Transmigrated as a Stepmother: Time to Bring the Family to Prosper!-Chapter 321 - 320: Crispy Crunch

Inside the Qi Family carriage, it was filled with the sound of laughter between the master and apprentice.

Meanwhile, inside Qin Yao’s carriage, the angry Immortal Official Qi was having a staring contest with the four siblings of Da Lang.

The four siblings wanted to address him, but didn’t know how to start.

Mr. Qi?

Brother Qi?

Or should they call him Master Qi?

Second Lang took a deep breath; someone had to break the awkward atmosphere.

"Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?" Second Lang asked while signaling to the Dragon and Phoenix Twins.

Sanlang and Si Niang, in perfect harmony, took out the food they had secretly hidden and placed it on the small low table in the carriage.

Unfolding the cloth napkin, it revealed a yellow-skinned mooncake with red bean paste and a small pack of spicy little crabs, all made by Ah Wang. Sanlang looked at them and couldn’t resist quickly picking up a crab and popping it into his mouth, chew chew chew, so crunchy!

Immortal Official Qi couldn’t help but secretly swallow his saliva and curiously asked, "What kind of crab is this? I have never seen such small ones."

Si Niang looked at him in shock, "You’ve never seen small crabs before?"

Immortal Official Qi shook his head, he was shocked too. How could there be crabs this small in the world?

The young man stretched out his hand and gestured on the table, "The smallest crab I’ve eaten was about this big."

Sanlang extended his small hand, which was just the size of the palm, and the little guy widened his eyes in surprise.

The four siblings exchanged glances, and Da Lang curiously asked, "Then what’s the largest one you’ve had?"

Immortal Official Qi smiled faintly and pointed at the small table inside the carriage, "Big enough to cover this table, it was a sea crab sent from Beihai."

"But the taste was just average, not as good as the chicken stewed with matsutake mushrooms." The disdain in Immortal Official Qi’s eyes was so apparent, with a look of deep loathing.

The four siblings immediately furrowed their brows in unison, giving a disgusted "Ew~" in empathy.

Second Lang said, "How about you try our little crabs to see if they’re any good."

Immortal Official Qi hesitated, looking at the mooncake and small fried crabs laid out on the napkin, his fingers twitched uneasily, but eventually couldn’t resist the temptation of the spicy aroma, grabbed two with his hands, covered his face with his sleeve, and tasted them.

The crabs were small, with no meat, but the shells were tender. After being fried in hot oil, they were crispy and delicious.

With Ah Wang’s special spicy seasoning mixed in, they were savory, numbing, and spicy, making your mouth water uncontrollably as soon as they hit your tongue. A slight scorching heat followed, mixing with the tender crispy shell, providing a very rich taste, making you want more with every bite!

"Tasty, right?" Seeing Immortal Official Qi’s brightened eyes, Si Niang said proudly, "These are the crabs I caught with my brothers, we didn’t want the bigger ones, only the smallest ones."

Da Lang pushed the mooncake towards Immortal Official Qi, "This is also a mooncake we made ourselves, it’s very fragrant."

Immortal Official Qi first acknowledged that the little crabs were delicious, nodded slightly in response to Da Lang, then picked up the mooncake with his hand, took a small bite to taste first, not holding much hope.

Because he had been disappointed too many times before.

He often ate the pastries from the largest restaurant in the Capital City, eating three to four pieces a day, but since following his great-grandfather’s wishes to come to Zijing Mansion’s ancestral land, he hadn’t found pastries as good as those since.

Shi Tou helped him find seven or eight cooks, but none could make the taste he wanted.

Afterwards, he would occasionally eat a piece, just to save face for others.

But unexpectedly, the bite of this mooncake’s skin gave him a sense of returning to the Capital City.

However, as soon as the mooncake was in his hand, he could smell a rich oily fragrance, a bit greasy. But the taste in his mouth was unexpectedly refreshing.

Having traveled arduously by carriage and boat to ensure they could smoothly arrive at Liu Family Village today, Immortal Official Qi only had breakfast and hadn’t eaten anything at midday. The two crabs and a bite of the mooncake awakened his appetite.

He looked up at the four Liu Family siblings before him, seeing their eager expressions as if urging him to eat quickly, he dropped the pretense and took a big bite of the mooncake.

The red bean paste mooncake had just the right sweetness in the filling, not feeling greasy or too bland, and mixed with the oily fragrance from the skin, it surprisingly whetted the appetite.

However, after eating this sweet and soft pastry, a bit of greasiness did set in, and at this moment, Immortal Official Qi found the spicy little crabs to be the perfect complement.

The four Da Lang siblings, seeing Immortal Official Qi eating so heartily, felt deeply satisfied and happily asked if he wanted some water.

By coincidence, they arrived at the spring water location that Liu Ji vigorously recommended to his teacher.

Once the guards stopped the carriage steadily, Da Lang agilely jumped off the horse carriage, took the gourd handed over by his sister, and made his way to the roadside on the inside, parting the grass to dive in. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

It turned out there was a small cave inside the grass, with a clear little spring within.

Da Lang brushed the fallen leaves floating on the water’s surface aside, filled the gourd with spring water, and brought it to the carriage, handing it to Immortal Official Qi.

On Liu Ji’s side, he did the exact same action, though after a couple of sips of wine, his steps looked somewhat unsteady. Luckily the cave was small, so there was no worry of him tumbling into the spring.

Inside the Qi Family carriage, Gongliang Liao’s surprised voice rang out, "Fresh and delicious!"

He instructed Liu Ji, "I want this spring water for my tea!"

Liu Ji agreed with one word, anyway, riding to collect the water was less than two quarter-hours round trip. As long as his teacher was happy, what harm was it to wake up two quarter-hours earlier!

Having tasted something delicious, Immortal Official Qi’s irritated mood finally improved. He leaned by the carriage window with the four Da Lang siblings, watching the scenery outside and listening to Da Lang explain what animals lived in the mountains.

Seeing how Da Lang was so knowledgeable about the mountains as if he had been there himself, Immortal Official Qi curiously asked him:

"Zi Wang, how do you know so much?"

Upon this subject, Da Lang couldn’t help but puff out his chest proudly and said, "Aunt Yao took me hunting in the mountains last year, we stayed in the mountains for seven or eight days together, and I’ve seen deep mountain beasts."

With this, both Second Lang and Sanlang got excited and added, "Our big brother even kept a tiger head!"

Immortal Official Qi gasped in surprise, "Really?"

So, the four siblings began telling him the story of how their mother had killed a spotted ferocious tiger with one strike last year.

After hearing the story, Immortal Official Qi suddenly felt that this countryside mountain seemed much more dangerous and quite exciting!

Thinking about how he and his teacher didn’t know how long they’d be staying there, he might run into Miss Qin’s next autumn hunt, he couldn’t help but feel some anticipation for the upcoming days.

The group drove past the stationery factory gate and slowly entered Liu Family Village, causing a significant stir in the village.

But upon seeing the Qi Family’s guards riding tall horses, with long swords at their sides, people made way from afar.

Seeing that Qin Yao’s carriage was also among them and leading the way to their home, the villagers found it quite incredible.

The village chief, Clan Leader, and Liu Dafu, who had already gotten the news, exchanged glances, wondering whether to go and greet them.

Ultimately, they decided to do so, to avoid seeming discourteous.

But as soon as they reached the entrance of Qin Yao’s home, they saw the guards lined up on both sides, holding long swords, their expressions cold and stern.