Chapter 14 Picking Chestnuts
As they were talking, Jiang Xinlan and her husband also arrived, so the four of them hurried to the bus station to catch the bus to town.
After taking the bus to the town, we changed to a ox cart and it took more than two hours to get back to Dayang Village.
"Xinbai is back? This must be the new son-in-law."
"Oh, Xinlan is back too. What's wrong? Are you missing your mother's home? Haha." A group of middle-aged ladies sewing shoe soles were sitting under a big tree at the entrance of the village. They saw Jiang Xinbai and his friends coming back and asked with a smile.
Jiang Xinlan reached out and pushed Yang Jinsheng, saying with a smile, "Jinsheng, say hello to the ladies."
Yang Jinsheng also shouted loudly: "Good morning, ladies, have you all eaten?"
"This young man is full of energy and looks healthy."
"Yes, he's tall and handsome. Xinbai has found a good husband." The ladies threw out nice words as if they were free, and Yang Jinsheng was so happy that his eyes were narrowed with smiles.
"Well, ladies, let's go back first. My parents are waiting for you." Jiang Xinbai smiled.
"Okay, you guys go back quickly. I saw your mother come to the village entrance several times." The old ladies laughed and joked.
Jiang Xinbai led Yang Jinsheng a few hundred meters further in. When they saw a familiar courtyard, they ran up to it, "Dad, Mom, I'm back."
"I heard it, I heard it. Your second sister has already come home. What are you still dawdling on the road for?" Chen Cui'e opened the gate and saw her little daughter standing at the door. She couldn't help but give her a blank look.
"Oh, isn't it because the ladies at the entrance of the village are too enthusiastic!" Jiang Xinbai said and walked into the yard by himself, forgetting about Yang Jinsheng who was left behind.
Chen Cui'e would naturally not forget her son-in-law, "Jinsheng, you must be tired, you got up so early and traveled such a long way, come in and rest for a while."
"Oh, okay, thank you, Mom. This basket contains gifts for the family, you can keep them first. And these two cloth coupons are what I saved myself, you can keep them to make a short-sleeved shirt." Yang Jinsheng said as he handed over the two colorful cloth coupons.
Chen Cui'e was carrying a heavy basket with a smile on her face, "Hey, you keep it for yourself, why give it to me? It's not easy for you to issue a ticket."
"No need, Mom. We won't make clothes for the time being. Besides, we will have more to do later." Yang Jinsheng touched his head and said with a smile.
"Hey, you," Chen Cui'e was a little embarrassed holding the cloth coupon, wanting to accept it but embarrassed to accept it. Jiang Xinbai walked forward, put his arm around my mother's shoulders and walked in, saying as he walked: "Just take it, your son-in-law is giving it to you, why are you being so polite."
Chen Cui'e thought the same thing, so she happily stuffed the two cloth coupons into her pocket. If she saved up a little more, she could buy the old man a new piece of clothing.
Wu Hehua watched her mother-in-law carrying a bamboo basket and walking towards the kitchen. She quickly followed her and said hastily, "Mom, what good things did my little sister bring back? Let me see."
Chen Cui'e had already seen the oil-paper bag soaked with blood, and smiled smugly, "You can look at it, but don't think about taking it back to your mother's house."
"Wow, this is white sugar, it weighs about one pound." Wu Hehua looked at the white granulated sugar with envy. If she could get two taels, no, at least one tael to take back to her parents' home would be nice.
At this time, Jiang Xinbai came to the kitchen and said with a smile, "Mom, Jinsheng bought a pound of white sugar and half a pound of fruit candy to sweeten the children at home. There are also two packages of snacks prepared by my mother-in-law. As for the other oil paper package, it contains the pork I just bought this morning and two pig hearts. It's hot, you should eat it as soon as possible."
Chen Cui'e put the pork and pig heart into the basin and said with a smile, "How can we eat them all? It happens that you are all here today, so I will roast both pig hearts, cut half of the meat into a big stew, and pickle the rest."
Jiang Xinbai nodded, "It's up to you." Then he took out five dollars from his pocket and handed it over, "Mom, I'll save this money for you to spend."
Chen Cui'e pushed her daughter's hand away and said, "I don't want it. You have brought so many things. Just now, Jinsheng gave me two cloth coupons worth one meter. I won't accept the money."
Wu Hehua curled her lips, saying that having money is not a fool. But as for the cloth coupons, well, she thought about it again.
"Okay, just keep it if I give it to you. I don't give it to you every time. Let's have lunch early so that we can go to the mountains earlier." Jiang Xinbai was still thinking about the chestnuts in the mountains.
"Yes, Mom, this is also my younger sister's intention, just accept it." Wu Hehua also persuaded, since it would be used on them in the end anyway, she would not suffer any loss.
Chen Cui'e nodded, "Yes, have lunch early, Hehua, go to your uncle Chen's house and exchange for a piece of tofu, and have it with a dish of braised tofu for lunch."
"Okay, I'll go right away." Wu Hehua's saliva was flowing when talking about fried tofu. It was rare that there was both meat and tofu today. It was just like Chinese New Year.
The group finished lunch quickly and the men went back to work, leaving Chen Cui'e at home to look after the children while the others went to the mountains to pick chestnuts.
Wu Hehua and Sun Ju followed quickly behind, whispering, "Sister-in-law, what do you think we should do if our second and youngest sisters have to go back to the village every year to pick chestnuts? They were originally ours, the Jiang family, but now we have to give most of them away. I just don't like it no matter how I think about it."
Sun Ju looked up at the four people walking in front of her and pursed her lips, "Sister-in-law, what do you say we should do? Can you stop them? Besides, it was my younger sister who discovered it first."
Wu Hehua was a little depressed. Her parents-in-law didn't say anything, so naturally no one listened to what she said as the eldest sister-in-law.
Jiang Xinbai hugged her second sister's arm and saw her eldest and second sisters-in-law whispering behind her. She turned her head and whispered, "Second sister, the eldest and second sisters-in-law must be talking about us going back to the village to pick chestnuts."
Zhao Yitai felt a little uneasy when he heard this, and whispered, "Why don't we go back? This is a bit embarrassing."
"Pfft, brother-in-law, you are too thin-skinned." Yang Jinsheng laughed. He had come all the way here, how could he go back empty-handed.
"That's right. No matter what they say, my parents didn't say anything. Besides, I was the first one to discover those chestnut trees." Jiang Xinbai didn't think he had gained any advantage. That was the fact.
After walking for about an hour, the group finally arrived at the hiding place of the chestnut trees.
Yang Jinsheng looked up at the tall chestnut trees and said, "These trees are really tall, and there are many chestnuts growing on them."
"That's right. There were even more last year. Stop talking and get to work. Jinsheng, you and your brother-in-law climb up the tree and knock the chestnuts down with sticks." Jiang Xinbai directed the only two men at the scene to go up the tree to work, while the others stood far away.
For a while, the only sound was "bang bang" coming from the tree. After Yang Jinsheng and Zhao Yita finished knocking down the chestnuts on this tree, they climbed up the other two trees and stopped only when they had knocked down all the chestnuts on them.
Wu Hehua and Sun Ju looked at each other and then said, "Second sister, little sister, I want to discuss something with you. There are four of you and only two of us. There are six trees here. How about we divide them?"
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