Transmigrated as an Unwanted Ugly Girl

Just as she was thinking this, Huai Zi sat down in front of the stove. He started poking at the ashes in the firebox with a pair of tongs and said, "Did you put a stew pot in here to make some kind of soup? We won’t be able to eat it tonight then, it’ll have to be tomorrow morning. Whoa! What’s this?"

He hadn’t pulled out a stew pot. Instead, he felt the tongs hit a hard lump. Not knowing what it was and afraid he might break it, he didn’t dare to move it around recklessly and quickly asked Juhua.

Juhua couldn’t help but laugh—she had just been thinking he wouldn’t find it, and now he had. She walked over with a smile and crouched beside him, resting a hand on his knee. "Ai! You found it so quickly," she said. "I was hoping you’d have to search a little longer. Go on, pull it out. And guess what it is. If you get it right this time, I’ll be really impressed."

Seeing her smug expression, Huai Zi’s interest was piqued. He couldn’t resist leaning in to kiss her on the forehead. As he started pulling the lump out, he chuckled, "What new thing have you made now? The Shanyu aren’t big enough yet. Don’t tell me it’s a fish?"

When he finally maneuvered the large lump to the mouth of the firebox, his eyes lit up. "Whoa!" he laughed. "Such a big thing, it’s definitely not a fish. Don’t move! Let me guess again. It’s so big, so round—" He used the tongs to heft it. "—and so heavy. Is it a chicken?" He looked at Juhua, a little uncertain.

Juhua froze for a second, then gave him a hard thump on the back. Laughing, she shouted a line from a classic sketch comedy in her past life: "You’re a genius!"

Huai Zi chuckled happily. "So it really is a chicken! What made you think of cooking it like this?"

Juhua had him crack off the outer layer of yellow mud, revealing the lotus leaves within. Only then did they carefully lift it onto the cutting board and open it up, instantly filling the entire room with a fragrant aroma.

The young couple’s laughter echoed endlessly from the kitchen, and out in the courtyard, He and Zhang Dashuan shared a knowing smile. Zhang Dashuan couldn’t help but mutter, "What are they talking about that’s so funny?"

He shot him a glare. "You want to know? Then go take a look yourself!"

Zhang Dashuan quickly shook his head. Who knew what sweet nothings his son and Juhua were whispering to each other? He’d just be asking for trouble if he went over there.

Just then, Zhang Yang walked into the courtyard, holding a book. Although he was dressed in a simple short tunic, he exuded a scholarly air. With his refined manners, he was already a dashing young man.

Seeing him, He quickly said, "It’s almost time to eat. Go wash your face first. Ai! Studying and writing in this hot weather, it must be torture!" In her eyes, reading and writing were much more tiring than farming.

Zhang Yang raised an eyebrow. "Dinner’s so early today?" he asked. Just then, he heard his brother and sister-in-law’s laughter and exclamations of praise coming from the kitchen. Instead of heading to the main house, he broke into a trot and hurried into the kitchen—his refined demeanor gone, replaced by that of a lively youth.

Seeing his younger son barge into the kitchen without a second thought, Zhang Dashuan couldn’t help but grumble, "This kid has no sense at all."

Hearing this, He let out a snort of laughter.

Zhang Yang ran into the kitchen and saw his brother and sister-in-law standing in front of the cutting board, hunched over something. He sniffed the air. "What’s that smell? It’s so fragrant. Hmm, it smells like chicken."

Juhua and Huai Zi turned to see him and laughed in unison. "You’ve got a sharp nose."

Zhang Yang eagerly pushed his way forward and saw that the two of them were using chopsticks to pull apart a whole chicken. The aroma was so enticing he couldn’t stand it; his mouth began to water. Tucking the book under his arm, he snatched a detached chicken leg and stuffed it into his mouth. "So fragrant!" he exclaimed. "This chicken is so tender and smooth. Juhua, how did you cook this?"

Juhua and Huai Zi exchanged a glance and burst out laughing. Then Huai Zi said, "Why don’t you try and guess how this chicken was made? If you can figure it out, I’ll be impressed!" He was repeating the exact words Juhua had used on him just moments before.

Seeing their eager expressions, Yangzi asked in surprise, "Is it that hard? Brother, did you fail to guess just now, and now you’re testing me?"

But Juhua just laughed and said to him, "Oh no! Your brother is a genius—he got it on the first try. Quick, you guess and see how you measure up to him!" She couldn’t help but smile whenever she said that line.

Zhang Yang devoured the chicken leg in a few bites, smacked his lips, and rolled his eyes in thought. "It doesn’t seem steamed, and it’s definitely not roasted. It’s not like it was boiled, either. No, wait, it’s probably steamed after all—that’s why it’s so tender. Was it steamed?"

Every time he spoke, Juhua and Huai Zi would burst into laughter. And every time they laughed, he would hastily change his answer. After going back and forth several times, he still felt it must have been steamed.

Juhua offered a hint. "Yangzi, you’re going to take on great responsibilities in the future. You must learn to carefully observe the things around you in your daily life. To figure out how this chicken was made, you can’t just rely on the taste and texture. You have to look at its appearance and see what else came with it."