January 23, 1972, Laba Festival.
A day in advance, Shen An Ning soaked the ingredients she was going to use. According to the customs of old Beijing and Northeast China, she prepared peanuts, red beans, red dates, lotus seeds, chestnuts, longans, ginkgo nuts, millet, rice, yellow rice, and raisins.
Considering that people from the village would come to deliver porridge, Shen Anning was willing to put in the ingredients, and she prepared to cook a large iron pot full of it.
At five o'clock in the morning, looking out through the window, it was still gray. I got up carefully, put on thick clothes, and heated the kangs in the two rooms to make them warmer.
The two girls in the room were sleeping soundly. Now Shen An Ning also put Shen Zixi in the basket to sleep at night. Whenever she hummed, she would reach out and shake the basket a few times, which worked better than any toy.
Put the pre-soaked ingredients into the pot, fill it with water, and light the fire. It doesn't require any skills, but it's time-consuming. You also need to stir it from time to time to prevent the rice from sticking to the pot.
After cooking for more than forty minutes and simmering for nearly an hour, I opened the lid and the aroma of porridge burst out, and the fragrance of grain filled the entire kitchen.
Shen Anyu got up and smelled the fragrance, “Sister, the Laba porridge you cooked is so fragrant.”
Shen Anning looked at his chicken coop hair and served him a bowl with a smile, adding a spoonful of sugar. Shen Anyu was standing by the stove eating when the voices of several children came from the yard. There were the little grandsons of the village chief and the branch secretary, the youngest son of Aunt Dashuan, and the children of Aunt Sufen, Aunt Erlan, and Aunt Xiuhua, a group of seven or eight people, all holding a bowl of porridge.
Shen Anning brought people into the kitchen, five little boys, and three little girls. Shen Anxuan heard the voices of the little sisters, put on his clothes and ran into the kitchen.
Shen Anning served each child a bowl of porridge and added a small spoonful of sugar. Looking at the somewhat restrained appearance of the children, she said, "Okay, hurry up and drink this bowl of porridge here first."
The group of children were a little embarrassed at first, and only started eating after Shen Anyu and Shen Anxuan stuffed the chopsticks into their hands. Shen Anning put a lot of ingredients, and the raisins soaked in water and the sweetness of the sugar made the group of children unable to stop.
Each person drank a bowl, and Shen An Ning filled another bowl for them to take back. The porridge cooked by the aunt in the village had fewer raisins and ginkgo nuts and red dates than Shen An Ning's, and it contained more beans of various kinds, such as soybeans, black beans, mung beans, red beans, and kidney beans. It tasted good when heated in the pot again.
After dinner, the twins were left to look after the house with Shen Zixi, while Shen Anning carried a small basket across the bridge to deliver porridge to Village Chief Geng's house. On the way, she happened to meet Geng Yue, who was also delivering porridge to her house. They smiled at each other, and Geng Yue took Shen Anning back.
The village chief's grandson Geng Guoqing couldn't stay idle at home. Shen Anning asked him to go find Shen Anyu to play when he had nothing to do. "Guoqing, there are a lot of picture books at home. The weather is good and the road is easy to walk. You can go find Anyu. The east wing where he sleeps is now empty."
Shen Anning had come this time to ask for help from the village chief's wife, Grandma Li. Shen Zixi was about to turn 100 days old, and according to local custom, she had to treat close friends to red eggs during the day. Shen Anning didn't have many eggs in her space, and she didn't have the water to soak the red yeast rice needed to dye the eggs red. Wangtu Village had many children, and now everyone was willing to give them nutritional supplements, so they probably couldn't get many eggs together. Gengjiatun had benefited from Geng Chengyi's influence, and in recent years, many children from families who graduated from junior high school and high school had been admitted to factories in the city or town, so their families were still better off.
"Don't worry, An Ning, I'll take care of your matter. Although chickens don't lay many eggs in winter, every household still has some stored. I'll make them and send them to you in a few days."
"Okay, thank you, Grandma Li. Here's ten yuan. Take it first. If it's not enough, please tell me."
As she had to go and deliver porridge to her grandparents, Shen Anning didn't stay long. She just told Geng Yue to come and play with her when she had nothing to do.
On the way back, she saw that the door of her grandfather's house was open. She guessed that he was waiting for her. There were not many people on the road. They should have started eating at home at this time. Shen Anning entered the house with a basket.
Sure enough, I saw Grandma Shen heating up the buns, bringing out the porridge and putting it on the stove, along with a pound of sugar, “Grandma, you have to control this sugar, Grandpa can’t eat too much.”
"Okay, I know." Grandma Shen turned out the sweet potatoes buried at the bottom of the pot, and the two of them sat together in front of the stove, roasting the fire and eating sweet potatoes.
After staying for about ten minutes, Shen Anning left. It was broad daylight and the weather was good, so it was inevitable that someone would come to visit.
After Laba Festival, we started cleaning the house. Since it was a new house, there was actually nothing to tidy up. The only thing we needed to do was to give the three children a good bath.
The last time I took a bath was the day after the winter solstice, which was almost a month ago. I boiled two pots of water to wash Shen Anxuan first, and took out shampoo and baby shower gel from the space. Shen Anxuan was so excited to use them for the first time that he stayed in the water for more than ten minutes and waited until the water cooled down before coming out to put on his clothes.
Shen Anyu was old and refused to ask his sister to help him wash. Shen Anning agreed of course. After all, children's ideas should be respected. She told him how to use shampoo and shower gel, refilled his bucket with hot water, and left.
She planned to take Shen Zixi to the space to wash later.
After the younger brothers and sisters finished their bath and lay down on the kang, Shen An Ning pretended to take little Xixi into the warehouse. She went to the bathroom in the space with a thought. Because Shen Anxuan lived with them during this period, the little girl had not been able to come in for a long time. Children are very sensitive to changes in scenes. As soon as she entered the space, she screamed excitedly.
The temperature in the space has been maintained at around 26 degrees, and it is a bit hot wearing a thick cotton jacket.
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