I don’t know what’s up, but Gu Youyou felt a lot more irritable these past couple of days—it seemed like nothing was right, and she constantly felt like there was a suffocating anger inside her, ready to explode.
Especially when she looked at these two shameless men.
Sitting at home, waiting to be fed without working? Was she the typical capitalist that exploited the working people, a person who harbored grudges? Clearly, she wasn’t.
During the day, Yuancheng mistook one herb for another, and Gu Youyou scolded him. Thinking about it now, she might have been too harsh—after all, Yuancheng was just a ten-year-old child.
It was wrong to employ child labor in the first place, so how could she scold him as if he were an adult who’d done something wrong?
Therefore, while it was still not too late in the evening, she took out the lotus roots she had brought home a few days ago, intending to make sweet osmanthus sugar lotus roots for Yuancheng.
After washing the lotus roots clean, she saw Jin Zijin had just sharpened a knife, so she waved him over, saying, "Done with nothing? Come help me, watch the fire."
"You didn’t have enough to eat tonight?" Jin Zijin asked with surprise.
Gu Youyou stuffed the sticky rice into the lotus roots and said, "This is for Yuancheng."
Probably having never seen lotus roots eaten this way, Jin Zijin took a couple of extra glances at her hands, and after wiping his own, obediently sat by the stove to tend the fire.
"Why did you think of making food for Yuancheng? Since Doctor Zhou passed away, is Yuancheng not getting enough to eat?"
Gu Youyou gave him a disdainful look and said curtly, "You thick-headed man wouldn’t understand! All you care about is whether the belly is full, how typical."
Yue Rujing was cleaning windows outside. Gu Youyou shouted at him, "Yue Rujing, it’s almost dark, what’s the point in cleaning windows now? You won’t get them clean, you might as well hurry to the riverbank and pick some fresh osmanthus flowers for me in Osmanthus Village."
"Ah? Are you making osmanthus hair oil?"
"If I tell you to pick them, just hurry up! Why all these questions?"
Sweet osmanthus sugar lotus roots were something Gu Youyou learned from the auntie who cooked traditional Chinese food at her house—the auntie, a rural widow raising her son alone, was skilled and could make many traditional dishes, sweet osmanthus sugar lotus roots just being one of them.
People from ancient times knew how to make sweet osmanthus sugar lotus roots, but it was unclear from what era this started. Seeing how Yue Rujing and Jin Zijin acted, it seemed people here probably didn’t know how to make it.
She packed the sticky rice into the lotus roots and secured them with bamboo sticks before placing them in the pot, steaming them with the prepared osmanthus sugar.
To make them soft and delicious, she needed to steam them slowly on a low flame, which would take a long time.
The night darkened, ushering in a chill. Gu Youyou sent Jin Zijin out and tended to the fire herself.
Yue Rujing headed off to the study to read. He had no intention of going to bed so early; he was waiting to taste the strange sugar lotus roots Gu Youyou made.
After taking a bath, Jin Zijin passed by the study and popped his head in before heading toward the kitchen.
Yue Rujing put down his book and, lowering his voice, hushed, "Brother, come here!"
The yard wasn’t all that big—how could Gu Youyou not know about any activity that took place?
She scoffed as she tended the fire, thinking about the two Taoists who tried to trick her into believing they were some sort of cousins.
She had initially planned to move directly to the back courtyard of Jisheng Hall, and that was why she stayed in the same yard as them.
Gu Youyou, with her sharp ears, inadvertently caught every whisper they meant to keep secret.
Curious about the mischief the two were cooking up in the study, Gu Youyou listened intently.
"Brother, I feel like Gu Youyou is off again today!"
Jin Zijin responded irritably, "When do you ever see her acting normal? Sweet osmanthus sugar lotus roots, have you ever heard of them?"