Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

Grandma's room is very warm.

But it's dark.

Yu Qiutang remembered hearing Yu Qiyuan say that his grandmother was becoming more and more afraid of seeing light, so she asked to cover all the windows in her room with brown paper so that no light could be seen even in broad daylight.

After Yu Qiutang went in, he took a long time to adjust before he saw his grandmother lying on her side with her back to the door. After he went in, he didn't know if his grandmother heard him or not, but she didn't react at all.

He felt the atmosphere was a bit depressing as he stood at the door. He was ready to turn around and leave several times, but in the end he stepped over the threshold and went inside.

He walked around to the front, struck a match, and lit the kerosene lamp on the railing.

Grandma was woken up. In the dim light, she opened her cloudy eyes and stared at him. It took her a long time to recognize him.

"It's you, Boss."

Yu Qiutang sat on the edge of the kang helplessly and said with a smile: "Grandma, it's me, Tangtang."

"dignified?"

Grandma raised her head half an inch with great effort, stared at Yu Qiutang for a while, then put it back down and said to him, "Why are you here?"

Then he asked, "Oh, why haven't you come recently?"

Yu Qiutang didn't know which of these two questions to answer first. He thought for a moment and said with a smile, "I've been too busy lately. The Chinese New Year is coming soon, and I'm still building a new house."

"It's almost the New Year."

Grandma echoed, "The fourth son has lived a long life. After this year, he will be forty-five."

Yu Qiutang was stunned and didn't know what to say.

My fourth uncle’s death is still being kept a secret from my grandmother.

At that time, everyone discussed that given grandma's health, if she knew that fourth uncle had passed away, there might be big problems.

"You are eighteen years old, right?"

"Well, grandma, I'm eighteen."

"It happened so fast," Grandma sighed. "I remember when Zijuan gave birth to you, you were so black. I asked your father at that time, you are so fair, how could you give birth to such a black boy."

At this point, grandma suddenly smiled and said, "If it weren't for the fact that your features are exactly like your father's, I would have almost thought that you were not your father's biological son."

Yu Qiutang had actually heard similar rumors before.

Including when he was a child, people often called him "Baogeda", which means that he was not his father's biological child.

Everyone else in the family has fair skin, including his three sisters and Qiushi, but he is the only one with dark skin.

It's like a white-haired boy giving birth to a spotted cat. It's really hard to explain.

It was not until he grew up that the rumors were proven to be false as he looked very similar to his father except for his dark skin.

Of course, this rumor also affected his temperament. For a long time, he felt that the reason his father disliked him was because he made his mother sick and because he was too dark.

"How is your mother lately? She hasn't come to see me."

Grandma asked him again.

Yu Qiutang was stunned, then looked at his grandmother in shock. Why did she suddenly say that? Did she even forget that his mother had passed away?
"Forget it. If you're busy, don't come. I'm an old woman and I don't want to think about anything right now. I'm just waiting to take my last breath. It's useless for you to keep coming to see me."

Yu Qiutang still couldn't respond.

He didn't expect grandma's illness to be so serious.

I can’t even be sure whether my grandmother was like this in her previous life.

Come to think of it, he really didn't care about many things in his previous life. He couldn't even live a good life, let alone worry about other things.

Grandma was equivalent to other people in her previous life.

But after my grandmother passed away, many things from my childhood gradually surfaced in my mind, and I felt a little sad again.

Grandma was not as close to him as grandma, but she was still grandma after all, and she also showed some concern for him.

Family affection is like quantum entanglement. It seems to leave no trace, but it can always touch people's hearts at certain moments.

"Grandma, you have to take good care of yourself. You will be better in the spring. Don't think too much."

"I'm afraid I won't make it through this New Year. The King of Hell wants a quota by the end of the year, and I've been targeted."

"do not talk like that."

"I can't get through."

Grandma is still holding on, probably because of the common perception that the elderly are most likely to die at the end of the year. Once many elderly people get through the New Year, it means they have passed the test and can continue to live for a while.

He chatted with his grandmother for a while, and many of the things he said were incomprehensible to her.

His grandmother spoke a sentence, and he finally managed to follow her rhythm and reply, but his grandmother's next sentence shifted to a different angle, which almost made him lose his voice.

At first I always had to smile helplessly, but later I got used to it.

Anyway, the burden is not what to say to grandma, but talking to grandma.

With her behavior, I'm afraid everyone in my uncle's family must be annoyed.

It's okay to chat with her occasionally, but no one can stand listening to her decadent nagging all the time.

Therefore, when Yu Qiutang left, he expressed his gratitude to his uncle and aunt, Qiuyuan and Chunzhu, who had seen him off, for their hard work.

Gao Meilan said self-deprecatingly that there was nothing they could do about this kind of thing. They just had to endure it. They couldn't just dislike the old lady for being nagging and carry her out and throw her on the street.

Yu Qiu Shui just smiled along.

He leaves his mother at home while he is busy making money and doing things, so he still has to rely on his wife for daily care, and she is the only one who suffers.

Caring for the elderly is not an earth-shattering matter, but it requires years of persistence. There will be no filial sons by the bedside of a patient for a long time. It is a tiring job.

How could Yu Qiutang not understand these, but he could only pretend not to understand and left with a laugh.

After leaving my third uncle's house, I went back to my father's place.

When he returned, his father was not at home, so he didn't say anything more. He just handed the meat to Chen Meidi and left.

He didn't expect Chen Meidi's thanks, nor was he too lazy to accept her half-hearted thanks.

This is just a tribute to my father.
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Fried fruits start to be made on the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month.

This is also the day when the people in Rongcheng use the most oil every year.

On this day, people will use turmeric, red yeast rice, and some special wild grass juice to add them to the dough to make it into colorful dough.

Then use it to pinch into various small things, including butterflies, bees, various insects, birds, mice, chickens, ducks, geese, flowers, fruits, etc.

Anyway, there are all kinds of things. As long as you can see and think of it, people will make it.

At this time, all the rural women were very clever and skillful.

Each little thing is pinched to be lifelike and vivid, with a very realistic shape. It tastes crispy, sweet and very delicious.

In addition to this kind of "fried fruit", you also have to fry fried dough twists, fried cakes, and fried cakes separately.

People here like to eat sour and spicy food, for example, tofu pudding has a sour and spicy taste.

But both fried dough twist and fried pancake are sweet.

The fried dough twist here became very famous and received wide acclaim in later generations.

Fried cakes are filled with brown sugar or honey and are very suitable for the elderly.

These fried things are not only eaten during the Chinese New Year, but also offered to ancestors. They must be brought along when visiting relatives during the first month of the lunar year.

If a woman doesn't cook well or doesn't cook at all, it will be shameful and she will be laughed at for the whole year.

Just as later generations would judge a man's ability by how much money he makes, this era judges a woman's qualification by how well she cooks. When frying something, a small incident occurred.

Because the smell in the kitchen was so fragrant, the whole yard was filled with the aroma. Although the adults didn't want children to disturb the kitchen, Xiaodong was young and still ran over and lifted the door curtain.

As a result, the oil in the pot was affected by the cold air and boiled instantly, scalding Yu Chunxing's wrist and causing several large blisters.

Xiaodong was so scared that he started crying.

Yu Chunxing did not blame the child, but just smeared batter on it and comforted the child.

She has such a good character. No matter what hardships she endures, she will never blame others.

But since her wrist was burned, the follow-up work mainly depends on her third sister.

But the third sister's level was obviously not as good as the eldest sister's, so the eldest sister had to stand by and guide her step by step.

People would also joke that one should be good at preparing tea and meals so that one will not be looked down upon by the in-laws after getting married.

The third sister's face turned red with shame, and Yu Qiutang thought about Mi Wenzhong and the third sister. Ever since Mi Wenzhong finished working on the house and went back, they had very few opportunities to contact each other.

If we just ignore it, the small flame that was ignited before may slowly go out.

He thought that after the New Year was over and he and his wife got married, he would take care of this matter.

It's best to strike while the iron is hot and get things settled.

Nowadays, many couples get married without knowing much about each other. They have met once at most, and eventually they live a good life together.

They have been together for so long, so there shouldn't be any problems.
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The twenty-seventh day is the last gathering before the New Year.

That day Yu Qiutang went to the market in person.

Before, other people who went to the market only bought necessities because they were reluctant to spend money and didn’t have much money.

And his going to the market was the icing on the cake.

For example, I bought some firecrackers and fireworks for the children, as well as big red lanterns to make at home, as well as red paper and writing brushes and ink for couplets.

Anyway, I bought some of the things I could think of.

Then I bought a lot of various melon seeds, peanuts, walnuts, fruit candies, etc.

When I was a child, there was almost no food at home during the New Year. There were only a few walnuts and peanuts, and my mother would divide them up and give each of my siblings a small pile.

I never get enough of it every time.

Later, when he grew up, he gradually had some money, which at least made the New Year atmosphere more grand, but he could no longer feel the happiness of his childhood.

So he deliberately bought a lot of things so that the children could eat and play to their heart's content.

Different ages have different happiness.

Those words like you will do something after you grow up are just empty promises. People can grow up, money can become more, but the happy years are gone and can never come back.

When he bought it, he naturally did not forget to leave a copy for Yu Qiushi.

All in all, Yu Qiushi is his only biological brother, just like Xiaowei's father is his only biological brother.

Whenever he thought about the fact that Yu Qiushi died in there, he couldn't help but feel a sense of responsibility.

Guide him to the best of your ability so that he doesn't go too far astray.

After really observing carefully, he discovered that his younger brother was not the bad guy he originally thought.

There is still room for rescue.

As the saying goes, what goes up must come down. He is willing to set a good example for his younger brother through his own behavior.

Let him know that life doesn't have to be narrow, and that being an upright, honest and kind person can also lead to success.

There are so many bad people in the world, and going with the flow is not a skill.

Being able to go against the current and be a moral person is truly cool.

He took time out to find Wu Meifen and ask if anyone he knew wanted to transfer a store, and that the location didn't have to be too close to the center of the street, so that he could help Yu Qiujiang buy it.

Finally, we roughly determined a few locations and asked Wu Meifen to help us ask.

Of course, these positions must have long-term investment value.

Even if the house is demolished later, new resettlement expenses will be paid at that time.

In this way, Yu Qiujiang will have a broader foundation, and relying on his superb skills, he can at least make a living for a while.
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On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, steamed buns are served in a pot.

On this day, the final preparation stage for the Chinese New Year begins: steaming steamed buns.

Rongcheng is located in the northwest, and people's staple food is pasta, namely noodles and steamed buns.

I usually eat noodles in the afternoon and steamed buns in the morning.

Just like people in the south like to eat rice for every meal.

In later generations, due to cultural exchanges, many young people traveled back and forth between the north and the south, gradually filling the gap in food culture between the north and the south. Southerners began to eat steamed buns and noodles, while northerners began to eat rice.

But at this time, people in the northwest ate very little rice.

The main reason is still the impact of crop planting.

There are only a few places in the northwest with water, and most areas are very dry, so naturally they need to grow drought-resistant crops such as wheat and oats, and not rice.

It is possible to grow upland rice, but because the temperature here is distinct throughout the four seasons and the crop growth cycle is very long, it cannot be grown twice a year. Therefore, even if upland rice is grown, the yield will be relatively low.

That is, it is only found in some rivers and lakes.

For example, the county where my second sister lives is located in Sichuan, so the dry rice in that county is quite famous, but the yield is very low and the price is very expensive, so most people cannot afford it.

Another reason why people in Northwest China don’t eat rice is that there are few vegetables here.

As we all know, eating rice requires vegetables.

But unlike the south where the temperature is high and different vegetables can be eaten all year round, in the northwest, no vegetables can grow in the fields for at least half a year.

Without vegetables and lack of oil, eating rice is quite torturous.

It’s better to eat steamed buns, which are also delicious when eaten with pickles.

It would be quite miserable if you eat rice with pickles.

After thousands of years of development, the people of Rongcheng have accumulated various cultures for eating steamed buns.

The Chinese New Year is undoubtedly the best time to showcase culture.

So on this day, women with great skills would make all kinds of steamed buns, with all kinds of patterns, including those of animals, plants, colors, yellow and white. In short, there were all kinds of steamed buns.

But most of these fancy things are for offerings.

What we actually eat at home are still basic steamed buns and dumplings.

Of course, steamed buns have to be steamed very carefully. During Chinese New Year, there may be guests coming to visit and have dinner. If the steamed buns are steamed green, black, or cracked, they cannot be served out at all.

As for buns, you need to be very careful.

There are two types of buns: vegetable buns and sugar buns. Meat buns are basically not included, mainly because they do not contain meat.

Most of the dishes are radishes and cabbages, with tofu and vermicelli at most. Because the seasonings here are rich, they taste quite delicious.

Sugar buns are made with brown sugar.

The filling is made by mixing flour with sugar.

The most feared thing about sugar buns is that the brown sugar is not good, because it will be hard after steaming. However, the good brown sugar makes the buns very soft, and the inside is full of sugar juice when you bite it open. It is the favorite food of children. (End of this chapter)