Chapter 235: It's still as good as new by the beginning of spring
"Sister Lan, look!" Nian An shouted, holding up the empty wooden basin, and the silver longevity lock cast a tiny light in the twilight.
Xiaolan held the gift box tightly against her chest, smiled and waved, "I'll send you some freshly picked water chestnuts tomorrow!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Nian An chasing frogs through puddles. The splashes from his tiger-head boots soaked his tiger-striped bellyband. Fu Yucheng chased after him and shouted, "Little ancestor, run slower, don't fall into the lotus pond!"
Jiang Jianhua was cleaning up the dishes in the kitchen. The sound of porcelain bowls colliding mixed with the croaking of frogs outside the window.
Song Yushuang sat under the lamp, sewing shoe soles. The sound of the hemp thread threading through the cloth was particularly clear. "Desheng's sesame cakes are really good. I'll try it with some mashed sweet potatoes tomorrow."
Jiang Jianhua wiped the moisture off the pottery jar and said, "I moved the chili jar to the back of the storage room, next to the eggplant sauce, so it's easy to get to in the winter."
Fu Yuanshan rolled up the reed curtain and leaned it against the entrance of the vegetable cellar.
"This curtain is woven thickly enough," he said, patting the reed fluff on it. "Even if it snows heavily, the vegetable cellar won't freeze."
Fu Yucheng walked in, still clutching the dried sweet potatoes that Nian An had dropped. "We've built a shed over the sweet potato pile at the east end. I sprinkled some wood ash on the roots to prevent pests."
The two men sat on a stone bench and smoked, the flames of their pipes flickering in the twilight, as if they were counting the stars on the eaves.
Nian An tossed and turned in the small bed, and the sweet potato cushion in his arms was wrinkled.
Jiang Jianhua sat by the bed and fanned him. Moonlight filtered in through the window lattice, casting tiny shadows on his face.
"Can't sleep?" she asked softly, her fingertips brushing the osmanthus scar on the tip of his nose, "Are you still thinking about the frog?"
Nian'an mumbled vaguely, "Frogs jumping in the pond." Jiang Jianhua smiled and patted his back: "I'll take you to the lotus pond to watch frogs jumping on the lotus leaves tomorrow. Now go to sleep."
When it was almost dawn, Yun Tangyin got up to turn over and dry the dried sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes in the bamboo basket were shining in the morning dew.
"After two more days of drying, we can put them in cans," she said, arranging the dried strips on a bamboo plate. "Save them for Nian'an as a winter snack. They're more nourishing than candy."
Smoke slowly rose from the kitchen chimney as Jiang Jianhua began to cook porridge. The sweet potato chunks in the pot were swirling in the water. The fragrance of osmanthus flowers filled the threshold, attracting the early-rising sparrows to chirp in the locust tree.
When Xiaolan came with a basket of water chestnuts, Nian'an was squatting in front of the fish tank counting the fish.
"These water chestnuts must be shelled before eating," she said, placing the basket on the stone table, the pointed corners of the water chestnuts poking through the bamboo rabbit ears. "My mother said freshly picked water chestnuts are the most delicious when boiled; they're softer than chestnuts."
Nian An was about to throw the water chestnuts into the fish tank when Fu Yuanshan quickly stopped him: "Little ancestor, fish won't eat this. This is for you as a snack."
Fu Yucheng was stacking sweet potatoes in the vegetable cellar, with the big ones at the bottom and the small ones on top, stacking them neatly like a small mountain.
"We need to leave some cracks in the cellar for ventilation," he said, inserting a bunch of dried mugwort into the pile of sweet potatoes. "That way they can be stored until spring, and they'll still taste as sweet as freshly dug ones."
Yun Tangyin walked in with an oil lamp, the light illuminating the cobwebs on the cellar wall. "I put the sesame salt jar at the very back, next to the dried radish, so you can take it with you when you get the sweet potatoes."
The midday sun made the locust tree leaves shine, and Jiang Jianhua brought out the last tray of sweet potato sesame cakes.
"This is for Aunt Zhang," she said, putting the cake into the bamboo basket. "When she borrowed the wooden mold yesterday, she said her grandson was craving it, so she had to give it to her while it's still hot."
Song Yushuang came over while sewing the soles of her shoes and said, "I've quilted Nian'an's trousers. I used freshly fluffed cotton, which is softer than his old cotton-padded jacket."
Nian An ran out of the yard holding the water chestnut, and the silver longevity lock jingled against the seam of his trousers.
Xiaolan chased after him, still clutching the unfinished grasshopper cage in her hand: "Wait for me, Second Uncle said that water chestnut vines can be used to make small baskets!"
The laughter of the two people spread over the fence, startling the reed flowers in the corner of the yard, and fell on the new sweet potato shed built by Fu Yucheng like a handful of fine snow.
Jiang Jianhua stood at the door and looked in, still holding the needle and thread in his hand to mend Nian An's bellyband.
The sunlight passed through her hair, casting a warm shadow on the blue brick floor.
In the ceramic jar in the storage room, eggplant sauce is slowly fermenting, the red water in the chili jar is bubbling, and the aroma of sesame salt is coming out from the gaps between the lotus leaves at the mouth of the jar, mixed with the fragrance of the locust flowers in the yard, creating the most lingering taste of the Locust Courtyard.
This taste has the sweetness of sweet potatoes, the fragrance of sesame seeds, the spiciness of chili peppers, and the warmth of a family sitting together.
Just like the jar of slowly fermenting eggplant sauce, the longer it ferments, the mellower the taste becomes. Over the years, it develops the most stable background, wrapped in the smell of fireworks in the yard, and slowly becomes the original appearance of life.
As Nian'an and Xiaolan's laughter filled the air over the fence, Zhou Desheng came over from the edge of the field carrying a hoe, his trouser legs still stained with freshly turned soil.
"Is Sister Jianhua home?" he called out from the courtyard gate. "My wife said your pickled peppers are delicious, and she asked me to ask for the recipe."
Jiang Jianhua came out of the house with a smile, holding a half-patched tiger-striped bellyband in his hand. "Come in and sit down. I just made some steamed sweet potato sesame cakes. Pair them with freshly brewed chrysanthemum tea."
In the kitchen, Song Yushuang was pouring freshly ground corn flour into a basin, intending to make some corn tortillas.
"Desheng came at the right time," she said, mixing the dough with warm water. "This corn flour was just ground the day before yesterday, and it makes the most delicious pancakes."
Zhou Desheng took the teacup from Jiang Jianhua and smacked his lips as he looked at the sesame cake on the plate. "Your family must be so well off that you even take such great care in steaming a cake."
Fu Yuanshan came out of the vegetable cellar with two pink sweet potatoes in his hands.
"Just took it out of the cellar," he put the sweet potato on the stone table, "Desheng, take it back and ask your sister-in-law to steam it. It's sweeter than freshly dug ones."
Zhou Desheng quickly waved his hands: "I'm so embarrassed. I troubled you last time when I cut sesame seeds."
Fu Yucheng walked in from the yard, holding a half-woven water chestnut basket in his hand: "Neighbors, why are you being so polite? Next time when your family harvests corn, just give me a couple of tender ones."
Xiaolan squatted in the yard and weaved a grasshopper cage. The water chestnut vines circled in her hands, and she soon wove a small basket bottom.
"Do you think this is the right way to weave it?" She asked Fu Yucheng while holding up the rattan basket. The bamboo rabbit basket was placed next to it, and half of the water chestnuts had been peeled out.
Fu Yucheng put down his work and helped her pinch the rattan tighter: "Just braid two more circles and it will be closed. Add some red rope as a handle. It will look better than the ones you buy."
Nian An held up the peeled water chestnuts and put them into Jiang Jianhua's mouth. The sweetness of the water chestnuts mixed with the fragrance of osmanthus spread on his tongue.
"Feed slowly," Jiang Jianhua smiled and opened his mouth to catch it, "Don't let the water chestnut residue fall on your bellyband, it's just been repaired."
Nian An, however, pointed at the reed flowers in the corner of the yard and kept shouting, "The flowers are white, like snow."
Everyone looked in the direction he pointed, and saw the autumn wind blowing reed catkins across the fence and landing on Zhou Desheng's straw hat, like a handful of scattered silver.
When the midday sun climbed to the top of the locust tree, Jiang Jianhua's chili recipe had already been written on a piece of paper. Zhou Desheng carefully folded it and put it in his pocket.
"Thank you, Sister Jianhua," he said, putting sweet potatoes and sesame cakes into the bamboo basket. "I'll ask my wife to make some and send it to you as soon as possible."
Fu Yuanshan stuffed a handful of dried osmanthus flowers into his hand and said, "Drink it in tea to relieve the greasiness. It goes perfectly with your cornbread."
Yun Tangyin put the dried sweet potatoes into a ceramic jar and stuck a piece of red paper on the lid with the words "Nian'an's snacks" written on it.
"This pot should be placed on the stove," she said, wiping the dust from the mouth of the pot. "It's cold in the winter, so keep it warm by the stove so your teeth won't get cold when you eat."
Song Yushuang walked in wearing Nian'an's cotton-padded shoes. The tiger pattern on the upper was already half embroidered. "I'll make the upper wider so that I can wear it when my feet grow longer next spring."
The evening glow dyed the lotus pond golden red. Fu Yucheng took Nian'an and Xiaolan to pick water chestnuts.
Nian An sat in the wooden tub, paddling the water with her small hands, the silver longevity lock shining in the sunset.
"Paddle slowly," Fu Yucheng held the edge of the wooden basin, "Don't tip the basin over, or you'll get soaked before you even pick the water chestnuts."
Xiaolan stood on the shore, hooking water chestnut vines with a bamboo pole. The bamboo rabbit basket was already half full. Her laughter startled the ducks in the lotus pond, which fluttered into flight.
Jiang Jianhua stood at the gate of the courtyard and looked at it. The tiger-patterned bellyband in his hand had been mended, and the tiger tail tassels embroidered with gold thread swayed gently in the evening breeze.
The clay pots in the storage room stood quietly in the corner. The sour aroma of eggplant sauce, the spicy aroma of chili peppers, and the salty aroma of sesame salt mixed together, creating a unique warmth in the twilight.
She suddenly remembered the pumpkin seeds she had sown in the spring. They had now covered the fence, and the little pumpkins were smiling secretly among the leaves, looking very much like Nian An's round face.
When the last ray of sunlight passed through the leaves of the locust tree, Nian An ran back with a bag full of water chestnuts, and his body was covered with mud from his tiger-head boots.
Jiang Jianhua took his little hand and walked towards the kitchen. The firelight in the stove cast their shadows, stretching long on the wall.
"I'll make you water chestnut cake tomorrow," she said, stroking his sweaty hair. "Put some osmanthus flowers in it. It'll be sweeter than sweet potato cake."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
