Chapter 203 - Chapter 203:1 Will Defeat You One Day
Chapter 203:1 Will Defeat You One Day
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
For the New Year’s Eve dinner tonight, even if they didn’t prepare a full banquet spread, they would still have a comprehensive range of meat and vegetable dishes. Murong De even insisted on perfection and matched the meal with some desserts. Due to this, they had even more work to do.
“Although there’s a lot of beef, we can’t just have only beef on the table. Two broods of chicks just hatched in the chicken coop in front of us. Let’s catch a rooster and slaughter it. That rooster is very ferocious. It always bullies the hens until they run all over the place in fright. It also fights with other roosters. Let’s eat it.”
Murong De followed Zhao Neng to the chicken coop early in the morning to catch chickens while Jiang Yang brought Wang Su to the fish ponds to catch fresh fish. Hea Shouyi had said that there must be a fish dish in the New Year’s Eve dinner to ring in an auspicious new year.
“Bai Shuang, let me knead the dough. 1 can do it.” Su Ying walked over and saw Bai Shuang kneading the dough. She wanted to help, but when Bai Shuang saw her leaning over, she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as she grabbed the basin and walked to one side.
“Mistress, no need. 1 will be able to finish kneading this dough soon. In a while, 1 will put it on the counter to let it sit for a while before it can be used.” In other words, she was hinting to Su Ying not to cause trouble.
Su Ying rubbed her nose. She still felt that her own culinary skills were not bad.
Su Ying scurried into the kitchen again. When she saw Hea Shouyi preparing the meat stuffing, she rolled up her sleeves and was about to step forward. To her surprise, just as she leaned over, Hea Shouyi hurriedly grabbed the basin of meat stuffing, covered it securely, and moved it to one side.
Su Ying was utterly speechless.
Hea Shouyi turned around and smiled at Su Ying. “Mistress, why are you here? There’s nothing here that we need help with. Why don’t you go to the backyard and take a look? Madam Jiang is making pickles, and 1 think she needs help.”
Making pickles? This was good. She quite liked the pickled vegetables made by Madam Jiang.
Su Ying scurried out of the kitchen again. When he saw her leave, Hea Shouyi let out a sigh of relief. “That was close, that was close. Otherwise, that basin of meat stuffing might have been ruined.”
Su Ying ran to the vegetable plot at the back. There was a large open space here where vegetables had been planted. However, the vegetables had all been harvested two days ago. Over the past two days, Madam Jiang had dried all the vegetables she had harvested and was preparing to put them into jars.
Otherwise, it would be a waste if so many of them became spoiled because they couldn’t finish eating them.
“Madam Jiang, do you need helping hands here?”
Madam Jiang raised her head to look at Su Ying and smiled. “Mistress, if you have nothing else planned, you can help me move these jars to the cellar. The vegetables have already been put inside the jars.”
“Sure.”
Su Ying carried the jar with both hands and headed straight for the cellar.
Aunt Zhao took out the melon seeds and peanuts she had bought earlier from the basket. It would not be perfect without these things during the New Year.
“Grandma Zhao, I want to eat peanuts.” When the younger toddler Ling saw Aunt Zhao come out with food, she immediately rushed into the house. Her anxious movements resembled Su Ying’s mannerisms a lot.
Aunt Zhao grabbed a handful of peanuts and placed them in her hands dotingly. “Young Miss, take these and eat. However, you must be careful when you eat them. Don’t choke on them. You must chew them slowly, okay?”
“Got it, Grandma Zhao. I’m going to play.”
“Go then. Be careful.”
“I know.”
Ling scooted off and ran to where Ji and Lin Sheng were.
The two of them were standing about ten steps away from the tiger at this moment. A few pairs of curious eyes were staring at the tiger that was lying lazily on the ground.
The tiger had also noticed their presence, but it was obvious that it did not take these little kids seriously.
The older toddler Ji stared at the tiger and tentatively moved his foot closer to it.
Lin Sheng quickly grabbed him. “Little Brother Ji, don’t get too close. Mistress said that this big tiger hasn’t been completely tamed. What if it jumps up and hurts people?”
Ji stopped in his tracks upon hearing that. “Then I’ll just stay here and watch. I won’t go close.”
Lin Sheng was afraid that Ji would lean closer, so he held Ji’s hand tightly.
The younger toddler Ling brought a small stool over and was cracking the peanuts from her pocket open and eating them with relish.
The sound of her tiny mouth crunching on the peanuts attracted the tiger’s attention.
The tiger slowly raised its head and looked at Ling.
Ling was so frightened that the peanuts in her hand dropped. She jumped up from the stool and hid behind Lin Sheng.
“Little Sister Ling, don’t be afraid. 1 will protect you.”
Lin Sheng was also so scared that his thin body tensed up, but he still bravely stood in front of his younger peers.
Ling poked her tiny head out from behind Lin Sheng. “Brother Lin Sheng, do you think it wants to eat peanuts too?”
“Little Sister Ling, tigers don’t eat peanuts. They only want meat!” Lin Sheng said with a tense expression.
Ling widened her eyes in horror. “Wow! Tiger, please don’t eat my flesh.”
“Ling, don’t run. Be careful lest you fall…” Lin Sheng saw Ling running away in fear and quickly ran after her.
However, Ji did not leave. Instead, he stood where he was as if he was confronting the tiger.
The tiger’s ears twitched. It turned to look at Ji and then slowly looked away. It was obvious that it did not take the older toddler Ji seriously.
Ji seemed to be angered by the tiger’s attitude. He pursed his lips, clenched his little fists, and slowly moved toward the tiger.
The alpha wolf leader, who was keeping watch next to the tiger, saw Ji approaching and stood up from the ground. Then, it walked towards the older toddler Ji and blocked him, as if it did not want him to continue moving forward.
However, Ji mustered up his courage and said, “I… I’m not afraid. I’m not afraid! 1 won’t go so close to it. Mother said its mouth can’t reach me here.”
The alpha wolf leader’s ears twitched as if it was analyzing the older toddler Ji’s intentions. However, when it saw that Ji was standing still and no longer moving forward, it did not move.
“Big Tiger, I’m not afraid of you. One day, I will defeat you just like Mother did!” Ji clenched his tiny fists and declared war on the tiger.
The tiger blinked languidly and gave a glance at Ji nonchalantly. Then, it opened its mouth. Its huge gaping mouth could almost swallow Ji’s whole head.
Ji was extremely frightened, but he gritted his teeth and did not retreat.
He was not afraid at all. He would definitely defeat it!
“Just you wait. Hmph!” After saying that, Ji turned around and fled.
When the alpha wolf leader saw that the little fellow had run away, it glanced at the tiger icily. Their eyes met, and the wariness and contempt for each other in their eyes were obvious.
The alpha wolf leader suddenly turned around. Poot! It farted at the tiger before slinking off to one side to hole up for the winter.
This little interlude that no one noticed did not affect the cheerful atmosphere at all. Everyone was immersed in the lively atmosphere during this rare chance to relax.
After Su Ying helped Madam Jiang put away all the vegetable jars, she returned to the front yard and sat down.
Since no one wanted her help, she sat in the house with her legs crossed and munched on melon seeds.
Not long after Su Ying sat down, someone knocked on the courtyard gate.
Right now, other than her and the children, everyone else was busy at home. She had no choice but to get up and open the gate.
Su Ying spat out the melon seed shell and opened the peephole to look outside..