Chapter 389-390: A Good Start
Zhang Xiuxiang smiled and shook her head. "I ate a lot last year, but I don't want to eat anything this year. Qiuyue said you were going to spread ramie and flowers to feed the pigs?"
"Well, let me tell you, the young stems of Jerusalem artichokes ..."
"Really? I'll go dig some this afternoon and plant it behind the house."
"After I sow the onion seeds, we'll go together."
"Yes, I'll go wash the clothes." Zhang Xiuxiang said and smiled, "We are still a little uncomfortable after moving here, how about you?"
"We're not used to it either. I think mom and the others aren't used to it either."
Mother Yang smiled and said, "Other families say it's good to move, and that their family is quiet and comfortable, but you guys say you're not used to it."
Zhang Xiuxiang smiled and nodded, "Yeah, we didn't expect that either."
The mother and daughter washed the Jerusalem artichokes, carried the baskets back home and went to the back door of the kitchen. There were two small sinks built against the wall with faucets installed.
Yang's mother turned on the tap, rinsed the pool, and plugged the outlet with a wooden plug. The water flowed into the cement pool. "Lazy people have many ways. This way, we don't have to draw water bucket by bucket."
Yang Chunyan scooped the washed Jerusalem artichokes into the basket and said with a smile, "Look at what you said. Now that you put it like that, I think I fixed the water pipe just to be lazy, not to save trouble."
Mother Yang laughed after hearing this, "You are really more talkative now than before. No wonder your mother-in-law said you learned it from Huai'an."
"No way!"
The mother and daughter picked out the small Jerusalem artichokes after washing them clean, spread them out in a winnowing basket, and waited for them to dry before pickling them.
Half of it is sliced, dried and stored as pig feed, and the other half is sliced and cooked with Swiss chard to feed the pigs. After the autumn cools down, both big and small pigs eat hot pig feed.
The mother and daughter scattered onions, grass seeds and ramie seeds in the woods, then closed the door and went to the hillside to dig Jerusalem artichokes. They were busy for most of the afternoon and dug two large baskets of Jerusalem artichokes and brought home. They also picked out another basket of Jerusalem artichokes and buried them at the edge of the woods.
Yang Chunyan and her daughter went home, sliced the dried Jerusalem artichokes, marinated them with salt to remove the excess moisture, poured some white wine and seasonings, mixed them well, put them in a jar, and carried them to the kitchen to place them against the wall.
There are several jars placed under the wall on the north side behind the stove, including two pickle jars, one containing young ginger and garlic, and the other containing green and red peppers, cowpeas, carmine radishes, and some other pickled vegetables.
The jar upside down in the lid is a salted vegetable jar, and the jar covered with an earthenware lid is filled with soy sauce, rapeseed oil, bean paste, and a mouthful of rice, all of which were prepared by Zhou's mother in the past few months.
It is really hard to find such a considerate mother-in-law. She was willing to stay and give Zhou Huaian a chance, and being a good mother-in-law was one of the reasons.
Mother Yang picked the vegetables and looked at the sky. "Yan'er, the sun has already set. Why hasn't Huai'an come back yet?"
Yang Chunyan looked at the time and it was almost six o'clock. "He said he was going to dig yam before he went up the mountain. He should be back in a while. Let's prepare the meal first."
As she spoke, she opened the lid of the pot, scooped half a ladle of water to rinse the pot, added two ladlefuls of water into the pot, went to the stove, lit the fire and then washed the rice.
Thinking that Zhou Yiding was alone at home, the two of them ran in the mountains all day today, and scooped another half bowl of rice, washed it in a small porcelain basin, and put it in the pot.
Mother Yang came in with some picked cabbage sprouts. "We have a lot of cabbage sprouts at home. I'll go back and get you a bucket of pickled cabbage."
"No, they are everywhere in the village. You can buy four or five kilograms for ten cents."
Mother Yang choked and gave her a sidelong look. "Give the money to your mother. I'll ask your eldest brother to bring it to you when it's ready."
"This..." Yang Chunyan looked at her and swallowed the words that were about to come back to her lips. She smiled and said, "Okay, you pickle the sauerkraut and I'll ask Huai'an to get it."
"That's better." Mother Yang walked towards the back door carrying the vegetable sprouts and garlic sprouts.
Yang Chunyan smiled and shook her head, opened the kimchi jar, picked out some pickled cowpeas and two pickled peppers, rinsed them, cut them into small pieces and put them on a plate, then cut half of the pork belly into pieces, planning to make rotten meat, and cut the other piece into slices and stir-fried the meat with garlic sprouts and salt.
Two meat dishes, one soup, and some Jerusalem artichokes for lunch are enough for four people.
A dog's cheerful barking came from the yard. She walked to the door and saw Zhou Huaian and Zhou Yiding walking in with baskets and urea bags on their backs.
“I’m back!”
"Yeah! I'm so tired." Zhou Huaian put down the backpack, "Is there anything to eat? We are almost starving to death."
"There are two more steamed cakes. I'll heat them up for you."
"No need, cold ones will do." Zhou Huaian said as he walked towards the kitchen.
Yang Chunyan said hurriedly: "The pot is already boiling, I'll put it in the steamer and it will be hot."
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian took the porcelain basin and gourd ladle, opened the can and scooped hot water, "We dug out two large beehives, one very old nest, shot three pheasants, dug out a rabbit nest, picked up a dozen Ganoderma lucidum, and dug two nests of yam. We were exhausted."
"What a great harvest!" Yang Chunyan looked at him with surprise. "I'll get you some food first."
Zhou Huaian nodded happily, "We had a great harvest on the first day we moved in. It's a good start!"
"Good start!" Mother Yang came in with some vegetable sprouts and said with a smile, "Heat up the pot inside, the food will be ready soon."
"Yes!" Zhou Huaian walked out with hot water, "Ding Ding Cat, come and wash your face."
Zhou Yiding slumped in a chair, holding a cigarette in his mouth, "Wait for me to wash slowly."
"Yes, go to the kitchen and get some hot water for yourself!" Zhou Huaian hung up the washcloth, scooped a bowl of water for the dog, and pulled a bamboo chair over to lie on it, "Sit for a while and then go clean up."
"Yeah!" Zhou Yiding responded without turning his head.
Mother Yang glanced at the two of them, then returned to the kitchen and said to Yang Chunyan distressedly, "You've been out for a whole day, and that little bit of dry food is not enough. You must be tired and hungry."
"The steamed cake will be hot soon."
Yang Chunyan picked up the steamed cake from the pot and called Zhou Huaian who was killing chickens at the back door. After thinking for a while, she scooped two bowls of rice soup with a spoon and brought them to the small dining table. She shouted to the steps: "Huaian, Yiding, the cake is hot. Come in and have a bowl of rice soup to fill your stomach."
"Here we are!" The two of them slowly got up and walked into the kitchen. They ate a piece of steamed cake, drank a bowl of rice soup, and felt much better.
Zhou Huaian said: "Let's clean up the things and the food should be ready."
Yang Chunyan nodded, "Start filtering the rice, scooping the rice, and cooking the vegetables."
"Yeah!" The two put down their bowls and walked towards the stairs.
Yang Chunyan filtered the rice and put it into the pot. The water in the other pot also boiled. She scooped a spoonful of salt and a spoonful of lard residue into it, poured the vegetable moss into the pot, rolled it a few times with a spatula, and began to prepare the dipping water.
On the steps, Zhou Huaian picked out the fattest hen among the pheasants and said, "Leave this one at home and stew it with yam."
Zhou Yiding took a look and said, "One is a bit too little, isn't it?"
"That's two." Zhou Huaian picked out another one, "Oh no, I haven't gotten the trap yet!"
"That's right. You go get the bucket. We'll ride our bikes and be back in a while."
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian rushed into the kitchen, "Yan'er, let's go collect the traps."
"Hurry up, we'll start cooking once the vegetable moss is cooked."
"I'll be right there."
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com