Chapter 154

Chapter 154: Nighttime Fairy Tale

In the Tixilam Mountains at night, the Rabbit-Ear School.

Bright candlelight shone through the classroom windows, with shadows moving within. The flickering lights resembled stars twinkling in the night sky of the mountains.

Students who should have gone home after school did not leave today. Instead, they informed their families and stayed at school to participate in evening activities.

A few children aged 12-13 were kneading fist-sized dough on the table. Mira and Aliya occasionally walked past them, instructing them on how to knead the dough.

Actually, they had just learned this themselves, taught by Lolan Hill. At this moment, the silver-haired girl had tied her hair up and rolled up her sleeves. Her fair wrists pressed down on the round dough, occasionally sprinkling some flour on the table to prevent sticking.

Today, Lolan Hill was teaching these rabbits how to make dumplings. The first step, naturally, was kneading the dough.

First, clean the table and prepare the necessary tools such as bowls. Then pour the flour into a clean bowl, add an appropriate amount of salt, and prepare cold water. Slowly add water while using your hands to stir the flour, ensuring it mixes evenly. (Cold water makes the dumpling skin less likely to break.)

Stop adding water once the flour has mostly turned into small pieces, like snowflakes. Press these pieces together roughly to form a lump, then place this lump on the table and continue kneading. If the dough is too soft, keep sprinkling a bit of flour on the table until it reaches the right consistency.

Knead until there are no more raw flour (still in powder form) in the dough, and the texture is soft and even. At this point, shape the dough into a ring and continuously roll it out into a long strip.

Once the long white strip is ready, Lolan Hill stood in front of the table, surrounded by a group of curious children. She smiled and took out a small knife.

Using the knife, she cut the white dough strips into small cylindrical pieces, each about the same size. From afar, they looked like little cubes.

“Then flip each piece over. Yes, like a thick round pancake, and use a thick wooden roller to flatten it.”

As she spoke, Lolan Hill used a small rolling pin to flatten a small piece of dough into a round dumpling wrapper. She then held up the flattened wrapper for everyone to see.

“How amazing~”

“Her Highness is so skilled~”

“I want to try too.”

The children stared wide-eyed at the round dough wrapper in her hand.

Like humans, the Rabbit-Ear tribe mostly consumed flour in simple forms, such as baking it into bread. Rarely did they create various shapes and designs, as demonstrated by the silver-haired girl.

The children all wanted to give it a try.

“Everyone can give it a shot.” Lolan Hill also encouraged them, then a group of children surrounded Mira and Aliya, asking for rolling pins for the dough.

But no one had thought about this beforehand, and the two rabbit-eared girls didn’t know what to do. Seeing this, Lolan Hill simply took out her ‘witch staff,’ which was a wooden stick she had picked up that morning.

Several red lights flashed, and the long wooden stick was cut into several sections, so each student could share a piece, finally solving the problem.

The rabbits present followed suit. Some kneaded the dough, some rolled it into strips, some cut it into pieces, and some rolled it out. They divided the work among themselves; when someone got tired of their task, they would switch with others to experience different roles.

Although the dough sheets made by the little rabbits were of varying sizes, they were generally usable. Even if some shapes were odd, they could be kneaded together and reworked.

While the children excitedly tried their hands at it, Lolan Hill instructed Mira and Aliya to prepare the dumpling fillings. She then moved between the tables, checking the progress of each group. If any of the little rabbits had trouble, she would personally teach them.

When most of the students had finished rolling out the dough, the two rabbit-eared girls brought over the prepared dumpling fillings. One bowl contained corn and radish filling, another had mushroom and meat filling, and of course, there was the infamous chives and egg filling.

At this point, the children gathered around Lolan Hill again to watch how she did it.

“First, place the dough wrapper in the palm of your hand, then use a spoon to scoop a portion of the filling and place it in the center of the wrapper. Don’t be greedy and put too much filling, as it will burst.”

Lolan Hill demonstrated by placing a spoonful of corn and radish into the wrapper, then dipped her fingertips into a nearby bowl, wetting half of the edge of the wrapper with water. She folded it over to form a crescent shape and placed it on the table.

“This is the simplest way to wrap it,” Lolan Hill said happily. She had learned to make dumplings this way herself.

“But I hope you don’t feel constrained by tradition. Actually, as long as you wrap the filling with the dough, it’s fine.”

After saying this, Lolan Hill quickly began wrapping dumplings. Soon, there were seven or eight differently shaped dumplings on the table.

Some were triangular and diamond-shaped, some square with a cross-shaped seam in the middle, some looked like starfish with five sides and five edges, some resembled buns with a ring-like shape in the middle, some looked like ingots with two corners overlapping after folding, and some had a layered seam that resembled willow leaves, very cute.

Every time Lolan Hill made a new shape, these children would cheer and watch her intently, hoping to see something new.

“Alright, alright, stop looking at me. That’s all I know. Now you can try it yourselves.”

After shaping dozens of forms, looking at the various interesting and cute dumplings, Lolan Hill felt a bit inspired, so she helplessly smiled and let the children try on their own.

The children present cheered and began to experiment, each coming up with creative ideas. Some even thought one layer of dough wasn’t enough and used two layers together. Some creations couldn’t even be called dumplings; they were more like pancakes.

However, the silver-haired girl did not stop them. After all, as long as they could eat, why limit everyone’s creativity?

Finally, they brought out a large pot, added water, and slowly started cooking, dropping batches in.

While waiting, to pass the time, Lolan Hill sat down with the children and began telling fairy tales.

“And so, the ice elf princess named Snow White escaped from the Crystal Castle and met seven orcs.”

“Are there rabbit-eared people in there?” one of the children asked with interest.

“Yes, yes, one of them is a rabbit-eared person, and there are also fox-eared, goat-horned, leopard-headed, and bull-headed people,” Lolan Hill gestured as she spoke.

“Even though the orcs saved Snow White time and again, she ultimately had to be placed in a crystal coffin after eating a poisonous apple.”

“At that moment, a human prince arrived. His kiss awakened the princess, and then they got married.”

“The angry queen came to the wedding but was punished by the prince, forced to dance in scorching shoes until she died.”

“In the end, the prince and princess got married. The prince became king, and the princess became the new queen. They established a nation where humans and elves coexisted.”

“That’s the end of the story. Does anyone have anything to say?” Lolan Hill asked.

“I want a magic mirror to ask for help when I don’t know how to do my homework,” said a studious rabbit.

“I want that crystal coffin. Even if I’m severely injured, I can lie in it and wait for rescue,” another said.

“I want those dancing shoes. I’ll make someone dance to death if I don’t like them,” a mischievous little rabbit said.

“What a magical story!”

“It seems I’ve heard something similar before.”

“There’s no need to think about it; this must be a witch’s tale,” a knowledgeable rabbit proudly announced.

“Alright, next I will tell you another story, about the little girl selling candles,” Lolan Hill clapped her hands and announced.

“Good!” the children cheered in unison.

Thank you, GenesisWings, xFrostyFeetx, and 星泫辰宇, for your support.

Special thanks to book friend GenesisWings for your generous contribution. An extra chapter will be added today.

End of Chapter