Chapter 4 4
Mother Jiang was terrified.
She never thought that her daughter, who had been obedient and sensible since childhood but as cowardly as a quail, would actually draw a knife at her and say she wanted to kill her.
After she was stunned for a moment, she did not continue to beat her. Instead, tears immediately fell, and she slapped her thigh and cried sadly: "What kind of fate is this for me? I gave birth to such a heartless girl, who held a knife and said she wanted to kill me. Why is my life so miserable? I raised her with great difficulty, and she chopped me with a knife!"
"Shut up!" Jiang Ning kicked over the wooden basin against the wall. Seeing that Jiang's mother was still crying, he picked up the thermos on the coffee table and smashed it to the ground with a bang, which completely frightened Jiang's mother.
Mother Jiang didn't care about crying anymore. She waved her hand and was about to hit Jiang Ning: "You suicidal girl, you actually dared to smash things in the house, why don't you just go die!" Looking at the thermos bottle that was smashed into pieces on the ground, Mother Jiang sobbed with heartache.
In her life, she feared nothing except people destroying her things.
Seeing that she had finally calmed down, Jiang Ning slashed at the doorpost with his knife, "If you dare to touch me again, I will smash everything in the house."
She has always been the one who would take action but never bullies others. If others make threats, she will just take action without saying a word.
Jiang's mother was so scared that she didn't dare to do anything. She just cried and said, "You are asking for death. I asked you to wash the dishes, but you took a knife and smashed things in the house. Doesn't the thermos cost money?"
She really wanted to beat this suicidal girl to death, but seeing her ruthless face, she was afraid that she would really destroy the house while she was away.
If it was a day ago, she would not believe that Jiang Ning dared to do this, but just now she dared to draw a knife at her and smashed the thermos without hesitation. She was afraid that she would smash the TV in her room as well.
She hurried out and locked her bedroom.
Seeing that it was getting late, she quickly picked up the sickle and walked out, shouting as she walked: "Hurry up and wash all the dishes and bring the food. If you don't clean up when you come back, I'll skin you alive!"
"I'll peel off your skin" is Jiang Ning's favorite phrase, and she has never seen her mother say that about her two brothers since she was a child.
Grandpa Jiang slept in a thatched shed in the rice field at night to watch over the rice. He and Dad Jiang had already gone to the fields to harvest a large area of rice.
During the double-harvest period, almost every household goes to the fields to harvest rice before dawn, and comes back after ten o'clock to have breakfast and lunch, take a nap, and continue working at two o'clock in the afternoon.
Originally, Jiang Ning had to go to the fields to harvest rice in the morning. She would usually harvest until around eight o'clock, come back to make breakfast, and then send it to the fields. After Jiang's father and grandfather ate, they would go directly to the straw shed in the rice field to take a three-hour nap while looking at the rice. But today, Jiang Ning had a quarrel with Jiang's mother, and Jiang's mother forgot to call her to join them. Seeing that the sun was about to rise, she hurried to the fields.
Looking at the mess on the floor and the messy dishes on the table, Jiang Ning let out a long sigh, and without caring about it, he walked into the kitchen and started making breakfast.
As I recall, breakfast was made by using wheat flour to make a thin layer of pancake along the edge of the pot. It was simple, quick and filling.
Thinking about the heavy farm work during the double harvest period, Jiang Ning had no money and could not buy meat, so he thought of catching crayfish. He picked up a snail by the pond with a basket and smashed it, then continued fishing for lobsters. After a while, he caught half a basket.
She quickly cleaned the lobster, went home and put it in a pot to cook. She then went to the vegetable garden to cut some leeks and picked some cucumbers to make leek egg pancakes. She also made a few pots of wheat pancakes, peeled the cooked lobster meat and roe, added cucumber strips, and rolled them up with pancakes.
Lobster meat is not high in calories, but shrimp roe is very high in calories, making it very suitable for people like Jiang's father who do heavy farm work.
She rolled ten such pancakes and a plate of chive egg pancakes, put them in a vegetable basket, and sent them to Jiang's father and the others.
It was already eight o'clock and the sun was already scorching hot. She wore a straw hat, carried a basket, and ate a wrap as she walked on the road. When she was a child, she felt there was nothing to eat, but now she felt that there was delicious food everywhere.
She put the basket on the ridge and called out, "Dad, it's time for breakfast!"
Father Jiang wiped the sweat off his face with the linen towel around his neck and looked at the sun: "You brought food so early today?"
But he had worked all morning and was indeed hungry. He walked to the edge of the field to wash his hands. He saw the wraps and chive pancakes that were different from the usual ones. He sat on the edge of the field, took one and put it in his mouth: "Well, this one tastes good today."
Especially since there is lobster meat in it.
The locals think lobsters are dirty, require a lot of oil to cook, and are difficult to cook, so they don't eat them. I didn't expect that these crayfish that can be found everywhere would become so delicious in my daughter's hands.
Dad Jiang quickly finished three spring rolls, took a piece of leek pancake, and stuffed it into his mouth in two or three bites as he walked, then bent down and continued to cut rice.
Jiang's mother also came over. She saw the lobster burrito, took a bite, and saw cucumber strips inside. She said with disdain, "Why are you doing all these fancy things?" She picked up a greasy and golden chive pancake and said, "You must have wasted all the oil in the house, right?"
It was the double harvest season and the farm work was heavy, so oil was indeed needed. That was why Jiang Ma didn't say much about the oil.
She took out three dollars from her pocket and gave it to her: "Go and weigh a pound of meat."
At that time, pork was only two or three yuan per pound.
Like Jiang's father, she finished two spring rolls and two leek cakes in a few bites, then went back to harvesting rice with a sickle.
Jiang Ning covered the leftovers on the porcelain basin with a plate and placed it under the shade of a tree. He said hello to Jiang's father and the others, then went to deliver breakfast to Grandpa.
I didn’t stay long at my grandfather’s place and hurried to the neighboring village to buy meat. If I was any later, all the meat would be lean.
Because it was so sunny, Jiang Ning couldn't help it and went home to get an umbrella. Although it was just a rain umbrella, it was better than nothing.
Uncle Jiang, who lived not far from the Jiang family's fields, saw this when he stood up to plant rice. He sneered to Aunt Jiang beside him and said, "Is that Ningning? It's such a short distance, and she's still holding an umbrella." There was sarcasm in his tone.
Aunt Jiang raised her eyebrows when she heard this: "You are the only one who has too many things to do! Ningning is a little girl, what's wrong with holding an umbrella? You must be tanned like you guys, right?"
Uncle Jiang was scolded by Aunt Jiang and murmured, "I just see that the double harvest is so busy now, and she doesn't know how to help her parents with some work..."
Aunt Jiang glared at her, "Why isn't she working? She fainted in the fields yesterday. Are you blind and didn't see it? It's obvious that she's going to Xu Village to buy meat. Isn't she working?" She quickly shouted, "Ningning! Ningning!"
Jiang Ning heard someone calling her, so she turned around and looked at the field beside the road. She saw her aunt running towards them quickly, smiling: "Ning Ning, are you going to Xu Village to buy meat?" She took out a few yuan and gave it to Jiang Ning: "Please bring me a pound of meat, fattier meat, and also a piece of tofu."
She wanted to touch Jiang Ning's head, but her hands were dirty, so she didn't reach out.
Her aunt-in-law had a round face and was short in stature, but she was very kind and gentle. When she was a child, her most profound impression of her was that the food she cooked was delicious. There were all kinds of vegetables in her aunt-in-law's vegetable garden, and she often called her over to eat. As a result, when she grew up, every time she went back to her parents' home, she was unwilling to eat at home, and always went to her aunt-in-law's house for a meal.
In the eyes of others, she is the most successful person in the family. Every time she goes home, her relatives rush to invite her to dinner.
Only her aunt-in-law simply invited her to have a home-cooked meal.
The pork now comes from big black pigs raised at home, which are fat and strong. Jiang Ning did not buy pork belly. Instead, he bought the fattest and thickest meat according to the needs of Jiang Ma and Auntie Jiang, and went to the tofu shop to buy four square blocks of tofu.
At this time, two squares of tofu cost fifty cents. Jiang Ning bought fifty cents less when he bought the meat just now.
Old tofu is also a high-protein food, so she decided to make braised pork and tofu for them at noon.
When he came back and passed by his aunt's wife's fields, he gave the meat and tofu to her. After returning home, he thought about it, took the fishing net and went to Xujiagou to catch loaches.
There is no such thing as fishing with batteries, which almost electrocutes all the fish and shrimp to death. All kinds of fields, ditches and rivers are full of fish, shrimp, loaches and eels. In the past, her brothers went to catch them and she followed behind and watched. But in fact, catching loaches and fish is not difficult.
She has fishing nets at home, which were all handmade by her two brothers.
She caught nearly two kilograms of small fish and loaches, as well as quite a few lobsters. The loaches still needed to spit out the mud and sand so that they could be cooked in the evening. She roasted the small fish until both sides were golden brown, and also cooked a dish of braised pork and tofu. She continued to keep the remaining cube of tofu in the water.
All kinds of vegetables are ripe in summer, including cowpea, sword bean, green bean, lentil, edamame, green pepper, tomato, gourd, winter melon, amaranth, etc.
I made eggplant yesterday and roasted winter melon and tiger peppers today.
They were just ordinary ingredients, but she cooked them in a way that made them look delicious and tasty, making people's mouths water just by looking at them.
The enamel basin from yesterday had not been washed yet, but Jiang Ning didn't care. She found a ceramic basin in the cupboard to hold the rice, and a ceramic bowl and soup bowl to hold the vegetables. She put them in the vegetable basket and took it to the edge of the field.
At this time, the rice in the field had been harvested. Jiang's father and mother were one who was tying the rice stalks together, while the other was carrying the bundled rice stalks to the rice field in loads.
Even though they had eaten three lobster burritos and several chive egg pancakes in the morning, they were still hungry. Seeing Jiang Ning bringing them food, Jiang's father couldn't wait to carry a load of rice to the threshing ground, then quickly washed his hands in the ditch and came over to eat.
When he saw that there was not a hodgepodge in the basket, but distinct dishes of braised pork with tofu, stir-fried winter melon, tiger skin green peppers, and stir-fried small fish, the aroma hit him so much that Dad Jiang couldn't help but salivate. He picked up the bowl, quickly picked up a piece of tofu stewed in the gravy and put it in his mouth, and couldn't help but quickly pick up the other dishes and started eating.
It was so delicious that there was no time to talk.
God have mercy on him, what has he been eating these days?
He is the one who usually cooks at home, but during the double harvest season, there is nothing he can do, so Mother Jiang and Grandpa Jiang have to cook. What do Mother Jiang and Grandpa Jiang cook? It's no different from pig food. I finally got to eat something edible these two days.
We had one meal last night and two meals today, and the food is even better than that in the restaurants in town.
Father Jiang ate a quick meal to relieve his hunger, then he called to Mother Jiang, who was still tying rice in the field, "Ailian, come and eat!"
Mother Jiang tied the rice stalks tightly with straw ropes: "Here it comes!"
Looking at the four clearly distinguished vegetables in the basket, Jiang Ma didn't say anything. Instead, she stared at the umbrella in her hand and cursed: "You are really making a fool of yourself. You are holding an umbrella. Are you afraid that the sun will burn you to death? I work in the fields every day and I have never been burned to death!"
Jiang Ning's body swayed, and she looked like she was about to faint.
She was thin to begin with. When you stretched out your hand and pulled her back, you could see a layer of skin, without any flesh at all. In addition, she had a heat stroke yesterday, so her eyebrows, neck, and arms were covered with red sand. Father Jiang was so scared that he quickly jumped up and put down his bowl and chopsticks to help her. "Quick, stand under the shade of the tree. It's so hot, why don't you find a place to cool off? Why are you waiting for us here? Go home quickly. I'll bring Grandpa's food later!" He also said to Mother Jiang: "Let her hold an umbrella. Isn't it good for a girl to be fair and clean?"
It was the first time that Jiang's mother encountered "green tea" behavior. She did not suspect that her daughter was pretending to faint. In addition, Jiang Ning did have heatstroke and fainted for a long time yesterday. Seeing that she was really about to faint, she was a little worried.
But she had always been strong-willed and had a sharp tongue. She couldn't help but say, "You're the only good person, I'm the stepmother!" She also scolded Jiang Ning, "You really have the body of a young lady. I didn't ask you to cut rice and plant rice seedlings, but you fainted when I delivered a meal! You're so useless that you can't even catch the shit from the sparrows in the sky!"
Jiang Ning stood under the shade of the only small tree on the edge of the field, stroking his forehead, and said weakly: "Mom, you are really amazing, you will definitely be able to catch it if you open your mouth."
After saying this, without waiting for Jiang Ma to get angry, he ran away.
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