Chapter 264: Birthday Dinner

Chapter 264 Birthday Dinner

Hearing this, Su He couldn't help but laugh.

"Ah, I'd love to, but there's only one of me. I can't be in two places at once."

Su He thought for a moment, glanced at Fu Yanju, and asked, "Fourth Sister, would you be interested in learning how to make cakes?"

Fu Yanju didn’t expect Su He to ask her such a question and immediately grew nervous.

"Me? Can I really learn?"

"Of course you can. You just gave me an idea. I’ve been so focused on opening a supermarket that I forgot there are other ways to make money. We could open a cake shop and sell small desserts. But that’d take even more hands than my current shop."

Thinking about it, Su He couldn’t help but sigh.

She really was all over the place with her ideas.

Opening a cake shop would be troublesome, but if we got it up and running fast and business was good, the profits could be quite high.

"Su He, I... I want to learn," Fu Yanju hesitated, feeling awkward. After all, people don’t usually hand out skills like that, right?

But thinking of her daughter, who would soon be going to school, she pushed aside her pride and pleaded, "I—if you have time, just teach me a little. I don’t need to master it right away."

"Fourth Sister, don’t be nervous. This isn’t a quick-learn kind of thing. How about this—when someone in the family has a birthday, or the kids want cake, you can watch and learn while I make it. How’s that sound? Also, making cakes requires an oven, but we don’t have one. We’d have to make do with a rice cooker, which isn’t very convenient," Su He said with a sigh.

"Okay, that’s fine. I just want to learn a skill. Can’t hurt to learn something new."

Fu Yanju was really ambitious. Su He had to admire her drive.

The two kept chatting while getting dinner ready.

Of course, today still involved chicken slaughter—two birds this time.

Fu Yanju and Fu Tinghua were busy, each elbow-deep in chicken feathers.

"Su He, these chickens—they’re not from Mom’s place, are they?" Fu Yanju asked curiously.

"No, I bought them from Aunt Niu. She raises a lot of chickens, and she breeds ’em to sell anyway."

When Su He went to Aunt Niu’s place, Aunt Niu made a big fuss over her like she was some prized catch.

That pudgy kid from way back had turned into such a beauty now.

It burned her up how lucky the Fu family was—they really lucked out.

Taking in a chubby bride, who’d somehow managed to turn her life around in the end.

"Why didn’t you just get chickens from Mom?" Fu Yanju couldn’t help but ask.

Wu Yanhua doted on Su He these days. If Su He asked for anything, Wu Yanhua would’ve been thrilled to pieces.

After all, Wu Yanhua still worried deep down, afraid Su He still held a grudge against the Fu family for neglecting her in the past.

"There are only a few egg-laying hens at home. If I kill them, we’d be out of layers. Aunt Niu’s place is different—she raises chickens specifically for selling," Su He said helplessly.

"Alright, that makes sense," Fu Yanju let it go.

Dinner tonight was stacked—chicken, fish, and meat, everything but the quack.

Su He had made duck for Zai Zai and Niu Niu before, but neither kid cared for it much.

Besides, there isn’t much difference in price between duck and chicken now, so Su He might as well stick to chicken—it turns out more tender when cooked.

By the time they’d nearly finished butchering the chickens, Wu Yanhua came to help.

She had to bring in the rice she’d been drying at home before she could come over.

The weather was unpredictable these days, and it could rain anytime, so someone had to stay home to keep an eye on it.

"Mom, isn’t the sun still out? Why gather the rice so soon?" Fu Yanju asked.

"Ah, it’s just for today, it’s fine. I’ll come help too."

As Wu Yanhua finished speaking, she turned and noticed the cake on the table.

"What’s this? It’s real pretty," Wu Yanhua asked, pointing at the cake.

"Mom, that’s cake. There’s one slice left—go ahead and take it," Su He quickly said.

She had saved one piece each for herself and Fu Tinghua, but now it was just right for Wu Yanhua and Fu Yanju to sample.

"Then I’ll eat it? Have you all had some already?" Wu Yanhua really wanted to taste the cake.

Old Mrs. Liu in the village—didn’t her son buy her a cake from a city bakery for her birthday a few years back? She’s been going on about how delicious it was ever since.

"We already ate ours," Su He replied promptly.

Actually, neither she nor Fu Tinghua had eaten any. Fu Tinghua never cared much for sweets, and she hadn’t gotten around to it earlier.

But she couldn’t tell Wu Yanhua they hadn’t tried it—otherwise, she’d feel awful about it.

And Fu Yanju would probably feel awkward too.

"My, this is delicious! Su He, did you really make this?" Wu Yanhua asked between bites.

"Yes, I made it. Ting Hua saw me making it myself," Su He said, getting water so Fu Tinghua could wash up before answering.

"It’s delicious, really. The kids must love it, right?" Wu Yanhua asked again.

"Yes, they all like it very much."

"Next time one of them has a birthday, they’ll be pestering us for sure."

As they chatted, they prepared dinner, and the atmosphere was wonderful.

The three of them prepped the ingredients while Su He did the actual cooking.

Though there were many dishes, it didn’t take long before everything was ready.

The Fu family had all knocked off early today, and by the time they arrived at Su He’s place, she still had dishes on the fire.

So everyone sat outside Su He’s house, passing the time with talk while they waited.

"Big brother, did you get a lot of hauling jobs for tomorrow?" Fu Ziyao asked.

"Not many, just two orders," Fu Guoqing replied casually.

"The air’s fresher here than at our place. And even the evenings cool off quicker."

"Yes, it's at the foot of the mountain."

During their chat, Wu Yanhua called out, "Soup's on!"

Everyone immediately got up and headed to the kitchen.

With Su He cooking, tonight's dishes were bound to be delicious, and everyone was eagerly waiting.

The women of the Fu family went to round up the kids who were running wild, bringing them back for dinner.

The children had run off to play in the harvested wheat fields, having a blast.

No one knew exactly what game they were playing—just running around.

"Zhuang Zhuang, go round up your brothers and sisters, it's dinnertime," Zhang Xiaohua shouted.

"Oh, coming."

The other kids heard Zhang Xiaohua too and didn’t need any urging, racing back home.

Isn't that what childhood's all about?

All fun and games.