The Cai family and the Zhao family both belong to Beimutun Town. Although Beimutun is quite large and has many mountain roads, the Cai family and the Zhao family are only less than an hour's walk away. In the 1980s, country people basically traveled on foot. The original body was in good physical condition, so it was not difficult for Ling Shuang to walk such a short distance.
It was lunchtime when we arrived at Caijia Village. Smoke was rising from the chimneys of every household in the village, and there were hardly any people on the streets.
Ling Shuang followed the memory of his original body, walked through a group of low mud-brick houses, and came to the gate of his younger brother Cai Genbao's house. Cai Genbao went out to serve in the army at the age of 16 and retired and returned home after the large-scale military downsizing last year. He spent a full 14 years in the army.
Over the past fourteen years, the young man has grown into a mature and steady young man. The five-room red brick and tiled house at home was built earlier this year using his years of allowances and resettlement funds. It is now considered a landmark building in Caijia Village.
"Pa pa", Ling Shuang first patted the iron gate with his hand, and without waiting for anyone inside to respond, he pushed open the half-closed gate and entered the yard.
In the tidy courtyard, eight-year-old niece Cai Xiaotao was leading her younger sister Cai Xiaoping to wash vegetables at the faucet. When she saw her come in, she immediately stood up, shook the water off her hands, and called out obediently: "Aunt, you are here."
Ling Shuang smiled at her nieces, "Xiao Tao and Xiao Ping, you're so young and already helping out at home, that's awesome." She looked around the yard and saw no adults were around, so she asked, "Where are your grandparents and dad? Where did they go?"
Xiao Tao rarely gets praised by her aunt, and she was feeling a little embarrassed. When she saw her aunt asking about the whereabouts of the adults at home, she quickly replied, "It's our family's turn to water the fields today. Grandpa, grandma, and dad are all out in the fields."
Ling Shuang nodded, cheerfully raised the pheasant in her hand, and said to the two children, "Look what Auntie caught on the road?"
Pheasant
"Colorful Bird"
“It must be delicious”
“I can make beautiful shuttlecocks now.”
The two children's eyes lit up when they saw the pheasant in Lingshou's hands. They didn't even bother to wash the vegetables and ran to their aunt: "Aunt, did you catch this?"
"Yes, my aunt just caught it on the way here. I'll kill it and stew it for you guys, okay?"
"Aunt, let me help you kill the chicken." After saying that, Cai Xiaotao ran to the kitchen and came out with a kitchen knife and a bowl in a flash. She also took the chicken wings from her aunt.
"Wait, you really dare to kill a chicken?" Ling Shuang was suddenly overwhelmed. Is an 8-year-old child so fierce?
"Sister not only dares to kill chickens, but also fish and snakes," 5-year-old Cai Xiaoping said to her aunt, tilting her head and sucking her fingers.
"That's amazing! Our Xiaotao is really capable." Ling Shuang never hesitates to give sincere praise.
Cai Xiaotao's eyes sparkled. Her aunt had just praised her twice.
"Aunt, I can do it too. I can pluck the chicken's feathers." Cai Xiaoping was unwilling to be left behind, and she grabbed the pheasant's tail feathers and was about to pull them down.
Ling Shuang quickly stopped her little hand: "Xiao Ping is so capable, really amazing. But since we have our aunt here, you two won't have to do this for now. When I stew the chicken, I'll make you two shuttlecocks with these feathers, okay?"
"Aunt, you are so nice today. We will do it with you." Xiaoping said happily, tilting her head.
Ling Shuang smiled and nodded, took the knife from Xiao Tao's hand, and with the small bowl on the ground, she cut the pheasant's neck. The pheasant died instantly, and blood flowed from its neck into a small bowl. She took the dead pheasant and the bowl of blood and went into the kitchen to cook.
When it comes to cooking, Ling Shuang has received systematic professional training. After more than an hour, the pheasant stewed with mushrooms was cooked, and the other dishes were ready at the same time. Just as she was about to ask her niece to go to the field to call others back for dinner, she heard the voice of Grandma Cai at the gate: "Tao'er, Xiaoping, are you two boiling the pot in the kitchen? Didn't grandma tell you that you are still young and can't use fire?"
"Mom, I'm back," Ling Shuang took her two nieces out of the kitchen.
When Mrs. Cai saw her daughter coming back, she grinned with joy. Father Cai, who came in behind her, was also very happy: "Oh, my eldest daughter is back." Cai Genbao came in last, carrying three shovels: "Sister, you are back."
"Yes, Mom and Dad, Genbaoer, wash your hands quickly, we're going to eat now." She had a good impression of her original family. Perhaps the most outstanding members of the Cai and Zhao families were the original couple and their eldest son, Zhao Yongliang. Ling Shuang couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. After saying hello, she began to set the table.
Old Lady Cai washed her hands, took off her outer coat, shook it, and hung it on the clothesline in the yard. Then she entered the main room and saw a large bowl on the table filled with shiny and fragrant chicken stewed with mushrooms, golden cornmeal pancakes, steamed eggplant with mashed garlic, stir-fried cucumber slices with duck eggs and black fungus, and a dish of spicy stir-fried mushrooms and chicken offal. She couldn't help but exclaimed: "Why are there so many dishes?"
The old man followed closely behind: "My eldest daughter is very good at cooking, old lady, take out my wine and have some."
"Why are you drinking? You still have to go to the fields to work in the afternoon." Although he said that I should not drink, he walked to the front of the cupboard and took out a green wine bottle from the innermost part of the cupboard. There was still half a bottle of wine in it.
Old Man Cai was very satisfied: "This wine was brought by Taoer's uncle during the Chinese New Year. He said it was a famous wine in Beijing and it tastes good."
Ling Shuang took a quick look at the Niulanshan Erguotou. Hmm, it was indeed a famous Beijing liquor. "Dad, is this wine good? Yongqiang's dad is going to Beijing in a couple of days. I'll ask him to bring you a case then."
Mr. Cai's eyes lit up, but before he could say anything, Mrs. Cai got angry and said, "Why bring him? Why did you let him drink so much? Can't you save the money for your children's schooling? At the very least, buy my granddaughter some nice clothes. I'm not saying anything bad about you, but what about you two..."
"Mom, mom, let's eat first, let's eat first, the food will get cold soon." Ling Shuangyan saw that the old lady was about to blame her again. It was obviously the original body who did the stupid thing, but no one knew about it, so she had to take the blame and be scolded here.
Old Lady Cai snorted. Her daughter didn't come home often, so today she was just giving her some face.
Seeing his sister being scolded, Cai Genbao laughed unkindly, saying, "She deserved it." But he said, "What is my brother-in-law doing in Beijing? Why aren't Yongqiang and Yongfang here? Has Yongqiang's admission letter arrived?"
Ling Shuang glanced at his brother, and of the three nephews and nieces, he only asked the last two, "Zhao Yongliang, Zhao Yongliang, tell me, how many unpopular things have you done to deserve this kind of treatment?" "I came to see you today for something, so I didn't bring them along."
"What's the matter? Has Yongqiang's admission letter come out?" Cai Genbao took the chopsticks handed to him by his sister and placed them on the bowl, then asked about Yongqiang's schooling. "Sister, no matter what, Yongqiang must be sent to school this time. You can't delay the child. Yongfang and Yongqiang are your biological children. If you continue to be so partial to them, be careful that the child will blame you when he grows up."
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