Chapter 91
"Forget it!" Chen Sanhe was unwilling to do something like snatching food from a child.
"Don't let the children go hungry. Anyway, I'll get a share. What does it matter if they eat early or late? You young people can try it first, and we'll send the rest over when you've had your fill."
As they chatted, they gathered the grain, and Chen Sanhe helped Shu Wanxiu pile it up with a wooden rake.
As the harvest was nearing its end, people from each household gradually arrived at the threshing ground to collect their grain.
The children, who had been acting as 'supervisors' for the first time and had spent the entire day overseeing the work, were already thoroughly fed up with it.
Finally, when their family members arrived, they all opened their arms and rushed to their parents or grandmothers.
Normally, these children are always around their parents, so when they are suddenly given a task and haven't seen them for a day, the adults are really reluctant to let them go.
Since they were doing legitimate chores for the family, the adults were all extremely kind and gentle.
"My daughter is so good! She can help with chores around the house now."
"Are you tired, Second Sister? I steamed some eggs today. I'll take you back to eat them after we finish harvesting the grain, okay? Be good!"
An old woman said to her grandson, whose face was tanned dark by the sun, "My dear grandson! The sun was so strong today, you must have gotten sunburned. Next time we go to the market, Grandma will definitely buy you some of your favorite snacks."
People were standing in each family's grain-drying area. Shu Wanxiu glanced around and said to Chen Sanhe, "Auntie, I saw Sister-in-law Cui Cui. Can I go and talk to her now?"
The "Sister-in-law Cui Cui" that Shu Wanxiu mentioned is the granddaughter-in-law of Granny Pang, the village's talisman-drawing soothing spirit.
Based on Shu Wanxiu's words, Chen Sanhe looked around and saw that only Wang Longcui had come to collect the grain. He shook his head and said, "The Pang family's fermented grain is only handled by your Granny Pang. It's no use if you tell Cuicui. At most, she can just pass on the message. Why don't you go to the Pang family yourself to buy it later?"
Qu Nie is an essential ingredient in making rice cakes; it is the key to making rice cakes fluffy and soft.
Without adding yeast, the steamed rice flour will come out as a hard, solid lump.
Besides drawing talismans to calm frightened spirits, Granny Pang also knew how to make fermented rice.
"Okay then." Shu Wanxiu originally thought that Sister-in-law Cui Cui and Granny Pang were family, so it would be the same to ask her to buy the yeast, but Chen Sanhe stopped her, so she did as Chen Sanhe said.
After harvesting the grain, she quickly took Shu Shouyi to the east end of the village.
As evening fell and the sun set, smoke rose from every chimney, including the Pang family's.
Shu Wanxiu called out twice outside the Pang family's door. Pang's mother, who was washing pots, heard the call and came out with a pot scrubber.
Upon seeing Shu Wanxiu and the other person clearly, he asked, "Is the child frightened?"
“The child is fine,” Shu Wanxiu smiled. “Grandma Pang, I wanted to make rice cakes, so I came to you to buy some yeast.”
"I see!"
Granny Pang put the pot scrubber back on the stove and came out to greet them, "Come in and sit down, I'll get it!"
Shu Wanxiu had never visited this place before, so she was inevitably a little reserved.
Although he had been given instructions, he only led Shu Shouyi into the Pang family's courtyard.
Granny Pang took the gluttonous rice and the talisman for calming the spirit to her own room, and soon came out carrying a small wooden box.
How many do you want to buy?
She opened the wooden box lid, and the whole box was filled with grayish-white glutinous rice twisted into round balls.
Shu Wanxiu wasn't sure, so she just mentioned how much rice she had ground and asked for her advice.
"Half is enough."
She had one and a half in her box, so she took it out and wrapped it in two layers of dried lotus leaves for her. "Keep it safe. This stuff can't stand moisture. You'd better use it in the next few days."
"Oh! I'll do it tomorrow, don't worry, it won't be delayed."
"By the way, how much should I pay you for half a piece?"
Granny Pang was a bit hunchbacked and old, and her eyelids were drooping. When she heard Shu Wanxiu ask the price, she stopped tidying up the wooden box, slightly lifted her eyelids and glanced at her. "Four coins for one, two coins for half a coin. This is the price for everyone."
Shu Wanxiu quickly counted out two coins and thanked her.
Once outside the hospital gate, Shu Wanxiu's straight shoulders relaxed a little.
Everyone couldn't help but sigh: Humans are truly strange and multifaceted.
Earlier, when she saw Granny Pang chatting with someone about Xun Yi's gossip, she was very eloquent and talked non-stop, describing it so vividly that it was as if she had witnessed everything herself.
But when it comes to doing business, he's quite conventional and not as talkative as he used to be.
If the fermentation process is key to the soft and fluffy texture of rice cakes, then the sweetness determines their flavor.
Where does sweetness come from?
Naturally, maltose or honey is added.
Bees can sting, and finding honey is a matter of luck. Chen Sanhe said that he hadn't heard of anyone in the nearby villages having found any this year.
Maltose is also expensive, so ordinary households don't usually keep it on hand.
As night fell, Shu Wanxiu asked several households before finally managing to buy a tiny piece of meat, barely the size of a fist.
This is more expensive than meat. If Shu Wanxiu had to choose, she would definitely choose to eat meat, not sugar.
The next day, after the rice was spread out to dry, Shu Wanxiu immediately went up the mountain and took the new rice, which had been soaked for seven or eight hours, to the Pang family.
She had agreed to borrow the stone mill from the Pang family yesterday, and Pang Zhishan and his son Pang Qingshui had already moved it from the storeroom to the courtyard this morning.
They all went to harvest rice early in the morning, leaving only Chen Lian hanging clothes to dry in the yard.
Shu Wanxiu affectionately called her sister-in-law, making Chen Lian feel a little guilty. "Grinding rice is not an easy task. It's a pity that I have to go help with the rice harvest later and can't help you."
"Sister-in-law, please don't say that. The work in the fields is more important. What I'm doing here is nothing."
Chen Lian was indeed unable to help. She hung the last item on the clothesline and gestured to Shu Wanxiu with her lip, "Well, sister-in-law has gone out. The buckets and basins at home are all outside and in the kitchen. If you want them, take them yourself."
Yesterday, she felt embarrassed to have borrowed a sieve and a drying rack from Xun Yi's house. Today, Shu Wanxiu brought plenty of containers to hold rice milk, but she still smiled and thanked Chen Lian with narrowed eyes.
After Chen Lian left, Shu Wanxiu followed Chen Sanhe's instructions, drew a bucket of well water, washed the stone mill, and rinsed the rice.
Shu Shouyi could participate in grinding rice into milk.
Shu Wanxiu handed him a wooden spoon and told him to hold it. Every time the millstone was turned around, he would add a spoonful of rice through the top hole.
Don't underestimate this simple action; it actually requires a high degree of coordination.
If the rice is added too slowly, it will slow down the person grinding the rice; this job requires quick eyes and hands.
Shu Shouyi kept a solemn face and only after adding two or three spoonfuls did he begin to grasp a little bit of the pattern.
Just then, Shu Wanxiu pointed excitedly at the white liquid overflowing from the center of the millstone and said, "Look! This is rice milk."
Shu Shouyi didn't even glance at her, and said with mature composure, "Aunt, I'd better wait and see."
It made Shu Wanxiu seem like a child.
To make rice cakes smooth and delicate, the rice flour needs to be ground twice. The first grinding is more laborious as the rice is still granular, while the second grinding is slightly easier.
The two of them spent an hour and a half grinding and cleaning the millstone.
The ground rice milk was a thick, white liquid, which Shu Wanxiu carried up the mountain.
-----------------------
The author's note: You can think of Qu Nie as modern yeast.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
