Chapter 41 Returning Home for the New Year
After the snow, the sky cleared up and the snow on the roof dripped down. When the wind blew, more snow clumps rolled down and hit half of the yard. The half-dry mud ground was soaked again before it could dry.
A few more snow lumps slid down, and Sui Liang hurriedly dragged the bucket to pick them up, then dragged them one by one to the outside of the gate and dumped them at the foot of the wall.
Sui Yu took the opportunity to sweep the accumulated dust and mud in the yard. No matter how often he swept, he would always scrape off a thick layer of loose dust.
By midday, the gray-brown mud had faded to a khaki color under the wind and sun. The soil in the center of the courtyard dried. Sui Yu pulled a bundle of dry alfalfa from outside and spread it on the ground. Then he went inside and rolled out the bamboo mats that had been spread on the ground to dry. The winter in the north was dry and cold, with intermittent snow for more than ten days. The bamboo mats had also been soaked in the cold for ten days, but they neither molded nor rotted. Even a thin layer of moisture that did float on the ground was quickly absorbed by the loess.
After a while, Sui Yu walked over and touched the bamboo mat. It was slightly warm. She went into the house and took out the mattress and wolf skin from the bed and spread them on the bamboo mat to dry in the sun.
With a snap, a straw rope snapped, and Zhao Xiping placed his straw sandals on the ground. He went into the woodshed and brought out all the sorghum stalks. After a few days of drying them in the sun and a breeze, he could start typing the manuscript again.
Sui Yu stared at the sorghum stalks spread all over the ground in a daze. After a while, she excitedly brought two wooden basins and moved a tree stump out of the woodshed.
"Where's the machete?" she asked.
"What for? Chopping wood? You don't have to do that." Zhao Xiping looked up at her, swung the shoe in his hand at her, and said, "Try it on. If the size is okay, I'll stop."
"There's no need to try. Where's the machete?" Sui Yu was busy looking for it. She turned her head and saw the man glaring at her unhappily. She immediately trotted over obediently, "Come, let me try."
Zhao Xiping held the straw sandals tightly in his hand. Sui Yu gave him a dry laugh. She pried his fingers apart and pulled the shoes over. She held the man's shoulders with one hand and was busy putting on the shoes with the other.
"It fits perfectly. It fits perfectly. The shoes you knitted look like they grew out of my feet." Sui Yu walked a few steps in front of him and compared the new shoe with the one on her foot. "Hey, the toe of this new one is more rounded, which makes my feet look better."
This was Zhao Xiping's experience, gained from rubbing her feet every night. Sui Yu's instep was low and her sole was narrow, a different shape from a man's. When he was weaving the straw sandals, he deliberately tied a few knots. He lowered his eyes and stared at the shoes on her feet again and again. They were just as he imagined.
"Take it off." Zhao Xiping took the still-opened straw sandals and pointed towards the woodshed, saying, "The machete is standing upright behind the door."
Sui Yu quickly went to get the machete. She squatted in the yard, holding the machete and chopping the sorghum stalks, chopping them into pieces and then into pulp, and then put them into a wooden basin together with the wood chips.
"Brother Liang, scoop me two buckets of water... and pour them into this basin." Sui Yu was tired from chopping and her body was hot. She stood up and shook her feet that were numb from squatting.
"What are you doing this for? Don't ruin my things." Zhao Xiping didn't know what she was busy with.
"Keep it a secret." Sui Yu smiled mysteriously. Seeing that the sun had faded in the yard, she carried the wolfskin and mattress, which had been drying for less than an hour, back into the house. She came out and went into the kitchen, where she washed the millet and soybeans and poured them into the steamer. The stove was lit, and she called out, "Brother Liang, come and light the fire."
She went out again to chop the stump and poured the sawdust into another basin.
As the sky gradually darkened, Zhao Xiping carried the sorghum stalks into the woodshed and the tools he used to make straw sandals. He stood under the eaves and watched Sui Yu swing his machete again and again, grunting as it hammered into the wooden stakes. He walked over, grabbed the machete, and said, "You have nothing better to do? Don't give me a nick on my machete."
Then he squatted down and stepped on the wooden stake, saying, "Just chop it into pieces?"
"Yes, yes, I want to chop some of the sawdust into small pieces and soak them in water so that they can be soaked."
Zhao Xiping said again that he was bored, so he raised the machete and chopped it down with skill, chopping off half of the wood in one stroke, and then chopping it into small pieces two fingers wide. He used the back of the knife to loosen it, and in a few strokes, he smashed it into pieces of wood.
Sui Yu applauded, "This is what I want."
"Go inside and cook. There are five taro left. I want to eat fried taro."
Sui Yu nodded repeatedly. Not to mention eating taro, even if he wanted to eat meat, she could rush to the street and knock open the door of the pork shop.
The taro was still the food distributed in the winter. Sui Yu scooped water from the ladle to soak the taro. She leaned against the door and said, "It will be the twelfth lunar month in a few days, and we can get food again."
"Um."
"When do you plan to go back? When did you go back last year?"
Zhao Xiping was stunned for a moment before he realized that she was asking about returning to his hometown in Jiuquan. Thinking of his mother's instructions, he was speechless for a moment.
"It's cold in winter and the roads are difficult to travel. It will be more comfortable for you if the camel runs slowly. It may take six days on the road... How about this, you stay at home with us to celebrate the Little New Year and then set off. You can get home before New Year's Eve." Sui Yu said.
"Okay, it's too cold on the road and you two can't stand it, so I'll go back alone." Zhao Xiping didn't mention his mother's words at all.
However, Sui Yu sneered and said with a curled lip, "I won't go back even if it's hot, so as not to upset your family."
After saying that, she went into the house to peel the taro.
Zhao Xiping was silent.
At dinner that night, he tentatively said, "If you want to go back with me, we can go back together. Everyone in the village knows about our relationship, and there's no point in hiding it."
Sui Yu shook his head and refused, saying, "Chinese New Year is a happy occasion, it only comes once a year, don't make the old man unhappy. Liang Ge'er and I are not alone at home, we have food and vegetables at home, and if we buy two pounds of meat before the New Year, we will be very comfortable. I don't want to go out with you and starve on the road."
Zhao Xiping rubbed his hands and said nothing.
Sui Yu was full. She put down her bowl and chopsticks and went out to see the wood chips he had chopped. She said, "You wash the dishes tonight."
"good."
Two wooden basins were brought into the woodshed. Sui Yu broke off a branch and stirred the water again and again. He ran out only when Zhao Xiping called out for him to wash his face.
In the days that followed, Sui Yu was busy every day smashing tree sticks to split sorghum stalks, or scooping out wood chips and sorghum stalks soaked in water and smashing them on stones to loosen the pulp before throwing them back into the water to soak.
Zhao Xiping asked her several times but she didn't say anything, so he just gave up.
Five pairs of thatched shoes, large and small, were woven, and the bundle of straw was used up. Sui Yu and her brother each got two pairs, and the other pair was for him. Zhao Xiping took the remaining reed fluff from the stalks and dried it repeatedly in the sun for three days. Once it was completely dry, he stuffed it into his mattress and covered himself with it at night for warmth.
On the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhao Xiping went out with a load on his shoulder to get two stone of grain, and the empty grain jar was full again.
During the twelfth lunar month, the pigs and sheep in the pens are sold to the slaughterhouse. Families with many people and limited financial resources sell the New Year pigs to butchers, while those with more ample financial resources slaughter the pigs and sell half, keeping the other half for themselves, so that they can have a prosperous year with plenty of food and water.
Three families in Shisantun jointly bought a fat pig weighing 70 kilograms. When the pig was being slaughtered, Sui Yu took Sui Liang to watch. After bleeding, scraping the hair and removing the internal organs of the 70-kilogram live pig, the pork weight was less than 40 kilograms.
Sui Yu calculated that her salary from raising a pig might not be as high as Zhao Xiping's.
"Auntie Sun, do you sell pig blood?" she asked.
Aunt Sun glanced at her, cut a piece of rice with a knife and gave it to her, saying, "We're eating this at home. We're not going to sell it. Take it back and eat it."
Sui Yu was stunned for a moment and said, "Then I'll steam the buns and send you a plate."
"Okay, I heard your tea and food are good, I'll try it."
Sui Yu returned with the pig's blood and asked Zhao Xiping to buy a bowl of tofu. She simmered half a pot of beans and rice, and used lard to stew half a pot of pig's blood, pickled cabbage and tofu. The pig had just been slaughtered, so the blood was fresh and had no fishy smell. The tofu had been fried in oil and then mixed with pickled cabbage. The stew was rich in oil, meat, and flavor.
After the meal was served, the family of three and the cat were all full.
After that meal, whenever someone slaughtered a pig, Zhao Xiping would take a large ceramic bowl and put some copper coins in his pocket to buy fresh pig blood. Pig blood was cheaper than pork, and the extra money he had was enough to last him every meal.
"Have I gained some weight?" Sui Yu pulled her face against the water tank and after comparing it repeatedly, she said happily, "I have gained some weight."
"Just look at Sui Liang and you'll see, both of you have gained weight." Zhao Xiping inexplicably felt a sense of accomplishment.
Sui Yu looked at Sui Liang, she touched her face and asked, "Am I the same as Liang Ge'er? Is there any color on my face?"
Zhao Xiping nodded, thought for a moment, and said, "Meat is good for nourishing the body. Eat more pig blood. It replenishes the blood."
After an absence of half a year, the butcher saw Zhao Xiping again. He stared at him again and again and said, "What a rare visitor! The New Year is almost here. How many pounds of meat do you want to buy today?"
Zhao Xiping threw three copper coins onto the pork stall and said, "Cut five pounds of meat, more fat and less lean. The price of pork hasn't gone up, right?"
"You're kidding! How can prices not go up in winter? It's six coins a pound already, and you're still cutting it into five pounds?"
Zhao Xiping nodded and bought five pounds of meat for three strings of coins. He took a look into the bucket and saw only a small piece of pig blood left, so he took out more money to buy the pig blood.
"Butcher, leave me a pound of pig blood every day. Someone can come and get it at dawn." He instructed.
The butcher handed him the pork and pig's blood and said, "Then you should come earlier. Pig's blood is cheaper and more people buy it."
When Zhao Xiping returned, he told Sui Yu that he would give her all the remaining money he had and asked her to go to the market to buy pig blood every morning after getting up.
"After I leave home, close the door before dark. Don't open the door if anyone knocks on the door after dark. Open the door only when you hear any noise outside in the morning," he instructed.
Sui Yu nodded. She handed him seven strings of copper coins and said, "This is the money I asked my mother to buy piglets. Take it back with you."
"How much money did you make in total?" he asked casually.
"Fourteen strings of cash." Sui Yu smiled proudly, "That's a lot, right?"
Zhao Xiping was surprised. "How can selling buns be so profitable? Setting up a street stall would earn more in a year than my salary."
"No one who can make a successful business is poor, but these fourteen strings of cash do not include the money for buying pork fat, and we also use a lot of it for cooking." Sui Yu locked the box, patted the dust off her hands, and went out to prepare to marinate the meat.
She pickled the pork, kneaded the dough, and picked and washed the leeks. The New Year's Eve was just one day away, so Sui Yu planned to steam two pots of buns stuffed with leeks and eggs, eat them both on the same day, and let the man take the rest away to eat on the road.
On the day of the Little New Year, the smoke rising from the chimneys of every household is filled with the aroma of meat. Children run around the alleys, looking at each other's houses, smelling the aroma and judging which family has stewed more meat.
Two pots of buns came out of the pot. Sui Yu took one plate and asked Zhao Xiping to send it to Aunt Sun. She washed the pot and cut the meat to prepare stewed pork belly with radish. Because her husband would not be back until after the New Year, she directly cut a plate of meat and poured it into the pot, so that she could satisfy her appetite today.
The oil from the pork slices was then poured into the radish and stir-fried. The lard was frying the radish. Zhao Xiping walked in and took a whiff, thinking that it was different with meat, and the radish was more fragrant than usual.
Sui Yu stewed a large pot of meat and radish, thinking that if she couldn't finish it at lunch, she could heat it up for another meal at night. However, she underestimated the three people's craving for meat, and even more underestimated the men's appetite. The three of them finished the large pot of radish stew in one meal, but they didn't eat many of the buns.
"I enjoyed my meal." Sui Yu put down her chopsticks, rubbed her stomach, and sat still, saying, "One meal is worth ten. After this one, I don't want to eat the next one."
Zhao Xiping glanced at her and saw that there was still oil and water at the bottom of the basin. He took a hot bun from the pot, dipped it in the broth and ate another bun.
"Are you full?" Sui Yu asked.
Zhao Xiping nodded, he was really full after this meal.
"Then go wash the dishes and I'll pack your luggage." Sui Yu glanced at the bed and said, "Take the wolfskin with you tomorrow and put on your clothes. Don't wear those old straw sandals. Wear new ones. They'll keep you warm."
Zhao Xiping moved his mouth, nodded and said nothing.
"We also need to bring hay for the camels, right?" Sui Yu asked.
"Okay, I'll take care of this. You don't have to worry about it." Zhao Xiping picked up the dishes and took the basin to the kitchen to wash them.
When I went to bed at night, he advised me: "If you wake up at night because of the itch, be patient and scratch it. The scab has finally formed, don't scratch it again."
"I know." Sui Yu ran over and lay down beside him. She asked quietly, "You'll miss me when you go back, right?"
"What do I miss you for? Thinking about rubbing your feet?"
Sui Yu pushed him and said, "I will miss you anyway, so come back early next year."
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