I was reborn after my cousin stole my life.

Chapter 201: Excellent Value for Money

"I'll pay Aunt Zhao's wages."

After discussing the terms with Aunt Zhao, An Hui privately mentioned the matter to Jiang Zhou.

Jiang Zhou was tidying up the master bedroom upstairs. They planned to move back to the master bedroom today and leave the rooms on the first floor for Aunt Zhao to live in.

"No need, we'll pay for it ourselves."

"Why are you being so polite? I invited Aunt Zhao to look after my grandchildren, so it's only natural for me, as her grandmother, to pay her for childcare."

"Where does this sense of entitlement come from?"

Jiang Zhou glanced at her, then unfolded the bed sheet in his hand. "If you have so much money you don't know what to do with it, then buy your grandchildren some more food and clothes. It's your love as their grandmother that's showing them affection. As for the cost of hiring Aunt Zhao, as their father, there's no reason for me to let you pay for that. It's not like I can't afford it. I don't need you to subsidize me like this. Raising children requires financial support from parents. Do you think I'm a spendthrift?"

An Hui raised her hand to stop him from continuing, "Fine, you pay for it yourself. Anyway, paying your Aunt Zhao this money is definitely worth it!"

It was indeed great value for money. The mother and son tidied up the room upstairs while Aunt Zhao prepared dinner downstairs.

She explored the kitchen thoroughly, inside and out, and once she had a better understanding of what to do, she began to cook.

In the kitchen, there was a chicken that Jiangzhou had killed that morning. The chicken was cleaned and placed aside, with the giblets and other parts in a small bowl.

Seeing that there was kimchi at home, I took some out of the jar to use later.

As for the chicken, she removed the meat from the breast separately...

"...I made hand-pulled noodles, and since I had some chicken giblets and kimchi at home, I stir-fried some spicy and sour chicken giblets as a topping. Little Yuan is breastfeeding and can't eat spicy food, and it's best not to eat offal either, so I took the meat from the chicken breast separately, smeared it with minced garlic, and fried it in oil to make a chicken cutlet noodle soup for Little Yuan. Try it and see if it suits your taste. If it's too salty or too bland, just tell me, and I'll know how to season it next time."

She said the last sentence to Yuan Xiu.

Yuan Xiu looked down and admired the garlic chicken noodle soup in front of her. The clear broth contained a bowl of extremely thin noodles.

On top of the noodles, neatly arranged strips of chicken cutlet, the aroma of garlic wafting through the air!

Yuan Xiu took a bite of the noodles. "Mmm! Aunt Zhao, these noodles are really good! They look thin, but they're chewy and springy, and the flavor is just right."

Aunt Zhao breathed a barely perceptible sigh of relief. "As long as it suits your taste, that's fine. Tell me what you want for dinner tonight, and I'll make it for you."

"Aunt Zhao, you can arrange it as you see fit. I'm fine with anything."

"Then I'll make you some chicken wontons. There's one chicken cutlet left, and I see we have some dried shiitake mushrooms at home, so I'll soak them in a bit. I'll also prepare the dough for the wontons and make them for you later."

After talking about the evening's extra meal, she then started preparing the chicken from which the breast meat had been removed. "I'll start stewing it before going to bed and let it simmer slowly in the stove overnight. The resulting soup will be fragrant and rich. I'll also add some astragalus and codonopsis to stew together to replenish qi and blood."

That evening, Yuan Xiu ate mushroom and chicken wontons. Each wonton was about the size of a longan. Aunt Zhao only cooked eight for her, blanched some greens, and added a little soy sauce and sesame oil. The taste was delicious, refreshing, and not greasy.

"Don't eat too much at night, just a light meal is enough to avoid indigestion."

Yuan Xiu ate the wontons slowly, saying, "This is just right. Jiang Zhou cooked too much for me before, and he never remembers it whenever I tell him."

"He doesn't forget; he's just worried you won't have enough to eat."

As Yuan Xiu ate wontons, Aunt Zhao went to the bedside to look at the two sleeping children. "So cute!"

Yuan Xiu nodded, admitting that after the redness subsided two or three days after birth, the two children became more and more beautiful day by day.

Her little face was fair and rosy, and her features were inherited from her parents' best features, making her look as delicate as a porcelain doll.

If it weren't for the fact that the baby couldn't be taken out during the postpartum period, Jiang Zhou would probably have proudly shown the baby to the whole compound.

He's already started showing off; all his leaders and comrades in the army know he's had a beautiful pair of twins, a boy and a girl.

As for how beautiful it is, I've only heard about it, I've never seen it.

Everyone is waiting for the baby to turn one month old, saying they want to come as a group to see it.

After Yuan Xiu finished eating the wontons, Aunt Zhao took the bowl away.

After she went downstairs, she spent another half hour in the kitchen before turning off the lights and going into the room that had been prepared for her on the first floor...

In her dreams, Yuan Xiu could only smell the aroma of chicken soup!

She opened her eyes and sniffed a few times. Yes, it was the smell of chicken soup. The chicken soup simmering in the kitchen had already wafted up from downstairs to upstairs.

Yuan Xiu's breakfast today was chicken soup millet porridge with shredded chicken meat in it, along with a plate of stir-fried vegetables and a boiled egg.

Aunt Zhao stayed for half a day and a night, and Yuan Xiu ate three meals cooked by her, each one of which was exceptionally delicious!

Aunt Zhao is not only a good cook, but also efficient at housework.

She doesn't need to look after the children yet. After breakfast, she soaks the diapers the children have changed, wipes the house inside and out with a rag, mops the floor, and then starts washing the diapers.

After washing the diapers, it was almost time to make lunch. In the afternoon, I noticed that the vegetable garden in the backyard hadn't been tended to much, so I tidied it up a bit, found some seeds from home, and planted them in season...

With Sister Zhao's arrival, the whole family felt relaxed.

Jiang Zhou no longer had to busy himself preparing postpartum meals for Yuan Xiu every day, and the pile of diapers in the basin when he came home from get off work was gone.

An Hui is finally free and has time to apply cucumber slices to her face again.

Yuan Xiu benefited the most.

The food was delicious, and my complexion visibly improved.

When Teacher Shen came to see her, she praised her, "You look even better than before you were pregnant! I haven't seen you gain weight at all!"

Good complexion means you're eating well, and if you eat well but don't gain weight, that's just too illogical!

"I gained 15 pounds during the 40 days my mom took care of me during my postpartum period!"

Yuan Xiu laughed and said, "My Aunt Zhao is very particular about nutritional balance when cooking. She calculates what I eat and how much I eat every day to make sure I don't overeat. If she hadn't come, I might have actually gained ten pounds."

"The relative your mother-in-law invited is really quite good..."

After praising Yuan Xiu for a few moments, Teacher Shen began to ask her about her college entrance exam.

"You've probably already heard! I heard it's for real this time, just waiting for the official document. Do you have any thoughts?"

"If it's true, then of course I'll take the exam!" Yuan Xiu said.

I think you should go too.

Teacher Shen smiled and said, "I know your learning progress. Based on the tests you've done before, your scores are better than most of the senior students in our school. Our teachers have been talking about this privately, saying that if there really is an exam, the first set of questions definitely won't be too difficult, and your chances are very high!"

"After you finish your postpartum confinement, I'll give you intensive tutoring for a while. We're going to take the exam, and we'll try our best to get into a good school!"