The aroma of cooking filled the house: I sent my eldest brother to become the Grand Secretary.

Ji Lingfeng stood at the window of the kitchen of Shen Family Restaurant, with Lai Cai squatting at his feet.

He looked through the window and could see the entire kitchen.

Shen Cao was scooping the cooked food out of the pot one scoop at a time.

However, this process seems to be somewhat difficult.

Then I saw a large circle of people surrounding her, each holding a small plate and staring at her expectantly.

His eyes were fixed on Shen Cao's spatula.

He looked down at the curious and eager eyes of the man who had come to seek wealth.

Now I finally understand why their eyes looked so familiar.

It looks exactly like the wealth in front of him.

Under their eager gazes, Shen Cao scooped up most of the food with each scoop, placing the rest in a small dish.

The children who received the food picked up their small plates, left, found a place to squat down, and began to enjoy their delicious meal.

Wait a minute, he actually saw Wei Siyu, who was about the same age as him, among that group of children.

A sense of crisis flickered in his eyes.

However, this sense of crisis vanished in an instant.

Because he saw that in order to get Shen Cao to give him more, the guy actually grabbed Shen Cao's sleeve with his fingers.

Then, after shaking his buttocks and stopping what he was doing, Shen Cao put his hands together and began to beg Shen Cao.

Ji Lingfeng lowered his head again, looking at Lai Cai, who was wagging its tail wildly at his feet.

Wow, it looks even more like it now.

One, two, three, ...

swish

plop plop plop

Click click click

fizz

Some people finished eating and lined up again, only to be chased away by Shen Cao with a spatula.

The small plate was licked so clean it was polished.

Why does it take her so much effort to scoop out the filling?

Finally, I've prepared all four kinds of fillings.

She took out the qingtuan wrappers she had prepared earlier.

The method for making qingtuan skin is also very simple: add an appropriate amount of freshly boiled water to wheat starch (crystal, taken from the storage warehouse), stirring while pouring, until the starch becomes translucent.

Once the temperature has dropped to a comfortable level for handling, knead it into a dough.

Add an appropriate amount of glutinous rice flour and white sugar to the mugwort paste, mix well, then add the prepared wheat starch dough and continue kneading. While kneading, add lard until all the ingredients are fully combined, and the green rice dumpling skin is ready.

After making all the fillings, Shen Cao realized that the dough she made for her first batch of qingtuan (green glutinous rice dumplings) seemed insufficient.

She used the remaining half of the mugwort to make some more green rice dumpling wrappers.

Making green rice dumplings is much simpler.

She divided the qingtuan skin into small portions the same size as her fist.

Then, use both hands to roll the small portion of qingtuan skin three times to the left and three times to the right into a ball, flatten it, and put the prepared filling inside.

Shen Cao put a red bean on each of the red bean-filled qingtuan, rice on the pork floss and salted egg yolk filling, bamboo shoot on the shiitake mushroom and pork filling, black sesame on the taro and salted egg yolk filling, and nothing on the fresh milk and taro filling.

"Sister, how much longer until it's cooked?" Shen Wan asked, propping her head up with her hands and staring at the pot that had just started to steam.

"A quarter of an hour."

Shen Qing touched his stomach. "That's perfect, my stomach isn't feeling so full anymore."

Shen Cao smiled as she counted the heads gathered around the boiler.

One, two, three, ...

They sat in a row on small stools, their hands supporting their heads, staring longingly at the pot.

Behind the line was Lai Cai, sitting upright.

Fifteen minutes later, Shen Cao lifted the pot lid amidst the watchful eyes of everyone.

The kitchen was instantly filled with the rich aroma of fresh grass, along with a subtle salty and sweet fragrance.

The little green dumplings lay quietly and neatly in the steamer.

Its surface is shiny and looks extremely tempting.

The children who had just been sitting in a row had already gone outside to wash their hands and lined up in front of Shen Cao with their plates.

Holding the plate, I waited for Shen Cao to pick up the glossy, emerald-green dumplings and put them on the plate.

They are already extremely familiar with this process.

Each person gets one qingtuan with four fillings.

One, two, three, ...

Finally, Lai Cai walked up to Shen Cao, squatted down, and put down the dog bowl that he had licked clean.

Shen Cao smiled and put the pre-dried dumplings into his dog bowl.

Lai Cai picked up its dog bowl, wagged its tail, and left with its head held high, completely satisfied.

So that they could have more food immediately after finishing their meal, they took their small stools and sat in the kitchen.

One, two, three, ...

nibble nibble

Click click click

Crunch crunch crunch crunch

Wang Wang Wang

Shen Cao picked up the plate containing four green rice dumplings and went to the study.

knock knock knock

"Please come in!"

She pushed open the study door and went in, only to see Ji Lingfeng standing with his back to the bookshelf.

He stood tall and straight, exuding an aura that kept strangers at bay.

He turned around after hearing the noise, and when he saw that it was Shen Cao, he immediately put away his cold expression.

Put on a gentle smile.

Shen Cao wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she felt that in the short few steps he took to walk up to her, his aura became softer and warmer.

"Brother Ji, try these freshly baked green rice dumplings. They're just the right size to eat right now!" Shen Cao handed him the plate.

Ji Lingfeng looked down at the four bright green, glossy little dumplings on the white porcelain plate in front of him.

Because it was still steaming, he could smell the fresh scent of grass.

He took the chopsticks Shen Cao handed him and picked one up randomly.

One bite, and a rich, milky aroma fills the air.

But it doesn't just taste like milk; it also has a different, rich flavor.

He chewed it; the outer skin was soft and chewy, and the filling inside was powdery and delicate enough to melt in his mouth. He could even feel the molten center inside the powdery filling.

Sure enough, he glanced at the green rice dumpling he was holding on his chopsticks, the one he had taken a bite out of.

White, flowing filling oozed down from the small opening he had bitten open.

He quickly bit down and took a sip.

He doesn't like sweets, but these qingtuan weren't too sweet; they were just right.

Moreover, the slightly bitter taste of the outer skin can better highlight the richness of the filling.

He finished the taro and milk glutinous rice ball in just a few bites.

Then I picked up another one.

Take a bite, it's salty.

The sandy texture is similar to that of salted egg yolk.

But after chewing it carefully, it seemed to be more than just salted egg yolk; it also had a fibrous texture similar to meat.

Salty and savory, delicious.

He quickly finished the salted egg yolk and pork floss green rice ball.

The third one he ate was filled with red bean paste.

This is similar to the red bean paste filling in the desserts we usually eat.

However, the taste of Shen Cao's cooking wasn't particularly sweet.

He can still finish his meal.

He said the salty and savory flavor of salted egg yolk and pork floss was his favorite.

His favorite is minced pork with shiitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots. It's salty, savory, and fragrant, with the fragrance of shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and meat blended together.

He took a bite and then stuffed the rest into his mouth.

It was gone in two bites.

The moon was bright and the stars were few. When Shen Cao saw Ji Lingfeng eating qingtuan, his eyes seemed to shine even brighter than the stars.

The light made her heart sparkle.

It seemed as if a seed had quietly sprouted in her heart.