The Evil Mother-in-law: Torment Children, Work Hard, Be Rich!-Chapter 31: The Space Where Nothing Can Be Taken Out

Chapter 31: Chapter 31: The Space Where Nothing Can Be Taken Out

Sufen and Liu Yueer quickly prepared dinner.

The delicious lamb soup, paired with scallion pancakes, made this the most satisfying meal Tong Huaqiong had at the Gu Family.

After the meal, Liu Yueer hurried to clear the dishes, Gu Dashi dove into the kitchen to scrub pots and pans, and even Gu Yaozu grabbed a broom to learn how to sweep the floor.

Tong Huaqiong observed coldly, hoping the Gu Dashi family would keep it up.

"Mother, I already prepared the mung bean paste during the day," Sufen said.

She had mastered the method of making mung bean paste and mung bean puree, so she made it during the day, sparing her mother-in-law from staying up late to make pastries.

Tong Huaqiong pondered for a while and said, "I’m not setting up a stall tomorrow. I’ll stay home these days to come up with new recipes and focus on making pastries for Huang Yuanwai."

Taohua excitedly jumped up when she heard they wouldn’t be setting up the stall the next day.

Emma, finally a chance to get a good sleep, she was exhausted from the early starts and late returns these past few days.

"Mother, you’re amazing to come up with such good recipes. I could smell the wonderful scent of mung bean cake yesterday," said Liu Yueer as she walked in.

"Alright, stop flattering me. In the future, you also need to get rid of that lazy streak and help me out. Is it easy for me to earn money from the heavens?"

Liu Yueer laughed awkwardly, nodding vigorously, "From now on, whatever Mother asks me to do, I’ll do it without a second thought."

"You better mean it," Tong Huaqiong said.

After giving Liu Yueer a talking-to, Tong Huaqiong felt a wave of tiredness, and Sufen brought her some hot water. She soaked her feet and went to bed to rest.

Although she was very tired, she couldn’t fall asleep. Lying in bed, she pondered what kind of pastries she could make to satisfy Huang Yuanwai and make them known through Huang Yuanwai’s mother’s birthday celebration.

Mung bean cake and mung bean pie were essential. With red dates and walnuts at home, she could bake date cake and walnut cake, and also a batch of waterless egg cake.

Chestnut pastry, horn honey, honey three-knife... these sugary pastries, commonly seen in later times, mostly used simple ingredients and were not difficult to make.

Based on her observations from buying pastries at the county’s pastry shop last time, there were few pastries like these in Pingchuan County’s pastry shops, likely due to the large amount of sugar required.

After all, sugar was still a rarity in this era.

Perhaps only the prosperous Shengjing universally enjoyed sugary pastries.

Date paste crisp, peach crisp, pea cake, sachima, osmanthus cake, these weren’t difficult to make and could easily be arranged.

Since these pastries were for a birthday feast, if she could make a birthday cake, it would certainly stand out, but the materials for a birthday cake were unavailable in this era.

Tong Huaqiong was a bit troubled, pondering what to use as a substitute for a birthday cake that would be both festive and eye-catching.

Got it!

Tong Huaqiong’s eyes lit up, longevity peaches!

When her grandmother celebrated her birthday, there was a large longevity peach on the table, surrounded by small longevity peaches, visibly pleasing the elder.

Moreover, longevity peaches weren’t difficult to make; they could be steamed like buns using flour. The most important step was shaping, and Tong Huaqiong was skilled enough that making longevity peaches would be no problem.

The more Tong Huaqiong thought about it, the more excited she became.

"Grandma." A soft voice interrupted Tong Huaqiong’s thoughts as the door opened.

"It’s Man Er." In the bright moonlight, Tong Huaqiong saw Man Er standing at her room’s door.

"I want to sleep with Grandma," Man Er said timidly.

"Alright, come on then." Tong Huaqiong sat up.

With Tong Huaqiong’s permission, Man Er eagerly ran to Tong Huaqiong’s bed, and Tong Huaqiong bent down to pull Man Er onto the bed.

Man Er quickly snuggled under the covers, nestling close to Tong Huaqiong.

It was her first time sleeping with her grandmother, and her heart was filled with excitement.

"Grandma smells nice, Man Er likes Grandma a lot," Man Er said, hugging Tong Huaqiong’s neck.

"Man Er smells nice too," Tong Huaqiong said, ruffling Man Er’s hair and giving her a big kiss.

The six-year-old girl was so soft and cute.

"Grandma, I told Big Aunt today that Grandma has become so nice now, but she and Cousin didn’t believe me. I was very angry."

"They don’t believe Grandma cares for Man Er, but after Grandma got me floral fabric and Mom made me a new outfit, I’ll wear it out for Big Aunt to see, and see if they believe then."

...

Man Er mumbled on as Tong Huaqiong chimed in here and there.

Soon, the grandmother and granddaughter fell into a deep sleep.

In the dream, Tong Huaqiong once again entered a space, opening a door into her house from her past life.

"Home again!" Tong Huaqiong exclaimed with joy.

She rushed straight to the kitchen and opened the fridge, finding the cake still inside.

Tong Huaqiong reached out for the cake.

"Damn it," she cursed.

Still couldn’t take it out.

Heavens knew how much she longed to devour that piece of cake.

The fridge was crammed with butter, eggs, milk, condensed milk, lard, shredded coconut, red bean paste... all sorts of baking ingredients she yearned for.

She tried to pick up the butter, but couldn’t.

She tried to take an egg, but couldn’t.

Everything was there to look at, but impossible to retrieve.

"What kind of ridiculous space is this? Just letting you come in to look without taking anything," Tong Huaqiong muttered.

Turns out she wasn’t one of those lucky time-traveling girls.

This situation, it would’ve been better not to enter, at least she’d have been resigned.

Now she’s suspended, feeling all kinds of frustration.

Tong Huaqiong dejectedly wandered around the room and eventually found herself by the storage room.

Having lived through lockdowns, she had a sense of insecurity. That’s why she repeatedly shopped online, filling the storage room with flour, grains, oil, spices, and various unopened dried fruits and honey.

By conservative estimation, even if a disaster came, she could survive three years on the storage room’s supplies.

She gazed at it, longing, thinking of how if she could transfer all of these things to the Gu Family’s kitchen, she could make pastries that would overshadow the entire Pingchuan County.

But alas, she can’t take it with her.

"Hey, where is this?"

"Grandma, why are you here?"

A familiar voice sounded behind her, and Tong Huaqiong turned around to see Man Er standing barefoot behind her.

"Man Er."

Tong Huaqiong’s voice was filled with disappointment.

If Man Er was here, it meant she was dreaming.

Because Man Er could never appear in her modern room.

The hope of having this space was completely dashed.

"This house is so big and beautiful," Man Er said in her soft, sweet voice.

"This is a table, that’s a chair, what’s this, I don’t know this."

Man Er wandered around the room with happy footsteps, pointing to the table, the chairs, the TV, the computer, full of curiosity.

"Hey, Grandma, what’s this? Is it edible?"

Man Er stood by the living room table, pointing to the snacks on the table.

Tong Huaqiong wanted to shake her head.

The snacks on the table were from her online orders before she traveled to the Gu Family, stacking up on the table, she tried them, couldn’t move, or open them.

"It’s food, why don’t you try opening it?"

Tong Huaqiong watched as Man Er actually picked up a piece of cake and ripped open the package, blurting out unconsciously.

The next second, Tong Huaqiong was stunned.

This must be a dream. If she couldn’t do it, how could Man Er?

What surprised Tong Huaqiong even more was that Man Er was eating the cake.

Tong Huaqiong suddenly had a thought, pulling Man Er to the kitchen, lifting her and opening the fridge, pointing to the butter block for her to take.

Without any effort, Man Er picked it up. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Tong Huaqiong’s mouth dropped open in astonishment.