The vegetable garden was planted with two acres of radishes, two acres of garlic sprouts, half a acre of lettuce, half a acre of celery, a piece of leek as big as an eight-immortal table, and spinach. Some of the cabbages, white cabbages, and Chinese cabbages had already grown moss.
Red rapeseed, coriander, and green onions are planted beside each vegetable plot. In the past, there were also broad beans, peas, sedge, and ramie.
In the garlic seedling field, a small part of the garlic shoots had grown. She grabbed one and gently inserted the needle into the outer coat of the garlic shoot, piercing it from bottom to top. The whole crisp and tender garlic shoot was exposed. She gently broke the garlic shoot from the bottom and pulled it out.
After all the garlic shoots in the field are pulled out, let the garlic in the soil grow for a while, then you can dig up the garlic and take it home to make sweet and sour garlic and dry the garlic cloves.
Nowadays, few people grow white-skinned garlic. Every family grows the old variety of purple-skinned garlic, which has a strong garlic flavor and good taste. The garlic paste made from it for mixing with cold dishes has a better sterilization effect.
It didn't take long for Yang Chunyan to peel a handful of garlic shoots. Seeing that it was enough for a lunch, she put them in the vegetable basket, and then picked up a few round radishes, some lettuces, a handful of red rapeseed shoots, and some cilantro and green onion leaves and walked back.
Little Jiuer grabbed a garlic shoot in her hand at some point and took a bite. She found it was not sweet but a little spicy. She rubbed her mouth with her hands and buried her head to press her little mouth against her back.
"Xiao Jiu'er, do you want to sleep?" Yang Chunyan patted him with her backhand. She saw the garlic sprouts that fell on the ground. She picked them up and found that he had taken a bite. She smiled and said, "It's spicy, right? Let's see if you dare to put anything in your mouth in the future?"
Xiao Jiuer waved her hands, "Hit, hit!"
"Don't learn from good things!" Yang Chunyan slapped him on the butt with her backhand, "You threw away the garlic sprouts that mom used to stir-fry pork with oil, so you deserve a beating."
It’s funny to think about it. A little kid who can’t even speak clearly knows how to fight.
The mother and son returned to the yard. Yang Chunyan poured some water into the bottle, put him in the sedan chair, and fed him a few sips of water. "Be good and sit down and drink water. Mommy will clean up the vegetables and cook dinner."
"Eat, eat, eat..." Xiao Jiuer picked up the rattle, small wooden gun and small frog tied to the sedan chair and started playing with them.
Yang Chunyan peeled the lettuce leaves, removed the old skin and put them in a colander, tore off the old skin of the red rapeseed sprouts, cut them into short sections, and peeled the radish tops. Just as she finished cleaning the vegetables, Zhou's mother and Zhang Xiuxiang came back carrying pig feed.
Mother Zhou put down the basket and said, "Today, we cut all the weeds and flowers from the two plots of land. When they grow back, we will cut another batch and dig the ground to plant Chuanxiong."
"Yes!" Yang Chunyan stepped forward to help pour out the grass and spread it out on the drying dam. "We have already dried a lot of pig grass at home. When are you going to bring the piglets back?"
Mother Zhou thought for a moment and said, "It should be two days before the baby is one month old. I have chosen one and Lao Chen will bring it over to be weighed."
Zhang Xiuxiang smiled and said, "We will go to Baicaoping the day after tomorrow. We will stay there for more than a month. It will be hard for you to bring the piglets back."
"You guys are living a peaceful life, why should we be afraid of suffering a little!" Zhou's mother pouted, "You don't know, I went to find your grandfather and held Xiao Jiuer, and I happened to hear that the eldest wife came to him to ask for help to borrow money."
Yang Chunyan said: "Grandpa came to our house first to look for grandpa, but he didn't even shout when he arrived. Lai Fu and Wang Cai blocked the door and shouted, so he hit them with a stick. Luckily I saw it, otherwise I would be in trouble today."
Zhou's mother: "You deserve it. Who would come to someone's house without knocking on the door?"
Zhang Xiuxiang looked gossipy, "Mom, why did Dad ask Grandpa to help borrow money for what?"
Zhou's mother: "I heard him tell your grandfather that Huaixing has a friend who bought a tractor last year. He asked the old man to help us talk to us and let us lend some money to his family so that he can buy a tractor for Zhou Huaixing to haul goods and make money."
"Tsk~ He's making such a wishful thinking!" Zhang Xiuxiang pouted in disgust, "He has lost all his dignity. He still hasn't paid Qiuyue back the two hundred yuan he owes her! Now he wants grandpa to help his family borrow money from us. I think they want to play the game of borrowing but not paying back again this time!"
Mother Zhou said angrily, "Of course not. I thought of it at the time. If he dared to say it to me in person, I would spit in his face."
"No wonder I saw that grandpa was unhappy when I went to pick up Xiao Jiuer." Yang Chunyan felt that it was impossible for a person like Zhou Huaixing to drive a tractor to transport goods and make money in peace. Lending him money to buy a tractor would be like throwing meat buns at a dog, which would never come back.
Also, he schemed against the second wife time and time again. Everyone has fallen out with each other and has stopped communicating with her. Yet, he still wants to use the old man to borrow money. His face is thicker than garlic.
Zhang Xiuxiang asked curiously, "Mom, did Grandpa agree to help them borrow money?"
"The old man said he needed to think about it, and sent him back with a dark face." Mother Zhou thought for a moment, then turned to look at Yang Chunyan, "How much money does your grandfather have? I don't think the old man would ask us to borrow money, but would probably lend the money he has to them."
Yang Chunyan thought for a moment and said, "About 800 to 900 yuan. Huai'an said that the price of the tractor has not dropped but increased by 200 yuan. Even if Grandpa gave them all, it would not be enough."
After hearing this, Zhou's mother said, "That's their business. The old man earns his salary himself. It's his own money. He can use it however he wants. We have no right to interfere and we have no right to interfere."
"I have been married into the Zhou family for decades, and I know the old man's temper. He always helps the sons whose family is having a hard time. He would never let one son use money to help another."
Zhang Xiuxiang: "No wonder the old man asked my grandfather to borrow money. My grandfather refused and he just scolded me."
Thinking back to the past, Zhou's mother couldn't help but sigh, "You know, we had the hardest time among the people in the third branch. The work points and grain that the old man earned from herding cattle and sheep in the production team were always sent to us as subsidies."
"And the old lady, she gave us almost all the goat milk she squeezed from her goats in the mountains, as well as the chestnuts, kudzu roots, and yams she found on the mountain. The eldest wife gossiped about us a lot at that time."
"The old man said at the time that the money and food were earned by the two old men themselves, so they can give it to whoever they want, and no one has the right to interfere!"
"It's the same now. He earns his own salary. Although his pocket money is given by Laoyao and Chunyan, once it's given out, it belongs to the old man. It's his own money, so he can spend it however he wants!"
"We understand. Grandpa can use his money however he wants." Yang Chunyan and Zhang Xiuxiang both expressed their attitudes.
Mother Zhou thought about it and said with a painful look on her face: "If Grandpa really lends it to them, it will probably be like throwing meat buns at dogs, and it will never come back. It's several hundred yuan, it hurts to think about it."
Yang Chunyan: "I think Grandpa is also annoyed. If I lend him the money, I'm worried that Zhou Huaixing won't work hard and squander all the money. If I don't lend him the money, I can't bear it."
"The problem is that a few hundred yuan is not enough." Zhang Xiuxiang looked at Zhou's mother, "Mom, if Grandpa wants to help the eldest wife, and really asks you to lend money to the eldest wife, will you lend it or not?"
Zhou's mother glared at him and said, "No! Our family's money didn't come from the wind. You know it's like throwing a meat bun at a dog, and it's a big meat bun, why should you lend it to me!"
"If Zhou Huaixing is really willing to work hard, he can grow mushrooms and truffles for a season and raise a few big fat pigs at home. The family can work for a year at most and still have some money left over to buy a tractor. But he is in such a hurry to borrow money to buy one. It's obvious that he wants to do a business without capital."
Zhang Xiuxiang smiled and said, "They said they would pay it back by the end of the year at the latest. If you don't lend me money, aren't you afraid that the old man will be angry?"
After hearing this, Zhou's mother thought about it for a while and waved her hands in annoyance, "I don't want to think about it anymore. My head hurts. I'll talk to you when the old man speaks." Then she went over and picked up Xiao Jiuer, "Chun Yan, you cook. I'll go see Xiao Lin and Xiao Ru and go to the third room."
"Okay." Yang Chunyan and Zhang Xiuxiang picked up the grass rake, raked the spread pig grass evenly, and then went to cook.
Mother Zhou carried Xiao Jiuer in her arms, followed by a string of children, and went to Aunt Zhou's house. She saw Aunt Zhou sewing on the steps and asked, "Hongmei, are you grinding tofu yet?"
"Just like you, we'll start grinding on the eighth day of the first lunar month." Aunt Zhou San smiled as she put away the sewing basket and went to the main room, carrying a bamboo basket. "Xiao Lin, Xiao Ru... come and have some melon seeds and rice candy."
"Thank you, Third Grandma." The kids each took a rice candy and started eating it while sitting on the bench.
Aunt Zhou handed a peach cake to Zhou's mother and pinched Xiao Jiu'er's cheek, "How come you have time to come to my house today?"
Mother Zhou broke off some pottery cake and fed it to Xiao Jiuer. "I heard that the girl Huaigang met this time is pretty good. Let's see when you will invite us to the wedding banquet."
Aunt Zhou San said happily, "That girl is good. Huai Gang likes her and I like her too. She's just a little short. It would be better if she was taller."
Zhou's mother smiled and said, "If you choose others, others will choose you. As long as they have good character and a good temper, and as long as Huai Gang is satisfied, that's enough."
Aunt Zhou San: "Of course not. After I went to see him yesterday, I saw that he was satisfied with him, so I told the matchmaker to let them see each other and get married if they are compatible."
"If both of them are satisfied, we can hold the wedding banquet next year or at the end of the year at the latest!"
"Yes, we'll have the wedding at the end of the year, and separate from them next year. By then, we two old bones will just guard the old house and let them go on their own."
"It's not as simple as you think. They are busy making money, so we can't have any free time."
"Yes, I have to take care of little Yaoyao too!" Aunt Zhou San said as she took Xiao Jiuer over. "Be good, call me Third Grandma!"
"Grandma!" Xiao Jiuer opened his mouth and his mouth was covered with saliva.
Zhou's mother quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe him clean. "He is the first one to speak among the kids. He can call grandma, grandpa, grandpa, and everything else."
"Both mom and husband are smart, so of course the kids are smart too!" Aunt Zhou San laughed, "Youngest and Yiding have many ways to get rid of wild bees. Huaigang went to get rid of the wild bees in my vegetable garden several times but couldn't get rid of them. So the two of them brought a bucket and got rid of the wild bees."
"You know, the youngest has loved running in the mountains since he was little, doing these things all day long."
Seeing that she had not mentioned the matter of the eldest wife borrowing money until now, Zhou's mother felt that the eldest wife had no intention of targeting them. Thinking that the old man had not spoken yet, she did not mention the matter of Zhou Dachun looking for the old man.
The two sisters-in-law talked about the gossip in the village, and then Zhou's mother took her grandson and granddaughter back home. (End of this chapter)
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