Chapter 124 Chapter 124——
Sun was stunned when she heard Lin Chuntao's reason for celebration. She didn't quite understand why there was a celebration at this time of the month. Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "People working outside will buy some meat and wine to celebrate after receiving their wages. From now on, we can have a feast once a month as well."
Hu and the others understood what was said and were happy to get their wages, so they ate something delicious.
But they are the ones who get paid? Hu was thinking about it and wanted to say something, but with her mother-in-law around, she couldn't say anything. Then she heard Sun laugh and say, "So, then we are the ones who treated you to the meal, so why are you treating us?"
"That's right," Aunt Guizhi agreed with a smile. Lin Chuntao said with a smile, "It's not the same thing. I'm just thanking you for your hard work for a month. Let's have a meal and chat. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please tell me and I'll make some improvements."
Sun listened to her words and patted her shoulder. "Child, we did this work for you and got paid for it. You have done us a great favor. We should thank you. If you have anything to say, please don't be polite to us. Just tell us."
Sun said this from the bottom of her heart, but Lin Chuntao also sincerely thanked them. Although she was paid, they were also very reliable and did their work carefully and seriously, which made her worry less.
Hearing what Sun said, Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "I know what the grandmother and the aunts are thinking. I have already bought the meat. We will cut it up and cook a mutton pot later."
It was still mutton. Aunt Guizhi said, "Then I'll go to the fields and get some vegetables to cook at dinner time."
Lin Chuntao agreed with a smile.
After taking the earthen jar down and putting it away, Lin Chuntao went back to the house to put the money away, and then went to find Meng Yun to make a note of the account.
After finishing, Lin Chuntao gave Meng Yun an extra ten cents in wages. Originally, Lin Chuntao thought that the bookkeeping work was not enough and Meng Yun could go home to do her own things after finishing it. However, she always followed Lin Chunhe or Grandma and others to do things after finishing the accounts, and did whatever help was needed. It seemed a bit unfair that she got the same wages as Aunt Guizhi and others for doing two things.
When Meng Yun heard Lin Chuntao's words, she smiled and thanked her. Lin Chuntao had said that she would give her a raise in the future, but she didn't expect it to be so soon.
In fact, Lin Chuntao is quite attentive. For example, when Duo'er became her apprentice last time, Lin Chuntao must have heard her say that she wanted to plant buckwheat, but she hadn't bought the seeds yet, so she brought 20 kilograms of buckwheat to plant. One acre of land requires 6 or 7 kilograms of seeds. They were going to plant about 11 acres, so 50 or 60 kilograms would be needed. Lin Chuntao gave them 20 kilograms, which saved them a lot of money.
Since they came to Yizhou, they rarely ate meat. They bought meat once when they sold firewood, but only bought a little bit. Five or six people tasted it. They were looking forward to making money in the future so that they could buy a few more pounds of meat and have a good meal. She really wanted to eat pork with preserved vegetables.
Without waiting to save up money to buy it, Lin Chuntao brought ten pounds of pork belly. Fan Li'niang generously cut off a piece and steamed a large bowl of braised pork belly, which she ate with great relish.
Before coming to Yizhou, or rather before her brother's death, she had never suffered any hardship, never lacked food, and even felt that everyone around her was a good person.
Later, they traveled through mountains and rivers to Yizhou. From the experiences along the way, she had long understood that there was no such thing as free food or free meat. They brought Meng Yue and the other two women with them, like three pieces of walking meat. When Lin Cunzheng called them to Shuangzi Village, they had all made very bad plans, but they did not expect that the people in this village were still simple and honest, and most people were very friendly.
They had lived together with Lin Jialang and his siblings, and Lin Jialang and Lin Chuntao had a conflict. If she were in Lin Chuntao's position, she would definitely ignore their family.
But Lin Chuntao didn't do that. She was very polite to her and her sister-in-law. She didn't make things difficult for her when she came to her house to look for work, which was very precious to her.
After spending a long time together and understanding Lin Chuntao's personality, she liked her sincerely in her heart. If Lin Chuntao could continue to work, she would always follow Lin Chuntao as her boss.
After finishing all these, Lin Chuntao returned to the front yard, took out the mutton from the clay pot and placed it separately. It would not taste good if it was soaked in the soup for too long, so it had to be taken out and dried first.
After finishing the mutton, Lin Chuntao soaked the rice and peeled a few potatoes. She washed them and soaked them in clean water. She went back to get some dried tofu and cut off half a bowl of dried tofu skin. Lin Duoer went to light a fire and cook the small potatoes for the pigs before returning: "Sister, do you want to go to the fields to get some vegetables?"
Lin Chuntao said, "No need, I'll get it done later."
Lin Duoer smiled and said, "The pig food is ready. If you don't want to take the vegetables, I'll go cut some grass for the pigs first."
"Where do we go to get it cut?" Lin Chuntao asked.
Lin Duoer replied: "I think we can harvest some in our cornfield."
"This one at the entrance of the village?" Lin Chuntao asked.
Lin Duoer nodded, "Yeah."
Lin Chuntao had just started a fire when she said, "Go get the backpack and sickle. Wait a moment and I'll go with you."
"Okay!" Lin Duoer responded with a smile and ran away. Lin Chuntao put the oil in the pot and quickly fried the dried tofu skin and took it out. She could put it in the pot to blanch it when eating the pot later.
Lin Duoer went quickly, and Lin Chuntao fried the tofu skin quickly, taking it out and putting it on the table. As soon as Lin Duoer reached the door, she smelled the fragrance and asked loudly, "Sister, did you fry the tofu skin?"
"Well, fry some and set aside so we can cook some mutton hotpot later."
"Give me two slices." Lin Duo'er said. Lin Chuntao picked up two slices and gave them to her, then turned off the stove, put the oil pan on the shelf, closed the kitchen door, and went out with Lin Duo'er in a backpack.
She wanted to go to the field to check on the corn. It looked green from a distance, but when she got closer, she found that many of the corn leaves had begun to turn yellow. Lin Chuntao broke off a few ears of corn and took a look. The kernels were already hard and could be picked back at any time.
Lin Chuntao took a look around and found that half of them had turned yellow, while some were still tender and needed to be put aside.
If the weather is fine, they can continue to grow the crops in the fields, but they are afraid that it will suddenly become cloudy and rainy. If it rains for ten days or half a month, it will be a bit troublesome, Lin Chuntao thought.
Looking at the pigweed in the field, they were there before the soybeans were pulled out, but they were shorter. Maybe after the bean sprouts were pulled out, they were exposed to the sun and grew very fast. The pigweed is now as tall as the calf.
She turned around and came back. Lin Duoer had already cut half a basket of pig grass, and Lin Chuntao squatted beside her to help cut.
In just a quarter of an hour or so, the two of them had filled their backpacks.
There is only one pig, and it is fed with potatoes, so it can't eat much pig grass. The two sisters each have a small backpack, and they may not need to go to the field to cut grass tomorrow.
But Lin Duoer was very happy when she saw so much pig grass in the field.
"I'll come back to cut some after dinner."
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "It's enough for it to eat. Why cut so much?"
Lin Duoer chuckled and said, "You can eat chicken too."
After saying that, Lin Duoer added: "I found that the pig food chicken also likes it."
Lin Chuntao felt somewhat helpless. The pig feed contained potatoes, which the chickens would surely like. She raised her eyebrows and asked Lin Duoer, "Did you feed the chickens with the pig feed?"
Lin Duoer nodded with a smile.
Lin Chuntao said, "When the corn is harvested, we can feed it with cornmeal mixed with bran. I plan to feed our big rooster more and fatten it up so we can kill it for the New Year."
The big rooster crowed very loudly and was quite obedient. Lin Chunhe and the others liked it very much.
"Sister, buy two more to keep for the New Year, and keep this one to wake us up."
Seeing her reluctance, Lin Chuntao replied, "That's fine. I'll buy two more in a few days."
While the two sisters were talking, Lin Chuntao walked to the end of the vegetable garden with a basket on her back. The red amaranth was growing well, with big leaves and thin stems, and looked very plump and tender. It would definitely be a great dish if it were cooked with preserved eggs, but unfortunately she didn't make preserved eggs.
This dish has a dark color and needs to be rinsed before eating. It is not very convenient to rinse it in a hot pot, so Lin Chuntao just picked a handful and took it home to stir-fry in the evening.
She took a few small cabbages, cut some water spinach, and pinched some pea tips. Their peppers were planted late, so they had not turned red at this time and were still green and tender. Lin Chuntao looked at the tender green ones and picked quite a few and brought them back.
As it was getting close to dinner time, Aunt Guizhi took some time to go to the vegetable garden, picked a few radishes, pinched some pea tips, and brought back some leeks, green onions, garlic sprouts, etc. She also told Lin Shuilian's grandmother that they would have lunch there at noon.
Lin Jiahui came back from collecting things and was just about to take the mule back for lunch when he met Lin Chuntao.
"Jiahui, let's have lunch at my house today. After you pull the mule back, tell your mother that your grandma and the others won't be going back for lunch. Then tell your mother to come and eat with you."
Lin Jiahui was still a little confused, but he nodded in agreement.
When he got home and mentioned the meal, Chen Dongniang and the others were wondering what day it was. After thinking for a long time, they couldn't remember. Then Lin Cunzheng, who was sitting in the yard, said, "I remember Chuntao and the others went out to make sauce for the first time this day last month, right?"
Chen Dongniang suddenly understood and said with a smile, "It seems so. Dad, you have a really good memory."
Lin Cunzheng smiled and didn't say much. Three or four mule carts came and took away many jars of sauce. They came frequently this month, and he remembered everything.
Chen Dongniang said, "If that's the case, then Chuntao must have invited the people who worked with her to eat. You go, I won't go."
Lin Jiahui listened to Chen Dongniang's words and went back.
Lin Chuntao went to check on the mutton that was drying. It was already cold, so it was the perfect time to slice it. She quickly washed the chopping board and kitchen knife and cut out all the mutton.
She bought six pounds of mutton, plus mutton offal and blood, which was at least seven pounds, and it took up more than half a basket when cut into pieces.
She lit a fire in the yard, brought out the pot, poured in the mutton soup and added a small amount of pepper.
After waiting for the mutton soup to boil, she put the mutton in and added half a bowl of chili segments to cook together.
When Lin Chunxing and the others came back, the mutton in the pot had just boiled, and the yard was filled with the aroma of meat.
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