Chapter 42 How can I live if I can see but not eat?
Li Qiuyue saw the mugwort, wild chrysanthemum and mint leaves on the mat and asked curiously: "You can just hang the mugwort up to dry in the sun. Why do you have to pull off the leaves? There are plenty of mint in the backyard, why dry the mint leaves?"
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "Third sister-in-law, I plan to dry them and make some mosquito coils."
"Mosquito coils!" Zhou's mother and her three sisters-in-law looked at her in surprise, "You can also make incense?"
"I've read about it in a book, but I've never tried it myself. I want to give it a try."
Nowadays, we use mosquito nets when sleeping at night, and when there are too many mosquitoes when enjoying the cool air at night, we light a pile of mugwort to smoke them out.
Mosquito coils cost money, so who would want to use that thing?
Zhou's mother looked at her happily, "Mugwort and mint are free. If you know how to make mosquito coils, why not try making some? This will save Jiaming and his friends from having to keep their feet occupied during meals."
It was hot and there were many mosquitoes. The adults were wearing long trousers, but the children were all wearing small jackets and shorts. When we ate, the mosquitoes would stare at us and bite us under the table.
Zhao Huifang and the other two were also happy, "Okay, call us when you're done, and we'll help you."
"I'll call you guys when the wormwood and mint are dried."
Zhou Jiaming and his friends were sitting at the small dining table. Each of them secretly ate a piece of pig intestine, but they felt even more hungry. They drooled and shouted, "Grandma, Mom, let's eat. We are hungry."
Mother Zhou: "Go to the backyard and call your grandparents back, then we can have dinner."
Zhou Jiaming looked at his brother Jialiang and said, "You go and shout."
Zhou Jialiang, "You are not allowed to eat secretly!"
Zhou Huaian waved his hand at him, "Go quickly, Dad will help you watch over them and don't let them steal food."
"Oh!" Zhou Jialiang rushed out like a cannonball.
Zhou Huaian said to the little ones who were drooling at the sight of the pig intestines, "Come on, follow Daddy to get the bowls and chopsticks."
Zhou Jiaming glanced at him and curled his lips, "Big lazy guy is worse than Little lazy guy. When Aunt Yao asked you to set the table, you called us!"
"Does your child still want to eat braised pork?" Zhou Huaian threatened him and turned to walk towards the kitchen.
Thinking of the delicious braised pork that would make people unable to stop eating, Zhou Jiaming and Xiao Zhou Qian had no choice but to follow him to the kitchen to serve the dishes and set the table.
After they had served the meal, Grandpa Zhou and his father also came back.
Everyone sat around the table, and the children looked at the braised pork intestines in the ceramic basin with shining eyes, waiting for the old man to pick up his chopsticks so that they could officially start eating.
The food I just stole doesn’t count.
"Eat, you greedy cat. Your saliva is watering." Grandpa Zhou smiled at his great-grandson.
"Zuzu let us eat."
A few children cheered, picked up the chopsticks they had already held in their hands, and went straight to the pig intestines.
Father Zhou poured the old man a glass of wine, "Old man, have a drink."
"Yeah! Just one cup will do!"
Yang Chunyan picked up a piece of pig intestine and put it into her mouth. She bit into it and found it soft, chewy, fatty but not greasy.
Several children said while eating: "Delicious, delicious..."
Yang Chunyan hadn't finished eating the pig intestines in the ceramic basin yet, and she was thinking that the next time she went to Ning'an, she would definitely buy another set of pig intestines to eat.
Zhou Huaian felt that today's meal was particularly satisfying, an experience he had never had before.
Grandpa Zhou looked at Zhou Huaian with a complicated expression, "Youngest, Grandpa thought that on the day of his death, he wouldn't be able to eat the food you bought with your money!"
Zhou Huaian paused in twisting the pig intestines and looked up at him, "Grandpa, don't worry, I will follow Chunyan to dig herbs and sell them."
Grandpa Zhou nodded, "Yes! Wait until the 15th day of the seventh month to burn blessing paper and tell your grandma that you know how to earn money to support the family, so that she can rest assured."
Zhou Huaian felt a little uncomfortable, "I understand!"
Mother Zhou glanced at Zhou Huaian and remembered that when he was a child, he followed the old lady to herd sheep and cut grass during the day, and lived with the two elders at night.
Because he was raised by the old lady herself, she doted on him much more than her other grandchildren. A big part of the reason why he became what he is now is because of the old lady's doting.
Sometimes she often thought that if she had not earned those extra work points and let her youngest child be raised by his grandmother, it would have been impossible. Without those work points, with so many people in the family, I'm afraid...
At the end of the meal, Zhou Huaishan and Zhou Huaian even used the soup to soak their rice. The whole family enjoyed the stew very much. The children sat there with their bulging bellies, not wanting to move.
Yang Chunyan glanced at Zhou Huaian, wondering why he didn't tell her about digging herbs during the meal? Did he regret it and think it was not worth it to get too much?
At this moment, Zhou Huaian was thinking about catching lazy cicadas after dark. He looked at the sky and found that it was already dark. He winked at Yang Chunyan who was cleaning up the dishes, "..." Hurry up and speak!
Yang Chunyan was amused and said to Zhou's mother, "Mom, there are cicadas everywhere these days. We want to catch some and fry them."
Mother Zhou glanced at Zhou Huaian and found him amusing because he looked so confident of winning. She hesitated for a moment before nodding, "I'll give you the flashlight later."
"Mom, we need to fry them after we catch them! We need at least two kilograms of oil!" Zhou Huaian couldn't believe his ears. When did my mother become so generous? Could it be that Chunyan had told my mother secretly?
Zhou's mother looked at him and said calmly, "The rapeseed on the back hill has started to bloom. We planted seven or eight acres of rapeseed this year, so we don't have to worry about oil. As long as there is something at home, when has this old lady not cooked it for you?"
Zhou Huai'an was so disappointed, how could he forget it? This year, a lot of rapeseed was sown in the households, so Chunyan must have thought of it.
For a whole month, I can see it but can’t eat it. How can I live like this?
"We bought a flashlight today." Yang Chunyan looked at her sisters-in-law and said, "Sisters-in-law, you can come with us. Catch some lazy cicadas and fry them for the children. My husband said they are good for nutrition."
I have heard from Doctor Wang before that lazy cicadas taste sweet, salty and cold, and have the functions of dispersing wind, clearing the lungs, relieving fever and calming the nerves. Their protein content is higher than any other poultry.
It can also promote growth and development, replenish the body's metabolic consumption, and has an excellent auxiliary effect on the recovery of patients with physical weakness. It is known as Tang Monk's meat.
Zhao Huifang nodded: "Okay, let's find some sacks to hold the lazy cicadas."
"We want to go too." Several children looked over here.
Zhou's mother said, "The older ones have to study tomorrow, so it's better not to take the younger ones out after dark. Just the adults go."
Now that the head of the family had spoken, the children no longer dared to act up and just sat back with their lips pouted.
The four sisters-in-law were busy cleaning up the dishes and feeding the pigs, and Zhou's mother also went to feed the chickens with bran.
He could catch cicadas and fry them to eat, but Zhou Huaian was not in the mood to do so and just sat there lazily without moving.
Sitting with the old man at the door of the main hall, Zhou's father, who was smoking, looked back at him and said, "Youngest brother, who stole our corn? Did you find out?"
"Erchun said..." Zhou Huaian lay on the table and told him what Xu Erchun said.
"Ah!" Father Zhou sighed after hearing this, took two more puffs of his cigarette, and then looked at Zhou Huairong, "Big brother, catch the lazy cicada and bring it back. You and the third brother will go to the corn field to take a look."
Zhou Huairong said: "Old man, if it's really Ye Erwa, he has stolen once and he probably won't do it again!"
Father Zhou frowned and said, "What if it's not Ye Erwa?" Twenty or thirty bags of corn are enough for their family to have a meal. In every village, there are always two people with dirty hands and feet who specialize in doing shameless things.
Zhou Huaian: "The two families in the team were dishonest. In previous years, they stole food from the team, but this year they stole food from each family."
Mr. Zhou nodded: "Huai An is right. Now the loss is mine."
In the past, in the production teams, families who were more diligent and had more strong laborers could still have enough to eat.
Some families who really had nothing to eat would steal food from the production team. Even if they were seen, as long as it was not excessive, most people would turn a blind eye...
(End of this chapter)
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