"Sister Lan, look!" Nian'an shouted, holding up an empty wooden basin. The silver longevity lock cast tiny glimmers of light in the twilight.
Xiaolan hugged the gift box tighter to her chest, smiled and waved: "I'll bring you freshly picked water chestnuts tomorrow!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than Nian'an was seen chasing frogs through puddles, her tiger-head boots splashing water that soaked her tiger-striped bib. Fu Yucheng chased after her, shouting, "Little ancestor, slow down! Don't fall into the lotus pond!"
Jiang Jianhua was tidying up the dishes in the kitchen, the sound of porcelain bowls clattering mixed with the croaking of frogs outside the window.
Song Yushuang sat under the lamp sewing shoe soles, the sound of hemp thread passing through the cloth soles was particularly clear: "Desheng's sesame cakes are really good, I'll try making some sweet potato puree tomorrow."
Jiang Jianhua wiped the moisture off the earthenware jar: "I moved the chili jar to the back of the storage room, next to the eggplant sauce, so it'll be easy to get in during the winter."
Fu Yuanshan rolled up the reed curtain and leaned it against the entrance of the vegetable cellar.
“This curtain is woven thick enough,” he said, patting the reeds on it. “Even if the snow falls heavily, the cellar won’t freeze.”
Fu Yucheng walked in, still clutching the dried sweet potato that Nian'an had dropped: "The sweet potato pile at the east end has a shed. I sprinkled some wood ash on the roots to prevent pests."
The two sat on a stone bench smoking, the flames of their pipes flickering in the twilight, like counting the stars on the eaves.
Nian'an tossed and turned in her small bed, the sweet potato cushion in her arms crumpled up.
Jiang Jianhua sat by the bed and fanned him. Moonlight streamed in through the window, casting dappled shadows on his face.
"Can't sleep?" she asked softly, her fingertips brushing against the osmanthus blossom mark on his nose. "Are you still thinking about the frog?"
Nian'an mumbled indistinctly, "Frog, jump, pond." Jiang Jianhua patted his back with a smile, "I'll take you to the lotus pond tomorrow to see the frogs jumping on the lotus leaves. Now go to sleep."
As dawn approached, Yun Tangyin got up to air out the dried sweet potatoes, the strips in the bamboo basket glistening in the morning dew.
"They'll be ready to be jarred after two more days of drying," she said, spreading dried strips into a bamboo tray. "They'll be a winter snack for Nian'an; they're more nourishing than candy."
Smoke slowly rose from the kitchen chimney as Jiang Jianhua began cooking porridge. Sweet potato chunks swirled in the water, and the fragrance of osmanthus blossoms drifted over the threshold, attracting early-rising sparrows to chirp and chatter in the locust tree.
When Xiaolan arrived with her basket of water chestnuts, Nian'an was squatting in front of the fish tank counting fish.
“These water chestnuts have to be peeled before eating,” she said, placing the basket on the stone table. The sharp points of the water chestnuts poked at the bamboo rabbit ears. “My mother says that freshly picked water chestnuts are the best when boiled, even more tender than chestnuts.”
Nian'an was throwing water chestnuts into the fish tank when Fu Yuanshan quickly stopped her, saying, "Little darling, fish don't eat these. They're just for you as a snack."
Fu Yucheng was stacking sweet potatoes in the cellar, with the largest ones at the bottom and the smaller ones on top, making them neatly arranged like a small mountain.
“There need to be some gaps in this cellar for ventilation,” he said, sticking a bundle of dried mugwort into the pile of sweet potatoes. “That way they can be stored until spring and still taste as sweet as freshly dug ones.”
Yun Tangyin walked in carrying an oil lamp, the light illuminating the cobwebs on the cellar wall: "I put the sesame salt jar at the very back, next to the dried radish, so you can grab it while you're getting the sweet potatoes."
The midday sun made the locust tree leaves shine, and Jiang Jianhua brought out the last tray of sweet potato and sesame cakes.
“These are for Aunt Zhang,” she said, putting cakes into a bamboo basket. “Yesterday when she borrowed the wooden mold, she said her grandson was craving these, so we have to send them over while they’re still hot.”
Song Yushuang walked over, stitching the soles of her shoes, and said, "I've finished stuffing Nian'an's cotton trousers. I used freshly fluffed cotton, which is softer than the old cotton-padded jacket."
Nian'an ran out of the courtyard gate with water chestnuts in her hand, the silver longevity lock clinking against the seam of her trousers.
Xiao Lan chased after him, still clutching the unfinished grasshopper cage in her hand: "Wait for me, Second Uncle said that water chestnut vines can be used to weave small baskets!"
The laughter of the two drifted over the fence, startling the reeds in the corner of the yard, which fell like a handful of snowflakes onto Fu Yucheng's newly built sweet potato shed.
Jiang Jianhua stood at the door, still clutching the needle and thread he had used to mend Nian'an's undergarment.
Sunlight filtered through her hair, casting warm shadows on the blue brick floor.
In the earthenware jars of the storage room, eggplant sauce was slowly fermenting, red water in the chili jar was bubbling, and the aroma of sesame salt wafted out from the gaps in the lotus leaves at the mouth of the jar, mingling with the fragrance of locust blossoms in the courtyard, creating the most lingering flavor of the Locust Courtyard.
This flavor contains the sweetness of sweet potatoes, the aroma of sesame seeds, the spiciness of chili peppers, and the warmth of a family sitting together.
Like a vat of slowly fermenting eggplant sauce, the longer it ferments, the richer and more mellow its flavor becomes. Over time, it settles into the most stable base color, wrapped in the warmth of the courtyard, and slowly brews into the original form of life.
Just as Nian'an and Xiaolan's laughter echoed over the fence, Zhou Desheng came walking down the ridge with a hoe on his shoulder, his trouser legs still covered in freshly turned soil.
"Is Sister-in-law Jianhua home?" he called from the gate of the courtyard. "My husband said your pickled peppers are delicious, so he asked me to come and ask for your recipe."
Jiang Jianhua greeted them with a smile as he came out of the house, still clutching the half-patched tiger-striped bib in his hand: "Come in and sit down. I just steamed some sweet potato and sesame cakes, which you can have with some freshly brewed chrysanthemum tea."
In the kitchen, Song Yushuang was pouring freshly ground cornmeal into a basin, intending to make some corn pancakes.
"Desheng came at the perfect time," she said, kneading the dough with warm water. "This corn flour was just ground the day before yesterday, it's perfect for making pancakes."
Zhou Desheng took the teacup from Jiang Jianhua and smacked his lips as he looked at the sesame cake on the plate: "Your family is really living a comfortable life, even steaming a cake is so fancy."
Fu Yuanshan came out of the cellar, carrying two pink sweet potatoes in his hand.
“Just got them from the cellar,” he said, placing the sweet potatoes on the stone table. “Desheng, take these back and have your sister-in-law steam them. They’re even sweeter than freshly dug ones.”
Zhou Desheng quickly waved his hand: "I'm so sorry, you guys helped me with the sesame harvest last time."
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