Chapter 16 second quarter

"Oh, that one. I still have that cookie. Want to try it?" "Yes, of course!" After Torikai Wenhui finished speaking, he looked for other people's approval, "Do you think so?" Everyone didn't say anything, but they all nodded. Mrs. Tomioka bounced out of the reception room, and the rest of the people remained silent.Hiromi Tanaka ate his cookie dryly. The lady came back with a small rattan basket. "Come on, please use it." The rattan basket was full of burnt brown cookies.Jingzi couldn't help feeling incredible: what was this man thinking, that he roasted so much in one go?

At this point, it is impossible not to eat.Shizuko picked up a piece and put it in her mouth. The cookie was crunchy, like chewing volcanic rock, and the taste was sweet and greasy.It's not the sweetness of cookies, it's purely the sweetness of granulated sugar.Shizuko couldn't help reaching out to pick up the black tea, and washed down the cookies in her mouth.Looking around, Hiromi Tanaka and Yoshie Furukawa also brought teacups to their mouths. "I'm right," Tokai Fumie said, covering his mouth, "Madam's cookies are the best! Isn't it?" She was asking Machida Junko for advice, and Machida Junko nodded hurriedly: "Yes, that's right. The taste is very elegant."

"The taste is really extraordinary." Furukawa Yoshie also said. Jingzi thought, if this kind of taste can be regarded as outstanding, then street food can also be regarded as a high-end meal.But thinking about it, she still nodded silently.Glancing at Hiromi Tanaka again, I saw her dissatisfied face.Jingzi sweated in her heart, thinking to herself that she should not blurt out what she shouldn't say again.Fortunately, Tanaka was not an ignorant little girl after all. Although her face was tense, she kept her mouth shut and did not make a sound. "Is this rattan basket made by Madam herself?" Machida Junko asked holding the small basket containing cookies in her palm.She probably wanted to divert the conversation away from the cookies.

Mrs. Tomioka's face suddenly glowed. "Yeah. Hehe, I didn't do very well, I'm laughing at you." "Nothing, the workmanship is so exquisite, I thought it was bought from a store." "Really? I'm relieved to hear you say that." The lady put on her glasses again and looked at Machida Junko, "However, the products in the store may not always be of high quality, there will always be places where corners are cut, and it is best to make them yourself." it is good." "Yeah, you're right, it's true." Machida Junko echoed repeatedly, seeming a little anxious to make amends.

"Ah, that's right, I almost forgot one important thing." Mrs. Tomioka clasped her hands on her chest, twisting her chubby body, "I have a gift for you all." "Ah, what is it?" Torikai Wenhui immediately interjected, his voice full of joy. Shizuko was quite bored in her heart, she stole a glance at the expressions of Machida Junko and Furukawa Yoshie, they were smiling, but there was a look of anxiety in their eyes. Madam turned and walked out of the reception room, and came back with a bundle of cloth, and spread it on the table.It is a stack of about 30 centimeters long and 20 centimeters wide, a handmade work made of cloth pieces.Many floral cloths are stitched together, it seems that she is planning to make a quilt.

Even so, Shizuko thought to himself, even so, this vulgar color matching, the unsightly arrangement and combination, and this clumsy sewing method... "Yo, gorgeous wipe..." Tanaka Hiromi, who was sitting next to Shizuko, stopped hastily when she said this.Jingzi thought, fortunately she braked in time.She must have meant to say "rag" just now, but how could it be a rag?Even if she looks perfect, Madam won't distribute rags to everyone. Fortunately, Hiromi Tanaka's words did not seem to reach the ears of the lady.Madam was so proud that her nostrils bulged, she picked up a piece of cloth that looked like a rag and said, "Placemats are very useful, aren't they? So I'll make them myself."

Everyone was dumbfounded for a moment, and Jingzi was also speechless.Is this actually a placemat?So, to eat under the utensils with this vulgar piece of cloth?A row of these dishcloths should be placed on the dining table... "It's so beautiful!" Torikai Wenhui screamed wildly, with a voice that seemed to wipe out everyone's slander, "It's so beautiful, ma'am. I've wanted to buy a placemat for a long time, but I haven't been able to find a good one." Yes, it’s a real headache. You can’t find a placemat like this with a lantern.” "Really? I thought you guys would like it, so I stayed busy last night until late at night."

"Why do you bother us so much?" Jingzi said.This is her sincere words. "I'm enjoying it, so don't feel sorry. Well, let's choose what you like. There are five people in Mrs. Machida's family, so it costs five yuan. Look at this one, this one, and more. How about this one?" Madam forced out her handicrafts one by one, and Shizuko also had to accept four placemats that she didn't want at all. Maybe Madam is not a bad person, but this is really nerve-wracking, Shizuko thought to herself.To put it bluntly, this so-called tea party is nothing more than to compliment Mrs. Tomioka's handiwork.If she is really ingenious, it is also a pleasure to be a guest, and it is worthwhile to praise her.But for some reason, the lady does everything below the normal level, and she doesn't know it, which is very difficult to deal with.Jingzi felt that not only was Madam's sense of taste insensitive, but her nerves might also be surprisingly dull.

After the tea party, Shizuko left Tomioka Mansion with four weird placemats and cookies as hard as volcanic stones from his wife. "Hey, what's the matter, don't put the rag on the dining table!" Shi Ming came back from get off work, changed his clothes, and said this as soon as he entered the restaurant. "That's not a rag, it's a placemat." Shizuko said, "At least they intend to make it into a placemat." "Madam Tomioka's masterpiece?" Shi Ming frowned, "What else did you bring back?" "And the cookies, in that bag. Oh, you'd better not eat them."

"I won't touch it unless you tell me. I've suffered enough from the sausage last time." "That sausage," Shizuko sighed, "was just terrible." "I don't even eat Pu Tai." After the last meeting, Shizuko brought back a large batch of sausages made by the wife.This sausage can't be eaten no matter whether it is fried or fried.The stench of rotten meat and the pungent aroma of seasonings combined into a disgusting taste, once it was caught in the mouth, it immediately lost the appetite and caused nausea.All in all, this sausage can only be described as horrible.The two couldn't eat anything they said, so they fed it to the family dog ​​Putai, but for dogs whose sense of smell is thousands of times stronger than humans, the stench will only be stronger.Pu Tai just took a step towards the dish, and immediately let out a cry of alarm, quickly backed away, and fled with his tail between his legs.It is this kind of devil food that people hate and dogs hate. When Mrs. Tomioka distributed it to everyone, she even boasted that "as long as I eat the sausage I made by myself once, I will never look down on the finished product in the store again."What is her sense of taste like, Shizuko really finds it incredible.

"And that spaghetti, also unedible." "Oh, that one." When she saw the noodles served in Tomioka Prefecture, Shizuko thought it was fried udon noodles, but when she found a fork next to it, she was surprised that the messy noodles turned out to be homemade spaghetti, and finally they had to use them as noodles. Bring home many gifts.She wanted to make do with it for her family, so she cooked it painstakingly, but her husband Shi Ming and her children complained that it was so soft and tasteless that they hardly moved their chopsticks. "What to do with these cookies?" Shi Ming raised his chin and pointed to the bag containing the cookies. "Throw it away, there is no way." "Be careful not to be discovered by the neighbors." "I know, I'm already familiar with the road." What used to be sausage and pasta ended up as kitchen waste.But when it came time to throw out the garbage, Jingzi was very worried, for fear that if someone saw her, especially if she was seen by her companions at the tea party, she would be in trouble.Especially since there are so many crows in this area, it is too late to catch up with the garbage collection truck, and the garbage bags may be pecked to pieces by the crows.As a precautionary measure, Shizuko puts at least three layers of garbage bags on every time she disposes of Mrs. Tomioka's handicrafts. "What about these rags, oh no, placemats?" "Yeah, what should I do?" Jingzi was thinking, and this was exactly where her headache was. "Just use it as a rag." "But I heard from Mrs. Gu Chuan that Mrs. Tomioka would occasionally come to the door suddenly to check whether the gifts she gave were well used, and then leave and go back." "Huh? Is it true or not?" "So let's put it in the utility room first." "It's terrible." Shi Ming scratched his head, "Hey, what about that painting? It's the one hanging in the porch, with a painting of weird carnivorous plants." "Well, I can only hang it for a while." "Oh, it's terrible." Shi Ming repeated. The painting hanging in the porch was delivered by Mrs. Tomioka herself the day after Shizuko attended the tea party for the first time, saying it was a congratulatory gift for moving to a new house.Needless to say, it was naturally painted by the lady herself.At that time, it was immediately decorated to the porch in front of the wife, and it has been hung up to now.Everyone will exclaim when they see the painting at the first sight: "Wow! What kind of flower is this? It's disgusting!" Although Mrs. Tomioka claimed that she painted orchids, it looks like a pig cage when viewed horizontally or vertically. Carnivorous plants such as grasses and Venus flytraps. "From this point of view, no matter how terrible the taste is, I still prefer to receive the food. Although I feel a little sorry, at least I can throw it away without leaving any traces." "It's troublesome to receive this kind of thing that has to be offered all the time. If it's passable at first, it's fine in the future." "I heard from others that when Mrs. Machida gave birth to her youngest daughter, Mrs. Tomioka's wife gave her a homemade doll. The doll was so scary that her daughter burst into tears when she saw it." "Wow, what a tragedy!" Jingzi imagined the scene and couldn't help but sympathize with Machida Junko. How the other wives felt about the situation, Shizuko had been curious about lately.You shouldn't be very happy when you receive food you don't want to eat and handicrafts you don't want to hang out.It's just that, so far, no one has publicly expressed dissatisfaction.Shizuko had never seen Mrs. Tomioka's handiwork at the dump, nor had she heard of such a thing.According to Jingzi's guess, they must be the same as herself, tightly wrapped and then discarded, but she has no proof. Shi Ming suggested that she discuss it with everyone, and Jingzi replied that if it works, there is no need to worry about it now.If someone sneaks out to inform you, wouldn't the gain outweigh the loss? After a long period of depressing days like this, Shizuko received a call from Torikai again, and her heart became more and more heavy.Torikai informed her that Madam has a gift for all members of the tea party, please come tomorrow.If anyone has something to do and can't go, Madam will send it in person in the future. I must go, Shizuko thought.If Madam delivers it to the door in person, no matter how bad the item is or how outrageous the quantity is, she can only hold her nose and accept it. "You can emphasize to her that our family has a small appetite." Shi Ming suggested.Jingzi said that she did not know how many times she had emphasized it. The next day, Shizuko went to Tomioka Mansion sadly. After ringing the doorbell, there was no response from the horn, but a greeting came from the door. "Mrs. Anxi, here, here." Mrs. Tomioka poked her head out from the courtyard.She took off her glasses for a rare occasion, and rolled up her shirt sleeves. Shizuko walked through the door to the courtyard.At this moment, a strange smell rushed into his nostrils.Could this be... She immediately thought of some kind of food. When I came to the yard, I saw that all the regular guests of the tea party had arrived.When they saw Shizuko, they all showed mixed smiles.That was no longer a wry smile, but a bit of pain. There were four huge plastic buckets in the middle of the courtyard. Mrs. Tomioka reached into one of them and pulled out a cabbage the size of a child's head. "This pickled cabbage looks very tempting, right? It's my first pickle, but I believe it will be successful." "Did Madam pickle all these?" Just to be on the safe side, Jingzi asked. "Yeah, I pickled them all, and it's been exactly two weeks now." "It's a huge amount." "I thought that since it was marinated, I would invite everyone to try it. The cabbage weighs about 50 kilograms... oh, it seems to be 60 kilograms, and the garlic alone uses nearly a kilogram, hehehehe." Hearing these words, Shizuko felt dizzy for a while.So, the pickled cabbage is what I want to share with you today?how so!She suddenly felt hopeless. The lady completely ignored Jingzi's state of mind, and took out the pickled cabbage from the plastic bucket, plopped it into the prepared large plastic bag, and distributed it to the people on the side one by one, and said, "Don't forget to give back your thoughts later."When Jingzi came back to her senses, she was also holding two plastic bags in each hand. This time, no one was able to cheer up, and only Mrs. Tomioka was the only one who was full of energy. She also said that she would challenge pickled radish next time. Before she pickled the radish, move away quickly——Jingzi thought seriously. As Jingzi expected, the pickled cabbage brought back immediately caused trouble for the family.She wanted to try it, so she challenged Shi Ming, but after taking a bite, both of them vomited it out. "Throw it away!" Shi Ming ordered angrily. From the moment she brought kimchi home, Shizuko was determined to get rid of it early.If it is left for a long time, I am afraid that the whole house will stink. The problem is how to throw it away.Garbage bags can't stop the strong smell at all, and it doesn't work to just throw it into the garbage dump.