Daily Life in the Countryside After Being Reborn

Chapter 82: Chapter 65: Scent of Cooking Rice (Second Night Watch)

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”What’s wrong with you, I’m talking to you, eating all the time but not growing an inch,” Xiao Xian was nowhere to be seen, so Yezi had to vent on her beloved bird.

After more than half a year, this ”turkey’s” appetite had shifted from initially feeding on rice to insects, and recently it even became picky, only eating live centipedes and small snakes. Yezi suspected that in another year, she’d have to figure out what strange things to feed ”Little Pig”.

The most annoying part was that this damn bird never bothered to search for its own food; every time it got hungry, it would just keep calling out in Yezi’s embrace. Knowing this, she would have never named it ”Little Pig” – it indeed lived up to its name, unbearably lazy.

Fortunately, ”Little Pig” was raised in the Southwest Mountain Area, where insects, snakes, and rodents were abundant, otherwise, Yezi alone would have had a hard time finding enough food to feed it.

Master Shan Yin had additionally constructed a small kitchen to give the children somewhere to cook at midday.

In the temple’s kitchen, Xiao Xian was leaning on the stove. She wasn’t tall enough, and indeed she had her reasons for grumbling at Yezi – she hadn’t grown for quite a while now. Although it’s normal for a seven-year-old girl to be of a certain height, just watching Yezi shoot up day by day made her feel imbalanced.

She snapped a few twigs off and stuffed them into the stove, trying to light the fire several times. Smoke billowed out, but no sparks appeared.

She didn’t bring lunch today and was so hungry she felt faint. As soon as the fire started, she hurriedly washed the rice and put it into the pot. On second thought, the ”sugarcane seedling” in her space also hadn’t grown for a while.

”Could it be possible that the sugarcane seedling is hitting the same growth plateau as I am,” Xiao Xian wondered. It could very well be; since swallowing that tin car, she had put several iron tools into her space, but the effect was nowhere as significant as before. The ”sugarcane seedling” seemed to have developed an eating disorder.

The washed rice and water were poured into the pot together. In rural areas, there were no conveniences such as pressure cookers or rice cookers, and Xiao Xian still relied on her memory of Sister-in-law Lian’s cooking to make rice. She was unsure if the water was enough and hesitated whether to add more.

”You didn’t pour enough water, and you also shouldn’t use damp twigs to start a fire – it will make your eyes smoke and your tears will come out,” Master Shan Yin was distributing midday meals to the temple’s children, and with nobody overseeing Little Taozhi, she was handed over to Yezi.

Compared to Xiao Xian’s half-baked cooking skills, Yezi was much more proficient. Miao families don’t have the same tradition of valuing men over women like Han Clan – whenever there was an opportunity, Yezi’s mother didn’t hesitate to tie Yezi to the stove to teach her cooking.

Xiao Xian’s face flushed upon hearing this, and she took over Little Taozhi, ”Easy for you to say, why don’t you give it a try.”

Yezi chuckled twice, not shying away. She used a match to light the dry twigs and shoved them into the stove, and the flame flared up instantly. After washing her hands, she added a few bowls of water into the pot, waiting until the water level was a finger’s depth over before covering with a lid.

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”Zhu Xiaoxian, now this is what you call making a meal. You Han Clan girls are just lazy, not even up for this bit of work,” Yezi has been alive for only twelve years and met two Han women (not counting the Great Wizard, as Yezi doesn’t know that Red Locust Great Wizard is a Han woman) – one, Zhu Xiaoxian, fiery-tempered like a hot chili pepper, and the other, ”Taozi,” just a tiny tot, who would wet her pants and burst into tears whenever upset. Both are tough nuts to crack. But Yezi, having what one might call a ’masochistic’ streak (a term he picked up from his Uncle Yibar), always liked hanging around with the two girls.

”Stop nagging, I’m already frustrated,” Xiao Xian knew she was facing a challenge, but there was no one around to guide her. Frowning, she rocked little Taozhi in her arms. The baby girl blinked and began to smile. She really hit the jackpot, going from an old granny before liberation to a suckling baby, what a win.