She didn't know how much time had passed when she heard someone knocking on the door. She sat up groggily. She was still wearing the little undershirt that her grandmother had made from old clothes. It was the kind that covered her bottom, very cool, made of pure cotton and breathable, but the color wasn't very nice.
Without thinking too much, I put on the little slippers that my brothers had discarded and quickly ran to open the door.
The bolt on the backyard door was too high for her to reach, but the bolt on the main yard door was lower, so she could open it by standing on tiptoe.
Because she recognized Zhou Yue's voice, she was quite surprised to see him while rubbing her eyes.
"Brother Yue, what brings you here? Have you finished harvesting your wheat?"
"Not yet. The melons, cucumbers, and persimmons at home are all ripe. My grandma asked me to bring you some. Are you home alone?"
"Hmm, I just woke up. They should all have gone to the fields. Hmm, Grandma must have locked the back door when she left today,"
After what happened yesterday, Grandpa and Grandma would definitely lock both the front and back gates, which is why she was able to open the door for Zhou Yue by holding the bolt.
Zhou Yue came from their shop and saw that he was carrying two baskets, so he wanted to help.
"Sister, you can't carry this, shall I put it in the kitchen for you?"
As he spoke, he headed towards the kitchen. Seeing how enthusiastic Grandma Zhou was, Xiao Jiu couldn't let her leave empty-handed, so he ran to the main room and took two salted duck eggs and four preserved eggs.
"Brother Yue, these are pickled by Grandma, you can take them and eat them."
Zhou Yue put down his things and was about to leave when he didn't expect the little one to bring back a return gift, so he quickly pushed it back.
"No, Grandpa Tao and Grandma Tao have already helped us a lot, we can't accept these duck eggs."
No matter how much wine was offered, Zhou Yue always managed to refuse quickly, and eventually he simply took off running.
"This person is being too polite!" If Grandma knew that the other party hadn't asked for a return gift, she would definitely have found a way to repay the favor.
They're all good people, and neither of them wants to owe the other too much. Oh well, anyway, when we go back to Xihe Village, we'll all be old neighbors, and there will be plenty of opportunities to take care of each other.
In the steamer pot, as usual, there was goat milk, eggs, and potatoes warmed up for Xiaojiu. Grandma's love truly made her grateful.
After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Xiao Jiu originally wanted to wash everyone's clothes, but to his surprise, everyone had already washed them last night, and no dirty clothes could be found in any of the rooms. It was probably because they had been washed last night and were worn again this morning. People in this era are generally quite frugal, especially when it comes to clothes from the wheat harvest; they would pick out their most worn-out ones to wash.
There was no other way but to feed the livestock in the backyard and water all the plants in the house. The water tank was full at first, but she used up more than half of it.
The vegetables and fruits she secretly planted last year have all been planted this year, such as onions, sugarcane, ginseng, wood ear fungus, purple sweet potatoes, purple-skinned potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, etc. Grandma didn't waste any of the plants in almost every corner of the house.
In the sweltering summer, the cicadas have already started chirping energetically. The yard is lush and green, with bunches of grapes sprouting up densely and growing very well. If only I could live in this yard forever, but alas, alas.
There was still a pound of meat left from yesterday. Considering that today is the second day of wheat harvesting, it will definitely be more tiring than yesterday. Xiao Jiu scooped out three pounds of the cheapest and lowest quality rice, two pounds of millet, two pounds of sorghum, and one pound of corn grits from his space. He soaked the sorghum and corn grits in advance, planning to have mixed grain rice for lunch.
The family already had all this grain, but she generally wouldn't touch their stored grain when she was in a situation where she could control it.
She took out quite a few more green beans, eggplants, peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes from her storage space.
In situations like this, where we eat rice, we usually just cook it all in one pot, since we don't have enough oil to stir-fry it in batches.
The mung bean water needs to be boiled in advance; you can drink some mung bean water after eating rice.
The mung beans at home were grown by my grandmother herself. They weren't very good quality, so she took out the good ones from the pot and mixed them with the bad ones. She scooped out a big bowl of them, added a whole pot of water and a handful of rock sugar, and started to simmer them over low heat.
In the sweltering summer heat, the kitchen fire gets unbearably hot. Xiao Jiu put the six melons that Yue Gege brought over in the yard and chilled them with cold water so that everyone could eat them as soon as they came back.
She washed the persimmons and cucumbers and put them in the kitchen along with the ones she took out of her spatial storage. She planned to cook today, but she didn't know if her grandmother would give her the chance.
After finishing all that, she picked up the persimmon Zhou Yue had given her and took a bite.
"Mmm, it's delicious. This sweet and sour taste is the best. Although it's not very red and looks a bit odd, it's still delicious. It tastes like persimmon. Unlike those on my social media, which claim to be green and pollution-free. Nobody believes that!"
"Is anyone home? Is Yingzi home? Yingzi?"
Someone was knocking on the front door. The voice sounded familiar, like the old lady Zhang who was slashed in the backyard yesterday.
Wasn't she injured? How come she ended up at their house? Was she trying to borrow money?
Xiao Jiu guessed correctly. Although she didn't open the door, her grandmother was frightened by Old Lady Zhang, who was waiting at their door with her arm in a sling and a pained expression, before she even entered the house at noon!
"Oh dear, what are you doing? Why are you kneeling down? Get up, get up! I can't accept such a grand gesture from you!"
"Yingzi, please, lend me some money. My daughter's hand can only be reattached in the provincial capital. I'm desperate; I've already borrowed from everyone I know."
Grandma was somewhat moved. If he lost his hand, his life would be ruined. Just as she was thinking about how much she could lend him,
But then they heard the old woman say, "If you don't lend it to me, I won't get up. My poor daughter, so young, and she's brought such a troublesome thing into the world. This damned man, why doesn't he just die?"
As she listened, Grandma's brows furrowed. Looking at Old Lady Zhang, she saw that she not only showed no remorse, but also shifted all the blame onto her son-in-law, without realizing that her family had gone too far and caused this tragedy.
Thinking of this, she sighed, "Sister, it's not that I don't want to help you, but as you can see, I have eight children to support. Things are very different now. I can't even make ends meet in the city anymore, and I might have to go back to the countryside in the future."
Before she could finish speaking, the old lady stood up.
"Yingzi, this is where you're wrong. We've been neighbors for so many years. It's true that your family has four more people to feed, but they've also helped you with chores. Besides, don't think I don't know that your family still runs a shop in the city. How could you not have money? I think you just don't want to lend me the money, right? Are you afraid you can't pay me back, or are you just putting on airs with me?"
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