Smashed Cucumber

When Song Shixia appeared, Song's father and mother breathed a sigh of relief.

When he saw Song Shixia, Yao's father softened his attitude.

"I must savor the tea you brewed yourself."

Song Shixia heard Uncle Yao deliberately using these words to intimidate her parents when she was outside the door. Although she understood that Uncle Yao was doing this for Sister Yao Xue's life, her parents were honest farmers and had never seen such a domineering in-law.

She signaled to her parents to stay calm.

"Uncle, my parents are farmers, you have to speak in a more colloquial way."

Father Yao took a sip of tea and squinted his eyes with great enjoyment.

"Don't worry, we still have to stay for a few more days, let's talk slowly."

Song's mother didn't know what to do. Did this mean it would work or not?

"Let me take you to the yard. I have a lot of vegetables planted there."

In summer, vegetables grow fast. The cucumbers in the yard had not been picked for several days and had lost their freshness, so they were all picked and thrown into baskets to feed the pigs. However, the tomatoes were full of fruits.

“This vegetable patch is really nice.”

"Really? The vegetables in my house are definitely the best, but unfortunately we can't produce them in large quantities, so we can only feed the pigs with what we can't finish eating."

Song's mother was in the house discussing with her husband what her in-laws had just said, and the more they thought about it, the more they felt something was wrong.

Song's father sighed: "My father-in-law looks more majestic than our mayor."

"Who said it wasn't? The tone of his voice just now gave me a fright. Are all businessmen so fierce?"

While the adults were discussing the matter, the two protagonists, Song Qiu Sheng and Yao Xue, were rushed to the second floor. They had no idea what was going on downstairs.

Yao Xue lay at the door and listened for a while.

"Why is there no sound?"

Song Qiu Sheng had sharper ears. He pressed his body against the door screen and concentrated his breath, but still there was no sound.

"I don't know."

This is strange, why is it so quiet downstairs?

"Uncle Yao, I know you are worried about Sister Yao Xue's future, but please rest assured, my brother is a very responsible man. Sister Yao Xue will definitely not suffer with him if she marries him. My brother has five yuan on him and is willing to spend four and a half yuan on Sister Yao Xue. I am not speaking well of him. If you don't believe me, go to the village and ask our fellow villagers. Everyone praises him."

Father Yao paced with his hands behind his back.

"Xiao Song, I only have one precious daughter, Yao Xue. If it wasn't someone she chose, I would definitely not agree to her marrying down. Since ancient times, daughters who marry down have to be bullied by their husbands. Don't blame your uncle for speaking rudely to your parents. I'm also a parent and hope you can understand."

Song Shixia shook her head lightly.

"I'm not here to lobby. I just hope you can do more research and find out that my brother is a trustworthy man. As for the discussion between the two parents, I will not interfere. I just ask you to understand that they are old and not scare them."

Father Yao laughed happily and said,

"The show of power is over. I promise you that we can discuss things in a friendly manner later."

Song Shixia was helpless. Her parents had been frightened before, and even after that, even if they sat together to talk about things calmly, they would still be afraid of Uncle Yao.

Father Yao took out a cucumber from the basket, wiped it, took a bite, and his eyes lit up instantly.

"What if you pile cucumbers in the yard to dry them?"

Song Shixia was hesitant to speak. Should she tell Uncle Yao that the cucumbers in the basket were to be chopped up and fed to the pigs?

She said tactfully, "These cucumbers were picked because we couldn't finish them. We might make them into pickled cucumbers."

Father Yao ate a cucumber in big bites, then picked up another one, wiped it and ate it.

"I've eaten so many cucumbers, but I've never eaten one that's this crisp and juicy. It would be a waste to make such fresh cucumbers into pickled cucumbers. Let's make some smashed cucumbers."

"We're having cucumber shoots today, and it's time for dinner, let's go and take a seat."

Song Qiu Sheng and Yao Xue didn't have to wait long before they were notified to go downstairs for dinner. They had no idea what stage the adults had discussed.

It's no exaggeration to say that the dishes on today's table are a full banquet of Manchus and Hans. There are all kinds of creatures flying in the sky, swimming in the river, and running on the ground.

The pigeon soup tastes delicious. After drinking the first bowl, Mr. Yao wants a second bowl.

There were two pigeons in the family, and Song's mother gave one to Yao's father and Yao Xue.

Father Yao had the habit of drinking soup before meals. After drinking the soup, he patted his stomach.

"It's Xiao Song who cooks, right?"

Song Shixia replied with a smile,

"Yes, my mother has never cooked such a big meal, so I did it."

Father Yao picked up his chopsticks.

"I'm grateful to you again today. Your cooking skills are better than my chef's."

At the dinner table, Song Shixia and Yao's father were chatting back and forth, while the others were concentrating on eating.

Song Qiu Sheng and Yao Xue wanted to speak up but were too embarrassed to do so, so they ate in silence and waited for the adults to bring up the topic.

When Father Yao saw the cucumber, he was overjoyed and reached out his chopsticks.

He mentioned casually,

"The cucumbers in the field are good, why do you want to pick them and make pickled cucumbers?"

Song's mother looked up after realizing what had happened.

"Pickled cucumbers? No, you mean the cucumbers in the basket in the yard? They're for pigs. We can't even eat them all at home."

Song Shixia had no time to stop him, and Father Yao laughed awkwardly twice.

"Is it so good to feed pigs in the countryside? I thought pigs were fed pig grass."

When Yao Xue saw her father's embarrassed expression, she knew that he must have eaten the cucumbers that were being fed to pigs.

"Dad, you must try Qiu Sheng's pork. It tastes completely different from the pork we buy. Didn't a friend of yours hunt wild boars in the mountains? The pigs raised by Qiu Sheng's family are even better than wild boars. It's better not to eat wild game. Who knows if wild boars have ever eaten humans?"

Father Yao glared at his daughter.

"How can a wild boar eat people? It just scares people every day."

Yao Xue quickly put a portion of fried pork with garlic sprouts into her father's bowl.

She was full of flattery,

"Try it."

Qiu Sheng's family didn't kill pigs, so she guessed that the bacon was the pork that Qiu Sheng smoked during the Chinese New Year.

Yao's father didn't care much. No matter how delicious the bacon was, it tasted salty and bitter, and he didn't like it.

The edible bacon was chewy and the smoked fat and shiny black skin were not only not salty or bitter but delicious. He rarely used the word delicious to describe smoked bacon, as he always looked down on this kind of food that only poor people eat.

But today he was slapped in the face. The chewy bacon and the garlic sprouts together had an alluring aroma. He took only one bite and couldn't move his chopsticks away.

Yao Xue proudly showed off to her father.

"How's it going? Does smoked bacon taste better than the wild boar you've had?"

Father Yao turned a deaf ear to what was happening outside the window. He just nodded and picked up food with his chopsticks.

Yao Xuesi didn't think her father's behavior was embarrassing at all, instead she felt relieved. As long as it could make Qiu Sheng's family feel better, the old man could be embarrassed. After all, he was old and his face was not that important.

Song Shixia pushed the plate of candied tomatoes.

"Uncle, try this. The syrupy tomatoes will make you feel less greasy."

Father Yao didn't even raise his head.

"It's a pity that you're not a chef, otherwise I would spend a lot of money to invite you back. It would be a real pleasure to eat with you every day."

Yao Xue found it unbelievable to hear these words coming from her father's mouth.

The old man often attends social events and dinners, and what he hates most is big meals, because it means endless wine. Tasting wine at home is different from socializing at the dinner table. Even the old man has a headache when being invited to dinner.

The chef at home basically cooks the lightest dishes possible. After all, once the old man goes out, the table is filled with delicacies from land and sea.

Song Shixia smiled and changed the subject, "Most of the vegetables are grown at home, I hope you don't mind throwing them away."

After having a good meal and drinking, Song Qiu Sheng and Yao Xue cleaned the table skillfully. Song Shixia had cooked so he could just rest and didn't need to help.

Father Yao patted his stomach and said, "This meal at your house has conquered my stomach. Let's talk about family matters instead of other things."

Yao Xue brought a plate of small tomatoes and picked the few scattered fruits that could be seen from the fruit trees in the yard, washed them, and brought them to the table.

Probably because the fruit tree had been planted in a space before, it should have taken another year to produce fruit after being moved out. However, perhaps with good luck, a few fruits would appear from time to time. Although the whole tree was not covered with fruits, it still allowed the family to have an extra meal occasionally.

Song's mother felt as if she was facing a powerful enemy. This time she pricked up her ears and listened carefully, and she was able to understand what her in-laws meant.

However, Yao's father was conquered. Except for being not very satisfied with Song Qiu Sheng as his son-in-law, he was very satisfied with the entire Song family.

He felt a little regretful. It would have been better if Song Shixia was a boy. Song Qiu Sheng was defeated by Lao Wang's little trick. He was not very confident in Song Qiu Sheng's ability.

Yao Xue hurried into the house, took away the fruits, and put them on a platter.

Because she suddenly remembered that her father only ate peeled fruit at home, and she couldn't ask Qiu Sheng's parents to peel apples for him. It would be better to make a platter so that everyone could taste it.

Sure enough, Yao's father, who had ignored the fruit plate at first, saw the fruit platter and then slowly picked up a bamboo stick and picked a grape.

"I only saw your grape racks, but no fruit?"

Song's mother explained: "The fruit trees in our home were moved back in the spring. This year was a pleasant surprise. There weren't many fruits. We only picked three bunches in total."

Song Shixia was a little surprised. She thought it was just an apple tree, but unexpectedly all the transplanted fruit trees at home bore fruit. Although not much, it could provide the home with more nutritional supplements.

Father Yao forked a piece of watermelon.

"Logically speaking, your family should be good at growing vegetables and fruits, so why did you think of opening a farm?"

When talking about this, Song's mother's face was filled with a helpless yet sweet smile.

"There's nothing we can do. Vegetables sold in the city aren't worth much. Our village will focus on growing fruit trees, and Qiu Sheng will help everyone sell vegetables."

"Last year, my family raised pigs, chickens and ducks. People who bought the pork said that it tasted really good. Lao Song and I never thought about opening a farm. We are farmers and we can't take care of a bunch of animals. Qiu Sheng and Xia Xia kept persuading us to just open a farm. At worst, we can keep the meat for ourselves."

"Later I found that raising pigs is good. All the leftover vegetables can be fed to the pigs. The pigs in my pigpen have only been fed for half a year, but they are bigger than other people's pigs that have been raised for a year."

Father Yao felt sad when he thought about the cucumbers he had eaten. All the leftover vegetables were fed to pigs. How could the villagers be more extravagant than him?

He praised it with great pain.

"That's good. Life is just passing by slowly like this."

I had a mild poisoning from eating mushrooms a few days ago, with diarrhea, dizziness and headache. You really shouldn't eat random mushrooms. My relative picked them from the mountain, and I ate them thinking she had experience.