The vine beans, green beans, and cucumbers are hanging heavily on the trellis, a sight that brings satisfaction. It's the joy of being a farmer; anyone who grows vegetables knows!
Looks like I need to find some time to harvest the vegetables. I need to dry some and pickle some, otherwise they'll grow too old and we won't be able to finish them.
Then I picked up a shovel and collected the chicken and duck droppings, gathered them all into a plastic bucket, opened the septic tank lid, poured them in, and let them ferment naturally.
After covering the pot with the lid, I took the basket and tools and went back to the front yard to cook.
I went into the kitchen, put down the vegetable basket, went back inside to change my shoes, washed my hands, and started making dinner: a cucumber salad with dried shrimp, a stir-fried tomato and egg dish, a pancake made with agastache leaves, and a dumpling soup with seaweed, dried shrimp, and cilantro.
Dinner was quite plentiful, so I called my son to eat. Yu Yang washed his hands and ran into the kitchen, saying, "Mom, let me help you with the chores."
"Okay, son, help me bring the cucumbers to the table and get two pairs of chopsticks. I'll get the rest of the food, it's a bit hot." With Yu Yang's help, the mother and son quickly started eating.
The food on the table was all Yu Yang's favorite. "Mom, your cooking is so delicious, I want to eat more!"
"Eat until you're full, but don't overeat, even if it's delicious. Remember this: whether you're at home or out, don't eat too fast or too much, or your stomach can't handle it. It's bad for your stomach in the long run. Eat until you're about 80-90% full. And don't run or jump around after eating, or you'll vomit."
Chen Hong taught her children: "When eating at the table, you can only take food from the plate in front of you. You can't stand up and reach for other people's plates. When taking food, you can only take it from one side of the plate. You can't rummage through the plate and pick at it. That's a bad habit of being ill-mannered, and people will laugh at you."
"Mom, I know. I can't smack my lips or lick my chopsticks. Once, Grandpa smacked his lips during the National Day holiday, and my uncle scolded him. I heard it."
“My son is so smart, he remembered it after hearing it only once. Look at Grandpa Guoqing, he’s such a grown man and he still gets scolded, how embarrassing! So we shouldn’t learn these bad habits, we should learn to be civilized and polite, then others will like you and good kids will play with you,” Chen Hong said to Yang.
“Yes, all my good friends are good kids.” Yu Yang wholeheartedly agreed.
The mother and son chatted as they ate. After finishing their meal, Chen Hong cleared the table, washed the dishes, and tidied up the kitchen. When she returned to her room, she saw her son carefully wiping the table. "Mom, sit down and rest. I can do it."
Chen Hong sat on the sofa, watching her son wipe the table and floor, and said with a smile, "My son is so good. He's so young, yet he already knows how to be filial to his mother and help her with chores."
Yu Yang said proudly, "Who told me to be your little darling! Mom, look how clean it is, wow, it's all shiny!"
Chen Hong laughed heartily: "My son is such a whiz at housework! I've decided to reward you with a sunny-side-up egg tomorrow morning!"
"Thank you, Mom. I will work harder in the future," Yu Yang quickly expressed his determination.
After dinner, Chen Hong watched TV with her son for a while. The weather forecast predicted moderate to heavy rain from tonight to tomorrow. Chen Hong tidied up the front and back yards, covered the chicken and duck sheds, and then used a shovel to clean and check the drainage ditches under the yard wall, so that even if it rained heavily, the yard wouldn't flood.
After closing and locking the courtyard gate and bolting the house door, Chen Hong arranged for her son to wash up and go to bed. She then laid a soft mattress on the bedroom floor, changed into comfortable loungewear, and practiced yoga for 30 minutes.
If Chen Hong hadn't met Yang Xiaomei today and started talking about breast enhancement, she would have forgotten about her beloved yoga practice.
When I was young, I really enjoyed exercising. Although I never learned any systematic fighting or martial arts, I was in very good physical condition.
Because she was lively and active from a young age, she participated in many group fights with her friends and was once a passionate girl influenced by Hong Kong gangsters.
Thinking back to her previous life when her body was weak and sickly, Chen Hong decided that she must cherish her body in this life and never stop exercising.
Around 2 a.m., there was thunder and lightning outside the window, and the wind made the leaves rustle. The sound of raindrops pattering in the night was like being hit in my ear.
The wind blew, and raindrops pattered against the windowpane. The son turned over restlessly in his sleep, touched his mother with his eyes closed, and then fell asleep again with peace of mind.
Chen Hong gently patted her son, covered him with the towel, and listened quietly to the sound of the rain outside. The wind had stopped, but the rain was pouring down, and the air was filled with the fishy smell of water and soil.
The strong wind just now must have blown down so many fruits. Luckily, we only grow one type of fruit, and we've already harvested it all. Farmers really have it tough!
Chen Hong sighed inwardly. She didn't know how long the rain would last tomorrow; judging by the amount of rain, it seemed impossible for anyone to go into the fields for the time being. Fortunately, there wasn't much work to be done in the fields anyway.
After the rain, the mushrooms in the mountains should be sprouting. We'll go into the mountains to pick some mushrooms when the roads are clear; we haven't picked any this year. Chen Hong fell asleep, dreaming that she was carrying a basket on her back and running through the green forest, where the grass was covered with patches of all kinds of mushrooms.
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