The three men were busy for a while, their arms were sore, and they finally knocked down all the chestnuts they could reach.
Yang Chunyan and Zhao Huifang started picking chestnuts with baskets on their backs. Zhang Xiuxiang tied three bamboo poles together with hemp ropes and continued to hit the chestnuts from high places.
After she tied them up, she turned around and said to the two of them, "Stay away, or don't blame me if you get bruised!"
"Don't worry, we'll pick it up here, we can't hit it."
The two of them picked up what they could see at a glance, and then pulled aside the grass to pick out the chestnuts hidden inside. Zhang Xiuxiang also raised a bamboo pole and hit them with a puff.
Yang Chunyan and the other person followed Zhang Xiuxiang, picking up chestnuts under the trees and putting them into their backpacks. Soon they filled the remaining two empty baskets.
Zhang Xiuxiang tapped her arm and said, "Sister-in-law, it's your turn. I can't do it anymore. My arm feels like it's about to break."
Zhao Huifang said, "Why don't we just forget about it today? Look, there are still so many things left on the ground that the two empty baskets are now full."
Now it's not like before, where we have to rely on picking up mountain products and selling them for money to exchange for food. With so much food, I can share some with my family, which is enough for them to eat.
Yang Chunyan nodded and said, "Okay, let's get rid of the chestnut shells first, so we don't have to carry such heavy shells back."
The burrs on chestnut balls are very prickly and can pierce your hands even if you wear gloves. The simplest way is to press one side with one foot and step on the other side with the other foot. When you apply force, the chestnut ball will crack and the chestnuts will come out.
"Yes, remove the chestnut shells first." Zhang Xiuxiang lifted the basket with force, poured out the chestnuts inside, stepped on the chestnuts and began to remove the shells.
After working for another two hours, the three of them finally took all the chestnuts out of the shells and put them into sacks.
Yang Chunyan picked up a bag and put it in the backpack. She thought it must be at least 70 or 80 kilograms. "Let's go back. We can't carry more."
Zhang Xiuxiang smiled and nodded, "Okay, let others fight with the remaining ones!"
The three of them packed up and walked back, going down the mountain panting. When they came out of the alley of the old house, they met Aunt Zhou San who was pushing a cart to sell tofu pudding and tofu.
"Are you going to pick chestnuts?"
Zhao Huifang: "Yes! There are still a lot on the tree, you should hurry up and get some back."
Aunt Zhou smiled and nodded, "Let Huaizhong and his brother go and fight tomorrow morning."
The four of them chatted and laughed until they reached the main road, then went their separate ways.
When they got home, Li Qiuyue was sitting at the door of the main room holding her child. Seeing the three men coming in sweating profusely, she hurriedly put the child in the cradle and went over to help take the backpack.
"How many trees did you hit? How are the chestnuts this year?"
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "The harvest is good this year. We picked all the ones we could reach and filled three sacks."
"That's really good!" Li Qiuyue smiled and untied the hemp rope, took a chestnut and bit it open, "Small chestnuts are still delicious, sweet."
Over there, Zhou's mother picked up a piece of Polygonum multiflorum and smiled happily, "Look, if you go out for a walk, you can always find something to bring back. If you stay at home all day, money won't fall from the sky."
Li Qiuyue felt that she had something else in her words, but after being scolded just now, she could only keep her tail between her legs and said, "Mom is right, you guys are really lucky, these few pieces can be sold for more than a hundred!"
"It should be possible!" Yang Chunyan and the other two brought the Polygonum multiflorum vine and Polygonum multiflorum to the backyard, cleaned them, and then hung the Polygonum multiflorum vine upstairs to dry in the sun.
Zhang Xiuxiang said, "Chunyan, the yam cake you made last time was delicious. How about we make some chestnut cake?"
Yang Chunyan: "Okay, the chestnut cake is good to eat."
Chestnut has the effects of nourishing the middle and replenishing qi, nourishing the stomach and spleen, promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, and moistening the lungs and relieving cough. It can also promote the digestion and absorption of food, promote gastrointestinal motility, and prevent constipation.
The three of them went downstairs to the front yard and saw that Li Qiuyue had left. The chestnuts in the sack had been poured out by Zhou's mother and put on the drying mat.
Yang Chunyan wiped the sweat off her body and stepped forward to take Xiao Jiuer who was reaching out for a hug. "Mom, let's get some chestnuts to make chestnut cake."
Mother Zhou nodded. "I'll get the cutting board and knife and cut more. I'll save half for stir-frying sugared chestnuts."
Zhang Xiuxiang also followed and went to the kitchen. "We will help cut the chestnuts and peel them before going back."
The mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law used a kitchen knife to cut a slit in the chestnuts. Zhou's mother took half of the chestnuts and took them to the kitchen. They poured hot water into the pot and simmered them for two or three minutes. They took them out and soaked them in cold water for a while. The chestnuts were easier to peel after being soaked in cold water.
It didn't take long for the four of them, mother-in-law and daughters-in-law, to peel a whole porcelain basin of chestnuts, and the colander was filled with the tender yellow chestnut meat.
Yang Chunyan brought it to the kitchen, steamed it, then mashed it into chestnut paste and scooped some honey and milk powder into it and mixed it well. Then she heated the pan, scooped two spoonfuls of lard into it, poured in the chestnut paste, stir-fried it into a non-stick chestnut paste ball, and served it in a ceramic bowl.
After it cools down, cut out a piece, roll it into long strips, and divide it into small pieces of even size.
Mother Zhou took out the wooden mold for making mooncakes, put the dough in and pressed it into shape, then poured it out and picked up a piece. "Look, it's the same as the one I bought in the city."
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "Try it and see if it tastes good."
"It's made of milk powder and honey, it would be strange if it didn't taste good." Mother Zhou broke off a piece and fed it to her, and then broke off a small piece and fed it to Xiao Jiuer who was on her back, "Good boy, it tastes good!"
Xiao Jiuer's mouth moved back and forth. Before she swallowed the food in her mouth, she reached out to grab the chestnut cake in her hand.
Yang Chunyan felt that the ones she made were the most authentic ones, and they melted in her mouth. "I'll send some to Xuejiao when they're done."
Mother Zhou fed the child a little more and said, "The youngest and Yiding should be here by now, right?"
Yang Chunyan looked at the time and said, "It's already past five o'clock. We've arrived a long time ago."
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law made the chestnut cakes. Yang Chunyan picked up some and put them in a porcelain jar. She carried them to Zhou Yiding's house. Zhou's mother found the fine sand for stir-frying dried sweet potatoes and started frying chestnuts.
Before she arrived at Zhou Yiding's house, she saw Wan Xuejiao, holding her waist, standing at the gate of the courtyard and talking to Xu Feng from next door. When she saw Zhou Yiding coming, she left her behind and came to greet her with a smile.
"Sister-in-law, why are you here?"
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "We went to pick some chestnuts and made some chestnut cakes. We'll send them to you to try."
"Thanks!" Wan Xuejiao smiled and touched the little Jiuer on her back, "I haven't seen you for a few days. You've grown a lot."
Yang Chunyan smiled and turned to look at her son. "I watch him every day and I don't feel anything at all."
Wan Xuejiao looked at Xu Feng, smiled, opened the lid of the porcelain jar, took out a piece and handed it to her, "Sister Xu Feng, try the chestnut cake made by my sister-in-law!"
"How can Chunyan's food not be delicious!" Xu Feng took a bite with a smile, and looked at Yang Chunyan, "If my family made as much money as yours, I wouldn't bother to go to the mountains to pick wild chestnuts. It would be much easier to buy them in the village."
Yang Chunyan said calmly: "My family doesn't make any money. We work so hard all year round, and we haven't even paid off the money we owe for repairing the house. If we don't save money, how will we get the money to support our son in the future?"
She knew in her heart that since her family had leased such a large piece of mountain land and had approved the foundation for building a kiln, there would be many people in the village who were jealous.
Some people speak better to your face than they sing, but secretly they wish something bad would happen to you so they can step on you.
"Tsk tsk!" Xu Feng curled her lips and turned to Wan Xuejiao and said, "Xuejiao, you see, Chunyan is afraid that we will ask her for money. As soon as I mentioned it, she started to cry poor."
"Look at what you said. Even if my sister-in-law complains about being poor, she can't cry in front of you!" Wan Xuejiao didn't give the other party any face at all and retorted with a sullen face.
"..." Xu Feng was stunned for a moment, standing there, not knowing whether to leave or stay.
"Sister-in-law, it's a rare opportunity for you to come here. Please come in and sit for a while." Wan Xuejiao ignored her and walked into the yard with Yang Chunyan.
Xu Feng's face turned dark and she spat at the gate of her house. She looked at the chestnut cake in her hand and wanted to throw it away but was reluctant to do so, so she walked away angrily with it.
Yang Chunyan put Xiao Jiuer down and sat on the bamboo chair. "Did Xu Feng's husband go to break stones again?"
"Leave. The couple quarreled at home. They were so shameless. I ignored her, but she still had the nerve to come up to me."
Wan Xuejiao glanced at the gate and said, "I wanted to confront her just now. She said she had something to talk to me about and called me out. Then she asked me in a roundabout way whether the money for building the oven was given by the boss or by your family. She said a lot of nonsense, but I thought I couldn't understand. She was jealous of your family."
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "Some people are like this. If you are doing well, they may not bless you, but as long as you are not doing well, if something happens to you, there will be a lot of people who will gloat over your misfortune."
"Sister-in-law, you are so right!" Wan Xuejiao looked at her with some sadness, "Not to mention that outsiders won't bless you, even the good sisters who grew up with you can't bear to see you live a good life.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, Yiding and I went back to give gifts. A very good sister also went back to her parents' home. I happily went to her house to talk to her, but she was so sarcastic that I almost cried. "
Yang Chunyan: "Your sister may not live as well as you after getting married!"
Wan Xuejiao nodded repeatedly, "She is not as good as me! But compared to other girls in the village, the family she married into is pretty good. I told Yiding about it when I got back, and he said that kind of person is petty and jealous, so I should ignore her in the future."
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "Then just listen to Yiding and ignore her from now on."
"Yeah! My mom also said that Yiding is smarter than me, so it's right to listen to him!" Wan Xuejiao looked at her, then at her bulging belly, "Sister-in-law, I see that you haven't changed at all after giving birth to Jiuer. Look at me, I've gained a lot of weight and can't even wear my old pants anymore."
Yang Chunyan smiled and joked: "Don't worry, even if you gain weight, your Yiding will like you too."
"He's not that good!" Wan Xuejiao said worriedly, "Sister-in-law, you don't know that there are more people logging in the forest farm now than last year. I'm worried that he'll be alone in the forest farm and get into trouble when he encounters those people logging. I advised him to quit his job in the forest farm, but he disagreed."
Yang Chunyan recalled the few people who illegally cut down agarwood trees that she met in the agarwood forest last year. She felt that Zhou Yiding was not a rigid person. "Don't worry, Yiding is smart and won't confront those people head-on." (End of this chapter)
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