Liujia Village has a large labor force, and this year there are two tractors to help. In half a month, the crops in Liujia Village have been harvested completely. The villagers only need to dry the grain and pack it in bags, and then wait to go to the grain station to pay the public grain. After waiting for another half a month, they will prepare some land, sow rapeseed and maintain the land. This year's farm work in the village is almost done.
It can be said that the people in the village have been relatively free in the past half month.
After Qingya and her two siblings went to school, Han Chen and Mingwu drove a tractor to other villages to help.
Liu's father took Liu Guanghui to the nearby riverbank to sift sand. The riverbank was now shallow, which was a good time to get sand. The sand would be used to build a house for Xuemei.
Liu Guanghui's help came free; the Liu family covered lunch and dinner, a common practice among village brothers when building houses. Originally, Grandpa Liu and Shengnan wanted to help, but their parents, seeing Grandpa's age, were concerned about his health. Shengnan's parents, concerned about their niece's fatigue from the harvest, told her to rest at home for a few days before making any decisions.
Liu's father took Liu Guanghui and his brother to work for five days, and then Han Chen and Mingwu came back from other villages to help. During these days, they stayed in the village where they helped with their clothes and never came back. In the last two or three days, they sent people to the village to call Zhou Bing and Liu Chuanlai to help drive the tractor.
The four of them didn't come back until after six this afternoon. Han Chen drove the tractor to the main force and didn't even go back to the Youth League Institute. He came to Liu's house with the things he had obtained in the past few days.
When Han Chen knocked on the door, the Liu family was just starting to eat. Qingya and her two siblings had also returned today.
After the autumn harvest, Liu's mother would go up the mountain every day to collect wild produce, mainly chestnuts, which were in season. Of course, Liu's mother was also responsible for preparing three meals a day, and Xuemei would help with dinner when she got home from get off work.
Xuemei opened the door and saw Han Chen, who was covered in dirt. She asked, "You're back from helping out. Come in! Haven't you had dinner yet?"
Han Chen shook his head and said, "Not yet, I just got back. This is what I got these days. I know my second uncle has been helping out at home these days, so I deliberately didn't ask for wages and exchanged it for some eggs and ducks to supplement my meal."
Xuemei took the duck and cloth bag from Han Chen's hand and said distressedly, "Wash your hands and go to the main hall to eat first. I'll go to the kitchen to make some dumpling soup!"
Han Chen nodded tiredly, put another cloth bag containing his dirty clothes on the chair, and walked to the well to wash his hands. At around five o'clock in the afternoon, he exchanged his wages for things in Lijia Village and drove back with Mingwu on the tractor.
The village chief of Lijia Village was originally planning to be responsible for their dinner tonight, but Han Chen and his friends did not want to trouble him. They had eaten quite well in Lijia Village these days. Each person had at least one egg every day, and the amount of food was sufficient so that they could eat until they were 80% full.
Besides, Lijia Village is only ten miles away from Liujia Village by taking a small road, but driving a tractor requires taking a big detour, which takes at least half an hour. Han Chen and his friends were afraid that it would be dark on the way home and it would be inconvenient to drive and hit the tractor, so after they got their wages and exchanged some things, they went straight back to Liujia Village. Han Chen was already starving.
Xuemei put the duck in the chicken coop and walked into the main room to see Han Chen eating corn cakes. She felt relieved.
Tonight, Liu's mother steamed corn cakes and fried bacon with water chestnuts. It should be said that it was water chestnuts with bacon, as she only put a little over one or two pounds of bacon in it, and also fried Chinese spinach.
He took out two more eggs from the cloth bag, handed the bag to Liu's mother, said something to her, and went to the kitchen.
Xuemei took a look at the cloth bag and saw some chicken eggs and a few salted duck eggs.
Just as Xuemei was about to light a fire, Liu's mother came over with a corn cake and ate it.
"Xuemei, let me light the fire. What else are you going to do?" Liu's mother squatted down and asked.
"Okay, Mom. Let's make some dumpling soup with cornstarch! This way we can eat it right away! By the way, do you have any tomatoes at home?" Xuemei asked.
"It's the last batch, there are only a few left. They are in the small basket next to the cupboard door. I even pulled out the vines today." Liu's mother replied after swallowing the remaining corn cakes.
After Mrs. Liu finished lighting the fire, she saw Xuemei still making cornmeal dumplings. She went back to her room and scooped out half a bowl of white flour. She said, "Add some more white flour. Han Chen has lost some weight these days, and your second uncle must be tired from helping out these days!"
Xuemei nodded and told Liu's mother to go back and eat first, and she would be on her own from then on. Xuemei poured all the white flour in the bowl into the basin and mixed it evenly, then continued to make the noodle soup.
After the noodle dumpling soup was ready, Xuemei served it in an iron pot. When she brought it into the main room, everyone had just finished eating the corn cakes and the two plates of food on the table were empty. Of course, the family members specially left two corn cakes and some vegetables in Xuemei's bowl.
Ruirui saw Xuemei coming in with something, and quickly ran over to take it from Xuemei's hand. She said to Liu Guanghui, "Uncle, there's something delicious. Big sister, what did you make? I saw you got some eggs, and mom even scooped out some flour."
Xuemei smiled and said, "Uncle, give me the bowl of pimple soup. I'll serve you a bowl first so you can try it!"
Liu Guanghui didn't hesitate. He handed his bowl to Xuemei and said, "I haven't had pimple soup yet. I want to try it too. When I get home, I'll tell Mingwu about it. Thank you for your hard work, Xuemei!"
"It's no big deal. It'll only take a while. You and dad have been working hard these past two days sifting sand on the riverbank." After Xuemei said that, he handed the bowl of dumpling soup to her with both hands.
After taking a sip, Liu Guanghui gave Xuemei a thumbs up. Xuemei was very happy to hear that because everyone liked and recognized the food she cooked.
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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