Chapter 18 Sending Fish

Zhou Huairong and Zhou Huaijun were also very happy to see that they had picked up chicken mushrooms. They looked at the pumpkin tips and pumpkin flowers in the basket and asked, "What's the point of eating pumpkin tips? Why pick so many?"

Zhao Huifang smiled and said, "We plan to grind the beans and make lazy tofu."

Zhou Huairong: "Lazy tofu is delicious. I haven't eaten it for a long time."

Zhao Huifang glanced at him and said, "If you want delicious food, you have to help grind the beans when you get back."

Zhou Huairong smiled and nodded: "Don't worry, leave it to me."

Several people carried the weeds along the edge of the field into baskets, took them back to dry and store them, and when the weather got cold, they sent them to the brigade's rice threshing room and beat them into straw to feed the pigs.

Seven people, some carrying bamboo baskets and some carrying backpacks, walked back sweating profusely.

As soon as we reached the small path leading home, Zhou Huaian came over with a bucket of water, "Chunyan, I caught some rock crabs, take them home and cook them."

Yang Chunyan adjusted the shoulder strap, looked up at him, and turned straight to the edge of the field.

Zhou Huaian's eyes flashed with the scratches of corn leaves on her face and her hands holding the straps. He was stunned for a moment, then chased after her with a bucket of water, and the water in the bucket splashed on his feet.

He caught up with Yang Chunyan, with an ingratiating smile on his face, "Yan'er, I saw seven or eight of you going to the corn field, and I thought one more or one less wouldn't make a difference. Yiding said they had put down the fish cages, and I thought you like to eat stone crawlers, so I went..."

Yang Chunyan didn't want to argue with him on the way. When she turned around and looked at him, she unconsciously showed a hint of disappointment on her face. "What did I say to you yesterday afternoon? Have you forgotten? Can't you even meet such a low requirement?"

Zhou Huaian discovered it and was at a loss, "Yan'er, I..."

"Tell me when you've thought it through, don't be perfunctory." After saying this, Yang Chunyan left with her basket on her back.

Zhou Huaian looked at Yang Chunyan, whose back was bent by the backpack, and suddenly felt a little sad.

Zhou Huairong came over with his bamboo basket and glared at him, "Can't you be more sensible? Have a little more sense of responsibility? The family will be divided next year, and you will still be so stubborn when the time comes. Do you think you can rely on your wife to support you?"

"You few can finish the job, why do you have to drag me along?" Zhou Huaian put the bucket in front of him unhappily and turned away.

Zhou Huairong looked at the stone crawlers and yellow croaker in the bucket, picked them up, shook his head and walked back.

Zhou Huaian walked a few steps, looked back towards the door of his house, and saw Yang Chunyan walking into the yard with a basket on her back. Then he turned around and went to Zhou Yiding's house listlessly.

Zhou Yiding and He Dakuan had already prepared the tofu fish, and they went to the agency store to get some wine.

Cai Ermei leaned against the bamboo chair, crossed her legs, and looked at Zhou Huaian with a smile, "I thought you would not come back after you left!"

"Come on, why don't you come!"

As Zhou Huaian spoke, he sat down on the straw bench at the door of the main room, took out the last cigarette from his pocket, lit it, took a deep breath, opened his mouth into an O shape, and lightly flicked his tongue to exhale a string of smoke rings.

He looked at the smoke rings one after another, and seemed to see Yang Chunyan's eyes again. However, he felt that it was not the life he wanted to live, working like an ox all day like his father and brother...

Zhou Yiding and He Dakuan walked into the yard with their arms around each other, carrying bottles of wine, and stretched out their hands to Zhou Huaian, "Five cents each, pay your share quickly."

Zhou Huaian threw away the burnt-out cigarette butt, fished out the only remaining five-cent coin from his trouser pocket, and reluctantly put it in his hand, "Brother, I've taken out all the money for my bag. I'm really broke. I'll have to rely on you to pay for my cigarettes in the future!"

"Damn it, your kid can't even afford a pack of Chun Geng cigarettes that cost only a few cents, so what's the point of smoking?" Cai Ermei said, rolling her eyes and looking at him with a sly look, "Youngest brother, it's easy to buy cigarettes. Go back and find out where your wife put her private money."

"Get lost~" Zhou Huaian looked at him with disdain, "I'd rather not smoke than do something that only a bastard would do!"

Cai Ermei looked at him unhappily, "I just said that, why do you have to take it so seriously?"

Zhou Huaian rolled his eyes at him: "What do you think!"

"If you guys don't want to eat, I'll eat alone." Zhou Yiding muttered in the main hall, "How shameless! The food and wine are already on the table, but they still want him to treat them. They're all acting like the second master."

"Eat! Why not eat!" The three of them swarmed into the main room.

****

When Yang Chunyan and her friends returned home, Zhou's mother saw Zhou Huaijun carrying young corns, but she didn't see Zhou Huaian. "Where's the youngest? Where did he go again?"

Zhou Huairong walked into the yard carrying a bucket of water, "I sent some stone crawlers, and Huang Lading came back and left."

After hearing this, Zhou's father's face suddenly darkened. He glanced at Yang Chunyan, worried that he had said too much and that his daughter-in-law disliked Zhou Huaian. He waved his hand, took his pipe, and sat on the straw bench at the door of the main room, smoking.

Mother Zhou sighed secretly, looked at Yang Chunyan, and said with a forced smile: "I stewed beef bone soup, how do you want to eat it?"

I gave some of the beef bones to my uncle and third uncle's families, and there were still a bunch left at home.

The beef is cooked and raked, and the beef is pickled with salt and hung in the well, where it can be kept for two days.

Yang Chunyan picked up the chicken mushrooms on the bean stalks and said, "Mom, we picked some chicken mushrooms in the corn field."

"Oh, you're lucky!" Zhou's mother took it with a smile, "It's a pity it's too late, otherwise it could be sold for two dollars in town."

"If we don't go to the market tomorrow, the food will go bad the day after tomorrow. Let's eat it!" Yang Chunyan pointed to the broad bean stalks and tender pumpkins below, "Mom, eat the broad beans as rice cakes, grind the beans and cook lazy tofu with pumpkin flowers and pumpkin tips."

Mother Zhou nodded, "Okay, Third Brother, go kill the fish, and I'll go get some pickled cabbage to cook the fish."

"Okay!" Zhou Huaijun picked up the bucket and went to the backyard, while Zhou Huaishan went to scrape and wash the chicken mushrooms.

The five people, mother-in-law and daughters-in-law, first peel the broad bean rice, steam it in a steamer, mash it into bean paste and mix it with corn flour, and then they can make Kangbaba.

Zhou Huairong went to the backyard of the Zhou family. There was a small stone mill on the eaves. It was bought by Zhou's father in exchange for helping someone to break stones when Zhou's mother gave birth to Zhou Huairong.

After the soy milk was ground, Zhou's mother and Zhao Huifang took it to the kitchen.

Yang Chunyan, Li Qiuyue and Zhang Xiuxiang tore off the fascia at the tip of the pumpkin, cut it into short sections, cut the stems of the tender pumpkins, and took them to the well to clean them.

Li Xiuyue scooped the pumpkin flowers into the basket and glanced at Yang Chunyan. "Chunyan, I'll cook some lazy tofu for you. I'll go find some kids."

Before he could finish his words, a group of children with lips and tongues dyed black and purple by mulberry leaves ran into the yard.

As soon as Zhou Jiaming saw Li Qiuyue, he shouted, "Aunt San, hurry up and bring Xiaolin down."

Zhou Xiaolin stretched out her hands to her, "Mom, hug me!"

"Oh my god, their faces are more colorful than those of opera singers."

Li Qiuyue looked at Zhou Xiaolin's dark purple lips and hands and became furious. She slapped the taro leaves out of Zhou Xiaolin's hands, and the mulberry leaves fell all over the floor.

Zhou Xiaoru looked at the mulberry bubbles on the ground and stamped her feet, "Mom, you are annoying. We are giving them to grandpa and his mother to eat."

(End of this chapter)