Chapter 64 Chapter 64 - Two-in-one visit to relatives
Lin Chunxing cooked two bowls first and brought them over. The two people at the table slurped the two bowls of noodles in front of them. The boy looked a year or two older than her. As for Chai Xingyu, it was difficult to tell his age, but from the way he spoke, he should be about the same age as the boy.
They look just like when their sister makes something delicious at home and they are drooling over it.
Lin Chunxing curled her lips and continued to cook. Five bowls of noodles were ready. Sanbao ate two, and Chai Xingyu ate three.
Before they finished eating, the waiter from the sauce shop who had been there twice yesterday came. He was startled to see Chai Xingyu there, feeling as if he had not done his job properly and had gone out to play and had run into the owner of the shop.
He paused, and suddenly realized that it was still dark and he had not yet started work. Then he greeted Chai Xingyu and Sanbao.
Chai Xingyu turned around when he heard the voice and asked, "Dingcha, you want some noodle soup too?"
Ding Cha looked at Chai Xingyu's face, which was a little scary, but he spoke in a gentle manner, making people less afraid.
"Yes, Master."
Seeing that he was still standing after finishing his words, Chai Xingyu said, "Go and ask the shopkeeper to cook for you."
"Hey." Ding Cha nodded and bowed, then walked to the front of the stall. "Boss, give me a bowl of braised pork noodle soup."
After saying that, he handed over the money. Lin Chunxing took it and said with a smile, "Sit next to you and wait for a while. It will be ready soon."
Ding Cha saw that Lin Chunxing was the only one at the stall. Thinking of Lin Chuntao who had spoken to him yesterday, he asked, "Are you alone today?"
Lin Chunxing replied, "My sister has gone into the mountains to pick mushrooms. She'll be here soon."
Ding Cha was a little surprised. "Picking mushrooms to sell?"
Lin Chunxing smiled and nodded, "Yeah, but we don't pick up a lot every day, so they're all bought up in a short time."
Ding Cha could imagine that there were many people picking mushrooms to sell every year, but there were not many mushrooms, and there were many people in the county town, so they would scramble to get the few mushrooms they had.
Chai Xingyu had excellent hearing, and the word "mushroom" popped into his mind. He'd been injured this year and was feeling down, so he hadn't even eaten mushrooms! Such a big thing, and he'd forgotten!
He turned around and asked Lin Chunxing, "Boss, can I order mushrooms in advance?"
Lin Chunxing exclaimed, "I don't know what kind of mushrooms I picked up. I'll only know when my sister comes."
Chai Xingyu said: "Anything is fine. I'll give you money now, and you can keep five kilograms for me. If the money is not enough, I will give you more when the time comes."
Lin Chunxing thought that since they had already paid, there was no reason not to sell it, so she could only say, "I'm not sure I'll find it today."
Chai Xingyu said, "That doesn't matter. Just save some for me someday. I was injured a while ago and haven't had any mushrooms since."
After he finished speaking, Lin Chunxing looked at his face and agreed immediately.
"We usually sell out by noon and go home, so you have to come early to get the mushrooms, little brother."
Chai Xingyu agreed and continued to slurp the noodles.
Ding Cha stood in front of the stall, watching the soup boiling in the pot. Lin Chunxing smiled and said, "Brother, if you need mushrooms in the future, you can tell me and I'll save some for you."
Ding Cha laughed when he heard this. He worked for the Chai family and ate with the other guys. His parents also went to the mountains to pick mushrooms. He was afraid he would be scolded if he paid for mushrooms for them. But since Lin Chunxing said so, he had no choice but to smile and agree.
Not long after, Chai Xingyu and the others finished their meal. Of the three bowls of noodles, only one had some soup left, and he ate up the other two bowls.
What a good appetite.
After finishing the meal, before dawn the next day, Chai Xingyu asked Lin Chunxing, "When will Brother Pei finish his work?"
Lin Chunxing glanced back and saw Ah Si and the others carrying the meat out on their backs, ready to deliver it. Lin Chunxing said, "It should take another half an hour."
Chai Xingyu looked up at the sky. It would be dawn in half an hour. There would be many people in the market after dawn. He might scare people and make children cry if he looked like this. So he had to go home first.
He said to Lin Chunxing, "It's a bit long. I won't wait for Brother Pei anymore. Please tell him that I'm treating him to lunch and he must wait for me."
Lin Chunxing nodded and said, "I will tell him, but I don't know whether he will wait or not."
Chai Xingyu smiled and said, "Just pass it on. Thank you, shopkeeper."
As he said this, he asked Sanbao to take out a hundred coins and handed them to Lin Chunxing, "This is the money for the mushrooms. If it's not enough, I'll give it to the shopkeeper when I come to get the mushrooms."
Lin Chunxing nodded and took the money.
After Chai Xingyu and the others left, Ding Cha soon finished his meal and left.
Lin Chunxing collected the dishes on the table, washed them and put them away. Not long after, Pei Ying and the others came out after they finished their work. Lin Chunxing brought the words that Chai Xingyu had left to Pei Ying.
Pei Ying nodded, neither saying yes nor no. He looked at Lin Chunxing and asked, "What happened just now?"
Lin Chunxing felt a little embarrassed when she thought about how she fell flat on her back.
"I didn't notice them coming. They said they wanted to eat noodles. When I looked up, I saw that face and I was so scared that I fell down."
Pei Ying nodded slightly, knowing that he was not being bullied.
At this time, Chai Xingyu brought Sanbao back home. Before he returned to his own courtyard, he met Guo Jixiang.
Looking at the two tiptoeing around, Guo Jixiang felt as if she was looking at Chai Xingyu before the incident. She habitually shouted, "Stop!"
Chai Xingyu and Sanbao were startled when they heard the familiar voice and quickly turned around to look.
"mother!"
Guo Jixiang asked, "Where did you two go?"
Chai Xingyu burped, and Sanbao quickly replied, "Madam, the young master took me to eat noodle soup."
Guo Jixiang breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this. He liked the noodle soup so much that he was willing to go out and eat it by himself.
"Mom, please help me get a hat. I have to go out at noon."
Guo Jixiang nodded. "What are you going to do?"
Chai Xingyu: "Eat."
Guo Jixiang: “…” When Bai Duoyu asked this, he thought to himself that he had been half-dead for these days, and they asked the cook to prepare all kinds of delicacies for him every day and begged him to have a bite, but they never thought of buying some for him from the stalls outside.
Lin Chuntao picked up a new type of mushroom today, the egg mushroom. The plump mushrooms are the color of egg yolks. The caps are very smooth and relatively thin, with a slight curve on the edge. The stems are relatively thin. These mushrooms are fragile. Lin Chuntao didn't hold them firmly and broke two of them.
When she arrived, Lin Chunxing was cooking noodles for someone. The person eating the noodles saw so many golden mushrooms and asked hurriedly, "Madam, are these chanterelles?"
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "This is egg mushroom, it's also delicious."
"How much is one pound? Give me two pounds."
Lin Chuntao put down the backpack and said with a smile: "Auntie, wait a moment."
Lin Chunxing put down her things and went to help Lin Chuntao, saying, "Sister, leave five pounds. Someone came to eat noodles just now and gave me a hundred coins. I asked you to leave five pounds for him. If the money is not enough, he can come to get it when he comes."
Lin Chuntao looked at her with some delight. Was she trying to attract customers while chatting with people? Progress!
Lin Chunxing felt a little embarrassed by being stared at, and stuck out her tongue, "I'm going to look at the fans first."
Lin Chuntao nodded, put the backpack down steadily, took the scale and weighed two pounds for the man. The egg mushrooms looked very good in the sun and looked good. The price was the same as the blue-headed mushrooms, twelve cents per pound.
After weighing the two pounds, she took an empty colander, weighed five pounds and placed it next to it.
At this location, in addition to the old customers who used to buy mushrooms, there are also customers who eat noodles and buy meat. They all take a look and immediately buy one or two pounds of mushrooms. These mushrooms are often sold out very quickly.
After selling the mushrooms, Lin Chuntao went to wash her hands before going over to the stall to help. She looked at the noodles and the remaining vegetables.
"Is it still thirty kilograms of powder today?"
Lin Chunxing nodded.
Lin Chuntao's requirements are not high. She just wants to sell 25 to 30 kilograms of noodles every day, which will allow her to save some money after deducting the money for buying vegetables. As long as this small stall can continue, she's fine.
After waiting for the two peak periods to pass, Lin Chuntao asked Helan to cut a piece of pork rib, bought a few pounds of noodles, and bought two cans of wine. She hadn't been to her uncle's house for such a long time, so she planned to take her sisters there.
Lin Chunxing only saw the things Lin Chuntao bought after she finished her work.
"Sister, are you buying wine to make something new?"
Lin Chuntao said: "No, let's go to my uncle's house this afternoon."
Lin Chunxing was stunned for a moment, then she laughed. They had indeed not been to their uncle's house for a long time.
Lin Chuntao said, "My uncle and his family didn't stay for dinner last time they came. I think we can continue to run this small stall. Let's go to my uncle's house and tell him about our recent situation." Lin Chuntao was also thinking that she hadn't seen Xu Tianzhu and his wife come recently. If the villagers saw them when they came to the market, they would go back and ask about them, but my uncle and his family didn't know about it. That would be inappropriate.
When Lin Chunxing heard this, she thought of what happened this morning. There were too many customers just now and she couldn't tell them. Now that there were fewer people, she started talking to Lin Chuntao.
"When he left, he asked me to tell my brother-in-law that he would treat him to lunch at noon."
Lin Chuntao thought of the danger that day and asked Lin Chunxing, "How is that person?"
Lin Chunxing hissed coldly and shuddered. "The scar on his face has fallen off, but it still looks scary. He scared me so much this morning that I fell down."
Hearing about the fall, Lin Chuntao's face changed slightly, "You didn't hit anything, did you?"
Lin Chunxing smiled and said, "No, I was just sitting on this little stool. Suddenly I looked up and saw that face. I was so scared that I fell backwards. It was so high that I didn't get hit."
As soon as she finished speaking, Lin Chuntao turned around and saw a man wearing a conical hat and a black scarf walking towards her.
Judging from his clothes, he is still a man.
Lin Chuntao had seen beauties wearing veils in movies and TV dramas, but she had never seen a man like this.
Lin Chunxing followed Lin Chuntao's gaze and recognized Sanbao at a glance. She said, "Sister, that's him."
Lin Chuntao: “…”
As Chai Xingyu approached, Lin Chunxing curled the corners of her lips and said, "Brother, I'll save the mushrooms for you. Today I picked up some egg mushrooms, twelve cents a pound."
"Take it now or wait a little longer?"
Chai Xingyu said, "Wait a moment, let's go eat together and get it after dinner."
Lin Chunxing was at a loss and looked at Lin Chuntao next to her. Pei Ying was right beside them. He looked at Chai Xingyu and said, "Don't worry about it, little brother. It's really a piece of cake. We have some things to do in the afternoon and need to visit relatives, so we won't go to dinner with you."
He had refused in the morning, but came again at noon. However, Chai Xingyu thought it was normal. He was grateful to others, but others saw him as a stranger. Who would want to have dinner with a stranger?
Pei Ying had given his reasons, so he couldn't force him. He could only say, "Let's do it another day. I must thank Brother Pei, otherwise I'll feel bad."
Pei Ying smiled and said, "I'm glad you're okay. It's just a small matter."
Now that there was no one at the stall and the fire was idle, Chai Xingyu said with a smile: "If big brother doesn't come with me to eat, then I'm going to eat noodles."
Lin Chunxing took over the conversation and said with a smile: "How many bowls do you want? I'll cook them for you."
Chai Xingyu said, "Five bowls still."
Lin Chuntao looked at the noodles and said, "I guess it's enough to cook four bowls." Then she looked at the meat sauce and vegetables again. It was still enough, so she took some out of the noodles she bought to take home and cooked enough for five bowls.
After eating the noodles, Lin Chuntao gave them the mushrooms and returned the extra forty coins. Sanbao took the mushrooms and prepared to receive the money. Chai Xingyu said, "Thank you, shopkeeper. Don't return the money yet. If you have other mushrooms tomorrow, please keep five pounds for me." As he said that, he asked Sanbao to take sixty coins and hand them over, making up the total of one hundred coins.
After he said that, Lin Chuntao accepted it without any further fuss. They didn't bring any tools, so they borrowed Lin Chuntao and her friends' small colander.
After the two men left, the soup noodles were sold out. The two sisters quickly cleaned up and washed up, moved the things into the house, and waited for Pei Ying and the others to finish their work. Then they went home together.
Lin Chunhe was at home with Lin Duoer. The two sisters came back from cutting grass for the pigs, lit a fire and steamed rice. They also washed the vegetables and put them aside, waiting for Lin Chuntao and the others to come back and fry them.
Lin Duoer muttered as she washed the vegetables, "What should I do? I still really want to eat the pancake my sister made last night!"
Lin Chunhe glanced at her and said, "Then go tell your sister."
Lin Duoer turned around and looked at Lin Chunhe, "Why didn't you say you didn't want to eat?"
Lin Chunhe looked at her and smiled, "I can do it, no need to tell me."
Lin Duoer: “…”
Seeing Lin Duo'er angry, Lin Chunhe laughed: "Let's do it tonight, I'll tell my sister."
After hearing this, she happily hummed a tune she had learned from somewhere and continued to wash the vegetables happily.
Lin Chuntao and the others did not delay and came back at about the same time as usual.
When they got home, Lin Duoer saw the meat and wine they had bought and asked the same question as Lin Chunxing. Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "I won't cook it today. I'll take you to my uncle's house after dinner."
"Today?" Lin Duoer asked.
Lin Chuntao smiled and nodded.
Because we were going to visit relatives, we ate lunch very quickly. After the meal, the sisters cleaned up together.
Lin Chuntao took two bowls of sauce and took one to Xu Tianzhu. She put the meat, wine and rice flour for her uncle's family into a backpack and asked Pei Ying to carry it. She put the jar of wine and the bowl of sauce for Xu Tianzhu into a bamboo basket and carried it herself.
After packing up her things, Lin Chuntao locked the door and walked towards Xujia Village with her sisters.
After lunch, the Xu family and Sun packed their clothes. The sisters-in-law wanted to go to the river to wash clothes while the sun was still good. Before they left the house, Lin Chuntao and the others arrived.
Sun was surprised to see Lin Chuntao and the others suddenly appear. She hurriedly invited them in and said, "I told your uncle yesterday that I would visit you in two days, and here you are."
"Have you had lunch yet? We just finished eating a while ago. I'll heat it up for you."
Sun spoke quickly, and Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Don't worry, auntie, we've already eaten."
"Have you really eaten?"
Lin Chuntao nodded: "I really have eaten it."
Hearing the voices, everyone in the house came out and saw several uncles. Lin Chuntao called out to them affectionately. The second and third aunts didn't know what they were doing upstairs. They pushed open the window and looked out: "Chuntao."
Lin Chuntao looked up and called out "Second Aunt", then "Third Aunt".
"It's hot outside, come inside and sit down, we'll be down soon."
As they were talking, their uncle and aunt invited them into the house.
After entering the house, Pei Ying put down his things. Sun Shi saw the meat and wine jar in the backpack. She looked at Lin Chuntao with some surprise: "You came here so easily, why did you bring so many things?"
The uncle peeked out and hissed coldly. He knew that Lin Chuntao and the others often picked mushrooms and sold them in the county town, making some money. But the sisters needed many things. He said earnestly, "It's not easy for you to earn money by picking mushrooms. You're not going anywhere else when you come to your uncle's house, so why should you bring anything with you?"
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Uncle, don't worry about us. Pei Ying found a job butchering pigs in the county town, and Chun Xing also opened a small stall selling soup noodles. We are not that hard-pressed anymore."
The second aunt and the third aunt were still walking on the stairs. When they heard Lin Chuntao's words, they opened their mouths wide.
In fact, everyone in the room was surprised. Sun looked at Pei Ying and then at Chun Xing. After looking at them, she realized that the sisters were all wearing new clothes today, no longer the whitish linen clothes they wore when they saw each other last time.
Looking at the sisters again, I found that they had gained some weight and their complexions were much rosier. It was hard to believe, but in fact, the sisters seemed to be living a good life.
The uncle was also surprised, but still said: "We have to save it and buy some food in the future. We have to buy food throughout the year, and the expenses are not small."
Lin Chuntao nodded. "I've thought about that. We planted some corn a while ago, and the seedlings are already this deep." She gestured as she spoke. "It might be a little late to ripen, but we should be able to eat it for a while after we harvest it."
My uncle asked, "How much did you plant?"
Lin Chuntao said, "I reserved a small plot of the twelve acres for growing vegetables, and planted the rest."
Hearing her words, Madam Sun said, "With so much land, why don't you just tell us and we'll go over and help you farm it?"
"The great grandfather and his wife, and an aunt in our village said they would help us, so we didn't bother our uncle and aunt."
Sun looked at them. The sisters were just like Xu Xiu. They never said anything about anything. They would endure it if they could, and would force themselves to endure it if they couldn't.
Xu Xiu was gone, and Sun was afraid of making them sad, so she just thought about it and didn't say it out loud.
She got up to warm some water and made a bowl of honey water for each of her sisters. "Your uncle and his family encountered a hive of wild bees a few days ago and got some honey."
The other cousins also clamored for a drink, so Sun directly made two ladlefuls of it, and each of the children drank a little. Everyone looked at Lin Chunxing and the others happily.
We used to play together often when we were young. We haven't seen each other for a few years, so we felt a little unfamiliar with each other, but after not being together for long, we became familiar with each other again.
After drinking the honey water, Lin Duoer, Lin Chunhe and the others went to play in the yard.
Only Lin Chuntao, Pei Ying and a few uncles and aunts were left in the house.
The aunt looked at her and smiled, "Chuntao, you've gained some weight compared to a few days ago."
Lin Chuntao smiled and nodded. "I was sick a while ago and had a fever. The doctor gave me an acupuncture and prescribed some conditioning medicine. It worked quite well."
Everyone sat together, chatting about this and that. When they talked about Lin Chunxing setting up a stall in the county town to sell noodle soup, Lin Chuntao took the sauce out of the bamboo basket and said to Sun, "Auntie, please find a jar to put it in. I made this sauce myself, and it tastes pretty good. I didn't make enough before, so I only took a bowl. I'll send some over next time after you've covered it well."
Sun looked at the dark red sauce, which had a strong spicy aroma and a delicate texture. She looked at Lin Chuntao in disbelief, feeling that the child had changed too much.
"Kid, when did you become so dexterous?"
"I was just messing around, and it was just an accident that it tasted good."
After she finished speaking, Sun smiled. Isn't this how ordinary people live? If you think carefully, maybe things will get better one day.
Sun took out a small jar to store the sauce, and then Lin Chuntao asked, "I don't know if my fourth cousin is home, so I brought him a bowl as well. He helped us last time and didn't invite us to eat. I felt a little embarrassed."
Sun smiled and thought that if Xu Tianzhu hadn't told them last time, they would have had no idea that the Lin family bullied them like this.
Sun said, "He should be at home now, you can take him there."
Lin Chuntao nodded, and Sun asked again, "Do you still remember where his home is?"
"I still have some impression."
Sun said, "Go down from this small street in front and go straight to the end. The second house on the right is his house."
Lin Chuntao picked up the small bamboo basket, said something to Sun and went. When she arrived, Xu Tianzhu was not at home. Only Zhou was washing things in the yard. She didn't even notice Lin Chuntao entering the yard.
Lin Chuntao shouted, "Fourth Aunt."
Zhou turned around when she heard the voice and was surprised to see that it was her: "Chun Tao, when did you come?"
"I just arrived a while ago. Where's my fourth uncle? Isn't he home?"
Zhou said, "I just went up the mountain." As she spoke, she beckoned her to go inside. Lin Chuntao followed her into the house carrying a bamboo basket and then said, "Aunt, I made some sauce a few days ago and brought some for you to try."
Zhou looked at the basket in her hand and said, "Just come over to play, why bring anything? We don't need those unnecessary things here."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "It's just a little bit of sauce, and it's not worth much. It's just a little gift from me, please don't despise it, auntie."
Zhou smiled and said, "How could we dislike you, child? We should thank you for remembering us." As she spoke, Lin Chuntao handed over the bamboo basket. "I don't have a jar or a bowl to put it in, so my aunt needs to find something to put it in."
Lin Chuntao covered the small bamboo basket because it was filled with sauce. Zhou went to find a jar to put it in. When she opened it, she saw a small jar of wine inside. The sauce was homemade, but the wine was obviously bought in the county town. She hurriedly said, "Why did you buy wine, kid? It's too expensive. Take it back and return it. There's no need to waste money."
Lin Chuntao said, "The ones who honor you and my fourth uncle are also a little distance apart. Otherwise, I would have come to invite you and my fourth uncle to dinner at home a long time ago. I haven't even thanked you properly for what happened last time."
Zhou looked at her and said, "We are your elders, there is no need to thank us."
Lin Chuntao said, "We should respect our elders even more."
Zhou accepted the gift with a smile, and then asked about Lin Chuntao and the others' recent situation. After Lin Chuntao explained a few things, she asked, "Why haven't I seen my fourth uncle go out to buy mushrooms recently?"
Zhou said, "He sprained his ankle and has been resting at home recently."
"How did you sprain your ankle? Is it serious?" Lin Chuntao asked with concern. Zhou smiled and said, "It's not serious. I just stepped on something when I was going down the mountain. I asked the village doctor to fix it. But the injury is so serious that I need to rest for a while, otherwise it will hurt in the future regardless of wind or rain."
"Look, he couldn't rest for a long time. As soon as he felt better today, he went into the mountains."
Lin Chuntao said, "You need to take a break. Nothing is more important than your health."
Zhou smiled and nodded. She had picked half a basket of broad beans in the morning. Now that Lin Chuntao was there, she quickly took the pot, washed some and cooked some.
Lin Chuntao originally wanted to put down her things and leave, but Zhou would not let her. She insisted on eating some broad beans at her house before going back. She filled the empty bamboo basket with broad beans for Lin Chuntao.
Lin Chuntao didn't want it, and she refused to agree.
"You didn't plant anything this year, so take some home and cook it or stir-fry it as a dish."
Lin Chuntao had no choice but to accept it with a smile.
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