The first day of the New Year is not that busy. The second day is the busiest day for the Zhou family. Everyone works until after one o'clock before taking a break. They harvest more than 100,000 kilograms of crops in a day.
By the third day of the Lunar New Year, fewer villagers came to send mugwort. Yang Chunyan sent away the last villager, and Zhou's mother and Zhao Huifang had finished wrapping the rice dumplings.
After soaking a basin full of rice wine, the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law made three flavors of rice dumplings: ham rice dumplings, egg yolk rice dumplings, and red date rice dumplings. They cooked two full pots. The yard was filled with the aroma of rice dumplings for the whole afternoon.
When the sun went down, Zhao Meina and her brothers and sisters came to Yang Chunyan's house, carrying a small basket of mugwort and rice dumplings. "Aunt Yang, we brought you some salted eggs, salted pork and red date dumplings for you to try."
"You are so capable!" Yang Chunyan took it with a smile, "We just cooked the rice dumplings and salted eggs! Come and try ours later."
The siblings gave four rice dumplings and salt eggs in red net bags to each sister-in-law.
"Thank you, Mina. Auntie will get you some rice dumplings and salted eggs." Zhao Huifang looked at the two sisters with a smile in her eyes, thinking that it would be great if she could marry such a capable and sensible daughter-in-law in the future.
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, put ours on as well. There is a net bag in the cabinet in the main room."
"Aunt, it's not necessary. We have more at home." Zhao Meina said hurriedly when she saw this.
Zhang Xiuxiang: "This is how festivals are supposed to be. You bring it to my house, and I bring it to yours, and we take turns eating it."
Zhou's mother: "It wasn't like this before. A packet of cake and a bag of sugar would go around to a relative's house and then back to my own home."
"In the past, we didn't even have rice for wine, so we made some red potato dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival and ate them as zongzi." Li Qiuyue picked up a red date zongzi and said with a smile, "It tastes better if you dip it in sugar."
"Mom, my dad said that if you eat too much sweets, your teeth will be full of worms, and worms will fall out of your mouth when you talk." Zhou Xiaolin looked at her and said seriously.
After hearing this, Li Qiuyue couldn't even swallow the rice dumpling in her mouth, "Stinky youngest, what you said is so disgusting."
"Yaoyao is so good!" Yang Chunyan smiled and hugged Zhou Xiaolin, "Tell your mom that Yaoda is right. Eating too much candy will cause rotten teeth!"
"Yeah! My mom is not well behaved!" Zhou Xiaolin handed a ham rice dumpling to Zhao Xiaochuan, "Brother Xiaochuan, I like you, I'll give you a delicious ham rice dumpling."
"Hahaha!" Yang Chunyan and the others were so happy that they bent over with laughter. "Little brat, why do you like Brother Xiaochuan?"
Zhou Xiaolin looked at them and said seriously, "My sister said that Brother Xiaochuan always scored 100 points. I like brothers who scored 100 points. Sister Xiaoqian said that he will get a salary for his studies in the future."
Zhao Xiaochuan said with a red face while holding the zongzi: "I didn't get 100 points in all the exams."
"Then you have to work hard." Zhao Xiuna said.
Yang Chunyan smiled and said to Zhao Xiaochuan, whose ears were red, "Yes, Xiaochuan, you have to work harder! Otherwise, Xiaolin will not like you anymore in the future!"
Zhou Xiaolin nodded seriously, "Well, if you don't get 100 points, I won't like you anymore and I won't give you the delicious ham dumplings."
Zhao Xiaochuan looked at the fragrant ham rice dumpling in his hand, and he didn't know whether to eat it or not. After a while, he responded, "Well! I will try my best."
Everyone looked at the two serious children and burst into laughter again.
Zhou Xiaolin looked at them curiously and felt that she was not wrong. She just liked the brother who got 100 points in the exam. Why were her mother, aunt and grandmother laughing?
Mother Zhou picked up her apron and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Mina, how much mugwort is there on the mountain?"
"It's hard to find." Zhao Meina carried the mugwort to the scale. "We looked for it in places where there were a lot of mugwort before, but it's gone now. We found this on the slope of my home."
"Yes, 53 kilograms." Yang Chunyan gave her the money and said, "After the corn and sorghum are harvested, Uncle Huaishan will help you plow the fields. Remember where you cut the mugwort these days and dig it up to plant in the fields.
From now on, we will start harvesting on the second day of the Lunar New Year, and finish harvesting on the eighth day after the Dragon Boat Festival. We can harvest twice more in the second half of the year. The purchase price is usually three cents per pound. The most important thing is that we can harvest for several years after planting once, which is better than growing corn in any way."
"Thank you, Aunt Yang." Zhao Meina looked at her gratefully. "After the corn is harvested, come and talk to Uncle Huaishan and ask him to help plow the fields."
"Okay!" Yang Chunyan went to the main room and took out cakes and fruits. "Xiuna and Xiaochuan go watch TV, and aunt and sister go to the fields to pick some tomatoes, cucumbers, and pumpkins to eat."
Zhou's mother urged: "Pick more green beans, cowpeas, gourds, loofahs, and eggplants for them."
Yang Chunyan smiled and nodded, and took Zhao Meina to the vegetable field. The melon racks were full of vines, and she picked some one by one. "If there's nothing at home, come to my aunt's house to pick them. My ancestors and grandfather planted a lot. After a while, the sweet potatoes and peanuts in the corn field will be ready to eat."
"Aunt Yang, we have a lot of pumpkins and cucumbers at home, so just pick a few tomatoes." Zhao Meina put the loofah in the basket. "We planted more than a dozen watermelons on the hillside of the corn field. I went to see them yesterday and saw more than 20 of them. I'll bring them to you when they're ripe."
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "No, my aunt has some too. I heard from Grandma Zhou that there are four or five mu of watermelons planted in the middle of the sorghum field."
Last year, the watermelons planted in the vegetable garden behind the old house were stolen before they were ripe. This year, the old man and Zhou's father planted the watermelon vines in a secluded place next to the sorghum field, and no one has stolen the watermelons so far.
Zhao Meina: "Aunt, Grandma Zhou and the others are really hardworking."
Yang Chunyan turned her head and looked at her. "The weather is getting hot, so you're selling popsicles again?"
Zhao Meina nodded. "We just started selling them last week. This year, more people are going to the village to sell popsicles, so they're not selling well. The rainy season comes after the Dragon Boat Festival, and it's also a good time to pick mushrooms."
Yang Chunyan thought about it and reminded: "We have been working for so long this year. When picking mushrooms after the rain, don't go to the edge of the steep slopes. If it rains heavily, it will be troublesome if you encounter landslides."
"I see. Aunt Su said that there will be mudslides after heavy rains, and that Fangtian East Mountain is most prone to landslides."
"Be good, don't rush to make money, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future." Yang Chunyan handed her a ripe tomato that looked a bit like a big green date. "This is a date tomato, very sweet. Pick some and take them home, cut them up and sprinkle some sugar on them, and eat them as snacks."
"Hmm!" Zhao Meina wiped it with her hand and took a bite. It was indeed sweeter and juicier than a big tomato. "It's delicious. I'll plant some of this variety next year."
"Auntie asked Grandma Zhou to leave some seedlings for you. You can come and plant them when the time comes."
The two of them picked a full basket of vegetables and carried it back to the yard together.
Zhao Meina and her two siblings played for a while, then went home with the rice dumplings and vegetables given by several families.
In the afternoon, Wan Xuejiao, Zhou's aunt, Qian Chunhua... several close relatives sent rice dumplings, and Zhou's mother returned the gifts. There were rice dumplings of various flavors at home.
Aunt Zhou made chestnut rice dumplings, while the other families made red date rice dumplings and white-flavor rice dumplings. Qian Chunhua also made some sweet potato rice dumplings.
The rice dumplings sent by Wan Xuejiao contained salted egg yolks, and the children all liked them. In the evening, Zhou's mother planned to soak a few kilograms of rice in wine, boil some salted eggs, take the egg yolks to wrap rice dumplings, and give them to relatives.
In the evening, after tying up the last pile of mugwort and hanging it on bamboo poles at Zhou Huaijun's house, Yang Chunyan paid the wages to Jiang Yu and the helpers. Everyone took the wages and went home, waiting to go back to work when they could harvest red mushrooms.
On the fourth day of the New Year, there were even fewer villagers bringing mugwort. Only Zhou Huaian, Zhou Yiding, Secretary Xu and others went to farther places to collect mugwort, and they brought back tens of thousands of kilograms of mugwort.
In the evening, Zhou's mother cooked pumpkin porridge, fried potatoes with eggplant and chili peppers, stir-fried green beans, and a bowl of shredded radish. The whole family ate rice dumplings of various flavors with the porridge.
Zhou's mother said, "We're going to stew the grass roots tomorrow. Our ducks aren't old enough, so I've made an appointment with Lao Qian to go to her house and buy two old ducks to stew."
Yang Chunyan thought that she hadn't been up the mountain to dig herbs for a long time, "Then let's go up the mountain tomorrow and dig some mountain radish, codonopsis pilosula, adenophora scutellaria, and polygonatum to stew."
Li Qiuyue smiled and said, "I wanted to ask you to go with me!"
Zhou Huaian looked at Yang Chunyan and said, "You must bring the dog with you. If you encounter wild animals, it can also remind you."
Zhou's mother also said: "Yes, you guys can go, but don't go to the edge of the old forest."
Yang Chunyan nodded, "I see. Let's go to the place where we dug white hyacinth last time. Last time I went there, I saw a lot of mountain radishes and white hyacinths on the road."
Zhou's mother: "You are going to the mountains to dig herbs tomorrow, so I will go to the town tomorrow to give your sister rice dumplings. When will you go home to give her festival gifts?"
Yang Chunyan thought for a moment and said, "Someone has sent me some herbs these days, so I won't go back. When Huai'an goes to Baicaoping, he can go from Hengshan and deliver them."
"Yes." Zhou Huaian said to his mother, "Mom, please help me buy an old duck from Old Xu's house. When I deliver the gifts to Brother Huang tomorrow morning, I will also buy some cakes and two bottles of wine."
Zhao Huifang: "Youngest, you can buy it for us tomorrow, and ask your eldest brother to send it back the day after tomorrow. I won't be going back either."
Zhang Xiuxiang took over the conversation, "I'm too lazy to go back alone, so you bought some for my family as well."
Li Qiuyue: "Youngest, please bring some rice dumplings, cut a piece of meat, buy two handfuls of noodles and cakes, and send them to my little sister."
Zhou Huaian wrote them down one by one, "Okay! I'll come back tomorrow to settle the accounts with you."
After the family had finished their meal, the people who were watching TV came over. Zhou Huaian held Xiao Jiuer in his arms and said to Yang Chunyan, "Let's go out and see how the house over at the hydropower station is being repaired."
After hearing this, Zhou's mother hurriedly said, "Youngest, we should go during the day. It will be dark, and it will not be good to take Jiuer to the mountain temple."
Yang Chunyan nodded and looked at Zhang Xiuxiang, "Did my second brother tell me about the progress of the project over there?"
"The staff dormitories have been repaired, and the frame of the factory building has also been repaired. Huaijun follows the engineer every day, asking him what kind of wiring he is doing, but I don't understand." Zhang Xiuxiang said.
Mrs. Xu took over the conversation, "Xiu Xiang, look how hard your Huai Jun is studying. Huai Qing and Xu Lao San have gone to help harvest mugwort, and he is the only one who is at the hydropower station every day."
Zhou's mother smiled and said, "I have a big family, so I'll only be busy for three or four days. It doesn't matter if he doesn't come back."
"Your second son is very capable. The engineers who installed the electric meter last time all said that he learns quickly."
"How can yours be..."
Seeing the old ladies flattering each other again, Zhou Huaian picked up his son and pulled Yang Chunyan, "Let's go to Yiding's house for a walk."
"Hmm!" The family of three left the yard and slowly headed towards Zhou Yiding's house. (End of this chapter)
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