She added some water into the basin and stirred the flour with chopsticks so that it wouldn't get on her hands. Then she said to Xue Yan, "We can knead it into dough."
Xue Yan nodded, then put his clean hands into the water and began to knead them. Jiang Yue poured more water in from time to time.
She wanted to knead it herself. Although her hands were small, she was stronger than Xue Yan. However, Xue Yan said that Liu Guixia and the others would want to do it if they saw her knead, so she let Xue Yan do it.
Xue Yan kneaded for a long time before the two pounds of flour became smooth dough.
Jiang Yue took out a lid and covered the basin to rest the dough. Then, Xue Yan and Jiang Yue sat on the small bench next to the pot and began to wait. Liu Guixia thought they were thinking about how to make the dough into a different kind of noodle from the ones in the town, so she left them to be.
