After the banquet in the capital, the Zhou family returned to the small fishing village early the next morning.
Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei didn't return until a week later. One had to attend classes, and the other had to go to the library to study and ask the professor for advice.
On the 18th day of the fifth lunar month, a family of five, along with my grandparents, my second aunt, and my little cousin, returned to the small fishing village.
They reached home in the evening and rested for the night.
The next day, Jiang Xia got up in the morning and started helping prepare for Zhou Chengsen's wedding.
Those who were cleaning were cleaning, those who were borrowing tables were borrowing tables, those who were borrowing bowls were borrowing bowls, and those who were decorating the new house were decorating the new house.
Zhou's mother also wants to find someone to go with her to welcome the bride tomorrow and to help with the buffet.
Mother Zhou took a stack of red envelopes and went out happily to look for someone.
Zhou Chengsen and several children decorated the new house and pasted "囍" characters on the windows and the door.
Zhou Zhou and Zhou Ying happily drew the Chinese character for "囍" on the window: "Aunt, is this right?"
Jiang Xia, Zheng, Tian Caihua, Grandma and others were in the yard with the table and dishes borrowed by Zhou Chenglei and Zhou Chengxin.
Clean it in advance and set it aside, as there will be too much to do tomorrow.
Hearing this, Jiang Xia looked up and said, "It's correct. You have really good eyesight."
After hearing this, the two girls happily started to position the characters, then put some paste on the word "囍" and stepped on a stool to stick it on.
With the double curtains and the word "囍" pasted on the wall, the house looks particularly festive.
In the afternoon, several women in Jiangxia began to make various pastries: fried rice cakes, steamed cakes, radish cakes, glutinous rice cakes, salted water dumplings, beef patties, etc.
In Zhou Chengsen's courtyard, some people were grinding rice milk with a stone mill, some were shredding radishes, some were kneading dough, some were frying peanuts, and some were washing pig's trotters.
Some dishes also need to be prepared in advance, such as Baiyun Pork Knuckle, which needs to be cooked in advance and soaked in white vinegar, otherwise it will not be tasty if you cook it tomorrow.
An old lady in the village was grinding rice to make radish cakes. She asked Jiang Xia with a smile, "Xiao Xia, you are so good at making oil cakes, too?"
"Not really. I'm learning, but it's too difficult."
"Your mother-in-law and sister-in-law are masters at making oil-fried glutinous rice cakes in the village. The oil-fried glutinous rice cakes they make are big and round. Every family in the village who wants to make oil-fried glutinous rice cakes will ask them to teach you."
"I've been taught, but I just can't learn it. I'm clumsy." Jiang Xia said with a smile.
I clearly saw everyone taking a piece of dough and twisting it between their thumbs and kneading it, and suddenly they made a hollow ball out of it. I thought it was easy, but it was very difficult to do it myself.
The oil-fried glutinous rice dumplings made by others were round and plump, but the ones she made were wrinkled like buns, and they were hollow soup dumplings with thin skin that couldn't rise.
Zhou's mother taught her again: "...When you pinch, the strength and speed should be even. After pinching it into shape, let the dough hang down naturally. When it's this big, start to close the edge. After it's closed, just pinch it like this. The two tips will be flattened when they are blasted."
"Okay." Then Jiang Xia patiently observed the speed and gestures of Zhou's mother and others. He tried more than a dozen times before he found the trick. Then each one became more beautiful than the last.
When all 190 oil cakes were made, Jiang Xia finally succeeded in making a round and plump oil cake, instead of a wrinkled one like a bun!
This thing is really hard to learn, much harder than making dumplings.
Because it is not easy to knead a piece of glutinous rice dough into a hollow, thin-skinned, round and full ball without any wrinkles, it requires some skill.
When she first learned how to make dumplings, she mastered it in one try.
Everyone watched Jiang Xia finally learn it and laughed, "As expected of someone who runs a food factory, you learn things quickly."
Jiang Xia smiled. She felt that this was definitely the pastry that she took the longest to learn.
When frying oil cakes, fry three in the first pot.
Put three glutinous rice cakes into the hot oil and gently turn them with a colander. The plump white glutinous rice cakes will gradually grow larger and turn yellow. When the size of the glutinous rice cakes stops increasing and the surface becomes golden, they are fried.
Each fried glutinous rice cake made by Zhou's mother is as big as a cantaloupe, and the skin is so thin that it is almost transparent.
She scooped up the three oil cakes, put them in a wide-mouthed bowl and placed it in front of the Kitchen God. She said to Jiang Xia, "The first pot should be offered to the Kitchen God first, so that the oil cakes that follow will be bigger."
Jiang Xia smiled and agreed: "Okay."
The aunties in the village thought Jiang Xia was smart and clever. No matter whether she believed it or not, she just agreed obediently. Unlike her own daughters-in-law, she said they were superstitious and talking nonsense!
People living by the sea have been fishing for generations, and their lives and deaths all depend on luck. Anyway, they believe in it very much. They are very pious when they worship gods and grandfathers.
As expected, the oil cakes that Jiang Xia made at the beginning did not rise. They were not as big and round as others. Only the last one was the same as others.
However, the oil cakes will collapse soon after being taken out of the oil pan. By then, all the oil cakes will have collapsed, so it doesn’t matter. The ones she made will only look like the thick skin is left.
Youci are the most delicious when they are freshly cooked. Jiang Xia ate three in one go.
It turns out that the thinner the skin, the softer and more delicious.
Zhou Chenglei walked in, took a look at the fried rice cakes that had just come out of the pan, and picked up the one with the thickest skin that was almost fried black.
Jiang Xia: “The big, golden ones are the best.”
Zhou Chenglei: "It's okay, I'll try what you made."
He doesn't like to eat this stuff. He won't eat it unless it's made by Jiang Xia.
“…”
Are you so sure that the ugliest one was made by her?
Jiang Xia pointed to another big and round one and said, "This is my final result."
Zhou Chenglei decisively picked it up and fed the children a little bit.
The family was busy that day and did not go to bed until 10 o'clock in the evening. The next day, Jiang Xia got up before 5 o'clock in the morning.
Today is the big day to pick up the bride, so it's even busier.
Jiang Xia first picked some red, orange and pink roses in the yard, and took Zhou Zhou and Zhou Ying to decorate the wedding car to pick up the bride.
Tian Caihua cut all the roses and roses planted in the yard and brought them to Jiang Xia for use.
The two sisters knew that Jiang Xia had to get up early today to decorate the wedding car, so they set the alarm clock and followed suit.
Jiang Xia taught the two sisters how to cut roses from the yard to decorate the float: "Be careful, roses have thorns, don't hurt your hands."
Zhou Ying: "Is this how your hair is cut, auntie?"
"Yes, just cut it like this, don't cut your hands." Jiang Xia was making a bouquet of flowers.
Soon, all the roses and roses in the two yards were cut by the three of them.
At half past five, when it was almost dawn, Tian Caihua also brought a large bunch of flowers that she had cut from home.
"I've cut all the roses and Chinese roses you wanted. Are they enough?"
Jiang Xia took a look and said, "It should be about the same."
The red roses were to be used to decorate the wedding car, and Jiang Xia was worried that there wouldn't be enough, so she chose a bouquet made from a combination of newly bloomed pink roses and champagne gold roses, and then tied them into a bouquet with a light gold ribbon.
Many varieties of roses and Chinese roses are planted in both yards of the house, including the yards of Zhou Chengsen and Tian Caihua's homes.
Some of the roses in the yard were brought back by Jiang Xia from the Guangzhou Trade Fair Horticultural Exhibition, and some were bought for her by Zhou Chenglei, Jiang's father, Jiang Dong, and Zhang Fuyan. Mr. Mai knew that she loved flowers, especially roses and roses.
Just like the apricot pink "Princess of Monaco" used for the bouquet, Zhou Chenglei saw it at the horticultural exhibition at the Guangzhou Trade Fair and brought it back. He bought it for 120 yuan at the time and asked Mr. He to write a note for approval because it required a department-level approval.
The champagne gold medal was brought back from abroad by Zhang Fuyan’s mother and given to her.
There is also a lavender "Blue Moon" in the yard, which was brought back by Mr. Mai for her to plant. However, only two flowers bloomed, which were not enough, so she kept them to beautify the yard.
Tian Caihua asked curiously: "Do we need flowers to decorate the wedding car? Isn't it enough to just hang a big red flower?" (End of this chapter)
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