"Got it back." Qiu Ju replied quickly, "One hundred catties of rice bran, forty catties of corn flour, a total of one hundred and five wen spent." She reached out to grab the wooden spoon from Zhen Shi Niang's hand, "Miss, take a break, let me try." Chuckling, she said, "...when I learn Miss' skills, I'll become a divine doctor too."

  As soon as the pot started boiling with big bubbles, Zhen Shiniang shook her head and said, "It's almost done, you can't get the timing right." She also instructed Xiku, "The corn flour has been bought back, let Qiujie watch the fire, you go and knead the dough, tonight make two sets of mantou (steamed buns)." This smoky place is not good for the child in Xiku's belly.

  "Second Brother just sent two bags of white flour, why doesn't Mother make white flour buns?" Hearing that Zhen Shiniang was going to make two sets of wheat flour cakes again, Jian Wu pouted, "White flour buns are delicious!"

  Shen Zhongdiao left for over a month, and although he hadn't come back, the other day someone sent over several bags of rice flour and fish meat. It's said that eating only white noodles would be enough, but thinking about the hard days ahead, Zhen Shiniang couldn't bear to use all the white flour to make buns, insisting on mixing in some corn flour to eat.

  "We must save the white flour to eat during the Chinese New Year." Zhen Shi Niang explained in a soft voice, glancing at Jian Wen and Jian Wu's young faces, and then steeled herself, "This year we have more white flour than usual, until the 15th of the first month, we will all be eating white flour buns. At that time, let Brother Wen and Brother Wu eat their fill." In previous years, they would start eating cornmeal by the third day of the New Year.

  Jianwen Jianwu started drooling and threw a sunflower seed head, beginning to count down the days until New Year's.

  There are still three bags of flour in the warehouse, which is enough for two children's meals.

  Her lips moved, and Ji Wu thought to advise Zhen Shiniang to make a pot of plain buns for Sima Wen alone. Then she thought that if they were driven out of this mansion, they might not even be able to drink cornmeal porridge in the future, so she sighed, helped Qiuju up, and as they passed by the door, she picked up the sunflower basket with one hand, "Let's go, we're going to peel them in the front yard."

  Jianwen and Jianwu also felt that the house was too hot, so they told Zhen Shining and ran over to grab the sunflower basket, carrying it left and right as they followed Xiqiao to the front yard.

  "Bring the fragrance oil over..." Using a wooden scoop to lift up a piece of gelatinous liquid, slowly dripping it down, seeing that the gelatinous liquid had already started to form strips, Zhen Shiniang instructed.

  Added flavor oil, stirred for a while, and then ordered Qiuju to stop firing and get out of the rubber.

  Use a large iron spoon to scoop the cooked gelatinous liquid into an iron plate that has been brushed with fragrant oil, spread it out in a thin layer about one finger thick, and then have Qiuju use a special wooden frame to slowly solidify it on a row of iron frames by the window.

  Busy, Zhen Shining suddenly felt a sudden surge of energy throughout her body, and her vision began to blur. The iron spoon in her hand clattered into the pot, "...Miss, what's wrong with you?!" Just as she had finished putting down a plate of well-arranged gelatin, Autumn Chrysanthemum heard the noise and turned around, only to see Zhen Shining fall headfirst into the gelatin pot. She let out a frightened "Ah" and rushed over.

  It's okay, Qiu Ju found it in time and held onto Zhen Shi Niang, who didn't fall into the hot pot. However, a half of the gelatinous plate on the stone pedestal next to the stove was kicked over by Qiu Ju, and more than half of the aspic spilled all over the floor.

  Feeling supported by someone, Zhen Shiniang's heart felt a little lighter, and she softly fell onto Qiuju's body.

  "......Miss! Miss!" What a sight, Qiujie was frightened and burst into loud wailing, "Jiaku sister, Wen brother! Wu brother! Come quickly!" Her mind in great disarray, Qiujie began to shout wildly.

  Zhen Shining forced her eyes open and pushed Qiu Ju hard, "......Stop shouting, you're scaring the child."

  "Miss..." Seeing Zhen Shiniang wake up, Qiuju's heart felt much more at ease.

  "...it's too hot in the house and I'm suffocating, help me to the door and sit for a while." Zhen Shi Niang used all her strength to make her voice sound calmer.

  "......uh-huh." Qiu Ju nodded obediently.

  It was said to be supported, but Qiu Ju almost hugged her, fortunately Zhen Shiniang's body was very light, and although Qiu Ju was small, she could still hold her up. She quickly settled her onto the small stool by the door, leaning against the wall, sat down, turned around, took over the half pot of boiled water left on the stove, poured a cup to feed Zhen Shiniang to drink, "Miss, rest here for a while, I'll go call Xiagu (??) aunt." Qiu Ju put down the cup and ran out.

  "Don't worry." Zhen Shining grabbed her, "She's pregnant, don't scare her with your fuss. I just fainted and I'm fine after drinking some water." By this time, Zhen Shining was already drenched in sweat, she leaned against the wall to catch her breath for a while, "I'll sit here for a bit, you go scoop out the gel from the pot, it should be set soon..." Her voice was soft but firm.

  Tears welled up in her eyes, Qiu Ju pursed her lips and nodded, turning around to grab a large towel to wipe the sweat from Zhen Shi Niang's forehead. "Miss, take a rest for now, I'll be fine soon."

  Qiu Ju picked up the iron plate from the ground, rewashed and dried it, and poured on some fragrant oil. She carefully scooped out the glue with a spoon, her hands shaking all over as she did this for the first time.

  "The liquid is too thick, you need to move quickly and use force to splash it evenly..." Zhen Shi Niang reminded Jiu Ju as she saw her pouring too slowly, causing the liquid to accumulate in a lump on the iron plate.

  "Slave is too stupid, can't pour it well..." Qiuju sobbed and cried.

  Never mind about the others, these were all bought with silver!

  Once it's ruined, if it can't be sold, the loss will be severe. Looking at the large piece of donkey hide glue that had been spilled on the ground earlier, Qiuju's tears fell like beads, unstoppable. The iron plate in front of her became blurry, and her hands shook even more violently.

  Zhen Shining let out a sigh, stretched out her hand to lean against the wall and made an effort to stand up, but almost fell over again. She didn't dare move anymore, and with great difficulty, she sat steadily against the wall, panting heavily, saying "It's okay, this liquid is all boiled well, just wait for it to solidify, then press it flat, dry it in the sun... even if it's not evenly distributed, it doesn't matter, the shape won't be good-looking, but the effect of the medicine will be the same. It's just right that I'll keep it for myself..." She smiled slightly, "In the past, when I saw the medicine shops selling well, I didn't even want to use it."

  The sound was peaceful and quiet, and Qiuju's heart settled down a lot. She turned her back to Zhen Shiniang, using her sleeve to wipe her eyes, "This slave is clumsy, how can this liquid be poured evenly? Miss, you can say it's okay, just leave this half pot for yourself to drink, hurry up and take care of your body." Qiuju tried hard to hold back the fear and sadness in her heart, trying to make her words sound lighter, but she couldn't shake off the thick crying tone from her voice.

  Jing heard the tenth girl's words and felt a pang of sadness in her heart, she readily agreed with a "Good!"

  With fewer worries in her mind, Qiu Ju's hands and feet moved more quickly and she soon scooped out half of the gelatinous liquid from the pot. She placed it on the iron rack, added two ladles of water to soak the pot, then turned back around, "Miss..." Her voice unconsciously paused there.

  Only saw Zhen Shining leaning against the wall, her eyes tightly closed, a rare weakness seeping through her pale face, and an invisible sorrow swirling around her tightly locked eyebrows.

  Her lips pursed, and the tears that Chrysanthemum had just held back came pouring down again.

  Feeling the quietness around her, Zhen Shiniang opened her eyes to find Qiujie staring at her with tears in her eyes. Her small face was covered in sweat and tears, looking like a little flower cat, and she suddenly burst out laughing.

  "Miss..." Seeing Zhen Shiniang smile, Qiuju's heart felt a lot more at ease. She bent down and said, "I'll help you back to the front room to rest first, then I'll come back to wash the pots."

  "Go..." Zhen Shi Niang gave her a push, "Wash your face."

  Chrysanthemum ran over and washed her face with a few handfuls of water.

  Arriving at the front yard, Zhen Shining loosened her grip on Qiu Ju, took a deep breath, straightened her waist and walked forward.

  "Miss..." Feeling a weight lift off her shoulders, Qiujie panicked and called out, reaching out to support her again.

  "Shh..." Zhen Shi Niang waved her hand at her and said, "I'm fine." As she spoke, she had already pushed open the door to the main house.

  The magpie was sitting in the hall with Jianwen and Jianwu peeling sunflower seeds. Seeing them return, she put down the sunflower head in her hand, supported her knees and stood up, "Is the glue done?"

  "Hmm..." Seeing Qiu Ju wanting to speak, Zhen Shi Niang hastily responded with a question to Ji Qu, "Has the fermentation started?"

  "It's fermented." The magpie nodded, "It's just a bit late, it'll be around 5 pm before it's fully fermented."

  "It doesn't matter, we're not in a hurry to go to work, if we're late, we'll just eat a bit later..." Zhen Shiniang joked with a smile.

  "Mother, mother!" Jian Wu and Jian Wen rushed up to Zhen Shi with joy, pointing at the bamboo basket, "Mother, look! There are only three left!"

  "Wen'er and Wu'er are really capable." Zhen Shi Niang stroked their heads affectionately, "After dinner, let Qiuju toast some melon seeds for you."

  Jian Wu smiled with a simple expression.

  "Brother Wen, Brother Wu come over." Seeing Zhen Shiniang's hand secretly supporting the wall behind her back, Qiuju quickly pulled Jianwu and Jianwen, "Don't bother Niang, let's hurry up and finish peeling the sunflower seeds so we can eat dinner." She quickly lowered her head, not letting everyone see the mist rising again in her eyes.

  "The water has been boiled, I'll go prepare it for you..." Not noticing Qiuju's unusual behavior, seeing her sitting on her own stool, Jiyu lifted her foot and headed towards the kitchen.

  Every time she has a relapse, Zhen Shiniang would break out in a cold sweat all over her body and insisted on washing herself clean before resting.

  "I'll lie down for a while." Zhen Shiniang's voice was faint.

  The magpie was stunned for a long time, and when she clumsily turned around, Zhen Shiniang had already entered the house. Xiqu followed closely behind her.

  "Miss, how can you just lie down like that!" Seeing Zhen Shining lying on the kang without even a pillow, Ji Kuai was startled and quickly pulled out a pillow from the kang cabinet to put under her head. She also felt the kang with her hand, "It's a bit cold, I'll spread a bed mat for you, why don't you lie down for a while?"

  "Hmm..." Zhen Shi Niang closed her eyes and responded with a murmur, "Today's batch of paste is a bit too much, I'm feeling a bit tired. I'll take a nap first, wake me up when the yeast is ready to steam the cake."

  "...don't let me suffer, you won't listen, now you know it's tiring!" While throwing a towel to wipe the kang, Jixi muttered with heartache.

  Zhen Shining loves cleanliness, if she wasn't extremely tired, she would never skip a bath!

  "Alright, got it. Why don't you just help me take off my clothes too?" The tone was like teasing, but her eyes were tightly closed and she lay there motionless.

  The action of spreading the quilt stopped there, and the magpie looked at Zhen Shiniang for a long time. Seeing her with a spoiled child's expression, she sighed, lowered her head, and neatly spread out the bedding. She clumsily knelt down to help Zhen Shiniang take off her clothes.

  "Miss, your body is not well, just listen to my advice, don't be stubborn. I've already discussed with the madam, if the general really takes back the ancestral house, you can go live with the madam, although it's a bit cramped, at least there's a place to settle down...later we can slowly think of ways to rent a house..."

  Muttering for half a day without hearing any response, the magpie pushed Zhen Shiniang, "Miss..." Zhen Shiniang had already fallen asleep.