Chapter 102 Sending Youth Group

Li Shengli rode his bike out of No. 36 Shuijing Hutong, humming a little tune.

"The water of Butterfly Spring is so clear, I throw a stone to test the depth. I want to pick flowers but I am afraid of the thorns, so I wander around with a restless heart."

Marrying a wife is marrying, and finding a matchmaker will introduce someone you don't know. Some matchmakers conceal all kinds of circumstances in order to get the commission. Wouldn't it be better to find one yourself and get it done in one go?
"Shengli, why are you so happy?" Yan Bugui was tending to his pots of flowers at the door of his house. He asked in surprise when he saw Li Shengli coming back so happily.

"Oh, I picked a lot of wild vegetables and I was happy." Li Shengli made up an excuse casually, restrained his smile, locked his bicycle, and returned to his home.

Yan Bugui certainly didn't believe it, but he just asked casually.

Li Shengli calculated the date and found that Qingming Festival was coming soon. Li Shengli was thinking whether he should make some green rice dumplings.

Li Shengli took advantage of his off-work day to go to Huifangyuan where his master worked and bought some glutinous rice flour from them.

The day before Qingming Festival, Li Shengli went out to find some fresh mugwort. After returning home, Li Shengli removed the old leaves and branches of the mugwort, washed it repeatedly, put a pot on the stove to boil water, and after the water in the pot boiled, he put in the washed mugwort leaves, salt and baking soda and cooked for one minute before taking it out and cooling it.

The squeezed mugwort leaves were cut into small pieces and then put into a garlic mortar with a little water and mashed into a paste. At the moment, Li Shengli did not have an electric mixer or a small stone mill, so he could only use the garlic mortar to make do.

After all the mugwort has been stirred into a paste, turn on the fire and cook it for a while. Pour the slightly cooked mugwort paste into a basin covered with gauze, squeeze out the water, and then pour the mugwort paste into the glutinous rice flour, white sugar and rice flour mixed in advance.

Then use chopsticks to mix the mugwort paste and powder evenly, add mugwort water in small amounts until the dough can be kneaded into dough, then add a small amount of oil to the dough and place it on the panel to let it rise.

Fry the peanuts slightly, remove the red skin of the peanuts, crush them with a rolling pin, and mix them together with sugar and sesame seeds in a certain proportion.

Divide the dough into pieces of equal size, flatten them with your hands, apply a little bit of oil on them, put the mixed fillings in like making dumplings, and roll them into balls.

Put the pot on the stove, line the steamer with greaseproof paper, put the green dumplings in one by one, brush a layer of oil on them, put the pot in with cold water, cover it and steam it over high heat for about ten minutes.

After the green rice dumplings were steamed, Li Shengli wrapped six of them in oil paper and put them in his bag, preparing to give them to Han Qiuyun. Since I have decided to marry her, I have to act quickly to avoid regrets later.

I left the house, got on my bike, and was about to leave.

"Shengli, what are you doing at home? My voice is so loud." Yan Bugui asked as he looked at the smoke coming out of Li Shengli's house and the faint fragrance coming from the room.

"Hey, Third Uncle, Qingming Festival is coming soon, so I made some green rice dumplings." Li Shengli opened a paper bag and showed it to Yan Bugui.

"Uncle, if you want it too, you can provide the materials and pay some labor fees, and I can make some for you." Li Shengli imitated Yan Bugui.

"That's not necessary." Yan Bugui refused without thinking. No one can get any advantage from me, Yan Shuzhai.

"Uncle, I remember you are from Shanxi. Don't you have any customs there?" Li Shengli asked curiously.

"It's not like ordinary people who go out to worship their ancestors, but here there aren't so many rules." Yan Bugui thought about it and realized that since he had left Shanxi, there was no way he could go back to Shanxi to worship his ancestors.

"Then I'll be leaving first, Third Uncle." Li Shengli said and prepared to go out.

"Who is this Qingtuan for?" Before leaving, Yan Bugui pushed his glasses but didn't dare to ask out of curiosity.

"Oh, no one, just a friend." Li Shengli didn't want to talk about it. There were too many people in this yard who couldn't bear to see others live well. "I'm leaving, Third Uncle."

"Is this boy dating someone?" Yan Bugui muttered to himself as he looked at Li Shengli's back. Li Shengli left the courtyard and rode his bike to the compound where Han Qiuyun lived in Shuijing Hutong.

"Young man, who are you looking for?" An old man in the front yard, who was acting as a doorman, asked hurriedly when he saw a stranger coming in.
"Hello, sir. May I ask which family Han Qiuyun belongs to?" Li Shengli asked hurriedly when he saw the person.

"In the back house in the backyard, no, who are you?" The old man answered subconsciously at first, then remembered and asked again.

"Hello, uncle. My name is Li Shengli. I'm Han Qiuyun's friend. I'm here to visit her." There's nothing wrong with saying this. Saying it might even dissuade some people who have ideas about Han Qiuyun.

"Oh, you are the friend of the eldest daughter of the Han family." The old man looked at Li Shengli for a few times. This young man did not look like a bad person. "Come with me, I will take you there."

"Sister Han, are you home? There's someone here who says he's a friend of your eldest granddaughter." The old man knocked on the Han family's door and shouted.

"I'm coming. Wait a moment." There was a sound of footsteps from inside the door, and Han Qiuyun poked her head out.

"Li Shengli? Why are you here?" Han Qiuyun looked surprised.

"Since you two know each other, I'll go back." The old man was afraid when he saw that Han Qiuyun knew Li Shengli, so he went back to the front yard with a gossipy expression.

"Well, Qingming Festival is coming soon. I made some green rice dumplings and came to see you and to see if your foot is healed." Li Shengli said with a smile.

"That's so embarrassing." Han Qiuyun saw that Li Shengli was interested in her and said a little embarrassedly.

"Qiuyun, who's here?" An older voice came from inside.

"Grandma, it's Li Shengli, the man who helped me last time that I told you about." Han Qiuyun shouted towards the door.

"Then I have to thank him very much," said the old voice.

Li Shengli didn't feel comfortable entering the house either, as this was his first time here and there was no man in the Han family.

"By the way, this is the green rice dumpling I made. Give it to you." Li Shengli handed the green rice dumpling in his hand to Han Qiuyun.

"Oh, this... I'm so sorry." Han Qiuyun felt a little embarrassed.

At this time, Han Qiuyu came out from inside the door, helping Old Lady Han.

"Qiuyun, this was sent from far away and not bought, so just accept it." Old Mrs. Han looked at Li Shengli and said to Han Qiuyun.

"Yes, sister, it's not easy for me to come here." Han Qiuyu said, trying to hold back her laughter.

Han Qiuyun had no choice but to take the paper bag from Li Shengli with a blushing face and pull Han Qiuyu into the house. She also realized that her grandmother had something to say to Li Shengli.

"Li Shengli? Right." Old Mrs. Han looked at Li Shengli carefully and said.

"It's me, old lady." Li Shengli shouted as soon as he opened his mouth, showing his thick-skinnedness.

(End of this chapter)