Meng Yao is very skilled with knives.
To her, all kinds of knives are like family.
Being good with a scalpel isn't enough; she needs to be adept with a kitchen knife too.
To this end, she spent a whole two months cutting potatoes into julienne strips. It's no exaggeration to say the thinnest potato strips she cut could pass through a large embroidery needle, and not just one strip.
Therefore, Meng Yao cuts noodles very thin, though saying she cuts them into dragon whiskers might be a bit of an exaggeration.
They are much thinner than the usual homemade noodles, probably only a third as thick as the ones hand-cut by Song Xiu'er in his memory.
Clear broth and white noodles, sprinkled with finely chopped scallions and a few drops of sesame oil, can evoke the pure and original taste of wheat, a natural flavor Meng Yao had tasted before.
Indeed, there were no pollutants in ancient times, and the natural taste of food cannot be compared to that of modern times.
"No meat?" Zhao Dahe was disappointed.
"If you don't want to eat, you don't have to. No one's forcing you," Meng Yao said without looking up.
The breakfast was delicious, so Zhao Dahe stopped being picky and slurped his noodles down.
"Xiaoshu, eat slowly and chew thoroughly before swallowing. Don't be like your second brother. He calls himself a scholar, yet he doesn't eat like one."
Meng Yao wasn't just trying to pick on Zhao Dahe, it's just that—
With two slurps, his noodles were gone.
"So tasty," Zhao Dahe praised without reservation.
Zhao Dajiang and Zhao Xiaohua in the kitchen were no better off; Zhao Dajiang, well, his eating manners are just lacking.
And Zhao Xiaohua? A young lady, yet she eats noodles at the same speed as her two brothers.
After finishing a bowl, she wanted another.
"Xiaohua."
"Mom, you'd better sit down and eat, or else the noodles will get mushy. Why isn't second brother out here eating? Mom, you really spoil him. He's grown up and still eats in his room. Xiaoshu needs to build up his health, but second brother? Doesn't he have enough by now? Doesn't even care about mom's hard work, still makes you serve him meals," Zhao Xiaohua said rapidly.
"Zhao Xiaohua, didn't Mom teach you not to speak ill of others behind their backs?" Zhao Dahe said angrily.
"I'm not speaking ill, I'm just telling the truth," Zhao Xiaohua made a funny face.
"You—"
"Alright, alright, you're a grown-up now and still squabble with your sister. And you, you call yourself a big girl. I think you're still a little kid," Meng Yao interrupted their conversation, glancing at Zhao Dahe, "Eating can't even shut your mouth."
Zhao Xiaohua felt smug.
Mom always sided with her.
The next second, Zhao Xiaohua watched her bowl being taken away, stunned.
"Go stand against the wall in your room for two timestamps," Meng Yao instructed. (A timestamp is fifteen minutes, so two timestamps are half an hour.)
No food and punished by standing.
Zhao Xiaohua's heart broke.
"No slacking, I'll come check later. Remember, while standing, keep your head up, chest out, and stomach in. Let the back of your head, your butt, and your heels press tightly against the wall," Meng Yao added.
Zhao Dahe felt schadenfreude but didn't dare show it, fearing he might be punished to stand too.
Zhao Xiaohua reluctantly shuffled back to her room.
Meng Yao slowly finished the noodles in her bowl, just a perfect 70% full.
"Dahe, don't forget to wash the dishes later, and bring over the bowls and chopsticks from Xiaoshu's room too. Dajiang, after you're full, remember to bring the bowls and chopsticks from Xiu'er's room to your second brother," Meng Yao instructed at the kitchen door.
Zhao Dahe accepted his fate with a grunt of acknowledgment, knowing he was going back to school tomorrow.
Meng Yao went to Zhao Xiaohua's room, where the little girl was obediently standing, albeit with a face full of grievance.
Seeing Meng Yao enter the room, she turned her face away, refusing to look at her.
Meng Yao stood by her side, leaning against the wall just like her.
Standing for half an hour after a meal was a habit Meng Yao had cultivated for years.
If you sit, it's easy to not digest food; lie down, and you might gain weight; move around too much, and you might cause a prolapsed stomach.
Standing against the wall engages your core, so there's nothing to worry about.
Meng Yao didn't speak first.
With a child's temperament, Zhao Xiaohua couldn't hold back for long.
"Mom, why are you standing too?"
"Have you forgotten what you said today?" Meng Yao asked back.
"What did I say?" Zhao Xiaohua was puzzled; she had said quite a lot today.
"You wanted to slim down," Meng Yao reminded her.
"Will standing help me slim down?" Zhao Xiaohua was doubtful.
"Just now, you only ate one bowl of noodles."
"Yeah, and I'm not even full," Zhao Xiaohua felt aggrieved.
No more snacks, and now even meals can't fill her up. Clearly, Mom didn't love her anymore, only loved Xiaoshu.
"Are you hungry?" Meng Yao asked.
Hungry? Zhao Xiaohua blinked, not really. But usually, she could eat two large bowls of noodles, sometimes even three.
"You ate so quickly, slurping a whole bowl of noodles in, without giving your stomach time to react. That single bowl was enough. But because your stomach hasn't reacted, you ate two or three bowls. When you set down the bowl, your tummy feels bloated only then do you feel full, right?" Meng Yao spoke steadily.
Oh, that's right. Every time after she ate, she'd feel bloated and keep burping.
"So does that mean from now on I'll only eat one bowl each meal?" Zhao Xiaohua asked.
"Not necessarily a definite number. From now on, when you eat, chew each bite more than twenty times," Meng Yao thought for a bit and said.
Actually, thirty times would be ideal.
But Meng Yao couldn't do it herself, so she couldn't ask Zhao Xiaohua to either.
"Why is that?" Zhao Xiaohua asked when she didn't understand.
"To give your stomach time to react," Meng Yao answered. "That way, you won't overeat."
Zhao Xiaohua nodded thoughtfully, "And then I'll slim down?"
Meng Yao nodded assuredly.
Zhao Xiaohua was at an age of growth; as long as she didn't overeat and maintained normal intake with more activity, she would definitely slim down.
Zhao Xiaohua beamed with joy, "Mom, don't stand with me anymore. You're already so slim; standing more will make you disappear!"
Meng Yao: …
Meng Yao stuck by Zhao Xiaohua's side for two timestamps, touching Zhao Xiaohua deeply.
"Heat the water on the stove, soak your feet for a quarter before bed," Meng Yao instructed.
Binge eating is hard on the spleen and stomach. The spleen manages digestion, and when injured, it can't digest well, leading to excess moisture accumulating in the body.
Soak the feet, and some of that moisture can be expelled. Of course, it's best to use herbal decoctions for soaking when targeting moisture. For now, hot water will suffice.
After all, as the saying goes, the rich nourish with medicines, the poor soak their feet frequently.
Foot soaking has numerous benefits.
Zhao Xiaohua, as always, asked why, and Meng Yao replied succinctly: "Soak your feet, sleep well."
"Mom, when will you teach me joint dislocation?" Zhao Xiaohua was still curious.
With nothing better to do and it being a bit early to sleep now, with Zhao Xiaohua so eager, Meng Yao decided to start teaching.
Meng Yao went to Zhao Xiaoshu's room, getting paper from Zhao Dahe, then picked a charred piece of wood from the stove, wrapped it in broken cloth to make a charcoal pencil, and drew a human skeleton on the paper. To learn joint dislocation, one must first understand the bone structure, no?