Chapter 177 Should we think of a way to find a companion for it?
Xiaolan smiled as she held the locust flower cake. The snow foam on her braids fell on the cake, like a layer of white sugar.
"Really?" She tugged at Yun Tangyin's sleeve and shook her. "Then I'll go home and weave a rabbit cage with the pink yarn you gave me, and make a flowery bottom."
After saying that, she ran out of the yard holding the bamboo basket. The red hairband left a red mark in the snow, like a rolling flame.
Yun Tangyin smiled at her back, and when she turned around, she saw Fu Yucheng putting locust flower cake into the earthenware jar on the stove. There were faint fingerprints on the oil paper package.
"Pack two more pieces," she stuffed a piece of oil paper into his hand, "go to the cafeteria later to chop firewood and bring some to Director Wang's grandson. The child is greedy."
Fu Yucheng wrapped the cake tightly with oil paper. The cuffs of his army green cotton-padded jacket were stained with flour. "I know. I have to save two pieces for Zhou Desheng."
The flames in the stove licked the bottom of the pot, making the New Year pictures on the wall more vivid.
The carp in the fat baby's arms had its tail raised high, and its red scales sparkled in the light, as if it was about to jump off the paper.
Yun Tangyin touched her slightly bulging belly when she suddenly heard the creaking sound of a cart outside the yard. Zhou Desheng's wife was carrying a bag of sweet potatoes and walking towards them. There was a thin layer of frost on her blue cloth jacket.
"Just dug it out of the cellar," she said, putting the sweet potatoes on the stove and noticing the lotus flowers on the silk. "This material will be beautiful for a jacket. Pair it with those blue cloth trousers you made last year. No one will look prettier than you when you walk around the regiment headquarters."
Yun Tangyin stuffed a piece of locust flower cake into her hand: "Try it quickly, Fu Yucheng freshly steamed it, it's sweeter than last time."
Zhou Desheng's wife, biting a cake, peeked into the bamboo cage and saw the rabbit gnawing on the sweet potato peel. She suddenly laughed and said, "This little thing can't move its legs when it sees food."
As Fu Yucheng walked out carrying his axe, his military boots made a light crunching sound on the snow. "I'll make you some sweet potato porridge when I come back at noon."
When he turned around, the frost on his eyelashes glittered in the sunlight. "Director Wang said that freshly dug sweet potatoes are sweet and can be used to make porridge that is very nourishing."
Yun Tangyin stuffed a hand warmer into his pocket: "Chopping wood is tiring, keep it warm."
When the sun climbed up to the window frame, Yun Tangyin sat by the kang and embroidered a tiger-head hat. The stitches embroidered a round tiger eye on the blue cloth.
The rabbit in the bamboo cage suddenly grabbed the railings with its front paws, and put its three-petaled mouth close to her hand to sniff, and the snow on its fur made her itchy.
"Are you hungry?" She threw a sticky rice dumpling into the cage, and the rabbit picked it up and ran away.
The laughter of the military families came from outside the yard, mixed with the playful sounds of children.
Yun Tangyin lifted the curtain and saw that Mrs. Li was leading several women towards this side, each holding a cloth bag in her hand.
"I heard you were going to teach us how to make Sophora japonica cake," Mrs. Li put a bowl of pickled cucumbers on the table. "We brought some food and will have lunch at your house."
The women opened their cloth bags one after another, and the table was filled with pickled radishes, pickled cucumbers, and braised peanuts, making it look like a lively market.
Yun Tangyin added a piece of firewood to the stove and smiled as she stuffed some locust flower cakes into their hands. "Try it now, it's freshly steamed. Fu Yucheng said that adding fermented rice wine during the rising process makes it less greasy."
Director Wang's wife suddenly laughed as she pinched the cake: "No wonder my son always keeps saying this, it tastes much better than the white flour buns in the cafeteria."
She stuffed a piece of brown sugar into Yun Tangyin's hand and said, "My mother sent it to me. Add two spoons when cooking porridge. It's smoother than white sugar."
As he was speaking, Fu Yucheng came back carrying a bundle of pine wood, his army green cotton jacket stained with sawdust.
"The firewood is enough for three days," he added a piece of pine wood to the stove, and the flames shot up. "Director Wang said that all the military families should come this afternoon to learn how to make locust flower cakes. There's plenty of noodles in the canteen."
Yun Tangyin stuffed a piece of sticky rice dumpling into his hand: "Try it quickly, Xiaolan made it, it's very sweet."
Fu Yucheng bit into the bean bun and suddenly laughed: "Zhou Desheng said he wanted to trade with me. He would give me two kilograms of white flour in exchange for half a can of locust flower cake."
The afternoon sun shines through the ice-flowered windows, weaving a glittering web on the ground.
Yun Tangyin led the women to pour fermented rice wine into the basin. Fu Yucheng squatted in front of the stove and added firewood. The snow on his military boots melted on the ground, forming a small puddle.
"You need to knead the dough until you can pull out a glove-like film," Yun Tangyin demonstrated the kneading technique, "like this, soft and not sticky."
Sister Li imitated her and kneaded the dough, her face covered with flour, which made everyone laugh.
Director Wang's little grandson was peeking inside through the door frame, his fingers in his mouth, his eyes fixed on the steamer.
Fu Yucheng stuffed a piece of locust flower cake into his hand, and the little guy immediately ran out with it, shouting "Leave half for grandpa", and his childish voice drifted far away in the alley.
Director Wang's wife smiled and shook her head: "This child is just like his grandfather, he loves sweet things."
When they finished work in the evening, the women carried the steamed locust flower cakes home, and the sweet fragrance from the cloth bags filled the alleys.
Sister Li stuffed a pair of cloth shoes into Yun Tangyin's hands. The soles were densely stitched. "I made them for you. They have a thousand-layer sole. They're perfect for spring. They're softer than leather shoes."
Fu Yucheng added a piece of coal to the stove and looked at Yun Tangyin trying on the new shoes. He suddenly smiled and said, "Mrs. Li's craftsmanship is better than the ones at the supply and marketing cooperative. They make your feet look smaller and look good on you."
Yun Tangyin leaned closer to his embrace, the tip of her nose nuzzling the scent of soapberries on his fleece coat. "When spring comes, let's go to the back mountain to pick some locust flowers and hang them in a full jar so we can eat them in the winter."
Fu Yucheng's palm gently covered her lower abdomen, and the warmth of his palm seeped through her fleece coat: "Plant more locust trees. When the child grows up, let him stand on a bench and pick locust flowers, just like you did when you were a child."
The rabbit in the bamboo cage fell asleep at some point, curled up in the cotton wool like a ball of white fluff, with the tips of its ears occasionally moving like two trembling snowflakes.
Yun Tangyin added some alfalfa to the cage and suddenly found that the rabbit's belly was round and fatter than in the morning.
"Look at it," she pointed at Fu Yucheng with a smile, "It's been eating good food all day, I'm afraid it's really going to give birth."
Fu Yucheng threw a piece of cotton wool into the cage: "Put some padding on it, don't let the cub get cold."
Yun Tangyin laughed out loud: "I'm kidding. How can it give birth to cubs without even a companion? How about we think of a way to get a companion so we can raise it together?"
Fu Yucheng added a piece of hard coal to the stove, and the flames shot up, casting the shadows of the two people on the wall, and the outline of the military green cotton jacket flickered.
"When we go to the market in the spring," he poked the fire with tongs, sending sparks flying onto the brick floor, "I'll find him a companion. One with white ears and red eyes. It'll be a perfect match."
Yun Tangyin spread a layer of dry straw in the cage. When her fingertips touched the rabbit's warm fur, she suddenly smiled, "When they really give birth to a litter of little rabbits, the yard will be bustling with activity."
Zhou Desheng's wife's loud voice could be heard from outside the yard, mixed with the rustling sound of snow being swept: "Yinyin! Can I borrow your basket? Mine has a hole in it!"
When Yun Tangyin lifted the curtain, she saw her carrying a pile of cabbages towards the yard. The frost on her blue cloth jacket glowed like golden powder in the setting sun.
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