Jiang Jianhua was adding firewood to the stove when he heard the commotion in the yard. He poked his head out and smiled, "Xiao Lan, you've come at the perfect time. The steamed buns are just steaming. I'll take a few back with me later."
She turned around and scooped out a ladle of flour from the jar. "Acheng, when you pick lotus leaves, take more of the larger ones. I'll make lotus leaf porridge this afternoon to help the children cool down."
Fu Yucheng held up a lotus leaf and laid it into the jar. Water droplets on the leaf rolled into the water, startling the small fish into darting silver threads: "I know, I'll make sure the leaf covers the entire rim of the jar."
Nian'an ran with a small lotus leaf in her hand. The dew on the tip of the leaf wet the tiger-patterned bib, and the tiger stripes embroidered with gold thread showed dark marks.
"Slow down," Song Yushuang said, sitting under the eaves picking eggplants. The purple eggplant strips were piled up like a small mountain in the bamboo basket. "Don't fall into the pile of eggplants, or you'll turn into a purple tiger."
Nian'an, however, held up a lotus leaf and placed it on her head, causing the silver longevity lock to clang against the bamboo basket, which amused everyone.
Yun Tangyin carried the pickle jars into the cool storage room, the earthenware jars making a soft sound as they rubbed against the blue brick floor.
“This jar of eggplant sauce needs to be sun-dried for half a month,” she said, wiping the mouth of the jar with a cloth. “It will turn a dark brown color by then, and it will taste just right when spread on steamed buns.”
Jiang Jianhua carried brown sugar steamed buns out of the kitchen, the white steam in the steamer dissipating into mist in the morning light: "Come and try them, the brown sugar filling is molten."
Xiao Lan took a bite of the steamed bun, and the sugar syrup dripped down her fingers: "Second Aunt, your cooking is even better than the pastry shops in town!"
She suddenly pointed at Nian'an's lotus leaf and laughed, "There's a little frog on Nian'an's lotus leaf!"
Nian'an looked down and sure enough, there was a small, bright green frog squatting in the center of the leaf. Startled, he loosened his grip, and the lotus leaf floated into the fish tank, causing the minnows to thrash around in fright.
Fu Yuanshan came out of the woodshed carrying a saw, intending to make a wooden lid for the fish tank.
“This lid needs to have a gap,” he drew lines on the wooden board, “so the little fish won’t feel suffocated, and it will also keep out the cat’s paws.”
Nian'an leaned closer to look, pressing a shallow imprint on the wooden board with her little hand. Fu Yuanshan immediately followed the imprint and chiseled a small hole: "This is to give Nian'an an observation hole, so she doesn't have to lift the lid to see the fish."
The midday sun made the locust tree leaves curl up. Jiang Jianhua cut the eggplant into strips and arranged them neatly on the reed mat spread out in the yard.
“They need to be sun-dried until half-dry,” she said, sprinkling salt on the eggplant strips. “That way, the pickled vegetables will be crisp.”
Xiao Lan squatted down beside her, helping to turn the eggplant strips. The rabbit basket was placed to the side, containing unfinished brown sugar steamed buns. "Second Aunt, my mother said that adding some Sichuan peppercorns when pickling eggplants makes the flavor more intense."
Jiang Jianhua nodded with a smile: "Your mother is the most experienced. I'll go get the peppercorns in a bit."
Fu Yucheng returned from the field with a bundle of corn stalks on his shoulder, and a tender ear of corn still hanging on the leaves.
“This corn is so sweet it could be eaten like fruit,” he tossed the corn to Nian’an, “Take it and have your second aunt cook it for the kids as a snack.”
Nian'an ran with the corn in his arms, his tiger-head boots stepping on the dried eggplant strips. Jiang Jianhua quickly pulled him back: "Little darling, if you ruin the eggplant sauce, we won't be able to eat it."
Song Yushuang sat under the shade of a tree sewing shoe soles, the sound of hemp thread passing through the cloth soles particularly clear.
“The soles of these shoes are stitched very tightly,” she said, holding them up to the light. “They’ll definitely keep your feet from hurting when you wear them in winter.”
Yun Tangyin brought over freshly brewed chrysanthemum tea, the chrysanthemums in the porcelain bowl slowly unfurling in the hot water: "Take a break, have some tea to cool off."
She looked at the eggplant strips drying in the yard and said, "Once they're done drying, I'll teach you how to make dried eggplant. You can put it at the bottom when steaming meat; it'll be even more fragrant than dried plum vegetables."
The evening glow painted the fence a golden-red hue, and Fu Yuanshan finished making the fish tank lid.
The wooden lid is carved with a pattern of lotus scrolls, and the small observation opening is just big enough to insert a finger.
"Nian'an, give it a try," he said, putting the lid on the tank. "Can you touch the little fish?"
Nian'an lay on the edge of the tank, and as soon as he put his finger into the small opening, the little fish swam away with a "whoosh," making him giggle.
Jiang Jianhua's lotus leaf porridge was simmering and smelled wonderful, with a faint aroma of lotus and rice wafting from the earthenware pot.
"Sprinkle some white sugar into the porridge," she said, stirring with a wooden spoon. "It'll taste even better when it's cold."
Fu Yucheng walked in carrying eggplant sauce, the dark brown eggplant strips sprinkled with sesame seeds: "Come and try this, I just mixed it."
Nian'an picked up her spoon to eat, but Jiang Jianhua stopped her: "It's too salty since it was just pickled. Eat it tomorrow."
On the dinner table were lotus leaf porridge, brown sugar steamed buns, cucumber salad, and freshly stir-fried eggplant.
Nian'an held the bowl of porridge and drank it happily. The fragrance of lotus leaves mixed with the aroma of rice slowly spread in her mouth.
Xiao Lan put a piece of eggplant in his bowl: "This isn't salty; Erbo deliberately used less salt when he stir-fried it."
Nian'an opened her mouth to catch it, and some porridge grains got on her little face, making her look like a cat with a dirty face.
As the moonlight climbed to the top of the locust tree, Jiang Jianhua was sewing a small lotus leaf-shaped purse for Nian'an.
“Fill it with some mint,” she said, embroidering the veins of the leaves with green thread, “so that mosquitoes won’t bite you if you carry it with you in the summer.”
Song Yushuang sat beside her and watched, "If you embroider a little frog on the leaf, it will match Nian'an's wonderful encounter today."
Yun Tangyin was clearing away the dishes; the clinking of the porcelain bowls mingled with the croaking of frogs outside the window, like a gentle nocturne.
Fu Yucheng and Fu Yuanshan sat in the courtyard drinking tea, the chrysanthemums in their teacups floating and sinking in the water.
“Tomorrow, turn over the vacant lot at the east end,” Fu Yucheng said, taking a sip of tea. “Plant some radishes; we can pickle them into dried radishes in the winter.”
Fu Yuanshan nodded: "I'll go cut some more bamboo and build a few radish cellars so they don't freeze."
The minnows in the aquarium swam in the moonlight, their shadows cast on the bottom of the tank like a group of moving silver threads.
Nian'an lay on the small bed, hugging a lotus leaf and a purse, while the pebbles beside her pillow gleamed softly in the moonlight.
"Frog, jump," he mumbled indistinctly, his little hand still clutching a dried lotus leaf.
Jiang Jianhua covered him with a light blanket and gently blew out the oil lamp: "Go to sleep. Tomorrow I'll take you to see the big frogs in the lotus pond."
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