In the kitchen of the side house, Ruan Jie was sitting behind the stove, making a fire.
Liu Xinghua took a small piece of lean meat, washed it with water and put it on the chopping board.
Use a knife to cut the lean meat into thin slices. Place the slices in a bowl, add pepper, soy sauce and other seasonings and set aside to marinate.
The garlic cloves are flattened into pieces under the knife, and then simply chopped a few times to become minced garlic.
Put the minced garlic aside and cut a handful of green onions, and finally a handful of bright red dried chilies.
Heat the pan and pour in oil. Pour dried chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns and minced garlic into the hot oil. A sizzling sound will be heard, creating a spicy and fragrant aroma.
Homemade pickled bean paste and chilies are put into the pan and stir-fried to produce red oil. Half a basin of water is added and a layer of bright red floats up.
Ruan Jie took a deep breath behind the stove and said with emotion: "It's so nice to celebrate the New Year."
This is what it means to invite a tailor to your home to make clothes so that you can have two meals of meat a day.
The taste of the twice-cooked pork I had at noon is still lingering on the tip of my tongue, and now I can eat the boiled pork slices again.
Liu Xinghua poured the washed green vegetables, bean sprouts and bean curd skin into the pot and stirred it with a spoon. "I didn't put much meat in this time. Everyone can have a little taste. The main thing is to eat the vegetables."
Ruan Jie smiled and said, "That tastes good enough."
The water in the pot began to boil. Liu Xinghua added salt, MSG and pepper to the pot. When the vegetables were almost cooked, she took them out and placed them in a large deep white porcelain bowl. Then she added the meat slices into the pot, blanched them slightly, and took them out directly to place on the vegetables.
The thin slices of meat are boiled until they are white, tender and springy. The bright red soup is poured on top, and then a handful of dried chilies, chopped onions and minced garlic are added. A little hot oil is poured on top, and the aroma spreads directly over the surface.
Liu Xinghua placed the large porcelain bowl in the middle of the table and fried a few simple vegetarian dishes. After placing all on the table, she asked Ruan Jie to invite the old tailor to come for dinner. When the old tailor was called, Ruan Xi, Ruan Cuizhi, Ruan Zhigao and Ruan Changsheng naturally came as well.
Seven people sat down at the table in order of age, making it very crowded.
The old tailor was the most comfortable. He sat alone on one side of the table without anyone pushing against him.
He was making clothes for Ruan Xi's family today, so naturally he stayed at her house to eat and sleep.
He doesn't like to socialize with others, especially when eating.
They sat down at the table one after another, and everyone's attention was on the food, not thinking about anything else for the time being.
After the old tailor and Ruan Zhigao took a bite of the meat, Ruan Changsheng also reached out his chopsticks to pick up some meat.
The tender and smooth meat slices are sprinkled with a little green onion and minced garlic. It tastes spicy at first, and then the soft and tender meat aroma comes out when you chew it.
Ruan Changsheng ate and laughed, saying in a useless manner: "It's delicious."
The others also picked up some meat with their chopsticks, leaving the aroma on their tongues, and then started to eat the vegetables below.
After eating the meat, Ruan Changsheng had other thoughts. He looked at Ruan Xi and said, "Niece, tell Uncle Wu how you got the idea. You got the idea so fast that you made the clothes so easily."
Ruan Xi smiled and watched him make up a story: "One day I had a dream. I dreamed of an old man with a white beard. He gave me a needle and said that as long as I had that needle, I could make the most beautiful clothes in the world..."
Before she could finish, Ruan Changsheng rolled his eyes at her and asked, "How old do you think I am?"
Seeing him talking like this, everyone in the family laughed, and Ruan Xi smiled even more, "Why would I lie to you? It's true."
Ruan Changsheng didn't bother to pay attention to her words, and said: "It's quite good, study hard and work hard."
After that, he went to tease the old tailor again, "Uncle Song, is my niece okay?"
The old tailor looked at him and said, "I am much better than you."
The smile on Ruan Changsheng’s face froze instantly—Hey, this old man!
Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie looked at his expression and couldn't help but burst out laughing.
As a person living on Fengming Mountain, anyone’s life would be incomplete if he or she has not been ridiculed by the old tailor.
Because the old tailor needed to stay overnight, Liu Xinghua squeezed into Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie's bed at night and slept on the same bed with Ruan Cuizhi. The old tailor naturally slept in her room, together with Ruan Zhigao.
The four of them were sleeping so tightly together that Ruan Xi was pressed against the wall.
But he had slept in the worst places before, so the current difficulty was nothing to Ruan Xi.
She tilted her head, her shoulders against Ruan Jie's, their heads leaning against each other.
Liu Xinghua and Ruan Cuizhi were also standing shoulder to shoulder at the other end.
It was rare for the mother and daughter to sleep together, and the quiet night was the best time to chat. Liu Xinghua spoke to Ruan Cuizhi in a low voice and asked her, "You went to the town to buy New Year's goods the other day. Did you see the four children?"
Ruan Cuizhi took a deep breath, and the sound of her breathing was unusually clear in the quiet environment.
When she relaxed, she said, "Mom, let's not talk about it."
Liu Xinghua tilted her head to look at her, "Is it Liu Xiong who doesn't allow you to see him? Or is it that they themselves don't want to see you?"
Ruan Cuizhi blinked and was silent for a moment, then said, "I did see them, but they didn't want the things I bought. They just asked me if I was going back. I said I wouldn't go back, so Dani left with her brothers and sisters."
After hearing this, Liu Xinghua was silent for a moment, and then said, "Four heartless people."
Ruan Cuizhi breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It's true that I don't want them anymore."
Liu Xinghua was unhappy, "What do you mean you don't want them anymore? Why do you go to see them if you don't want them anymore? You miss them every day at home, worried that they don't have enough to eat or wear warm clothes. But they only care about whether you come back and whether you can be their mother. Are they reluctant to leave you? They want you to go back and cook and wash clothes for them! If you don't go back, you are not their mother? You have worked so hard to give birth to them for so many years, and it was all in vain?"
Ruan Cuizhi took a deep breath and said, "Forget it."
Liu Xinghua said in a hard and aggressive tone, "Forget it then. Don't go back to see them in the future. Didn't you say you don't want them anymore? Then really don't want them anymore. Next time you go to see them, they might not even see you."
Ruan Cuizhi blinked and stopped talking, feeling that her life was a mess.
I thought I would have a happy and fulfilling life, but now I have lost my home and my children, and have nothing.
But then I thought again, it doesn’t make sense. She still has parents, a younger brother, and two lovely nieces.
She took another deep breath, and when she heard Liu Xinghua fall asleep beside her, she closed her eyes and fell asleep too.
Making clothes during the New Year is different from making clothes on other days. If you normally make clothes for someone else, you can take your time and not be in a hurry. But there is a lot of housework to do during the New Year, so we have to rush to do it, with no time to rest except for eating, sleeping and going to the toilet.
The next day, Ruan Xi and the old tailor made clothes for Ruan Changgui's family of four.
After receiving the wages, I found someone to move the sewing machine away and went to the next house without stopping.
Ruan Xi followed the old tailor to work from house to house, so naturally she never went home. She ate and drank at the homes of the people who made clothes for her. But because it was close, she would go home to sleep after finishing work at night.
After finishing the work in their village, she and the old tailor went to the next village together.
So for the next period of time, you could always see this scene on a mountain road somewhere in Fengming Mountain - two men were carrying a sedan chair, and on the sedan chair sat an old man smoking a pipe. A little girl followed the sedan chair. She was wearing a flowery cotton jacket and a red scarf. The scarf covered half of her face, revealing a pair of lively eyes. Further back were two men carrying sewing machines.
It was also during this period that Ruan Xi followed the old tailor to visit all the villages on Fengming Mountain and ate food at many families. Families with better conditions can eat more meat, and families with poorer conditions can eat a few eggs.
Of course, there are families that are so poor that they cannot afford to make clothes. Most of the time, that is because they have too many children and there are too many people in the family.
Ruan Xi showed up on Fengming Mountain, and now everyone affectionately calls her "Little Tailor".
On the afternoon before New Year's Eve, Ruan Xi returned home with her schoolbag on her back, feeling exhausted. But she was in a good mood. She called Liu Xinghua into the house and took out a handful of money from her schoolbag and stuffed it into her.
This year, when the old tailor went out to make clothes, he didn't do much, just drew some patterns on paper. Most of the rest of the work was done by Ruan Xi, and every time she changed villages, she had to walk on mountain roads, so it was quite hard.
Because she took on most of the hard work, the old tailor gave her more money than before.
Liu Xinghua saw the money and widened her eyes and whispered, "You make so much?"
Ruan Xi nodded, "I'll keep it for you."
Liu Xinghua smiled and began to count the money. "I'll keep it for you. It will be your dowry from now on."
Ruan Xi smiled and said, "Let Uncle Wu get married first."
Liu Xinghua said, "Nonsense, how can an uncle use the money earned by his niece to get married?"
Ruan Xi didn't say anything more about this. She leaned against Liu Xinghua and said softly, "I'm another year older."
After tomorrow, she will be fifteen years old.
On the first day of the new year, fifteen-year-old Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie went to visit each family to wish them a happy new year.
Ruan Xi thought that the old tailor would be lonely spending the New Year alone, with no one to accompany him all day on New Year's Eve, so she planned to go to him first to wish him a happy new year, and then come back to Ling Yao's house to wish them all a happy new year.
So after breakfast on the morning of the first day of the new year, she took the food and took Ruan Jie to Jinguan Village first.
The two of them were not in a hurry. They walked leisurely on the mountain path wearing the new clothes they had made before the New Year.
When we arrived at the old tailor's house, the sun was already high in the sky, but the house was still closed.
Ruan Xi stood outside the courtyard gate, raised his hand and knocked on the door a few times, and called inside: "Master, I'm here to wish you a happy new year."
After she called out, there was no response from inside, so she continued to knock on the door and call out a few more times.
This time there was some movement inside. Da Mi jumped onto the wall and meowed a few times at Ruan Xi.
Seeing that the old tailor hadn't responded, Ruan Jie speculated, "Did he go out?"
After all, the most important thing during the Chinese New Year is eating, drinking and visiting relatives and friends. Maybe the old tailor has also gone to someone else's house.
Ruan Xi thought about it and felt that this was possible, so he put down his hand that was knocking on the door and planned to go back to the village first and come back in the afternoon.
But when she turned around and prepared to leave, she suddenly realized something was wrong.
It’s not that she thought the old tailor was a loner and had no friends or relatives, but she found that the door of the old tailor’s house was not locked. If the door isn't locked from the outside but can't be opened, it must be bolted from the inside.
So, the old tailor must be at home.
But why didn't you come to open the door at home?
It would be unlikely if the old tailor was still sleeping.
The elderly generally sleep for very short periods of time and usually wake up very early in the morning.
The sun has risen to this height. If he hasn't risen yet, there must be something wrong.
Thinking of this, Ruan Xi immediately turned back and continued to knock on the door and call a few more times.
Ruan Jie didn't understand what she meant, so she asked curiously, "Aren't you going back?"
Ruan Xi knocked on the door and said to her, "He must be at home."
After knocking for a while, no one answered and no one came to open the door. Ruan Xi decisively turned around and stuffed the food in his hand to Ruan Jie, then found a stone of suitable size nearby, moved it to the outside of the courtyard wall, and climbed over the wall by stepping on the stone.
After jumping off the courtyard wall, she immediately opened the gate and turned to go into the main house.
There was no one in the main room or the side rooms. There was a sewing machine and some clothes and fabrics in the main room.
Ruan Xi was about to turn around and leave when she heard Ruan Jie shout, "Sister, come quickly!"
Ruan Jie's voice came from the kitchen next door, and Ruan Xi hurried out of the main room and ran to the kitchen.
When he went to the kitchen, he saw the old tailor had fallen beside the water tank and was lying on the ground motionless, gasping for breath with his mouth open.
Seeing this scene, Ruan Xi's nerves suddenly tensed up, and he quickly bent down and called Ruan Jie: "Help him up quickly."
Ruan Jie hurriedly put the food in her hand on the stove and went over to help Ruan Xi lift the old tailor up from the ground. The old tailor was a man after all, and even though he was thin, he was quite heavy. Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie spent half a day trying to figure it out.
After stumbling over and helping the old tailor to lie on the bed in the main room, Ruan Xi called Ruan Jie again, "I'll stay here and look after him. Go to the stilt house and find Ling Yao's mother and ask her to come over quickly."
Ruan Jie responded and turned around and ran towards Fengyan Village.
When she got tired of running, she would walk a few steps, rest, and then continue running. When she ran to the Ling family's stilt house, she happened to see Zhou Xueyun coming out of the house, so she ran up to her and said breathlessly, "Doctor Zhou, please go to Jinguan Village."
Zhou Xueyun followed Ruan Jie and trotted all the way to Jinguan Village.
Ling Yao trotted behind them, carrying Zhou Xueyun's medicine box on his back.
Zhou Xueyun asked Ruan Jie with a breath in her mouth: "Did you fall down at home? Did you hit anything? Did you pass out?"
Ruan Jie shook her head and said, "She didn't faint. She can still blink and breathe, but she seems unable to speak."
Zhou Xueyun didn't ask any more questions and followed Ruan Jie all the way to the old tailor's house.
The three of them entered the yard and went to the main house, and saw Ruan Xi sitting in front of the old tailor's bed.
Zhou Xueyun went into the room and asked Ruan Xi directly: "How is it now?"
Ruan Xi stood up from the stool, "I gave him some warm water, and he seems to be better."
Zhou Xueyun went straight up to the old tailor to check on him. After the examination, she said, "Your ribs are injured, but I'm not sure of the extent of the injury. If your bones are injured, you need to stay in bed. There is some blood-activating and blood-stasis-removing medicine in the medicine box."
Ruan Xi looked at the old tailor and asked, "How do you feel now?"
The old tailor felt a little tight in his chest, but he shook his head and said in a weak voice, "It's okay."
Even if something happened, there was nothing that could be done. He was old and his bones were brittle. This was not something that was unexpected. Although Zhou Xueyun can treat patients, her conditions are limited and she can only treat minor injuries and illnesses.
If he went to the hospital for a serious check-up, he would have to be carried out of the mountain, which was not worth it. And even if we go down the mountain to the town, the medical conditions at the clinic there are very poor. What can they find out?
At his age, bumps and bruises are normal and no one will bother with it.
Seeing him like this, Ruan Xi gave him some blood-activating and blood-stasis-removing medicine.
After feeding him, they let him lie down to rest. Ruan Xi, Zhou Xueyun, Ruan Jie and Ling Yao went to the yard.
Ruan Xi asked Zhou Xueyun: "What will happen if it is serious?"
Zhou Xueyun said: "The most serious injury is the internal organs."
She didn't say the following words. The internal organs were damaged and there were no conditions for treatment, so this was a natural result.
But she quickly added: "But he shouldn't be that serious."
After all, he just slipped and fell, which might cause broken ribs, but it shouldn't damage his internal organs. And judging from his condition just now, it wasn't that bad.
Ruan Xi took a deep breath and said, "Then you can only rest and let the bones heal on their own."
For people in the mountains, it is almost impossible to go to big cities to see a doctor. There is not much point in going out of the mountains to the local town or county for treatment, as the medical conditions in the town and county are very poor and cannot provide any cure.
Zhou Xueyun nodded and said, "It's okay. Just apply a hot towel on him. Eat light food that is easy to digest. He is old, and it will take a very long time for his bones to grow and heal."
Ruan Xi nodded at her and hurriedly took out money from her pocket to give her the money for the medicine.
Zhou Xueyun naturally did not take the money. When she left, she asked Ling Yao: "Yaoyao, are you going back?"
Ling Yao directly handed the medicine box to Zhou Xueyun and said to her: "I'll stay here for a while."
Zhou Xueyun knew that he was going to stay, so she left with the medicine box on her back.
The old tailor was lying in the house to rest. Ruan Xi, Ruan Jie and Ling Yao were afraid of disturbing him, so they sat in the yard to bask in the sun.
Ruan Xi was lying on the rocking chair like an old grandmother, while Ruan Jie and Ling Yao were sitting on the benches next to them. In front of the three of them was a taller stool with a white porcelain plate on it filled with melon seeds and peanuts.
For half a day in the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the three of them just basked in the sun, cracked melon seeds, ate peanuts and chatted.
Every once in a while, Ruan Xi would stand up from the rocking chair and go into the house to see if the old tailor was sleeping. If he is not sleeping, ask him if he needs anything, such as a drink of water or something to eat.
The old tailor said he wanted to go to the toilet, so Ruan Xi and Ling Yao carefully helped him up and out.
Because the injured parts were only the bones in the upper body, the legs and feet were not affected. The old tailor was very careful when getting out of bed, not allowing his upper body to make any large movements. He endured the pain in his chest and was able to go to the toilet.
After going to the toilet, he still lay there, groaning a few times when the pain was severe.
After resting and regaining some energy, he said in a weak voice, "I'm afraid this year won't be smooth."
It was only the first day of the new year, and he fell and injured his bones when he got up in the morning. It didn't feel like a good sign. I haven't even started to experience the new year, but I'm already bedridden.
Ruan Xi was not superstitious but didn't like to hear this either, so he just said, "Master, superstition is not popular these days."
The old tailor snorted twice, "I'm already lying here, who can catch me and criticize me?"
Seeing how he spoke, Ruan Xi felt that his injury was probably not serious.
But she did not leave the tailor shop. Instead, she stayed to look after the old tailor for the whole day, until before going to bed at night. With the help of Ling Yao, she helped him wash up, then locked the door of his house and went home.
She and Ling Yao stayed in the tailor shop for the whole day, but did not let Ruan Jie stay there as well.
In order to reassure Liu Xinghua, Ruan Xi let Ruan Jie go home at noon.
There was no moon on the night of the first day of the New Year. When I came out of the old tailor's house, it was pitch dark outside.
Ruan Xi locked the gate and turned around. He blinked and found that he could not see anything, so he stretched out his feet and slowly walked forward.
Ling Yao looked at her like this, smiled and stretched out his hand to her: "Let me hold your hand."
Ruan Xi couldn't see his face clearly, so she blinked in the dark and asked, "Can you see clearly?"
Ling Yao nodded and said, "I can see a little bit."
He didn't bring a flashlight when he came, so Ruan Xi had to reach out and hold Ling Yao's hand.
Then the two of them walked back home hand in hand along the mountain road, just like they did last time when they went to the commune.
Ling Yao led Ruan Xi forward and kept reporting the road conditions to her.
Ruan Xi couldn't help laughing and felt that he was like a navigator.
But he did a really good job of guiding her, and she never encountered any setbacks along the way.
Then when the two were halfway there, they saw a circle of flashlights sweeping towards them.
Ruan Xi and Ling Yao squinted their eyes subconsciously because of the blinding light. When the light fell on the ground, they realized that the person coming was Ruan Changsheng.
Ruan Changsheng walked closer with a flashlight and saw two children holding hands at first glance.
He cleared his throat subconsciously and suddenly felt that he was not as good as this little idiot.
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