Chapter 137 - She wondered what the woman had up her sleeves. (1)
“Big Sister Tong, Big Brother Jiaming, and Little Sister Mianmian, I am here to play with you!”
Tong Jiaxin, hearing that his name was the only one missed, harrumphed through his nose.
Tong Xuelu brought Tong Mianmian with her to get the door.
As soon as the wooden door opened up, Wei Zhuzhu’s chubby little body came running in. “Hi, Big Sister Tong, have you had breakfast yet?”
Tong Xuelu smiled and said, “We have just finished. What about you?”
Wei Zhuzhu rubbed her little round tummy and said, “Me too. I had been wanting to come over but Grandma said I shouldn’t come over too early.”
Tong Xuelu rubbed her on her head and said, “It’s fine. Go play with Mianmian.”
Tong Xuelu felt that Wei Zhuzhu might be a bit phony but she was courteous and would listen to others, she was not entirely an unruly child.
Wei Zhuzhu held Tong Mianmian’s hand happily. “Let’s go play, Little Sister.”
Tong Mianmian nodded her little head and said in her milky voice. “Let me show you Xiao Liu, Big Sister Zhuzhu.”
Wei Zhuzhu was curious. “Who is Xiao Liu?”
Tong Mianmian, “It’s a hen that we have. Look, it’s over there.”
That was the first time Tong Xuelu found out that the hen came with a name.
Shen Wanrong smiled as she looked at the back of her granddaughter. “She had been wanting to come over since we got home yesterday. She never wanted to get out of bed in the past but she got up all by herself today.
“Oh right. I brought with me a pumpkin and some seeds. You can plant them in your yard. That way you will not need to buy all your vegetables at the market in the future.”
Having said that, she handed the pumpkin and the seeds over to Tong Xuelu.
Tong Xuelu had planned to grow some vegetables in her yard and said, “That’s awesome. Thank you, Grandma Shen. But you should take the pumpkin back with you.”
Shen Wanrong, “We grew the pumpkin in our backyard. We have more than we can eat. Don’t you be so polite with me.”
Tong Xuelu thought about it some and said, “Okay. I’ll take the pumpkin. Have a seat in the living room, Grandma Shen. I’ll go make some pumpkin cake for everyone.”
Shen Wanrong’s eyes lit up. “You know how to make pumpkin cake? Can I watch?”
Seeing the curious look on her, Tong Xuelu smiled and nodded. “Of course. Do you not make sweets at home normally, Grandma Shen?”
Shen Wanrong smiled, “Zhuzhu’s grandpa does most of the cooking. I never cooked.”
And, just like that, a mouthful of dogfood was shoved into her mouth.
Tong Xuelu looked at her fingers. They were white, delicate and slender. They did not have the age spots or callouses belonging to someone her age. She was probably someone who had been doted on her entire life.
She was a very lucky woman.
Tong Xuelu had Tong Jiaming and Tong Jiaxin did the dishes before she went to loosen up the soil in the backyard and went into the kitchen carrying the pumpkin with her with Shen Wanrong in tow.
She skinned and sliced up the pumpkin before putting it into a steamer. Once it was steamed, she smashed it into paste form and added to it white sugar and tapioca flour. Finally, she kneaded them into pumpkin dough.
She cut the dough into dozens small pieces, rolled them into balls before she flattened them. They were then ready to be fried.
Looking at how skillful Tong Xuelu was, Shen Wanrong praised her sincerely, “That’s amazing! I had tried to make pumpkin cake in the past but nevermind that I wasn’t able to break the dough apart, they were also all burned as soon as I put them into a frying pan. In the end, none of them were edible.”
The ones that Tong Xuelu made, however, were all golden brown in color. They looked very pretty when all the round pumpkin cakes were lined up next to each other.
Tong Xuelu smiled and said, “You are being too nice, Grandma Shen. I only become more familiar with it after I’ve made it a few times.”