Hello guys! Andy here.
I'm wanted to thank you guys for the big support that you gave me. Knowing that you like my story is a big motivation to keep writing.
I know is a little bit slow in regard of the plot, but trust me, soon the main dish is going to be served.
Enjoy your reading!
....
"Qiu, did you find anything yet?" Asked Felix meanwhile he had a pencil on his hand. It seems that all the creativity had run out of his brain.
said the rabbit system that was looking through his guide desperately.
Felix sighed with disappointment. Staring at the blank paper on the table, Felix felt that he maybe acted a little too soon.
Two days ago, when he and Fang Yu went to Turtle Town, they went with the idea to inspect the actual situation. The original idea was to find a suitable place to open his shop and look at the competition. What they learned with that trip was that the Cheshire Pavilion was kinda monopolizing the market of the bread. In consequence, the local bakeries were having trouble. Henry had said that the other bakeries in the town sold their shop to the Cheshire Pavilion and started working there as bakers. Now, the last independent bakery was Henry's.
Because of the bad situation that Henry and his dad were having, Felix was soft-hearted and spilled the beans. He told Henry his plan to open a shop. And he proposed to join forces and open it in Henry's shop.
Of course, the place needed some remodeling before opening it, and that would need money. Fortunately, the business of hot chocolate is doing well these days. But only that wasn't enough. If Felix really wanted to be a successful businessman, he had to bring more to the table.
Because of that, the last two days, with the help of Fang Yu, he had been going to the forest every day to search for ingredients for his new dishes.
So far, Felix had collected honey, lemons, cacao, apples and strawberries. He also went to the market and bought a lot of flour, eggs, milk, salt and butter.
Thanks to that, Felix had in mind several pastries that he could make with the help of Henry. But at the moment he had two problems.
Sugar and Baking Powder.
These two ingredients were giving Felix a headache. The former was expensive to buy in big amounts, even Henry that already runs a bakery didn't have much. Besides, even if Felix had sugar cane, he didn't know the process to turn it to sugar. The latter was even more troublesome, because at this age, baking powder hadn't been invented yet, and of course Felix didn't know how to make it.
The best he could do, was to ask Qiu to search for something that could replace those two ingredients. And of course there were still not results yet.
Felix sighs. Looking through the window of his house, the snowflakes falling in the sky were giving a sensation of serenity. Like beautiful spirits running in the air, the scenery was basically magical. Thanks to the reinforcement on the walls, the rooms were cozy, making you feel drowsy and wanting to sleep all day on your warm bed. Even if the world was painted white, there were still people on the streets. As for right now, Felix felt a little guilty, since Fang Yu still insisted on going out to the woods to look for ingredients.
Looking at the absent-minded Felix, Mother Rosie approached her son. She had seen how he and Fang Yu had been working hard these days. All because of the irrational request of Father Lewis, she felt a little helpless, she wanted to say to his son that he shouldn't take his father's words seriously, but she still had to save some face for her husband. So Mother Rosie could only remain silent. "Hey Felix, I'm going to your sister's house, do you want to come with me?"
Lately, Anne had been a little uncomfortable with her big belly. She was now one month away from delivery, and she had been having some stomach aches. So Mother Rosie wanted to bring her some old remedies that she had on the house. Besides, Felix could take some change of airs to ventilate his head off.
"Okay." Felix thought to his big sister. Anne lived with her husband Rowen more deep in the village, since Felix house was kinda far, Mother Rosie didn't often go there. But once in a while it was okay. Besides, Fang Yu would only return before dinner, and now it was still eight in the morning. Also, Father Lewis was playing with some old friend chess and Miles had gone god knows where, so it was better that been alone with Mother Rosie all day inside the house.
The two of them wrapped up well and went out. The streets were full of snow and some men were shoveling snow. Also, some kids were having fun making snowmen and playing snowball wars.
After walking for some fifteen minutes, they arrived at Rowens house. The place was more spacious than Felix's old house. The house had a beautiful red color, almost like a barn, and a big front garden had an old porch. There were some recliners, but because of the cold, nobody was using them right now.
Mother Rosie and Felix walked to the front door and knocked. "Coming!" Then, Rowens voice came from inside the house. Then, the door opened, and Rowen who had the hair messy and some bags under his eyes greeted the pair of mother and son happily. "Mother, Felix! What a nice surprise! Please come inside. I don't want you to freeze and catch a cold."
"Rowen, who's at the door?" Before Mother Rosie or Felix could return the greeting, an old woman approached. She had silver hair as a result of her years of experience, with some bear ears on her head. She was walking with a walking stick. Even though she didn't look sickly, a warm and gentle aura was coming from her.
"Rosie! So good to see you!" The granny said happily, her smile on her face was genuine. With some wrinkles on her face, but it didn't look bad, instead she looked rather cute. Like a very lovely grandma.
"Ruth, what are you doing in front of the door with this cold? Hurry and get inside." Said Mother Rosie.
Ruth was Rowen's mother. She and her husband were already in their thirties when they got pregnant with Rowen. Now of course after years passed there weren't young anymore, but thanks to God, they still got good health.
Ruth laughed, "Don't worry, these old bones won't fall that easily." Ruth looked at Felix. "Little Felix! You're more charming since the last day I saw you."
"Hello Aunty." Felix said respectfully
Ruth laugh loudly. "Calling you me aunty, make me feel ten year younger. I felt it was like yesterday when I held you in my arms. Now look at you all grown up and now with a husband, really can't wait for the wedding."
At this point, Felix had grown numb to people's comments between him and Fang Yu, but his face still burned like fire.
Looking at his little son, Mother Rosie took pity, and helped him out. "Ruth, tell me, how is Anne doing?"
"Oh right! Well, she just fell asleep. Let me tell you, the poor girl had a bad stomach all night. It is good that he can rest for a little while."
Then that is where Rowen's eye bags came from. If one thing was for sure, if a wife with a pregnant stomach could sleep, neither could the husband.
"Then can I borrow your kitchen, I will make some medicine for Anne." Said Mother Rosie.
"Please. Suit yourself." Ruth saw his son was almost sleeping standing. "You go and get some sleep too. Don't worry, I keep an eye on Anne."
Rowen was a bit reluctant, but nodded at the end. He was kept up all night giving Anne some food since she was at the worst of the pregnancy cravings "Okay...but wake me up if anything happens."
"Go, go. We don't need you here."
Felix followed his mother to the kitchen. "Mom, what are you going to do?"
"Just a little trick that my mother told me back in those days." Mother Rosie boiled some water and she took out a small wooden box. Inside was white powder. She grabbed a little tea spoon and threw a little bit into the water.
"Ready. Then let's wait for your sister to wake up."
Felix was intrigued by the white powder. He put his finger on the box, with his nose sniffing a little bit. It did have an odor. With a little doubt, he put the tip of his finger in his mouth, and a weird feeling came in his tongue. Like it was been absorbed and making his mouth dry at the same time.
At first he didn't think much about it, but then a vague idea came to his mind, with some expectation and asked excitly "Mom, what is this?"
"Oh, well is a powder that comes from a rock similar to salt. A long time ago, my mother bought a lot thinking that it was salt, just to discover that the taste wasn't the same. Later, she discovered that rock was called "Drines Stone". Is very useful when you get stomach aches, throat pain or when you have bad breath."
Felix grabbed a cup of water and put some powder in it. Having the taste in his mouth, Felix was certain.
This was baking soda!
In his mind, he asked Qiu about it.
The little rabbit was still searching as before, hearing Felix question he quickly went to the glossary.
Lucky!
Felix gave his mother a big hug. Mother Rosie was startled but still hug her son back.
This was exactly what he needed. The best replacement for baking powder was baking soda.
He was going to keep asking when there was noise in the other room. "It looks like your sister is awake."
Mother Rosie took the cup, and walked to the room. Where Anne has been sleeping.
Anne, who just woke up, was surprised to see her mother and brother coming in. She was even a little embarrassed because of her looks. She just woke up! She hadn't had time to get ready yet!
"Hi Sweety, how are you doing?" Mother Rosie spoke softly as she passed the warm cup to Anne.
She took the cup and drank it as she had one hundred times before. "Well, the little one kept me up all night. I feel sorry for Rowen, I suddenly had a craving for oranges in the middle of the night. We didn't have any at home so he went all the way to Aunty Susan home to get some."
Mother Rosie laughed. Remembering how she made Father Lewis suffer too. She looked back at Felix, glaring at his stomach. If it was something that run on the family, rabbits of the white family are esters, she could only be sorry for Fang Yu.
If Felix could know what his mother was thinking, he would surely disagree. First of all, he didn't do it that much okay?
Ruth also entered the room, sitting at the wooden chair, she, Mother Rosie and Anne kept talking.
Felix feet like when a mother found her old friends at the supermarket and you had to remain silent by her side until she finished talking, something that wasn't fast.
At the moment of the conversation, Anne noticed that Felix was deep in his thoughts, looking at her brother she said. "Felix, would you like some sweet bread?"
Felix had always liked sweets, so he naturally agreed. Anne told him to grab a portion of the bread that was by her nightstand.
Felix took a piece and put it in his mouth.
Instantly, Felix grabbed the whole piece. It was very sweet. The bread was like a normal soft baguette, but on the top had some pink sparkles. He had never seen this kinda food in the town.
"How does this taste so sweet?" Felix was curious. He had been searching for a way to make this g sweeter without using honey. And Qiu didn't have luck looking for a replacement.
"These are rose sparks. It is a funny name that mom came up to." Anne said.
"Mom?"
"Yeah, have you seen the roses in our garden? Mom uses them to make it."
Qiu and Felix ...
They haven searched for days and both answers came from Mother Rosie.
"Mom, can you teach me how to make it? I was looking for some replacement for sugar?"
"Oh, that have you been doing for the past few days? You should just tell me. Is very easy to do."
Felix's ears were a little red. He wasn't the kind of person to ask for help when he encountered a problem. He used to solve it by himself. So the idea of asking his mother never cross his mind.
Ruth, like a mind reader, teased a little bit. "Is good for children to be independent, but if you have a problem the best help you can get is with the person that you love. After all, a mother knows best."
The room filled with laughter. Even Felix and Qiu enjoyed the happy atmosphere.
But suddenly, Anne screams in pain.
"What's wrong honey? Still uncomfortable?" Mother Rosie wondered, maybe she should ask to Mr. Greck to come.
Anne put her arms around her belly, and as strong pain was coming from them, her forehead began to sweat. With a little bit of panic she said.
"I-I think the baby is coming."