Chapter 3: Not a Dream
Seeing the heavy dough on the cutting board, Bai Shuiliu was even more dumbfounded.
“Mother… are we having noodle strips for lunch?” Bai Shuiliu asked cautiously.
“Yes,” Su Mulan nodded, her hands moving swiftly as she picked the leaves from the fresh vegetables and placed them in a wooden basin. She then pushed the basin outside into the yard.
In a time without industrial pollution, rainwater from the sky was cleaner than well water. Using it was not only convenient but also saved them from having to fetch more water from the village’s only well once their water jar was empty.
Su Mulan’s reply was natural, but Bai Shuiliu, still uncertain, asked tentatively, “Are all of these… for us?”
“Of course.”
This meant that the noodle strips weren’t just for Su Mulan; they were also for the four children.
Even after receiving a definite answer again, Bai Shuiliu still found it hard to believe.
Su Mulan cooking in the kitchen, which was a rare occurrence than the sun rising towards the west. Instead of the usual vegetable dumplings and vegetable leaf soup for lunch, they were going to have noodle strips, and such a large amount at that…
Bai Shuiliu reached back and pinched her own hand.
There were still marks on the back of her hand from earlier in the morning when Su Mulan had woken up from the noise of cooking and used a willow switch to discipline her. Now, just touching it made it sting painfully.
Since it hurt, then what was happening in front of her wasn’t a dream.
But…
What’s going on?
“Shuiliu, help me put some more firewood into the stove,” Su Mulan said as she placed the cleaned vegetables on the cutting board and made a few cuts.
“Oh… okay.” Bai Shuiliu snapped out of her daze, squatted by the stove, and stuffed some of the dry twigs she had gathered back into the stove.
The flames in the stove suddenly grew much larger, licking the dark bottom of the pot. During a lull, Bai Shuiliu sneakily took another look at Su Mulan, who was surprisingly industrious today.
Su Mulan, at that moment, was pulling out the rack used for pressing the noodle strips from the corner.
Due to long disuse, it was covered in a layer of ash. Su Mulan scooped up a ladle of water and meticulously brushed it with a broom made from sorghum stalks, then placed it on the stove.
Once the noodle press rack was securely in place and the water in the pot was almost boiling, she placed the dough into the cylindrical slot on the rack, pressed down firmly on the handle above it. Long, thin noodles fell into the pot.
After pressing all the dough into noodles and they floated to the surface, she added some fresh vegetables and sprinkled in salt. The noodle strips were then cooked.
Due to the addition of sweet potato flour, the noodle strips turned slightly dark. However, the vibrant green and hints of purple from the fresh vegetables added some appetite appeal to the dish. It was a pity that despite the colors, the lack of seasoning in the kitchen meant the flavor was quite lacking.
Su Mulan thought for a moment, then scooped out a bit of rendered oil from a small jar in the stove room and drizzled it into the pot.
With the addition of oil, the noodle dish emitted a fragrant aroma, smelling much better than before.
After tasting the broth for seasoning, Su Mulan fetched several large porcelain bowls with chipped rims from a nearby shelf.
As she ladled the noodle dish into the bowls, she said to Bai Shuiliu, “Go call Lixia and the others to come eat.”
“Okay…” Bai Shuiliu was still in a daze. Glancing outside, she suggested, “Since the rain has stopped, let’s eat in the courtyard. It’s cooler there.”
The rain earlier had come and gone quickly, leaving the ground free of mud. As Bai Shuiliu had said, the courtyard after the rain was indeed pleasantly cool.