That night, Tao Tao, who was about to turn twenty-two, slept soundly in the arms of her beloved mother.
Poor old man was so excited about his daughter's return that he couldn't sleep until dawn.
With dark circles under my eyes, I reluctantly ate two meat patties and two fried eggs amidst my wife's teasing, and went to work.
Zhao Lingli posted the recipe last night and even placed it on the kang (heated brick bed). She started preparing the delicious food for her daughter early this morning.
She was chopping dumpling filling and steamed bun filling, all ingredients prepared by Xiaojiu, so much so that she could use them however she wanted.
Even the quietest chopping of meat and vegetables disturbs the neighbors.
With the aroma of meat wafting out yesterday, some nosy people came over to visit early this morning.
Fortunately, Xiao Jiu reacted quickly, putting away everything that needed to be put away, and then hiding in her spatial dimension.
When the person came over, they were somewhat surprised to see the cabbage, radish, and squash that Zhao Lingli had chopped.
What are you busy with so early in the morning? I heard you had guests yesterday?
"Yes, my niece is here. She's still sleeping in the house. I was thinking of making her some steamed buns and dumplings."
"Oh, why didn't you chop the meat? Didn't you stew meat at home yesterday?"
Donkey meat needs to be braised, so yesterday's flavor was indeed a bit strong.
Look, it's tempting people to come here so early in the morning.
"My niece brought the meat yesterday. She made some pork cracklings and minced meat, which I'll chop into filling later. We've already used up all our meat coupons."
I'll have to wait until my niece comes next time to make it up to her.
She slaughtered one of her own pigs and specially brought me two jin (about 1 kg).
No matter what the other party said, Zhao Lingli could always find fault with them, and in the end, seeing that they couldn't gain any advantage, they could only leave disappointed.
"If it weren't for the fact that it's daytime and difficult to lock the door, would I have let them come and go as they pleased?"
"You're being quite nosy! Pshaw, I wasn't this craving when they were eating meat!"
Xiao Jiu was both amused and exasperated: "It's alright, Mother. They just came to ask around. If we wrap it up in the filling, who would be able to tell?"
That's the advantage of living in a bungalow: when it's cold, you can heat a kang (a traditional heated bed), and you can cook while heating the kang, and nobody can say anything about it.
Their place is different from the Northeast; people here burn firewood, and when it's cold, they burn more firewood to keep warm.
All they need to do is keep the stove burning all day long; firewood or coal will do.
The kang (heated brick bed) doesn't need to be very hot; just enough for people to stay in.
After all, compared to the sub-zero temperatures of Northeast China, the coldest temperature here is only minus ten degrees Celsius.
They have few forests here; it's all plains, and the land is used entirely for farming, so burning firewood isn't easy.
They all buy coal for heating, which is more than enough for their family's needs.
So the stove at the small restaurant was never idle; steaming buns in the morning and making dumplings in the afternoon.
The dough was used up and then fermented again, and so on, until finally several hundred buns and several hundred dumplings were made.
The mother and daughter didn't have time to count them all. Anyway, they used up a lot of the meat she brought back, and she replenished it by adding a large bowl of shrimp.
"You can't put the shrimp in. You and Dad will steam them tomorrow, or you can fry them."
After a long day, both mother and daughter were exhausted and went to bed early.
However, Zhao Lingli only slept for a few hours before waking up and running to the kitchen to make dozens of scallion pancakes for her daughter.
When Xiao Jiu woke up, it was already five o'clock. Her parents were in the kitchen. Seeing her all dressed up, their eyes welled up with tears.
"Take this with you. Your mother got up early this morning to make it for you, and here are dozens of braised eggs for you to eat on the road."
They had just given them two large baskets yesterday, and today they were used on her. The love of her parents made her feel both sad and reluctant.
She quietly went down into the cellar and replenished their supplies with two baskets of chicken eggs and two baskets of quail eggs, each basket weighing thirty jin (approximately 15 kg), enough to feed them for a long time.
"Don't be reluctant to part with anything. Eat well, eat more good food, and take good care of your health. I will come back from time to time."
After hugging them, they took her to the factory gate and offered to take her to the train station, but she refused.
"Don't worry about me, I'll take good care of myself. Take care, everyone!"
After saying goodbye to her parents, Xiao Jiu hitched a ride on a train to the provincial capital, then found a place to park her jeep with the Japanese license plates removed, and drove to the airport.
After landing in Shenyang, she had to transfer between trains and cars before finally arriving at the snow-covered mountain village two days after leaving home.
As she walked slowly through the snow, her steps uneven, she encountered villagers traveling on sleds.
"Hello, is this Zhao Family Village?"
Fully armed, wearing thick hats and animal fur, the local villagers looked her up and down.
"Hey sis, who are you looking for?"
“I’m looking for Niu Feng, he’s my brother-in-law, and it’s almost Chinese New Year.”
Come see him, my sister, and the children.
"Oh, you're looking for the Niu family? Look, do you see that road?"
At the end of the road, there was a lone house, surrounded by few other houses, and it was quite grand in appearance—that was theirs!
"Okay, thanks, brother!" The other person waved and rode away on his sled.
When Xiao Jiu finally knocked on her sister's door, she only saw a few kids standing at the entrance of the main room looking in her direction.
Then she realized that her sister probably hadn't heard her. "Come open the door for me, Xiangyang, Dundun, it's your auntie!"
The child, of course, didn't recognize her. He turned and went inside, and a few seconds later, a figure rushed out.
Tang Cuihong ran out and shouted at her, "Who? Who do you think you are?"
"Sister, it's me, it's me!" She was hesitant to say her name, so she removed her hat and scarf so that her sister could see her more clearly.
Once Tang Cuihong recognized the person who had come as the girl she had been thinking about, she rushed out as if she were a bird.
"My God, it really is you! What are you doing here? It's so cold, and you didn't even say anything. Come in quickly."
After Tang Cuihong opened the door and pulled the person inside, she locked it again. She noticed that the person's face was red from the cold and her hands were icy cold.
"Come on, let's go inside. There's a heated kang (traditional Chinese bed) inside."
Although the yard was covered with thick snow, its safety and grandeur were still evident.
Compared to other houses in the village, this house is indeed the best.
As soon as you enter the main room, you can see the stove on the right, bubbling with delicious aroma.
Tang Cuihong smiled and said, "You've come at the perfect time. I stewed fish and made some flatbread today."
He found the thermos and poured hot water into Xiaojiu's cup. "Hurry up and wash up. You guys, call for someone. This is your aunt."
If you calculate his age, Niu Xiangyang was born on May Day in 1964, so he will be eight years old after the New Year.
"Dun Dun, the last time I saw you was when you were just a few months old!"
I'm your aunt, the ninth in line. "Ninth Aunt" doesn't sound good, so from now on call me Auntie, okay?
Niu Xiangyang, the eldest child in the family, immediately pulled his younger sister and brother to bow to her upon hearing this, saying, "Hello, Auntie."
"Okay, okay, they're all good kids. Sister, how old are the second and third kids?"
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