I heard before the New Year that Mr. Feng was going to set up a stage in the village and invite a troupe to perform during the Spring Festival. I guess it should be today.
Otherwise, even if everyone else went out to visit friends and relatives, Zhou and Xia Yujiao should still be at home.
Both Jiang and Xia Youtian felt relieved.
The two of them hurriedly took out the new wheat seeds and new rapeseed seeds.
Jiang divided the new wheat seeds into two portions of similar weight, put them into two unused pickle jars, sealed the jars, carefully hid one of the jars in the closet, and stuffed the other into Jiang's dowry box.
After hiding the new wheat seeds, Jiang rummaged through boxes and drawers and found a very inconspicuous old basket.
She filled the basket with two layers of rags and stuffed a lot of straw on top of the rags, making the basket particularly suitable for holding eggs or something.
Then, Jiang wrapped the two new rapeseed seeds in clean hemp paper, and then wrapped them in layers of oil paper. She did this five or six times before stopping.
Jiang put the two oil-paper bags into the basket, then took a large coarse porcelain bowl, turned it upside down on top of the oil-paper bags, and finally hung the basket on the beam.
Xia Daohua was dazzled by these operations.
Seeing Xia Daohua staring at her intently, Jiang felt very embarrassed. She smiled and explained to Xia Daohua:
"This will keep rats away."
The Xia family seemed to have accepted that Xia Daohua seemed to have forgotten everything, and needed to learn everything from scratch, no matter what common sense it was. No one questioned her. On the contrary, everyone was very patient with her.
After traveling along the mountain road for a long time, Jiang was a little tired. Seeing that Xia Daohua did not raise any new questions, she called Lihua for help and arranged for the children to wash and sleep for a while.
Xia Youtian had already boiled some water and called the children over to wash up. He also took a wooden basin and filled it halfway with hot water to soak his feet. As he was soaking, he dozed off.
Jiang jokingly woke Xia Youtian, wiped his legs and feet with a cloth, and told him to go to sleep on the kang. However, she still refused to rest and continued to organize the things she brought from her mother's house.
In addition to cotton clothes and new rice seeds for the children, Shen and Wang also brought them some food.
There were pickles of perilla leaves and beetroot, kimchi made in the Xian way, a big bag of fried meatballs, and a big bag of small yellow croakers the size of a thumb.
Knowing that Jiang attached great importance to etiquette and was not the type to eat alone, she would inevitably give some to her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law, so Wang specially made tofu balls.
As for the meatballs, I let the children eat them to their heart's content at grandma's house, but I didn't want to bring them back.
Jiang Shi didn't notice Wang Shi's little thought. As she sorted the food, she couldn't help but feel grateful for her sister-in-law's kindness to her, and her heart was filled with warmth.
After cleaning up, Jiang felt that everything in front of her eyes was getting dark.
But she didn't dare to take off her clothes, so she just lay down and dozed off, fearing that her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law would come to visit her before she could.
Jiang had always attached great importance to this basic etiquette. She would rather be busy and tired than make a mistake.
It was not until dusk that the Xia family members came back one after another.
The sound of the crowd opening the courtyard door startled Jiang, who was already sleeping restlessly. She hurriedly got up, splashed some cold water on the marks on her face, quickly combed her hair, and made sure her clothes were in place before opening the door.
The Xia family excitedly discussed the tall stage that Mr. Feng had built and the troupe that had come from afar. Although they could hardly understand what the glamorous characters on the stage were singing, this did not affect their enthusiasm for watching the show at all.
Beiguan Village hasn't invited a troupe of actors for a long time.
In a dilapidated border town like Beiguan Village, if it weren't for a landlord like Mr. Feng who loved ostentation, people would probably not have had the chance to witness such a grand scene for decades.
Beiguan Town is a big town. There are often big markets and temple fairs in the town, and occasionally there are opera troupes coming to the town to perform.
But what seems to be a common thing to the people in the town is extremely new to the people in Beiguan Village and has an indescribable attraction.
In Beiguan Village, there are even some people who have never left the village in their entire lives.
The farthest I went was to the town and attend the market.
Jiang waited until the noise outside died down before she took two bowls and went to her parents-in-law's residence.
There were two bowls, one filled with perilla leaves, beetroot, and kimchi, and the other filled with fried tofu balls and crispy, tender, thumb-sized small yellow croaker.
Jiang handed the bowl to Zhou:
"My mother and my eldest sister-in-law brought back dishes that are traditionally cooked in Liushutuozi and Bangchuidao. I thought, although these are home-cooked dishes, the cooking methods are novel, so I should give them to my parents to try first."
Zhou knew that Jiang was not one to hide anything, so she nodded with satisfaction.
"Good boy, you have a heart."
Jiang sat for a while, then went back to the house, combed her temples a little, and then took the bowl and delivered it to the other families one by one.
This time, her family only sent a bowl with five things in it, really letting them taste them. However, she stacked the things in the bowl high to make it look sincere.
The couple in the main house were whispering something in the room. When Jiang knocked on the door, there was a loud noise. Liu opened the door with an unhappy look on her face, and when she saw that it was Jiang who knocked, her expression became even uglier.
When she found out that Jiang had come to deliver food, she didn't say anything polite. She just hurriedly put on a perfunctory smile, took the bowl, and slammed the door, not even letting Jiang in.
Jiang was so angry that she wanted to ask her sister-in-law in person what she meant.
But she was a person who valued etiquette. Others could be rude, but she could not do such a thing. In the end, she said nothing and walked back to her room with heavy steps.
She took several deep breaths before she calmed down and took the bowl to the second room.
Sun was always harsh in his words, but when his family could take advantage of him, he would often become exceptionally amiable.
When he saw Jiang coming to deliver food, he praised Jiang and her family so much that Jiang's face turned red. She couldn't help but break free from her second sister-in-law Sun's hand and ran away.
The third sister-in-law's attitude was relatively normal. She was neither as rude as the eldest sister-in-law, nor as overly enthusiastic as the second sister-in-law. Instead, she said a few polite words appropriately.
Jiang really liked her third sister-in-law's attitude.
Although she knew that her third sister-in-law secretly looked down on her.
But when the two of them face each other, the third sister-in-law will at least put on a good show so that no one can find fault with her.
Jiang only sighed secretly in her heart, and as if she was afraid that someone would hear it, she swallowed the sigh tightly into her stomach.
Jiang knocked on the door of the fifth room.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
