The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 212 - 201: Sister-in-law (with 180,000 additional updates recommended by Yun Qi)

Chapter 212: Chapter 201: Sister-in-law (with 180,000 additional updates recommended by Yun Qi)

According to tradition, a new bride is responsible for cooking the first day’s meal after entering her husband’s home, firstly to show her filial piety and formally establish her role, and secondly to let her in-laws see her culinary skills.

However, the Zhou family was unfamiliar territory to Ms. Fang, a strange home and environment. Although she had visited a few times with her mother or older sister-in-law after getting engaged, she was a guest then and mainly stayed in the main hall, only standing at the kitchen entrance.

Furthermore, the eating habits and the way items were placed in the household were sure to be different.

So when Ms. Fang was brought in, she was somewhat out of her element.

Lost in thought, Zhou SiLang somehow appeared in the kitchen out of nowhere and called out, "Elder sister-in-law, what are you cooking that smells so delicious?"

This aroma certainly couldn’t have come from the second or third sister-in-law, so Zhou SiLang’s target was very clear.

Zhou SiLang walked over to Ms. Fang, looked around, and quickly fixed his gaze on a small pot, asking, "What is this?"

Junior Ms. Qian swatted his hand away and said, "I’m stewing porridge for Manbao. By the way, what do you want to eat for breakfast?"

Junior Ms. Qian probably knew why he was there and didn’t avoid the subject, asking him directly.

Zhou SiLang opened his mouth, wanting to say pancakes, as his elder sister-in-law’s pancakes were exceptional. Even the ones sold in the county city couldn’t match the deliciousness of hers.

But when he caught sight of his wife from the corner of his eye, he forcefully swallowed his words. Tomorrow then, as today, his new bride would be the one cooking.

So after a bit of thought, Zhou SiLang chose something very simple, "Just cook some porridge, and then reheat the leftovers from home—that should be enough."

Ms. Fang looked up at him gratefully.

Zhou SiLang gave her a big grin, looked around, and asked, "Sister-in-law, do we have leftovers from yesterday? If so, just cook them into congee and that’ll do."

Ms. Feng couldn’t help but laugh. Before she could speak, Junior Ms. Qian had already shooed Zhou SiLang out.

Always coming up with bad ideas—even though at home, leftovers are often reheated to eat, such lazy cooking methods, if Ms. Fang really followed through, she wasn’t sure what the rest of the family would think, but it certainly wouldn’t make a good impression on her in-laws.

Junior Ms. Qian then pulled Ms. Fang’s hand and said with a smile, "Don’t listen to him, that kid deserves a spanking. What new bride would just serve leftovers on her first day? We have fresh vegetables at home, and there’s also yesterday’s tofu that’s still soaking in water. How would you like to prepare them?"

The love-struck Ms. Fang finally regained her senses. Other than her generous nature, being capable was another thing that earned her Ms. Qian’s recognition.

Once her reason returned, she realized how foolish she’d been earlier, her cheeks flushed as she quickly said, "Then I’ll pick some good meat and vegetables to cook, stew some tofu, and reheat some leftovers..."

Ms. Fang looked around and asked, "Where is the rice? I’ll start by steaming the rice."

That wouldn’t do, considering the consumption from the wedding banquet was considerable, and knowing her father-in-law’s temperament, if they really had white rice for breakfast, it would pain him greatly.

Seeing her being so uninhibited, Junior Ms. Qian knew it was because that’s how Ms. Fang was used to behaving at home, so she quickly taught her in a gentle and soft voice.

They did have leftover rice from yesterday, just as Zhou SiLang had said, and the simplest way to deal with it was indeed to boil it into congee.

But being too simple was itself a problem.

Junior Ms. Qian taught her how to put a steamer layer on top of the pot, place the leftover rice in the steamer, cover it, and in a little while, the rice would be reheated.

Although it had been overnight, the rice gradually loosened and softened with the steam, looking quite appetizing, and of course, it would be tasty as well.

The rest of the rice could be made into congee, which is not bad to have after a meal, especially in this hot weather.

After all, the leftover rice couldn’t keep long. If they didn’t use it up, it might start to smell by noon.

There are, in fact, many ways to make congee, like cracking a couple of eggs into it to make egg drop soup... which children really enjoy eating.

However, after glancing at the new bride, Junior Ms. Qian thought better of it. Today, it was best to stick to the proper way of doing things, as long as no mistakes were made.

Zhou Xi brought back vegetables from the garden, and Ms. Fang smiled at her gratefully. Then her face grew even redder; she seemed to have been the last one up in the household. Just then, she had seen her young sister-in-law in the yard.

With the help of her elder sister-in-law and the three other sisters-in-law, Ms. Fang prepared her first meal at the Zhou family.

Of course, she was a bit slow. Taking the opportunity when she was busy with cooking, Junior Ms. Qian served Manbao a large bowl of porridge that had been stewing, then sent her off to eat.

Ms. Qian saw this and said, "Did you cook a lot? Share some with the children."

Junior Ms. Qian replied, "There isn’t much left. I thought of saving a bowl; Manbao has a small stomach and doesn’t eat much for breakfast. She’ll probably need to eat some more at noon."

Ms. Qian thought about it and didn’t dare to let Manbao eat too many of the mixed leftovers, so she nodded in agreement.

Manbao first ate a bowl of fragrant porridge with both fish and meat, where the fish had been deboned and dissolved in the porridge during the stewing process.

The meat had been cut into tiny pieces; Manbao could taste the meat in the delicious porridge but still felt it wasn’t entirely satisfying.

So after her fourth sister-in-law finished preparing breakfast, Manbao also sat down with her bowl.

Ms. Qian glanced at her, and once everyone had gathered, she had Zhou SiLang lead Ms. Fang to recognize each family member again. Ms. Fang had visited the Zhou family a few times before, so she had met everyone.

But the two she knew best were Datou and Manbao.

The former because he had been sending her small gifts for several months on behalf of Zhou Wulang, and the latter was always the excuse she was assigned to accompany her whenever she had dates with Zhou SiLang.

For example, "Manbao, take your sister-in-law Fang for a walk."

Or "Second girl, take Manbao out to play for a while."

Having seen everyone, Ms. Qian signaled for everyone to sit down and eat. There weren’t so many rules in the countryside, and when the food was ready, everyone would eat together. It’s just that the Zhou family had many people, so they might need to split into two tables.

Junior Ms. Qian, when serving rice, glanced at Manbao’s little stomach and didn’t serve her any rice but half a bowl of porridge instead.

Manbao drooled over the leftovers on the table, reached out with her chopsticks to grab some, but before Ms. Qian could say anything, Junior Ms. Qian slapped her hand away and gave her a piece of fresh tofu, saying, "Eat what’s fresh."

Manbao pouted but had to obey.

Out of curiosity, Ms. Fang glanced at her. Seeing this, Zhou SiLang explained, "Manbao’s health isn’t good, her stomach and intestines are weak, she can’t eat overnight food."

Zhou SiLang himself thought it wasn’t a problem. Manbao was now plump and her health had improved a lot, she only coughed once or twice a year. If not for last year’s severe fever, he would have almost forgotten how much trouble she was when she was younger.

In any case, he felt that Manbao should be well by now. Although these were leftovers, they were still meaty and oily, easy to fill you up and make you fat. What’s not good about that?

However, Ms. Fang took his words to heart; no wonder her elder sister-in-law made a separate portion of porridge just for her.

Because Zhou SiLang got married, Manbao took two days off. After breakfast, she ran outside, only remembering at the road junction that Bai Shanbao had gone to school today and probably couldn’t accompany her to play.