Chapter 27: Making Bone Soup

“Yes, with eggs we can make egg custard, egg pancakes, sugar boiled eggs, and scrambled eggs. From now on, I’ll make sure you all eat plenty!”

Ye Xin Ran swallowed.

She used to consider herself a picky eater, but after coming here, she realized that even eggs could be a treat.

The cart was quite heavy, but Xiao Huai’an’s speed didn’t seem to be affected at all.

Ye Xin Ran observed carefully, noticing that when Xiao Huai’an walked, his left heel didn’t touch the ground. He relied on the balls of his feet and toes to push forward.

It seemed like there was an issue with his Achilles tendon.

If it was an old injury, surgery might be required to heal it.

However, the operating room and storage room on the third floor were not available right now, so even if she wanted to treat him, it wouldn’t be something that could be done immediately.

The sun was high, and beads of sweat like small beans rolled down Xiao Huai’an’s face, trailing down his slender neck and disappearing into his clothes.

Ye Xin Ran fanned herself with her hand, not feeling too hot, because the hunger in her stomach felt even more urgent.

She had been so caught up in shopping at the market that she forgot to eat. Now, the three of them were walking back with empty stomachs.

She had forgotten about food in her excitement to shop, but did Xiao Huai’an forget too?

Ye Xin Ran looked at Chang An, “Are you hungry?”

Chang An shook his head. “I’m not hungry! Are you hungry, Aunt? I’ll give you my osmanthus cake.”

As he spoke, he pulled the osmanthus cake out of his pocket, the very same piece he had been nibbling on earlier, with two distinct bite marks on it.

“You eat it,” Ye Xin Ran patted his head. “Once we get home, we’ll make something delicious.”

“Mine has already been bitten,” Chang An said.

Upon hearing their conversation, Xiao Huai’an stopped the cart and pulled out an oil-paper package from his basket.

He unwrapped the package, revealing four pieces of osmanthus cake. He handed one to Ye Xin Ran.

“Eat this.”

“Thank you!”

Ye Xin Ran took it, a little embarrassed that he had overheard her.

After a while, they finally reached the village entrance.

There, they ran into several villagers on their way back, all carrying baskets of kudzu roots.

Xiao Huai’an didn’t plan on acknowledging them, as he had long been used to being alone in the area.

But unexpectedly, one of the villagers greeted them.

“You three went to the market and bought so much stuff!”

Ye Xin Ran recognized the speaker as Zhang Da Li’s wife and replied, “Yes, we sold some game and bought some grain. How about you, sister-in-law? How’s your harvest today?”

Chen Shi moved the basket on her back forward, looking a little disappointed. “Well, this is all we got. People from Dong Gou Village came over today, following us to dig up the kudzu roots. This mountain doesn’t have an owner, so we can’t chase them away. But they didn’t take much. The bulk of it, we brought home yesterday. Thankfully, we acted quickly yesterday.”

“Sister-in-law, would you like us to put your basket on the cart? We can give you a ride back.”

Ye Xin Ran remembered that Zhang’s family had helped them carry kudzu roots the day before.

“No need, no need! Your cart is already full. Hurry and head back!” Chen Shi waved her hand.

With that, Xiao Huai’an pulled the cart and moved on.

As they saw the two walking further and further away, the two women walking with Chen Shi immediately said, “Did you see that? The cart’s full of rice and flour, and there are three hens too!”

“How could you miss it? Those two iron pots are definitely worth quite a bit. Looks like this young lady has spent all of Xiao Huai’an’s family savings!”

“I heard their youngest needs medicine, so I bet they’ve even used up the money meant for the child’s medicine.”

Chen Shi listened as their conversation became more absurd and spoke up, “I think that Ye lady is a good person. She wouldn’t neglect the child’s illness.”

“How do you know? Even though you live close, you can’t possibly know everything about their private matters.”

“Anyway, a woman must be able to manage a household. Xiao Huai’an may be skilled at hunting, but no matter how much money a man makes, it won’t help if there’s a woman who can waste it all. It’s still up to us women who know how to run a household.”

“You may know how to manage, but you need something to manage. If it weren’t for Ye Xin Ran, how would we be able to enjoy this kudzu root?”

Chen Shi couldn’t listen any longer, so she quickened her pace and walked away from them.

On the other side, when Ye Xin Ran and the two children arrived home, Xiao Huai’an immediately began unloading the cart.

“I’ll return the cart to the village head,” Xiao Huai’an said.

“Wait a moment!” Ye Xin Ran replied. “We borrowed someone else’s cart, so we can’t return it empty. I’ll steam some buns and bring a few over to Uncle Li Zheng.”

Xiao Huai’an was immediately reminded.

He had been so focused on returning the borrowed cart quickly that he had forgotten about the proper etiquette of returning something with a token of thanks.

Thinking back to when gifts were delivered to the mansion, people would line up outside, always grateful and appreciative if they had even the slightest connection with him. Xiao Huai’an had long forgotten that relationships required mutual respect and reciprocation.

“Alright, I’ll return it later then.”

With that, he grabbed a knife and headed out. “I’m going to cut some bamboo to make a fence.”

As Xiao Huai’an began setting up the chickens and geese, Ye Xin Ran focused on cooking.

It wasn’t quite lunch time or dinner time, so it was a bit of an awkward hour. That’s why Ye Xin Ran decided to make buns.

This way, they could heat them up later when they got hungry.

The kitchen in the space had self-rising flour, making it very convenient for her to prepare the dough.

Ye Xin Ran placed the rice and flour she had bought into the jar, took out a large bowl of self-rising flour from the space, mixed it with water, covered the bowl with a lid, and set it on the counter to rest.

Chang Ping and Chang Sheng, who had been watching the chickens and geese outside, came over after a while. Upon seeing Ye Xin Ran making the dough, they immediately asked, “Aunt, do you need to start the fire?”

“Yes, please. I’ll start the soup first,” Ye Xin Ran replied.

They had kudzu root at home, which was perfect for making soup with the pork bones she had bought.

“Okay, I’ll start the fire,” Chang Ping answered cheerfully.

“Aunt, what should I do?” Chang Sheng quickly asked.

“You go outside and pick a cabbage, wash it well. I’m going to put it in the pot later.”

“What about me?” Chang An asked eagerly.

“You and your brother can wash the cabbage. Later, the two older brothers will chop the meat, and you’ll bring them the plates.”

“Okay!” Chang An responded enthusiastically.

All three children immediately got to work, and Ye Xin Ran peeled and cut the kudzu root. After rinsing it several times to remove the starch, she blanched the bones to remove the blood foam.

She then put the kudzu root and bones into the pot, added water, ginger, cooking wine, and a little rock sugar, and set it to simmer on low heat.

Since the dough hadn’t risen yet, she took this opportunity to clean all the spice jars in the kitchen, turning them upside down to drain the water. After they dried, she filled them with the salt, sugar, peppercorns, star anise, and various other seasonings she had bought.