Dabao looked at her confusedly and asked her soul-searching questions.
"Then why don't you send some to my grandparents? I see they eat coarse grains during the autumn harvest, and we have fine grains at home. If we give them some, there will still be plenty left."
As soon as these words were spoken, the three adults looked at each other. Li Qingyun was choked by this question, and Gu Tingzhou and Li Qinghuan also tried to hold back their laughter.
"That's a good question. It touches on human nature. There's a saying that goes, 'A pinch of kindness turns into a grudge.' Do you know what that means?
A little help will be repaid with gratitude, but a big help will be repaid with hatred.
Your aunt is going through a difficult time right now. It's easier to add icing on the cake than to help someone in need. The help I gave her was just what she needed, and she will probably be grateful for the rest of her life.
But your grandparents are in good health now. They can run and jump and earn work points. They are also able to eat fine grains, but they choose to eat coarse grains. It is not yet time for them to particularly need our help.
We have separated a long time ago, and your grandparents live with your uncle and aunt. If we rush to help them, give them money and food, and set this precedent, it will happen countless times, and slowly people will take it for granted.
That’s why mom always gives your grandparents a bite of delicious food whenever she makes it, but never gives them grain directly. Giving it to your grandparents is your dad and I showing filial piety, while giving grain directly becomes aid to their family, and it happens once and then countless times.
The human heart is a bottomless pit, Dabao, you will understand when you grow up."
"Your mother is right. The pheasant your aunt gave to our family must have been obtained by your uncle after many days of waiting. Not everyone is as good at hunting as your father, so this gift is hard-earned, precious, and full of deep affection.
That's why your mother was willing to help her and give her the daily necessities she lacked. I believe that if she were in another position, she would also be willing to help us. You may not remember that when you were younger, every Chinese New Year, your aunt would come over and bring you a handful of fruit candies or some snacks.
The same goes for your second aunt. Even though they have a hard time themselves, they will still do their best to love you. So when they need help, we will lend a helping hand. This is the mutual help and support among relatives.
If your grandparents and uncle and aunt encounter any difficulties, we will do our best to help them. But they are living well now and do not need our care.
Help given when others don't need it is cheap, useless, and not cherished." Gu Tingzhou helped explain.
Dabao shrugged helplessly, "Okay, I'll remember that."
He is still too young to understand too many of the adults' thoughts. Just give him some input slowly in the future.
When Li Qingyun saw that the time was up, she quickly packed a few leek boxes from the morning into Dabao's lunch box, and packed the remaining leek boxes for Gu Tingzhou, along with a pot of warm water, and sent them out to work and school.
Gu Tingzhou first sent Dabao to Cheng's house and asked him to go to school with Cheng Jiemaotou, and then he went directly to work.
Li Qingyun and Li Qinghuan’s task today is to collect the winter vegetables from their private plots, store them, and eat them in the winter.
Most of the crops she had planted before were cabbage and radishes.
The winter in Northeast China lasts for five months. It is covered with ice and snow outside, and there is a severe shortage of green vegetables at home. Cabbage has high yield and is durable in storage. It is the main dish in winter. It is delicious to eat a plate of fresh cabbage.
After harvesting the cabbage, remove the rotten and old leaves and leave a little root. Dry it in the sun for a day to sterilize it, and store it in a cellar. Store it from early November until before the Spring Festival, so that it can be eaten until April every year.
Shredded Chinese cabbage with Northeastern dried tofu and kelp shreds makes a home-cooked cold dish; cabbage cores with Northeastern soybean paste and green onions make a Northeastern pickled vegetable; sliced cabbage with potatoes and dried tofu slices makes a Northeastern home-cooked dish of fried potato slices; the most delicious way is to chop the cabbage into fillings, add Northeastern shallots and rice to make meatballs, and fry them to make delicious and satisfying meatballs.
Chinese cabbage is also the main ingredient in pickled dishes such as sauerkraut and kimchi in Northeast China. Just thinking about sauerkraut, pork, blood sausage, sauerkraut-filled buns and dumplings, and sauerkraut vermicelli and potato soup makes me happy.
The two sisters worked all morning, cutting down all the cabbages in their private plot and pulling up all the radishes by the roots.
Li Qingyun plans to make two jars of sauerkraut and three jars of Korean kimchi from these cabbages. She will drain the remaining cabbages and store them in the cellar so that she can eat them fresh in winter.
The same goes for radishes. Make two large jars of Sichuan-style pickled radishes, pickle one jar of dried radishes, and dry the rest and store them in the cellar.
Fortunately, every household in the north has many large jars, and Li Qingyun cleaned these jars and drained the water.
They started to process the cabbage, and Qinghuan helped.
Wash the cabbage, cut it in half, blanch it in boiling water for 30 seconds, take it out and drain the water, then you can start pickling sauerkraut. Li Qingyun's method of pickling sauerkraut was taught to her by her grandmother.
Spread the cabbage evenly in a large jar, with a layer of cabbage and a layer of coarse salt. In order to buy coarse salt for pickling sauerkraut, Li Qingyun went to the supply and marketing cooperative two days ago and bought a lot of coarse salt. She only had fine salt in her space, and coarse salt tasted better and was not too salty.
When the big vat is full, find a large stone slab to press it down, and the vat is done. After that, you just need to scoop out some juice when it is about to overflow, and then wait quietly for the magic of time. After about thirty days, you can harvest delicious sauerkraut.
It was almost one o'clock when the two jars of sauerkraut were pickled. Li Qingyun cooked some noodles for the two of them and paired them with homemade meat sauce.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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