As the old saying goes, after the Little New Year comes the New Year. Early in the morning, Liu's mother and father ate a few sweet potatoes and got to work. Last night, Liu's mother soaked 12 pounds of soybeans, and today she planned to make four pots of tofu. Three pounds of soybeans per pot yields about 10 pounds of tofu.

Liu's mother was frying oil, using the one pound of fat the village had distributed. In the yard, Liu's father was grinding soaked soybeans into soy milk using a stone mill. This step required great strength and skill, and usually required a large amount of water to fully soak the beans and make them easier to grind.

After the soy milk is ground, it needs to be filtered to remove the dregs. At this time, Liu's father puts a piece of white gauze on an empty wooden barrel, pulls the two sides of the cloth upwards, and Xuemei uses a wooden spoon to pour the freshly ground soy milk onto the white gauze. In this way, the soy milk leaks through the gauze and flows into the wooden barrel, and the dregs remain on the cloth.

"Xuemei, give me the wooden spoon. Go and eat fried food with your brothers and sisters."

Just now, when Liu's mother was frying the oil, Qingya and the other two were already waiting in the kitchen. As soon as they were done, Liu's mother put ten pieces of dough in a bowl, sprinkled salt on them and handed it to Qingya.

When Xuemei went to find Qingya and the others, they were licking their fingers. "Sister, my brothers and I have eaten everything. Here are the leftovers for you. There are still four pieces."

Xuemei took the bowl, went to the yard, fed Liu's father and mother a piece of fried food each, and then began to eat her own fried food slowly.

"It's so delicious, fried. Mom, how much oil did you use to fry it today?"

"The pig isn't fat, and there's only about half a pound of fat. That's definitely not enough fat."

After filtering, Father Liu went up the mountain to fish, intending to use the next few days to collect some things to sell for money. Next, Xuemei watched the fire while Mother Liu poured the soy milk into the large iron pot and heated it. The fire was so strong that it boiled immediately.

"Xuemei, call your brothers and sisters to come over and drink some soy milk."

"Qingya, Ruirui, Feifei, come over and drink some soy milk."

"Rui Rui, Fei Fei, where is your second sister?"

"I don't know. She is not at home now. She went out to play."

"Forget it, you guys drink first, there will be three more pots later." said Liu's mother.

Next, Liu's mother poured the boiling slurry into a large vat or bucket to cool. After cooling, she added a mixture of gypsum powder and water to the soy milk, stirring constantly to ensure uniformity. The soy milk then solidified into tofu pudding, the precursor to tofu.

Next, Liu's mother and Xuemei filter the tofu pudding through gauze, squeezing out any excess water. This process needs to be repeated several times until all the water is completely squeezed out. Finally, they use a tofu box to tighten the gauze into a square, cover it with a dustpan, and press down with a few bricks to set the tofu. The tofu is now ready.

By the time I was cooking the third pot of soy milk, Qingya still hadn't come back.

"Xuemei, I'll be watching now. Go to the village and look for your sister. Where did she go? She usually comes back a few times during her outings."

When Xuemei came back, Liu's mother had already put the last pot of tofu into the tofu box.

"Xuemei, where's Qingya? Why didn't she come back with you?"

"Mom, I took my brothers to where Qingya usually plays, but I didn't see her. I went to Grandpa's house, but I didn't see her either. I asked other people who usually played well with her, but I didn't see her either."

Liu's mother put down the things in her hand and searched every room in the house, but she didn't see Qingya hiding there.

"Mom, Qingya is not at home. I looked for her before I went out."

"Mom, my second sister won't be taken away by bad people, right?" Ruirui remembered what Liu's mother said last time when she refused to take them to the market. Ruirui started crying as she said this, "Mom, I want my second sister."

Feifei started crying when she heard this, and Xuemei looked at Liu's mother worriedly after hearing this.

When Mrs. Liu heard Ruirui say this, she became panicked and her eyelids twitched.

"Xuemei, you stay home and look after my two younger brothers. I'll go out and look for them."

Liu's mother searched the village again but still couldn't find Qingya. In desperation, she decided to go to the commune to report to the police. Just as she reached the village entrance, she saw Liu's father coming down the mountain carrying a cloth bag, followed by a little tail. Isn't it Qingya?

When Liu's mother saw Qingya, she felt relieved, but a surge of anger also rose in her heart.

"Mother, it's almost dark now. Where are you going? What's going on?"

"It's nothing, let's talk about it when we get home." Liu's mother responded unhappily.

As soon as she got home, Liu's mother lost control of herself and started hitting Qingya on the butt with a broom. Qingya was confused at first, but then she burst into tears. Xuemei and her two younger brothers came out of the room when they heard the crying.

It was only when Liu's father stopped Liu's mother that she stopped beating Qingya.

"Mother, why did you suddenly hit the child?"

"Ask her. She ran away on her own without telling her family. Her eldest sister and two brothers couldn't find her anywhere. I went to the village to look for her but couldn't find her either. I was about to go to the commune to report her to the police, if I hadn't seen you."

"This girl followed me up the mountain."

Liu's mother turned her criticism on Liu's father. Qingya was ignorant. "How old are you? Don't you know how to behave? Why didn't you tell your family before you left? Besides, she's just a little girl, and you took her hunting?"

Father Liu quickly explained, "Li Niang, it's not that I didn't tell you, this little guy is very clever. He secretly followed me into the mountains and I didn't notice him until he fell into a pit. Look, there are several cuts on his hands and a small cut on his forehead. Besides, you know I don't go into the deep mountains." Father Liu pulled Qingya, who was still crying, over to show her mother. Qingya, quickly apologize to your mother."

Qingya was still crying. She looked up and saw that Liu's mother was angry. She didn't dare to cry anymore. She pouted and said, "Mom, I know I was wrong. I won't do it again."

Mother Liu looked at the two cuts on Qingya's hands, then at her face. It wasn't summer anymore, and after all this time, Qingya's hair could be tied up, but not braided yet. Qingya and Xuemei had the same fair skin as Mother Liu, which would return to white after a tan. Now her hair was a mess, and the scratch on her forehead was even more noticeable against her fair face.

But Qingya looks more like her grandmother, with an oval face, long, thin eyebrows, and a pair of alluring peach blossom eyes, a delicate nose, and a small mouth. Xuemei, on the other hand, resembles Liu's mother, with a round face, large, round, lively eyes, a delicate nose, a pointed, playful mouth, and two dimples, giving her a playful and adorable smile. Ruirui and Feifei resemble Liu's father, with a square face, thick eyebrows, big eyes, a high, straight nose, and lips that are neither thick nor thin. Feifei, however, has two dimples, just like Xuemei.

Mother Liu decided to punish Qingya, lest she become lawless. "From tomorrow until you start school next year, you are not allowed to go out to play except when you go with us to pay New Year's greetings. Stay home, do you understand?"

"Mom, please don't. I know I was wrong."

"If you know you are wrong, just do what I say. Are you listening to me now?" Liu's mother said fiercely.

"I heard it, Mom." Qingya said in a low voice.

"Go and comb your hair, and go to the kitchen to get some water to wash your hands and face."

After Qingya finished, Liu's mother applied purple medicine on the scratches and cuts on her hands.