Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

After steaming all the peach blossoms, Wang Qing'er poured the liquid from the bowl into a wooden bucket for a second distillation.

She left Muqin to watch over it while she herself rushed off to the kitchen to check on the bone broth.

Lifting the lid, the soup had already turned a milky white, like milk, but since Old Man Mu and the others hadn't returned yet, they couldn't start cooking the noodles.

After greeting Wang Qing'er and Wang Cuiying, she told Mu Xiao and the others to come back and call her from the backyard so she could cook noodles. Then, like a cheerful little bird, she dashed off to the backyard.

At this moment, Zhou Shi and Mu Yao also curiously gathered around the stove, watching the drops of peach blossom dew flow into the bowl below.

When Zhou saw Wang Qing'er coming over, she couldn't wait to ask her, "Qing'er, can this peach blossom hydrosol you made really be used to moisturize the skin?"

Zhou was originally cutting cabbages with Mu Yao in the vegetable garden behind when she suddenly saw smoke coming from this side. Thinking that Wang Qing'er must be cooking something, she came over to take a look, only to find Mu Qin alone.

Only after asking did I learn that Wang Qing'er was extracting some kind of skincare peach blossom hydrosol.

Wang Qing'er said, "Grandma, I heard from someone that it was possible, so I thought I'd try making it."

Zhou looked at Wang Qing'er with suspicion, wondering how this child knew everything, and pressed on, "Oh! Then how did you know this method for extracting hydrosol?"

"Grandma, how would I know? I just saw that winemakers use this method to distill, so I thought I'd try to see if I could use this method to extract hydrosol. I never expected it would actually work."

Wang Qing'er recited the excuse she had already prepared, regardless of whether Zhou believed her or not; she would say the same thing to anyone who asked.

Fortunately, Zhou did not pursue the matter further after hearing this, and took Mu Yao back to the front yard.

A short while later, Zhou returned, this time carrying several porcelain bottles. "Qing, these porcelain bottles all have lids and good sealing properties. I thought they would be perfect for storing your hydrosol, so I brought them all for you."

Wang Qing'er looked at the porcelain bottle in Zhou's hand and a look of surprise appeared on her face. She walked over and hugged Zhou and began to act coquettishly.

"Grandma, you've really helped me a lot! I was just worried about where to put all this hydrosol! Grandma, I love you so much!" She hugged Zhou Shi and shook her happily.

"Ouch, ouch, let go of me! You've shaken my old bones to pieces!" Zhou scolded Wang Qing'er affectionately.

"Grandma, you're not old at all! If you apply this hydrosol to your face every day, you'll look even younger and more beautiful."

"You should keep it for yourself. I'm too old to use those things."

"Grandma, please don't say that, you're still young!"

Just as Wang Qing'er was showering Zhou Shi with compliments and making her laugh, Wang Cuiying's loud voice rang out at an inopportune moment, "Qing'er, your father and the others are back."

Upon hearing this, Wang Qing'er agreed and said to Zhou Shi, "Grandma, let's go to the front yard."

Looking at the fire in the stove, Zhou said, "Go ahead and do your work, I'll watch the fire for you here."

Wang Qing'er quickly smiled and said, "Then thank you, Grandma! You've worked so hard, Grandma!"

"Look at your sweet talk!" Zhou was so pleased by Wang Qing'er's flattery.

Zhou then said to her granddaughter, "Muqin, go to the front yard and help your sister-in-law start the fire. I'll watch over things here."

Muqin quickly agreed, "Okay, Grandma."

As soon as Wang Qing'er stepped into the front yard, she saw Old Man Mu and his two sons sitting in the yard, with several baskets of bamboo shoots placed beside them, like small mountains.

It turns out that after Mu Nan came back from cutting sugarcane, he also went to pick bamboo shoots. Is this man made of iron? He's always busy like a spinning top, never stopping for a moment.

Wang Qing'er went into the kitchen, took the big bones out of the pot, and found that there was very little meat on the bones, just some tendons.

She carefully removed the bones, then used bamboo skewers to pick out the marrow from the large bones, put them into the pot, and then sprinkled in salt.

She then scooped up a large bowl of braised offal from the well. "Muqin, quickly help me start a fire in the small pot outside."

"okay!"

Wang Qing'er sliced ​​the braised offal into thin slices, poured them into a pot and stir-fried them until heated. When it was done, she sprinkled a handful of bright green garlic leaves on top as a garnish.

Pour water into a pot and wait for it to boil before starting to make noodles.

Actually, she had never made knife-cut noodles before, but she thought her knife skills were pretty good and she should be able to do it well.

However, this was not the case; the initial slices were uneven in thickness and size.

After shaving for a while, I gradually got the hang of it, and the shaved dough pieces finally looked somewhat decent.

By the time Wang Qing'er had finished cutting all the dough pieces, her hands were already sore and heavy, as if they were filled with lead.

After the noodles are cooked, they slide into the bowl like silver fish, and are then served with a fragrant and nectar-like bone broth. Finally, delicious braised offal is added to each bowl.

Wang Qing'er called out loudly for them to come eat, and Mu Qin also hurriedly ran to the backyard to call Zhou Shi.

The family sat together, each with a large bowl of fragrant braised knife-cut noodles in front of them, and a bowl of amaranth in the middle.

Mu Xiao took only one bite and exclaimed excitedly, "Sister-in-law, this dumpling soup smells amazing! It's so delicious!"

"Cough cough..." After hearing Mu Xiao's words, Wang Qing'er was choked and coughed incessantly. She also felt as if a piece of fatty intestine was stuck in her throat, neither going up nor down.

Luckily, she covered her mouth in time, preventing herself from spraying the entire table.

Wang Qing'er felt utterly humiliated, her face turning as red as a ripe apple. She took a big gulp of noodle soup before swallowing the fatty intestines in her throat.

Mu Nan gently patted Wang Qing'er's back, not forgetting to glare fiercely at her younger brother, her eyes seeming to spit fire.

Wang Cuiying glared at her son, "If you can't speak properly, then don't speak!"

"Mom, I was just praising my sister-in-law's cooking. Was that wrong?" Mu Xiao said with a wronged expression.

"Second brother, sister-in-law made noodles, noodles shaved with a knife, called knife-cut noodles. And you said the dumpling soup was delicious. Don't pretend to know what you don't." Mu Qin said to her second brother while eating.

"Huh? Noodles? This... I thought this was dumpling soup." Mu Xiao looked at the long, thin dough pieces in her bowl. These looked just like dumpling soup, how could they be noodles?

"Shut up, this stuff won't shut you up." Wang Cuiying reached out and slapped Mu Xiao hard on the forehead.

Wang Qing'er drank a few mouthfuls of soup and felt much better. Then she remembered Mu Xiao's words, "What? Dumpling soup? This is clearly knife-cut noodles, okay? Does Mu Xiao even know anything? If you don't know, don't talk nonsense and embarrass her. Oh well, he probably hasn't eaten knife-cut noodles before, so it's normal that he thought it was dumpling soup."

To ease the awkwardness, Zhou changed the subject, saying, "Qing'er, I've put all the peach blossom hydrosol you made into porcelain bottles for you. There are five bottles in total. It has a light fragrance, and it smells quite nice."

"There's still some fire in the pot, enough for about half a bottle more!"