After April, spring has truly arrived in the Northeast, and the mountains have regained their vibrant life at a very fast speed.
The twins and other children in the village would do mountain climbing training every morning to exercise their legs and feet. Several of the fast runners even caught pheasants on the mountain, which made the strong men in the village very envious. They were strong, but they could not get any advantage over these agile pheasants and rabbits.
May 5th is the beginning of summer. Shen An Ning had a lot of things to do last year and didn't know about the customs of the beginning of summer in the Northeast. It was Aunt Sufen who came to remind her that the beginning of summer here is to make Lixia barley.
The rice is half-cooked, mashed, kneaded, pressed into blocks, cut into slices, and fried in oil, which is called "dry"; it is rolled into small balls like glutinous rice balls, and then added with mushrooms, garlic sprouts, green peppers, peas, broad beans, small pumpkins, potatoes and other spring vegetable soups to make "soup".
The "dry" food is eaten with your hands and is fragrant and delicious; the "soup" is eaten in large bowls by both adults and children to show that it is rich and tastes delicious.
Shen An Ning wanted to send some to her parents and grandparents, so she made a lot and stayed in the kitchen for the whole morning. Today, those who did not go to work in every household were busy at home.
Shen Zixi has been able to stand for a long time now. Shen An Ning put her in a walker. The kitchen is small and she likes to move around, so she can't move around at all.
Wrap the Lixia barley with oil paper and take five pounds to my parents' place, plus some other grains and fruits. I'll take more to my grandparents' place, eight pounds.
After making the Lixia Barley, it was almost time for the twins to get home from school. They had dug a lot of wild vegetables and herbs from the mountains in the past few days. I made a monkey leg stir-fried with pork, fried an egg with soybean paste to dip in the wild vegetables, and served it with a plate of braised pork elbows. The staple food was the Lixia Barley, which was just right.
Shen An Ning was cooking and stealing a few bites in front of Shen Zixi. The little girl was so angry that she slid her walker around and stared at Shen An Ning's mouth, drooling.
The amused Shen An Ning looked at her like this and couldn't help laughing. She steamed a portion of egg custard without adding anything else, and the little girl ate it with a mouthful of fragrance.
The eggs at home are consumed very quickly. Even if the chickens in the space lay eggs every day, it is not enough to feed so many mouths at home. I took a rough look and there is only about half a basket left, not including the batch bought from the farm.
After the twins came back and finished lunch, before Ana Shen could say anything, the two of them washed the dishes and put on the backpack, “Sister, we are going to go up the mountain first. We have already made an appointment with Jianhua Goudan and the others.”
Shen Anning had no choice but to get down from the kang and put the oil paper bag into Shen Anxuan's backpack. "Okay, bring some food. I'll bring some of the Lixia barley I made this morning and share it with your guys."
Watching the two of them leave the house, Shen An Ning was not worried at all. They were not rude children. The children in the village would only look for things in the safe mountain behind. Children are very smart.
After putting the things into the backpack and sorting them out, Shen Anning carried Shen Zixi on her back and rode a bicycle to the farm to deliver the things. Now the little girl didn’t like to be alone. Anyway, the weather was not very cold, so there was no problem in putting on a slightly thicker vest and wrapping her head.
Along the way, Shen An Ning came here listening to Shen Zixi's pop songs. The little girl was excited all the way, howling behind Shen An Ning from beginning to end. When she was held in Shen An Ning's arms on the farm, she still didn't react. Shen An Ning looked at her expression and felt that she was a little unsatisfied.
First, he stuffed two bags of Lixia barley through the window to the security guard. They were all open-minded people and didn't say anything. Shen xz An Ning went in directly.
There was no one at Liu Jiaman's house, and she didn't bother the neighbors to call for help. Shen Anning went directly to the infirmary. When she entered the door, she found the noise inside. She immediately noticed Liu Jiaman in the crowd and walked to her side, "Jiaman."
“Hey, An Ning, you’re here, come here quickly.” Liu Jiaman took Shen An Ning away from the crowd and went to her small office and closed the door.
"What's going on?" Shen Anning was a little curious.
"Oh no, today when we were planting corn, a girl hurt her foot with a hoe. It's not serious, but the anti-inflammatory medicine is expensive, and her family doesn't want to buy it for her, so she's making a fuss here." Liu Jiaman was very angry. What she hated most was that people looked down on their daughters even though they were also women.
Shen Anning did not comment. In the 21st century, there were still many people who favored boys over girls, let alone the 1970s.
"Look, the Lixia barley I made today tastes great. I brought it for you to try." It weighs two pounds and can be wrapped in two pieces of oil paper.
"Haha, my mom also made it today, but I guess it's definitely not as delicious as yours." Liu Jiaman opened a package directly. There was red bean paste filling and a layer of white sugar sprinkled on the surface.
“As expected of you, Shen Anning, your cooking skills are really good enough to open a restaurant.”
Holding her hands proudly, Shen Anning smiled and said, "Hey, let's get down to business. I came here today to exchange some eggs in the countryside. Can I exchange them for sugar?"
"What's wrong with that? Although our farm has no shortage of grain or vegetables, we are really short of these daily necessities and sugar. The supply and marketing cooperative can't exchange much with us at one time." Liu Jiaman stood up directly.
"Come with me, I'll take you to the logistics department. How much candy did you bring?"
"Eight kilograms of white sugar, two kilograms of brown sugar, and White Rabbit fruit candy, two kilograms of each. My aunt and her family probably sent me all the supplies at home last year, and my brother also sent me some, so I saved up quite a bit." Originally, Shen An Ning wanted to take out more, but after seeing Liu Jiaman's reaction, she thought better of it.
The director of logistics is Liu Jiaman's uncle-in-law, so Shen Anning's exchange of eggs was done very quickly. The price of eggs from their farm sent to the supply and marketing cooperative is generally not very high, so they usually have dealings with canneries and food factories. By exchanging some for Shen Anning, the farm will not suffer any loss.
Because it was a barter, the price naturally could not be based on the market price. White sugar was 80 cents, brown sugar was 92 cents, and fruit candies and White Rabbit eggs were even more expensive. So Liu Jiaman's uncle-in-law directly bought two baskets, about 400 eggs.
The two backpacks that Shen Anning brought were filled to the brim and hung on both sides of the back seat, which looked quite realistic.
After thanking Liu Jiaman and his cousin's husband, Shen Anning rode towards the farm gate, turned when passing a fork in the road, and circled back to the row of adobe houses against the mountain.
When she arrived, no one was home. There was a broken lock on the door. She took the key from under the wood beside the door, unlocked it, and put the things directly into the small cellar: Lixia barley, five catties of rice, five catties of white flour, twenty catties of cornmeal, two strips of bacon, a dried chicken, and forty eggs. She knew that with her brother's observation skills, he would definitely notice someone had come in.
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