Hearing the sound of someone coming back from afar, Gu Qinghuan opened the door, carried the cloth into the main room, and let Chen 괗shu take a good look at it.
By the way, let Zhong Luoqing pour him a cup of hot water. The thin jacket this kid is wearing is definitely not warm enough and he must have frozen after walking all the way.
He looked at the camel-colored woolen material on the table with surprise, as if he had seen his lover. He wanted to go up and touch it, but was afraid of damaging it, so he was very cautious.
Gu Qinghuan walked over and spread out the material for him to examine.
"Look carefully and check that the material is intact. Take it back and ask her to find a better craftsman to make it."
Chen 괗shu nodded like a garlic.
"By the way, this is the material for the Zhongshan suit I made for you. Considering your height, there should be more material available.
I wish you a happy wedding in advance, a long and happy marriage, and a son soon." Gu Qinghuan said as he rolled up the material.
"Thank you, thank you. I, I know that my sheep is not enough to exchange for all your good materials. Wait, wait until spring comes and I will have time to go up the mountain and hunt some game and send it to you." Secretary Chen stammered.
I don't know why, although he doesn't stutter, he seems a little overwhelmed when facing Gu Qinghuan, especially since she is so nice to him and has given him so many good materials.
In fact, he knew that his sheep could not be exchanged for so much material, so he was just waiting with a glimmer of hope.
Gu Qinghuan waved his hands and said, "No need. Hunting in the mountains is not easy. You can keep it and exchange it for money."
Chen 괗shu pursed his lips and said nothing more.
She helped him lay the material in three layers and put it in his backpack.
The goat had been unloaded, and Xu Huaian was unloading it in the yard. The whole family gathered around to watch the excitement.
After seeing Chen 괗shu off, Gu Qinghuan also came over.
Xu Huaian cut the sheep into several parts, including the head and tail, front legs, abdomen and back, hind legs, and some other parts.
The head and tail parts mainly include the head and tail. These two parts have more meat and skin, which can be used for sauce, grilling, boiling, etc.
The front leg parts mainly include the front leg, neck meat, and front shank meat. The meat here is tough, crispy, and has good tendons, making it suitable for braising, boiling, sauced, roasting, stewing, and adding brine.
The abdominal and dorsal parts mainly include the spine, ribs, chest, and waist. The meat here is tender, lean, and has no tendons. It can be shabu-shabu, grilled, stir-fried, or pan-fried.
The hind leg part mainly includes the hind leg and hind tendon meat. The meat here is abundant and tender, the meat is coarse and loose, with more fat than lean meat, and slightly thin tendons on the edges. It is suitable for roasting, frying, stir-frying, etc.
There are also sheep's viscera, such as sheep liver and sheep tripe, which are also good things.
According to the rough understanding of the parts that were not smooth, Gu Qinghuan wrote them down with a pen and paper and pasted them on.
This way you won't make the mistake when using it.
It was already ten o'clock when we finished cleaning up. We couldn't cook mutton at noon, so we had to save it for the evening.
Gu Qinghuan and Zhong Luoxi cooked a pot of dumplings together. They were delicious and the children ate ten each.
Gu Lanting and Xu Huai'an ate ten.
Zhong Luoxi, Gu Qinghuan and Ming Ruxue ate only thirteen or fourteen of them and were exhausted.
Ji Linhai went home a long time ago and didn't eat here.
After dinner, Gu Qinghuan asked Xu Huaian to send some mutton to the Ji family.
I specially selected tender ribs to stir-fry for the elderly.
He also instructed Gu Lanting to run to the cowshed next door to give some mutton to Zhong Zijun and the others, and told them to come over on New Year's Eve to have the New Year's Eve dinner together.
I am nineteen today and will be thirty tomorrow.
The food, drinks and daily necessities are almost ready.
In the afternoon, Gu Qinghuan took his family, young and old, to start cleaning the house.
Actually, it’s nothing, just a simple cleaning, using a broom to sweep away the spider webs everywhere in the house and put them away.
There is nothing else to do at home.
The children's enthusiasm for work increased because Gu Qinghuan promised them that he would teach them how to cut paper-cuts after they finished their work.
In rural areas, adults at home are afraid of wasting red paper, so this kind of work is done by adults and not by children.
But when children are curious, they are particularly keen on this kind of small handicraft.
The three little guys took care of the sanitation of the entire yard.
After cleaning up, Gu Qinghuan really took out red paper to teach them how to cut paper-cuts, and even borrowed some scissors to teach them.
Zhong Luoxi and Ming Ruxue both came over to take a look out of curiosity.
To be honest, they have never had this kind of experience, after all, they are all rich girls.
In her previous life, Gu Qinghuan was a pure country girl from Northeast China. She lived with her grandparents when she was little. Every time the family celebrated the New Year, her grandparents would cut a lot of paper-cuts and sell them at the market to exchange for money to buy meat.
Therefore, cutting paper-cuts is a skill that is engraved in her DNA and she can do it even with her eyes closed.
There are many kinds of patterns for Chinese New Year window paper-cuts, including flowers, birds, insects, fish, fruits, birds, folk tales, historical figures and opera masks.
During the Chinese New Year, people mainly make some festive and auspicious paper-cuts.
For example, spring flowers blooming, peace locks, fish leaping through dragon gates, blessing window grilles, thousands of horses galloping, family reunions, surplus year after year, and bumper harvests.
Gu Qinghuan doesn't even need to draw on paper in advance. She can just fold the paper in half and cut a few times with the scissors, and a beautiful window paper-cut with the word "Fu" will be ready.
People who watched it were amazed.
"Mom, how did you do that? Teach us!" Beibei anxiously pulled her hand away.
Ming Ruxue was also excited and prepared to start with the scissors. Seeing Gu Qinghuan was about to cut with the scissors, she felt that it should not be difficult.
“Don’t be in a hurry. You can’t make such large works when you first start learning. I will teach you some simple ones first, starting with flowers.
Let's take a piece of paper and cut it smaller, fold the red paper in half, draw the shape of a flower on the back, pay attention to only draw half of the flower shape, and then cut it with scissors.
Look, a three-petal flower is now created. You can draw any simpler flower you like when you draw it. "
"Wow! That seems easy! Let's get started."
Several children, including Ming Ruxue and Zhong Luoqing, started to learn it seriously, and even Youran picked up a pen and started drawing on paper.
Gu Qinghuan guided them while cutting large paper-cuts.
At first, everything they cut looked weird, or was missing arms and legs, or had problems with the drawn shapes, but soon everyone found the key points and got better and better at cutting.
In the end, Ming Ruxue and Zhong Luoqing's works include lanterns, fish, and complex flower patterns. They are not as good as Gu Qinghuan's works with complete compositions, but they are good enough.
The three small ones can be cut into simple shapes like five-pointed stars or small flowers, which are also great.
When they were almost done cutting the red paper, Gu Qinghuan threw the red paper to them to play with and went to cook with Zhong Luoqi.
Xu Huaian chatted with Ji Linhai at Ji's house for the whole afternoon. I don't know what they talked about, but he was very happy when he came back with a smile on his face.
As for Gu Lanting, after delivering the mutton, he helped Zhong Zijun with his afternoon work in the cowshed.
Although Chinese New Year is approaching, the animals in the cowshed still need to be taken care of. The cowshed needs to be cleaned, manure is shoveled out, and hay is stored. There is a lot to do and there is no time to rest.
Zhong Zijun didn't want him to do these things. As a mother, her child came with great difficulty, and she didn't want him to work. But he insisted on doing it, so she just let him do it.
Gu Lanting wanted to experience the daily life of his parents-in-law and mother. Knowing that they had to do so many dirty and tiring jobs every day, he felt very uncomfortable and sad.
I already knew that life in the lower classes would be hard and difficult, and after experiencing it, I know even more how difficult it is.
You have to know that the three of them used to be highly educated people, doing intellectual work such as teaching and educating people. Suddenly they were transferred here, each of them had to bear so much dirty, tiring and heavy labor. I really don’t know how they could bear it.
Gu Lanting was working while tears were streaming down his face, the sound of the tears blurring his vision.
After cleaning up all the excrement in the cowshed, carrying the cows to a fixed place to defecate, and feeding them grass, Gu Lanting stopped to rest.
He said to Zhong Zijun, "Mom, before I leave, leave all the work in the cowshed for me to do! You guys don't have to worry about it anymore."
Zhong Zijun looked at her son with heartache. The job of shoveling cow dung was dirty and smelly. His clothes and pants were all covered with dung spots. He was a good kid, but his whole body smelled of dung. How dirty.
"Lanting, your husband and I can finish these chores in a moment. It's not a big deal. Don't get involved. Look, good clothes have to be washed after getting dirty." She tried to persuade him.
"Lanting, I appreciate your kindness. Your mother is right. Don't worry about it. We are used to it." Zhong Weiqian also advised.
Gu Lanting is usually very obedient, but this time, he shook his head stubbornly.
"No, you always make me listen to you, but this time you have to listen to me. Before I leave, let me do my best!"
The three of them looked at Gu Lanting's red eyes and tacitly agreed with his words.
Zhong Zijun was touched and felt very lucky.
Although she was absent from her son's life for many years, he still grew up to be a kind, sensible, filial and good child.
He didn't have his father's bad habits.
All of this is thanks to Huanhuan. In her absence over the past few years, Gu Qinghuan took on the role of a mother and took good care of and educated her younger brother.
After Gu Yunchuan was executed, Zhong Zijun's resentment disappeared and she was left with only gratitude. She tried hard to make her life better.
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In the evening, Gu Qinghuan prepared a whole lamb feast.
Cumin lamb, grilled lamb chops, radish lamb soup, braised lamb feet, stir-fried lamb tripe, pickled pepper lamb liver, and a few vegetarian dishes.
The family started to fatten up for the New Year in advance.
Of course she couldn't cook so many dishes by herself, so Zhong Luoxi, Ming Ruxue and several children all helped, doing what they could.
After Xu Huaian and Gu Lanting came back and were about to have dinner, Xu Mingshan and Xu Huaizhi suddenly showed up.
Gu Qinghuan hadn't met anyone from the Xu family since he came back, let alone said hello to them. The main reason was that he felt it was unnecessary, and they didn't care about their family's life or death.
Xu Mingshan also heard from other people in the village that his elder brother had returned and said that his illness had been cured, so he brought his eldest brother here to question him.