Chapter 135 Awkward
Before Shen San came closer to see their condition clearly, the two brothers ran into the kitchen, helped each other, patted off the mud on each other's bodies, scooped some water, and quickly washed their hands and faces.
Of course we can't expect them to be completely clean after just patting them, but the two brothers have been naughty since they were young, so it's not surprising as long as they are not too dirty.
After taking care of himself, Shen Jin took out the key to the room where the grain was hidden from the corner of the cupboard as if he knew the place well, went in with a bowl, opened the rice jar and grabbed a tiny handful of rice.
Yes, just a few fingers picked up a few grains, no more than thirty.
When she locked the door and came out again, Li was sweeping the feces left by chickens and ducks in the yard with a broom.
Because Li was not in good health, Shen Jin had been cooking recently. When he saw his mother outside today, Shen Jin asked, "Mom, can I use astragalus to cook bean porridge tonight?"
Shen San had just carried out a bamboo chair from the main room and was about to sit down and rest. When he heard about purple clover and bean porridge, his face turned a little green. When he saw the bowl in Shen Jin's hand, with a few grains of rice in it that didn't even cover the bottom of the bowl, his face had turned from green to almost iron blue.
The so-called bean porridge is made by soaking a handful of soybeans in water until soft, then crushing them with a mortar, and cooking the soybean dregs with the water used to soak the soybeans until they are cooked and chewy, then add a few grains of rice, and pour in a large bowl of chopped wild vegetables before taking it out of the pot.
There are all kinds of wild vegetables. Which ones to use depends on what the little ones pick that day. If there are many kinds picked, either throw them in together, or just do as you do now and ask for their taste.
In Shen San's opinion, it was pointless to ask. There was no such thing as taste. It just tasted like wild vegetables.
Because the beans were used in small quantities, he couldn't even taste much of the bean smell, and even though salt was added, he couldn't taste the salt at all, because the price of salt had also risen sharply. Shen San didn't hesitate to buy it this time, after all, his family didn't produce salt, right? But he bought very little, and had to use it sparingly.
There is no salt at all, let alone oil, not even a drop of oil. All the butchers in Sanli Village have closed down and no one can afford to buy meat.
So, this bean porridge is just a dish with the names of beans and porridge in vain. A few grains of the bean dregs are still edible, but the rice is almost impossible to find once it is put into the pot. You are lucky if you can see a few grains of rice that have changed color due to cooking among a pile of wild vegetables.
Shen San looked grim, but Li had no expression, only nodded weakly: “Okay, just do it as you see fit.”
During the days when she was injured, Shen Jin and the other kids took care of everything.
Li had no objection, but Shen San put down the chair in a rage, sat down, leaned back, closed his eyes, and stopped talking.
Because the air was not that strong, even if he let it out, he could only let out a little bit, and the sound of the chair being put down was not that loud, but Shen San's expression was full of frustration and irritation. Obviously, he couldn't calm down even if he closed his eyes.
Li took in his series of reactions, her eyes fell on his gloomy face, then she looked away and continued to scan the yard.
Having been by his side for ten years, she knew Shen San too well, yet she knew him too little.
To say that she understood Shen San, it was like this moment, when he had spent all the family savings and the family could only eat wild vegetables and drink wild vegetable soup to survive. He felt guilty for the first three days and didn't even dare to look up at his family. In the second and third days, he began to comfort himself and argue with himself. In the last three days, just like now, he dared to show his face slightly. Even if Li gave him a cold look, Shen San would sneer back: "Why don't you serve in the army? It didn't happen to you, and it wasn't your life that was in danger. You said it so easily."
It was very similar to the change in attitude when he pushed Chen Lie to the battlefield and then heard that Chen Lie had died in the battle.
She said she didn't understand Shen San because she always thought Shen San was like this only to his nephew, and would always be different to her and their children.
However, the truth may be that she just thought it.
The broom kicked up a cloud of loose dust in the muddy yard. Li's eyes began to become empty. She just hoped that she could live peacefully until the spring soybeans she had planted in mid-month grew up and could be harvested.
…
In the kitchen, Shen Yin asked Shen Jin in a very low voice: "Brother, did mother not allow you to speak just now?"
Shen Jin paused while adding firewood to the stove, then nodded.
Shen Yin: "Why?"
Shen Jin himself wasn't sure why, but he suddenly remembered the way his father looked at him when he was conscripted for labor service last year.
Just now, mother clearly wanted to listen, but his father came back, and mother suddenly stopped him from speaking anymore.
Shen Jin was not sure if it was what he thought. He pursed his lips and did not answer the question. He just tilted his head and glanced toward the courtyard outside the window. Then he whispered to Shen Yin, "I don't know. Don't ask. Just listen to your mother. Don't mention that at home anymore. Don't tell Xiaotie and Tianya for now."
"What about mother?"
"I'll tell her tomorrow."
Shen Yin blinked. Who is this person who can't listen?
He seemed to understand.
The two brothers looked at each other in silence, silently adding wood to the fire.
…
When the third branch of the Shen family in Shili Village was eating wild vegetable and bean porridge, Sang Luo and her friends in the deep mountains had also prepared their dinner. There were no other vegetables in the valley now, only wild vegetables and soybeans. Even the wild vegetables were previously dried and soaked in water.
Because unless you climb up the mountain wall to look for it, it would be hard to find even a few wild vegetables or grass on the ground.
But compared with the third branch of the Shen family, the same wild vegetables and soybeans tasted completely different. Sang Luo soaked the soybeans until soft, added meat and braised them before stewing them. It was so fresh, fragrant and soft. What is soy sauce made of? Isn't it just soybeans?
When it comes to what can best enhance the flavor of meat, soybeans are definitely at the top of the list. The freshness of the beans is given to the meat, and the fragrance of the meat absorbs every soybean. It's really that you can't stop eating it!
Chen Lie and Chen Dashan, seeing that Sang Luo and the two little ones were full, divided the last bit of soup in half each and mixed it with rice!
It was another day when Chen Dashan envied Chen Lie's good food. Wow, no wonder he doted on his wife so much. If he had such a good wife, he would spoil her to the sky too.
Chen Dashan was jealous and thought, let's wait until the world is at peace. Once he gets out of the mountain, he will definitely find a wife with first-class cooking skills!
After having a good meal, they naturally had to work hard. They finished half of the work before the meal. After the meal, it was completely dark, but they lit a fire in the stove. The two of them used the firelight at the entrance of the cave to do their work as usual. When Chen Lie was sawing wood, Chen Dashan was responsible for planing the bed beams that Chen Lie had sawed to make them smooth. If Chen Lie chiseled the mortise and tenon joints, Chen Dashan would take over the saw and saw the crossbeams of the bed board.
With division of labor and cooperation, the work was done quickly. Judging from the moonlight, it was probably two quarters past midnight when the four bed beams, seven crossbeams and the necessary bed boards were all ready.
Chen Lie's family was not the only one working with a fire on the stove in the cave. In fact, every family was the same and had their own rules. Not to mention the three families opposite, the Chen and Xu families next door had their bed boards sawed out during the day. Although there were no bedposts or beams, laying the bed boards on the ground and covering them with straw and mattresses was better than sleeping directly on the floor.
The two families were busy chiseling the stone wall at night.
Different from the stone wall of Shen Lie's house which only needs to be installed with narrow wooden walls and wooden doors, the Chen family and the Xu family still have to chisel the stone slowly. There is definitely no time during the day. Starting tomorrow, they have to go out and fetch soil. They can only speed up every night. It will take several nights to finish this thing.
Of course, everyone is well aware of this. At this stage, there is no one else in the deep mountains, so they dare to do this. It would be okay to light an oil lamp or something at night, but it is too high up and there are trees between us, so we can't see clearly at all. But if we want to make a fire, the cave door still has to be closed, or at least covered.
Chen Lie was setting up the bed, and Chen Dashan lent a hand, and it was done in no time. Sang Luo watched the bed being installed from the side, and couldn't help but thank him profusely.
Chen Dashan waved his hand and said, "Sister-in-law, thank you is too polite. I shamelessly treated you to a good meal tonight."
Given his friendship with Shen Lie, there was no need for him to save food for him just to help out. However, he could not resist Sang Luo's good cooking skills. In fact, the work was right at the entrance of the cave, and the stewed meat with soybeans was too fragrant, so he could not move his legs.
Sang Luo knew that Chen Lie and Chen Dashan had a special relationship, so she smiled and said, "Okay, then I won't be polite. If your family needs Chen Lie in the future, just order him around."
Chen Lie heard this and turned his head to look at Sang Luo. Before he spoke, a smile appeared on his face. When he turned to Chen Dashan, he nodded: "Did you hear that? Just let me know if you need help."
That smiling face made Chen Dashan feel so dazzled that he couldn't bear to look at it.
"Okay, I won't be polite when I need you." He turned around and spoke to Sang Luo in a much more polite manner: "Then I'll go back, sister-in-law, and won't disturb you from cleaning up."
Because she knew that the bed had to be set up, Sang Luo didn't rush to move some of her things over. The bedding and other things were still in the big cave. She and Shen Lie sent the people out of the cave together.
Sang Luo lit an oil lamp and called Chen An and Shen Ning, who were living with a group of children in the cave next door, to move bedding to the big cave. Just as she left, Chen Lie suddenly thought of something.
The toilet was built, but he forgot about the toilet.
He turned around and searched for a chisel in the corner, ready to chisel it out quickly, and then he saw a medium-sized tree stump-like object in the corner where the fire from the stove did not reach.
I walked over and took a look. What else could it be but a bucket?
Although the shape is a bit strange, except for the smooth cut, it really looks like a peeled tree stump from a distance.
Chen Lie suddenly remembered that in the morning when Sang Luo asked him to clean the toilet, it seemed that she had something to say. He waited but nothing happened, and he asked again but no answer came out. Now he realized, yes, to clean the toilet?
Before March, Chen Lie suddenly felt his neck and face getting hot, the temperature of his palms also rose rapidly, and then his forehead and body were all hot.
He took a long breath and swung his free hand quickly, trying to cool himself down.
When he lifted the bucket to where the firelight could reach, he couldn't help laughing.
It's really amazing for her, she managed to carve it so well.
He took out a round chisel from the bag of chiseling tools given by Manager Xu, went out and picked up a round stone that he had just used, sat on the doorstep and prepared to repair it, but then he remembered that she had swallowed the words that were about to come out of her mouth in the morning. After thinking for a while, he picked up the bucket, took the tools, and picked up the plane borrowed from the Chen family, and found another place to work.
Sang Luo took Chen An and Chen Ning to carry the bedding and several skins hunted by Shen Lie back to the cave several times. They didn't see Shen Lie on several occasions, so they thought he had gone to help someone else with something and didn't pay much attention.
Chen Lie didn't come back until the bed was made. She didn't take it seriously and asked Chen Lie to help her go to the big cave and bring back the nine earthenware jars in the house in batches.
These were all good things that Sang Luo had bought with her own money. Last year, in order to store more jujube candies and crystal preserved meats, she bought ten earthenware jars with lids in several batches. After Shen Lie asked her about one of them, she left it to Shen Jin and Shen Yin and hid it in the cave she dug for the children to take shelter.
Of the other nine, five were filled with salt that had been stockpiled since the family planned to avoid disaster. Salt can be stored for a long time, and the salt that the family will use in the next few years, including the salt for making pickled meat, is all here, and there is no room for any mistakes. Now that people have moved in, these things naturally have to be moved over as well.
There are four more jars, which are used to store the medicinal materials bought by Sang Luo. Some lime and peppercorns are placed at the bottom of these four jars, and then they are padded with a dozen thick sheets of paper. On top are the prescriptions of Chinese medicine, and they are covered with lids to prevent moisture and insects.
These nine jars of things were all picked out by everyone early on, and the other items could be left alone, and they could be moved slowly after the price was set later. It was better to put these things away to feel at ease.
It was already very late at night when they were busy until now. Sang Luo finally stopped and scooped some water from the ceramic basin at home to wash herself.
Halfway through washing up, I remembered the toilet I made, which was still in the cave.
She wiped her teeth clean and rinsed her mouth in a few seconds, then asked Shen Ning to pour water with a ladle, rubbed her face with the water in her hands, and left the little brother and sister to wash themselves there. She turned and went into the cave to get the bucket.
When I got to the place where the new toilets were placed, where was the toilet she made???
Sang Luo: ???
She turned her head stiffly to look at Chen Lie, who was spreading wolf skins on the straw-covered ground on the other side of the cave. From the corner of her eye, she saw that Sang Luo's movements were a little stiff when she went into the cave. When she saw that she was stunned and turned to look at him, the movement of spreading the skins with her hands began to get stuck.
"Chen Lie, do you see that bucket in the corner?"
Shen Lie: “…”
He originally thought that Sang Luo would discover it first while he was holding the jar, and then he would just need to take another look in the purification room, and that would be enough.
But he didn't expect that she was so busy that she just remembered it at this moment. After she remembered it, she ran straight to the corner of the cave to get it. And it happened that he was in the cave.
His expression froze, and he pointed his thumb outside the cave: "I... was just sent to the purification room."
There was silence in the cave for a moment, then Sang Luo said "oh" and went out with the oil lamp.
In the bathroom, she saw a bucket that was completely different from the one she had made - the outside no longer looked like a wooden stake, this time it looked like a real bucket, and the inside was no longer as if it had been chiseled by her and looked like it had been chewed by a dog.
Sang Luo used her free hand to make a fist and knocked her forehead several times.
If I had known this earlier, I would have just let Chen Lie do it directly from the beginning. Why did I feel too embarrassed to ask for it? I suddenly had a brain attack and did it myself. In the end, it was still Chen Lie who fixed it.
So what is she doing? It wasn't embarrassing at first, but now it is embarrassing.
Taishe is dead.
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