Chapter 410: After All, They Are Jiangshi!
December 27th, spent busily once again.
On the 28th—
Ryohei spent half a day specifically making a batch of "New Year Lucky Bags" for Yurine and the others.
Initially, only Yurine, Lucoa, Pekola, and Second ordered from him.
However, later, others also expressed their desire to buy some Lucky Bags to give to friends and family.
Ryohei simply tallied the numbers and arranged everything together today.
By the way—
Medusa also ordered a batch from him.
"Poke poke—!"
Tokyo, the luxurious villa in Meguro Ward.
Minos, Yusa, and others called the staff of "Magical Express Delivery," and one by one, they were burying their heads filling out express delivery forms.
Jashin-chan suddenly came behind Ryohei and poked his back with her finger.
"What for?"
Ryohei turned his head puzzledly.
"According to the customs here, we should prepare Kagami Mochi today," Jashin-chan said.
"Kagami Mochi? Oh, you mean that!" Ryohei almost didn't react.
The so-called Kagami Mochi is a traditional Japanese rice cake product for sacrifice, mainly made of glutinous rice, used to worship gods during the New Year, praying for family safety, harvest, and happiness.
It is usually composed of two flat round rice cakes, one large and one small, stacked together. The surface is decorated with red and white rope knots symbolizing auspiciousness, and an orange (daidai) is often placed on top.
In Japanese, the pronunciation of "orange" (daidai) is similar to "generations" (daidai), so it implies a long-lasting and healthy family, symbolizing prosperity for generations.
Wait until January 11th or 15th, there will be a "Kagami Biraki" (Mirror Opening) ceremony—breaking the Kagami Mochi with a wooden mallet to make red bean soup with rice cakes (Zenzai) or fried rice cakes.
This also marks the official end of the New Year festivities, praying for a good start to the new year.
"Ah... I forgot about this!"
Yurine raised her hand and patted her forehead lightly, looking at Ryohei a bit embarrassedly: "Indeed should prepare a Kagami Mochi. Should we make one ourselves or buy one?"
"Let's make one ourselves." Ryohei tilted his head and said casually.
Anyway, he would be quite free next, and making it wasn't troublesome. Moreover, making rice cakes himself could be considered an interesting thing—when he was young, his family made rice cakes every year.
Of course, they only adjusted the ratio of glutinous rice and japonica rice according to their family's preference, soaked it for a night, and then carried it to a place specializing in pounding rice cakes for processing.
They only needed to be responsible for carrying the steamed rice cakes, airing them, and bagging them.
This day was also a good day for Ryohei, as he could eat freshly made, salty, fragrant, soft, and glutinous rice cakes.
Freshly made rice cakes are different from those left for a long time; they are more delicious.
Only those who have eaten them know!
"I have tools for pounding rice cakes here; I'll go get them." Jashin-chan raised her hand, turned around and went to the utility room, soon coming back holding a stone mortar with a wooden basin and a wooden mallet on top.
"Such primitive tools; where did you get them?"
Ryohei couldn't help roasting while looking at this three-piece set, then asked curiously.
"Won from playing Pachinko."
Jashin-chan put down the stone mortar and answered casually.
"Uh... Pachinko parlors have such prizes."
(￣ ￣|| )
Ryohei was a bit speechless.
At this time—
Second, who had sent a New Year Lucky Bag to her father, put her hands behind her back and leaned over curiously.
She glanced at the three-piece set and said with interest: "Are we going to pound rice cakes next? Seems very interesting! I've seen videos online of using such primitive tools to pound rice cakes."
"Mn."
Ryohei doted on the child quite a bit, asking gently: "Want to help pound a few times later?"
"Yes!" Second's ruby-like beautiful eyes lit up, and she raised her hand cheerfully to agree.
Ryohei nodded, directed Jashin-chan to move the tools to the courtyard to wash them clean, while he took Pekola to the kitchen.
Before preparing, he checked online first, and the result was a bit surprising.
The hand-pounded rice cakes here were actually made entirely of glutinous rice, without mixing any japonica rice. In China, those made of pure glutinous rice are called Ciba (Mochi), which are two different things from Rice Cake.
In addition—
The preparation work here only involved soaking and steaming. Ryohei remembered that when pounding rice cakes in his childhood, there was also a process of grinding flour...
"Hmm..."
After thinking slightly, he decided to follow the local method.
Ryohei took approx. 10-12 kg of glutinous rice, and with the assistance of Pekola's time magic, he soon completed the soaking and steaming work.
When the two came outside with the steamed glutinous rice, the staff of "Magical Express Delivery" had already left with a batch of New Year Lucky Bags.
"You guys finished sending?"
Ryohei asked the demons and jiangshi girls in the living room.
"Mn, sent."
Minos, Yusa, and others responded successively.
"Wuaah—! It's glutinous rice!"
At this moment, Kyon-Kyon and Ran-Ran let out sad cries like small beasts, flashed back to the entryway, and hugged each other.
Kyon-Kyon said with a face full of discomfort: "If there's nothing else, we'll go back first!"
"Mn, bye-bye."
Ryohei stopped, a helpless smile appearing on his face, and bid farewell to the pair of sisters.
"Bye."
Others also waved goodbye one after another.
"Mn, bye-bye." Kyon-Kyon and Ran-Ran waved hurriedly.
Then turned around, stepped their fair, petite jade feet into their small shoes, pushed open the door, and trotted away.
"Kyon-Kyon and Ran-Ran are actually afraid of glutinous rice..."
After the two jiangshi girls left, Jashin-chan put one hand on her waist and shook her head.
"After all, they are jiangshi." Ryohei held a basin of steamed glutinous rice and continued walking towards the courtyard.
"Ah—! Speaking of which..."
He paused, tilted his head and said: "This seems to be something that can be overcome?"
Forgetting if it was anime or manga, Ryohei remembered that Kyon-Kyon and Ran-Ran's master, Shancun, once said—
He brought the transformed Kyon-Kyon and Ran-Ran back to the Demon World and did various training, but only forgot the training to overcome glutinous rice.
Hmm—
Truly a careless master!
Big Tiger (crossed out)... Big Careless (correct answer)!
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