Chapter 49 Delicious Harvest Season (1)
At night, Song Zhi returned home and went to the water room behind the kitchen to wash his muddy feet.
Tao Tao stood by and asked him worriedly, "Did Guicai cheat you?"
"No!"
Song Zhi smiled and said, "He is still young after all. I think Li Cui'er is usually partial to the two older ones and ignores him. Besides, he also has a good heart... Give him some pointers. If he is lazy, we have helped him. If he can't do it... then we will just ignore him from now on, okay?"
"We?" Taotao keenly grasped the key word.
Song Zhi said, "Let's."
Taotao hates the fourth family.
but--
She sighed and muttered, "People are so complicated! So hard to understand!"
In her previous life, Taotao didn't meet many people. After accidentally falling into the human world, she met a bad person. Fortunately, she was picked up by the master who passed by... In addition, she herself had no distinction between good and evil, and always felt that the people she met were either bad, such as those mortals who wanted to bite her, or good, such as the master, uncles, and uncles in the sect, as well as those beautiful sisters and junior sisters!
Although the senior and junior sisters were not very friendly to her at the beginning, they were just jealous and envious. After getting along with her for a while, they became very nice to Taotao.
Now that she has come to the human world, Taotao is not afraid of poverty or tiredness. She just feels that—
The people here are worse than plants!
Plants are very kind. Look at the old ginkgo tree and the little grape. They are never aggressive and never lie. They just grow quietly, bloom and bear fruit, and provide food and oxygen to animals and plants without any complaints.
People are so complicated!
There are people like Brother Nansheng, who was originally a good person, but became cruel and vicious in the bad environment created by Chen Juxiang. Good people turned bad and only knew how to fight violence with violence when encountering problems. There are people who are as honest as Bai Zhenzhu, but who harm others because of a momentary evil thought. There are people like Chen Lanfen, everyone has tried their best to help her, but she just can't stand on her own. There are also pure bad guys like Chen Juxiang!
Fortunately, there are still many kind and upright people like her parents in the world.
Song Zhi heard Taotao's mumbling.
He smiled, washed his feet and hands, and dried them with a towel before stroking Taotao's head. "People are indeed very complicated, so we also need to... learn how to be human."
——He had heard about it and knew that she had been muddle-headed and ignorant before, and that she had only gotten better recently.
Song Zhi felt that he was just as ignorant of the ways of the world.
The indifference and ruthlessness of his biological father, the mess in his adoptive parents' home... these were all what he wanted to escape from. It was not until he came to Ruyi Village and temporarily lived in Taotao's home, and saw too much of the gossip in these half a year, that he felt... this kind of down-to-earth life is the real world.
It is far more exciting and more humane than the places he has lived in.
So when he saw Guicai, who was in a quagmire and wanted to change for the better but was full of confusion, he could not help but give Guicai some advice as if he saw his younger self.
Taotao half-closed her eyes, contentedly enjoying Song Zhi's pat on the head, feeling the comfort of the fragrant spiritual energy, and the slightest unhappiness in her heart instantly disappeared!
Well, if Guicai doesn't do anything wrong, she can help him.
Tao Tao said happily, "Song Zhi, I made something delicious today. Can you guess... what it is?"
In fact, as soon as Song Zhi entered the yard, he smelled the rich aroma of fried pickled mustard greens and pork scraps.
He thought for a moment and asked, "Stir-fried green peppers with tomatoes?"
The girls of the Bai family are so clever and deft that they can cook the few varieties of vegetarian dishes in the vegetable garden in a delicious way.
——Green peppers and tomatoes, one is overbearing and sharp, the other is slightly sour and sweet, they are two ingredients that do not go together.
The girls would stir-fry the green peppers in a pan with oil, then add chopped tomatoes and water and cook into a paste, then season with chopped garlic and salt.
Such a simple dish is a great accompaniment to rice. As soon as you take a sip, you can smell the strong aroma of the hot pot and the spicy taste. After the spiciness, you can taste the extremely lingering sour and sweet taste, as well as the gentle and refreshing soft and sandy taste. Mix it with sweet rice... With just this dish, Song Zhi can eat a full bowl of rice!
Taotao, "No, change it!"
The girl's sweet and charming voice was like a ripe peach, so sweet that it could squeeze out the juice, and Song Zhi's eyebrows relaxed, but he couldn't help but want to tease her deliberately, "Then... it must be fried dried fish with basil!"
This is also a great dish to go with rice.
Taotao went to the river with red beans and yellow beans to catch the dried fish. She picked up the fish by pinching off the heads and tails, then dried them and stored them. From time to time, grab two handfuls, soak them in clean water, go to the vegetable garden to pick two handfuls of perilla leaves, sauté them with a little oil, then add in dried fish and stir-fry until fragrant.
The dried fish is very crispy and even the bones melt into the food when you chew it. The special aroma of basil goes really well with rice.
Taotao was getting a little anxious, "Oh, you are so stupid! No, no, change another one!"
Song Zhi held back his laughter and said, "I know, it's celery fried with ginkgo nuts?"
Ginkgo nuts are slightly bitter. After blanching, they are stir-fried with tender celery. They have a very special soft and glutinous texture. Although not as amazing as stir-fried tomatoes with green peppers, nor as good as stir-fried dried fish with perilla, they are delicious with rice, but they have a clear color and a very calm flavor, which is what Song Zhi likes.
Tao Tao was getting impatient. "No, no! I'm telling you... I cooked black fungus and tofu! Wash them quickly. I'm going to set the table."
Having said that, she hurried to the kitchen.
Song Zhi smiled.
Black fungus tofu is also his favorite dish. The old tofu is fried until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and then tomatoes and black fungus are added to cook. After the juice is reduced, the white tofu, the red tomato soup, the black fungus, and some green chopped green onions are sprinkled on top...
It is both delicious and pleasing to the eyes.
However, Uncle Thirteen and his wife were the only ones in the village who knew how to make tofu. During the busy farming season, Song Zhi felt that they might not have the time to make it...
Thinking that he would be able to eat delicious wood ear tofu in a while, Song Zhi felt even better. He went back to the house to get a change of clothes and went to the bathroom to take a shower.
When he finished washing his hair, taking a shower and changing his clothes, he saw Taotao and Xingxing still busy in the kitchen?
"Are you still cooking now?" Song Zhi asked.
——Aren’t we getting ready to eat?
Tao Tao replied, "Second Uncle is coming up to eat, we'll add another dish! You go over and say hello first...we'll be ready soon."
Song Zhi went to the main room.
Sure enough, Uncle Bai came up.
Song Zhi greeted everyone.
The Bai family did not treat him as an outsider. Tang Liren asked him to get on the kang and sit where he used to sit. Uncle Bai was a guest, so he sat on a chair in front of the kang bed.
The table is already filled with dishes.
——Sure enough, there was a big pot of pork scraps fried with pickled mustard greens, a big bowl of tomato stewed with tofu and black fungus with soup, a dish of lettuce salad with shrimp and spicy sauce, and a big pot of shrimp, bamboo shoots and vegetable leaf soup.
Three dishes and one soup is actually very good.
Maybe Taotao and the others ordered more dishes to entertain their guests.
Uncle Bai was talking, and after greeting Song Zhi, he continued -
"…The third brother is now divorced and has lost his child. With the work points he earned, it's hard to say whether he can eat meat every day. At least he can have enough rice and a few pounds of meat from time to time. It's no problem to support himself, and it's more than enough to support Chen. I guess Chen herself knows this, so she begs the third brother desperately, asking him to remember her kindness in giving birth to him and raising him."
"But Chen never treated the third son well before. After he got married, he gave birth to four daughters in a row. Chen asked him to divorce, but he refused. Chen never treated him well, always making indirect accusations and beating the four daughters every day. Didn't the third son feel distressed? He felt distressed too, but he just didn't know how to take care of them..."
"...Now that the fourth brother has made it clear that he doesn't want to support her and wants to send her back to the Chen family, Chen scolded the fourth brother for being heartless. After that, she wanted to live with the third brother again. She also refused to leave no matter what, saying that she was a member of the Bai family in life and a ghost of the Bai family in death, and that she would have to return to the Chen family unless she died. The third brother went to find a rope, threw it to her, and said, 'Go and die now! Here's the rope, hang yourself, and when you are cold, we will send you back to the Chen family... How dare you say you are a member of the Bai family? I think you are a member of the Chen family in life and a ghost of the Chen family in death, right?' At that time, Chen fainted..."
As they were talking, Taotao and Xingxing came over to serve the dishes.
When everyone looked closely, they saw two more dishes: a large plate of steamed meat rolls, and a large bowl of fried duck eggs with spicy rings, in addition, a large bowl of cooked noodles.
Tang Liren was very satisfied. She gave Taotao and Xingxing a look of approval, and then warmly invited everyone to start eating.
Uncle Bai stared at the big plate of steamed meat rolls and said, "This, this... is meat?" No way, if it was really meat, such a big plate would have to weigh at least four or five pounds!
Taotao smiled and said, "It's just a layer of meat on the outside, and mushrooms on the inside. We have to thank Hongdou and Huangdou for picking up mushrooms in the mountains today!"
Red Bean and Yellow Bean smiled.
"Fourth aunt, we'll go pick some tomorrow! We found a patch of wild shepherd's purse near where we picked mushrooms today! But it's getting late so we don't dare stay too long. We'll dig some shepherd's purse tomorrow and bring it back...Fourth aunt, how can we eat shepherd's purse?" Hongdou asked.
Huangdou: “Dumplings!”
Taotao smiled and said, "There is only half a plate of tofu left from the exchange today. I soaked it in water. If you guys dig up some shepherd's purse, we can eat shepherd's purse and tofu dumplings tomorrow night, okay?"
Huang Dou was very happy and said loudly: "Good!"
Tang Liren asked: "By the way, I also want to ask, where did this tofu come from?"
Tao Tao replied, "The village chief said that everyone had worked hard, so he asked Aunt Thirteen to lead everyone in making tofu. We took some dried soybeans from home and exchanged them for a plate of tofu. We ate half of it today and saved the rest for tomorrow."
Bai Lili, "Eating dumplings is so troublesome, you have to knead the dough and let it rest."
Tao Tao, "Third sister, don't wash clothes tomorrow. Why don't you knead the dough while Xingzi and I wash clothes?!"
"Okay!" Bai Lili replied.
Lili: "Okay, okay, I'm the fastest at washing clothes!"
Tan Fenghui also said, "Tomorrow during the lunch break, Taotao, Xingxing and I will come back to make dumplings. Even if we can only rest for an hour, it should be enough. If it really doesn't work, we can come back to make dumplings after work in the evening..."
Song Zhi couldn't help but interject, "After the autumn harvest is over, I'll see if I can make a laundry tub. It shouldn't be so troublesome to do laundry in the future."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone looked at Song Zhi.
"What's a laundry tub?"
"Why is it that washing clothes is not a hassle now that there is a laundry tub?"
"Can the laundry tub wash itself or something?"
"I heard that people in the city have washing machines! Is this washing machine the same as a washing tub?"
"But there is no electricity in our village. Can we use a washing machine?"
Song Zhi smiled and said, "Everyone will know when it is done."
At this time, everyone took turns to add more food -
However, red beans and yellow beans are children who prefer to eat noodles with soup, so they clamored and demanded noodles instead of rice.
Seeing that everyone was already holding bowls of rice and noodles, Bai Zheng picked up his chopsticks and shouted, "Let's eat!"
In an instant, seven or eight pairs of chopsticks pointed at the large plate of steamed pork rolls.
Song Zhi also held one hostage.
The pork belly was brought back from the city by him and Taotao last time. Because she was afraid that it would go bad, Tang Liren marinated the pork belly with salt, so that... the pork belly still had the fat and sweet fragrance of fresh pork, with a slight salty taste of ham, and the taste was salty.
The pork belly is sliced very thinly. Although it is a long strip, there is actually not much of it. The middle is wrapped with tender oyster mushroom meat. The overall taste is salty first and then fresh. It is delicious when eaten with rice.
Everyone had been tired after a whole day of work, and now it was so relaxing to hold their bowls and eat heartily!
A quarter of an hour later, everyone was full.
Uncle Bai then brought up the old matter again.
This was also the reason why he came to eat today - to tell his brother and sister-in-law about Chen Juxiang.
"...Ms. Chen fainted, but who knows if she really fainted or just pretended! Didn't she just pretend to faint when we were at the village committee this morning? Maybe she thought that if she fainted, the third and fourth brothers would not mention sending her back to Chen's house! The third and fourth brothers didn't care about her. They found two bamboo poles, tied a bed sheet, and carried Chen. They didn't even have lunch and went to Chen's house..."
"After finishing work just now, I went to the ancestral home to take a look. The third and fourth sons have already returned! Both of them were injured. They must have had a fight at the Chen family... Sister-in-law, please take some tung leaves to pack these leftovers. I will give them to the third and fourth sons to have a bite. I'm afraid they haven't had any yet!"
Uncle Bai mentioned this casually because he saw that there was still some rice left on the table.
Tang Liren scolded, "You didn't even tell me earlier if you wanted to buy some food! It would be nice if you saved some before the meal. Now the meal is almost finished... Xingzi, go pick some tung leaves!"
Tao Tao, Xing Xing, ran outside the yard and picked a few huge and complete tung leaves. They took them home, washed them with water, and brought them to the main hall. Tang Liren divided the remaining rice and vegetables into two halves, placed them on two large tung leaves respectively, packed them up, and tied them with straw ropes.
Uncle Bai continued, "... I saw that they were injured and looked listless. Their eyes were swollen like walnuts, as if they had just cried for a while. I asked the fourth brother what was going on over there. The fourth brother said that the Chen family didn't recognize them at all, because Chen Daxiong and Chen Erxiong (Chen Juxiang's elder brothers) had died a long time ago, and Chen Sanxiong was still alive. The third and fourth brothers drove Chen to Chen Sanxiong and brought up the matter, but Chen Sanxiong remained silent and ignored Chen..."
"Later, Chen Dahu (Chen Daniu's father) heard the news and came back. He also refused to take Chen in. The third and fourth brothers started fighting with them. Both sides were injured! The third and fourth brothers were probably more powerful. They smashed Chen's house and injured people before returning. Chen wanted to run back with them, but the fourth brother threatened that if she dared to run back once, he would smash Chen's house once. Later, Chen still did not follow them back."
Bai Zhenggan, "You will suffer the consequences if you bring trouble upon yourself."
Uncle Bai asked again, "Brother, do you really want to expel the third and fourth brothers from the clan?"
Bai Zhenggan glanced at Tang Liren and said to the second brother, "I have discussed this with your sister-in-law. The Chen family is the Chen family, and brothers are brothers... The Chen family is bent on doing bad things, but the brothers are not. There is no need to expel the clan or not. After all, they haven't made any big mistakes. Let's talk about it later!"
Uncle Bai heaved a sigh of relief and stood up. "Brother and sister-in-law, I'll...go over and tell the third and fourth brothers. When I came here, the third brother told me that he didn't have a son either. If he was expelled from the clan, he wouldn't know what to do when he gets old. The fourth brother is also worried about this problem... He said that he raised three sons but they were useless, and they will definitely not be reliable in the future... Okay, I'm leaving!"
After saying that, he left with two bags of tung leaf rice.
When Tao Tao and Xing Xing went to collect the bowls, Tang Liren asked Song Zhi, "I saw you took Gui Cai to work today? How is he?"
Song Zhi replied, "Very well, he works quite well. The master assigned him three acreages of land, and he harvested all the crops on time. He told me that he wants to try five acreages tomorrow..."
Tang Liren was somewhat relieved, "That's some progress!"
Bai Zhenggan said, "He is still young, don't let him do 50% of the work. It's not good for him to hurt his body at such a young age. He still needs to grow taller! Let him do 30% of the work tomorrow. It's good enough to provide him with a full meal."
Song Zhi said: "If he wants to try, let him try. He should know his limits."
Tang Liren was very happy, "As long as he is willing to change and get better... this child can be saved!"
The next day, Uncle Bai and his family all showed up at the production team.
However, except for Guicai who was happy, Li Cuier's eyes were red and swollen from crying, there was a clear mark of the sole of a red Jiefang shoe on Fuguier's face, and one of Fuguier's eye sockets was blue...
Li Cui'er didn't dare to look up, but Fugui'er and Fugui'er glared at Fourth Uncle Bai.
Fourth Uncle Bai gave them a look that was even more cruel than theirs, and the two of them lowered their heads unwillingly.
Guicai ran to the old master and said, "Grandpa Eighteen, please assign me 5 acres of land today!"
The old master said, "What? You are an eight-year-old kid, and you want to do five parts of the work? That won't work. You still need to grow up!"
"No, no! Yesterday's 3-point work was too easy for me to do! Today I must try 5-point work!" Guicai shouted.
"No, wait until you're older!"
Guicai pointed at Zhou Xiaoni unhappily and asked, "Then why can she only do 5 points of work?"
The old master hasn't answered yet——
Zhou Xiaoni glared at Guicai, "I'm thirteen, how old are you?"
Guicai was not to be outdone, "I am eight years old but I weigh 120 kilograms. How many kilograms do you weigh?"
Zhou Xiaoni: ...
Fourth Uncle Bai spoke up, "Uncle Eighteen, why don't you give the kid a 5-point field and try it out? If it doesn't work, go back to 3-point field tomorrow."
"That's right!"
Fourth Uncle Bai added: "... and then give Fugui'er and Fugui'er 5 acres of land each!"
The old master took a look at Fuguier and Fuguier's figures and said, "They can do 12 jobs!"
Fourth Uncle Bai smiled bitterly, "You two are useless, so let's assign 5 points to each of them!"
In this way, the entire family of the fourth room went to work.
Li Cui'er cried and joined the women feeding pigs and cooking.
However, she seemed quite resistant.
When she was asked to cut grass for pigs, her waist and hands ached; when she was asked to clean the pig pen, sweep duck manure, and carry pig and duck manure to the vegetable garden to make compost, she said she felt dizzy, had chest tightness, and wanted to vomit; when she was asked to cook and wash vegetables, she said she couldn't do this or that...
Aunt Xiuhong, who was in charge, was furious. "You don't know how to do anything? Or do you just don't want to do anything? If you really don't want to do anything, then get out! I've never seen a wife as lazy as this! It's unlucky for the fourth son to marry you!"
Li Cui'er was not happy with it again. She put her hands on her hips and retorted, "You are talking nonsense! Humph, I am one of the few people in the village who only gave birth to sons and not daughters. I am a lucky charm for my husband!"
"Pooh!"
Aunt Xiuhong scolded, "All the sons you gave birth to are good-for-nothings! Why give birth to them when you can't even afford to raise them! Get lost! We don't welcome you here, and we won't even provide you with lunch! Go home and eat wild vegetables and bran by yourself!"
Li Cui'er said stubbornly, "Don't talk nonsense, our family has a very good food supply! Otherwise, how could my three precious sons be so fat!"
At this time, the women in charge of cooking went to the warehouse to get the rice for today's cooking, and carried several baskets of rice back...
Li Cui'er's eyes widened, "Aunt Xiuhong! There's so much rice?"
"It's none of your business. You're not working!"
Li Cui'er was anxious, "Then, then I'll take some back!" As she said that, she reached out to grab the rice.
"If you dare to touch the rice, I will send you to the police station in town immediately! This is the meal for people who go to work today. You didn't do any work, so what qualifications do you have to take the rice? Do you want to fleece the collective? Are you stealing or trying to speculate?" Aunt Xiuhong asked sternly.
Li Cui'er withdrew her hand awkwardly.
Just at this moment, Taotao came over with a bucket of oil...
Seeing this, Xiuhong hurried forward to lend a hand and asked with concern: "Why did you carry it here by yourself? Where are your apricots?"
Tao Tao panted and said, "Xingzi is behind me. The things she is carrying are heavier than mine... Auntie, don't worry about me. I will move over slowly. If you can spare a hand, help Xingzi."
As expected, Aunt Xiuhong let go of her hand and went to the back to help Xingzi move things.
Li Cui'er hurried forward and helped Taotao lift the barrel of oil. She then asked, "Taotao, is this barrel of oil enough for today?"
It’s so heavy, probably about 40 or 50 kilograms!
Tao Tao glanced at Li Cui'er and said, "You're overthinking it. We have to cook for 460 people today. The rule is that we can only use 20 kilograms of oil at most, and we have to make three dishes and one soup! We'll have to weigh the oil later and return it!"
Li Cui'er's eyes lit up - three dishes and a soup! Moreover, those women just carried in so much rice, and it seemed that they were not going to mix beans in it. Could it be... white rice?
"Taotao, are all the people working today eating white rice?" Li Cui'er asked again.
Taotao, "Yes, but there's no share for you! Go home and lie down! Don't get too tired." As she said that, she snatched the oil barrel from Li Cui'er and staggered towards the temporary kitchen carrying the barrel.
After a while, Aunt Xiuhong and Xingxing came over with great effort, carrying a wooden rack that was more than one person tall and filled with tofu.
Li Cui'er immediately smelled the rich aroma of tofu.
——Oh my god, there’s tofu to eat! ! !
Li Cui'er immediately rushed forward and grabbed Xiuhong's hand, "Sister-in-law, I can do it! I can do any job. Please let me stay... If there is one more person making lunch, you have to count me in..."
"Let go!" Aunt Xiuhong was so angry that she yelled, "Don't touch me. If you shake this tofu to the ground, I won't forgive you!"
Li Cui'er was so scared that she took several steps back.
Xiuhong helped carry the tofu into the kitchen, and then asked Li Cuier to go in and help wash the vegetables.
Li Cui'er was washing vegetables when she suddenly saw a group of wives surrounding Taotao. She wondered what they were talking about.
She pointed at Taotao and said to Xiuhong, "Sister-in-law, why don't they work?"
Xiuhong frowned and scolded, "The chefs are discussing what dishes to cook right now! Li Cuier, can you just do your job well? You're staring at others all day long! I asked you to wash the vegetables, but you're dawdling... They've washed several basins, and you're still dawdling here!"
Li Cui'er was frustrated and muttered unhappily, "Is it useless to ask? Humph, why don't you ask me about this matter? I am the best at giving orders... It would be best if I don't cook anymore and give money to everyone, according to the number of people in the village..."
Xiuhong gave Li Cuier a cold look and didn't bother to pay attention to her.
On the other side, Taotao was indeed discussing dishes with several aunts and sisters-in-law.
Tao Tao said, "Today's main dish is braised duck with basil. Don't use oil for this dish. Use low heat to slowly squeeze out the oil from the duck meat... We can save the oil to fry the tofu, put the fried tofu back into the pan and stir-fry it with garlic leaves, and then braise winter melon with dried shrimps, and we'll have three dishes. For the soup, make pumpkin soup with a little salt. The main thing is to cook the pumpkin, mash it, and stir it well. Then the soup will be thick and taste great!"
Of course, other wives also proposed other dishes based on today's ingredients.
After everyone discussed it, they felt that Taotao was the best combination.
But that is—
A daughter-in-law said: "The dried shrimp stewed with winter melon...but we don't have dried shrimp!"
Tao Tao said, "We have dried shrimps at home, but we Hongdou worked hard to fish them out in the creek and saved them for a whole year. If the aunts and sisters-in-law agree, we can give out a pound of dried shrimps in exchange for a duck. But if it's not suitable, then we can just give out a pound of dried shrimps for nothing, it doesn't matter."
This is called retreating in order to advance, and people will not allow this to happen.
As expected, Aunt Yuejuan, the head chef, made the decision, "Then I'll give you a duck instead. After all, one pound of dried shrimps requires at least four pounds of fresh river shrimps! The ducks in our production team only weigh two pounds each!"
Taotao smiled and quickly called Hongdou over, asking her to bring back a duck and then go home to get a pound of dried shrimps.
In this way, people who went to work that day ate a rare meat dish: braised duck with perilla. Duck meat certainly can’t fill you up, so we also mixed it with half taro stalks. The texture of taro stalks is a bit like bean curd sticks. They are soft and absorbent. They absorb the delicious soup of the braised duck. When you take a bite, it tastes almost like duck meat!
In addition, fried tofu with garlic leaves is so delicious! The fried tofu is very tasty and delicious! Winter melon stewed with dried shrimps is also delicious. The main reason is that people in the village generally don’t cook winter melon like this. They often use it to make soup or stew it directly... After adding dried shrimps, the winter melon has a very unique salty and fragrant taste, which is really delicious.
After the meal, have a bowl of thick pumpkin soup that is like soup. It has a mellow texture, slightly salty with a natural sweetness. It is so delicious!
Taotao, the person who provided the recipe, also got a fat duck in exchange and was very happy.
What makes people even more delighted is that the duck laid an egg as soon as it entered the house...
Hongdou couldn't bear to let it go, so she hugged the duck and begged Taotao, "Fourth Aunt, please don't kill the duck. Let it lay eggs and play with me and Huangdou!"
——Because this duck was exchanged for the shrimps she and Huang Dou caught!
There is nothing Taotao cannot do.
That night, Taotao's family had dinner: shepherd's purse, minced meat, tofu dumplings, and shepherd's purse soup and duck egg soup.
Although it is simple, it takes a lot of effort and the dumplings are particularly delicious.
——The tofu was cooked with bacon and dried shrimps by Taotao and her friends when they came back at noon. The tofu has been well-flavored and can be used after cooling down. The soup will be saved for making shepherd's purse soup in the evening.
When I came back in the evening, the tofu had already cooled down, so I crushed it. I also chopped the shepherd's purse that had been blanched and pickled with salt in the morning into small pieces, mixed it with the tofu and used it as filling to make dumplings.
The plump and round dumplings taste very delicious even though they are made with vegetarian fillings.
Served with a bowl of hot shepherd's purse soup...
It’s so comfortable in this cool autumn night!
The family talked about how the fourth family went to work today.
Tang Liren, "Fuguier and Fuguier are no good! When they were asked to work, they just slacked off and refused to listen no matter how much we called them. The fourth brother was so angry that when it was almost time for dinner, he asked someone to tie the two of them to a tree with ropes. When the village sent food over... oh my, the food for lunch today... was so good!"
She turned to Tao Tao and asked, "Tao Tao, was it you who came up with this menu?"
Taotao nodded proudly, "I matched it well, right?"
Tang Liren, "I told your third sister at the time that it must be Taotao who arranged the meals! Why... In the past, the village also provided lunch every year during the autumn harvest, but there was no year where we ate as well as this year!"
Xing Xing couldn't wait to ask, "Mom! Tell me, what happened after Fourth Uncle tied Fugui'er and Fugui'er to the tree?"
When Tang Liren heard this, she burst into laughter and even laughed so hard that she couldn't straighten her back.
Lili also laughed and replied, "When they saw how good the food was, their eyes turned red with anxiety! They shouted like pigs being slaughtered, 'Give me a bowl of rice, I promise to work hard this afternoon', and 'I'm starving, give me something to eat', but Fourth Uncle ignored them and only invited Guicai to eat."
"Guicai is also mean. He even deliberately sits in front of Fuguier and Fuguier and eats one bite at a time in front of them. He says the duck meat smells so good! Then he says the tofu is so delicious. He even sips the pumpkin soup as if it were chicken soup... Fuguier and Fuguier are so angry that their eyes turn green."
"After the meal delivery man left, Fourth Uncle let Fuguier and Fuguier go. The two chased Guicai for two laps at first, but after being beaten up by Fourth Uncle, they went to harvest rice obediently. They were okay today and finished all the work assigned to them. But... the village doesn't provide dinner, hahahahaha..."
"They were so angry that they chased Guicai again. They couldn't vent their anger without fighting! Later, Fourth Uncle lied to them and said that if they wanted to eat in the village, they had to work in the afternoon of the previous day and then in the morning of the next day. They could only eat at noon the next day. They foolishly believed it and gave up!"
Everyone burst into laughter.
Tang Liren asked Taotao again, "Where's Li Cui'er? Is she still being lazy today?"
Tao Tao said, "Of course she would be lazy! But when she heard that we were having duck today, she immediately became excited. At noon, she ate two large bowls of rice and vomited... She just wanted to slack off in the afternoon. Aunt Xiuhong assigned her some work and told her not to come to eat tomorrow if she didn't finish it. She felt very aggrieved, but I still forced her to work anyway."
Early the next morning, Uncle Bai hurried home, knocked on the door, looked for Taotao, and handed her a dime?
Tao Tao widened her eyes in surprise, "Uncle Four, what are you doing?"
Fourth Uncle Bai was a little embarrassed. "Taozi, it's like this. Yesterday, I agreed with Fuguier and Fuguier that if they can finish 12 work points today, the village will reward them with a fried egg to commend the first person who gets 12 work points. But I don't have duck eggs, so I'll give you this dime to buy two duck eggs from your family. I'll ask you to fry some eggs and send them to them at lunch!"
Tao Tao held back her laughter. "Okay! It's just two duck eggs, no problem... Uncle, but I won't take the money!"
Fourth Uncle Bai, "Nonsense, even brothers have to settle accounts clearly... Take it quickly! By the way, don't let them know I was here!" After saying that, he stuffed a dime into Taotao's hand and left in a hurry.
Tang Liren asked in the yard, "Taozi, what does your fourth uncle want to see you for?"
Taotao said with a smile.
It made the whole family laugh.
On this day, the production team's lunch was still based on the menu designed by Taotao.
- The main course was fried eggplant and boiled chicken in a flour batter.
——It’s stir-fried beans with celery, green peppers and green beans.
——Another one is stir-frying fresh corn kernels, edamame kernels, carrot kernels with green and red peppers. It is called Five-Colored Ding. It is sweet, spicy, salty and fragrant, and goes very well with rice.
Plus a chicken bone and mushroom soup.
Of course, Taotao did not forget to fry two duck eggs, and told the sisters-in-law who delivered the meal the whole story.
After hearing this, the sisters-in-law were naturally willing to help smooth over the lie.
As a result, when the daughters-in-law went to deliver the food that day, it caused another sensation.
The eggplant for the main dish is first boiled in salt water, allowed to cool, then dipped in flour paste and fried in a frying pan. Finally, the shredded chicken and fried eggplant are stewed together. Fried foods are already strong and delicious, and when mixed with chicken...even though the amount of chicken is small, it is still incredibly delicious!
The whole village was excited!
In fact, yesterday and the day before yesterday, even those in the village who did not go to work heard that the production team’s food was very good. After eating the perilla duck yesterday, people’s wishes reached their peak.
So today almost everyone in the village came out...except for the elderly who were lying in bed unable to move, and the children under five or six years old.
In a village of more than 600 people, more than 570 people came for roll call in the morning!
Since they have signed up to eat, the village committee will provide meals and distribute work points, so the villagers have to work...
The villagers were excited to see that today’s food was so good - they really wished they could have the autumn harvest every day!
Later, when Taotao's family was having dinner, Tang Liren thought about it again and said with a smile: "At this rate, we can probably finish harvesting the millet in two days! Then we can harvest the corn field and complete this year's mission!"
Bai Zhenggan also laughed, "If our village had had such enthusiasm in the past, we could have reclaimed more wasteland and grown more food, so that our children and grandchildren could have more food to eat!"
The couple's eyes fell on Taotao, then they smiled at each other, and thought in unison: I didn't expect that everyone was attracted by the menu designed by Taotao, which led to such a strong cohesion and centripetal force!
Just like that, in the next few days, the villagers responded enthusiastically no matter what kind of labor they did in order to have a bite of the meals arranged by the village, as long as they heard that meals would be provided.
For a moment, the men and women in the village were smiling, and the young and old were laughing.
Every day before dawn, everyone rushed out to report to the village committee. When they met, they would greet each other with questions like "How many points did you work today?" or "I wonder what to eat for lunch?"
But there was also some bad news.
For example, Chen Juxiang, who was sent back to the Chen family by Bai Laosan and Bai Laosi, was said to have stayed in the Chen family for two or three days and then was hurriedly sent to the old widower in the next village. On the same day, the marriage certificate of Chen Juxiang and the old widower was prepared. The Chen family came over to give wedding candy, but they were chased away by the fourth brother...
This news caught the Bai family off guard.
Chen Juxiang is already sixty years old, how could she have married for the third time?
Later I heard that it was the old widower who was willing to pay a dowry of fifty yuan!
So, for fifty dollars and to prevent Chen Juxiang from having to eat free meals at home, the Chen family married Chen Juxiang off?
Everyone is simply
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