The morning of the next day, Du Xiao Li got up from bed, and after a quick wash of her face, she went outside, preparing to make breakfast.
Because Du Xiu Heng was too tired from yesterday, he still hasnât gotten up yet.
She had the sweet potatoes they brought back yesterday peeled with a knife, and then cut into small pieces. Afterwards, using a bamboo steamer, she placed it onto the pot to cook. Soon after, Du Xiu Heng woke up.
âYounger sister, why didnât you wake me?â Du Xiu Heng rubbed his eyes and said.
âI saw that big brother was too tired yesterday and the day before, and wanted to let you sleep some more. The face washing water is in the basin, why donât you go wash your face first.â Du Xiao Li said while she added firewood into the temporary fire.
After Du Xiu Heng came back from washing his face, he saw Du Xiao Li still not done and asked, âWhat are you making to eat?â
âI saw the sweet potatoes we got back yesterday, and wanted to make some sweet potato cake to eat.â When Du Xiao Li felt it was about done, she removed it from the fire, and afterwards, opened the bamboo steamer lid. The sweet aroma of the sweet potatoes a.s.saulted their nose.
Du Xiu Heng watched Du Xiao Li use chopsticks to pick up the sweet potato and placed it into a bowl, afterwards slowly pressing it into mashed sweet potatoes. Then, she added in glutinous rice flour, and used chopsticks to mix it evenly.
âYounger sister, when did you learn to cook?â Du Xiu Heng skeptically looked to Du Xiao Li. Yesterdayâs wild hare stew was also good, and todayâs sweet potato cake, heâd never heard her mention before.
âI just randomly thought about it and felt it can be made like this.â Du Xiao Li replied, and then ran to go wash her hands. When she came back, she had the sweet potatoes kneaded into palm size, and finger thick, flat cakes. She then took down the pot, and replaced it with the pot for stir-frying, letting Du Xiu Heng light the fire for her.
After waiting for the pot to heat up, she poured the vegetable oil into the pot. Then after the oil heated up, she had the pieces of flat cakes placed into the pot to pan-fry. And when the two sides became a golden color, she found a plate to put them onto.
Very soon, a plate of sweet potato cakes were made.
Du Xiao Li used chopsticks to separate a little piece for Du Xiu Heng, and watched him eat it, asking: âHowâs the taste?â
âVery delicious! Didnât know that sweet potatoes could be made like this to eat too.â After Du Xiu Heng swallowed it down, he successively exclaimed in admiration.
âThen quickly go wash your hands and come back to eat.â Du Xiao Li, seeing Du Xiu Heng liking it, happily smiled. After she plated all the cakes, she had the pot washed, then poured in the remaining wild hare stew from yesterday.
âEn, how pleasant smelling. Xiao Li, what are you making here? Smelling this good!â Niu Jing, who was pa.s.sing by Du Xiao Liâs courtyard, smelled the sweet potato cakes, and couldnât help stopping to ask.
As soon as Du Xiu Li saw it was Niu Jing, she replied with a smile, âI made some sweet potato cakes for big brother. Grandpa Niu, do you want to come in and try some?â
âOkay!â Niu Jing pushed opened the very worn-out wooden fence and walked in, behind him, also followed Han Ming Yi and those two men in black.
âGrandpa Niu, he is?â Since it was their second time meeting, and even in her own home, Du Xiao Li couldnât continue to pretend to not see him, thus asked.
Niu Jing picked up a piece of sweet potato cake with chopsticks and took a bite. A sweet but not greasy taste dispersed in his mouth, delicious to the point where his entire face even smoothed out. Hearing Du Xiao Li ask about Han Ming Yi, he swallowed the sweet potato cake in his mouth, and said, âThis is the grandson of a friend of mine. Because heâs sick, he came to my place to recuperate for a period of time. You can just call him big brother Xiao Yi[1].â
âOh. Big brother Xiao Yi, do you want to eat?â Du Xiao Li went and had one of the plates cleaned. Afterwards, she picked up a piece and placed it onto the plate, placing it in front of Han Ming Yi.
Since heâs come to her home, no matter what, she should at least make a friendly gesture. However, based on her experience with his type in her past life, he wonât eat it, so she was only just going through the motions.
Sure enough, Han Ming Yi looked to the the golden brown sweet potato cake on the plate, then shifted his gaze towards the mountains in the back. Not even making a peep.
âMensao[2]!â Du Xiao Li couldnât help mouthing. Afterwards, she also gave some to those two men in black, but as expected, they both refused.
Niu Jing had two great loves in his life, one was medicine, and the other was delicious food. He also liked drinking wine, but because after drinking wine, he canât see patients, he usually very rarely drank. He saw that Han Ming Yi didnât eat, so he took the piece from his plate and said, âHe doesnât want to eat, Iâll eat! Xiao Li ah, how did you make this? So delicious!â
âItâs very simple.â Du Xiao Li, although didnât like Han Ming Yi that much, she liked Niu Jing a lot, thus she told him the method for making sweet potato cakes. When she finished, she even poured a bowl of wild hare stew for him to drink.
Niu Jing drank a mouthful of wild hare stew and said, âWe also used the wild hare for stew last night, how come it wasnât as good as yours? What did you put in it?â
âJust put a bit of salt, and also mushrooms picked from the mountains.â Du Xiao Li answered. She waited for him to finish drinking and took back the bowl, asking: âGrandpa Niu, what are you doing coming up the mountain this early?â
âIâm going into the mountains to find some medical herbs, and also bring Xiao Yi around to look, climb some mountains, and exercise a bit.â Niu Jing answered.
Du Xiao Li looked to Han Ming Yiâs pale white face, and also the gown on his body, silently sitting there. With him like this, it was useless now matter how much he exercised. However, Niu Jingâs words pointed out a money making path for her. âGrandpa Niu, do you think if I dig up medical herbs from the mountains to sell, will the medicine shop accept them?â
âThe medicinal herb shop naturally will accept them, but the medical herbs you dig up, probably no one will dare to accept.â Niu Jing said with a smile.
âWhy?â Du Xiao Li instinctively asked. In her past life, she was called the exotic flower of the medical world. There werenât many medical ingredients that she didnât recognize. To actually dare disdain her?!
But she forgot that she herself right now was just a seven year old little girl, who would believe that a seven year old little girl could distinguish between medical ingredients?
âYouâve never studied medicine before, nor have learned how to handle medicinal ingredients, who do you think would dare to want yours?â Niu Jing looked to Du Xiao Liâs little face and said.
âWhat if I can dig up some useful medical herbs?â Du Xiao Li, unwilling to give up, asked.
Niu Jing looked to the worn-out house, and knew that Du Xiao Li and her brother, without fields, could only think of other ways to earn money. âIf you dig up any medical herbs, you can sell them to me. When the time comes, Iâll sell them together to the medicine shop in the county seat[3].â
âReally?!â Du Xiao Li looked up to Niu Jing, somewhat in disbelief.
âOf course itâs real. But you need to learn how to distinguish medical herbs first. Else, poisonous or not, useful or not, youâll dig them all up. I donât have that time to sort through them.â Niu Jing saw Du Xiao Liâs joyous appearance and felt happy inside too.
âThank you, grandpa Niu!â Du Xiao Li wished she could run up and Niu Jing and give him a kiss on his face.
âHaha, then later come by my house to learn some medical ingredient knowledge. Now then, Iâll take him for a stroll in the mountains first. Quickly eat your breakfast alright.â Niu Jing patted Du Xiao Liâs head and got up, taking Han Ming Yi and the others towards the mountain top.
Du Xiu Heng finally came to Du Xiao Liâs side after Niu Jing left, asking: âYounger sister, do you really plan on learning medicine?â
Du Xiao Li nodded. Itâs not that she wanted to learn medicine, but that she originally already knew how. If she doesnât learn anything now, in the future, if she were to accidentally expose her medical knowledge, then that would be troublesome.
âSince you want to learn, then just go. Whether or not you can make money, all that is secondary. Big brother will support you.â Du Xiu Heng firmly said.
Perhaps Du Xiu Hengâs words werenât for her to hear, but in that moment, Du Xiao Li felt a never before warmth in her own heart.
[1] Xiao Yi â âLittle Yiâ; since his full name is Han Ming Yi
[2] Mensao â used to describe someone whoâs outwardly cold, but deep and pa.s.sionate inside.
[3] Country Seat â the town that is the governmental center of a county
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