Chapter 29 Chapter 29 - Two-in-one corn seeding? Where did you learn that?
Lin Chuntao returned home carrying the eggs. The buckwheat rice was already being steamed for the second time, with steam rising from the steamer.
Seeing her holding a dustpan in one hand and half a basket of eggs in the other, Lin Chunxing and Lin Chunhe quickly ran over, one took the dustpan and the other carried the eggs.
"Sister, why did you buy so many eggs?"
"Because I want to eat."
Lin Chunxing: “…”
Eggs, who doesn’t want to eat them?
When my mother was alive, they could eat boiled eggs every year on their birthdays, and sugar-coated eggs on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year. On weekdays, she would eat scrambled eggs, and my mother would give each of them a little bit, regardless of other people's looks.
Ever since my mother passed away, I can’t even have noodles, let alone eggs, on my birthday. No one wants to eat them.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, each person gets two sugar-coated eggs. When grandma takes out the eggs, her aunt won't count the four sisters when she cooks them. At first, she thought it was because they didn't get up early enough, so they weren't counted. Later, she found that even if she squatted at the kitchen door, waiting eagerly, people would pretend she didn't exist.
Lin Chuntao and Lin Changhe complained about this, but Lin Changhe just said lightly, "What's so delicious about an egg?"
It’s no use telling my biological father, so my sister didn’t say anything either.
I thought I would be in a worse situation after being kicked out of the house, but I didn't expect that after I got out, I would eat chicken gruel, white rice, mutton noodles, and now even eggs.
She looked up at Lin Chuntao. She thought she would always remember Lin Chuntao calling her dear sister and telling her not to listen to others.
After Lin Chuntao handed the bamboo basket to Lin Chunxing, she rushed over and lifted the straw cover on the steamer to see how the rice was.
The color of the dough balls has changed and they can be eaten in no time.
She turned around and saw Lin Chunxing staring at her lovingly.
"What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"
Lin Chunxing came back to her senses, pursed her lips and smiled: "Yes, sister is as beautiful as a flower."
Lin Chuntao hissed and shuddered. She went over and gently hit Lin Chunxing.
"Eh~ I'm getting goosebumps."
Lin Chunxing laughed and carried the eggs back to the house, carefully placing them on the grain cabinet.
"I've already washed the tomatoes, but I don't know how you want to cut them, so I haven't cut them yet."
Lin Chuntao looked at the tomato in the bowl and said softly, "Wash another one, and wash a tender melon as well."
"Okay."
Lin Chunxing responded and took a tomato and a young melon, then ran out of the house.
As soon as she saw Pei Ying coming in carrying bamboo, she raised her voice to greet him, only to hear Pei Ying ask, "Is your sister back?"
Lin Duoer answered quickly: "Sister is back and in the house."
Lin Chuntao went out after hearing the noise. Pei Ying asked her, "What are you going to do with this bamboo? Do you want to cut it short now?"
"Cut it short."
Lin Chuntao walked over, measured the length, and then said, "Split one end in half, cut off a section, and slightly sharpen the remaining half."
Pei Ying frowned slightly as he listened to her description.
"What are you doing this for?"
Lin Duoer and Lin Chunhe beside her also looked at her in confusion, waiting for an answer.
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "It's for sowing tomorrow."
"Use this to sow seeds?"
Seeing Pei Ying's puzzled expression, Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Yeah, aren't we planting corn? When the time comes, plow the ground, pick off the weed roots, and then just use this to drill holes in the loosened soil and plant the corn seeds."
"Isn't this sowing too shallow?" Pei Ying asked.
Lin Chuntao shook her head. "No, there are techniques when plowing the land. The soil won't be too thin."
Pei Ying seemed to be thinking about something, not quite sure, but since Lin Chuntao said it with such confidence, he did as she said.
"Make six or seven."
Lin Chuntao gave some instructions and went to cook.
Lin Chuntao has tried many different combinations of scrambled eggs with tomatoes. She tried frying the eggs first and then adding the tomatoes, and frying the eggs first and then the tomatoes. She felt that each had its own shortcomings. The tomato juice was not fried out in the former and she felt it was not flavorful. The latter was flavorful, but she felt that the eggs were a bit overcooked after being fried again, and she did not like the taste.
Her favorite thing is to chop a tomato and add a small amount of water, stir-fry it into a tomato sauce, then pour the remaining tomato pieces in and stir-fry together. After the tomatoes are fried, put them away, wash the pan, heat the oil and beat the eggs, pour in the egg liquid after the oil is heated, and when the egg liquid expands, pour the fried tomatoes in and the soup will be absorbed into the eggs.
Stir-fry, add salt and serve, sprinkle with some green chopped green onions, and coat the golden eggs with tomato juice, which looks tender and delicious.
The younger sisters were drooling as they watched.
She was about to prepare to shabu-shabu, but Lin Duoer hurriedly said, "Sister, mix some rice for me."
Lin Chuntao quickly understood what she meant, scooped two spoonfuls of rice into the pot and mixed it, and the noodles absorbed the rice and the whole pot was clean.
After serving the rice, she rinsed the pot and began to stir-fry the shredded melon. The melon cooked very quickly. As she cooked, Lin Chuntao called out, "Wash your hands, grab a bowl and chopsticks to serve the rice, and you'll be eating soon."
Lin Chunxing took her two younger sisters to scoop water to wash their hands and took bowls to serve rice.
The rice was served, Pei Ying came over to wash his hands, and the shredded melon in the pot was cooked, so Lin Chuntao scooped it up and brought it in.
After sitting down, everyone tasted the tomato egg first. The rich and sour tomato juice wrapped around the tender and golden egg. The sisters' cheeks puffed up and they looked at her with satisfied eyes. Pei Ying took a bite right after, and then her pupils dilated.
He usually boils eggs and eats them whole after they are cooked.
Today I feel like all those years of eating eggs were wasted!
"This soup would be delicious if mixed with noodles."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "I can try making it later, but kneading the dough is too tiring. It takes a long time."
"I'll rub it when the time comes." After Pei Ying finished speaking, Lin Chuntao raised her eyes and looked at him, her eyelids rising and falling, as if she was looking at other things through his clothes.
When Pei Ying noticed this, he lowered his brows, buried his head in eating, and did not dare to look her in the eye.
Lin Chunhe finished eating three tomatoes and five eggs. She poured some rice into the eggs and mixed them together, then ate them all, even with the soup.
After dinner, Lin Chunhe washed the dishes while saying to Lin Chuntao, "Sister, please teach me how to fry this. I want to learn. It tastes good."
When Lin Duoer heard this, she also ran over to join in the fun.
"I want one too."
Looking at the two of them, Lin Chuntao said, "Sure, I'll teach you how to stir-fry it in a few days."
After cleaning up the dishes, we took the farm tools, locked the door, and went to the fields together.
There were fewer weeds in the sandy areas at the back of the mountain, and there was a forest further up. They continued to cut grass, while Pei Ying went to chop pine branches, and Lin Chunhe and Lin Duoer collected firewood in the forest.
After Pei Ying cut down a lot of pine branches, he also cut down some shrubs with lush branches and leaves to burn together.
Today everyone was in the fields, cutting and burning as they went. Lin Chuntao and the others were also cutting weeds around. The old weeds were cut and thrown directly into the fire, turning into ashes.
They continued to mow until the afternoon. Lin Chuntao felt her palms were burning, so she called Lin Chunxing and the others to sit down and rest.
Not long after I rested, the cousins from yesterday appeared with backpacks on their backs.
Lin Chunxing asked loudly, "Qingqing, where are you going?"
"Cutting grass for pigs, are you almost done cutting that weed?"
"No, do you want to come up? There's some tenderer pig grass to cut."
After hearing Lin Chunxing's call, four or five people came running up with baskets on their backs. There was indeed some pig grass that could be cut. The old ones could be cut and burned, and the tender ones could be taken back to feed the pigs.
Six or seven half-grown children were working in a field. Apart from being a bit noisy with their chattering, they worked really fast.
By evening, they had cut enough grass for the pigs and the weeds in the four plots of land were almost all gone. After a day's work in the fields, everyone was starving. Lin Chuntao looked at the burnt wood ash and found that it was almost enough. She dug some soil to cover the ash, and then they went home together with their hoes and sickles.
When they parted ways, Lin Chuntao looked at them and said, "Come to my house for dinner tonight."
They all shook their heads and said they would come over to play after dinner.
When I got home, I first poured the cut pig grass to the piglets, washed my hands and feet, and started to make a fire to steam rice.
Lin Chuntao said, "Let's have a simple dinner tonight. We need to make lard and cook meat after dinner, otherwise we won't have enough time to work and cook tomorrow morning."
She said so, but Lin Duoer and the others only heard about refining lard and cooking meat. They wished they could just roast potatoes and sweet potatoes for this meal and refine the lard quickly so that they could eat the lard residue.
"Hey, we can eat anything."
Lin Chuntao also made it simple. She quickly washed a cabbage, used a knife to cut some fat from the pork neck for later use, and cut an eggplant.
After the rice is steamed, add the fat into the pan and fry until golden brown. Pour the cabbage in and stir-fry. A simple dish of stir-fried cabbage with oil residue is ready.
She also made the eggplant simpler by just stir-frying it with some garlic.
If there is not enough seasoning, she can also make diced eggplant noodles and she loves it too.
I was so hungry after working all afternoon that I ate dinner with gusto.
After the meal, no one took a break. Lin Chuntao quickly started cutting the lard and refining the oil.
Pei Ying was still trimming the bamboo, while Lin Duoer and the others gathered around the pot, staring at it without blinking.
After Lin Qingqing and her friends went back home to have dinner, they made an appointment to come and play with Lin Chunxing and her sisters. Only when they got close to the yard could they smell the rich aroma of meat, and Lin Jiaye sniffed.
"Do you smell something like someone boiling lard?"
Lin Qingqing also moved her nose, "It seems to be true."
"Whose lard is this that has such a strong aroma, wafting so far!"
As they walked and talked, they had no idea that it was Lin Chuntao and the others who were refining lard.
Lin Chuntao invited them to dinner yesterday and today, but they didn't come. They felt that Lin Chuntao and the others had been kicked out and were having a much harder time than them.
Since Lin Qingqing said she wanted to come and play, Lin Chuntao didn't close the gate.
When they arrived, they went straight into the yard.
"Chun Xing?"
Hearing the shouting, Lin Chunxing hurried out. When she saw it was them, she quickly invited them in and then bolted the gate.
Seeing that only Pei Ying was working in the yard, and Lin Chunhe and the others were nowhere to be seen, Lin Qingqing asked, "Haven't you eaten yet?"
"I ate. I just finished eating a while ago."
After Lin Chunxing finished speaking, Lin Jiaye was still sniffing, "Why is the smell of oil residue getting stronger?"
Lin Chunxing looked at him and smiled, then said softly, "My sister is making oil residue. Come in and play."
Hearing her words, Lin Qingqing, Lin Jiaye and the others suddenly felt a little embarrassed. If they had known that it was Lin Chuntao and the others who were making oil residue, they would not have come in.
But now they were already in the yard, in a dilemma. Lin Qingqing smiled and said, "Chun Xing, let's play in the yard."
Lin Chunxing certainly knew what they were thinking. In this village, every child would be told by adults that if they visited someone and saw them cooking, they should go home immediately. Even if someone was cooking sweet potatoes, they would not watch them in someone else's house, let alone cooking lard residue.
No matter how much you want to eat, you can't just drool over other people's pots.
Lin Chuntao was stirring the pot in the house. Seeing them messing around in the yard, she stood up and walked to the door and called out, "Qingqing, Jiaye, come in."
"Sister Chuntao, we are playing in the yard."
Although she said so, Lin Chunxing had already dragged them into the house.
Seeing them come in, Lin Chunhe and Lin Duoer moved chairs for them to sit on.
Lin Qingqing and Lin Chunxing are the same age, Lin Jiaye is one year older, and the other cousin Lin Dongxue and cousin Lin Jiatie are younger, but they are also very sensible. At this time, they feel uncomfortable in the house.
Pei Ying came in midway, and several people called out awkwardly, "Brother-in-law."
Pei Ying responded with a smile and went out to do his work.
Looking at Lin Chuntao again, she didn't show any expression at all, so Lin Qingqing and the others felt a little more at ease.
When the oil residue was almost cooked, Lin Chuntao removed some firewood and called Chunxing to get a bowl to scoop out the oil residue. Then Lin Jiaye and the others stood up and said, "Sister, it's getting dark and we won't be able to see the road clearly. Let's go back first and come back to play tomorrow.
Lin Chuntao glanced at them and said, "Wait a minute before leaving. Have a couple of pieces of fried dough."
"No, no, I just had dinner and I'm still full." Lin Qingqing waved her hand to refuse. Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "What can two pieces of oil residue take up in my stomach? You guys helped me with work for two days. I should have cooked and called you to eat, but you didn't come."
As she spoke, she fished out the oil residue and handed it to Lin Chunxing, instructing her, "Sprinkle some salt on it and mix it."
Lin Qingqing wanted to say that they had only worked for two days, but Lin Chuntao was carrying the oil pan, so she was afraid of disturbing Lin Chuntao and did not speak.
Lin Chuntao moved the oil pan aside to let it cool, then took a pair of chopsticks to stir the oil residue, and took a small bowl to scoop some in. Using lard to boil lard will produce more oil but less oil residue. Lin Chuntao also cut some fat from the pork neck and put it in, which resulted in more oil residue.
She stirred it, tasted a piece and found it was no longer hot, so she asked Lin Chunxing to take it over and each of them had two pieces.
Lin Qingqing and the others looked at the golden lard residue, and their mouths were watering at the smell, as if they had not eaten for a whole day and night.
Lin Chunxing really brought it over to share. Of course they wanted to eat it, but they were nervous.
Lin Qingqing still remembered the year Chuntao's mother passed away. During the funeral banquet, her aunt Zhang cooked lard residue, and Lin Jiabao and his brothers each got three pieces. Lin Chuntao and the others were also there, but her aunt didn't give them a single piece.
Seeing Lin Chunxing picking up some oil residue for Lin Qingqing, who didn't take it for a long time, Lin Chuntao said, "Qingqing, take it and eat it quickly. I made a small amount this time, so each person can eat two or three pieces to taste it. When I have money in the future, I will make more and eat as much as I want."
Lin Qingqing raised her eyes and looked at Lin Chuntao, as if they were thinking of that day, and they smiled at each other.
After eating the oil residue and waiting for the oil to cool down, Lin Chuntao went to get some and put it into a clay pot.
Lin Chuntao cut off about two pounds of pork neck, which still had some lean meat, so she could make stir-fried meat later. She cooked the rest directly.
She used to live with her grandmother. When winter came, every household in the village started slaughtering pigs. Every day, she was either eating the pig-slaughtering meal or on the way to eat the pig-slaughtering meal.
On the day of the pig-slaughtering meal, many families will cook and eat the pig neck.
According to local customs, the meat is always cut into square pieces. The bigger the pieces, the more generous the host is. Every time Lin Chuntao followed her grandmother to eat the pig-killing meal, she was most afraid that someone would give her some meat pieces to eat.
Whenever someone picked up some food, grandma would block it for her, saying that she would pick it up herself, and would also pick up a small piece for Lin Chuntao.
Once, when there was no pure lean meat, grandma picked up a piece of meat with fat and skin and dipped it in the spicy dipping sauce. She took a bite and found that the fat was not greasy at all. On the contrary, it was chewy and had the texture of pig's trotters, but it was not greasy at all.
No wonder the aunties who served the dishes always told her that it was not greasy at all and she should try it.
She didn't dare to try it for many years, and it turns out that it is really not greasy.
She washed the pork neck and divided it into two large pieces, put it into an iron pot, added a few slices of ginger, added water, covered it with straw and started cooking.
Lin Jiaye and the others were shocked to see that Lin Chuntao had cooked so much meat.
Although I knew they were cooking meat because they had to hire someone to grow crops, I was still shocked. It was just too much.
Except when slaughtering pigs and during the Chinese New Year, no one cooks meat like this. They just cut some and stir-fry it, which is good enough.
After Lin Chuntao cooked the meat, she left the house. Pei Ying just happened to take out the bamboo spikes and gave them to Lin Chuntao for inspection.
"What do you think? Do you want to fix it again?"
Lin Chuntao took a look and thought it was just right. Then she smiled and said, "No need to change it."
"The oil residue is ready. Do you want to eat it?" Lin Chuntao asked.
Pei Ying shook his head, "No."
Lin Chuntao took the bamboo spikes to the wall and put them down, then said, "I may not be able to go to the county town tomorrow morning. When you come back, please help me see if there are any fried chilies in oil at the market. If not, you can buy some dried chilies."
Pei Ying remembered the chili peppers that Zhao Guang and the others put in the noodles and nodded.
"Let me go ask."
The sky gradually darkened, the moon climbed up to the top of the tree, and it was too dark in the house. Lin Qingqing, Lin Chuntao and others were playing with stones in the yard.
The few of them played until the adults shouted at them at the door before they went back.
Lin Chuntao asked, "Do you want me to send you off?"
Lin Jiaye chuckled and refused repeatedly.
"Then take your time. Come back when you have time."
After seeing them off, Lin Duoer and Lin Chunhe quickly washed up and went into bed.
Lin Chunxing was thinking about tomorrow's lunch and asked Lin Chuntao what dishes she wanted to make.
The vegetables she bought from Aunt Guizhi last time were almost finished. Lin Chuntao thought she had to buy some more, but she was busy and forgot to do it. The main reason was that the knife was inconvenient to use. She didn't know when Pei Ying would be back from the county town tomorrow, and she couldn't wait for him to come back to cook. So she had to cut all the hard vegetables that needed to be cut tonight and put them aside so that she could stir-fry them tomorrow.
Thinking of this, Lin Chuntao decided to go there quickly now, as Aunt Guizhi might not have gone to bed yet.
Lin Chunxing was watching the fire and cooking meat at home, while Pei Ying followed Lin Chuntao to Aunt Guizhi's house to pick vegetables.
Aunt Guizhi was about to go to bed. Seeing Lin Chuntao, she smiled and said, "If you want to eat vegetables, just go pick them. Why are you making a special trip so late at night?"
Lin Chuntao gave her the money and said with a smile, "No matter how late it is, you still have to tell me. I'll still pick a basket."
"Okay, go ahead, kid."
Lin Chuntao smiled and agreed before leaving. Aunt Guizhi said loudly from behind, "Slow down at this hour."
Under the moonlight, the two walked side by side.
After leaving the village and entering the vegetable garden, Pei Ying carried a bamboo basket while Lin Chuntao picked vegetables. She worked quickly, picking peppers, tomatoes, melons, cabbages, and even a few radishes and carrying them in her hands.
I don’t have a jar at home, otherwise I could ask Aunt Guizhi to buy more radishes to make sauerkraut or pickled radish strips.
After returning home, Lin Chunxing helped to wash the vegetables. When the water in the bucket was almost used up, Pei Ying went to fetch two more buckets.
That night, wash and cut the vegetables and put them in a colander.
While waiting for the meat to be cooked, Lin Chuntao cut two bowls of meat chunks and put them aside, and placed the remaining large chunks in a colander to dry.
Only after everything was ready did Lin Chuntao go to bed.
The next day, the system was as quiet as a chicken. Lin Chuntao slept until dawn, and the sound of chickens crowing could be heard one after another in the village.
She woke her sisters and said softly, "It's dawn, get up."
The sisters rubbed their eyes and sat up, yawning and stretching.
Lin Chuntao and Lin Chunxing said, "Hurry up and help me light the fire. I'm going to fry two buckwheat pancakes. I'm going to go find Grandpa and the others and bring the cow back."
Lin Chunxing put on her shoes with her head propped up and went to fetch firewood, while Lin Chuntao quickly washed and kneaded the dough.
As soon as the fire started, she quickly put on the pan and fried three medium-sized buckwheat pancakes. There was still some kneaded dough in the bowl, which she handed to Lin Chunxing: "You can fry the rest and share it with the sisters. If you want some eggs, you can cook them yourself. I'm leaving now."
As she said this, she went back to the house to get the money, put on the backpack, wrapped the three buckwheat cakes in cabbage leaves, and walked towards Muramasa's house.
Before she reached Muramasa's house, she met the old couple on the way.
Lin Chuntao handed over some hot buckwheat pancakes. The old couple tried to refuse, but Lin Chuntao stuffed them into their hands.
Sun looked at the pancake she had fried. It was not hard on both sides and was soft on the inside. It seemed that she had controlled the heat well. They were old and did not like hard and crispy things.
Even with any random thing, you can tell Lin Chuntao's intentions.
The old lady thought to herself that it was worth their care for her.
As they had agreed to pick up the cow, the village head and Uncle Zheng got up early and waited.
After selecting the cow, Old Man Zheng began to write the cow contract, which described everything from the cow's color, head, horns, and body in great detail, to the number of days of rental, the daily rent, and the maximum daily plowing capacity of the cow, and the amount of compensation required if the cow was injured after plowing more than four acres.
After signing the cow contract, Lin Chuntao, the village head and the village chief all put their fingerprints on it. Then she paid the full amount of money, took a receipt, and could take the cow away.
Because it is not the spring planting season, several cows are idle in the cowshed. Muramasa helped to select a young and strong cow, which seemed to have a gentle temperament.
When I returned home with the cow, only Lin Duoer was at home. Lin Chunxing and Lin Chunhe were not there.
"Where are your second and third sisters?"
"He went to cut the grass and said he would be back soon."
Sun and Lin Cunzheng smiled when they heard this and said, "We still have corn stalks at home that we can feed the cows with. I'll go back and get the plow and bring back two bundles of grass."
Lin Cunzheng left as he was talking, and Sun stayed. She looked at the old house, which had been cleaned very cleanly by Lin Chuntao and others. A row of green bamboo fences also made it look refreshing.
Lin Chuntao invited her into the house. The old lady was quite pleased to see that the house was tidy.
Lin Cunzheng left and came back quickly. Farmers all loved cows, so he was in a hurry to get grass for the cows.
The corn stalks were last year's hay. He opened a bundle and sprinkled some water on it, and the cow started eating.
Lin Chuntao found the tools, poured some corn seeds to be planted today into the backpack, and soaked the rice to be steamed at noon. Everything was almost ready and she just had to wait for the cows to eat.
By the time the cows had finished eating the two bundles of grass, the sky had brightened. There were red clouds in the east, and the sun was about to rise.
Lin Chunxing and Lin Chunhe came back. Lin Chunxing was carrying a full basket of green grass, and Lin Chunhe was holding two large bundles in her arms.
The cow, which was almost full, saw the green grass and turned around and walked over.
Lin Chunhe quickly threw a bundle to it.
After eating two bundles of grass and being fed some water, he was led to the fields.
Lincun was harnessing the oxen to the plow to get them used to it, while Lin Chuntao and Sun were busy spreading the two large piles of wood ash with a dustpan.
After trying out the cow, I found it to be skilled and it's time to prepare for real farming.
Lin Chuntao gathered everyone together and explained her plan. She wanted to leave a shallow groove between the two passes. Sun and Lin Cunzheng both looked at her with frowns.
Lin Chuntao took the bamboo stick for planting seeds and explained, "This way, we can dig out the grooves. Grandma, Chunxing, and I can all plant the seeds together. This will be much faster. Otherwise, it would be tiring if one person kept following along and sowing seeds."
Lin Cunzheng took the bamboo stick she used for planting and looked at it. The depth was just right. It would not be good if the corn was planted too deep. He looked at Lin Chuntao with some surprise.
"Okay, then it's as you say."
Lin Cun was plowing the land. Lin Chuntao and the others followed behind, using hoes to break up the lumps of soil that had not yet dispersed. After two rounds of plowing, a shallow ditch was dug out. The work of plowing the land was given to Lin Chunxing, while Lin Chuntao and Sun went to plant the corn seeds.
When the villagers went to the fields, they saw the village chief helping to plow the fields. They knew that Lin Chuntao and her friends were planting corn, but the people plowing the fields were standing nearby, and Lin Chuntao and Sun were bending over, and no one knew what they were doing. They were all very curious.
"Auntie, what are you and Chuntao doing?"
Sun replied, "Planting corn seeds."
"Planting corn seeds? Where did you learn this new method?"
As he was talking, many people came up to watch.
The people from Lao Lin's family came out late. As soon as they left the village, they saw a scene with a crowd of onlookers. They thought something had happened and gathered around.
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