Liu's mother came to the kitchen. In the middle of the kitchen were three earthen stoves made of mud bricks. There were two small openings on one side, with an iron pot on top for cooking, and an iron-topped pot (the bottom was semicircular, with a cylinder on top, and an iron pot lid on top) for cooking; on the other side was a large opening, with a large iron pot on top, which was used to cook pig food and used to heat water for washing at night.
But in the past two years, there were too many people to eat, let alone feed the pigs and chickens. It was only after the summer harvest this year that Liu's mother caught five chicks. Now she has four chickens, two hens and two roosters, and recently they lay two eggs every day.
I planned to kill one after the autumn harvest, but I'm afraid of being called a capitalist. The current rule is that a family of six can raise three chickens, two ducks, or one goose; a family of six or more can raise five chickens, three ducks, or two geese. As for pigs, every household used to be allowed to raise one, but now the village collects some from the commune. The village raises some, and those willing to raise the rest draw lots, and the person with the note on the note gets to raise the others.
There is a bowl kitchen against the wall on the left side of the earthen stove, with bowls underneath and salt, a small bowl of oil, a bottle of soy sauce, and several cans of chili powder on top; there is a wooden table under the window, with a wooden chopping board and knife placed there. Usually, when no one is at home, the kitchen and the main room are locked.
In addition to these, the kitchen also had a few low stools, a large water jar, two wooden barrels, two large basins, three small basins, a few pickling jars, and a small pile of firewood. A small amount of food, such as rice and sweet potatoes, was packed in cloth bags and placed in the main room. The majority of the rice, sweet potatoes, peanuts, corn, and other food were stored halfway upstairs. The door to the upper floor was locked with a lock, and it was only opened when going upstairs to get food.
Liu's mother washed and chopped some sweet potatoes, washed the rice in a rice basket, and put them all into the iron pot to cook porridge. She filled the large iron pot with water using a wooden spoon and covered it. She went to the main room, beat two eggs in a bowl, added a little water and salt, and put them in the small iron pot to steam. Then, she lit the fire. Just as it was lit, Xuemei walked in.
"Mom, have you fed the chickens?"
"Hey, Xuemei, you're up. How do you feel now?"
"Mom, I think I'm better now. I can go to the threshing ground tomorrow to watch over the rice (there are usually children around 10 years old watching over the rice to keep sparrows away from stealing it)."
"Okay, let's see tomorrow morning. If you're feeling better, go and look after the rice. You stay here and help me watch the fire while I feed the chickens."
"Xuemei, turn down the fire now and turn it up when I'm cooking." Mother Liu went to the vegetable garden next to the house and picked two eggplants and some beans.
After Liu's mother and father got married, they surrounded the acre-plus of land with a meter-high mud wall. To the right of the house, they created a vegetable patch, enclosed by a bamboo fence. They mostly grew vegetables, but also a row of sweet potatoes and a row of corn. The two acres of private plots allocated by the village were on the hillside behind the house; one acre was planted with cotton, and the other with peanuts, sweet potatoes, and beans.
Wash and chop the vegetables in a wooden basin. Remove the steamed eggs from the small iron pot with wooden tongs. Stir-fry the eggplant and beans with a little salt and soy sauce in a large bowl.
After the dishes were cooked, Xuemei took out the firewood from the stove, picked out the firewood with a small shovel, put it in a small ceramic basin and poured cold water on it. This would form some broken carbon, which could be used in winter after drying.
"Xuemei, bring the dishes to the main hall table. I'll get the iron pot. Qingya, come get the bowls. Ruirui and Feifei, stop playing and come back to wash your hands. We'll have dinner when your father comes back."
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