The Zhou family was busy for two days in a row. After they finished watering the plants to establish their roots, it was the day they had agreed to meet with Zhou Yumei.
Early in the morning, when Zhou Huaian was delivering goods to Ning'an, Zhou's mother and Zhao Huifang rode their bicycles to Baima Town to buy vegetables. Halfway through the ride, they met Fang Dongming.
"Mom, I've already bought the food. Please, you and my sister-in-law, please cook it." He took down the two backpacks hanging on the back seat of the car and said to Zhou's mother with a smile:
"Yumei and I have obtained our marriage certificate. My family should have hosted the dinner. I don't have a house in the village. My mother and stepfather both live in the youngest son's house. I have no choice but to trouble you."
His stepfather was a live-in, and he and his mother had two more sons. The old couple and their three brothers took turns to support them. Since he had not yet started a family, he would give them some money every year.
Zhou's mother said happily, "It's not a bother. Why don't you invite your mother and the others over to have a gathering together? She came to my house and sat for a while yesterday."
She thought Fang's mother was a good person, a reasonable person, and she never thought that her son was a public servant and disliked Yumei's second marriage. She and Dasong didn't have any requirements, as long as they treated Yumei and Xiaoxi well, they would be satisfied.
"No, we went back last night." Fang Dongming helped the two of them hang up the backpack, "Two colleagues will come with us in the afternoon."
Zhou's mother thought about his family's situation and said, "The youngest son has gone to Ning'an to deliver goods. He will pick you up in town when he comes back. Invite all the colleagues who can get along with him."
Fang Dongming said honestly: "The two who came are good friends. We will invite the others when we host the banquet."
"That's fine!" Zhou's mother turned around and pushed her bicycle. "You go back and do your thing. We'll go home first."
"Drive slowly." Fang Dongming said, then got on his bike and left.
Zhou's mother and Zhao Huifang looked at the dishes in the lunch box: chicken, duck, fish, beef, pork, and half a rack of spare ribs.
"It's the same dish I wanted to buy. It looks like Yumei went to buy it with me."
"It's a pity to lose all these chickens, ducks and fish. We already have them at home."
Zhao Huifang smiled and got on her bike, "It won't be a pity if I eat it."
Both the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law felt that this marriage was more like relatives, unlike the He family, who acted so high and proud, as if Yumei was marrying into their family and really marrying above their station.
When the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law arrived home, Yang Chunyan and her two sisters-in-law were holding hoes and wearing rain boots, preparing to go to the big pit to dig yam.
Last year, we found yam and kudzu root in the big pit, but we only dug up the big ones. Since it was cold and we had nothing to do, my sisters-in-law and I planned to dig some yam and make steamed yam cakes to eat.
Li Qiuyue saw the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law and asked in surprise: "Why did you come back so soon?"
"We met Dongming at the Fangtian fork in the road. He had bought everything, so we came back!" Zhou's mother laughed, "Where were you going?"
Yang Chunyan smiled and helped her take off the clips. "We plan to go to the big pit to dig yam. We'll come back to help you clean up later!"
Mother Zhou: "There's nothing to clean up. We can kill the chicken, duck and fish at home, cut a piece of beef into stew, and then fry and grind the steamed meat powder."
"That's right!"
The three sisters-in-law arrived at the back mountain and saw Xiao Jiuer and the old man in the medicine field. They quickly slipped over while the little guy was not paying attention.
The leaves of the shrubs and peach trees in the big pit had fallen off, and they were all bare. I stepped on the thick dead grass and fallen leaves, went down to the bottom of the pit, and walked towards the southeast where there were yams.
When they reached the bushes where Panax notoginseng grew, Yang Chunyan and her two sisters-in-law turned in to take a look at the Panax notoginseng.
The new Panax notoginseng seedlings were growing well. Wang Zhen came to tell Zhou Huaian that the Panax notoginseng that was old had a high germination rate, so they were reluctant to dig them up and sell them.
All of them were kept and the seeds were harvested. The germination rate of the Panax notoginseng seeds sown last year was quite good, and more than half of them survived after transplanting.
Most of the seeds collected this year were scattered in the big pit, and some were scattered in the Baihua forest. Next year, the Panax notoginseng seeds collected will continue to be scattered in the forest contracted by our family.
Yang Chunyan felt that when the Panax notoginseng she had sown came to be harvested, it would bring in another large sum of money.
Li Qiuyue sighed, "Chunyan, it's really worth it for your family to rent this big pit. There are valuable dendrobiums, Panax notoginseng, kudzu root, yam, and other miscellaneous herbs."
Zhang Xiuxiang smiled and said, "We also benefit from them. With so many seeds scattered in the forest, even if only three seedlings grow out of ten seeds, there will be a lot of wild Panax notoginseng growing in Baihua Forest in the future."
Yang Chunyan: "The germination rate of seeds sown in the big pit is quite good, while the germination rate in the medicinal fields on the mountain is a little lower. If we sow some seeds every year, they will only grow more and more in the future."
The three sisters-in-law went to the place where yams grew, found a few with thicker stems, cut off the vines, and dug down along the stems. A yam as thick as an arm and with bumps on it slowly emerged.
Yang Chunyan was digging the mud slowly with the medicine hoe in hand, and Li Qiuyue kept reminding her, "Be careful, don't dig it up."
Zhang Xiuxiang smiled and said, "We're not going to sell them on the street because we're afraid they won't look good."
"That's right. After digging it up and peeling the skin clean, it still needs to be rubbed into a pulp after steaming and raking."
"Having said that, it's still more comfortable to see it intact." Li Qiuyue used a shovel to dig up the mud and carefully picked the yam out of the mud.
They were more than three feet long, plump, and weighed about five or six kilograms. The three sisters-in-law dug six in a row. The big one weighed seven or eight kilograms, and the small one weighed three or four kilograms.
Zhang Xiuxiang took a look and said, "Chunyan, it's done. These weigh at least 20 to 30 kilograms. With the addition of glutinous rice flour, we can make a lot of steamed yam cakes."
"Okay, fill the hole back and let's go up the mountain."
The three of them returned home carrying the yams. Zhou's mother and Zhao Huifang had already cleaned the chickens and ducks and started grinding the powder for steaming the meat.
Li Qiuyue put down the medicine hoe to help with the grinding. Yang Chunyan and Zhang Xiuxiang peeled the yam, cut it into short sections, and steamed it in a pot for about twenty to thirty minutes.
Open the steamer, pour the yam into a porcelain bowl, add appropriate amount of sugar while it is hot, press the yam into yam paste with a rolling pin, then pour in appropriate amount of glutinous rice flour and sesame paste, stir and knead into a smooth dough.
Cut the dough into equal-sized pieces, press them into shapes using a mooncake grinder, steam them in a steamer for about ten minutes, and the yam cake is ready.
Zhang Xiuxiang took out a piece and took a bite while it was still hot. "It's delicious, so sticky and fragrant."
Yang Chunyan tasted a piece and thought it was better than last time. "I didn't add sesame paste last time, but this time it tastes much better."
The two sisters-in-law put the yam cake on a plate, one went to the front yard, and the other went to the back yard. The old man sat on a rattan chair, listening to Sichuan opera and leisurely smoking leaf cigarettes.
Yang Chunyan put the yam cake on the table and said, "Grandpa, this is delicious."
The old man smiled and nodded, "You guys eat first, I'll roll the tobacco leaves and then eat."
"Hmm!" Yang Chunyan said to the kid who was lying on the ground pushing a car, "There are delicious cakes! Who wants some?"
"I want to eat!" Xiao Jiuer held the car in his arms and ran towards her with his short legs.
"Slow down!" Seeing that his hands were covered in dirt, Yang Chunyan led him to the basin to wash his hands. "Where are my brother and sister Xiaolin?"
Xiao Jiuer pointed to the gate of the courtyard and said, "My brother has been taken away by my third father. Sister Xiaolin should go home."
"Mom will get you one, go and call them over to eat some cakes!"
"Yes! Grandpa also eats, grandma, grandpa...all eat!" The little guy named everyone in the family.
After hearing what he said, the old man couldn't stop laughing. "My little Jiu is so smart. He remembers everyone in the family."
"Jiu'er, be good!" The little guy took a piece of yam cake, "I'll ask my brother to eat it!"
"Slow down, dear!" The old man put down the tobacco in his hand and quickly chased after him.
Yang Chunyan looked at the old man and the child, smiled and shook her head, then turned to go to the backyard to help.
Seeing that the three were busy, he took the drained rice and returned to the kitchen to steam it in the steamer.
Pour brown sugar into the steamed rice while it is still hot, then scoop a few spoonfuls of lard into it, mix well while it is still hot, so that the melted brown sugar and lard are evenly blended into the rice.
The originally bright white rice turned red and shiny immediately after being mixed with lard and brown sugar.
After the pork belly is cooked and the pig skin is fried until caramelized, cut it into thick slices and cut it into sandwiches. Then put the bean paste filling between the meat slices and spread it evenly on the bottom of the two bowls.
Then spread the brown sugar wine rice that has been prepared earlier evenly on the meat sandwich and steam it in a steamer over high heat.
While the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were busy, Zhou Huaian came back from Ning'an and brought back a braised goose.
Yang Chunyan took the braised goose and asked, "Why don't you go directly to town to pick up Sister Yumei and the others?"
"I forgot to bring the oil can, and the tractor only has enough oil to get home."
"When you come back, call Yiding and Xuejiao."
"That's right!"
After Zhou Huaian finished speaking, he went to the house at the corner to fetch the oil barrel. After filling it up, he drove towards the town again. When he arrived outside the shop and parked the tractor, Zhou Yumei came out.
"Youngest, it's so early! Dongming and Qiaoling haven't come back yet!"
Zhou Huaian jumped off the tractor and said, "You just got the marriage certificate, but your brother-in-law's company won't give you a day off?"
"It was originally going to be put aside for a few days, but he applied to keep it until next year when he holds the wedding banquet."
"Oh!" Zhou Huaian looked at the He family across the street, "Have they been doing anything weird these days?"
Zhou Yumei shook her head. "Maybe Aunt Li told him about Dongming and I getting our marriage certificate, so he's been behaving himself these past few days."
"That's good!"
The brother and sister entered the shop. Zhou Huaian saw Luo Haili helping a middle-aged man who looked gentle and polite to choose clothes. He whispered, "Sister, have you noticed that my cousin is getting more and more beautiful?"
"Yeah!" Zhou Yumei pulled him to the next door, "The one buying clothes outside is a teacher from Baima Junior High School. Every time he comes, he asks Haili to help him choose clothes.
Aunt Li said that his wife divorced him the year he was criticized. He has a son, about fourteen or fifteen years old, and they both live in school. I think he may have fallen in love with Shanghai Li.
"My son is already fourteen or fifteen years old, so he must be at least thirty-seven or thirty-eight?" Zhou Huaian leaned over to take a look. "He looks gentle and refined, but he's too old. He's not suitable!"
"It's no use being suitable. Haili doesn't even want to find one. If she wanted to find one, I think they are quite a good match!"
"It's all the fault of those bastards in the Yan family!" Zhou Huaian said angrily, "Has that bastard Yan Yongxin ever come to see Qiaoling?"
…
Friends, if nothing unexpected happens, Little Mountain Village will be finished next month!
A warm and relaxing farming story to be published: "Daily Fishing and Hunting in the 1980s"
The idle Li Changle was hit by a dump truck and went back to the year 1983. He had a smaller version of his caring younger son, his worrying older son, and his cold-hearted wife.
But he is no longer the muddleheaded man he was back then. Having been a jerk for half his life, this time he wants a wife and children to live in. (End of this chapter)
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