"Mom, I'm back." Xuemei shouted.
"Why are you back so late today? I was just about to go out and wait for you?" Liu's mother asked as she walked out of the kitchen.
"Something happened on the way home today. I'll tell you and Dad when I go to your room tonight. By the way, where are Dad, Qingya and the others?" Xuemei looked around but didn't see Liu's father and the others.
"Is your father still busy in the threshing ground? Qingya and the other two went to the mountain to pick chestnuts all day today. They came back only half an hour earlier than you. But their harvest today was really good. They picked about 100 kilograms of chestnuts, and there were a lot of chestnut balls. Look, there are chestnut balls under those two fruit trees. I see that they are going to school tomorrow, so I asked them to go back to their rooms to read." Liu's mother replied.
There are two fruit trees planted in the Liu family's yard, one is a bayberry tree and the other is a loquat tree. Both are fruits that Liu's mother likes to eat. Liu's father specially went to the mountains to find good varieties, dug them up, and carried them back home to plant.
"There are so many chestnuts this year. I have a day off tomorrow, so I'll go to the mountain to pick some and bring them back. I'll take some to the purchasing station the day after tomorrow to exchange for money," said Xuemei.
"I won't go to work tomorrow. We'll go to the mountain early in the morning and come back around eleven o'clock. Your third uncle called at noon today and said that your second uncle and second aunt will come over tomorrow." Liu's mother said.
"What are my second uncle and the others coming here for tomorrow?" Xuemei asked as she pushed the bicycle into the main room.
"Your cousin Xinyan has been admitted as an apprentice at a textile factory. She went to work in the county town a few days ago. Your second uncle and his family will come to thank you at noon tomorrow."
"Oh, I knew my cousin would be chosen." Xuemei said happily.
"Whose backpack is this? Why is it filled with so many things?" Liu's mother asked when she saw a backpack placed in the main room.
"They belong to He Zhiqing and her sister. I met them on the road and brought them back first. They will come and get them themselves later. Mom, I'll go to the kitchen and show you something good." Xuemei said excitedly.
"What good stuff?" Liu's mother asked curiously.
"Mom, please close the door first." Xuemei reminded.
"It's locked."
"Mom, look, what is this."
"Pheasant, you caught it on your way home."
"Well, Mom, let's eat tonight, shall we? Qingya and the others have to go to school tomorrow."
"Okay, boil some water and we'll kill and eat it today. This pheasant weighs only about 7 or 8 taels, excluding the feathers. We can just eat it for our family and we won't send it to your grandparents."
…
The next day, Xuemei and Liu's mother had just returned from the mountain when their second uncle and aunt arrived.
"Little sister, where are you and Xuemei going?" asked second uncle Wang Weimin, looking at Liu's mother Xuemei's messy hair.
"We went to the mountains to pick chestnuts," replied Liu's mother.
"We just finished harvesting the village's grain yesterday and haven't had time to go up the mountain to check it out. As soon as we had some free time, we came over to say thank you to my brother-in-law and my second brother's family. Xinyan's work this time was all thanks to them."
"Okay, stop talking nonsense, little sister. This is the wheat flour your brother got from making furniture for others before the autumn harvest. I brought it specially for you. Xuemei can cook pasta." Second aunt Zhang Zhaodi interrupted.
"Okay, then you can have lunch at my place and let Xuemei make you some dumpling soup."
"That's great! Little sister, can you pack up and take us to your brother-in-law's second brother's house? Your second brother and I brought a pound of White Rabbit milk candy, a pound of biscuits, two cans of oranges, a bottle of wine, and two packs of Pegasus cigarettes. Are these enough?" said the second aunt.
"Second sister-in-law, this is too much, right? These add up to five or six dollars more."
"Little sister, it's okay if you bring more. Your second brother and I are worried that if we don't bring enough, people will say that your family is stingy, and it will be difficult for you to live like this in the future. Besides, your second brother Jiaming didn't tell us this time, and we didn't even know about this until the textile factory hired workers."
"Okay, second sister-in-law will do as you say and take them all!" Liu's mother thought about it and agreed.
…
After Liu's mother took Wang Weimin and his wife to the old house, Xuemei put the 40 kilograms of chestnuts that she and Liu's mother had picked in the morning into a winnowing basket to dry, and then took out dozens of kilograms of chestnut balls from the space in the main room, and Xuemei sat on a low stool and started peeling them.
It was almost midnight when Liu's mother and family returned, and Liu's father was almost done with work. Xuemei went to the yard, picked some tomatoes and a few green peppers, pulled a stalk of garlic, and went to the kitchen to light the fire. After the water boiled, she blanched the tomatoes, peeled them, and broke them into small pieces. She also sliced the green onions and diced the green peppers.
Then Xuemei started making dough balls. She put more than a pound of white flour into a wooden basin, added an appropriate amount of water, and stirred it constantly with chopsticks. When adding water, pay attention to adding it drop by drop as much as possible, and make the water drops larger to make dough balls.
Then put some oil in the pot, wait until the pot is 70% to 80% hot, add the chopped onions and tomatoes, stir-fry to remove the moisture in the tomatoes, then add appropriate amount of water and boil (the Liu family likes to drink soup, so they usually add a little more water), and after boiling over high heat, add Xuemei's noodles in small amounts in batches, stirring while adding to prevent sticking and sticking to the pot.
After all the dough balls are put in, continue to boil over high heat for 1-2 minutes. While it is boiling, add three egg flowers. Finally, add salt and green pepper, stir with a spatula. Add a few drops of sesame oil before serving. It is very delicious.
Xuemei had just finished serving the dumpling soup when Liu's father came back. Liu's father and his colleagues started repairing the Youth League Institute from that day.
"I'm not saying this, but Xuemei's dumpling soup is really delicious." Wang Weimin said while drinking the dumpling soup.
"Uncle, if it tastes good, eat more. I made a big pot today," Xuemei said generously.
"Your second uncle is already drinking his third bowl. It's not the busy farming season now, so why is he drinking so much?" Zhang Zhaodi said.
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