Chapter 91 Chapter 91-Two-in-one steamed soybeans
But when Lin Chuntao spoke, Meng Yun just listened with a smile. She took the notebook and went to work.
Lin Chuntao also had a lot of things to do. She soaked two hundred kilograms of beans in two basins.
This wooden basin is big. It was only half full when I was soaking the beans, but now it is two full basins. The beans have doubled in size and some fallen bean shells are floating on the water.
Lin Chuntao looked at the two large pots. This was a big job, so she took a deep breath and prepared to start working.
There are quite a few bean shells left after soaking. They were pounded before, so they are difficult to crush and cannot be used to make sauce. She wants to try using a stone mill in a while. If it can be ground into bean powder, she will use it to make sauce.
She asked Lin Chunhe to bring a colander and scooped out all the bean shells and put them into the colander. Some beans had broken shells but had not fallen off. Lin Chuntao picked them up and rubbed them slightly, then peeled off the shells.
Lin Chuntao felt that this would take quite a while as she rubbed the beans, shelled them, and changed the water. She said to Lin Chunhe, who was standing beside her, "Go get the steamer and wash it. Also, bring me the smaller clay pot. I'm going to steam the beans."
Upon hearing this, Lin Chunhe quickly ran into the house and brought out the steamer and clay basin.
Lin Chuntao put the shelled beans directly into a small clay pot.
"Sister, do we need to wash the beans in the small basin again?"
Lin Chuntao said, "Well, wash it again, and then you can steam it if it's clean."
Lin Chunhe said, "Then I'll wash it."
As she spoke, she started to scoop water. Lin Chuntao asked Pei Ying to take out the big wooden barrel. It had not been used yet, so she used it to fill it with water temporarily, otherwise the two barrels of water she brought back would not be enough.
Lin Duoer squatted beside and watched for a while before she felt a little bored. She stood up and said, "We're running out of pig grass. I'm going to go cut some first."
Lin Chuntao warned: "Don't go too far, and be careful when cutting grass for the pigs."
"I understand."
As she said this, she picked up her backpack and sickle and went out.
Lin Chuntao and Lin Chunhe started to work with the beans. The wooden basin was relatively shallow, the bench was a bit high, and the chair was also high. The two sisters each held a stone and sat to work, and the height was just right.
Lin Chuntao said, "I'll have to get a few of those little stools to use in the future."
Aunt Guizhi thought of the pile of small bamboo chairs upstairs in her house when she heard this, and said to Lin Chuntao, "I'll go back and get you a few later. Your Uncle Dashan made a bunch of small stools out of bamboo."
Lin Chuntao's eyes lit up, and then she smiled and said, "Uncle Dashan is still making bamboo chairs? I haven't seen it before."
"I made them a long time ago, and they weren't in great shape, so I just left them upstairs. I never took them down, and I never sold them." Aunt Guizhi said, looking at the stone she was sitting on. She put the winnowing basket aside, and then said, "I'll run and get you a few now."
Lin Chuntao thought that she would go back to eat soon, so she didn't have to run around, but Aunt Guizhi had already stood up, so Lin Chuntao followed her.
After she left, Sun smiled and said, "The bamboo chairs at your Aunt Guizhi's house aren't very pretty, but they're very solid. She tried to sell them before, but couldn't. She came back and gave me four of them. They've been around for years, and they're still in good condition."
When Lin Chuntao heard Sun also say that it didn't look good, she was very curious about how bad it was.
Aunt Guizhi left quickly and came back quickly. She came back with a backpack on her back.
"Ah, Auntie, how many have you got?"
Aunt Guizhi replied, "I got eight for you. Use them first. If you don't have enough, I'll get you more."
As they were talking, Pei Ying and Sun hurried over to take the backpack down from the back. Lin Chuntao walked to the side and saw the true appearance of the bamboo chair.
Lin Chuntao remembered that many bamboo chairs usually had four legs fixed with bamboo tubes, and the stress-bearing positions were woven with thin bamboo strips, but this one was not like that. This one was made by directly splicing bamboo strips and the front and back bamboos together.
It's not really that bad, but it does feel a bit clumsy.
If you sell it, it won't be beautiful enough, but if you use it yourself, it will definitely be very sturdy and can be used for many years.
It is also small, so it is very convenient to sit on it while washing vegetables or clothes. It is very practical.
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Aunt, how much do you want to sell this for?"
Aunt Guizhi simply waved her hand and said, "Don't mention it. It makes me angry."
Sun said on her behalf, "Your aunt took it to sell for eight cents each. The man who inquired about the price asked if she would sell it for two cents. Your aunt must have said no. Then the man who chopped off her head said, 'It's such an ugly thing, it's just an eyesore if I take it back for two cents!'"
Lin Chuntao was a little amused when she heard this. Aunt Guizhi said, "I'm so angry. I really want to beat him up."
Lin Chuntao laughed and said, "I didn't know Uncle Dashan could make this bamboo chair. If I had known, I would have bought it."
"Why buy something if you need it? Just tell me and I'll get it for you, no need to pay. Your uncle is also stubborn about this chair. I said it doesn't look good like this, and he said it's for sale to people, so it's better to make it solid! But it turned out like this, and people think it's ugly."
Take this bamboo chair, Lin Chuntao moved the stone away. The bamboo chair is more comfortable to sit on, and it has a backrest, which is also very comfortable to lean on.
Lin Chuntao rubbed the bean shells, Lin Chunhe rinsed them with clean water, and then put them into the steamer. The two sisters worked together and finished quite quickly, but there were too many beans after they were soaked.
It was the first time that Lin Chuntao used a steamer, so she didn't dare put too much in. She only put in a thickness of about an inch. She wanted to try it first to see the effect. If it could be steamed through quickly, she would put more in next time. It would be bad if it was not steamed through by then and was half-cooked.
Meng Yun quickly finished recording the detailed accounts of the past few days. After finishing, she packed up her things, put away the notebook, pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and then went to help Lin Chuntao.
"Is it done?"
Lin Chuntao asked, and Meng Yun nodded, "Okay, the boss will take a look later."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "You don't have to call me boss. Just call me by my name or Madam Lin."
After Lin Chuntao finished speaking, Meng Yun smiled and said, "Okay."
After she finished speaking, she took a bamboo chair and sat down next to Lin Chuntao, rolled up her sleeves and prepared to work.
Lin Chuntao was about to say no, but before she could say anything, Meng Yun said, "I'll wait for Jiahui to come back at noon, and then I'll go back in the afternoon. My sister-in-law is thinking about growing buckwheat here, so she'll go plow the land in the next two days and prepare to plant some buckwheat."
Upon hearing this, Lin Chuntao asked, "Do you still have a lot of land that you haven't turned over?"
Meng Yun: "Not a lot."
Sun said, "Buckwheat matures quickly. Plant it in a few days. Plant some sweet buckwheat as well. You can harvest it in two months."
"Buckwheat is a little later."
Meng Yun only learned about buckwheat after coming here. Her family doesn't grow buckwheat, and she had only heard about it. She didn't even know if the buckwheat could survive after winter.
Since Sun and the others were all there, Meng Yun asked directly, "Will buckwheat still grow after winter?"
Sun saw Meng Yun's expression and guessed what she was thinking. She smiled and said, "Winter here isn't that cold, and buckwheat is frost-resistant, so it won't have any effect."
Meng Yun thought that even if it wasn't cold, it was still winter.
Aunt Guizhi said, "Madam Meng, you'll understand after this winter. Our place is different from other places. In winter, as long as the weather is sunny, it's almost not cold."
While talking about the weather, Hu and the others also asked about Meng Yun's hometown. It was in the same state as Pei Ying's hometown, but not in the same county, so it was not far away.
As they chatted, they talked about what you grow to eat. Meng Yun was not very good at farming. After she was born, she followed her brother and sister-in-law to work in that small embroidery workshop. Although the family had fields, she was mainly in charge of the embroidery workshop and took care of Meng Yun. She had done very little work in the fields.
Talking about family members and the embroidery workshop, Aunt Guizhi and the others were surprised to learn that Fan Li Niang could also embroider. Deng asked, "Madam Meng, does your sister-in-law know how to make clothes? How is she?"
Meng Yun said, "Yes, I can. All the clothes we wear are made by my sister-in-law herself, including the one I'm wearing now."
Deng was sitting close to Meng Yun, so she leaned in closer and asked Meng Yun, "Can I pull it out and take a look?"
Meng Yun smiled and said, "Sure." He wiped his hands and pulled the stitching of the dress to show Deng. The stitching was almost invisible from the outside, and it was difficult to look inside the dress, but the sleeves were okay. Meng Yun turned the sleeves over and showed Deng the inside.
The stitching inside is also very tight and carefully made. Looking at the style, it is also pretty good.
Deng said, "That sounds great. There aren't many tailors around here. Madam Meng, you can ask your sister-in-law to be a tailor. If people from the surrounding villages knew about it, they would probably come over and do it."
Meng Yun's eyes lit up. With Fan Li Niang's craftsmanship, the clothes she made would be very satisfactory. If she could really run this small tailor shop at home, that would be great. However, she didn't know if there were many people in the village who made clothes. Hearing what Deng said, Meng Yun smiled and said, "I'll go back and ask my sister-in-law."
Mrs. Deng said, "We don't make many clothes on weekdays. We only cut some cloth when the New Year is approaching, and decide whether to make clothes for the children or the elderly. But many girls get married throughout the year, and they all make clothes for such important occasions. In the past, we went to the county town to make them, and they were not cheap. If your sister-in-law could do it, she would definitely make some money."
Lin Chuntao also smiled and said, "This year is almost over. After the autumn harvest and the beginning of winter, everyone will be free waiting for the New Year. They should start making clothes and shoes, right?"
Sun: "That's right. I haven't even made two pairs of soles this year."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "We haven't made any of ours yet. We've been wearing these straw sandals all summer long."
"Straw sandals are cooler in the summer, but they'll freeze your feet in the winter. We need to make two pairs of cloth shoes," Mrs. Hu said. Lin Chuntao said, "When are you going to make them this year? I'll borrow a sample."
Sun said, "Your aunt and the others won't make them until winter. I'll get the shoe patterns for you tomorrow."
Lin Chuntao nodded. "Last time we made clothes, we had some scraps of cloth left over. Pei Ying glued some together and put them there, thinking he'd use them when he made shoes. There weren't many, and it felt like it wasn't even enough for us."
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Hu said, "Tell us when you want to make it, and we'll make it for you."
"Okay, I'll call you auntie then."
The sun was getting warmer and warmer. With Meng Yun's help, Lin Chuntao and the others harvested the beans faster. In a short while, they had made another basin of beans. Lin Chunhe took a winnowing basket and put the washed beans into the basket to drain.
Lin Chuntao went to check the steamer on the fire, which was already steaming. The beans took a long time to soak, so they could be cooked in about fifteen minutes.
Lin Chuntao lifted the top lid and took a look. The beans had changed color. She took one out and squeezed it. It was still a little hard and needed to be steamed again.
"It's almost done, just steam it for a while."
She returned to the bamboo chair and continued rubbing the bean shells. When the beans were ready, Lin Chuntao poured them all into a winnowing basket, used a clean bamboo shovel to spread them out, and spread them flat to cool them.
In this season, it is warm outside and cool inside, so Lin Chuntao brought the dustpan to dissipate the heat into the house.
The first time I steamed the dumplings, it felt much faster than using a steamer. So Lin Chuntao put more in the second time, which made it even faster.
After the beans that were steamed for the first time were cooled to a temperature that was not hot to the touch, Lin Chuntao scooped some flour to mix them. After mixing the flour, Lin Chuntao put the beans into other winnowing baskets, spreading the flour about an inch thick in each winnowing basket. After that, Lin Chuntao marked them, covered them with gauze, and placed them on a bamboo rack.
While Lin Chuntao and the others were steaming the beans, it was lunchtime before they knew it.
In the village, the voices of adults shouting at their children to go home could be heard one after another. They were calling them to go home for dinner.
Lin Chuntao also asked everyone to take a rest and prepare lunch.
Grandma and Aunt Guizhi packed up their things and put all the things they had just spread out in order. While they were doing that, Lin Jiahui came back.
They came back at the right time, and Meng Yun went to help pick up things, weigh, count and reconcile accounts. Meng Yun and Lin Jiahui did it all together.
Lin Jiahui had left when Lin Chunhe was introducing him in the morning. Only then did Lin Chunhe smile and say, "Brother Jiahui, Madam Meng will be our accountant from now on. You should tell Madam Meng about the amount when you buy something."
Lin Jiahui glanced at Meng Yun, a young man of fifteen or sixteen years old. He and Lin Chuntao were cousins who had grown up together. Meng Yun and the others were from outside the village and were older. Unlike Meng Yue, who was a child, they would not visit other people in the village.
Although this person knew who the person was, they had never spoken to each other when they met outside.
After being introduced by Lin Chunhe, both of them felt a little awkward. It was Meng Yun who spoke first: "My name is Meng Yun, just call me by my name."
Lin Jiahui nodded, "My name is Lin Jiahui."
Lin Chuntao curled the corners of her lips when she saw the two of them looking a little embarrassed.
When Lin Jiahui raised his eyes, he met Lin Chuntao's gaze, and saw a playful look in her eyes. His face turned red instantly, and he avoided her gaze embarrassedly.
Sun noticed Lin Jiahui's awkward look at a glance, and when she looked at Meng Yun, she also felt that he was not so natural.
Meng Yun used to work in an embroidery workshop. The workshop was not big, and all the people working there were women. She didn't interact much with men.
Lin Jiahui is not very old, but he is tall and thin, with a high nose bridge and beautiful eyes. He is considered a handsome young man.
The main reason is that they are strangers, but not relatives, so this awkwardness is difficult to break.
Lin Chuntao thought about it and decided that she still hoped they would be more natural. It would not be good to be so awkward when working together.
"Jiahui, are you guys... on a blind date?"
Lin Chuntao's directness was like a bolt of thunder out of the blue, causing Meng Yun and Lin Jiahui to look at her at the same time, their eyes wide open.
There was silence in the air. After a moment, Hu and the others suddenly started laughing.
Sun and Lin Chuntao said, "Don't tell me, your aunt said a few days ago that she wanted to find him a wife after the autumn harvest."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Does this mean I can attend weddings next year?"
Lin Jiahui smacked his lips and said to Sun: "Grandma, don't talk nonsense. This is totally untrue. Why are you still laughing at me with Sister Chuntao?"
Hu and the others were also laughing. Meng Yun saw that no one was malicious and was just joking, so she urged Lin Jiahui, "Let's weigh it first?"
Lin Jiahui nodded and prepared to go to the mule cart to pick up the beans. The beans were not in a big bag. Meng Yun wanted to lend a hand, but Lin Jiahui took them away in one go.
Meng Yun could only bring in the lighter dried chilies. She took a scale and weighed the dried chilies first. There were also soybeans on the mule cart, and Pei Ying also went to help carry a bag.
Meng Yun weighed the weight and reported the number to Lin Jiahui.
Lin Jiahui said, "Yes, that's the number. Today's dried chilies are still four cents a pound."
Meng Yun nodded and turned to weigh the soybeans.
Lin Jiahui looked at her and said, "Let me do it. You just count."
The beans were a little heavy, and it was a little difficult for Meng Yun to weigh them herself. Lin Jiahui said it would be easier, so she didn't insist and handed the scale to Lin Jiahui.
The two of them quickly weighed the beans and counted them, and then checked the amount of money to make sure it was okay. Lin Jiahui had to go again in the afternoon, and the money she brought in the morning was not enough, so Lin Chuntao went into the house and got him some more.
After finishing the work, he went back with Sun and the others.
Meng Yun was still packing her things. When Sun and the others arrived at the door, they turned around and looked at her and called out, "Madam Meng, would you like to join us?"
They could walk together for a while. Meng Yun nodded, packed up her things, turned around and said something to Lin Chuntao before leaving.
Several women were walking in front on the road, while Lin Jiahui was following behind pulling a mule cart.
Lin Jialang, Fan Li'niang and others had also returned from the county town. They prepared lunch and were waiting for Meng Yun to come back. Seeing Meng Yun and Sun Shi coming back together, Lin Jialang was very happy.
"Grandma, aunt."
Seeing him like that, Sun walked up to him and gently touched his head. After she took on the responsibility, although he was still a child, he quickly became mature.
"Have you eaten?" asked Aunt Guizhi.
Lin Jialang replied, "It's ready. Let's eat together when my aunt comes back."
Aunt Guizhi also smiled and nodded. Meng Yun was very happy to hear that they were waiting for her to come back and eat together. Then she said hello to Sun and the others and entered the courtyard.
As soon as he entered, Lin Jialang asked, "Auntie, how is it?"
"It's pretty good. There's not much work to do. Your sister Chuntao even told me to come home and help after I finish my own things." Meng Yun said with a smile, "But I'm a little embarrassed. I took the money and just followed over there to do other work."
"That's right. I see that Madam Lin and the others are also very busy, so I'd like to lend a hand." Fan Li'niang said as she washed Meng Yue's hands and called Lin Jialang and the others to serve the meal.
After Grandma and Aunt Guizhi left, Lin Chuntao and the others started cooking. There was still half a steamer of rice left from last night, so it would be cooked quickly after steaming.
There is still some crispy pork left from yesterday's cooking, but not much.
I brought back some pig skin this morning. Pei Ying said, "There are still four pig trotters under the skin."
"Then I'll make spicy pork trotters for you tonight."
Just as I was saying this, Lin Duoer came back, and she came back with Lin Chunxing, carrying the pig grass that Lin Chunxing had carried for her.
"Where did you two meet?"
Lin Chunxing glanced at Lin Duoer, then said to Lin Chuntao, "She's over there. If I hadn't called her, she wouldn't have come back."
Looking at Lin Duoer with drooping eyelids, it looked like she had been scolded by Lin Chunxing.
Lin Chunxing wouldn't scold her for no reason, she must have done something wrong. She frowned slightly and asked Lin Duoer, "Duoer, what did you do?"
Lin Duoer looked at Lin Chuntao. Although her eldest and second sisters loved her very much, they were ruthless when scolding her and pulling her ears. Her second sister had already scolded her, so did she need her eldest sister to scold her again?
She pursed her lips and her eyes moved around.
Lin Chuntao said, "Did you climb a tree or go into the water?" She asked, seeing that most of Lin Duoer's shoes were wet, which meant she probably went to play in the water.
Lin Chunxing said angrily, "She and a few brats from the village were fishing in the lake, saying the water was shallow near the edge and they couldn't get drowned. These brainless guys were pushing each other around. If I hadn't run into Jiawang from Uncle Shitou's family, I would have run over and gotten those brats out. I'm sure a few of them would have drowned!"
Lin Duoer pursed her lips, Lin Jiawang was a complainer.
Lin Chunxing looked at Lin Duo'er and was furious. "What's with that expression on your face? Are you blaming Jiawang in your heart? Do you know how deep the water is? If you fall in, who can pull you out?"
The original body was drowned in that lake, and Lin Chuntao has never been to the lake since she came here.
There is a well for drinking water and a river for washing clothes.
Hearing that they were going to fish, Lin Chuntao asked, "Duo'er, do you want to eat fish?"
Lin Duoer bit her lip and shook her head. She didn't want to eat fish, she just wanted to join everyone in playing. They were really just playing on the sidelines.
Lin Chuntao said in a deep voice, "Playing in the water by the river is dangerous, let alone by the lake. If you want to eat fish, I'll buy it for you tomorrow."
"I don't want to eat."
"If you don't want to eat, what are you doing there following them?"
Lin Duoer glanced at Lin Chunxing and said, "I was wrong."
"I see you know you're wrong." Lin Chunxing put the backpack away angrily and went to wash her hands.
The second sister was angry, and the eldest sister didn’t know what she meant.
Lin Duoer walked over to Lin Chuntao and whispered, "Sister, I really know I was wrong. Let's just play on the side..."
Lin Chuntao nodded slightly, "Well, then from today on, you are not allowed to play by the lake."
"I won't scold you today, but I told you that if you don't listen, I won't care about you anymore. You are so young, and you will have many beautiful clothes to wear and delicious food to eat in the future. If you get into an accident and drown, you will have nothing left."
When Lin Duoer heard that everything would be lost if she drowned, her mouth immediately pursed and she looked at Lin Chuntao with wet eyes.
"Go wash your hands, rest for a while and prepare to eat."
Lin Duoer then slowly walked over to scoop some water to wash her hands.
It takes a while to stew the pig's trotters, and it is stewing too slowly now. Lin Chunxing has washed her hands, and Lin Duoer is squatting alone under the bamboo fence. After she squatted down, her whole back was thin. She thought about how she didn't have many playmates before, but now it seemed like someone was playing with them. It is normal for children to forget the danger when they are having fun outside, and the tragedy happened in the same way.
If Lin Chuntao doesn't speak more seriously, the child will not learn his lesson.
But when Lin Duoer was washing her hands, she thought of what Lin Chuntao said: the beautiful clothes were gone, the delicious food was gone, and if she drowned, everything would be gone. It seemed as if she was really about to die, and Lin Chuntao didn't care about her and just watched her die. The more she thought about it, the sadder she became, and tears just fell.
Lin Chuntao watched her squatting there washing her hands for a long time, probably because she was crying. She walked over gently, bent down and took a look. Sure enough, there were tears on Lin Duoer's face. When she saw this, she raised her hand and wiped it away in an extremely unnatural way.
"Why are you crying? I didn't scold you."
She pursed her lips, looking extremely aggrieved, "You said you wouldn't care about me anymore."
Lin Chuntao raised her eyebrows slightly, "Will you listen to me from now on?"
"listen."
"That's good, if you listen to me, I will definitely not ignore you. Stop crying, wash your face and we will prepare some food. What do you want to eat?"
"I want to eat fried crispy pork and fried Yuanbao cakes."
Lin Chuntao said: "Okay, I'll make it for you."
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