CHAPTER 745: CHAPTER 741: NOT LETTING YOU TAKE RISKS (SECOND RELEASE)

"Shuangshuang, I don’t know either. Mom, how about I knead some more flour? We can make a few pancakes to fill our stomachs. What do you think?" Mu Shuangshuang said.

"Alright, then I’ll knead the dough."

Yu Si Niang scooped some flour from the cupboard and started adding water to knead the dough.

Mu Shuangshuang took two large sea bowls, scooped all the hot porridge from the pot, and placed it on the dining table before starting to wash the pot.

Making pancakes isn’t a difficult task, but I don’t know when Lu Yuanfeng will come over.

Mu Shuangshuang used a loofah to scrub the pot. Just as she finished washing it, Xiao Han walked in.

"Sister, with such heavy snow, will the pigs in the pigsty and the little rabbits in the rabbit cages freeze to death?" Xiao Han asked with a worried face.

It seems he just went to check on the pigs and rabbits in the pigsty.

"Little animals have fur and aren’t afraid of the cold. If you’re worried, you can grab some dry grass and throw it into the pigsty, and a little into the rabbit den as well," Mu Shuangshuang said.

"Okay!" Xiao Han nodded.

After saying that, he went out again.

What’s more, kids really aren’t afraid of the cold. Little Zhi isn’t, and neither is Xiao Han. In such cold weather, instead of staying warm under the covers, they don’t even come to the fire I set.

Half an hour later, Lu Yuanfeng stepped through the side door of the Old Mu Family into the third branch.

He was carrying a child on each shoulder, followed by two men. The men were only wearing thin autumn clothes and were shivering in the cold wind. When Mu Shuangshuang looked closely, she saw they were the Huang Brothers.

The Huang Brothers’ parents died early, and they’ve been living day by day. Whether it’s the dead of winter or the cool spring and autumn, they always wear other people’s hand-me-downs.

In spring and autumn, it’s okay—a little worn-out clothes. People wear them out, and they don’t need them anymore, but for winter coats, people will mend them and wear them again.

So, there’s rarely a chance to get someone else’s winter clothes.

That’s why they came out wearing autumn clothes.

"Huang Da, Huang Er, quickly go into the house and warm up by the fire. You’ll freeze stiff otherwise."

Huang Da and Huang Er, without any formality, quickly entered Shuangshuang’s kitchen.

Lu Yuanfeng put the two children outside the kitchen, and the children obediently joined the Huang Brothers to warm themselves by the fire.

Lu Yuanfeng was wearing a new cotton coat made by Yu Si Niang, with tightly bound cuffs that looked very warm. When he and Mu Shuangshuang met each other’s gaze, a suspicious blush appeared on his face.

"Shuangshuang, aren’t you cold?" Lu Yuanfeng asked, staring foolishly at Mu Shuangshuang.

"Not really, I was just warming myself by the fire. I also threw a few sweet potatoes into the fire. When we go to the mountains later, everyone can take one to fill our stomachs. What do you think?" Mu Shuangshuang asked.

At this point, Mu Shuangshuang was getting to the main topic, which was exactly what Lu Yuanfeng wanted to discuss.

"Shuangshuang, today I want to go to the mountains alone first to check the situation. With three days of snow, I have no idea how the situation at Niuwei Mountain is.

Besides, since the snow hasn’t stopped yet, I’m not sure if it’s suitable for hunting. I need to go up the mountain to see."

It’s really cold now, and after standing outside the kitchen for a while, Mu Shuangshuang’s nose turned red from the cold.

Lu Yuanfeng, feeling sorry, pulled her into the kitchen and said as she approached the stove, "Shuangshuang, don’t worry. My task today is not hunting; it’s to check the situation."

Hunting on a snowy day is the most dangerous.

There are tigers, wolves, and bears. These animals are extremely dangerous and, when hungry, they’ll attack anything live they see.

Mu Shuangshuang knew Lu Yuanfeng had her best interests in mind.

But she was still worried about Lu Yuanfeng going up there alone.

"Brother Fengzi, we brothers can go to the mountain with you, so Miss Shuangshuang can be at ease," Huang Da said.

"No way, you brothers don’t have any cold-weather clothing. You can’t go up the mountain like this. The temperature in the mountain is much lower than here. With just these clothes, you’ll freeze stiff in a while."

Lu Yuanfeng directly refused.

On the way here, he had also talked to the Huang Brothers, but they didn’t take it to heart.

"Then what do we do? We brothers came here to hunt today; we even brought our tools. We can’t just go back like this," Huang Er said, pointing to the bow and arrows he placed in the corner.

"How could it be for nothing? You can hang out at my place. There’s food and drink, and besides, you still haven’t told me what happened that night and how you dealt with my fifth uncle and second uncle," Mu Shuangshuang said, handing a small stool to Lu Yuanfeng and squatting down beside it herself.

"Hahaha..." The Huang Brothers wanted to laugh when they heard this story.

As they laughed, everyone in the kitchen grew curious because Yu Si Niang had been away for a few days and had no idea what had happened at home.

Since Shuangshuang hadn’t mentioned it, Yu Si Niang hadn’t asked.

Now that this topic came up, Yu Si Niang became interested.

"That night, just after dark, your second uncle and fifth uncle couldn’t wait to rush to your house, looking like they were going to tear the roof apart.

I even heard your second uncle say that if he stole enough money, he’d find two concubines to serve him since his wife was temperamental, ugly, and not very bright. Anyway, the more they talked, the more excited they became.

Huang Er and I were hiding inside without making a peep, waiting to see how they’d enter. Unexpectedly, after a while, your fifth uncle really got the door open.

Once they came in, Huang Er and I immediately started beating them up. The two grown men were so scared they wet their pants. The rest you should know; we shoved your fifth uncle and second uncle’s heads into a manure bucket and then threw them into the mountain to let them chill in the cold wind all night."

Mu Shuangshuang burst into laughter, her stomach cramping from laughter.

Yu Si Niang, sitting beside her, recalled the day she returned from Yu Family Village, seeing Mu Dazhong and Mu Danian with dirty stuff all over their heads, thinking it must have been manure, and felt a bit nauseated.

Thankfully that day, Shuangshuang’s father dragged her away, otherwise, who knows how gross it would’ve been sticking to her.

"Speaking of, what do we do about talking about something so disgusting right before we eat?" Mu Shuangshuang said.

"No problem, we’ve brothers have been through worse; it doesn’t affect us."

"Alright then, Mom, I’ll go call Dad and Little Zhi, and you all get ready to eat."

After breakfast, Lu Yuanfeng went into the mountains, while the Huang Brothers, with nothing to do, took a few kids to the courtyard to build snowmen.

Half-grown snowmen, with the help of two big men, were quickly built.

One wasn’t enough. At the request of Xiao Han and Little Zhi, several more snowmen were built.

Mu Shuangshuang carried a wooden basin, gathering clean snow.

After melting, this snow would be stored by Mu Shuangshuang in a sealed jar. When it was time for the beans to mature next year, soaking with this water helps to keep the pickled beans from dissolving.

These little tips were all learned by Mu Shuangshuang from Yu Si Niang.

When it comes to cooking, Mu Shuangshuang did alright, but for pickling vegetables in jars, she still had to learn from Yu Si Niang.

In this era, there were no refrigerators; many foods were gone once out of season. To have them in the off-season, they had to be pickled and stored in jars.