Chapter 61: Bullying
After some thought, the two decided to do what they could and started cleaning the sweet potatoes to prepare for lunch. After eating, they would steam the sweet potatoes and then dry them.
Bai Zhuye and Bai Midou were also helping.
Su Mulan worked quickly. With just over a pound of meat filling, they couldn’t make too many buns. Soon, the small white buns were placed in the steamer.
Bai Lixia, being very observant, helped with the fire, while Su Mulan went to the vegetable garden to pick two cucumbers. She crushed them and mixed them with shredded green peppers and perilla leaves for a cold dish.
The fire in the stove licked the bottom of the blackened pot, and white steam began to rise from the steamer. With the steam came the fragrant smell of flour and the rich aroma of meat as the buns slowly expanded and cooked.
“Smells so good,” Bai Midou, who was washing sweet potatoes in the yard, couldn’t help but smack his lips and swallow.
“It really does,” Bai Zhuye nodded, her eyes involuntarily glancing toward the kitchen.
“Then have a couple more later,” Su Mulan said with a smile as she took the cucumbers and perilla leaves out of the wooden basin and drained the water. “But remember, don’t eat so much that you get a stomach ache. It’ll be uncomfortable if you can’t digest it.”
“Don’t worry, Mom. I guarantee I’ll keep Third Sister from overeating,” Bai Midou responded earnestly.
When Bai Zhuye heard this, she immediately protested, reaching out to tug Bai Midou’s ear. “I think I need to keep an eye on you instead. You’re the biggest glutton in our family.”
“Ouch, that hurts…”
Bai Midou rubbed his ear, looking at Bai Zhuye with a resentful expression. “Third Sister, you were too rough. You nearly tore my ear off. Mom, look at her! She’s bullying me just because she was born fifteen minutes before me.”
“Mom, Midou started it by criticizing me. It’s not right for a younger brother to talk back to his older sister, right, Mom?” Bai Zhuye also clung to Su Mulan, acting coquettishly.
After spending so many days together, the twins had clearly become much closer to her, especially Bai Zhuye, who seemed particularly attached.
Sometimes, Su Mulan would feel a bit dazed, as if these four little radishes were truly her own children.
Speaking of this, if their real mother were here, the two of them would probably still be carefree and playful like this.
It’s a pity that the four little radishes lost their mother early and couldn’t enjoy the joy of their children by their side. Meanwhile, she didn’t have to endure the hardships of childbirth and child-rearing, and could simply enjoy the happy moments with the children. It was truly a stroke of good fortune for her.
Su Mulan felt a myriad of emotions in her heart, but she didn’t show it on her face. She just rubbed Bai Zhuye’s and Bai Midou’s little heads. “You both have a point.”
“Stop bothering Mom now. She’s been working hard all morning and still has to cook for us. Hurry and finish washing these sweet potatoes so we don’t delay lunch,” Bai Shuiliu said from her seat.
Bai Zhuye and Bai Midou stuck out their tongues and stopped their playful banter. They quickly sat down on the wooden stools and washed the dirt off the sweet potatoes in the basin.
Su Mulan smiled, noticing that a few tomatoes in the vegetable garden had ripened. She picked the two ripest ones, planning to make tomato egg drop soup to go with the meat buns for lunch.