CHAPTER 120: CHAPTER 120: OVERNIGHT SUGAR BOILING

That night, the Jiang family became busy, even Wang Xiang came holding her younger son to help.

Jiang Yu and Liu Hai had school the next day, so to not disturb their rest, Liu Yang directly sent Jiang Yu to sleep at his place with Liu Hai.

"Xiao Qiang, be good now, we won’t disturb the adults at work, okay?"

Xiaomi’s cheek twitched; every time she heard the name Xiao Qiang, she couldn’t help but think of a certain indestructible, disgusting insect.

Unfortunately, Liu Hai’s little brother was named Liu Qiang, with the nickname Xiao Qiang.

It was already dark by then, and everyone had just finished eating. Liu Hai also took Jiang Yu back to his house to sleep.

But their home was in full swing outside, with torches tied to the trees.

The courtyard was piled with mountains of sorghum stalks, and Jiang Hu with Liu Yang was deftly plucking the leaves off and tossing the stalks aside, while Auntie and Wang Xiang cleaned each stalk of sorghum thoroughly.

Liu Yang’s parents were washing the millstone next to their house.

The thing was huge, with a base nearly ten feet wide, covered in dust and dirt from years of disuse.

Luckily, it was still in good condition. Once cleaned, it could easily extract the juice from the sorghum stalks, much easier than using a mortar and pestle.

Outside the courtyard, a big pot was set up on stones. It was originally used for cooking pig feed, but now it was scrubbed clean inside and out, ready for boiling sugar.

This was the biggest pot at home, making it the most convenient to use.

Xiaomi watched everyone working busily and once again marveled at how talented Uncle Liu truly was.

Thinking back to when her parents came home in the afternoon, earnestly explaining their original plans, only for Liu Yang to unexpectedly swoop in and disrupt them.

Xiaomi couldn’t help but shake her head; she never imagined her parents thought so much about it, and it was truly meant for her benefit.

And her father earnestly told her that when she grew up, she could better serve the people, saying that she was still young and shouldn’t rush.

Xiaomi was speechless. Serve the people? Wasn’t her father putting her on too high a pedestal?

She simply wanted the family to earn more money so her big brother could buy more books for school, okay?

She really couldn’t understand what her parents were imagining.

Thinking about it, Xiaomi yawned.

Little Snow immediately noticed: "Xiaomi, tired? Why don’t you go to sleep first? I’ll watch Xiao Qiang."

Tie Dan had long been asleep on the bed, snoring away, effortlessly sleeping despite the busyness in the yard.

Xiaomi thought for a moment: "Hmm, I’ll go rest first. If Second Sister gets tired, call me, and I’ll take care of Xiao Qiang."

She didn’t know if it was because she took a nap in the afternoon, but this little guy was full of energy, even though it was almost the hour of the dog, he was still lively, waving to his parents non-stop.

Yawning while lying in bed, thinking that she would get up soon to relieve Second Sister so she could rest well, but as soon as she closed and opened her eyes, she heard the sound of a rooster crowing.

Xiaomi quickly sat up from the bed, only to find that it was already dawn, and the sound of the ox cart was fading away.

Did Dad go to deliver vegetables?

Xiaomi was surprised and when she looked again, Second Sister was lying beside her, sleeping soundly, not even waking before her, which was rare.

She carefully got off the bed, went to check on her mother, who was also sleeping deeply with Tie Dan in her arms.

Not sure how late they stayed up boiling the sugar last night.

Xiaomi quietly exited the room. As soon as she opened the door, Blackie excitedly pounced over.

"Shhh, don’t make any noise, don’t disturb Second Sister and Mom’s sleep." Blackie seemed to understand and didn’t bark, just wagged its tail cheerfully.

As soon as she stepped outside, the sweet aroma hit her, and upon looking, the mountain of sorghum stalks from last night had been reduced to residue, still piled in the courtyard.

The large iron pot hadn’t been put away, still set up at the edge of the courtyard.

And the sweet fragrance was coming from these things; Xiaomi looked around and found a large water jar in the grain storage room, filled with syrup.

Xiaomi was amazed: "So much of it."

She reached out to poke it; it was warm, soft, and very thick, unlike the watery one she made yesterday.

Hurriedly she went to the kitchen and grabbed two chopsticks, twisting up a lump like twirling spider silk.

So sweet, so delicious! Better than any sugar she had ever tasted!

But the sugar was really still hot, even a bit scalding. So, how late did they work last night? Could it be they just finished?

Then Xiaomi checked the bonfire in the courtyard, and sure enough, it was still warm, while the kitchen was deathly cold.

It seemed they indeed worked through the whole night, so Mom didn’t have time to make breakfast for Big Brother.

But there was no shortage of food in town, so Xiaomi wasn’t worried. Rather, she rolled up her sleeves, planning to make porridge herself.

She didn’t know how to light a fire with a flint, but it didn’t matter; she had a lighter, and at this time she was all alone.

Rarely did she have the chance to cook alone without anyone around, so Xiaomi directly used the rice grown in her space to make porridge, white rice porridge.

Speaking of space, it was truly convenient; whatever she wanted, a thought would make it happen. Even husking rice and removing the chaff was just a thought away, turning into pure white rice.

Making rice porridge and cutting some green vegetable leaves to add before it’s almost done, fragrant green vegetable porridge was ready.

She also made smashed cucumbers, steamed an eggplant, made cold eggplant salad, and prepared a few big steamed buns.

The big buns were frozen buns from the space, plain flavor, though there were also some milk-flavored ones and various types of buns.

But she really didn’t know how to find excuses or reasons, so she could only pretend those plain buns were made by her; after all, her mother sometimes steamed buns, and she had learned it a few times from her.

Once Xiaomi slowly finished all these, the sky was fully bright, estimating that Tie Dan must be awake, she headed to her parents’ room.

As soon as she lifted the curtain, she saw Tie Dan was up, wiggling off the bed, which was quite high, so he could only slide down from the bed.

Once he got down, Xiaomi spoke: "Tie Dan."

"Sis." Tie Dan ran over barefoot: "Sis, I’m so hungry."

Saying this, he even patted his belly, indicating he was really hungry.

"Put your shoes on first, then we can have breakfast. Don’t disturb Mom and Second Sister’s sleep."

They still hadn’t woken up, definitely too tired.

Tie Dan nodded, scurrying back to where he and Big Brother slept, put on his small cloth shoes, and came out to follow his sister to the kitchen for breakfast.

"Today’s porridge is delicious." Tie Dan said upon eating his first bite.

Xiaomi took a big bun, split it in half, and gave him half: "If it’s good, eat more, and finish this too so you won’t get hungry soon."

Tie Dan took a bite of the bun, chewing with a frown: "Sis, this doesn’t taste as good as the ones Mom makes."

Xiaomi rolled her eyes: "You’re lucky to have food to eat, and you’re being picky now? This is white steamed bread, which sells for a lot outside."

Saying that, Xiaomi took a bite herself, lightly frowning; honestly, after getting used to everything watered and raised with the Spiritual Spring’s water, eating this bread did feel a bit lacking in flavor.

But regardless of the taste, driven by the principle of not wasting food, the siblings still finished their portions.

It’s just that Xiaomi told herself in her heart that unless necessary, she wouldn’t want to eat those former supplies, better to save them, anyway, they wouldn’t spoil.

Who knows when they might come in handy.

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