"Then please buy me a bag of fine salt. We have no experience at home. Buy some more coarse-grained salt. When you come back, we'll store up the sauerkraut. There are also some small radishes in the cellar. We'll soak those as well. If you calculate it this way, buying less salt may not be enough. You can buy a few more pounds." Old Mrs. Tian calculated the amount of salt needed at home and said finally.
"Do you have any money? If not, I'll give it to you."
"No need, I still have some money. I'm going to buy salt." Tian Yuan said.
He received a monthly allowance from school, although he had to spend part of it on food, books, notebooks, and round-trip transportation. But because he was very careful in school, he was able to save some money. He couldn't buy expensive things, but he could still buy a lot of things like salt.
He also knew that his family had actually paid a lot to send him to school, so he would spend as much as he could and didn't want to argue with his family about it.
"Okay, just buy whatever you like. Just buy me a small bag of fine salt, and the rest can be just ordinary coarse-grain salt. It won't be a big deal to use coarse-grain salt to pickle pickles." said Old Mrs. Tian.
Tian Yuan readily agreed.
When Tian Yuan said he was going to buy salt, Old Mrs. Tian immediately took out all the sauerkraut jars and pickled vegetable jars in the afternoon, and started boiling water while cleaning the jars.
Although Old Lady Tian was frugal, she was not so frugal as to save water. She was also a daughter-in-law. Although his old lady was very good to her, what era was it when she first got married? It was during the war. The surroundings were in a mess. They either stayed at home or in a cave in the mountains. They didn't dare to go out to look for firewood.
Moreover, Old Man Tian was still fighting outside at that time, and Old Mrs. Tian could not carry too much firewood back home by herself. When winter came, they were reluctant to use firewood at all, and only burned more firewood to keep warm at night when they went to bed.
When she used water in winter, she mostly used cold water. Her hands were pulled in cold water over and over again, and her joints became thicker. She also got frostbite year after year. It was painful and itchy, and there were cuts all over the hands, and pus was oozing out. Only those who have experienced it know how it feels.
The conditions are not as bad as before, and if firewood is used up, she can ask her two sons to go up the mountain to chop it. Old Mrs. Tian is not stingy and all the water she uses in winter is heated with firewood.
Old Mrs. Tian led her daughter-in-law, granddaughter, and grandson to clean these large vats skillfully. There was no need to wipe them, as they would have to pour water into them later anyway, so they could just use them directly.
However, Tian Yuan would not be able to buy salt until tomorrow, and these jars could not be used tonight, so they were all placed in the kitchen.
The kitchen was not big, and it was full with all these things, leaving almost no room to move around. Fortunately, Chen Guihua and Lin Meiyu had prepared the food in advance, so they didn't have to cook in the small kitchen.
The family had lunch around one o'clock.
After lunch, everyone continued to sit on the ground and weave straw mats, but two people suddenly came to the house.
It’s Second Aunt and Tian Lili.
"Second Aunt, Sister Lili, please sit down." Tian Tian and Tian Mu gave up their small stools to them and went to the kitchen to pour two bowls of water for them.
Although the second aunt's house is a bit far from theirs, the two families have a good relationship and are quite close, so they will visit each other when they have nothing to do.
"You didn't bring your child back this year." Old Lady Tian asked. Tian Lili also went back to her parents' home a few days ago, carrying a bag of food but not the child. But Old Lady Tian heard this from others and was not sure.
"I didn't bring him back. He is at my grandmother's house. I thought it was so cold outside, and it would be bad if I brought him back and he caught a cold." Tian Lili said frankly.
It's not that she didn't love her own child. She had gone through so much hardship and suffering to finally give birth to her son. She loved her son more than anyone else. But her old lady treated her son like an eyeball. She didn't worry that her son would suffer any grievances in her old lady's house, not to mention that she planned to take a rest when she came back.
Ever since her child was born, Tian Lili could only rest at home, watching her mother's face become much older because of her health.
Tian Lili was reluctant to bring the child back to her mother to worry about, so she simply let her grandmother worry about it, since the child born was her grandson anyway. As a grandmother, if she didn't help now, when would she help?
"Then you can still bear to stay at your mother's house for a long time. When I gave birth to Tian Mu, I missed the half day I went back to my mother's house during the New Year. "Chen Guihua said.
When she returned to her parents' home the first year after giving birth to Tian Mu, the winter was particularly cold. Moreover, Tian Mu had just been born not long ago, and they were also worried that the child would be cold. In addition, Chen Guihua didn't like her family in the first place, so she didn't take Tian Mu back to her parents' home.
"When I first left the child behind, I felt reluctant. But it's no big deal now, and it's pretty relaxing not having to take care of the child. Otherwise, I'd have to wash his diapers every day, and my hands would be soaked in water all day long, and they'd never be dry," said Tian Lili.
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