Chapter 411: Hand-Pounded Rice Cakes!
The winter sunshine felt warm and comfortable on the body.
In the courtyard—
Ryohei poured the steamed glutinous rice into the stone mortar—about one-third of the amount; the rest was still kept warm on the stove with residual heat.
He looked at Jashin-chan, who was holding a wooden mallet ready to pound rice cakes, then looked down at the lawn and the height of the stone mortar. He pointed to the lawn in front of the stone mortar and said to Pekola:
"Pekola, help me make a rattan hanging chair in this spot."
If he remembered correctly, controlling vines was her specialty.
"Mn? What kind do you want?"
Pekola, standing aside hugging her full chest, was slightly startled and tilted her head.
"Probably like this..."
Ryohei walked over, took out his phone from his pocket, searched for pictures of rattan hanging chairs online, selected one that matched his idea, and showed it to her.
Then he gestured:
"Make the hanging chair a bit lower so that when I sit on it, it's convenient to flip the rice cakes... Can you do it?"
"Of course, who do you think I am?"
Pekola's cool voice carried a trace of confidence.
As her voice fell—
On the lawn in front of the stone mortar, two verdant vines broke through the soil, shooting upward like awakened green snakes, spiraling and intertwining. In the blink of an eye, they exceeded two meters in height.
Then, as if pulled by an invisible force, they drooped and bent naturally, their tips cleverly threading and overlapping with each other.
The vines wove smoothly in the air, arcs winding around arcs, quickly forming a sturdy and full hanging chair shape. With a gentle tightening of the tips, they firmly merged into the bottom.
Perhaps feeling this wasn't aesthetically pleasing enough, tender green leaves and scattered small flowers grew on the formed rattan hanging chair, instantly raising its overall appearance by a notch!
"..." Even Ryohei was stunned watching it, and the other girls' beautiful eyes lit up.
"Servant, you brat... you really know how to enjoy!"
Jashin-chan carried the wooden mallet around the stone mortar, plopped her butt into the hanging chair, tucked her tail further inside, leaving only a small section hanging out.
She leaned back, felt it, narrowed her eyes, and said: "Quite comfortable... but if there was a cushion, it would be even better!"
"Pekola, make one in my room later."
Jashin-chan looked at Pekola brazenly and waved her hand.
"Our room wants one too!"
Second hurriedly raised her hand, turned to look at Minos, and said: "Minos, is that okay?"
"Mn, if it's convenient." Minos put one hand on her waist and also looked at Pekola.
"I'll make one for you guys later."
Pekola didn't refuse; after all, it was just a simple task.
Consuming negligible divine power, she could make quite a few that could last for a long time.
"..." Koji looked up and pulled his sister's clothes.
Yusa lowered her head with a gentle expression, reached out to tuck her ice-blue hair behind her ear:
"When we get to the ranch, let's ask her to make one in the room there."
"Mn mn."
Koji responded softly, narrowing his eyes happily.
"Alright, Jashin-chan, get up. Time to pound rice cakes, or the glutinous rice will get cold."
Ryohei walked to Jashin-chan's side and urged.
"Oh, okay~."
Jashin-chan lazily extended a fair white hand. Ryohei knowingly pulled her up and sat in the hanging chair himself.
He felt it; indeed not bad, quite comfortable to sit in.
"Then I'm starting..."
Jashin-chan walked to the opposite side, first dipped the wooden mallet into the water basin to soak in cold water, then raised it above her head, shouted delicately, and smashed down forcefully—the wooden mallet landed on the steamed glutinous rice, making a muffled Pa sound.
Ryohei wet his hands as well, and taking advantage of the moment the mallet was lifted, quickly pushed the rice grains sticking to the edge of the stone mortar back to the middle.
"Hah—!"
Jashin-chan shouted delicately again, and the wooden mallet fell heavily.
Ryohei cooperated by pushing the rice grains back.
"You can't do it like this!"
She suddenly stopped and corrected Ryohei:
"When doing it, you should make sounds like 'Hah' or 'Yo-i-shoi.' Echoing the Pa Pa sound of the wooden mallet hitting the rice cake, forming a unique sense of rhythm."
"That makes it interesting."
"Indeed should be like this." The corners of Yurine's lips curled up, agreeing with a smile.
"Hand-pounding rice cakes here is like this."
Lucoa held her full chest with one hand, resting the other hand on top, pinching her fair and delicate chin.
"I won't do it."
(￣ ￣|| )
Ryohei was speechless for a moment, looking at the two with a "Subway Old Man looking at Phone" expression:
"That's too shameful."
"What's shameful about it? Is your sense of shame that strong?"
Jashin-chan tilted her head, looking puzzled.
"Just treat it as respecting the traditional culture here."
Lucoa opened the eyelid of her left eye, raised a slender white finger to persuade.
Old troll indeed!
"...Fine, when in Rome, do as the Romans do."
Ryohei thought about it and relented.
Next, cooperating with Jashin-chan to pound rice cakes, he also made "Hah" sounds to assist.
Actually, it was indeed a bit awkward at first, but after a few times, he got used to it.
Humans are truly creatures that can quickly adapt to things they are not good at!
"..."
"Hah... Pa..."
"Hah..."
The wooden mallet rose and fell time and time again. Warm steam wrapped in the sweet fragrance of glutinous rice permeated the air.
In the stone mortar, the snow-white glutinous rice gradually lost its graininess amidst repeated pounding, blending together, becoming dense and resilient, emitting a warm and moist pale golden glow...
"That's enough."
Ryohei raised his hand to stop Jashin-chan from continuing to pound.
He directed Second to go to the kitchen to bring half of the steamed glutinous rice, preparing for the second round of pounding.
He himself kneaded the formed "rice cake" mass and slammed it Pa, Pa in the stone mortar twice to make its texture more uniform.
Then he asked Lucoa to make two molds, one large and one small.
By the time he filled the "rice cake" into the molds, Second excitedly came holding a basin of steaming glutinous rice...
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