Chapter 378: Learning to Make Sweet Potato Cake

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Zhou Lan rolled up her sleeves, and it was only then that Jiang Xia noticed her wrists were bare—she had not worn the jade bracelet that Jiang Chuan had bought for her at the Locust Tree Bay black market.

Curious, Jiang Xia asked her, “Mother, why aren’t you wearing your jade bracelet?”

Zhou Lan glanced at her empty wrist, unconcerned, and said, “I’ve been so busy these past few days, wearing it out would surely invite endless questions.”

“But you can’t just never wear it. Didn’t dad buy it for you to wear?” Jiang Xia protested.

Zhou Lan flicked her hand, her tone casual, “I’ll definitely wear it, just not yet. When our family’s circumstances improve a bit more and the villagers see that, wearing it then won’t bring so much suspicion.”

It was then Jiang Xia realized that all along, she and Jiang Chuan thought they had been protecting Zhou Lan well, but in reality, it was Zhou Lan who allowed them to protect her.

During winter, when everyone is bundled up thickly, wrists are not usually exposed. Jiang Chuan and Jiang Xia hadn’t noticed such a small detail like the wearing of the bracelet, but Zhou Lan did. It showed that she wasn’t as careless as she appeared, not taking things to heart. Instead, she let Jiang Chuan and Jiang Xia feel the satisfaction of protecting a family member.

Jiang Xia felt grateful again for having crossed over to the 1960s. It was an opportunity for their whole family to become closer, to realize that even in their warm household, there were many underlying issues that hadn’t surfaced. It was this time travel that gradually brought these issues to light and offered them the chance to address and mend them.

Zhou Lan waved her hand in front of Jiang Xia’s face. “Silly girl, what are you daydreaming about? Go get two sweet potatoes.”

Jiang Xia nodded and ran to the corner where the sweet potatoes were piled up.

There were two types of sweet potatoes in the corner: one was the big, round, white sweet potatoes; the other was the red-skinned, long, and slender ones with two protruding ends, resembling bull horns.

These were the first seeds they had found deep in the mountains and grown in an uncultivated field. Since the weather was not conducive to spoiling the sweet potatoes, they had stacked all the mature ones in a corner of the kitchen.

Jiang Xia couldn’t quite distinguish between the two types of sweet potatoes, so she turned to ask Zhou Lan, “Mother, which kind of sweet potato should we use?”

Zhou Lan enlightened her, “The round ones are white sweet potatoes; they’re fluffier and stickier, suitable for steaming directly or boiling in rice soup. The other kind, shaped like ox horns, is the Honey Horn sweet potato, which is sweeter in taste and perfect for making sweet potato cakes to enhance the sweetness.”

Jiang Xia took a moment to observe and committed the differences to memory. Noting that the Honey horn sweet potatoes were quite small, she gathered four or five into her arms to carry over.

Once Zhou Lan took the Honey Horn sweet potatoes, with swift and adept movements, she peeled them. Jiang Xia watched, eyes wide and mouth agape, amazed at how these oddly shaped sweet potatoes became so compliant in her mother’s hands, shedding their skins so willingly.

Zhou Lan found her usually proud daughter’s bewildered expression quite amusing and said with a laugh, “The knife skills I possess have been honed over many years. You’ve just started cooking and want to match my knife skills already; that’s a bit too eager. No matter how smart you are, you should progress steadily and not rush.”

Taking the opportunity, Zhou Lan imparted some wisdom to Jiang Xia.

Jiang Xia nodded obediently, then placed the pieces of Honey Horn sweet potato that Zhou Lan had cut into a bowl and prepared them for steaming.

While Jiang Xia was steaming the sweet potatoes, Zhou Lan had already scooped three ladles of flour into a mixing bowl and waited for Jiang Xia to finish before she began to teach her how to knead the dough.

“When kneading dough, you can’t be impatient. Don’t add too much water all at once, as it can turn into batter instead. Add water little by little, stirring with chopsticks to gradually get the flour into a flocculent state…”

After a brief demonstration, Zhou Lan let Jiang Xia try it herself, instructing her from the side. By the time Jiang Xia had clumsily worked the flour in the bowl into a flocculent state, the sweet potatoes were almost ready.

Eager to learn the next step, Jiang Xia leaned in to see how Zhou Lan would proceed..