Chapter 43 Xiangzi's wife and her brother-in-law got together...
As the year draws to a close, there's even more to do at home.
"Dad, I'm not going to the county with you today."
“The three of us made potato balls and fried dough sticks at home. I’ve been craving them for a year,” Chen Mian said with a grin, linking arms with Chen Yongliang.
"You should pack up and come home early today too!"
"good."
After finishing breakfast, Mr. Chen went out, leaving the mother and her two daughters at home with clearly defined tasks.
Lin Huijun is kneading dough for fried dough cakes. The flour and water quickly take shape under her hands, and then she puts it on the heated brick bed to let it ferment.
Chen Mian was peeling the potatoes that had been steamed in advance, while Chen Muhe was preparing the filling for the potato balls.
Making potato balls is simple in theory. The filling mainly consists of chopped red dates and walnuts, plus crumbled breadcrumbs and brown sugar powder, all mixed together.
Mash the potatoes into a puree, add a little flour, and knead into a dough. Each time you need to use it, take a small piece in your palm, flatten it, wrap the filling inside, and then roll it into a ball.
The mashed potatoes were quite sticky, and before Chen Mian knew it, her palms were covered in them. She picked up a spoon and scraped her palms a few times, then dipped some cooked oil from the oil bowl on the table and rubbed it on before moving on to the next one.
Chen Mian complained slightly, "Mom, don't we have a better way to make these meatballs? They're so sticky."
“This method has been passed down for generations,” Lin Huijun glanced at the oily sheen on her daughter’s palms and instructed, “Use less mashed potatoes, otherwise you won’t be able to wrap it properly.”
"When you fry them, they'll all open up, and the filling will definitely leak out."
"Okay."
Chen Mian sat on a small stool, kneading dumplings as she told her story in Xinjiang.
The vastness of the border landscape, the unique customs of ethnic weddings, and the braised chicken with noodles that she never tires of.
It was so captivating that Lin Huijun and Chen Muhe were even more eager to see it for themselves.
Although several months have passed, Chen Mian still vividly remembers the wedding scene and all the details she attended.
When she got excited, she couldn't hide the pride on her face. "You guys didn't see the Uyghur clothes I was wearing, they were so beautiful!"
"Oh, I almost forgot, I also bought you a set. Try them on later."
Lin Huijun muttered a complaint about her daughter's wasteful spending, but a happy smile graced her face. "You don't need to buy these for Mom. Mom is too old to wear these."
Chen Mian's hands were covered in mashed potatoes, so she could only snuggle up and rub her little head against her mother, saying, "My mom isn't old at all, she's the most beautiful."
Chen Muhe nodded seriously.
"You!"
Chen Mian deliberately concealed her experience of being deceived, only saying that everything was fine for her outside.
I met some really nice people and made some new friends. "Look, I've even gained weight!"
Lin Huijun got up and added a few pieces of charcoal to the stove, then shook the handle on the side of the stove to make the charcoal fire burn brighter.
She took a few steps, picked up the meatballs that had already been made on the table, and went out for some fresh air under the pretext of going out.
But she hid in a corner and secretly wiped away the tears from the corner of her eyes.
Although her daughter didn't say anything, looking at her tanned skin and roughened hands, she understood everything.
Earning money by working outside is not so easy. Although she had never been outside in her life, she knew that money was not easy to earn.
The eldest son of the Liu family in the village went to work on a construction site a few years ago. At first, he kept sending money home, saying that he had made something of himself.
Unexpectedly, when we met again some time ago, I was being carried back on a stretcher.
He fell and became disabled at the construction site.
Two fingers are missing.
Because of this, she hasn't been able to eat or sleep well lately, and all three of her children are away from home.
Only Muhe could be a little less worried when she was at school.
Of the remaining two, the eldest is in the army, and the second has gone to Xinjiang.
Fortunately, her second child finally returned safely, and she could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Inside the house, Chen Mianmian was still chatting with her younger sister.
"Have you seen Uncle Xiangzi these past few days since you came back? Shouldn't he be playing with a bunch of kids by this time of year?" Chen Mian asked, somewhat puzzled.
When she was a child, she liked to follow Uncle Xiangzi around during the Chinese New Year.
He could always conjure up all sorts of interesting gadgets, he would take them to set off firecrackers, and he even secretly let her taste the soju.
As she grew older, although she stopped running around with them, she would still watch from afar and greet them when they met.
Chen Muhe shook her head; she didn't like going out, so she naturally wouldn't see him.
Just then, Lin Huijun lifted the curtain and walked in. Hearing her daughter's question, she paused for a moment and said, "Your Uncle Xiangzi is dead."
Xiangzi was in his forties. He was an alcoholic and a slacker. Although he was married and had a son and a daughter, he was not a proper man.
But he remained erratic and incoherent all day, carrying his liquor bottle with him wherever he went, and squandered almost all the money in the house.
As a result, his brother is already over thirty and still can't afford to get married.
He works in the fields all day long, like an old ox.
In October, Xiangzi had just had a fight with his wife and went out drinking as usual, but several days passed and he still hadn't returned.
Later, the police came to his house to notify him.
Chen Xiangzi died in a car accident at the age of forty-two.
Chen Mian was stunned after hearing this, and the meatballs she had just kneaded rolled to the ground. After a while, she mechanically bent down to pick them up and slowly asked, "How are Uncle Xiangzi's family members?"
"Are the funeral arrangements complete?"
"It's all done a long time ago. Your father and I even burned some paper money." Lin Huijun couldn't help but sigh when she thought of Xiangzi's wife wailing and crying at the funeral.
After a long while, she seemed to remember something and wished she could swallow back the anger she had just felt.
Chen Mian was still lamenting Uncle Xiangzi's untimely death and wondering how she and her aunt's family would manage in the future. She looked up and noticed her mother's strange expression, and couldn't help but ask with concern, "Mom, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
Lin Huijun suddenly turned her head away, gritted her teeth, and whispered, "Xiangzi's wife is with her brother-in-law."
"ah?"
"Hiss!" Chen Mian and her sister gasped simultaneously, unable to believe what they had just heard.
When they realized what was happening, the two sisters quickly surrounded their mother on either side, pleading, "Mom, please say more, please."
Lin Huijun looked a little embarrassed. She picked up a lump of mashed potatoes and pressed it in her hand to cover it up, saying, "Oh dear, you can't believe any of these rumors in the village. Just pretend you didn't hear them."
Chen Mian gave him a knowing look and said, "Mom, don't worry, I definitely won't tell anyone."
"Yes, yes, we will definitely not tell anyone, so please don't worry."
Lin Huijun feigned anger, "You all hurry back and sit down to get back to work."
She patiently waited until another batch of potato balls was kneaded before quickly finishing the whole story while she got up.
The villagers only knew that Xiangzi died in a car accident, but no one knew who hit him.
The funeral lasted for three days.
On the third night, Xiangzi's wife was getting ready for bed when she heard some noise outside the door.
When they went outside, they found a stack of money with a piece of paper on top, weighed down by a stone.
The words "I'm sorry" were written crookedly.
Xiangzi's wife took the money back to the main room, crying and cursing. Her brother-in-law heard the crying, silently put on his clothes and went in to comfort her.
After a while, they got together.
When the villagers found out, they just cursed, "It's fate playing tricks on us."
Only Xiangzi's mother didn't care. Her eldest son was dead, but she still had her younger son. Her daughter-in-law had lost her husband, and her younger son had never been married—wasn't that just right?
It also saved on the bride price.
Chen Mian was still somewhat saddened after hearing this, and the atmosphere became a little somber for a moment.
Fortunately, Lin Huijun soon brought up other family matters. The children were young and hadn't heard much gossip, which is why they were so startled.
In fact, people in the previous life were much more open-minded than people are now.
The mother and her two daughters worked together and quickly finished making all the potato balls. The round balls were neatly arranged on the iron plate. Chen Mian stretched out her index finger and counted them one by one. Her younger sister laughed and said that she looked like a general reviewing his troops before going to war.
Chen Mian: "Then my soldiers won't be enough. They'll be wiped out by the enemy in no time!"
The dough for the fried dough has risen. Roll it out into small round shapes, then make two cuts in the middle with a knife, making it look like an old-fashioned copper coin.
Heat plenty of oil in a wok, fry the meatballs first, then fry the fried dough sticks.
The aroma of fried food is irresistible.
Freshly fried dough sticks are the most delicious, priceless.
Chen Mian held a fried dough stick in her hand, sizzling from the heat, but still insisted on continuing to eat it.
Lin Huijun said helplessly, "Slow down, no one's going to take it from you."
Turning my head, I saw that my other daughter was also secretly reaching her hand into the bowl of meatballs.
Seeing this, she could only smile faintly and shake her head, letting them go.
...
"You don't even bother to get your hair cut? It's neither long nor short, what kind of look is that?"
“I’m not cutting it. I’m keeping it to braid next year,” Li Cuiping replied.
Li Huandi scoffed, "Oh, so you've learned to be vain now!"
"Girls should be neat and tidy. Dressing up costs too much money. With that money, you might as well buy a few more pounds of charcoal for your family. They'll freeze to death."
Twenty-five and a half insults are omitted here.
Li Cuiping retorted, "Then why do you dress so seductively every day? Who are you trying to impress?"
"you!"
Just as Li Huandi raised her hand to slap someone, she heard a knock on the door. "Go open the door!"
"Squeak."
Li Cuiping opened the door and found Chen Mian standing outside.
"Ta-da! I've brought you something delicious!"
Chen Mian raised the plate she was holding, a bright smile on her face, pretending not to have heard the shouting that had just come from outside.
Li Cuiping took the plate and thanked him in a low voice.
Chen Mian took out another fried dough stick from behind her and handed it to her friend, saying, "Eat this before you go in."
Before leaving, she quickly added, "If you're ever unhappy about anything, just come to our house, okay?"
"Yeah, don't worry, I run really fast..."
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Author's Note: Who knows, when everyone's cooking delicious food together at home during Chinese New Year, there's bound to be plenty of gossip and small talk, haha.
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