Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 56_1

Chapter 56: Chapter 56_1

After some hesitation, Gougou finally shoved the steamed bun in his mouth.

Seeing the little one’s face still scrunched up, Nanzhi asked expectantly, "Is it delicious?"

"Yes, it’s delicious." Gougou chewed a few times, the chestnut flour bun was slightly sweet, but when he looked down at it, it looked rather ugly, so he added, "Mom, the chestnut flour bun is tasty, but it’s so ugly."

"This child." Nanzhi laughed while patting his little buttocks and watching Gougou hold a bun while giggling and running away, her face finally displayed a smile.

After setting aside three buns in the kitchen, she picked up the plate and went to Ms. Liu’s house.

"Ms. Liu, Ms. Liu, are you home?" Nanzhi had just knocked twice when the front door squeaked open.

The door was opened by Ms. Wan, who saw Nanzhi holding something and immediately stepped aside, "Nanzhi, come in."

"Eh."

Nanzhi smiled at Ms. Wan and walked into the yard carrying her steamed buns.

The yard was filled with piles of timber and mud bricks, and the Shen family was eating under the shed they had set up.

When Ms. Liu saw Nanzhi coming, she quickly called her over: "Come here, honey, have you had lunch yet? Come sit down, the sun is overpowering today."

"I’ve already eaten." Nanzhi felt a bit embarrassed seeing all of the people, so she held out the plate she was carrying: "These are the chestnut flour steamed buns I made. I thought I’d bring some over for you all to try."

Though the buns on the plate were all different shapes and somewhat ugly, they smelled a little sweet.

Ms. Liu took the plate from Nanzhi and asked, "Chestnut flour buns? What kind of flour is chestnut flour?"

"It’s the same as chestnut flour, my thought was since flour is just ground wheat, and every time you eat chestnuts, you have to peel the shell for half a day. If chestnuts can be ground into flour, it would be convenient to store and even more convenient to eat."

Upon hearing Nanzhi’s explanation, Ms. Liu and her family all exchanged glances. They had more than 300 pounds of chestnuts in their cellar. If they could all be ground into flour...

"Girl, did you grind the chestnuts into flour yourself?" Ms. Liu’s eyes widened. There was a stone mill at the entrance of the village, but it required a donkey to operate it. Nanzhi was so skinny, how could she possibly move it?

Nanzhi was a little confused, so she just nodded.

"Girl, how did you manage to move that stone mill?" Shen Dazhu also found it strange. Twenty years ago, he could have handled the big stone mill, but now, he worried he might break his bones trying.

Nanzhi blinked, finally understanding what they were asking, "We have a small mill at home, I didn’t go to the village."

"Girl, about how much flour can you get per pound of chestnuts?"

What Shen Dazhu cared most about was the flour yield. If it was high, they might as well grind all the chestnuts at home into flour. But if the yield was low, it would be better to just eat the chestnuts as they were, because it was more filling.

A pound of wheat could yield over seven taels of flour.

Nanzhi hesitated a bit, then said, "This was my first try, a pound yielded about four taels."

Upon hearing that a pound of chestnuts could only produce four taels of flour, the Shen family was a bit disappointed, because the yield was too low.

"Girl, can I be nosy and ask how you ground it?"

Nanzhi thought for a moment, then said, "I boiled it first and then ground it into a paste. Then I dried the chestnut paste before grinding it."

After hearing Nanzhi’s method, Ms. Liu was startled, then laughed and said, "Silly girl, how can you store flour made from boiled chestnuts? If you want to grind it into flour, just peel the chestnuts, dry them, and grind them straight away."

"Really?" Nanzhi was stunned for a moment. That’s right, wheat is ground raw. Why did she need to boil the chestnuts?

Taking the empty plate, Nanzhi returned home.

There were still several pounds of chestnut flour at home. It seemed that she and Gougou would be eating that for the next few days.

Meanwhile, Ms. Liu had an idea in her mind.

Lin was unable to grind much flour due to her lack of technique, but she still had over three hundred pounds of chestnuts at home, so she could take about ten pounds to give it a try.

After making up her mind, she peeled chestnuts in the afternoon as Shen’s three brothers and Shen Dazhu were repairing the house.

Shen Dazhu glanced at his wife busily peeling and asked, "What are you doing? Are we going to eat boiled chestnuts tonight?"

"I want to see if I can grind chestnut into flour." Ms. Liu didn’t look up, focusing instead on peeling chestnuts.

"That has a low flour yield rate. It would be better to eat the chestnuts to satisfy your hunger," Shen Dazhu said while instructing his sons how to repair the ceiling.

"You’ve also eaten the steam buns made from chestnut flour, they’re really fragrant. I think they’re tastier than the ones made with wheat flour, and they have a sweet note too. My little grandson loves them a lot."

As Ms. Liu spoke, Doudou and Niuniu, who were playing in the mud beside her, nodded in agreement, shouting, "Steamed buns are delicious, sweet!"

Ms. Wan laughed and said to her children, "Are you planning to keep your teeth or not?"

Doudou from Ms. Liu’s family pointed to his teeth and laughed, "Grandmother, Doudou’s teeth are strong."

Ms. Wan and Ms. Liu paused, then both laughed: "Yes, Duoduo’s teeth are strong, Duoduo can eat some more."

Gougou had been playing at Ms. Liu’s house all afternoon. When he came home for dinner, he was taken aback by the potato soup and steamed buns made with chestnut flour on the table.

"Mom, Gougou doesn’t want to eat this today."

The little one pointed to the steamed bun on the table with a blaming look in his eyes.

Nanzhi coughed lightly. She had indeed forgotten to mix wheat flour while cooking dinner that night. For some reason, tonight’s steamed buns turned out to be even darker in color.

No wonder Gougou found them unappealing. Even she felt like blocking their color from view.

"They may not look good, but they taste delicious, right?" Nanzhi said as she took a bite of the steamed bun.

Watching Mother eat, Gougou also picked up a steamed bun, dipped it into the potato soup, and began eating. His little face was full of happiness — no sign of his earlier reluctance.

Nanzhi felt warm in her heart seeing Gougou’s actions.

Gougou wasn’t really throwing a fit because he didn’t want to eat these ugly steamed buns made with chestnut flour — he was just being a child.

After finishing dinner, Gougou patted his round little belly and asked Nanzhi, "Mom, why don’t you spank me?"

Nanzhi was taken aback, looking at him surprised. Was this child being silly?

While other children were trying to avoid being beaten, why was Gougou hoping she would spank him?

"Why should I spank you when you didn’t do anything wrong?"

"When I told Brother Doudou that the chestnut flour steamed bun is ugly, he told me that when he said Ms. Wan’s food was not tasty, she spanked him," Gougou replied, counting on his fingers as he looked at Nanzhi.

"But Gougou didn’t say it was not tasty, you just said that the chestnut flour steamed bun looks ugly."

Gougou scratched his head, wondering about the difference between being not tasty and being ugly.

Seeing Gougou’s confusion, Nanzhi laughed and said, "Because Mom also knows that the chestnut flour steamed bun is ugly, so what Gougou said is the truth."

Gougou nodded, partially understanding.

"But sometimes, you can’t just say the truth out loud."

"Why?"

Nanzhi gave a serious reply, "Because people will spank you."

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