the dining table, lunch was served.

Zhuang Zhuang ate heartily. His little mouth was covered in oil, and there were meat scraps stuck to the corners of his mouth. He drank the meat soup anxiously. The boy could really eat. He dipped the meat-filled buns with sauce and reached for the baby cabbage with his other hand, and devoured everything simultaneously.

Xiaoguo now understood why mothers were always posting videos of their children on their WeChat moments. Mothers would never get tired of looking at their own children. If she had a phone now, Xiaoguo would definitely take a lot of photos of Zhuang Zhuang.

After dinner, Zhuang Zhuang burped and went to the kitchen to wash the dishes. Xiaoguo, on the other hand, was preparing to make fish balls. There was quite a lot of preparation work required. She had to finish everything while the sun was up.

Xiaoguo was going to fry the chili oil first. She had to keep an eye on this at all times, as it could burn easily.

She chopped the mountain peppers and poured oil into the pot with some peppercorns and onions. After deep frying those, she scooped them out and poured in the chili. The pungent smell of the chili instantly filled the kitchen. Xiaoguo moved away from the stove for a while and waited for the smell to subside a little before stirring the mixture slowly to prevent the chili oil from getting burnt.

After the chili oil has been heated into a bright red paste, Xiaoguo scooped everything out and let it cool down on the side. After the chili paste had completely cooled, she added some yellow wine and sesame seeds. The secret chili sauce was now done.

Next, it was time to prepare the fish balls. Xiaoguo took out five fish and kept one so that she could cook it for Zhuang Zhuang.

By the time Xiaoguo was done, the sky had turned dark. Xiaoguo still had to make noodles. There was not much flour left, so Xiaoguo decided to use it all up. She will buy more flour tomorrow.

She made noodles out of the dough she had prepared, and dusted them with flour to prevent them from sticking. When Zhuang Zhuang arrived in the kitchen, Xiaoguo asked him without pausing what was on hand. “Have you finished feeding the cows and donkeys?”

Zhuang Zhuang had already taken on the job of feeding the cows at home. Earlier on, she had seen the boy running around. She knew that he was fetching grass to feed the cows. To see him come into the kitchen at this time, Xiaoguo’s guess was the boy must be hungry.

Zhuang Zhuang touched his stomach and smiled shyly at Xiaoguo. He had been smelling the food aromas for the whole day. He was also thinking of the fish balls that his mother had just made. Recalling the texture and taste of the fish paste in his mouth, he couldn’t stop his mouth from watering. He had to pop into the kitchen to check out the food.

Xiaoguo arranged the plain noodles and the potato starch noodles together and covered them with a cloth to prevent them from drying out. She gathered all the ingredients needed for tomorrow and set them aside. With the remaining portions she had left, Xiaoguo began making potato starch noodles for dinner.