I trade in both worlds

Chen Lihua washed two cucumbers and prepared to make smashed cucumbers. Lin Erya peeled two garlic cloves, which would be used in making cucumbers later.

Xu Xu cleaned the pot and boiled water. When the water boiled, he put the chopped cabbage into the porridge and boiled it. He added some salt and oil and served the porridge. At this time, the water was also boiling and he could put the dumplings in.

Xu Jizong looked at the white flour dumplings in the bowl and looked at Xu Xu disapprovingly: "Why are you always using white flour? What a waste. It's the same if you use black flour."

Xu Xu smiled and said, "It's okay. It's a rare meal like this."

Second Aunt Xu knew that Xu Jizong was worried about the food, but since it had already been done, there was no need to continue talking. Just eat it and that's it: "Alright, alright, it's all on the table, just eat it."

Xu Jizong didn't say anything else, and he just held the bowl and worked hard.

After eating all the dumplings, everyone's stomach was full, not to mention the children. Even Niuniu was shouting that she wanted to eat dumplings tomorrow. Aunt Xu took Niuniu in her arms and gently slapped her on the buttocks twice: "How can you eat dumplings every day? Who can afford it?"

Niu Niu was too young to understand what Aunt Xu said. She just thought that Aunt Xu was playing with her and laughed.

After Aunt Xu and the others returned, Xu Xu began to bathe the children. Fortunately, after the twins were born a few years ago, Xu Jizu made a special bathtub, so it was no problem for the three children to bathe at the same time. Otherwise, it would be time-consuming and troublesome to bathe them one by one.

However, such a large bathtub also has a disadvantage, that is, it is heavy, it is inconvenient to pour water, and it is also difficult to clean the bathtub. But there is no other way, at least I will have to use this bathtub for the next two or three years.

Xu Xu first helped Xu Tiantian take a bath, and after coaxing her to sleep, he gave the three naughty boys a bath. After taking off their clothes, they sat in the bathtub and started having a water fight. You splashed me and I splashed you, and the whole yard was filled with children's laughter.

Xu Xu watched as they poured out most of the water in the bathtub, but the bath hadn't even started yet. Helplessly, Xu Xu turned back to the kitchen and continued to boil some water.

After finally bathing the three children, Xu Xu started to wash himself after they fell asleep.

After Xu Xu lay down, he still couldn't fall asleep. He was thinking about what to buy tomorrow. There was still a lot of food at home, and the winter wheat was about to be harvested, so there was no shortage of food for the time being.

I have to buy chicks tomorrow. I forgot to clean the chicken coop today, so I have to wait until tomorrow morning to clean it out. I haven't raised chickens for more than a month, so it can't be that dirty. I also have to buy eggs. I need to buy more. Several children need eggs every day, otherwise they won't get enough nutrition.

I have a dinner party the day after tomorrow and need to buy some meat. It's hard to store meat in such hot weather. It's a headache. How many dishes should I prepare? Or should I buy a chicken?

Forget it, I'll ask Second Aunt about this tomorrow. We're out of oil at home, so I need to buy some lard to make lard. We don't have much salt left, and I need to buy some more seasonings and spices.

The Xu family uses more seasonings when cooking. Xu Xu inherited the cooking style from Zhang Yunxiang, who learned it at Prince Jing's Mansion, so the dishes cooked by the Xu family taste better.

At first, the villagers came to learn how to cook it, but when they saw the seasonings, they immediately backed off. They thought it would be strange if the food didn’t taste good with so many expensive seasonings, as they had been eating this way for generations anyway.

There weren't so many seasonings in the past, and the food wasn't that bad. Who among the farmers would be willing to spend money to buy those expensive seasonings? At that time, before Xu's mother showed the spices for stewing the meat, almost everyone had run away.

Thinking of this, Xu Xu smiled silently. Forget it, let’s go to sleep. I’ll go to the market tomorrow and buy whatever I need.

At dawn the next day, when Xu Xu woke up, she felt that she might not have any milk today. Xu Tiantian would have to eat mainly complementary foods from now on. The first meal of weaning today would be millet porridge.

In fact, Xu Xu had already discovered yesterday that she had little milk. It was probably because she was in a bad mood recently, and was too busy to breastfeed, causing her milk to be almost withdrawn.

After washing up, Xu Xu started to cook millet porridge. While the porridge was cooking, Xu Xu chopped the green onions he had picked yesterday, scooped up flour and added water to make a batter. Then he put the chopped green onions into the batter, added salt and five-spice powder, stirred well and started to fry.

Xu Xu first washed the griddle and heated it, then rubbed some oil on it, scooped a spoonful of batter and used a spatula to spread the batter into a circle that was neither too thick nor too thin. When the bottom of the scallion pancake was fried until golden brown, he turned it over and continued to fry the other side.

Fry until both sides are golden brown and fully cooked, then take out the fried scallion pancakes and place them on a bamboo basket.

Xu Xu served the cooked millet porridge to cool, then began to clean up the kitchen. After a while, he heard noises coming from the main room, so he quickly washed his hands and went into the house.

When they walked to the door, they saw Xu Tiantian had woken up and was crying with her mouth pursed. The twins and Xu Qiwei were all around her trying to comfort her. Xu Xu picked up Xu Tiantian and touched her diaper, which was wet. She took out a clean diaper and told the three children to go wash up.

Xu Xu carried Xu Tiantian to the kitchen to get hot water, cleaned Xu Tiantian and changed her into a clean diaper, fed her a few spoonfuls of water, then brought a bowl of millet porridge and started feeding Xu Tiantian.

Xu Xu sat in the yard and watched the three of them go to the toilet together, and then fetch water to wash up. Xu Qiwei was basically playing with water, and in the end, Xu Jin helped him rinse his mouth and wash his face. After taking care of their personal hygiene, they all gathered around to watch Xu Tiantian eat breakfast.

Xu Xu didn't know what was so good about this: "The porridge has been served and placed on the table, along with some scallion pancakes. Go eat first and stop looking."

Xiao Jin shook his head: "Let's wait for sister to eat together."

Xu Xu speeded up the feeding: "Okay."

After Xu Tiantian was full, Xu Xu moved the cradle to the table, put Xu Tiantian on the cradle, let her sit back, and then started to eat breakfast.

Xu Zhun took a bite of the scallion pancake and his eyes lit up: "Sister, this is delicious. It would be even better if there were dried shrimps."

Xu Xu smiled and looked at Xu Zhun: "You are the only one who knows how to eat. Eat quickly. After eating, you can play at Second Aunt's house. Second Aunt and I will go to the market to buy chicks and raise them."

Xu Qiwei wanted to follow Xu Xu: "Mom, I want to go too."

Xu Xu refused: "No, mother can't take care of all of you at once. There are many beggars in the market. If you are caught by them, you will never see mother, uncle, and sister again."

Hearing that he would not be able to see his mother again, Xu Qiwei shrank his neck in fear: "Then I won't go. I don't want to miss seeing my mother, uncle, and sister."

Xu Jin and Xu Zhun also wanted to go, but when they heard that there were beggars at the market, they immediately continued to eat obediently.

Xu Xu left the children at Xu Jizong's house and went to the market with Aunt Xu and Xu Youyin. The nearby market was in Xiejiaxu, a village next door, and usually opened on the 3rd and 9th of each month.