At three o'clock in the afternoon, the temperature was relatively not so high, so Gao Mingcheng prepared to send everyone back to the county.
Before going back, he took some bags and asked Gao Yue and the others to take some fruits from the bamboo baskets, including peaches, pears, bayberries and cantaloupes.
As for watermelon, since it is not an early-maturing variety, although there are ripe ones now, there are not many, and it is impossible to give one to everyone. So we decided to give each person half a watermelon to take back after arriving in the county town.
Lin Ye and the others declined politely, feeling that they were already embarrassed for eating and taking the watermelon at the same time, and they refused to take the watermelon anymore.
Gao Mingcheng said generously: "If I let you take it, just take it. I have plenty of it in my field. There are a lot of big and small watermelons, enough to eat until August."
Gao Mingcheng made the final decision, and everyone else could only express their gratitude.
Everyone loaded the fruits, eggs and vegetables into the car, and then prepared to drive back to the county town. Several boys sat in the back of the car as usual. They wore thin long sleeves and straw hats. When the car started, the wind blew freely on their bodies, blowing their hair and clothes, so they didn't feel stuffy.
Gao Mingcheng drove all the way back to the county town, sent Gao Yue and the others home, and then returned to the clothing store.
He unloaded all the fruits, vegetables and eggs from the truck bed. When Xuanyue saw this, she hurried over. When she saw the large pile of eggplants and cowpeas, she immediately said, "There are so many that we can't eat them all. We have to make them into dried vegetables."
Gao Mingcheng said, "Okay, you decide. Do you want to chop them up and dry them directly, or blanch them and then dry them?"
Xuanyu Mei said: "Blanching and then drying will make it taste better. It can be used to stew meat in winter and is refreshing and delicious with rice."
As she said this, she immediately prepared to wash the pot and boil water, and quickly prepare the dishes before the sun sets.
In fact, it is best to make dried vegetables in the morning, dry them in the sun for a whole day, and they will be half dry by the evening.
But Gao Mingcheng just returned home at this time. If he doesn't blanch the vegetables immediately and dry them in the sun, they will not be as fresh by tomorrow and may even become stale.
While Xuanmei was busy making a fire, Gao Shufang set her eyes on the watermelon. She quickly soaked a large watermelon in cold water and prepared to eat it later.
The last time she went back to Gaojia Village, she wanted to eat watermelon, but unfortunately she picked one but it was not ripe.
Little Xuxu, who had just woken up from a nap, also came to the watermelon and, imitating his aunt, stretched out his little hands and patted the green watermelon skin.
The watermelon is oval in shape, with green patterns on the rind, giving it a symmetrical beauty.
Gao Shufang teased Xiao Xuxu and said, "What is this? Do you know?"
I know this question. Xiao Xuxu said loudly: "Watermelon!"
Gao Shufang continued, "Can you hold it up? Try it for a while!"
Little Xuxu didn't know how dangerous the world is, so he bent down to pick up the watermelon. However, the watermelon didn't move at all, and he accidentally fell on his butt.
Seeing him fall down in a mess, Gao Shufang reached out to pick him up and couldn't help laughing.
But the fall did not stop Xiao Xuxu. After standing up, he seemed to be struggling with the watermelon and continued to hug it.
But the watermelon was so heavy, weighing more than ten kilograms, that a little kid like Xiao Xuxu, who was less than three years old, couldn't lift it even if he used all his strength.
But while holding the watermelon, Xiao Xuxu discovered that the watermelon could roll, so he changed his strategy and began to push the watermelon hard, making it roll on the ground.
When the watermelon was pushed by him, Xiao Xuxu immediately let out a crisp laugh, which was full of pride and satisfaction.
Manyu Mei heard his laughter, looked in the direction of the sound, and couldn't help but smile. At this time, a washed peach was handed to her.
"All the peaches in the mountains have been picked. This is the last batch. You should eat a few more quickly." Gao Mingcheng knew that Xuanyuemei loved eating peaches, so he specially washed a few of the best peaches for her.
Manyimei has eaten peaches from her own orchard several times and knows that they taste good. Her heart starts to feel sweet before she even puts them in her mouth.
But she didn't rush to take it, but said, "Put it aside first. I'm making a fire and my hands are dirty."
Gao Mingcheng immediately said: "Come out and wash your hands and eat peaches, I'll light the fire!"
He reached out and pulled out a lot of beauty from the stove, then sat down on it.
The fire in the stove is already burning, and you just need to add some firewood from time to time.
Gao Mingcheng took a look at the firewood piled in the corner of the yard and found that there was not much firewood left, so he had to go to the village to get more.
But there is no need to worry about having no firewood. In addition to the wood stove, there is also a coal briquettes stove at home. As for coal briquettes, there are fifty or sixty of them piled up in the corner of the wall.
The wall was black because coal briquettes were often piled up in the corner. People at that time did not investigate it deeply and just thought that it was caused by the coal briquettes. However, Gao Mingcheng watched a popular science video in later life and realized that the coal molecules in the coal briquettes can move. The reason why the wall was black was not necessarily because it was hit by the coal briquettes, but because the coal molecules were adsorbed on the wall while moving.
When his eyes swept over the coal briquettes, the relevant knowledge came to his mind directly, but Gao Mingcheng didn't care. He looked down at the stove and added a piece of firewood in.
After Gao Mingcheng helped to light the fire, Xuanyuemei washed her hands and then happily ate peaches.
The peaches at this time are riper and sweeter than before, making people more addicted to them the more they eat. Xuanyuemei ate three peaches in a row and stopped only when she felt full.
"Xu Xu, do you want to eat a peach?" Many beauties saw that little Xu Xu was still struggling with the watermelon and having a lot of fun.
So he waved Xiao Xuxu over, took him to the faucet to wash his hands, and handed him the biggest and reddest peach.
Little Xuxu, who is almost two years old, has all his teeth grown. He eats peaches by taking small bites at a time, sitting on a small stool and eating the peaches quietly.
"How beautiful! The water is boiling!" Gao Mingcheng shouted immediately when he heard the sound of water in the pot.
"Okay." Xuanyuemei responded, then took the cowpea and eggplant and placed them on the shelf next to her. She lifted the lid of the pot, and a puff of hot steam came out. The water in the pot had indeed boiled.
It is best to use this big iron pot to blanch food. If you use a small pot, it will not be so convenient and quick.
Many people put the cowpeas into the pot first. When the cowpeas are scalded by hot water, their color becomes darker. Although this dish needs to be scalded, it cannot be overcooked. When it is about 50% cooked, it should be taken out immediately, then put into a basin and marinated with salt for a while.
Because the pot is big, the vegetables can be blanched quickly. Blanch the cowpea first, then the eggplant. The eggplant needs to be blanched a little longer so that it can be cut with chopsticks.
The blanched eggplants, like cowpeas, need to be marinated with salt for a while. Cut the eggplants open and flatten them, sprinkle salt evenly on them. After a while, they can be placed in a breathable winnowing basket to dry in the sun.
The backyard of the clothing store was not big and was full of things, so Gao Shufang took the things to the balcony on the second floor to dry them.
At this time, the sun's heat is far less than at noon, but after the vegetables are placed on the balcony to dry, the water on the surface will dry up quickly. After another two days of drying, the excess salt will precipitate out of the vegetables.
The Cheng family in Gaoming adds salt to the blanched dishes they make, but some families don’t add salt, or even blanch the dishes, but simply chop the vegetables into pieces and dry them in the sun.
The dried vegetables made in this way just have an average taste.
Just after finishing all these, Gao Mingli came back from get off work. The factory was not busy recently, so he got off work on time. He rode his bicycle quickly across the street and entered the backyard from the alley behind.
As soon as he entered the door, he shouted, "Second brother, did you bring back the watermelon?"
Gao Mingli knew that his second brother had returned to Gaojia Village today, so he was always thinking about the watermelon.
I haven't eaten watermelon for a year, so I miss it especially in this hot weather.
Gao Mingcheng was holding little Xuxu and teaching him to count. When he heard what Gao Mingli said, he said, "I brought it! The watermelon has been soaking in water, so it should be ready to eat. Shufang, go get a knife and cut it!"
After saying this, he looked down at Xiao Xuxu and said, "If you count to twenty, I will give you watermelon!"
Little Xuxu started to count obediently. Since he often learned counting from adults and some simple poems, he also learned some.
When counting from one to ten, Xiao Xuxu's voice was loud and confident, but after counting to 11, he stumbled and needed Gao Mingcheng to remind him in time.
When Xiao Xuxu finally succeeded in counting to 20, Gao Shufang had already cut the watermelon.
The light red watermelon juice flows on the table, exuding the fragrance of watermelon, which is particularly tempting.
Gao Mingli had just returned from the factory. He was tired and thirsty. Looking at the slices of red watermelon, he couldn't help but reach out to take a slice to eat.
As soon as he took the first bite, Gao Mingli couldn't help but say, "Delicious!"
Gao Mingcheng also picked a piece in the middle for Xiao Xuxu, as this part has the least watermelon seeds and is also the sweetest.
Last year, little Xuxu was still little. Although he was fed some watermelon, he probably had forgotten the taste. Now that he was eating watermelon again, the little guy seemed very happy and ate it bite by bite. However, the watermelon was very juicy, so each bite was very big and he could not swallow it completely, so the juice flowed all over his face.
Soon, Xiao Xuxu's neck and chest were stained with watermelon juice, and were wet everywhere.
Xuanyuemei looked at Xiaoxuxu's clothes being so dirty and couldn't help but recall the past.
She smiled and said, "I remember when I was a kid, every time we ate watermelon, some boys in the village would take off their clothes to avoid getting their clothes dirty!"
"Sister-in-law, you are talking about my second brother!" Gao Mingli joked unceremoniously.
Gao Mingcheng patted his forehead gently and said with a smile: "It's as if you haven't taken off your clothes!"
When I was a child, there were five children in my family. The four older boys were all very naughty. Gao Mingcheng was the most naughty among them and was always dirty every day.
Luo Xiaohua had to wash clothes for the whole family every day, and she felt very tired, so she asked them to try not to get their clothes dirty. For example, when eating watermelon in summer, they should take off their clothes before eating, so that the watermelon juice would not stain their clothes.
What if the kids get dirty? No problem, just wash them in the reservoir and they'll be clean!
This method was somewhat effective, so during that period, whenever someone's family ate watermelon, the children of that family had to take off their clothes before eating, otherwise their clothes would be stained with watermelon juice and would be difficult to wash clean.
This is not considered a dark history. When recalling childhood memories, the atmosphere suddenly becomes warm.
Gao Shufang sighed, "It's still better now! Although I could eat watermelon when I was a child, I only ate it once or twice a year! I remember that my mother was reluctant to throw away even the watermelon rind, she would save it for cooking! But I don't like to eat fresh watermelon rind, I still like to eat dried ones, but my mother thinks that there is only a little watermelon rind, so she is too lazy to dry it."
"That's definitely better now!" Gao Mingli said affirmatively.
Not to mention the past, even now, Gao Mingli doesn't want to go back to the village to live.
It's so good to be in the county, with a stable salary and no need to work in the hot sun. Counting the days, the double harvest season is almost here in the village.
When I think about the double harvests every year, the whole family would be so busy that they would be dizzy. After the double harvests, people would be so tired that they would lose several pounds!
I start working as soon as I open my eyes every day. I can’t even eat properly. I have to eat in the fields. For the sake of convenience, the food is average.
The only thing that makes people happy is that when there is a market, the family will buy a pound of pork to nourish everyone's body.
When talking about the past, everyone was eager to express themselves, even Zhang Jinling and Luo Li talked about their childhood.
Zhang Jinling is okay, her family is not too bad, but Luo Li's family is really poor!
Before Luo Li married Huang Dazhi, her family was the poorest in the village. They had many children but few laborers, and they lived a very tight life.
When Luo Li thought of the past, she couldn't help but look dazed. Only two years had passed, but she suddenly felt as if she was in another world.
Recalling the past, Luo Li said with emotion: "It's still better now!"
Most importantly, she was lucky to meet Huang Dazhi! As expected, marriage is a woman's second life. Marrying Huang Dazhi changed not only Luo Li's own life, but also her family.
Now, her younger brother can go to school, and her younger sisters can also make clothes for others at home with the sewing machine and earn a little money.
When kindergarten starts, her two younger sisters will be able to come to the county to work!
Thinking of this, Luo Li was shocked. She felt that her future life would definitely get better and better!
Luo Li's heart was burning with joy, so that night she expressed her friendship and gratitude to Huang Dazhi. That night, Huang Dazhi felt a dreamlike pleasure.
Well, I'm very happy.
After finishing, Huang Dazhi lay on the bed, grinning.
The electric fan was working diligently to blow out air, taking away the heat from his body. Huang Dazhi, who hadn't had a good relaxation for a long time, felt that his life was becoming more and more hopeful!
As for the past? Huang Dazhi didn't want to think about those bad things in the past!
Let’s think about the present and the future!
In the future, he wants to get a promotion and a raise, and he wants to raise his son well!
In the future, his younger brother Huang Xiaoan will be able to learn a skill, and Xiaoguai will be able to go to school and study normally!
Since then, his parents have been in better health since they no longer have to do farm work. I hope they can live to old age without any illness or disaster! (End of this chapter)
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