Chapter 3 3

The rice was not yet cooked, so she poured the meat soup into a porcelain bowl, found a brush, and went to the pond at the door to scrub the crayfish.

While scrubbing, she saw more crayfish crawling out from the cracks in the rocks by the pond, so she caught them and scrubbed them together.

While scrubbing, she caught seven or eight more.

There were so many crayfish at that time that you could fill a bucket with just a handful. There were crayfish everywhere in the pond and the ditch, and few people ate them. Some naughty little boys would catch crayfish and play with them like fighting chickens, and throw them into the ditch or on the roadside when they died. When

Jiang's mother came out of the shower, Jiang Xi hadn't finished washing the crayfish yet. Seeing that she was not at home, she started to yell again: "Where is he? I asked you to bring a meal, but the meal is still here and he is gone!" She

walked to the door and saw Jiang Xi washing crayfish by the pond. She shouted: "You are not doing your job, but doing this kind of thing. It's a waste of oil and there is no meat. By the time you bring your dad a meal, it will be dark!" Jiang Xi

ignored her words, washed the crayfish, and went to the well to rinse the lobster. She also pulled out the shrimp intestines and cut off the dirt on the shrimp head, leaving the shrimp roe.

During the double robbery, parents had a lot of work and were really tired.

The dishes cooked by Jiang's mother and grandfather were terrible, because they were reluctant to use oil, so they mostly boiled the food. In order to save trouble, her grandfather especially liked to cook a big mixed stew, that is, no matter what kind of vegetables, no matter whether they were meat or vegetables, no matter whether they were put in first or later, they were all stewed in one pot.

Thinking of her grandfather, she hadn't seen him for many years.

Jiang Xi moved quickly, washed the crayfish, picked a few peppers, eggplants, cucumbers in the yard, and pulled a few garlics.

They were rich in ginger here, and for farmers, things like green onions, ginger, garlic, bay leaves, and cinnamon were the most abundant. Originally, they were worried that there was no soy sauce at home, but they didn't expect that they even had thirteen spices.

After beating the cucumber and stir-frying the eggplant, the spicy crayfish was finally served.

The spicy aroma was pungent and kept drilling into Jiang's mother's nose. After taking a shower, Jiang's mother was watching TV in the room. When she smelled the aroma, she couldn't help but come to the kitchen to take a look and said with disdain, "You've poured out all the oil to cook this thing!"

The oil was all rapeseed grown by themselves and squeezed at the grain and oil station. There was no shortage of oil, but Jiang's mother and her family had come from difficult times and were used to saving money. Even twenty years later, Jiang's mother still had the habit of not adding oil and said that it was good for health.

The aroma was so tempting that Jiang's mother softened her tone and said, "If you had cooked the food earlier, how could I say anything to you? You must be like a spinning top, and I will whip you to move." She added, "With so much oil, even frying the soles of shoes will be delicious."

She had already taken a shower and changed into clean clothes, so she would not do anything else. She just waited until the meal was over and watched TV for a while before going to bed.

Jiang Xi ignored Jiang's mother's venomous tongue and poured a few cucumbers cut into strips into the cooked lobsters and mixed them a few times, then poured in garlic leaves, and then divided the lobsters into two portions and put them in a large porcelain bowl.

The cucumbers were green and crisp, and the lobsters were red and tempting.

At this time, the rice in the big pot was cooked. Jiang Xing filled a pottery basin with rice and put it into a bamboo basket. He also put half of the cooked meat soup, eggplant, cucumber, and crayfish into the basket and took it to the grandfather and Jiang's father who were threshing rice in the rice field.

Fearing that the weather would change, it rained heavily before the rice was dried. Everyone worked day and night while the weather was clear.

When Jiang Xing arrived at the rice field, Grandpa Jiang was still threshing rice in the rice field with the old cow and the stone roller.

Next to them were two people threshing rice with threshers, and another was threshing rice by rolling the tractor back and forth on the rice. The thresher was suitable for families with many people. This year Jiang Song and Jiang Bai did not come back, so Grandpa Jiang was old, so he led the old cow and dragged the stone roller to roll slowly, without any effort. When

Jiang Xiao arrived, he shouted, "Grandpa! It's time to eat!"

Grandpa led the cow in a circle, and smiled at her when he heard the voice, and the wrinkles on his face stretched out like a chrysanthemum.

Jiang Xiao smiled and her nose suddenly felt sore.

"Grandpa! It's time to eat!" Jiang Xiao shouted loudly.

There were many people on the rice field, and they turned their heads to look at Jiang Xiao when they heard the voice. At first glance, they thought they saw a young man.

Even with the outdoor lights, the light was still dim in the evening.

Some people with poor eyesight even shouted to Grandpa Jiang: "Old Fa Cai, your second grandson is back!"

Grandpa Jiang was also stunned when he saw Jiang Xi's hair. He stopped the cow beside the straw pile to eat grass, walked over to look at Jiang Xi's hair, and frowned: "Did your mother beat you again?"

He was angry and distressed, and his hands were shaking, "Your mother beat you, didn't you run away? You just stood there and let her beat you? You ran away!"

Jiang Xi was raised by Grandpa Jiang since she was a child. He took her everywhere and let her ride on his neck.

It was not until Jiang Xi was six or seven years old and could no longer carry her that he stopped carrying her.

The neighbors around teased Jiang Xi, saying that she grew up riding on Grandpa Jiang's neck.

Because of Jiang Xi, Grandpa Jiang had no idea how many times he had quarreled with Jiang's father and mother in a year. It was either because Jiang's mother didn't allow Jiang Xi to study, or because Jiang's mother beat and scolded Jiang Xi.

"It's okay." She shook her messy short hair and touched her swollen face: "I ran away, and she caught me when I went home to read." She looked up and smiled at Grandpa: "I was confused while reading."

Grandpa Jiang burst into tears.

Grandpa was sixty years old, with gray hair, thin and stout.

Because Jiang's mother didn't want her to study, the elderly Grandpa went to the mountains to get a job as a forest ranger, earning 80 yuan a month to support her studies and living expenses.

The most profound image in her memory is the back of her grandfather leaving home and slowly walking up the mountain.

Grandpa Jiang said, "It will be fine if you go to high school, live in the dormitory, and separate from each other!"

Her family had been separated a long time ago. Grandma was given to her uncle, who took care of her in her old age, and Grandpa was given to their family, who was taken care of by Jiang's father.

Grandpa Jiang was in poor health and was so thin that he was just a bag of bones.

In her memory, Grandpa had always been so thin.

Jiang Xi burst into tears and responded with a nasal voice, "Yeah."

She also knew that it would be fine when she went to high school and separated from each other.

She smiled and said, "When I get into college, I will bring Grandpa to the big city. Grandpa will live with me and I will take care of him when he is old!" She smiled brightly, "I won't come back."

Grandpa Jiang also smiled happily. He wanted his granddaughter to leave this poor little village and go to the big city.

"Okay, okay." He said, and wiped his eyes and nose with his rough big hands: "I don't want you to take care of me, as long as you are well."

Thinking of his granddaughter getting into college and going to a big city, the old man was so happy.

Jiang Xixianbao took out the dishes from the basket as usual: "Come and taste my cooking to see if it's delicious!"

Grandpa Jiang took a big bite with chopsticks: "Delicious, my granddaughter cooks the best!"

The grandfather and grandson sat under the straw pile, with the gray sunset behind them, smiling like two big fools.

It was not until dark that Jiang's father, who had just finished harvesting rice, rushed to the rice field with the rice that had been dried on the ridge of the field. After seeing the food, he said nothing, picked up the big porcelain bowl and started eating.

While eating, she kept praising him: "Today's dishes are delicious."

He was in his prime and ate very quickly with a big appetite. He could eat a whole bowl as big as a pot in one meal.

When they finished eating, she took the empty bowls and chopsticks back.

When she got home, all the dishes she left had been eaten, and only the empty bowls and chopsticks were left on the table in a mess, waiting for her to wash them.

Seeing this scene, she was surprisingly calm and didn't feel surprised at all.

In the eyes of adults, including her brothers, all of this was what she should do.

I remember one time she didn't want to wash the dishes, and her brother didn't want to wash them either, so she and her brother quarreled, and the eldest brother blurted out: "Aren't girls supposed to do these things?"

Since then, she has never washed dishes again.

It's not so absolute. When she lived alone, she still washed the dishes. Later, when she had a dishwasher, she was even more reluctant to do these things.

Her mother and all her relatives said she was lazy when they saw her. She admitted, "Yes, I am lazy. You are diligent and you can do it."

Since she did nothing, everyone found that they could not rely on her, so they stopped relying on her.

Whether it was during festivals, relatives and friends' weddings, or family gatherings, if there was housework to be done, no one would expect her to do it.

Anyway, she would not do it even if you called her. If she did, she would make a mess. She would either break the plates or the bowls, or she would mistake sugar for salt. A dish of food was so sweet that it was impossible to eat it, but she would eat it with relish.

She is also very enthusiastic. As long as you call her, she will come over to "help" very enthusiastically.

Later, when someone asked her to do housework, others would say, "Okay, okay, put it there, I'll do it. How can she, a college student, do these things?"

Everyone tacitly accepted that she couldn't do it.

They seemed to have forgotten that these were things she had been doing since she was a child.

She opened the cupboards, and the meat soup she had left in the corner of the cupboard the previous night was still there. In addition to meat, there were also vegetables in the meat soup.

She served the rice, sat in the dark kitchen, ate the warm meat soup, and after dinner, she washed up and went to bed.

Before going to bed, she lay in the shabby mosquito net, looking at the dark room, still thinking, this might be a dream. When she wakes up, will she still be the most promising Jiang Chu in the eyes of others?

Unfortunately, there was no Jiang Chu when she woke up. There was only a hard slap from Jiang's mother on the thigh, which woke her up. She shouted angrily: "What are you doing?"

After all, Jiang's mother had been a leader for many years. She shrank back in guilt when she was yelled at, and then she was overwhelmed by even greater anger. She reached out to pull Jiang's ear: "Why are you still asking me what I do? You are such a big girl, but you don't even wash the dishes at home. You put them on the table and wait for me to wash them, right? I should be a slave to your family, right? I work from morning to night all day, and I only ask you to wash the dishes, but you don't even wash them. You are so lazy..."

Jiang's mother pulled her hair and ears as she spoke.

Jiang Xi was trapped in the mosquito net, unable to escape, and could only use her hands to block the attack. However, she was only 13 years old, so how could she be a match for Jiang's mother, who had been doing farm work for many years and was tall and strong?

She was so angry that she kicked Jiang's mother away, tore open the mosquito net and ran off the bed, picked up the scythe and raised it to Jiang's mother: "At worst, I will die with you today, and I will give you this life!"