Chapter 64
Lin Yao touched his chest, hurried back to the house, took out the sugar jar, and stuffed a sugar-soaked plum into his mouth. The sour and sweet plum finally suppressed the feeling of suffocation.
Every Grain in Ear season in Yunshui County is the season when plums are ripe. There is a plum forest behind Zhangjia Village. There are green plums and black plums in it. The fresh plums on the trees taste sour, but this thing is not hungry. The villagers are busy working to earn food. Except for the greedy children, no one would be free to pick this thing.
Last summer, Grandma Zhang's mouth was tasteless. The old lady didn't want to eat anything but sugar-soaked plums.
Unfortunately, there was no plum for sale in the county town. Seeing that Grandma Zhang was about to go on a hunger strike, the two uncles of the Zhang family were as anxious as ants on a hot pot. Zhang Cuilan found out and took her old son back to the countryside to pick a large basket of green plums. They soaked them in water and thought about making some kind of sugar plum for her old mother.
The idea was good, but Comrade Cuilan would not do it.
Lin Yao had seen Grandma Lin make this several times in his life. After removing the stems of green plums, rub them with coarse salt for ten minutes to remove the sourness and bitterness of the green plums. Soak them in clean water overnight, and put them in a clean dustpan to air dry the next day. Choose a canning bottle that has been washed and boiled in boiling water, and put a layer of white sugar under the bottle, a layer of green plums and a layer of white sugar. Sprinkle a handful of coarse salt on the top, seal the tube, and after ten days or so, the sugar-pickled plums are ready.
The reason why sugar-pickled plums are called sugar-pickled plums is that they use a lot of white sugar.
White sugar was so hard to get at that time. The workers in the city only had that much supply a month, and it was not enough to make white sugar water to drink.
Zhang Cuilan took out all the sugar coupons at home and asked Aunt Dafu for some. Lin Yao secretly took some from the space, and the white sugar for pickled plums was enough. Lin
Yao made three cans of pickled plums. Grandma Zhang ate two cans by herself. The old lady ate too much and was not happy to eat.
The remaining can was kept at home, and anyone who wanted to eat could have some.
Except for the brat Dongzi, Lin Yao didn't like to eat much before. I don't know what happened recently, my appetite is not very good, I want to eat sour and sweet.
I guess it was because of the chicken shit in the chicken coop that I was disgusted today.
The chicken coop in the Gu family's old house was next to the rabbit coop. The excrement of the chickens and rabbits in the house was either cleaned by Gu Shi'an or Dongzi. Lin Yao occasionally cleaned it once or twice, and boasted about it to Comrade Zhang Cuilan. The thick-skinned Lin Yao couldn't help blushing.
Lin Yao didn't take it to heart.
Zhang Cuilan was rubbing corn kernels. Seeing that her daughter-in-law wanted to eat sour food and vomit these days, she couldn't help but pull Gu Mancang to talk.
"Old man, do you think our Yaoyao is pregnant?"
Gu Mancang took his old son to the back mountain to catch rabbits in the afternoon. When he was a child, his family was poor, and he also went up the mountain to catch rabbits and went down the river to catch fish and oysters. Now that he is old, his skill of catching rabbits is not rusty.
Look, the two grandpas came back happily, each carrying a rabbit tied with a straw rope. The rabbits were particularly fat after eating all winter. One rabbit must weigh at least 8 or 9 kilograms, and two rabbits must weigh 17 or 18 kilograms.
Wild rabbits are very temperamental, and most of them cannot be kept in captivity, so they are simply slaughtered and eaten one a day.
At this time, Gu Mancang was killing the rabbit and was busy skinning and removing the internal organs. He was not paying attention to what the old woman said, and grinned and said, "What's the matter? These rabbits are all male rabbits, and male rabbits can't give birth to babies."
Zhang Cuilan rolled her eyes. Forget it, she didn't say a word to the old man, her mind was already attracted by the rabbit meat.
Gu Shian carried the bicycle home and put it in the straw shed. His rolled-up trouser legs were covered with mud spots. His daughter loved to be clean. Usually, the bedding on the kang in the house was dried every two or three days. If she went in like this , she would probably be kicked out.
She sat on the earthen stove in the kitchen of the old house with a large iron kettle on a low fire. In the winter, hot water was needed a lot. Whoever used water could just carry it and use it up, and then refill it.
Gu Shian washed his hands, filled the iron kettle with water, added two dry firewood to the stove, said hello to his parents, carried water and firewood, did all the housework, and brought a bundle of firewood to his parents to burn in the earthen stove.
Zhang Cuilan was so happy to see her eldest son busying around. She heard her old son jumping around in the next room, so she told Gu Shi'an not to forget and take a rest. When
his mother said this, Deputy Director Gu just nodded, but he didn't put down his work until the earthen kang in his parents' room was heated up. He then shoveled the snow piled in the corner of the wall outside the fence with a shovel, and was so busy that his head was steaming.
Zhang Cuilan said, "This eldest son is so stubborn. When he becomes a father in the future, the son must not follow his father."
This time, Gu Mancang's ears were very good. When he heard the old woman say this, his eyes immediately lit up and he came over, "Cuilan, are we going to be grandpa and grandmother?"
Zhang Cuilan: "..."
You are a big head ghost!
*
The snow outside had stopped earlier, but in the evening, the north wind blew and the snowflakes rustled outside again. The heavy straw curtain at the door of the old house was lowered, but it could not resist the cold in the yard. The
firewood in the stove on the earthen kang in the house was burning red. Lin Yao was leaning on the cotton cushion with a pot of hot water in his arms, reading a book. The brat in front was still messing around in the house.
His eldest brother bought a few strings of candied haws from the county town. As soon as he got the bright red candied haws, the brat happily ran away with them, and the fat big orange boy also jumped and walked with him.
As soon as the boy left, Lin Yao dropped the soup pot in his hand and leaned on Deputy Director Gu's arms like an octopus. This guy was physically strong, and his body was like a stove in the cold weather. It was more comfortable to have sugar on him than to hold a soup pot.
Lin Yao liked sour food, so he held a string of crystal clear candied haws, ate one himself, and gave one to Gu Shian. These days, candied haws were covered with a lot of icing sugar, and tasted sweet and sour.
Lin Yao had a big appetite, and ate most of it himself. He held his stomach with satisfaction and lay in Gu Shian's arms, smacking his lips.
Gu Shian smiled and said, "It's so delicious, I'll buy you some tomorrow."
Lin Yao said seriously, "No, that won't work. You can only eat Tanghulu once a week. There's so much sugar on it, I'll get fat if I eat it all day."
Gu Shian's throat moved, thinking that he wasn't thin anymore, at least his face was rounder, but because he had to tell the truth in the past, he was kicked out of bed by a little girl and beaten for several days, so he wisely brought up the topic.
In the next few days, as the New Year passed, the disaster victims who returned to their hometowns had no food at home, and they had to carry sacks and bags and run around begging for food. A new wave of refugees poured in, mixed with all kinds of people, and the Yunshui County, which had been quiet for a short time, became noisy again.
There are so many refugees coming and going in the county every day. The county bus station is in a mess. Petty theft is very common. Although there is no big trouble now, it is better to take precautions.
The county leaders are afraid of the well ropes after being bitten by a snake once. The robbery incident on Laba Festival last year is still vivid in their minds. If there is any trouble again, not only will it be difficult to explain to the higher-ups, but they will also be ashamed to face the people in the county.
The leadership team in the county arranged shifts. One leader would watch at the bus station every day. The county public security bureau, armed forces department, and militia company would also follow on patrol. Gu Shian's commute to and from work was too long, and he couldn't let his family delay his work.
What's more, the old director also lived and ate in the bureau, and the young man was not afraid of a little hardship.
Starting from the 20th day of the first lunar month, Gu Shian lived and ate in the office. Zhang Cuilan found out about it, and she chattered while helping her son prepare food. There was nothing good in the city now, and you couldn't buy it even if you had money.
"It's not peaceful outside now, and you can have a few days of peace in your hometown. Dongzi, you should be honest at home, and don't think about going to the city to make trouble."
Gu Shidong naturally listened to his mother's words.
Nowadays, the city is just like that. The food is not as good as in the countryside. Zhang Cuilan took a bag and put a can of malt extract in it. She also wrapped half a dried rabbit with straw paper. She also took some bacon and other things at home. She thought that her son couldn't eat alone. She had to share some with the leaders and colleagues in the public security bureau.
Zhang Cuilan chopped the remaining pork into meat stuffing, added the prepared cabbage stuffing, and made two large covered dumplings. Each one was plump and frozen hard. She gave it to her eldest son to eat. She also baked a few scallion oil cakes. It was enough for two or three days.
Gu Shi'an went home every two or three days, and the rest would be taken next time.
Lin Yao was drowsy, but she managed to fold someone's clothes. The clothes and pants smelled of soap, and were neatly folded, with every corner square. She had been vomiting for a few days. What else did the family members not understand? Gu Mancang invited an old Chinese doctor to come. The old Chinese doctor took her pulse, and his white beard trembled. "The slippery pulse is floating, like beads rolling on a plate. Not bad, not bad."
The old Chinese doctor spoke in a polite manner, which made the old Gu family anxious.
The old Chinese doctor stroked his white beard, "This is a happy pulse, it has been more than a month."
OK, now the old Gu family understood.
Zhang Cuilan's eyes narrowed into slits with joy, "Good, that's great, our Gu family is going to have a baby, doctor, is my Yaoyao okay? This child is weak, and it will be painful to carry a child."
The old Chinese doctor was quite surprised. Nowadays, when a daughter-in-law in the mountains has a baby, the elders in the family will talk about the eldest grandson and the youngest granddaughter, and rarely care about whether the daughter-in-law is suffering.
Gu Mancang was also very happy. He was always a man of few words. After sending the old Chinese doctor back, he quietly took his old son who was excited to go out to dance, and went to find the old carpenter in the village to buy two pieces of good wood and make a small wooden bed for his little grandson to sleep on.
Lin Yao has been sleeping soundly in the house. She is lucky. Pregnant mothers usually vomit whatever they eat, which makes the baby in their belly very uncomfortable.
Except for feeling nauseous when she was pregnant, Lin Yao now enjoys everything she eats and sleeps for most of the day.
The old Chinese doctor came to her house to take her pulse, and she was still sleeping at home.
Lin Yao accepted the fact that she had a baby very well. Since Sister Chunmei announced the good news, she always felt that she would be pregnant soon.
And now, the baby is here.
The expectant mother Lin Yao was sleeping soundly at home. When Gu Shian got home and heard the news, he was stunned. He walked back to the house alone, and when he saw the little girl's peaceful sleeping face, his heart softened. The flickering candlelight on the dresser cast a soft and peaceful halo on the sleeping person.
Gu Shian got on the bed carefully, held the girl in his arms gently, buried his head in the little girl's fragrant long hair, and smiled silently.
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