Jiang Jianhua was mixing corn crumbs into glutinous rice when he heard the praise from the yard. He looked up with a smile and said, "Xiao Lan's skills will be on par with your second uncle's in bamboo basket weaving in two years."
She pounded the dough with a wooden mallet until it was soft and sticky. "Come in and try the freshly steamed corn cakes. They're perfect with freshly picked green beans."
When the steamer was lifted, white steam carrying heat wafted to the doorway, condensing into tiny water droplets in the morning light.
Fu Yucheng was teaching people to distinguish lotus leaves by the lotus pond. Pointing to the largest leaf, he said, "The leaves with wrinkled surfaces are the most fragrant when used to make porridge."
Nian'an held up a lotus leaf and a purse to gesture, when she suddenly noticed a snail crawling on the stem. She immediately ran towards Fu Yuanshan with the lotus leaf in hand: "Snail, crawl!"
Fu Yuanshan was scooping water into the bucket when he saw this and laughed: "This is called a snail. It carries its house around everywhere, and it's even slower than Nian'an."
Yun Tangyin cut the green beans into small pieces and washed them thoroughly in the stone trough.
“These green beans are best when stir-fried,” she said, pouring rapeseed oil into the pan. “I’ll stir-fry a lot for the kids later, so they can eat a couple more pieces of corn cake with them.”
Aunt Zhang, carrying a basket filled with freshly dried bamboo shoots, came to visit: "I came because of the aroma! What delicious food are you making?"
Seeing the corn cakes on the stone table, she reached out and picked up a piece. "These cakes look so chewy. Jianhua's cooking skills are getting better and better."
The frogs in the lotus pond were croaking happily. Fu Yucheng scooped up a large lotus leaf with a wooden basin and put it on Nian An's head: "This is a natural sun hat, cooler than your tiger-head hat."
Nian'an ran with the lotus leaves on his head, the brim of his hat hanging down and covering his eyes. He almost bumped into the lotus pond, prompting Fu Yuanshan to quickly pull him back: "Little ancestor, slow down, you'll get soaked if you fall into the water."
Xiao Lan squatted in the yard weaving a grasshopper cage. The bamboo strips spun in her hands, and soon she had woven a hexagonal cage bottom.
“My second aunt said grasshoppers like to hide on soybean leaves,” she said, weaving a funnel shape into the opening of the cage, “so it’s easy for them to get in but hard for them to get out.”
Yun Tangyin carried the stir-fried green beans out of the kitchen, and the aroma made Xiao Lan sniff the air: "These green beans smell so good, even better than my mother's."
Jiang Jianhua cut the corn cakes into small pieces and arranged them neatly on a plate.
"You have to eat it while it's hot," she said, handing each child a piece. "It'll get hard and you won't be able to chew it when it's cold."
Nian'an ran over with a rice cake in her mouth, her lotus leaf hat askew to one side, and corn grits stuck to the lotus leaf pouch, like yellow spots embroidered on a frog.
Song Yushuang sat under the shade of a tree sewing shoe soles, looking at him and laughing: "Eat slowly, no one is going to take it from you, be careful not to choke."
The midday sun made the lotus pond shimmer with golden light. Fu Yucheng led Nian'an back. The wooden basin was half full of water, with a large lotus leaf floating on the surface.
“There’s a little frog in here,” he said, pointing to the bottom of the basin. “Nian’an, you should take good care of it. When it grows up, you can release it into the lotus pond to catch pests.”
Nian'an leaned over the edge of the basin, gently poking the water's surface with his little hand, which startled the frogs, causing them to dart under the lotus leaves, making him giggle.
Jiang Jianhua's eggplants were half-dried in the sun, and he was sprinkling Sichuan peppercorns and salt on them.
"You have to knead it well," she said, tossing the eggplant strips with her hands, "that way the pickled vegetables will be flavorful enough."
Xiao Lan squatted down to help, with the rabbit basket beside her containing unfinished corn cakes. "Second Aunt, my mother said that when steaming eggplant with meat, you have to soak it in water to soften it first, otherwise it will be too hard."
Jiang Jianhua nodded with a smile: "Your mother is so experienced. I'll definitely remember that when we're steaming the meat."
Fu Yuanshan was weaving bamboo sieves in the yard, intending to use them to dry radish slices.
“The bottom of this sieve needs to be woven more tightly,” he said, weaving the bamboo strips through, “so that the dried radish doesn’t leak through the gaps.”
Nian'an held up the little frog and leaned closer to look. Suddenly, the frog jumped out and landed on the bamboo sieve, startling him so much that he let go of it, spilling water from the wooden basin all over the ground, which made everyone laugh.
The evening glow painted the fence red, and Jiang Jianhua packed her eggplant sauce into a ceramic jar, sealing the opening tightly with a red cloth.
"It needs to be placed in the sun to dry," she said, moving the earthenware jar to the stone platform in the yard. "Turn it over once a day, and it needs to be dried for half a month to be flavorful."
Fu Yucheng returned from the field carrying a hoe and a bundle of sesame stalks on his shoulder: "It's time to harvest these sesame seeds. I'll grind some sesame seeds tomorrow to make sesame candy for the children."
On the dinner table were stir-fried green beans, corn cakes, dried eggplant, and freshly made mung bean soup.
Nian'an held the bowl of mung bean soup and drank it happily. The mung beans in the soup were sandy and mixed with the sweetness of rock sugar, which slowly spread in her mouth.
Xiao Lan put a piece of dried eggplant into his bowl: "This is delicious, my mother says it goes even better with rice than meat."
Nian'an opened her mouth to catch it, her little face covered in mung bean residue, looking like a little kitten stealing food.
As the moonlight climbed to the top of the locust tree, Jiang Jianhua was sewing a sesame bag for Nian'an.
"Fill it with roasted sesame seeds," she embroidered the sesame seeds with yellow thread, "and you'll sleep well if you put it under your pillow in winter."
Song Yushuang sat beside her and said, "Embroider a little mouse next to it, it'll be just right with sesame seeds."
Yun Tangyin was clearing away the dishes; the clinking of the porcelain bowls mingled with the chirping of insects outside the window, like a gentle nocturne.
Fu Yucheng and Fu Yuanshan sat in the courtyard smoking, the flickering light from their pipes reflecting off the fish tank in the corner.
“Go harvest the sesame seeds tomorrow,” Fu Yucheng tapped his cigarette ash, “and once they’re dried, we can grind them into sesame seeds.”
Fu Yuanshan nodded: "I'll make another sesame sieve to separate the sesame seeds from the stalks."
The little frog in the fish tank was perched on a lotus leaf, its eyes sparkling in the moonlight like two emeralds.
Nian'an lay on her small bed, clutching a sesame bag. The pebbles and lotus leaf pouches beside her pillow were neatly arranged.
"Spicy, fragrant," he mumbled indistinctly, his little hand still clutching a dried lotus leaf.
Jiang Jianhua covered him with a thin blanket and gently blew out the oil lamp: "Go to sleep, I'll make you sesame candy tomorrow."
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