"I don't want to eat here anymore." Old Mrs. Tian stood up and was about to leave.
"Why are you leaving?" Tian Lijuan grabbed Old Lady Tian and said, "What's wrong with you just having a meal at your daughter's house?"
It was noon now and it was hot outside. She couldn't let her mother go home hungry. What kind of person would she be then?
"Why am I staying here? I'm not hungry. Besides, Tian Tian will have prepared dinner for me when I get home. I'm not here to eat your food for free."
Tian Lijuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "What do you mean by eating my food for free? What's wrong with you, as a mother, eating a meal at your daughter's house? What's wrong with me giving a little of my 27-jin ration to my mother? You eat one meal and you can make my daughter poor. People who don't know you would think you have a big appetite!"
Tian Lijuan took off her work clothes and said, "Just listen to me and have a good meal here before going back. Wait here, I'll go to the state-owned restaurant across the street and get you a bowl of noodles. Eat and then go back, otherwise I'll be angry."
Hearing this, Old Lady Tian felt too embarrassed to leave. "Then just give me a bowl of plain noodles. I don't need any more."
"Don't worry about this." Tian Lijuan said and went out.
Not long after, she came back with a bowl of steaming noodles.
Old Mrs. Tian looked at the big bowl of noodles with vegetables and shredded pork on top, and started to complain to Tian Lijuan again, "Look at you, why did you buy such a big bowl of noodles? I can't finish it! You also have meat on top, did you spend meat coupons? How much did you spend?"
"It's okay! You can eat it! This meat didn't cost me any meat coupons." Tian Lijuan said.
The chefs of state-owned restaurants were all familiar with her. Sometimes Tian Lijuan would leave a portion of something the chef needed and tell him in advance, or leave him a defective product.
The chef was courteous and would give Tian Lijuan a piece of meat with his chopsticks every time she went to eat.
However, Tian Lijuan is usually careful and rarely eats at state-owned restaurants.
I finally bought a bowl of noodles today, and the chef filled it with a lot of meat.
Tian Lijuan also went to get her own lunch box and ate with Old Mrs. Tian.
Old Mrs. Tian saw that only Tian Lijuan was there, so she first asked the others, "Are they coming over for dinner?"
"No!" Tian Lijuan said.
They all agreed that when family members came, they would stay in this room. As long as the family members did not leave, no one else would come in to disturb them.
Family members often come here from morning to night and stay there, but they don’t think too much about it because everyone has this day.
Moreover, the room is small and can't accommodate too many people. It would be very crowded if everyone came in to eat. There are stools outside and many people also eat outside.
Tian Lijuan brought some very simple homely cornmeal pancakes and fried cabbage. Old Mrs. Tian didn't want to let her daughter eat the pancakes alone while she ate white flour noodles herself, so she gave a lot of the meat and noodles to Tian Lijuan, and the two of them ate half and half.
After the meal, Tian Lijuan washed the big bowls and sent them back to the state-owned restaurant. Old Mrs. Tian also packed her things and prepared to go back.
After having a meal at noon and resting for a while, Mrs. Tian felt energetic on the way back and arrived home quickly.
Tian Tian went up the mountain to pick a lot of wild vegetables in the morning. After lunch, she moved a small stool to sit in the yard to pick wild vegetables. Seeing Old Lady Tian coming back, she stood up and said, "Grandma! Have you eaten? I heated up some rice in the pot for you. Can I go get you some?"
"No need! I've eaten at your aunt's place!" Old Mrs. Tian put all the food inside the house. "When you leave, bring some wild vegetables to your aunt. I see your aunt doesn't have much to eat all day and eats pickled vegetables and cabbage for lunch."
"Okay!" Tian Tian agreed.
Old Mrs. Tian put her things in the cupboard, changed into work clothes, washed her hands and prepared to make soybean paste.
We finished up last year’s soybean paste at home two days ago, and now we have to start making soybean paste for the new year.
Grandma Tian cleaned out the big jar of soy sauce after eating it a few days ago, so it’s just right to take it out today.
Old Mrs. Tian and Tian Tian worked together to clean the hairy cubes of soybean paste, then broke them into pieces and put them into the jar. Old Mrs. Tian sprinkled the coarse salt she bought at the commune on her way back into the jar, and then added water.
They use coarse-grain salt to make soybean paste, pickles, and sauerkraut here. Many people also use coarse-grain salt for eating and cooking.
In fact, refined salt has been popular for a long time now, but it is a bit more expensive than coarse-grain salt, so people in rural areas are rarely willing to spend money to buy refined salt. In their opinion, there is no difference in taste between coarse-grain salt and refined salt.
The supply and marketing cooperatives in the commune do not sell refined salt, and mainly sell coarse-grain salt. If you want to eat it, you can go to the supply and marketing cooperatives in the county town to buy it.
Tian Tian's family mixes coarse-grain salt and refined salt. Sometimes they use refined salt. When there is no refined salt and there is no time to go to the county town to buy it, they will use the coarse-grain salt leftover from pickling pickles at home.
Last winter, Old Mrs. Tian stewed a lot of fermented beans, and it took the two of them a long time to finish. After they were done, the two of them quickly cleaned up and prepared to cook.
They had eaten all the cabbage from last winter, and now there were some carrots and radishes left in the cellar. No one in the family had eaten leafy vegetables for a long time, so Tian Tian washed all the wild vegetables picked today and blanched them.
Tian Tian picked all the thorny fruits, which tasted very bitter and were a bit unbearable to eat alone, so Tian Tian scooped up some raw soybean paste.
After coming back and having dinner in the evening, everyone was very tired, so we washed up and went to bed.
The next morning, everyone went to work in the fields before daybreak. Both spring planting and autumn harvest are a race against time. Spring planting must be done before the deadline, otherwise the crops will not grow well.
After they all went to work, Tian Tian and Old Lady Tian finished cooking in the morning and asked Tian Mu and Tian Zhuo who were going to school to deliver the food to them. Then Old Lady Tian was busy grinding grain and cleaning the house. Tian Tian, Shen Lingling and Tian Yun also made an appointment to go up the mountain to pick wild vegetables together.
There were quite a lot of people on the mountain. Basically, everyone who was free at home came to the mountain. They didn't want to pick wild vegetables with so many people, so the three of them found a place where there was no one.
"You mean he doesn't want to compete for the quota for workers, peasants and soldiers to study at university?" Tian Yun asked as he picked thorny sticks from the treetops.
Now that Shen Lingling and Fang Siwen's relationship is stable, Tian Tian and the others will no longer talk about Shen Lingling's relationship matters, and the relationship between the sisters has finally stabilized.
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