"It hurts! It hurts!" Zhou Huaian hunched over, protecting his ears and begging for mercy, "If someone comes in from outside, it will be so ugly!"
Zhou's mother was also worried that someone would come in and see it, so she let go and looked at the door, then patted him again, "If I see you abandoning the child again, I will beat you to death."
Zhou Yumei also glared at him in reproach, "Youngest brother, you are such a jerk. It makes me nervous. If he fails to catch it, it will fall onto the concrete floor, which is no joke."
"One tiger is already a big deal, and now there are three. If I can't afford to provoke them, I can afford to hide from them!" Zhou Huaian pushed his bicycle with a playful smile, "I'm going to Lao Xiazi's house."
Yang Chunyan, who was feeding the child, glanced at him and said, "Put it down and come back for dinner."
"Got it." Zhou Huaian got on the bike and ran away.
Mother Zhou looked at the sweaty little Jiu'er who was nursing and said, "I used to say he was a well-behaved boy, but it looks like he will be a naughty boy again in the future."
At this time, Zhou Jiaming and a few others ran into the yard with their schoolbags on their backs. "Grandma, the loudspeaker of Fangtian Brigade is calling out that there will be a movie screening at 6:30 tonight in the sun dam. There will be two screenings."
After hearing this, Zhou's mother also asked happily: "Really?"
Several children nodded in unison, "Yeah! The loudspeaker was still shouting when we came back! Go early in the afternoon to grab a seat."
Zhou's mother nodded happily, "Okay, let's go early this afternoon."
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "I heard about it the day Huai'an and the others went bird hunting, and I thought they wouldn't come!"
Zhou Jiaming asked hurriedly: "Aunt, does Dad know what movie is playing?"
Yang Chunyan: "It is said that Dream of the Red Chamber and A River of Spring Water Flows Eastward."
Zhou Jialiang: "Will we fight?"
"No war!" Yang Chunyan remembered that the movie Dream of the Red Chamber that she had watched before was a Yue Opera. She only remembered the part where Daiyu burned her manuscripts. She remembered that the story of A River of Spring Water was very tragic, and the interludes in it sounded very sad and tear-jerking. At that time, there was a lot of crying and sobbing in the drying dam.
There is not much entertainment these days, and movies are one of the most popular entertainment items and also the spiritual food for everyone. I still remember that after the screening of "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", some people imitated committing suicide for love.
Some young people watch movies for the sake of feasting their eyes, but they really want to find a partner or fall in love. Young men hang out in groups of three or five in the crowd, secretly looking at people, but if they see someone they like, they dare not approach them rashly, as they might get beaten.
Generally, they promise benefits and ask their nephews or nieces to act as temporary matchmakers to help pass on information and find out the other party's situation. If the other party is single and satisfied, they will agree to go out for a meeting. If the two sides have a good impression of each other after chatting, they will go home and ask their parents to invite a matchmaker to propose marriage, and the promise will always come true.
Several children said disappointedly: "No war?"
Zhou's mother smiled and said, "It's also good to watch without fighting. Let's cook dinner early tonight."
"What are you going to do after cooking breakfast?" Zhou Huairong and his brothers came in carrying baskets on their backs.
Mother Zhou looked at the people covered in mud and asked, "What took you so long? I was just waiting for you to come back for dinner."
Zhou Huaishan and Zhou Huaijun put down their backpacks, sat down on the wooden stakes, and took a few sips from their cups. "We kept digging after Yumei and the others left, and we have only finished now."
Zhou Huairong put down his backpack and said, "It took me more than an hour to dig out the ten great herbs and those pieces of Poria cocos. When I went over to dig yams, I saw a few sweet potatoes. Look, they weigh at least several dozen kilograms."
At that time, they had not thought that they could dig out such a big sweet potato. After digging it out, they thought that they should go for a walk in the woods when they had time, hoping to find other good things.
A few people saw that the basket was indeed filled with most of yam and sweet potato, especially the sweet potato on the surface, which looked very similar to a human foot.
The foot-shaped tuber (also known as "Huaishan" and "Huashu") belongs to the category of yam, vegetable and potato. The tuber is irregular in shape of a foot, with a light dark brown skin and white flesh.
A single sweet potato can grow to more than ten pounds. The tuber is crisp, tender and smooth. It does not taste as good as yam, but has a slightly astringent taste.
The sweet potato has great medicinal value. It has the effects of nourishing the spleen and stomach, nourishing the lungs and kidneys. It is effective for lung deficiency cough and asthma, spleen deficiency and long-term diarrhea, chronic gastroenteritis, diabetes, spermatorrhea and leukorrhea.
"NN City Drugs" states: The tubers of the soles of the feet can effectively promote the growth of ulcer granulation tissue, absorb water and generate muscle, and are a good medicine for facial ulcers. Grind into powder to treat burns and facial ulcers. Taken with pork tendon, it can treat protruding eyeballs, commonly known as crab eyes.
Mother Zhou picked up the piece of sweet potato that weighed at least 10 kilograms and said cheerfully, "This piece is good. The ones we grow at home are not this big. I'll keep it for planting."
She paused, "Your old man has already peeled the bamboo rats and pickled them in the wine cellar. At noon, we will roast the badger pork left by the youngest son last night. In the evening, we will chop two bamboo rats and stew them with sweet potatoes."
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "I also took out the cured pork ribs and soaked them. I will stew sweet potatoes and eat the cured pork ribs in the evening, and then go to the movies."
"That's right!" Zhou's mother smiled and put down her feet. "Jia Ming, go to the back mountain and call grandfather, old ancestor, your mother and second mother to come back for dinner."
"Oh!" Zhou Jiaming put down his schoolbag and ran to the backyard.
Yang Chunyan handed the child to Zhou's mother, and she and Zhou Yumei took the herbs in the basket to the pond to wash them clean.
The leaves of the Euonymus japonicus have sharp thorns. The two men carefully washed the leaves in water for a few times, then took them out and put them in a backpack.
Scrape off the mud and old skin on the tubers. There is a lot of mud in the cracks of the Poria cocos tubers, so you have to use a brush to brush it off.
The aunt and sister-in-law put the cleaned tubers into a backpack and carried them back.
Zhou Yumei thought about it and said, "Chunyan, it's really good to contract a mountain forest to grow herbs. I'm busy running a shop every day and have no time to take care of the mountain land. I want to use my two mountain lands to grow herbs."
Yang Chunyan thought for a moment and said, "If you don't have time to take care of it, you should plant herbs with a longer harvest period, such as Bletilla striata, Polygonatum sibiricum, and Polygonatum odoratum."
Zhou Yumei: "I heard from my sister-in-law that white hyacinth should be harvested once every three or four years. I think the time is just right. Why don't I plant white hyacinth?"
"If we want to plant Bletilla striata, we have to wait until we go into the mountains and find the seeds."
"Okay, when you find the white hyacinth seeds, please send them down for me."
"I'll send it to you when I find it." Yang Chunyan looked at Zhou Huaian who came over on a bicycle with a basket in his hand, "What did you buy?"
Zhou Huaian opened the lid of the basket and said, "Ding Ding Mao's mother-in-law steamed some cakes. Let me bring some back for you to try."
Zhou Yumei took a look at the purple-red cake inside. "It looks like the purple-red sweet potato that's been steamed and then mixed with flour. It looks delicious."
Zhou Huaian smiled and nodded, "It tastes similar to the yam cake Chunyan made last year. I heard that their family opened up a piece of wasteland by the river to grow it last year. They dug four to five thousand kilograms and sold it in town for three cents a kilogram."
Zhou Yumei shook her head. "It's too cheap. It's almost the same as growing sweet potatoes."
Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "The wasteland they reclaimed has a high yield, which is not bad."
The three of them put the herbs upstairs to dry, and the food was prepared downstairs. There were two dishes for lunch, one was braised badger with potatoes, and the other was a vegetarian dish of cowpea, eggplant and loofah.
Not long after dinner, he heard someone shouting outside. Zhou Huaian ran out and saw that it was Captain Wang and old man He Jianjun.
"Captain Wang, we welcome you!" His face darkened as he spoke, "We don't welcome the surname He."
"..." After hearing this, He's father took a step forward and wanted to say something, but was stopped by Captain Wang. He smiled awkwardly and said, "Xiao Zhou, is your sister here? The He family has already prepared the money."
"Yes!" Zhou Huaian said calmly, "Captain Wang, is the money really ready? I think my sister made it very clear this morning. If you want her to sign a letter of apology, bring 2,000 yuan, not a penny less."
"It's ready!" Captain Wang turned his head and looked at He's father, "Old He, where's the money you prepared?"
He's father said with a bitter face, "Captain Wang, that's two thousand yuan, not two yuan. My family doesn't own a bank, where can I find it?" Then he pointed at Zhou Huaian and said, "Youngest Zhou, you can't force people like this..."
"We forced you?" Zhou Huaian stepped forward and pointed at him. "He Jianjun went to my sister's store to cause trouble. Did we force you to go? Did we force you to throw feces water at the door of my sister's house?
Did we force you to release snakes into the yard in the middle of the night? You are already old, and your chin is buried in the mud. You should have some dignity and do some good deeds for your descendants!"
"You, you, you..." Father He looked at Zhou Huaian and said "you" for a long time without saying anything.
Zhou Huaian turned his head and said, "Captain Wang, tell them to pay the compensation as my sister requested, and we will go to sign the letter of understanding. If not, I'm sorry, goodbye."
Captain Wang could hardly hold back his smile, "I'm sorry, Mr. Zhou, I didn't know he didn't bring any money."
He thought about what happened in the morning when they went back and told the old couple of the He family about it. They started cursing and complaining about He Laosi, saying that it was all her fault for the couple's bad ideas and that they blamed her and asked her to pay money as compensation.
He Laosi blamed the old couple again, saying that they were jealous of Zhou Yumei's shop and caused her husband to be detained in the police station and go to jail. He demanded that the old couple give him money.
He and Aunt Li couldn't bear to listen any longer, so they asked them to prepare the money first. Before lunch, Lao He came to him and said that the money was ready and asked him to accompany him.
It turned out to be a lie to him. From now on, if he meddles in the He family's affairs again, he would be considered a non-human.
When He's father saw him about to leave, he quickly stopped him and said, "Captain Wang, I have money, a thousand yuan. Let's get Jianjun out first."
"You!" Captain Wang looked at him and felt that this was the first time in his life that he had seen such a shameless person. "Whatever you want!"
Before he finished speaking, He Laosi and Aunt Li also hurried over, "Captain Wang, we are willing to reconcile."
Captain Wang looked at her and asked, "Did you bring the money?"
He Laosi opened the bag he was carrying and showed it to Captain Wang, "Look, I've got it on."
A few hundred yuan of this money was saved by her and her husband from selling goods, and the rest was borrowed from her parents-in-law. They originally used this money as capital to start their business, but now it has all been spent on her parents' side, and they don't know how to explain it!
Captain Wang nodded after reading it, "Zhou Laoyao, call your sister out, we'll write a letter of apology and go to the police station to hand it in together."
"Come in!"
Zhou Huaian led them into the yard. The He family's father and daughter looked at his house, the spacious and tidy yard, and the tractor parked in the yard, and their faces turned green with regret.
Zhou Yumei took the money from the He family father and daughter, who looked like they were in pain, and gave it to Zhou Huaian to count. Then, under the guidance of Captain Wang, she wrote a letter of apology and followed Zhou Huaian to the police station. (End of this chapter)
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