Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

Chapter 303

While the dough was resting, Cheng Jinxi placed the soaked shiitake mushrooms on a cutting board, then washed and chopped the Chinese cabbage together, added two tablespoons of cooking oil, let it sit for five minutes, and then added salt and mixed well.

"Jinxiao, help me wash the ginger and get the eggs," Cheng Jinxi called out to Cheng Jinxiao. Today had been incredibly busy; she needed to rest after finishing all that.

"I understand, big sister!"

Cheng Jinxiao took out ginger, washed it, chopped it with a knife, put it in a small bowl for later use, and also took a few eggs and poured in some soy sauce.

Cheng Jinxi added chopped ginger, two tablespoons of cooking wine, two eggs, two tablespoons of salt, one tablespoon of pepper powder, one tablespoon of Sichuan peppercorn powder, and a small half-spoon of chicken essence and MSG to the minced meat. After preparing everything, Cheng Jinxi mixed it well.

The half hour passed quickly. After the dough had risen, Cheng Jinxi took it out, pinched it into several small dough balls, and then kneaded them into long, round strips for later use.

Cheng Jinxiao helped Cheng Jinxi by pinching small dough balls into pieces. She flattened these dough balls with her palms, held the wrapper in her left hand, and rolled them out with a rolling pin in her right hand into dumpling wrappers that were slightly thicker in the middle and thinner around the edges.

Cheng Jinxi squeezed out some of the water from the marinated cabbage, poured it into the minced meat, and mixed it well.

The meat filling and dumpling wrappers are ready; now all we have to do is wrap the dumplings.

At this moment, Cheng Jinxiang and Zhu Yufeng had finished showering and came over to take over Cheng Jinxi's work.

"Jinxi, go take a shower first. You can leave this to me and your sister-in-law." Cheng Jinxiang came to the kitchen and took the rolling pin from Cheng Jinxi's hand, with Zhu Yufeng following behind.

Cheng Jinxi was finally able to rest for a while after working hard all day, but she looked at Cheng Jinxiao and Zhu Yufeng and thought that the two of them could take this opportunity to get along well.

So Cheng Jinxi said, "Jinxiao, why don't you stay here and help your sister-in-law and the others? I guess the other kids still need to wash, and we won't be able to finish washing them all in a while."

Cheng Jinxiao frowned, shook her head, glanced at Zhu Yufeng, and quickly looked away. "No, big sister, I'll go take a bath with you. There are a lot of people taking baths today, but we can just wait. I'm also a little tired, so I can rest after taking a bath."

Clearly, Cheng Jinxiao didn't want to be with Zhu Yufeng, and Cheng Jinxi, seeing this, couldn't say anything and could only sigh and let Cheng Jinxiao be.

Zhu Yufeng understood Cheng Jinxiao's meaning. She turned her head away impatiently and said, "I think she just wants to use taking a bath as an excuse to slack off elsewhere and then dump all the work on us."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Jinxiang nudged Zhu Yufeng's shoulder, expressing her disapproval, "Sister-in-law, don't say that. We all take turns doing the work. We were taking a shower just now, and my eldest sister and younger sister were busy here for a long time. Now that we've finished showering, it's their turn to shower. Besides, all that's left is to make dumplings. We can just call Da'e and the others over to help."

Cheng Jinxiao was not pleased with Zhu Yufeng's insults, but she held back and did not retaliate. She did not want to make things too awkward, so she ignored Zhu Yufeng and turned to leave the kitchen.

Cheng Jinxiang was at her wit's end; how long would these two keep arguing?

Cheng Jinxiang was exhausted and didn't want to care about the two of them anymore.

She called over the goose and the Chunwen and Chunhong sisters to come and make dumplings together.

Zhao Da'e was quite excited as he looked at the dumpling wrappers and meat filling on the table.

"Mom, are we having dumplings tonight?" Zhao Da'e couldn't help but ask.

Cheng Jinxiang smiled and patted the goose's head. "Look at us, which year haven't we eaten dumplings for Chinese New Year?"

"Alright, I called you over here to help out, and I've often heard you guys talking about wanting to make dumplings, so here's a chance for you to make dumplings."

Zhou Chunhong washed her hands, picked up a dumpling wrapper, and put in the meat filling, but she was wrapping the dumplings using the same method as wrapping steamed buns.

Seeing this, Zhou Chunwen sighed and said, "Chunhong, that's not how you wrap dumplings. That's how you wrap steamed buns."

Zhou Chunhong stammered, "Hmph, I can wrap it however I want..."

Zhou Chunwen sighed in exasperation, but still patiently tried to teach Zhou Chunhong.

"Chunhong, you should just go do what you're supposed to do and stop causing trouble for others. Look how I wrapped it."

As she spoke, Zhou Chunwen took out a dumpling wrapper and placed it in her palm. She put the meat filling in the middle of the wrapper, pinched the center first, then the two sides, and then squeezed the wrapper from the center to the edges to form a crescent shape.

Zhou Chunwen showed the dumplings she had wrapped to Zhou Chunhong. "See, Chunhong? This is how you wrap dumplings. This is what it means to wrap dumplings. Your method is not what you call wrapping dumplings."

Zhou Chunhong pouted, a hint of rebellion in her expression. She simply didn't want to listen. Picking up the dumplings, she started wrapping them like she was making steamed buns, deliberately placing them in front of Zhou Chunwen and laughing, "I'll wrap them however I want... I won't... listen to you!"

Zhou Chunwen was silent for a while, a black line appeared on her forehead. For a moment, she felt that Chunhong was quite deserving of a beating. As the older sister, she really wanted to teach Chunhong a lesson.

However, it's really not good to scold her all the time during the Chinese New Year, but some people really are terrible at everything.

Zhao Da'e, watching from the side, burst into laughter, "Second cousin, watch out, I think eldest cousin looks like she wants to beat you up."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chunhong became even more excited. She then picked up a dumpling wrapper and used the same technique as making steamed buns to wrap a dumpling. After finishing, she took the dumpling and ran to Zhou Chunwen, deliberately waving it in front of him.

"I want to wrap it like this, so come and hit me!" Zhou Chunwen was so angry at Zhou Chunhong's cheeky behavior that she directly tapped Zhou Chunhong on the forehead.

A moment later, Zhou Chunhong clutched her head and cried out in pain, which made Zhao Da'e and the others laugh until their stomachs hurt.

Cheng Jinxiang covered her mouth and laughed, "Chunhong, who told you to mess with your sister?"

Zhou Chunhong was in so much pain that tears welled up in her eyes. She turned her head and saw that Zhao Da'e had wrapped the dumpling into the shape of a leaf. She pointed at Zhao Da'e as if to complain and said to Zhou Chunwen, "Big sister, Da'e... also wrapped it... wrong, why... didn't you hit her?"

When Zhou Chunwen saw that Zhao Da'e's dumpling was shaped like a leaf, she went over and patted Zhao Da'e's head. "He's only seven years old. It's normal that he can't wrap dumplings. Unlike you, who came here specifically to annoy me."

Zhou Chunhong pouted and said aggrievedly, "Big sister, why...why do you treat me differently?"

Heartbroken, Zhou Chunhong went to make dumplings by herself, vowing that she would never want to talk to her older sister and the goose again.

Cheng Jinxiang smiled helplessly as she looked at Zhou Chunhong's aggrieved expression. She saw a reflection of her past self in Zhou Chunhong. When they were young, everyone took better care of Jinxiao and often neglected her as the second child. At this moment, she could understand Zhou Chunhong's feelings.

Cheng Jinxiang walked over and patted Zhou Chunhong on the shoulder, comforting her, "It's okay, Chunhong, wrap them however you like, but remember to pinch the dumpling wrappers tightly, otherwise they will come undone when you put them in the pot and they won't taste good."

Upon hearing Cheng Jinxiang's words, Zhou Chunhong's eyes lit up immediately, and she nodded heavily, thinking to herself, "My second aunt is still the best to me!"

When the dumplings were almost finished, Zhu Yufeng took out a coin and put it into the meat filling of the last dumpling.

Whoever finds a dumpling with a coin inside will have good luck in the new year.

After making the dumplings, there was still some dough and meat filling left, so I put it away for storage. Since the temperature is low now, it won't spoil if I leave it on the table. It will only spoil easily if the temperature rises.

Once the water in the pot boils, put the wrapped dumplings into the pot and use a slotted spoon to slide them along the edge of the pot in one direction to prevent them from sticking. After the water boils again, pour in some cold water.

When the dumplings float to the surface and become translucent, they are almost ready.

The aroma of dumplings wafted out, making Zhao Da'e's mouth water. He picked up his chopsticks and secretly ate several dumplings. They were still a little hot when he ate them, so he opened his mouth to breathe on them and almost burned himself.

Cheng Jinxiang, who was standing next to her, laughed when she saw this. "Alright, alright, look at how you're eating. Eat slowly. There are so many dumplings, no one will fight you for them. Besides, there's still a whole bunch of dumplings over there that haven't been cooked yet."

Cheng Jinxiang washed the dishes, put a dozen or so dumplings into a bowl, patted Zhao Da'e's hand, and said, "Okay, take these and eat them while they're still warm. I'll put some more dumplings in the pot after you finish eating."

"Okay, Mom!"

Zhao Da'e seemed to remember something, and looked up again, saying, "Mom, could you give me another bowl of dumplings? I'll give this bowl to Grandma first; she didn't eat much this afternoon."

Cheng Jinxiang chuckled upon hearing this, "Okay, wait here, I'll get you another bowl of dumplings right away."

A dozen minutes later, Zhao Da'e arrived at Wang's room with dumplings.

Cheng Jinxiao was also in the room, carrying a basin of water and a wet towel, wiping Wang's body.

Wang was in poor health and partially paralyzed, so she couldn't take a bath. She usually had someone wipe her body with a warm, damp towel.

"Grandma, I brought you dumplings. Hot dumplings are so delicious!"

As they were talking, Zhao Da'e smelled the aroma of dumplings and couldn't resist picking up his chopsticks and taking a dumpling into his mouth. Cheng Jinxiao saw this and couldn't help but laugh and say, "You, you, did you come here to deliver dumplings? I think you should eat this bowl of dumplings yourself."

Zhao Da'e scratched his head sheepishly, "Oh, Auntie, I've already eaten dumplings. This bowl of dumplings is for Grandma. I just couldn't resist eating one. These dumplings are so delicious."

Looking at Zhao Da'e's tiny figure, Wang smiled and waved to her, saying, "Da'e, come here and let Grandma take a good look at you."

Zhao Da'e obediently went over, and Wang Shi touched Zhao Da'e's little hand, "You are seven years old this year. Time flies so fast. I remember when you were still in Jinxiang's belly, you were so tiny when you were born. Your hand was really small."

Wang patted Zhao Da'e's little hand, reminiscing about her youth, and said to Cheng Jinxiao beside her, "I also remember what you looked like when you were born, Jinxiao. You were so tiny, all wrinkled up. But now you're so big. Your older brothers and sisters have all started their own families and have their own children."

Cheng Jinxiao was extremely helpless. She put the towel in hot water, wrung it out again, and said, "Mom, why have you been so sentimental lately? You keep thinking about things from when you were young."

Ms. Wang sighed, "When you reach my age, you'll understand how I feel."

As she grew old, and with some paralysis, Wang spent most of her day lying in bed. With little time to do anything else, all she could do was look at her family and reminisce about the past.

"Big Goose, tell your mother and the others to come and keep this old woman company when they're done with their work. It'll be more lively with more people in the room."

Wang didn't like quiet. She usually stayed in her room alone, and she found it lonely. She preferred lively and bustling places.

Zhao Da'e put down the dumplings in her hand and said, "Grandma, remember to eat some dumplings so you don't go hungry. I'll call Mom and the others to come inside right now."

After hearing this, Wang laughed and said, "I never thought I'd be told to eat well by a younger generation. Alright, go and call your mother and the others over. It's warmer inside; it's too cold staying outside all the time."

Zhao Da'e went outside to call someone in, and Cheng Jinxi came to Wang's room right after taking a bath.

When Zhu Yufeng saw Wang Shi calling them to go inside, she sighed helplessly, "If they all go to their rooms, what will happen to this pot of dumplings?"

Cheng Jinxiang suggested, "Let's cook this pot of dumplings and then take it into Mom's room. That way, everyone can have dumplings, and there's a heated kang bed in the room, so it'll be warm to sit on."

Zhu Yufeng thought it made a lot of sense, so she immediately picked up a large bowl and scooped up the dumplings. Then she asked Zhao Da'e to wash some small bowls and bring them inside so that everyone could gather around and eat together.

Everyone stayed in Wang's room, each holding a small bowl and eating dumplings. In addition to dumplings, there were also some small snacks such as red dates, peanuts, and melon seeds. Everyone stayed together to keep watch, and it was lively with so many people.

Wang felt happy to see her large family gathered around her.

"If Rongguo's two children could come back, then the whole family would be together." Wang didn't mention Zhao Tiesheng. In her eyes, Zhao Tiesheng was not good to her second daughter, and she was angry with him. She didn't even want to see Zhao Tiesheng.

Zhu Yufeng listened to Wang Shi talking about her son and said helplessly, "Mom, they are all helping out in town. Today is New Year's Eve, so they will be quite busy and can earn some money. They will be back tomorrow. Tell them to buy some things to show their respect to you."

Wang smiled and patted Zhu Yufeng's hand. "Just tell them to come back. You don't need to buy anything for this old woman."

Cheng Jinxiao picked up a spoon for Wang Shi, pinched the dumpling in half, and then blew on it to make it easier for Wang Shi to eat without burning her.

"Mom, have some dumplings. You didn't eat much tonight," Cheng Jinxiao couldn't help but say, as she had been thinking that Wang Shi hadn't eaten much that evening either.

She fed the dumplings to Wang's mouth. Wang felt a warmth in her heart as she listened to her daughter's nagging. "Okay, okay, I'll eat. If I don't eat something, you'll nag me to death tonight."