Although it was past midsummer, the weather was still very hot at noon. The father and daughter did not delay and returned home without stopping.
Gao heard the door open, walked out of the room, saw that it was the father and daughter who came back, and hurried to greet them. After they entered the main hall, Gao reached out and took down the basket on An Dashan's back. Seeing the things inside, she asked with a smile: "Why did you buy so many things? How much did you sell the rabbit for this time?"
An Dashan did not hide it and said, "The restaurant owner saw that the two wild rabbits I caught this time were relatively fat, so he charged me fifty coins for each, so the two rabbits made a total of one hundred coins." He then pointed to the grain and fat in the basket and said, "The price of grain has risen again recently, and I bought another five catties of brown rice. If I can hold on for another half a month, the grain in the fields should be harvested. I saw that we didn't have much oil at home, so I bought some fat. You can refine some more oil, because the busy farming season is coming soon, and we can't do without some oil. And use the oil residue to steam some buns to improve the food."
Gao sighed and said, "Why is the price of food rising again? Are we ordinary people going to have a hard time surviving? Have you heard? Uncle Liu's family in the west of the village ran out of food a long time ago, and now they have to rely on digging wild vegetables to survive."
An Dashan also sighed and said, "Gensheng from Uncle Liu's family joined the army with our Dalang. The two children have played together since they were young. His family doesn't have a strong labor force now, so we should help them!" After thinking for a while, he said, "Send a bowl of rice to his family later. The adults will be easy to talk to, but the child can't stand eating only wild vegetables."
It turned out that Uncle Liu's family was a military household like the An family. A few years ago, the northern barbarians attacked, and An Dashan and Gensheng's father Liu Dazhu joined the army together. After repelling the northern barbarians, An Dashan returned, but unfortunately Liu Dazhu never came back. Now the Liu family only has Liu Dazhu's father and wife, and an eight-year-old posthumous child. Gao nodded and said, "Okay, I'll send it to his family later." She sighed again and said, "I don't know how Dalang and the others are doing. They have been gone for more than half a year, and there is no news at all."
An Dashan also blamed himself. If it weren't for his broken leg, Dalang wouldn't have to go to the battlefield at such a young age. He comforted Gao: "Don't worry too much. He has the skills I taught him. He should have no problem protecting himself."
Gao didn't dare to think of the worst now, and said: "I hope God will bless Dalang to come back safely."
Seeing that An Dashan and Gao were talking, An Ning took the meat to the kitchen. When no one was looking, she took out about half a pound of fat from the refrigerator. An Ning was afraid of arousing suspicion, so she didn't dare to take more.
An Ning cleaned the meat, then put it on the chopping board and cut it into small pieces, ready to make oil. Just after she finished cutting the meat, Gao came in and saw An Ning working. She quickly stepped forward and took the kitchen knife from An Ning's hand, saying, "You kid, you are not well yet. You walked all morning. Go back and rest!"
An Ning smiled at Gao and said, "Mom, I'm not tired yet. Let me help you light the fire!"
Gao looked at her sensible daughter and did not refuse. She said, "Okay, help me light the fire, and I will make dumplings for you later." Gao had heard An Dashan say that her daughter wanted to eat dumplings.
In fact, An Ning didn't want to eat the buns, but because she was hungry and smelled the buns, her stomach was rumbling. But An Ning didn't want to explain, so she nodded and said, "Mom is the best."
Gao was also very happy to hear this, and went to make dough with a smile. The black flour at home was brought by An Ning's grandmother when An Ning broke her head last time. An Ning's grandmother's family was not very wealthy, so this black flour was the only good thing they could offer. Gao scooped out a bowl of flour, took out the yeast at home, added water and kneaded it into dough, and put it aside to wait for the flour to rise.
An Ning also lit a fire. Gao put the fat into the pot, added some water and started to boil it. When the water evaporated, the lard was almost done. While the lard was boiling, Gao pulled a small cabbage in the backyard and chopped it into stuffing.
The cabbage stuffing had just been chopped and the lard was almost done. Gao scooped up the lard with a spoon and put it into the lard jar, and the dregs were all put into a large bowl. Gao thought that the oil on the bottom of the pot should not be wasted, so she added some water and prepared to make a pot of wild vegetable soup after the water boiled.
Gao chopped up the oil residue and mixed it with the chopped cabbage to make the bun filling. At this time, the dough was almost fermented, so she cut it into the same size, rolled it into dough sheets, put the fillings on it, and wrapped it into buns with her deft hands.
An Ning looked at Gao Shi, who was very skillful, and her thoughts gradually drifted away. In this feudal and superstitious ancient times, the original owner must have been very lucky to have parents who loved her so much. Looking at Gao Shi, who was very skillful, An Ning also thought of her own parents. She hoped that they would not be sad after learning of her death, and spend the rest of their lives in peace!
Gao scooped out the wild vegetable soup from the pot and put it into a clay pot to keep it warm, then put the dumplings she had just wrapped into the pot. Just as she was about to ask An Ning to light the fire, she realized that An Ning was distracted. She stretched out her hand and waved it in front of An Ning's eyes, saying, "Daya, what are you thinking about?"
An Ning came back to her senses, looked at Gao and said, "I'm not thinking anything. Mom, when will the buns be ready? I'm hungry."
Gao smiled and said, "The buns have just been put into the pot. We have to wait a while! Eat some oil residue to fill your stomach first!"
An Ning just wanted to change the subject. She had taken out a piece of bread from her space and eaten it while An Dashan and Gao were talking, so she wasn't hungry now. But when she saw the golden and fragrant oil residue that Gao handed over, she couldn't help but eat a few pieces.
An Ning only ate a few pieces and stopped. In ancient times, oil residue was a precious thing and she couldn't eat it all.
Gao saw An Ning stop eating after eating a few pieces, and urged her: "Daya, eat a few more pieces. It won't taste good if it gets cold."
An Ning shook her head and said, "Mom, I don't want to eat anymore. I need to save some space for buns!"
Gao knew what An Ning was thinking but she didn't expose her. She put the oil residue in the cupboard. She could save the oil residue and use it to make two more dumplings.
After a while, the fragrant buns came out of the pot. Although they were made of black flour and did not look very good, they were indeed a delicious meal in this rural area.
Gao brought the steamed buns and wild vegetable soup to the table before calling An Dashan to eat. An Dashan was also a person who could not sit still. While the mother and daughter were cooking, he turned the vegetable patch in the backyard over again. It was just the right time to plant autumn cabbage.
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