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Chapter 124 The Terrifying Swallow Girl
Chapter 124 The Terrifying Swallow Girl
The waterfall has indeed been cut off.
The disciples who were practicing on the bluestone platform all stopped what they were doing, staring up at the severed waterfall with their mouths agape. Some of them didn't even notice the blue light barrier in their hands disappearing silently.
Lin Mu was standing under the waterfall waiting for the next wave of water to crash down, but after waiting for a long time, nothing happened.
He opened his eyes and saw that the waterfall was neatly cut in half above his head, with the curtain of water continuing to roar on both sides, but the spot where he was standing was completely dry.
Jiang Wang stood on the platform, his right hand still in a horizontal cutting posture, his tone as calm as if he were saying that the weather was nice today.
"Lin Mu, Xiaoxiao is looking for you."
Xiaoxiao peeked out from behind Jiang Wang and waved frantically at Lin Mu.
Lin Mu emerged from under the waterfall, his skin flushed red from the water, his ears ringing, and his hair plastered wetly to his forehead.
Xiaoxiao pounced on him and hugged his legs, tilting her head back so that her two ponytails almost dragged on the ground.
"Big brother! Yan Niang is coming back! I want to eat beggar's chicken! And braised goose in an iron pot! I want to eat so many delicious things! Once Yan Niang comes back, I won't be able to eat them anymore!"
Lin Mu was pulled away by Xiao Xiao, and Jiang Wang withdrew his palm. The waterfall closed up again, and the roar filled the valley once more.
He leaned against the stone pillar and closed his eyes to rest for a moment, then suddenly opened his eyes and slapped his forehead.
"Oh, I forgot to tell him the secret of the waterfall condensing elixir."
He rubbed his temples and shifted to a more comfortable position to continue leaning back.
"And the Quan family is at war with the Xuanmen, so I forgot to tell Lin Mu that he's been staying home a lot lately."
Xiaoxiao tugged at Lin Mu's clothes all the way back from the waterfall, constantly reciting the names of dishes—beggar's chicken, stewed goose in an iron pot, sweet and sour fish, braised pork. In the end, she couldn't even remember how many dishes she had recited.
Lin Mu was pulled into the kitchen by her. She rummaged through the half-basket of stock in the corner, looked at the seasonings on the stove, squatted down and patted Xiaoxiao's head.
"Beggar's Chicken has no chicken, and Stewed Goose in an Iron Pot has no goose."
"How about I bake you a sweet potato first?" Lin Mu still doted on Xiaoxiao.
As soon as Xiaoxiao heard the word "sweet potato," her little face immediately scrunched up.
"Sweet potatoes? I don't want sweet potatoes! Sweet potatoes are no good! I want beggar's chicken! I want braised goose in an iron pot! Sweet potatoes are for pigs!"
Her two crooked ponytails swung like rattles.
"Guaranteed to be delicious? Why don't you give it a try?"
He glanced at the half-basket of sweet potatoes in the corner, picked out a few round ones, wrapped them in wet mud, and buried them in the embers of the stove.
"All right."
Xiaoxiao tilted her head, staring at the pile of ashes in the stove with suspicion. She sniffed, but didn't smell the overpowering lotus leaf aroma of beggar's chicken. Instead, she smelled a faint caramel scent slowly seeping from the ashes.
Lin Mu used fire tongs to pull the sweet potato out of the ashes and patted off the cracked, dry mud shell on its surface.
The sweet potato skin was roasted until it was charred and wrinkled. He opened one, and the golden-yellow flesh steamed in the morning light, its cloyingly sweet aroma filling his nostrils.
Xiaoxiao took half a sweet potato, first taking a small, cautious bite, then blinking her big, dark eyes.
Then, with the second bite, my cheeks puffed out like a squirrel's, and then I couldn't stop eating.
Lin Mu looked at her.
The corners of his mouth, chin, nose, and forehead were all covered in golden sweet potato bits, and even his two crooked ponytails had a small patch on them.
She was completely oblivious, focused on munching on the half-eaten sweet potato in her hand, her two short legs swinging back and forth by the stove.
Lin Mu reached out and wiped the sweet potato bits from the corner of her mouth.
"Why is there nothing to eat now that Yan Niang is back?" he finally asked when he had a chance.
Xiaoxiao paused for a moment while chewing the sweet potato, swallowed it, and sighed.
The sigh was very serious, completely out of character for someone who was seven or eight years old.
"Yan Niang hopes that Xiao Xiao will act like a pampered young lady."
She started counting on her fingers.
"We will have Xiaoxiao read 'The Great Learning,' 'The Analects,' and many, many other books."
"I'll make sure Xiaoxiao eats less oily food, because eating too much will make her fat."
"Xiaoxiao is not allowed to play in the mud, Xiaoxiao is not allowed to climb trees, and Xiaoxiao is not allowed to put her feet into the pond."
"She can be really fierce. Once, Xiaoxiao was caught secretly eating osmanthus cake and was punished by copying the Thousand Character Classic ten times."
"I even got a spanking."
"But perhaps Xiaoxiao could establish a Tang Dynasty."
She took a big bite of the sweet potato, as if the sweet potato were Yan Niang herself.
Lin Mu was silent for a moment, then stood up, rolled up his sleeves to his elbows, and said affectionately.
"Is there anything else you'd like to eat today?"
"I'll do everything I can for you before Yan Niang comes back."
That day, Lin Mu rummaged through all the ingredients he could find in the guesthouse's kitchen.
Half a duck bought from the butcher shop that morning, a piece of pork belly with skin, a few pieces of wild ginger dug up from the bamboo forest, a small jar of soy sauce brought from a restaurant in Heyuan, and half a bag of rock sugar.
He chopped the duck into pieces, laid a thick layer of ginger slices in the iron pot, arranged the duck skin side down neatly, and the fire licked the bottom of the pot. The spiciness of the ginger and the rich aroma of the duck oil wafted far and wide through the bamboo forest.
Cut the pork belly into square pieces and simmer it slowly in a small earthenware pot with soy sauce and rock sugar until the fat can be easily pierced with chopsticks, the skin has an amber sheen, and it trembles and sways with oil.
Xiaoxiao took a bowl from the stove to eat on the rocks in the bamboo grove, and then ate back from the rocks to the stove.
The bones of the ginger duck were piled up like a small mountain around the edge of the bowl, and the sauce from the Dongpo pork was smeared all over my face.
By the end of the meal, her belly was already quite full, yet she was still poking at the last piece of pork belly with her chopsticks.
When he was completely full, he put the bowl down on the stone and stretched out both hands in front of Lin Mu.
"Big brother, wipe your hands."
"And the mouth."
Lin Mu pinched her nose, wiped every trace of sauce off her fingers with a damp cloth, and then wiped away the oil from her face.
Xiaoxiao tilted her head back, her eyes half-closed, like a kitten whose chin had been scratched comfortably.
She suddenly opened her eyes, looked down at her round little belly, and her expression became somewhat guilty.
"Big brother, if Yan Niang finds out, she'll spank Xiao Xiao's bottom."
"Last time, when Xiaoxiao secretly ate osmanthus cake, Yanniang noticed it immediately."
"She made Xiaoxiao stand against the wall and hit her bottom three times with a ruler."
"It hurts so much!"
As she spoke, she unconsciously covered her bottom with her two small hands, as if the ruler might fall at any moment.
The voice also grew softer and softer.
"Yan Niang said that girls should act like girls."
"Sit properly, stand properly, don't make noise while eating, don't eat too much oily food, and don't get your clothes dirty."
"She said that Xiaoxiao will be studying 'The Great Learning' in the future, and can't run around the mountains like a wild girl."
Then she looked up at Lin Mu with a very serious expression.
"Wipe your mouth clean, and Yan Niang won't know." Lin Mu wiped her mouth again.
"Yes, Yan Niang has the ability to see through things."