The three siblings were sitting on the kang and talking when they heard someone knocking on the door. Xu Ning quickly put on his shoes and went out to open the door.
Xu An also followed his sister out. Usually, it was his father and Uncle Lu who knocked on the small door at night.
Xu Ning opened the door and saw his father and Uncle Lu each carrying a large basin in. He asked hurriedly, "Dad, Uncle Lu, what are you carrying?"
Father Xu and Father Lu brought a large basin into the house and said, "These are the heads and offal of two pigs. Your mother and your aunt Lu have cleaned them up.
Your seventh grandfather said that the stew has a strong smell and takes a long time to dissipate, so he asked us to bring it to you.
Xu Ning also planned to bring it over tomorrow and cook it here. She found two large basins from the kitchen and asked her father and Uncle Lu to pour the water in. There were not many basins in the cowshed, and they had to use them for cooking and washing vegetables.
Xu Ning asked the two of them to sit on the kang, showed Uncle Lu the letters from Lu Xiaotang and Lu Xiaoran, and also showed them the money and bills sent by Lu Xiaotang.
After reading the letter, Uncle Lu said to Xu Ning, "Xiao Ning, when you write back to Xiao Ran and Xiao Tang, tell them that we are doing well here and don't need to worry about us."
Xu Ning replied, "Uncle Lu, I will tell them when I write the letter, don't worry!"
When Xu Ning got up in the morning, the sky was still gloomy and there was no snow. She planned to go to the city today to use the woolen yarn tickets that Lu Xiaotang had sent her. Yesterday she saw that they would expire in a few days, so she took the money out.
Arriving at the supply and marketing cooperative, Xu Ning felt as if her hands were not her own. Su Hongying saw her and hurriedly stood up and greeted her, "Xiao Ning, are you cold? Come in and warm yourself by the fire."
Xu Ning followed her and sat beside the stove and said, "Sister Hongying, the three kilograms of woolen yarn coupons my cousin sent me are about to expire. I want to use them, but I'm afraid I'll forget them if I leave them there." Then he handed the woolen yarn coupons to Su Hongying.
Su Hongying looked at the ticket and saw that it was only a few days old, so she took her to the yarn counter to choose the color.
Xu Ning saw that there were only three colors suitable for men: black, navy blue, and coffee. He ordered two kilograms of coffee-colored clothes and gave the money to the salesperson. Then Xu Ning rode his bike to the post office to withdraw the money, and then rode his bike home quickly, fearing that it would snow on the way.
As soon as I reached the entrance of the village, large flakes of snow began to fall. I passed by the Youth Educator's House and saw that the door was closed from the inside. There was no one on the road.
She parked her car at home, picked up her wool and went to the cowshed.
Her father and Uncle Lu were talking in Grandfather Seven's room, while her mother and Aunt Lu were sitting on the kang, talking and knitting.
Xu Mo was reading a picture album on the kang. When he saw Xu Ning coming in, he quickly dropped the album and shouted, "Sister, you're back. I missed you so much."
Xu Ning smiled and pinched his little face, and said, "Do you miss me or do you want to eat candy?"
Xu Mo looked at his sister and said seriously, "Although I want to eat candy, I miss my sister more."
This made the three of them laugh, and Xu Ning took out two White Rabbit milk candies from his pocket and gave them to him.
Mother Xu and Aunt Lu asked her to sit on the kang. Xu Ning took out the wool and said,
"Aunt Lu, Brother Lu sent me the wool coupons yesterday, and I bought three pounds of wool. I thought we all have sweaters, so you can use the three pounds of wool to knit a sweater for Brother Lu and send it to him."
Aunt Lu looked at the wool she bought and didn't bother to be polite to Xu Ning. It would be too awkward to be polite now.
Then he said to Xu Ning, "Okay, I'll put your Uncle Lu's letter aside for now and give it to Xiaotang first. You can help mail it when the time comes."
Xu Ning looked at the sweater she had just knitted and thought that he had nothing to do now.
So she said, "Aunt Lu, please knit for Uncle Lu! I'm free now, so I'll knit Brother Lu's sweater."
Mother Lu said happily, "Xiao Ning, Aunt Lu thanks you very much."
Xu Ning waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "Aunt Lu, you're too polite."
After lunch, Xu An went to school. Xu Ning accompanied Xu Mo to look at the picture book for a while, and then made him a bowl of milk powder. The little guy drank it and fell asleep on the kang.
Xu Ning sighed. How can he pass this long winter without a cell phone, a computer, the Internet, or even a TV?
She sighed several times and picked up the wool beside her to start knitting. She thought of the industrial coupons sent by Lu Xiaotang. She planned to look at the radio next time she went to the city. She might buy one so that she could learn more about what was happening outside.
When Xu An got out of school, Xu Ning was about to get off the kang to stretch his shoulders. Seeing a layer of snow on Xu An's cotton-padded jacket and hat, he remembered that it was snowing outside. He immediately took a towel and patted the snow off Xu An's body.
After cleaning him up and asking him to sit on the kang, Xu An saw a sweater with one side knitted beside him and asked, "Sister, did you buy wool? Who is this for?"
Xu Ning said, "The wool coupons that Brother Lu sent yesterday are about to expire. I went to buy them this morning. We all have sweaters at home, so I knit this one for Brother Lu and send it to him."
Then she asked Xu An, "What do you want to eat tonight? I'll make it for you later."
Xu An said, "Sister, continue knitting the sweater. Finish it as soon as possible and send it back to Brother Lu. I'll go cook." Then he called Xu Mo who was sleeping next to him.
Xu Ning didn't stop him. The kid had been sleeping for the whole afternoon and would not be able to sleep at night.
Xu An called Xu Mo and asked, "Sister, what shall we cook for dinner?"
Xu Ning thought about it and realized that there were still two basins of pig offal and a lot of blood sausage in the kitchen.
She only brought a small bowl over that day and put the rest in the cowshed, thinking that there were many people over there and there were only three siblings here, and they couldn't eat much.
He looked at Xu Mo, who was sitting on the kang with sleepy eyes, and said, "Xiao Mo, you are awake now. Are you hungry? What do you want to eat tonight?"
Xu Mo rubbed his eyes and said, "Eat meat."
Xu Ning and Xu An both laughed. Xu An said, "We've been eating meat every day these past two days, and he's not short of food. I don't know why he's still so greedy."
In the evening, Xu An made a dish of stir-fried pork with shredded radish, egg and mushroom soup, and steamed buns.
Xu Ning looked at the dishes on the table. Every day they were either radishes or cabbages, or dried vegetables. There were too few vegetables in the Northeast in winter. She planned to grow some bean sprouts after dinner to change the taste.
She recalled the video tutorial of growing bean sprouts that she had watched online before. She filled a bowl with beans and soaked them in water. She planned to try to grow some soybean sprouts first.
Not to mention that it really worked. Two days later, I saw the beans sprouting. By the time Xu Ning had knitted most of the sweater, the bean sprouts were ready to eat.
The first time they distributed the food, they didn't control the quantity well and distributed too much, so Xu An sent a large basket to the cowshed.
When Jianmin, Dalin and Erdan came to play on Sunday, Xu Ning packed some for each of them to take back.
Aunt Dashuan and Aunt Xiangyun came to Xu Ning with the soybean paste and dried radish from their homes and asked how it was made and if he could teach them. They heard from Jianmin and Erdan that Xu Zhiqing liked to eat these the most.
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