When the lard was ready, Zhao Yuzhen started chopping meat to prepare some fried meatballs.

  Half-fat and half-lean pork ribs were minced by Zhao Yuzhen, mixed with some flour, egg, scallion, ginger, and salt, and then deep-fried into meatballs that were just the right size, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Some families would also add shredded radish or cabbage to make vegetarian meatballs, which were also delicious.

  This year, the Zhou family slaughtered a pig for the New Year, and there was plenty of pork. Zhao Yu-zhen prepared to fry some pure meatballs for the children to eat.

  At home, it's rare to have a meat dish, and the children are still young and lack nutrition. Just now, Da Bao and Xiao Bao were fighting over the crispy fried residue, and Zhao Yuzhen was both delighted and saddened by how deliciously the kids were eating.

  If we weren't so poor and didn't eat meat so rarely, would the child have become so spoiled? It's not pleasant for a mother to think about!

  She decided to fry more meatballs for the kids to indulge in.

  The two treasures, who had been wandering outside for half a day after finishing their meal, returned in time with big smiles on their faces as they saw Zhao Yu Zhen frying the meatballs.

  The meatballs that children love the most. If we say that fried dough scraps can still be eaten at ordinary times, then meatballs are something that cannot be eaten until the New Year.

  Why else would kids love Chinese New Year? It's all about the delicious food! Not to mention new clothes and red envelopes with money during the celebration.

  On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, every brother and sister in the Zhou family ate their fill with gleaming faces.

  On the second day, Zhao Yu Zhen started steaming buns and dumplings again. These staple foods had to be eaten until the 15th of the first month, so she borrowed a large steamer from her uncle's house to steam them.

  In previous years, there were more solid mantou and fewer stuffed buns. This year, Zhao Yuzhen made a lot of vegetable and meat-filled buns, and also used brown sugar to make some triangular sugar corners, which were steamed in a three-tiered bamboo steamer for half a day.

  Zhou's father helped to chop the meat and fillings, Zhao Yuzhen was busy kneading and wrapping the buns, Dabao saw that the house was lively and didn't go out to play, so he just messed around on the side. Zhou Xiaoyun wanted to help but saw that her younger brother and sister had no one to take care of them, so she focused her attention on Dabao.

  "Brother, look at Xiaobao and Er Ya, they don't listen to me either. You're the oldest, Xiaobao and Er Ya are willing to listen to you, take them out to play and they'll definitely be happy."

  Three words and two languages deceived the vain-hearted Da Bao, who took Xiao Bao and Er Ya to play outside. Zhou Xiaoyun washed her hands clean and came to help.

  Zhao Yuzhen picked up the steamed buns one by one and put them on the table to cool down, seeing Zhou Xiaoyun wrapping the buns neatly and was amazed.

  Zhou Xiaoyun made the dough smaller with her small hands, kneaded it a bit and then pinched it into thin skin. She scooped up a small spoonful of filling and placed it in the middle, then used her hands to pinch out small pleats along the edges. It's best to close them together by hand and shape them into a ball. A lovely and delicate baozi was thus wrapped up.

  At first, Zhou Xiaoyun was a bit unfamiliar, but after two packages came back, all her memories from the past life returned.

  Her movements became more and more skilled, although she was not as fast as Zhao Yu Zhen, but her speed was almost the same as Zhou's father. The buns she wrapped were better in shape, neither flat nor crooked, very neat and compact.

  With Zhou Xiaoyun's help, the speed was much faster. By afternoon, all the mantou, baozi and sugar cake were steamed.

  The buns were big and solid, the triangular sugar corners were very cute, and there were many small and delicate ones that came from Zhou Xiaoyun's hands. Zhou Xiaoyun was self-satisfied for a moment. Not to mention, the most popular ones were these small-sized buns made by Zhou Xiaoyun.

  Lunch was naturally fragrant meat buns, and Da Bao ate five by himself.

  Zhou Xiaoyun loves to eat sugar horns, the red sugar inside is caramelized into a sweet syrup, and when you take a bite, it's sweet, hot, and fragrant, so you have to savor it slowly. Zhou Xiaoyun doesn't have a big appetite but she ate three before stopping.

  When it was still steaming hot, Zhao Yu Zhen put a few buns and mantou into the bamboo steamer, letting Zhou Xiao Yun and Da Bao carry them back to Eldest Uncle's house.

  Dabao didn't understand why he had to put the delicious buns in the steamer and muttered a couple of sentences.

  Zhao Yuzhen gave her son a glance: "Can't return an empty cage borrowed from someone else's house, of course, you have to put some buns and mantou. You ate so many buns today and still haven't had enough?"

  This kind of loving criticism has never been taken to heart by Dabao, who smiled and went with Zhou Xiaoyun to carry the cage to her uncle's house.

  The elder brother is busy making tables and chairs. Aunt Shen Hua Feng saw that Dabao Zhou Xiaoxia was carrying a basket of food, so she quickly took it over and invited the two to come in and play at home.

  The sedan chair bearer said it was neither heavy nor light, the big porter didn't feel it was heavy at all, but Zhou Xiaoyun was panting, fortunately they arrived in a few steps, and even this exhausted Zhou Xiaoyun.

  Zhou Xiaoxia handed a cup of water to Zhou Xiaoyun to drink. After drinking a few mouthfuls, Zhou Xiaoyun felt less tired and somewhat better.

  The old lady picked up the buns and steamed buns from the bamboo steamer, saw two particularly small buns inside, smiled and asked: "Wow, how come there are still such small and delicate buns this year? Your hands are really skilled."

  Before Zhou Xiaoyun could finish her humble words, Da Bao on the side quickly replied: "Auntie, your eyes are really good, these two are wrapped by my mom and dad, they wrapped more than this. This big bun is particularly delicious-looking, I don't even want to eat it."

  Actually, Da Bao thought the big buns had more meat filling so he didn't eat the small ones. He ate five big meat buns in one breath at noon, if they were small, he would have eaten at least seven or eight.

  The aunt was surprised, and after carefully examining the two buns for a while, she saw that they were about the size of a child's fist, with neat and regular folds on top, exceptionally cute. If it weren't for Dabao saying so, who would have thought that these were made by a six or seven year old child?

  The old lady's praise made Zhou Xiaoyun somewhat complacent, but she humbly said a few words on the surface, not revealing a hint of pride, which again elicited the old lady's heartfelt praise and affection.

  Zhou Xiaoxia immediately looked at Zhou Xiaoyun with a different gaze, she can't even wrap a bun yet! Zhou Zhihai took advantage of everyone's distraction to eat the buns in a few mouthfuls, thinking that the taste is really not bad while eating.