At the time Mrs. Hongxia was pregnant with Liu Sizi, she did not know that the child was Liu Yingen’s. She had always thought it was Old Hunter Liu’s, as their marital life was very harmonious.
It wasn’t until half a year ago that Liu Yingen discovered a mole in the crook of Liu Sizi’s arm that was identical to his own, even in the same location.
Then, Liu Yingen confronted Mrs. Hongxia, asking if Liu Sizi was his son. He pointed out the mole on Liu Sizi and how much the boy resembled him.
Only then did Mrs. Hongxia realize that Liu Sizi was actually Liu Yingen’s child.
Liu Yingen had no sons and, though he couldn’t acknowledge Liu Sizi as his own, the fact that he had a son after all made him start treating Liu Sizi very well. He began sending any delicacies he had at home to Mrs. Hongxia so she could feed them to Liu Sizi.
Yet, one day when Liu Yingen brought over some tasty treats, he saw Mrs. Hongxia wiping her body. Despite her age, Mrs. Hongxia still possessed an alluring charm, which immediately reminded Liu Yingen of that night long ago.
She thought no one knew, but it turned out that An Jing and Xiao Changyi were aware. Mrs. Hongxia was terrified for a while, but after seeing that An Jing and Xiao Changyi made no move and seemed unlikely to expose her affair with Liu Yingen, her courage grew and she continued the adultery with Liu Yingen.
However, she never expected that Liu Yingen’s wife would catch them and then they were drowned in the river.
Once Shi Xiaolan left, An Jing and Xiao Changyi did not discuss the drowning of Mrs. Hongxia and Liu Yingen in the pig cage further; these two people were of no importance to them, and certainly not worth wasting their breath on.
An Jing and Xiao Changyi simply carried on with their plan to make glass noodles.
They turned the potato starch into a paste, then filtered it through a sieve to cool. They were both busy with just that little amount of glass noodles.
An Jing had the easier role, standing by the pot and filtering the noodles, while Xiao Changyi was non-stop busy, not only scooping the noodles out of the pot but also transferring them onto bamboo poles to cool.
It was only after the filtering was done that An Jing could help Xiao Changyi.
Transferring the noodles to the bamboo poles to cool down wasn’t enough; they had to be dried as well.
It took four days for the noodles to completely dry out, and only then could An Jing and Xiao Changyi tie them into bundles with straw rope. After a simple weigh-in, they were just thirty-seven pounds.
"It’s less than forty pounds," An Jing said, somewhat disappointed.
"Is it not enough to eat?" Xiao Changyi wondered if that was the problem.
An Jing shook her head. "No, it’s enough for us to eat. It’s just that I thought it should be around fifty pounds, but it’s not even forty. These glass noodles really don’t weigh much."
"Drying always reduces weight like that."
An Jing immediately laughed, "That’s right, just a bit of dry noodles can be cooked into a lot."
Then, hugging Xiao Changyi’s left arm and tilting her face upward with a smile, she said merrily, "Husband, I’ll make some hot and sour glass noodles for you tonight, how does that sound?"
"Can we not add vinegar..."
Knowing he disliked sourness, she quickly replied, "I’ll only add a little just to flavor it. It won’t be very sour, but really delicious—I used to eat this a lot in my world!"