Gray tiles, black walls, and green vines.
This is what my grandmother's house looks like.
She remembered that when she was a child, she loved coming to her grandmother's house and playing hide-and-seek with her friends. It seemed that this old house had countless hiding places.
The old house is an old wooden house with two floors, arranged in a long row, with a large living room in the middle. Upstairs are a storage room, a barn, and a balcony for drying rice. The barn can store rice harvested in autumn, sweet potatoes, etc.
There is a long corridor at the door where you can play.
The old house is not occupied by just one family, but by many families. My grandmother's house is in the two rows on the far right.
There are two kitchens and two bedrooms, one of which originally belonged to my second uncle.
My second uncle made a lot of money as a Feng Shui master, so he found another piece of land in the village and built a brick house with a private courtyard, so this column was left to my grandparents.
When Xiaoqi arrived at his grandmother's house, he saw his small grandmother standing in front of the stove. She was opening the lid of a large wooden barrel for steaming rice and stirring the glutinous rice in the barrel with a half-meter-long stick.
Grandpa is making a fire.
When cooking this kind of glutinous rice, the fire should not be too strong, otherwise it will be overcooked, and the pounded rice cake will not be tough and chewy and taste bad. But the fire should not be too low either, otherwise it will not be cooked and will be undercooked, and the pounded rice cake will also be undercooked.
There was also a steaming fire burning in the kitchen next door. My second aunt was watching over it, stewing chicken. The pot was placed high above the surface and covered with plastic film. She wanted to stew thirty chickens at once because there were expected to be thirty tables of guests today.
My second uncle is a very smart man. He is said to be a Feng Shui master and a fortune teller. Everyone says that he is accurate in his predictions and has a good eye for the world. However, after meeting him a few times, Xiaoqi feels that my second uncle is just smart and has a good brain. He has never been to school. Generally, when people come to ask my second uncle about something, my second uncle will chat with them about family matters first, and then choose an auspicious day to do the job.
Xiaoqi felt that his second uncle could figure out what the guests wanted when he was talking to them. He had all the twists and turns in his mind and was good at speaking, so all the guests were satisfied.
My second uncle never went to school, but if the refrigerator or washing machine at home breaks down, he can fix it.
Compared to the smooth and smart second uncle, the second aunt gives people a very honest impression. She is short, has a round face, and has a sweet smile. Xiaoqi likes the second aunt very much. Among several aunts, he likes the second aunt the most. He feels close to her whenever he sees her.
My second uncle also has two children, a cousin and a cousin. The cousin is two years older than her, and the cousin is actually three months older than her. They are the same age.
My second uncle's family is well-off, and my cousins are both in school. My cousin's grades are average, and he was admitted to a junior college in Fucheng. My cousin is still in high school at No. 8 Middle School. It seems that neither of them inherited my second uncle's smart brain, and their grades are very average.
Xiaoqi said hello to his second aunt and went to his grandmother's kitchen.
Su Youfu and Sheng Juanhua were also there.
When Xiaoqi's grandmother saw her daughter and son-in-law coming, she smiled and was very happy.
"I thought you guys were coming. Have you had breakfast? The glutinous rice will be ready soon. I'll make some balls for you."
Xiaoqi's grandfather didn't say much. He stood up to pour water with a smile on his face.
When Sheng Juanhua was at her parents' home, although she was the middle child, she was good-looking and lively, and was very much favored by her parents.
Xiao Qi felt very hungry when he thought of the freshly-made glutinous rice balls. He hadn't eaten them for a long time. This kind of glutinous rice balls are not sold in the city. They must be steamed in a large wooden barrel and a clay stove with firewood. They must be stirred constantly and the heat must be just right. The fragrance of the steamed glutinous rice can be smelled from two rooms away. It is chewy and becomes sweeter the more you chew it.
Whether you dip it in salt or mix it with sugar, it is delicious and has its own flavor.
But it is very solid and I am full after eating two or three.
In the past, her mother would not let her eat too much, because glutinous rice balls are usually only available at banquets. Now that she is full, she will not be able to eat the banquet dishes later.
Sheng Juanhua took a sip of the boiled water her father poured for her, stood up and took out two new clothes.
"Mom and Dad, these are the clothes Xiaoqi bought for you."
Xiaoqi's grandmother was a little shocked. What big thing happened in her daughter's family? She actually bought gifts for them in such a grand manner. It was not even so formal when she went back to her parents' home in the first year of her marriage.
"Juanhua, what's going on? What happened to Youfu's family?"
"Mom, it's okay. Xiaoqi bought this. She was tutoring outside during the holidays and earned some money. She even won a prize in a swimming competition and was on TV. Your granddaughter bought this for you as a filial gift."
"What's on TV?" Xiaoqi's grandfather usually doesn't speak. When he does, his voice is hoarse like a broken bell, rumbling loudly.
People working in the kitchen came over to watch the fun.
Even my second aunt, who was obediently lighting the fire and watching the chicken stew, came over curiously.
Then Xiao Qi listened to his mother's exaggerated nonsense... Well, it wasn't really nonsense, but Xiao Qi still felt ashamed when these words came out of his mother's mouth.
I didn't expect that the daughter that my mother often glared at me, pulled my ears, and hit me with a bamboo stick was actually so outstanding and perfect... Xiao Qi blushed when she heard that.
The key point is that Dad was nodding in agreement.
Xiaoqi sat on the chicken cupboard at his grandmother's house as a background board.
When she heard the exclamation, she smiled appropriately...
A bit embarrassing.
But seeing that her parents and grandparents were really happy, she didn't say anything.
My grandmother loves beauty. While everyone was chatting, she went into the house to change into new clothes.
The small floral dress that Xiaoqi bought for the elderly fits the little old lady very well, and with the smile on her face, she looks festive.
The little old lady even dragged my grandfather to change it.
After changing his clothes, my grandfather still looked serious. He sat in front of the stove, looking at the fire, and tugging at his clothes from time to time.
The uncles are all well-off and will not lack food and clothing for the elderly, but uncles are the only men who remember to buy clothes for the elderly. Aunts are another layer apart, so it is usually the daughters who do it.
It’s just that the eldest daughter Sheng Juanhua has been struggling for many years and has no money at all.
The little girl Sheng Meihua, although married to the city, said she was selling clothes, but in fact she was a mobile stall owner, selling clothes for little girls. She never thought about being filial to her parents, but was just talkative and loved to compare with others.
Xiaoqi's grandparents actually favor the eldest daughter a little bit. Of course, it's also because the eldest daughter's family is not well off and the old people feel more distressed about her.
When Xiaoqi saw his grandparents standing together after changing into new clothes, he suddenly thought of the cutest height difference: one is tall and the other is short, which looks very intimate and warm.
There are many people in the room.
Xiaoqi finally got to eat the glutinous rice balls made by his grandma as he wished.
She took the glutinous rice ball to the door and ate it.
Grandma stuffed two fist-sized glutinous rice balls into her hands at once. They were squeezed firmly and she rubbed some salt on her hands. They were fragrant and slightly salty, and very delicious.
The weather is exceptionally good today, it's a sunny day. When I walked to the door, the sun was shining obliquely from the eaves, but I saw a few small whirlpool holes in the hard old mud next to the big pillar at the door.
Arranged in uneven patterns.
Xiaoqi remembers that he loved digging this little hole when he was a child.
There is a small insect under each small hole, called a golden pendant. It looks a bit like a small earring. When the sunlight shines on it, the shell of the insect will reflect gold.
Maybe the adults were fed up with their children digging in the ground all the time, and they always threatened that if they dug up the gold pendant, they would get hard bumps on their hands.
When Xiaoqi was a child, he was torn between the possibility of growing a hard lump and the fun of playing, which increased the thrill of digging this small hole every time.
Looking back, I realized that I was very rebellious and unwilling to admit defeat when I was a child. I heard that digging for gold pendants would cause bumps on my hands, so I later used a small wooden stick to do it.
It seems a little clever.
Now I look at the small holes in the ground made by the sunlight. They are very beautiful, funnel-shaped, and it feels like the fine sand on the beach has been drilled out of the hard old mud.
Xiao Qi looked at the small hole in the gold pendant and ate the two big glutinous rice balls. He was just a little full. He walked more than 20,000 steps from his home to his grandmother's house. Although the actual distance was five kilometers, the mountain road was winding, so it was actually much farther.
At this time, the door also became lively.
The stone mortar had been washed early, and my uncle came over now, carrying a wooden hammer for pounding rice cakes. It was in the shape of a T, with the vertical pole thinner than the arm, making it easy to hold, and the horizontal pole was a thick wooden stake.
In the countryside, pounding rice cakes is done by manpower, and it takes three or four strong men to complete the task.
Two strong men carried out a large wooden barrel filled with glutinous rice and poured the glutinous rice into the washed stone mortar.
Then my uncle took the wooden hammer and started pounding. Every time he pounded, someone would soak their hand in cold water, and deftly hold the bottom of the wooden hammer to pull off the hot glutinous rice. This was repeated until the visible grains of glutinous rice turned into soft pieces.
Pounding rice cakes is really physically demanding work. The wooden hammer is very heavy, and you have to master the rhythm. If you don't master the rhythm well, the hammer will hit your hand.
There were a lot of people gathered around watching the Chonggao being pounded, and there was also the sound of people shouting to the rhythm.
Xiaoqi found that his uncle was still very handsome even after getting married. He was tall, swung the wooden hammer rhythmically, had a smile on his face, had very neat teeth, and was happy from the heart, which was very pleasing to the eye.
I don't know why I thought of the handsome German clarinet soloist.
The handsome guy was very graceful, holding the clarinet as if he was dancing, with golden hair, long legs and a face like Venus.
Handsome is far away.
But in front of me, there is a completely different scene. He is waving a wooden hammer, with black hair, long legs and a sunny face.
The handsome one is right in front of me.
Xiaoqi suddenly felt that pursuing elegant beauty is a kind of pursuit, and appreciating the beauty in front of you is also a kind of pursuit.
That magnificent concert was so soul-stirring, and at that moment, it suddenly felt like a perfect ending.
Taught Xiaoqi to appreciate beauty.
Far and near.
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