After transmigrating, I became a stepmother.

After spending the morning playing around with the little dumpling, Lin Hao felt that she had finally regained some strength.

"Sweetie, how about I give you a task?" Lin Hao said to the little bun.

"Okay," the little boy replied in his childish voice, then asked, "What kind of task is it?" He was thinking to himself, "I'm all grown up now, I'm sure I can complete the task my mother gave me."

"Go to Grandma's first and tell her we're all having dinner there tonight, and ask her to prepare it. Can you complete the task?"

"Yes, I will definitely complete the mission," the little bun patted his chest and replied loudly.

"Okay, my darling is the best!" Lin Hao said, giving the little boy a big kiss on the cheek. The little boy's face instantly turned red, whether from embarrassment or excitement, it was hard to tell.

Looking at the somewhat gloomy weather outside the window, Lin Hao put an extra vest on the little boy, touched his warm little hands, and then had him taken to Rongshou Hall. Afterwards, she called Fu Cui over and asked, "What do we usually eat on days like this?"

Zhu Qing replied, "I just make a nourishing soup to remove dampness, but otherwise it's no different from usual. Does Madam have any ideas? I'll have someone prepare it."

Zhu Qing's face didn't show any major changes, but upon closer inspection, one could see that her eyes were much brighter than usual, and her tone of voice was slightly raised.

"How about we have hot pot?" Lin Hao suggested tentatively, unsure if hot pot was available at this time.

"It's good, but it doesn't taste very good," Zhu Qing replied truthfully.

Upon hearing this, Lin Hao realized that the hot pot had already been introduced, but he didn't know why people weren't very interested in it.

"So how do you usually eat hot pot?"

Just then, Liu Dan came in from outside. Hearing this, she quickly chimed in, "It's just boiling meat and vegetables in a soup pot and then eating it! It's not as good as eating stir-fried vegetables and drinking soup!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Hao realized that they weren't using a condiment bowl. No wonder Fu Cui said it tasted bland.

Then he asked, "What are the ingredients used for the soup base?"

“It’s just some soup base,” Liu Dan replied.

Lin Hao understood. It turned out that the hot pot they were talking about was just soup cooked in a hot pot format, and it was completely different from the hot pot of later generations.

"Let's try my hot pot today and see if it's delicious!"

"Madam, do you have some secret? May I try some too?" Liu Dan asked hurriedly, her eyes sparkling as if they were twinkling with starlight.

Lin Hao looked at her greedy expression with amusement and teased, "All you ever think about is food!"

"Oh, madam, life is full of unpleasant things, so we have to find some fun for ourselves! How can we let delicious food go to waste?" he said, shaking his head.

"I think it's all because Madam spoiled you!" Fu Cui scolded Liu Dan by tapping her forehead, but her tone was not stern, and there was even a hint of doting in her eyes.

Liu Dan's mother passed away from illness when she was seven years old. Less than a month later, her father remarried a widowed stepmother. From then on, the little girl was as if she were soaking in bitter water. At a young age, she had to take care of the family's three meals a day and housework, and she also had to endure the bullying from the younger son brought by her stepmother. She was never full or warm.

When she was ten years old, her stepmother's newborn son fell ill, and the family had no money. Her stepmother then instigated her father to sell him to a widower in the same village for a dowry. The widower was more than twenty years older than her, and his two previous wives had been beaten to the point of suicide by him.

Despite the family's circumstances, her father still agreed. Fortunately, the Gu family was buying servants at the time, and her neighbor's aunt took pity on her and told her father. Her father thought that the Gu family was generous, giving more than that widower, and she wouldn't have to bear that stigma, so he agreed.

And so, Liu Dan became a servant in the Gu family. From then on, she cut off all contact with her family, pretending that she had no relatives.

Therefore, Fu Cui always felt sorry for her and treated her like her own younger sister.

Lin Hao felt that the people in her courtyard were all young girls and boys, at an age where they loved to play and be active. As long as everyone did their own job well and didn't cause any trouble, it would be fine. Therefore, the rules in the courtyard were not very strict, and the atmosphere was quite relaxed.