When the siblings arrived home, Lu Xiaotang had already dug a very deep cellar and was transporting the excavated soil out.
Xu Ning dumped the mountain products in her backpack onto the ground, and went to the kitchen to see if the noodles she had made that morning were ready.
Grain was about to be distributed, and there was still some sorghum left from last year. Xu Ning ground it a few days ago and added some white flour to make a pot of steamed buns.
I went to the field to cut another cabbage. There was still a lot of oil residue in the jar, so I stewed the cabbage with vermicelli and fried an egg with the black fungus I had soaked in the morning.
During the meal, Xu Ning asked, "Brother Lu, do you want to leave someone at home to help you this afternoon?"
Lu Xiaotang replied, "No, you guys go pick them up! There's not much work, I'll dig them out tomorrow."
After the cellar was dug, Xu Ning went down to take a look. It was not big, only a few square meters, but it was big enough to store vegetables, which was pretty good.
The next day after Lu Xiaotang finished digging the cellar, he rode his bicycle to the city.
Coming back with him was Old Chen, who was driving a ox cart loaded with coal.
Having just unloaded the coal, he took a basket to the foot of the mountain to dig clay, planning to make coal briquettes in the afternoon.
When Xu Ning and Xu Mo came back from the mountain, he had already mixed the coal and clay together, and was making coal briquettes using the coal briquette mold he had bought the year before.
Xu Ning thought to himself, what kind of efficiency is this? We set up a tent the afternoon before we arrived.
We dug a cellar in the next two days. We bought the coal this morning and will be able to make coal briquettes in the afternoon.
Xu Ning had no way to repay him, so he could only go and cook something delicious to reward the great contributor.
The duck I took out from the space when I went to the county town that day has not been eaten yet.
Make a simple version of ginger duck, mix tofu with green onions, stir-fry bean sprouts, and steam a pot of rice.
During the meal, everyone praised the ginger duck made by Xu Ning, and several people ate the ginger and soup with rice.
In the afternoon, Xu Ning said she wanted to stay at home to help make coal briquettes, but Lu Xiaotang said he could do it alone and asked her to go and do her own thing.
Xu Ning and Xu Mo continued to go up the mountain. The grain would be distributed tomorrow. By the time the grain was distributed, the harvest from each family's private plot in the village had almost been harvested.
The aunts and sisters-in-law will also go up the mountain to look for mountain products. By then, one will take up a piece, and another will take up a piece, so it will not be so convenient to pick up the products.
When distributing food, Xu Ning asked for more sorghum and soybeans. Soybeans sprout in winter, and sorghum can be ground into powder and mixed with flour to make steamed buns, which is also delicious. Sorghum is a coarse grain, so he could get more.
Lu Xiaotang pulled the grain that was allocated to her on the village cart and placed it on a rack. She also took a bag of sorghum and half a bag of corn to the village to be ground into flour.
Xu Ning stood at the door and watched for a long time without helping. Then he silently picked up the backpack and took Xu Mo up the mountain.
Ever since Lu Xiaotang came, she seemed to have nothing to do. She just took Xu Mo to the mountains to pick some mountain products and cook a meal.
At dinner in the evening, she said to Lu Xiaotang, "Brother Lu, you should rest at home from tomorrow on. You have never been idle since you came here. There is nothing to do at home now. There are Xiao An and I here."
Lu Xiaotang smiled and said, "It's okay, this little bit of work isn't tiring. I'm not usually here, you've worked hard! If I'm here, you don't have to do it."
Xu Ning was stunned, his eyes felt a little hot. Ever since she came through, his nerves had been tense, and he dared not slack off for a moment.
We must consider all aspects carefully, for fear that anything we fail to consider will make the current situation even more difficult.
Although Xiao An and Xiao Mo are very sensible and rush to do everything at home, they are just two children after all.
Although her parents and Uncle Lu and Aunt Lu are all adults, their status is there, so if they meet them outside, they dare not say hello even if there is no one around.
Now there was someone who had thought of everything for her and done everything for her. She felt her tense nerves relax at once, and tears flowed down her cheeks.
She lowered her head and ate the rice, and suddenly there was a piece of meat in the bowl.
Xu Ning paused, then looked up and saw Lu Xiaotang had just put away his chopsticks. He looked at her tenderly and said, "It's okay. I'll be there for you from now on."
Xu An also said with red eyes, "Sister, I have grown up now. I will do anything for you in the future."
Xu Mo also said, "Sister, I will be very good, eat well, sleep well, and protect you when I grow up."
Xu Ning felt a little embarrassed when he saw them like this.
She picked up a piece of meat for Xu An and Xu Mo respectively and said, "I know you are all very well behaved. Come and eat."
After thinking for a while, he picked up another piece of meat for Lu Xiaotang and said, "Brother Lu, have dinner too. You've been tired all day."
After saying that, he lowered his head, held the bowl and stuffed rice into his mouth, thinking to himself, this is so embarrassing, why am I crying, it's as if I have suffered a great injustice, it's so embarrassing.
When Xu Ning woke up the next morning, he felt a little embarrassed to face the group. After dinner, he took the backpack and took Xiao Mo up the mountain.
When Xu Ning and Xu Mo came back with the chestnuts, Lu Xiaotang had already peeled the ones he had picked yesterday.
The chestnuts are drying at the door, and the thorns on the outside are placed outside the small door and can be used as firewood when they are dry.
When Lu Xiaotang saw the two men coming back, he hurried over to take the baskets from their backs, poured the chestnuts inside on the ground and started peeling them.
Xu Ning saw that it was still early, so he decided to go pick it up again.
Seeing that she was going to go up the mountain, Lu Xiaotang said, "Put less at a time, don't fill it so full."
Xu Ning nodded and said, "I understand, Brother Lu."
Xu Ning did not ask Lu Xiaotang to go up the mountain to help pick up mountain products. After all, he was not from this village. People nowadays are very protective of their food.
No one will say anything if people from the village pick up the trash, but if you, an outsider, come to pick it up, people will feel uncomfortable.
These days the mountain is full of people picking up mountain products, making it inconvenient to chop firewood. Lu Xiaotang plans to wait until the villagers have finished picking up the mountain products before he goes up the mountain to chop firewood.
Because Lu Xiaotang was at home, Xu Ning didn't dare to take out the mountain products he had stored in the space. Your eyes were like radars.
There was not much rice left yesterday, so Xu Ning took out a few pounds from the space and poured them into the grain jar. When he was putting the grain in, he saw it and asked Xu Ning if he had bought more rice.
Fortunately, she reacted quickly and said that it was bought last time and placed in her room. She took it out when she saw that there were not many left.
She was so nervous that her heart almost jumped out of her chest. Fortunately, Lu Xiaotang had never entered her room, so she didn't know what was inside.
Now Xu An has grown up, and he has to be more careful when using space in the future.
Xu Ning saw Aunt Dashuan and Aunt Four from the village picking chestnuts not far away. She planned to go over and ask which family in the village grew more cabbages and radishes so that she could buy some.
This year is Xu Yang's third year in the army. He wrote last month saying that he would have home visit leave this year, but he didn't say when he would come.
Lu Xiaoran also wrote a letter some time ago saying that he might come over to see his parents after the autumn harvest.
If everyone comes this year, the cabbage and radishes she planted on her two mu of land will definitely not be enough to eat.
I plan to go to the village to buy some and pickle more sauerkraut. There will be enough space in the cellar. It doesn't matter even if a few people don't come. I can just grow less bean sprouts and eat more radishes and cabbages.
Aunt Dashuan greeted Xu Ning warmly when she saw him coming over, "Xu Zhiqing, come over here and pick up some. There are a lot of them. I heard from my son Jianmin that your cousin is here to see you guys?"
Xu Ning smiled and said, "Aunt, my cousin is going to the military academy in Beijing and happened to pass by here, so he came to see me and Xiao An.
My cousin is here now, and there are not enough vegetables at home. Does anyone know which family in the village grows more cabbage and radishes? I want to buy some. ”
Aunt Dashuan said nonchalantly, "How can you afford to buy a few cabbages and radishes? I'll ask Jianmin to carry a basket for you this afternoon."
Xu Ning said hurriedly, "No, auntie, I know your family planted more cotton in their private plots this year and not many vegetables. Besides, I'm not buying just a little. I want to buy more so that I can pickle more sauerkraut this year. My sister-in-law Hongmei in the city said that the sauerkraut I made was delicious, so she asked me to buy some cabbage in the village so that I can help her pickle a jar of sauerkraut."
The fourth aunt next to him said, "Xu Zhiqing, my family has grown a lot of cabbages and radishes this year. How many do you want?"
Xu Ning said, "Aunt Si, I plan to buy 200 kilograms of cabbage and 100 kilograms of radishes."
The fourth aunt said happily, "Xu Zhiqing, my family is enough. When we cut cabbage in a few days, I will ask my second child to bring it to you."
Xu Ning smiled and said, "Then I'll trouble you, Auntie. I'll ask Xiao An to send the money to you this afternoon."
The fourth aunt said, "There's no need to let Xiao An go all the way. You can just give it to my second child when the time comes."
Xu Ning agreed with a smile.
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