Hua Jing led Lu Ting and the others back home. Lu Ting asked Hua Jing, "Aunt, why aren't Zhenzhen and Yanyan here?"
"Zhenzhen and her aunt are harvesting rice on the few acres of land at the foot of the mountain. They have two pigs at home. Yanyan has gone up the mountain to collect grass for the pigs. Dandan is drying the rice, and Keke is picking rice ears with her brother."
Wow, it turns out that all the children in their family went to work. Su Yan thought of Lu Ting’s two younger brothers, who were so grown up but still used bamboo poles to catch frogs.
Children from poor families have to grow up early, and no one can escape the busy farming season.
Lu Ting put all the things he brought on the table. Hua Jing took a blow kettle and poured each of them a cup of homemade herbal tea, which contained summer cypress, honeysuckle, wild chrysanthemum, dandelion and mint.
"Auntie, is there mint in your herbal tea?"
"Well, Zhenzhen picked the mint by the stream. Is Xiaoyan not allowed to drink it since she's pregnant? Oops, I forgot."
"It's okay, Auntie. It won't hurt to drink a little."
Lu Ting took Su Yan's teacup away and said, "Be good, don't drink the herbal tea. I'll go to grandpa's house later and make you some jelly."
"Jelly?"
"Grandpa said that freshly dried jelly seeds can be used to make jelly."
Hua Jing looked quietly at the nephew she had raised. Her sister had to work and left the eight-month-old child at her mother's house, and it was she who helped her mother raise the child.
Now I think about why my eldest sister’s mother-in-law didn’t help her take care of the children. It turns out that she is not her real mother-in-law.
Hua Jing glanced at Lu Ting, then at Lu Jin who was sitting on another stool. The child looked so quiet. He looked like her brother-in-law, but his personality was completely different.
"Xiao Jin is about twenty this year. When will you bring your partner to show your aunt?"
Lu Jin said shyly, "It's still early, maybe we have to wait a few more years."
"Your eldest brother is going to be a father this year. You are twenty years old and it's time for you to find a partner."
"Okay, I understand."
Seeing his brother's useless look, Lu Ting didn't have the heart to criticize him. Seeing that he was embarrassed, he quickly changed the subject.
"Aunt, we came here today to discuss something with you."
"What's up?"
"Aunt, if I find you a job, would you like to do it?"
"What job?"
"My wife is pregnant, and she might have to go to school and there's no one to take care of the child. We'd like to ask my aunt to help take care of the child for a few years. It'll cost 25 yuan a month, including food and accommodation. When Yanyan is on vacation, my aunt can go home."
"We are all family members helping you take care of the children, so why do you need money? I and your grandmother raised you and Shu'er together.
But if I leave, there will be no one to feed the pigs at home, and no one to take care of the children. Otherwise, let our Zhenzhen help you take care of the children! "
When her husband is not around, she is the head of the family. What will happen to the children if she leaves?
"Aunt, I can help you sell the two pigs before the New Year. The soap factory is expanding, and we can find a temporary job for Zhenzhen.
Yanyan, Dandan, and Keke are all over teens now, so cooking for themselves shouldn't be a problem. If my aunt is worried about Xiaorui, she can transfer him to a military primary school.
Since they are asking their aunt to help take care of the child, they naturally have to find a way to solve her family's worries.
My father helped his wife sell the recipe to the soap factory. The soap factory is now expanding its production line, so arranging a temporary worker is not a problem.
Although the initial salary is only 16 yuan a month, after working for a few years and becoming a regular employee, the salary will gradually increase.
Yanyan and the others are all grown up and don’t need to be taken care of. My aunt might be worried that when she is not at home, her youngest son Ruirui will go to the river to play with his friends.
There are two rooms in their house, so when his wife is not at home, he can sleep with his little cousin. In short, everything is done to take good care of his children.
My aunt has brought up so many children and is very experienced in childcare, so she is the most suitable person. How could they let a teenage girl help them take care of their children?
"What? You want to find a job for Zhenzhen? Xiaoting, our family built these four adobe houses last year and spent a lot of money. We don't have much money at home, so we don't have enough money to buy a job for Zhenzhen..."
"Aunt, you don't have to pay for Zhenzhen's job. It will be easier for Zhenzhen to find a partner after she has a job."
"I'll discuss this with your uncle and give you an answer in a couple of days."
"Aunt, we're playing at grandpa's house these two days. It's grandpa's birthday the day after tomorrow, so you guys should come over early. Yanyan and I are leaving first."
"Are you leaving? Have dinner first! Your uncle caught several large yellow eels last night. Yellow eels are good for replenishing blood and pregnant women."
"Thank you, auntie. Grandpa said the fish pond at the entrance to the village will be dry tomorrow. We should go get some loaches and eels tomorrow."
Hua Jing wanted to invite them to her home for a meal, but apart from eels and snails, there was nothing good to treat her nephew at home. Even though they raised two pigs, they rarely had meat throughout the year.
Lu Ting brought Su Yan and Lu Jin back. When they passed the ditch, they found Lu Yu and others wearing straw hats touching something in the ditch.
Su Yan walked over and asked, "Lu Yu, how many frogs did you catch?"
"Sister-in-law, we each caught more than a dozen frogs using earthworms, enough for two meals."
"What are you doing now?"
"We are catching snails and eels. The snails spit out mud overnight, and we can stir-fry the snail meat with leeks for lunch tomorrow."
Su Yan looked at the half-bucket of snails and said, "Fried snails are delicious too."
"What is a snail?"
In this era, some people would feed the snails to pigs, while others would pick them up and cook them, then use a needle to pick out the snail meat and stir-fry it. At that time, people in the north rarely stir-fried the snails with the shells.
"Cut off the butt of the snails, boil them in water, then remove them and wash them clean. Stir-fry them with ginger, garlic, dried chilies, and perilla for a few minutes, then simmer them in beer. When the sauce thickens, add some soy sauce and sesame oil before serving. The snails are so delicious that you can slurp them up..."
When Su Yan said this, Lu Yu's mouth watered. Is the snail really as delicious as his sister-in-law said? Grandpa has a large family, so he must touch it more.
"Sister-in-law, let me touch you a little more. You can make fried snails for us tomorrow!"
Su Yan wanted to eat fried snails and crayfish, but unfortunately there were no crayfish in the ditch.
"Okay, feel it slowly, Lu Yu, what's that on your calf?"
Lu Yu lowered his head and looked. Leeches? He was so scared that he quickly climbed out of the ditch and said, "Brother, brother, save me."
Su Yan quickly took a step back. This guy dared to catch such a big earthworm, but he was actually afraid of leeches.
Seeing that Lu Yu was about to cry, Lu Ting took out a box of matches from his pocket, lit one and squatted down. The leech automatically rolled off Lu Yu's legs when it came into contact with the fire.
Lu Yu looked at his bloody calf, then looked at the bucket in the canal and hesitated whether to go down again.
Hua Xiangnan laughed heartily while standing in the canal. "Xiaoyu, you're afraid of leeches like a girl. There are plenty of them in the fields when you're transplanting rice. It's a good thing you don't live in the countryside, otherwise you would starve to death."
Hua Xiangnan was making fun of Lu Yu, but Lu Jin, who was standing by the canal, blushed with embarrassment. It seemed that he had never done farm work in the fields.
He went to a state-owned restaurant as an apprentice. At first he was clumsy and often cut his hands. Later, when he became proficient, his biological father called him back and didn't ask him to do anything.
Let's help my uncle harvest rice tomorrow. It's grandpa's birthday the day after tomorrow, so my uncle doesn't have to work.
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