Farm Girl's Manor
Chapter 90: Giving Gifts_1

Chapter 90: Chapter 90: Giving Gifts_1

Great Chu’s custom held that the New Year’s Eve dinner should be eaten only after nightfall, and it was a meal attended to with much attention to detail. It wasn’t simply about having fish and meat on the table, but also about continuing to eat the leftovers until the third day of the first lunar month.

Although eating leftovers for three days was not beneficial to one’s health, this custom carried within it a family’s hopes for a good year to come. Moreover, it was an occasion that came but once a year, so Mo Yan prepared food to last for the three days.

The food supply at home was very abundant. Half a month ago, she had bought half a pig; half of this was cured with spices to make flavorful bacon, and the other half was minced to make spicy and fresh sausage.

Some chickens from the Space had also been slaughtered, including only the roosters that were fit for consumption and old hens that no longer laid eggs—all of which had been nourished by the Spiritual Energy within the Space. Not to mention the nutrition, their flavor was unspeakably delicious.

Speaking of chickens, Mo Yan was troubled. The hens in the Space were often broody, and their numbers had grown from the initial forty or so to seven or eight hundred now. This was the result of her efforts to keep their population in check; otherwise, the entire Space would have been overrun by chickens.

Fortunately, next year they planned to purchase barren hills, and at that time, she intended to let these chickens roam and raise them on the hills.

The Mo Family loved braised dishes; naturally, they could not be without delicious braised meat, braised chicken, and braised sausage. Mo Yan personally blended the braising spices. As soon as the pot was heated, the savory aroma wafted out, irresistibly drawing Zhenzhen back and forth to the kitchen.

Mo Yan tore off a braised chicken leg and stuffed it to him, and he happily bit into it several times, his cheeks bulging like an inflated frog.

While Mo Yan was busy in the kitchen, the others were not idle either; they gathered in the living room, rolling dough and chopping stuffing, busily making dumplings.

On New Year’s Eve, not only the family ate dumplings, but visiting relatives and friends would also start with a bowl of dumplings to fill their stomachs. Those with many family members and friends might need to prepare several hundred dumplings just to have enough.

Not only the Mo Family and Old Man Mo had settled in Liu Yang Village, but there were also more than ten other families with the surname Mo. If they were still in Mo Family Village, they would visit each other’s homes on the first day of the new year. Those with close relationships would share a bowl of dumplings before parting, while those more distantly related would usually just exchange New Year greetings.

Mo Yan couldn’t guess whether those relatives would come to pay a New Year visit. Back in Mo Family Village, these so-called relatives weren’t exactly friendly toward the original host’s family, and some even occasionally trampled on them. Whether they came or not, Mo Yan was indifferent; however, if they did come, she couldn’t just turn them away.

People like Lin Da and Lin Meng, who were relatively close to the Mo Family, would surely come to visit during the New Year, and most of these dumplings were prepared for them.

After the work in the kitchen was nearly finished, and all that remained was to cook the New Year’s Eve dinner in the evening, Mo Yan washed her hands and went to the living room to help make dumplings.

They made a variety of dumplings with different fillings this time. Besides the shiitake mushroom and lean pork filling that everyone loved, there were also corn and lean pork filling, shiitake chicken filling, and chive and egg filling.

Mo Qingze and Lizhong, who were strong, were specifically in charge of chopping the meat filling. Liyan and Xin Er rolled the dough, while Mo Yan alone was enough to handle all the dumpling wrappers.

The family chatted and laughed as they wrapped the dumplings, when suddenly, a knocking sound, thumping and loud, came from outside. Zhenzhen, who was the only one free, ran to the yard to open the door.

"Busy in here, huh!"

Punishing Shopkeeper greeted them with a smile, followed by Xiao Zhu who was holding a square silver box.

As soon as Mo Yan saw them, she quickly patted off the flour on her hands, invited them to sit down, and was about to wash her hands to make tea.

"Miss Mo, no need to stand on ceremony. I’ve been entrusted by the young master to deliver some items to you, so I won’t stay long," said the Punishing Shopkeeper.

He hurriedly stopped her and then instructed Xiao Zhu, "You go and bring in all the things from the cart."

Xiao Zhu, following the order, hastily stuffed the silver box into Mo Yan’s hands and then ran outside to move more items in.

The Mo Family watched with wide eyes as Xiao Zhu, small in stature, kept running back and forth. Before long, they had stacks of cloth and food piling up in the main room.

Mo Yan’s eyes twitched involuntarily at the sight. She had thought they were merely delivering "a little something," but didn’t expect so much to be sent—everyday household items that were not extremely precious, leaving her at a loss for words to decline the gesture.

The others were less familiar with the Punishing Shopkeeper and only knew that Mo Yan had some business dealings with him. Just a couple of days before, they had seen a large cart of vegetables carted away.

Only Mo Yan knew that the carting of vegetables was a front—the real items moved were Water of Space, to avoid drawing attention. To keep others from noticing, she and the Punishing Shopkeeper publicly claimed that the two families had reached a cooperation.

As it is customary to reciprocate, Mo Yan felt obliged to take the over two hundred freshly wrapped dumplings and packed them. She then gathered a good amount of cured meat, sausages, and marinated meats from under the eaves, filling up an entire basket. After thinking it over, she went to the kitchen to fetch a few old hens, and stealthily from the Space added a considerable amount of vegetables and fruits, assembling them together as a gift in return.

"We don’t have much to offer here at home, all of these are our own produce, and they taste quite good—especially these chickens, they are very nourishing. If Punishing Shopkeeper doesn’t mind, please take them back," she said.

"Mind? Not at all. These are all good items that can’t be bought outside!" responded the Punishing Shopkeeper as he grinned and personally took the dumplings and marinated meats, then had Xiao Zhu carry the chickens and vegetables to the cart.

From his master, he vaguely knew that this Miss Mo was no ordinary person. If these foods had been sent by anyone else, he wouldn’t have cared much, but coming from Miss Mo, they were bound to be excellent.

After the Punishing Shopkeeper and the others left, Mo Yan began to sort through the gifts she had received. The gifts were heavier than she anticipated; not to mention the smooth and soft fabrics, even the array of pastries, bought from a renowned old shop, cost one or two pieces of silver for a small packet.

The contents of the silver box were even more valuable: accessories made of jade, gemstones, and pearls, perfect for a young girl in her teens, each with two different designs. There were also three jade pendants for men, secretly considering even the grandfather-grandchild duo of Lizhong and Liyan in the gift selection—undeniably, a lot of thought had gone into these presents.

On his part, the Punishing Shopkeeper carried the Mo Family’s return gifts to Wu An’s Mansion.

As a result, that evening at Wu An’s Mansion’s New Year’s Eve dinner, Young Master Yan disdainedfully ate a couple of bites of the dishes before setting down his chopsticks. It wasn’t until the Chef brought out a pot of fragrant chicken soup and a steaming plate of dumplings that Young Master Yan himself served up a bowl for his grandfather, Duke Wu An, and the rest he devoured, leaving the wife of Duke Wu’an—Young Master Yan’s step-grandmother—filled with silent frustration. She created such a scene that evening that her husband, the Duke, gave her a severe scolding to settle her down!

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