Zhong Ani tugged uncomfortably at her skirt, "Sisi, isn’t this skirt a bit too short? Why do my legs feel so chilly?"
"There’s nothing short about it; you look much prettier in it than I do. If you don’t believe , ask them."
Tian Sisi truly thought that Zhong Ani looked quite good in it. Putting on that yellow dress had instantly elevated her aura, eliminating any trace of a country girl.
To prove she wasn’t lying, Tian Sisi specifically ran upstairs to fetch a mirror for her. When Zhong Ani saw the gracefully standing girl in a yellow dress in the mirror, she could hardly believe it was herself. When did she beco so pretty?
Zhong Wan Hua and the others couldn’t wait and pushed the still self-pitying Zhong Ani away from the mirror, "Stop looking, you’re pretty enough, let us have a turn."
The young girls had completely lost their usual maturity, each becoming much more lively, chirping non-stop, and ceaselessly admiring themselves in the mirror. Zhong Wan Hua had darker skin, but her beautiful features and slim figure made up for it. Wearing the white dress Tian Sisi picked out for her, she looked gracefully charming and like a pretty young girl.
Tian Sisi simply pulled them into the bamboo forest and took one photo after another with different backgrounds and poses. After using up a roll of film, she loaded a new one. Tian Sisi was using those one yuan and five cents rolls of film, which actually produced photos almost as good as the five yuan rolls, but cost-wise, the one yuan and five cents rolls were definitely better.
Zhong Ani and the others felt a bit embarrassed, taking one photo after another, wouldn’t that cost a lot of money?
"Sisi, isn’t the film expensive? Maybe we shouldn’t take pictures anymore."
"It’s not expensive, really not expensive, alright then, no more pictures for now, let’s cook dinner first."
Just then, Tian Sisi glanced at the clock in the living room; it was almost four o’clock, ti to start preparing the evening al.
Thinking that it was Tian Xinhua’s birthday, Tian Sisi felt she should prepare a birthday cake, but she didn’t know how to make one, and even if she did, she didn’t have an oven or cream. Indeed, even a skilled cook could do nothing without rice!
Although Zhong Wan Hua didn’t know what birthday cakes, ovens, or cream were, she was a capable girl and quickly ca up with a good idea.
"Sisi, don’t worry. If we can’t bake, we can steam it. But what is used to make your birthday cake, is it like a sponge cake? I’ve helped my Mama make sponge cakes before."
Tian Sisi’s eyes lit up, right! Why didn’t she think of sponge cake? In the movie "Raise Your Hands 2," Guo Da made a sponge cake for the Japanese, which was beautifully decorated with many red dates, even though it was ultimately ruined by the careless antics of Pan Changjiang. Reminded of that scene, Tian Sisi couldn’t help but giggle.
"Alright, let’s make sponge cake, Sister Wan Hua, what ingredients do we need?"
"We need cornal, flour, eggs, sugar, baking powder, and alkali. I think that’s all."
Zhong Wan Hua carefully recalled the process her Mama used to make sponge cake, and it seed she had rembered correctly, that’s how her Mama did it.
As Tian Sisi heard each ingredient, she fetched it from the cabinet, also grabbing a lot of dry red dates and raisins that could be used to garnish the top of the cake, it would surely be delicious.
Even though the young girls were making sponge cake for the first ti, it proved that unity is strength. In less than an hour, a golden, delicious sponge cake garnished with red dates and raisins was successfully made, leaving the girls with a great sense of achievent.
"I really want to try it; this cake must taste good because it has ten eggs in it."
Zhong iying swallowed her saliva. When the eggs were added earlier, she almost died of heartache because of Tian Sisi’s extravagant use of ingredients. Ten eggs! Even stead with bran, it would still be delicious with ten eggs.
"Exactly, and there’s also so much white sugar, at least half a jin."
Zhong Juying also felt the pinch. Their family only consud one jin of white sugar throughout the entire year, and they still hadn’t finished the sugar that Tian Sisi had given them previously.
"And they added red dates and raisins too, it must taste delicious. My Mama used to steam it with just white sugar and corn flour, and it was already very tasty."
"Unfortunately, we can’t eat it now, we can only start eating it when everyone is here tonight, this big cake will be enough for all of us." Tian Sisi said cheerily.
When He Xuewen ca in with a cart, he saw five little girls surrounding a large yellow cake and chatting rrily. He was surprised to see the cake emitting an eggy aroma, not expecting these little girls to be so resourceful.
"Daddy, we stead this cake together, aren’t we amazing?" Tian Sisi ran up to He Xuewen like a little eager puppy, seeking praise.
"Amazing, each one of you did well. Once we get electricity here, I’ll buy an oven for you, and then Ah Nan can bake a birthday cake."
He Xuewen understood that his daughter wanted to replace a birthday cake with this stead cake. He had once told Ah Nan that Shanghai people eat birthday cakes and even described what they look like; he didn’t expect that Ah Nan would actually co up with such a beautiful cake.
"Alright, when I bake it, the first piece will go to Granny and Grandpa, and then Daddy and Papa."
Zhong Wan Hua and the others were a bit shy. Fortunately, they had changed out of Tian Sisi’s beautiful clothes before steaming the cake; they would have been so embarrassed if Uncle He had seen them!
At that mont, Tian Xinhua and others gradually returned. Zhong Anping and Zhong Ankang were thinking of coming later but were dragged over by Tian Xinhua. At this ti, everyone else was still out working, who would co to the back mountain to see?
Zhong Xiaogou also brought a shy boy with him, Jin Duofu, who was saved by Tian Sisi. Since that incident, he would visit his grandparents’ house in Yuequan Village every weekend, supposedly to see his grandparents.
But everyone knew his real interest wasn’t the wine, but Tian Sisi never had ti for him. Eventually, Jin Duofu beca good friends with He Chengsi and the others, often going together to the mountain to collect bird eggs and forage for wild fruits.
He Xuewen, with a beaming smile, looked at the suddenly bustling courtyard, feeling very happy. He took out a finely made rectangular wooden box from his bicycle basket, labeled "100 Hero Golden Pens" in bold letters, which looked very impressive. The box also had a small card tied to it, just a plain card with so elegantly written words:
"For young friend Tian Xinhua,
Happy Birthday, Study Hard, Reach for the Stars!
He Xuewen"
"Xinhua, Happy Birthday!"
He Xuewen handed the pen box to Tian Xinhua with a smiling face, the town’s resources were too scarce, and this was the best gift he could find. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian) to vote for recomndation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian to read.)
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