In the kitchen, An Moxue sat on a small stool, tending a fire, watching Aunt Ma put three large cornmeal dough balls into a pot of boiling water, boil them briefly, then took them out, put them in a basin, and started kneading them.
"Auntie, why did you knead it again after cooking it?"
"Never seen it before?"
"No."
"Look, it's almost time to make the soup noodles." Aunt Ma took a small metal object from the cupboard, put it on her hand, clasped her hands together, squeezed a handful of cornmeal into the pot of boiling water, and noodles came out one by one.
"Auntie, is this corn noodles?"
Aunt Guo suppressed a laugh and said, "That's one way to call it."
In no time, the half-basin of noodles turned into golden noodles.
"Mo Xue, cook for two more minutes, then take it out of the pot and scrub the pot. I'll fry some potato, mushroom, and meat sauce, and then we can eat," Aunt Guo said while cutting potatoes.
The noodles were ready, and An Moxue served them, filling the room with the rich aroma of corn.
"Auntie, it smells so good!"
"Alright, take it inside and wait! You don't need to do it anymore."
After a while, Aunt Ma brought in a large bowl of potato, mushroom, and meat sauce, and a bowl of salted cilantro.
Aunt Ma sat down on the kang (a heated brick bed), ladled a full bowl of cornmeal soup for An Moxue, and placed it in front of her. Uncle Ma scooped a spoonful of potato, mushroom, and meat sauce for her, added a little cilantro, and said, "Just mix it up and you can eat it. Try it."
An Moxue saw hope in his eyes.
Does this place hold a deep longing for one's mother?
An Moxue picked up her chopsticks, stirred the bowl of noodles, took a bite, and was surprised to find it smooth, salty, and fragrant.
An Moxue looked up and saw that Uncle Ma was still watching her. She swallowed the noodles, gave a big smile, and said, "Uncle Ma, it's delicious! I love it!"
She wasn't just flattering Uncle Ma; she genuinely thought it was delicious.
Uncle Ma watched her eat with relish, and when she finished, she was covered in sweat. He couldn't stop smiling and joked, "Looks like you really love to eat!"
"Uncle Ma, I never expected cornmeal dishes to be so delicious! I thought they were all like those hard, dry cornbreads!"
"Cornbread is already making your throat sore. It seems you haven't been eating much whole grains before."
"Yes, we eat, but very little. My parents have high salaries, and my family is small, so we have enough to live on and there's no need for us to eat coarse grains. Some families have many children and not enough to eat, so they will trade refined grains with my mother for coarse grains."
"Uncle Ma, did you eat the venison I gave you last time? I'll go up the mountain and get some other stuff sometime. I didn't expect this venison sauce to be so delicious."
"No need, we still have plenty at home! There's heavy snow on the mountain now, and it's the coldest time of year. Try to avoid going up the mountain to prevent frostbite."
"Alright!"
After finishing her meal, An Moxue dried off her sweat and went home.
Since I got back, the house is still freezing cold. It's been more than ten days since we lit a fire, so you can imagine that it's the same temperature as outside. Everything is frozen solid.
An Moxue first lit a fire, and when the water in the pot was hot, she filled a basin with water and began to clean the house.
The fire burned without stopping, and the house didn't warm up until the next morning.
An Moxue also realized that the coldest days of winter in the North were truly freezing, with water turning to ice instantly when splashed.
When I got off the train this time, it was noticeably colder than when I left.
The cold weather couldn't dampen the enthusiasm of the children in the village.
Some of the neighborhood children saw smoke coming from An Moxue's chimney and knew she had returned, so a few of them came to look for her.
"Sister Moxue, are you home?" The children all knew that her family kept wolves, so they never came into the yard and would call for her from outside the gate.
An Moxue opened the door and said, "Come in! The two little ones aren't home today, so it's safe."
Upon hearing her words, the children filed in, chattering excitedly with An Moxue.
"Sister Moxue, you've been away for so many days this time, must you have spent a lot of money?" Chrysanthemum asked curiously.
"yes!"
"Making money is so hard! Sister Moxue, you have to be careful with your money." Dafu earnestly advised, acting like a little adult.
An Moxue suppressed a laugh.
"Sister Moxue, do you have time today? Let's go fish-catching!"
An Moxue looked at them and asked, "Why are you all gathered together?"
There were more than ten boys and girls, some from nearby neighborhoods and others from the village. An Moxue had met most of these children when she gave them candy during the autumn harvest.
Dafu answered first: "Sister Moxue, we had already made plans to go fishing together. We just saw smoke coming from your chimney, so we thought we'd ask you if you were coming if you came back."
"Is it illegal to fish by digging fish?"
"It's okay, the village kids do it every year, nobody cares. Sister Moxue, are you going or not?" Dafu asked anxiously.
"Even if I go, you have to tell me what tools I need, right? Or am I supposed to grab it with my bare hands?"
"Do you have a pickaxe? Take one, we need it for breaking the ice, we've taken the rest."
An Moxue said, "Wait here, I'll get dressed and then we'll go together."
After she finished speaking, the children left the house in a flurry, just as they had arrived.
When An Moxue locked the door and came out with a pickaxe, she saw that each of the children was holding a tool, some of which she didn't even know the names of.
"Let's go! Lead the way."
An Moxue followed the children to the small river to the east. The river was not wide and was formed by the convergence of water from the mountains, flowing all the way to the Ursu River.
This place has always been a paradise for children. They catch fish here in spring, fish in summer, fish in autumn, and fish by digging in winter.
They were extremely familiar with this place.
The older children skillfully divided the tasks, and An Moxue was just a tool.
The older children would find the ice eye, and An Moxue would be in charge of digging and chiseling the hole. Once the hole was dug, the children would take fish food and start fishing.
She finally understood that they had hired her just to make her do manual labor with tools.
An Moxue laughed as she chiseled the ice, calling them all little devils.
Just then, Dafu arrived, and An Moxue deliberately asked with a stern face, "Dafu, you came to find me, not just for the pickaxe in my hand and my strength, right?"
"Oh dear! How could that be! Sister Moxue, you're overthinking it. It's just a coincidence. We saw you were back and thought we'd bring you here so we could fish together. With your tools, it'll be easier for us. We made plans yesterday."
"Alright! I'll trust you this once."
Dafu touched the non-existent sweat on his forehead and thought to himself, "Sister Moxue is really not easy to fool!"
The stream was shallow, and the ice holes were not large.
Before long, some children caught fish, but they were all small fish, crucian carp and loach, with these two being the most common.
After An Moxue finished chiseling the hole, she also took some fish food and fished in an ice cave. Perhaps because there were many fish, or perhaps because the hole provided fresh air, the children's shouts rang out from time to time.
"I caught a fish!"
Wow! I caught a crucian carp too!
Wow! Mine is so big!
The children quickly gathered around, then quickly dispersed.
And so, they fished on the ice in the stream for more than two hours, catching a lot of fish. In the end, An Moxue said that it had been too long and she was afraid that the children would get cold, so she sent them back, promising to come with them again sometime.
An Moxue carried the few crucian carp she had been given home.
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