Baozi Xishi's Struggle

When we reached the entrance of Willow Lane, the sun was like a salted egg yolk, bright red and round, falling on the top of the city wall. It was already dusk.

The two men moved the things down, paid the taxi fare, and were just about to go home to get a basket to move the things in when Yutao Yucheng heard the noise and ran over.

Everyone worked together and finally brought home a large variety of vegetables, oils and vinegar.

There was a brand new cart in the yard of my house. The body of the cart was polished smooth and painted with a layer of varnish. The afterglow of the setting sun was reflected on the body of the cart, making it sparkle.

The originally shabby and narrow courtyard was now filled with newly purchased things, completely sweeping away its original dilapidated atmosphere.

Yucheng said to Li excitedly, "Mom, is this cart really ours?"

Li was also very happy to see the cart. She walked around it carefully twice. The wood was of the best quality, without any defects such as tree scars or cracks. She nodded with satisfaction and said to Yu Cheng angrily, "Silly boy, didn't you see when your second sister gave the money to others?"

Yu Cheng nodded with a smile: "I saw it, but I still can't believe it. Our family was worried about food a few days ago, how can we afford such a nice car now?"

Shen Yu and Yu Tao put away the ingredients and walked out of the kitchen. She touched Yu Cheng's soft yellow hair and said with some heartache: "Silly brother, this cart is really ours. When we make money in the future, we can buy a bigger and better car."

After hearing this, Li and Yutao both laughed happily.

A few people were discussing the largest and most valuable possession in the house when someone at the door asked, "Excuse me, is this the Shen family in Willow Lane?"

Shen Yu turned around and saw that it was the clerk from the rice shop who was delivering flour.

The flour here is transported by big blue mules. Two large baskets are hung on both sides of the mule's back, filled with flour packed in cloth bags.

Shen Yu hurriedly took out the note from the rice shop from his purse. After the clerk checked and confirmed that it was correct, he brought all the flour in and piled it on a low wooden rack prepared next to the stove, neatly and steadily.

The clerk took the note and said to Shen Yu, "Miss, our boss said that if you come to my house to place an order in the future, you don't have to pay first, you can pay after the goods arrive; if you like my flour and plan to use it for a long time, you can also settle the bill on a monthly basis."

Shen Yu smiled and nodded in agreement, "Brother, thank your shopkeeper for me. I will use this flour first. If it works well, I will definitely place an order from you in the future."

After receiving Shen Yu's promise and seeing that the goods had been delivered and the shopkeeper's words had been conveyed, the clerk bowed and caught up with the big blue mule and left.

It was getting late and the yard was gradually darkening.

Shen Yu and Li entered the house and found that both rooms had been painted white on all sides, evenly and carefully, without any omissions.

She asked Yu Tao and Yu Cheng, who followed in with the oil lamp in hand, in surprise: "It was finished so quickly. How did you two finish it at such a high place?"

Yu Tao smiled, but Yu Cheng rushed to say, "My second sister washed the high places standing on the high stool with a broken leg. I said that mother and eldest sister told us to wait for you to come back to wash the high places, but my second sister refused. She said that you must be tired from shopping outside, so she let me hold on to the high stool and slowly finished washing."

Mrs. Li was surprised and felt sorry for the two children. She quickly pulled Yutao under the light and looked at her carefully: "Child, the stool has a broken leg and is not stable. It is shaky when you stand on it. You may fall."

Yu Tao turned around quickly, stretched her arms and said, "Don't worry, Mom. I found a broken brick to pad the broken leg of the stool. With Yu Cheng's support, it's very stable. It's just that my arm hurts a little from holding it up while painting the wall. It will be fine after a night's rest."

Mrs. Li was relieved to see that she was able to move freely and talk and laugh as usual. She massaged her arm and told her not to use too much force.

When Shen Yu saw this, he felt relieved.

She washed her hands and prepared to go to the kitchen to cook dinner.

With all the ingredients available, cooking is a breeze and comes easy.

She has been making silver thread noodles in the restaurant for such a long time, but her family has never eaten it.

Firstly, when she was in Dongxi Village, her family did not have this kind of high-quality flour that had been ground many times and carefully sieved. Secondly, since she came here, she has been labeled as a disaster star and has been worried about her life all day long. She is anxious and uneasy. Even if she had flour, she would not be in the mood to cook properly.

Today we have the best flour and all the ingredients, so we will have silver thread noodles for dinner. With the green vegetables and shredded pork as topping, it will be very delicious.

She was used to making noodles and dishes. Soon, the noodles as thin as silver threads were ready and placed on the noodle board to dry. She put some oil in the pot and stir-fried the chopped pork. When the pork changed color, she added shallots to sauté until fragrant. She added some good soy sauce, and after it absorbed the flavor, she added the prepared hot water and threw in a handful of chopped fresh mushrooms to cook together. After the water in the pot boiled for a while, the aroma of the fresh mushroom and pork soup was rich and tempting, making Yutao, who was burning fire by the stove, and Li and Yucheng, who were watching at the kitchen door, couldn't help swallowing their saliva.

The thin noodles were put into the soup, and some fine salt was quickly added. After boiling it again, the vegetables prepared in advance were sprinkled in. The noodles were very thin and the vegetables were tender. Yutao had stopped adding firewood to the stove under Yuzhi's instructions, and the remaining fire cooked the noodles and vegetables until they were cooked and tasty.

In the room, there was a small low table with an oil lamp on it. The lamp was dimmed to a bright setting, and it was very bright against the snow-white walls.

There were four large bowls on the table, each filled with a bowl of fragrant vegetable and shredded pork noodles.

The three of them stared at the bowl in front of them, looking at the noodles in the bowl that were as thin as silver threads, then looked up at Shen Yu, and then looked at the noodles in the bowl again, with expressions of disbelief on their faces.

After washing his hands, Shen Yu sat down and saw the three people looking like they were dreaming. He burst out laughing and said, "What are you doing? Eat quickly. The noodles have been sitting for too long and will become clumpy and not tasty anymore."

Li finally woke up from her dream and hurriedly called the children, "Eat quickly. Your eldest sister is right. Noodles won't taste good if they are left out for too long."

Yutao and Yuzhi then picked up their chopsticks, taking small bites at first and then burying their heads in the food.

The newly bought porcelain bowl at home was very big. Shen Yu initially thought that she would not be able to finish it. However, she had been running around outside shopping today and had eaten lunch in a hurry. Now, seeing the three people eating happily, her appetite also became active. She ate a full bowl of noodles, including the soup and noodles, until they were all clean.

The same went for the other three people. When she finished eating and looked up, she saw four empty bowls and three people's satisfied expressions.

Although Yucheng was young, he had a big appetite and wolfed down a large bowl of noodles. He wiped his mouth with satisfaction and said to Shen Yu, "Sister, you are amazing. This is the most delicious noodles I have ever eaten."

Li and Yutao also nodded, indicating that what Yucheng said was what they wanted to say.

Yutao's yellow and thin face had a light pink blush from eating and being full. She said admiringly, "Sister, your noodles are so fine, like the silver thread you use when embroidering. They are chewy and smooth to eat, unlike the noodles we eat at home, which fall apart if we cook them too long. If we eat them too slowly after serving them in the bowl, the chopsticks can't pick them up and they all fall apart."