I'm dressed up as the timid eldest daughter, and the whole family has to listen to me!

the next morning,

Seeing that the rain was still pouring down, Su Banxia decided not to go out to set up her stall. So she decided to research some new food. After all, Lianhua had already learned how to make fried dough sticks and sesame balls, so Lianhua would make those foods from now on, and she would make new ones herself. In this way, she could make more money before the New Year.

Thinking of Su Banxia, ​​I prepared some flour and eggs, wanting to try making dorayaki. Dorayaki is easy to make, and you can make a lot of fillings. It can fetch a good price when sold on the street. It's a dessert, and children and women will like to eat it, so I'm not worried about not being able to sell it.

With that in mind, Su Banxia began to get busy. For the flour, she used coarse wheat flour, which she ground with a millstone and then sifted to obtain fine powder to replace the low-gluten flour. As for the baking powder, Su Banxia came up with a solution: she used wood ash instead.

Adding rice wine to aid fermentation and make it fluffy, along with honey, will create the pancake for dorayaki.

The filling uses the classic red bean and glutinous rice fillings. Su Baixia saw that there was still a lot of glutinous rice left at home, so he decided to try making a bamboo tube rice dumpling.

These bamboo tube rice dumplings can be steamed at home, kept warm, and then taken directly to the market to sell. This saves the trouble of making them on the spot. When customers buy them, just take the rice dumplings out and coat them with a layer of white sugar or honey, and they can eat them.

Thinking this way, Su Banxia asked Su Shiyan and Su Hanzhang to go and cut some bamboo from the surrounding area while the rain had subsided to make bamboo tubes. The bamboo tubes could be reused, and they could be thrown away after the bamboo fragrance was gone. Anyway, there was plenty of bamboo on the mountain, so there was no fear of running out of bamboo tubes.

Seeing Su Banxia busy in the kitchen, Lianhua naturally didn't sit idle either, helping her prepare the noodles, tend the fire, and gather the ingredients.

Seeing that everyone had gone to work, Cuihua felt embarrassed to stay at home. However, instead of helping in the kitchen, she grabbed Su Shiyan and said in a coquettish tone:

"Brother Shiyan, I've been staying at your house for so many days and haven't been out yet. Could you take me with you? I can help you tidy up the bamboo, and I promise I won't cause any trouble."

Su Shiyan was somewhat embarrassed upon hearing this, and turned to run to the kitchen to ask Lianhua.

"Lianhua, Cuihua said she wants to go out for a walk with me. She's been at our house for a few days and hasn't gotten to know the area yet. Why don't you come along too? You can lead the way."

Lotus said with a smile as she tended the fire:

"Didn't you see me helping Banxia? Banxia is so busy, how can I have time to go out? You just take her to cut bamboo. There are only a few roads around, so let her get familiar with them and then let her come back. She's feeling very stifled staying at home all the time. It's good that we don't have to go to the market to set up a stall today, so it's good for her to go with us."

Hearing Lianhua's words, Su Shiyan felt somewhat awkward and uneasy, but he didn't say anything more. He couldn't leave Su Banxia to work alone in the kitchen, so he gritted his teeth, turned around, and left.

"Cuihua, put on your raincoat and come with me. Be careful on the road. Your sister said you should go for a walk and come back early. Don't stay outside for too long."

Cuihua was overjoyed to hear this and excitedly went to get the raincoat.

After they were dressed, they carried their baskets and went out.

Su Hanzhang remembered that there was a piece of land at the foot of Dwarf Mountain with a lush bamboo forest, and the bamboo was the perfect size, exactly the thickness her daughter wanted. So she took the two of them directly to that land.

Upon arrival, the two of them put the bamboo down without a word, and I began cutting it. Cuihua, who was nearby, helped out quite a bit, cutting the bamboo and putting it into the basket, while tying up the longer pieces with rope, all the while clapping and cheering.

"Brother Shi Yan, you are really amazing. You have cut down so much bamboo in such a short time. You are the most amazing man I have ever seen. My sister is so lucky to have married you."

Hearing Cuihua's flattering words, Su Shiyan felt a sweet warmth in his heart. He was indeed strong and would definitely be able to provide Lianhua with good living conditions in the future. He could also support Lianhua with his own hands.

Not content with just praising him, Cuihua noticed that Su Shiyan was tired from chopping bamboo and beads of sweat were forming on his forehead. She took out her handkerchief and reached out to wipe his sweat.

Upon seeing this, Su Shiyan immediately dodged and said awkwardly:

“Cuihua, you don’t need to worry about me. Just go and tidy up the bamboo. Or you can go and wander around and look for yourself. My dad and I are cutting bamboo in this area. When you’ve had your fill of wandering around, just come back here to find us.”

Seeing this, Cuihua pouted somewhat unhappily and said:

"Brother Shi Yan, what are you saying? You and Uncle are working so hard here, how can I go off to relax by myself? Besides, I'm just helping you tidy up the bamboo, I'm not tired. Brother Shi Yan, let me wipe your sweat. Your forehead is all wet with sweat now, so you won't catch a cold if you get chilled in the wind."

As Cuihua reached for her handkerchief to wipe Su Shiyan's sweat, Su Shiyan immediately raised his hand to stop her.

"No need to wipe it off. It's raining today, and the sweat and rain are mixed together. I don't care about that. I just want to finish cutting the bamboo and go home as soon as possible. I'm tough and I won't catch a cold."

Cuihua pouted unhappily.

“Brother Shiyan, I’m doing this for your own good. I’m worried about you, and I’m worried about my sister too. If you get sick, my sister will have to suffer and take care of you. You should take good care of yourself. I’m just wiping your sweat, that’s nothing, it won’t tire me out.”

Upon hearing Cuihua's words, Su Shiyan saw that she was indeed unhappy. As a grown man, he couldn't be too coy, so he nodded helplessly.

"Then wipe it if you want. Anyway, a little sweat and rain won't break me. I won't let Lotus suffer with me."

When Cuihua saw that Su Shiyan had finally agreed to let her wipe his sweat, she was overjoyed. She quickly stepped forward and gently wiped the sweat from Su Shiyan's face before contentedly putting the handkerchief away and returning to tidying up the bamboo.

Su Shiyan watched Cuihua's retreating figure and shook his head helplessly, thinking that she was still young and childish, and could be easily coaxed back to normal.

Thinking this, Su Shiyan didn't say anything more and turned to chop bamboo again. After everyone had chopped bamboo for a while, they suddenly heard Cuihua scream "Ah!"

Su Shiyan was terrified. He immediately dropped the wood-chopping knife in his hand and ran to check on Cuihua. Before leaving, Lianhua had specifically told him to take good care of Cuihua. If anything really happened to Cuihua, Lianhua would definitely blame him…