Hou Mingzhu's cooperation also put Ye Tiancheng more at ease. After lunch, the afternoon was spent preparing for some important matters. The little fox followed Ye Tiancheng to work, so for the first time in days, the little fox did not accompany Ye Qingcheng.
However, with Hou Mingzhu here, Ye Qingcheng would not be alone and would have company.
Recalling his promise to Ye Qingcheng yesterday to take her to the forest to pick wild vegetables and fruits if he had the chance.
Since Ye Tiancheng and the little fox were busy with important matters, Hou Mingzhu took this opportunity to fulfill her promise to her daughter. She informed Ye Tiancheng that she would take her daughter out for a spring outing in the forest.
Ye Tiancheng had no objections, only reminding Nuwa Stone to take good care of them. If they picked too many things and Hou Mingzhu and Ye Qingcheng couldn't carry them, Nuwa Stone could help them carry some. Although carrying what they picked themselves was also an experience, if the burden was too heavy, it was fine to let Nuwa Stone share some of it.
Before Hou Mingzhu and Ye Qingcheng left, Ye Tiancheng found two back baskets for them. Although they were not particularly good-looking, using a backpack would be more comfortable than carrying things by hand. Even though carrying them might not be too tiring, it would be less convenient.
After sending the two, one big and one small, out, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox went to the study exclusively for the little fox. Their main purpose was to prepare and decide which talismans would be more practical to bring out tomorrow.
In any case, they would definitely need to prepare more Breath Concealment Talismans. The little fox would have to draw more. Their group was not going to cause trouble, so it was better to avoid attracting attention. They could lack anything, but Breath Concealment Talismans were essential.
Then Ye Tiancheng and the little fox discussed and estimated some other potentially useful talismans. They worked in the study all afternoon until evening, when Hou Mingzhu returned with Ye Qingcheng, and they finally got to rest.
Ye Qingcheng went out with Hou Mingzhu. Hou Mingzhu remembered the red berries she had eaten before and had brought some back, which Ye Qingcheng had also tasted and liked very much. The mother and daughter had similar tastes. This time, they picked more red berries.
They also picked quite a lot of red berries, so much so that they could barely carry them. In the end, they indeed had to trouble Nuwa Stone to help them carry their harvest back to the old house.
When Ye Tiancheng came downstairs and saw how much they had brought back, he found it a bit amusing. He said to Hou Mingzhu, "Why did you bring back so many? You won't be able to eat them all at once."
"They are a type of red berry, very sweet and juicy. They are not suitable for long-term storage and need to be eaten quickly. You two can't live on them alone."
Hou Mingzhu replied, "It's not that much. It's fine. Both Qingcheng and I like them very much. And surely you and the little fox won't refuse them either? There are four of us, and it's only this much that Qingcheng and I could carry back."
"Even if there are some left over, we can make juice or jam."
Ye Tiancheng was a bit speechless. He asked Hou Mingzhu, "It's true that we can make juice or jam. Juice isn't too difficult to make, but to make jam, you haven't even officially learned to cook yet. Do you know how to make jam?"
Hou Mingzhu's gaze fixed on Ye Tiancheng, her meaning almost self-evident.
Ye Tiancheng sighed in resignation and said, "I'll do it. I'll make it. How much jam do you want to make? Let's pick out some berries first. Making jam takes some time. If we prepare now, you'll be able to eat it soon."
Originally, Ye Tiancheng only knew how to make beef noodles. However, during his time in the illusion, he had learned a lot about daily life, especially concerning cooking.
In the illusion, there were not only wild red berries but also fruits they had properly cultivated. However, Ye Tiancheng had not yet taken Hou Mingzhu to see them.
With Nuwa Stone's催生 (cuī shēng -催促生长, to urge growth), one tree could bear many fruits. Ye Tiancheng could only ask Nuwa Stone to control it, making the fruit trees bear fruit only when they needed it, and not to bear fruit at other times. Otherwise, they would truly be unable to eat them all. After all, besides Ye Tiancheng and the little fox, the only ones who could digest these fruits here were the animals they kept.
For example, Ye Tiancheng had also brought back a dog for the little fox, which also ate some fruits. However, after a while, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox could not see that dog very often.
Because Ye Tiancheng was not very attentive to the dog, and the little fox did not like to play with dogs, the dog would frolic in the illusion every day. The illusion was so vast, and the dog often ran far away. With Nuwa Stone watching over it, there was no need to worry about it starving to death outside, so the dog rarely returned.
To what extent? In the days since Hou Mingzhu and Ye Qingcheng moved in, they had not even seen the dog once. The dog was still playing outside and had not returned at all. It was clearly running very far, otherwise, Ye Tiancheng, who had taken Hou Mingzhu out for a walk, should have seen it at a glance.
In short, with only a few mouths to feed, even if they only let the fruit trees bear fruit once, there would still be a lot of harvest, and Ye Tiancheng and the others could not eat it all.
It was for this reason that Ye Tiancheng learned to make jam, as many fruits were very suitable for making jam.
Moreover, some sour fruits, when made into jam, would lose their sourness and become sweet and delicious, making them very suitable for jam. In fact, if it weren't for fear of being discovered, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox would have eaten all the jam they had made before Hou Mingzhu and Ye Qingcheng arrived.
Otherwise, at this time, there should still be quite a few jars of jam stored in the old house's refrigerator, made from various fruits.
As a result, Hou Mingzhu ended up dividing more than half of the berries they picked. This was because one of the baskets they brought back was full of red berries, which was indeed a lot. Otherwise, Hou Mingzhu would not have been unable to carry them and needed Nuwa Stone's help.
Ye Tiancheng looked at the large pile of berries and felt helpless. He picked one up, took a bite, thought for a moment, and asked Hou Mingzhu, "Are we going to make all of these into jam? Should we set some aside to make fruit wine? Not the high-proof kind."
"This kind of fruit wine with low alcohol content is quite delicious when brewed with these berries."
Hou Mingzhu thought about it. She quite liked the taste of these berries and also drank alcohol. After all, she had taken over the family business and came from such a background, so she would inevitably attend banquets and dinners. Hou Mingzhu did drink.
She thought it was a good idea and replied to Ye Tiancheng, "We can make wine? You know how to brew? Then let's make some. I'll try it to see if it's good."
Ye Tiancheng nodded and took out another container to separate a pile of berries. He spoke to Hou Mingzhu, "Of course I know how to brew, otherwise, I wouldn't have brought it up with you. The fruit wine brewed with these berries is quite delicious. The main reason is the good ingredients, no less than famous wines sold outside. When the wine is ready, you'll know when you taste it."
Since children are not allowed to drink alcohol, and Ye Tiancheng did not allow the little fox to drink either, let alone Ye Qingcheng. The fruit wine brewed would only be for Ye Tiancheng and Hou Mingzhu. Ye Tiancheng did not plan to brew too much.
Most of the berries were kept for making jam. Only two small bottles of fruit wine were brewed. If Hou Mingzhu liked drinking it, Ye Tiancheng would consider making more.
In the evening, Ye Tiancheng taught Hou Mingzhu how to cook and stir-fry. He completely disregarded more complex dishes and directly excluded them. Cold dishes were the easiest to learn.
Some vegetables could be eaten raw. Remember the proportions, prepare the vegetables and seasonings accordingly, and mix them together. Even for vegetables that needed to be cooked before mixing, they generally only needed to be blanched in boiling water, which was easier to learn.
As for stir-frying, dishes that could be served quickly were generally not complicated and were easy to get started with.
Originally, Ye Tiancheng had considered teaching Hou Mingzhu how to make soup, but he thought about it and was not entirely at ease with Hou Mingzhu making soup. Also, the soup pot was quite heavy. He thought of a few relatively simple soup recipes and planned to tell Nuwa Stone directly what ingredients were needed and what steps to follow, and have Nuwa Stone help him make the soup.
When making dinner, Ye Tiancheng basically did not do anything except handle the ingredients. He was mostly guiding Hou Mingzhu on how to do it.
Fortunately, Hou Mingzhu could distinguish between the seasonings and was not like some kitchen killers who couldn't even distinguish between sugar and salt. Once she could distinguish the seasonings and knew the steps and order, cooking was not that difficult. At most, the taste would be slightly off.
Seeing that Hou Mingzhu could do it skillfully, Ye Tiancheng knew that as long as he left some recipes with the ingredients and seasonings clearly marked, and detailed cooking steps, Hou Mingzhu would be able to cook in the kitchen herself.
However, for safety reasons, Ye Tiancheng was also afraid that Hou Mingzhu might get injured, so he did not forget to tell Hou Mingzhu some common sense for cooking in the kitchen.
For example, water should not touch the oil in the wok, and there should be no water. If the wok catches fire, do not use water to extinguish it; cover the wok with a lid. These were quite dangerous, and accidents could easily lead to injury.
If it were not in the illusion, where Nuwa Stone could help monitor the situation and protect the people in the illusion, in the outside world, it might even cause more serious consequences, such as a kitchen fire or an exploding pot, which would be quite frightening. If Hou Mingzhu could not remember these things, Ye Tiancheng would not dare to let Hou Mingzhu go into the kitchen.
Hou Mingzhu also remembered them very carefully. The dinner was basically made by Hou Mingzhu. The dishes were not particularly outstanding, but they were not unpalatable. Although they were relatively ordinary, it was about the same for ordinary families eating meals.
So, overall, Hou Mingzhu performed very well, exceeding Ye Tiancheng's expectations.
After eating the meal she made, Hou Mingzhu did not expect that she unexpectedly had a talent for cooking. She was quite worried that she would not perform well, not because she would feel embarrassed, but because she was afraid that Ye Tiancheng would be worried and would be constrained in his actions afterward.
Now, everything was fine. Both Ye Tiancheng and Hou Mingzhu were relieved and relaxed.