Chapter 566: 566: Smoked Out

“Busy.” Tong Sanlang replied.

At this time, Qiao Xiaomai also entered, and when she saw Madam Zhang’s appearance, she was shocked.

Madam Zhang had indeed lost some weight, and paired with her haggard, sallow face, dishevelled hair, and the strange smell in the room, she truly looked gravely ill.

“Mom.” Qiao Xiaomai called out, “How are you feeling?”

Upon hearing this, Madam Zhang coughed several times, then coughed up some old phlegm from her throat, and hurriedly waved her hand at Qiao Xiaomai, pointing excitedly at the chamber pot placed at the foot of the bed.

Being bedridden, she rarely left the room and even took care of bodily functions within the room.

Qiao Xiaomai pretended not to understand, and quietly poked Tong Sanlang’s waist behind her.

Tong Sanlang stepped forward, picked up the chamber pot, and brought it to Madam Zhang, “Mom, don’t get too excited, speak your mind.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

He opened the lid of the chamber pot, and a foul smell instantly filled the room.

Mixed with the weird smell in the room, it made one want to vomit upon smelling it.

Feeling nauseous, Qiao Xiaomai covered her mouth and ran out.

Damn it!

Was it necessary for Madam Zhang to be so dedicated to her act of being ill!

Tong Tiehu was standing in the courtyard, and when he saw her suddenly running out, he asked with concern, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing.” Qiao Xiaomai waved her hand.

The dry heaving made her eyes water, seeing her tearful, Tong Tiehu frowned, about to speak.

Li Rou came out of her room, and seeing Qiao Xiaomai, a smile immediately appeared on her face. “Xiaomai, it’s your turn to cook dinner today, and it’s getting late. You should start now, otherwise we’ll have to light the lamp.”

“Alright.” Hearing this, Qiao Xiaomai quickly nodded.

As long as she didn’t have to be near Madam Zhang, everything would be fine!

She didn’t bother unloading the things from the ox cart and immediately washed her hands and entered the kitchen.

The Tong family’s kitchen was similar to the Qiao family’s, with two stoves, one for cooking rice and the other for stir-frying dishes, and the various seasonings were quite complete.

After quickly looking over the items in the kitchen and realizing there were no steamed buns, she stood at the kitchen door and asked Tong Tiehu in the courtyard, “Grandfather, we’re out of steamed buns. Should I make pancakes or roll out noodles?”

“Roll out noodles.” Li Rou, who was playing with her son and daughter in the courtyard, answered before Tong Tiehu, “If it’s pancakes, Xiaoxing and Xiaoyue won’t be able to bite them.”

Xiaoxing and Xiaoyue were Li Rou’s twin children. The older one, a boy, was named Xiaoxing, and was four years old this year. The younger one, Xiaoyue, was not yet three years old.

Hearing this, Qiao Xiaomai smiled, “Then noodles it is. Soup noodles or dry noodles?”

“Dry noodles. Just that there’s only a bit of pork leftover from lunchtime, which was taken away by our relatives, and now all we have at home are some vegetables.” Li Rou added. The subtext was clear: if you can’t stand how poor we are, then bring some stuff from your own home.

Hearing this, the smile on Qiao Xiaomai’s face didn’t change, “In the summer when it’s hot, we should eat lighter meals.”

After saying this, she turned and went back to the kitchen, then started to knead the dough.

Li Rou, hearing these words, held Tong Xiaoyue closer in her arms and said nothing.

Just as Qiao Xiaomai poured the flour into the wooden basin, Tong Sanlang walked in. “Shall I prepare the vegetables?” he asked.

“Have you washed your hands?” Qiao Xiaomai asked.

“I did, I washed them several times with soap beans.”

“That’s good, you can help preparing the vegetables and tending the fire.” Qiao Xiaomai agreed for him to help.

Madam Zhang wasn’t sick, but she still ordered her around. Hmm, she had bad intentions.

Feeling guilty, Tong Sanlang went to the vegetable garden and picked four green eggplants and a handful of beans, then sat by the well to wash and cut them.

Bringing the cut vegetables into the kitchen, he saw that Qiao Xiaomai was already rolling out the noodles. He walked over and took the rolling pin from her, “I’ll do it.”

Qiao Xiaomai didn’t bother being polite with him, so she moved aside upon seeing his gesture.