Good farming at the foot of Changbai Mountain

Chapter 13 Dragon Boat Festival
When it was almost time for dinner, Wei Shi came back from outside.Mrs. Chen looked at her, didn't say anything, but told everyone to wash their hands and eat.When the dinner was almost over, Mrs. Chen said, "The meal is almost over, wait a while before clearing the table, I have a few words to say."

Everyone put down their bowls and chopsticks and looked at Mrs. Chen.Zhixiang has to prepare for the exam these days, and often goes out to study articles with his classmates, but he is at home today.He looked at his mother a little strangely, as if he had never seen such a serious expression on his mother's face.

"Today let's talk about the second child's family. Yurong, you are only 27 years old this year, and the second child just left. Our family is not that rigid, and we can't let you be widowed by Yong Er at such a young age. I mean, In our village or nearby villages, I will find you another house. In this way, you will have a place to live for the rest of your life, otherwise it would be a pity for you to be young. Yurong, if you agree, I will leave tomorrow Go find a matchmaker and tell you about marriage first." Seeing Wei's behavior these days, Mrs. Chen is afraid that she will have something outside, which will ruin her reputation.It's better to say goodbye to her openly, and no one else can say anything.

When Mrs. Wei heard these words from Mrs. Chen, she was shocked, and quickly knelt down in front of Mrs. Chen and Xu Chengkuan, "Father, mother, I am the daughter-in-law of the Xu family, and I will be the daughter-in-law of the Xu family all my life. If I don't marry, I will marry you." And Wen Cheng and Wen Chang, they are still young and haven't grown up yet." As he spoke, he continued to kowtow to the two old people.

"Hey, these words of mine are definitely not to test you. I plan for you sincerely. You are still young, and life is long, and life alone is hard. Our family treats you like a girl, so I plan for you , If there is something good, you can marry, and the couple live together, that's the same thing. As for Wen Cheng and Wen Chang, we will raise them." Chen is still persuading the second daughter-in-law.

Xu Chengkuan never spoke. He has lived with Chen for so many years and knows Chen's temper.This matter must have been persuaded by Mrs. Chen because she felt that it was inappropriate.The rest of the people didn't open their mouths either, since there were old people around, it wasn't their turn.

Wei Shi still knelt on the ground and couldn't get up, "Mother, I don't marry, I am from the Xu family, and I will always be." Tears came down as she spoke.

Mrs. Chen sighed, "Get up, let's talk about this first, if one day you have someone you like, just tell me, the family will definitely let you marry like a girl."

Wei Shi just got up from the ground, wiped away his tears, and then stood there.

"Okay, let's clean up the table. The children must be tired after going up the mountain during the day. If you have nothing to do, go to bed early. You still have work tomorrow." Mrs. Chen also went to the ground to pick up the table, Mrs. Xue stopped him quickly, He led Jingya and Jinghanju to pack up the food.

When there were only the old couple left in the room, the old man looked at Mrs. Chen, "Did you see any signs? You just said that today."

"Hey, what's not going to happen, I just feel that she is a widow at a young age, and it's really pitiful. To be honest, this second daughter-in-law, although she is a bit lazy, she has treated Zhiyong well in recent years. Zhiyong It's pitiful to think about leaving her alone in an empty room without being at home all year round. This is why my eldest daughter-in-law and I have been letting her go all these years. I mean, if there is a suitable one, let her marry, don't It's too deceitful to force someone to be a widow." The old lady was laying out the bedding while talking to the old man. "what do you say?"

"Okay, you can talk about these things. Our family is not that old-fashioned. If we can find a good one, of course it is better than staying here. It is also Yonger who is not blessed, so I can't blame others." The old man sighed, Say no more.Seeing that Mrs. Chen had spread the quilt, she took off her clothes and got into the bed to lie down. "Go to sleep, I have to get up early to go up the mountain tomorrow, and the grass is only plucked and there is not even half of it." After saying that, he fell asleep.

Mrs. Chen was busy with these tasks at home every day, and she was not brisk, so she raised her head and blew out the oil lamp, and fell asleep.

Since Mrs. Chen finished speaking that night, Mrs. Wei has become more stable. She cooks at home, feeds the pigs, sews and mends, and doesn't go out much.Seeing this, Mrs. Chen didn't know what to say.

Wenhan and Wencheng went to school to study, leaving Jinghan, Wenxuan, Wenchang, and Yumei from the Lin family to pick monkey legs.Naturally, Mrs. Xue was worried, so she followed up the mountain, leaving Mrs. Chen and Mrs. Wei at home to watch the monkey legs dry.There is also a trick to drying the monkey's legs. You can't just dry them like this. If you dry them like that, they will be straight.It should be dried while kneading, kneading each monkey leg vigorously, and finally dry like a spiral.

At this time, the sun is already too hot to stay under the sun all the time.Mrs. Chen always gathers the monkey legs that have been exposed to the sun for a while, rubs them out in a shady place, and then takes them out to dry in the sun.The monkey legs need to be rubbed about three times, and then dried in the sun.

By noon, most of the monkeys' legs had dried up, and Mrs. Xue came back with the children.Mrs. Chen hurriedly went to boil the water to scald the vegetables, and when the vegetables were cooked, everyone was busy licking the monkey's legs.

"Mother, the Dragon Boat Festival is coming soon, should we buy some glutinous rice?" Mrs. Xue asked while working.

Mrs. Chen thought for a while, "Oh, it's already May, look at my brain, I can forget it quite cleanly. Okay, if you have time in the afternoon, go to the town to buy some glutinous rice and come back. It's the holiday, why not?" You have to make some zongzi, too."

"Sure, actually there are also grocery stores in our village, but they are more expensive than the ones in the town. Anyway, it's okay, I'll go there in the afternoon. The third and fourth children don't know if they will come back during the holidays?" Xue's hands I wasn't idle either, and a lot came out in a short while.

"Who knows? The third child and the others are far away, so they can come back. After all, they are in someone else's shop, not what he decides. The fourth child is close, but he is close to his mother-in-law, so he may go there Is it going to celebrate the festival? It doesn’t matter, whoever wants to come back will come back, and if he doesn’t come back, we don’t look forward to it. It’s like picking a fire to save it, and it’s even more uncomfortable to watch.” The old lady also thought about the smell, When a son becomes a relative, he is not just a son.Asking too much will only make things difficult for the son.

After lunch, Mrs. Xue went to the town to buy Jiangmi. Rice is not grown here, let alone Jiangmi.Mrs. Xue bought ten catties of glutinous rice, which cost seventy Wen, and then bought a bag of candied dates. The total of one hundred Wen was gone. "Oh, the price of things has increased again." Xue thought to herself.

When I got home, I found a big basin to soak the rice. The glutinous rice alone was not enough to eat. Xue found out the rhubarb rice and soaked another ten catties.Today is already the third day of May. Tomorrow, we will make zongzi, cook them in the evening, and we will be able to eat them in the morning of the Dragon Boat Festival.

On the fourth day of May, Mrs. Xue did not follow her up the mountain, but stayed at home to make zongzi.A total of [-] catties of rice, Xue Shi, Chen Shi, Wei Shi, and Hui Xin wrapped it together, and Jing Ya was also learning from the side, but it didn't take long to wrap it all up.

On the morning of the fifth day, before dawn, Mrs. Xue called Wen Han and the others up.After the children got dressed, they ran to the river to wash their faces, and then ran to the south of the mountain.He pedaled to a small hill in one breath and sat there waiting for the sunrise.After a while, the orange-red sun slowly rose.

The children all cheered, "The sun is coming out, the sun is coming out."

After watching the sunrise, everyone went down the mountain, picked some mugwort by the river, and stuck them on the gate of their own houses.After entering the house, Mrs. Chen had already fished out all the zongzi and a large bowl of eggs. "Come and eat zongzi and eggs. This is the meal this morning, just sit down and eat."

The children all took two eggs, of course they couldn't eat them right now, they had to take them out and compete with others for the hardest eggs.That is, two people hold boiled eggs and touch each other hard to see who breaks first.This is the children's favorite game, and eggs are only available for them to play during the Dragon Boat Festival.

"Today is the Dragon Boat Festival, you little ones, don't go up the mountain, it's enough for you to be tired." Looking at these grandchildren, Mrs. Chen was indescribably happy.

"Grandma, the school is on holiday today. Wencheng and I have discussed it. We have to go up the mountain today. There are not a few good days in total. After a few days, the monkey's legs will grow old. If you can grab some, get some. It's money." Wen Han took a zongzi and was peeling the skin there.

"Okay, then you can do whatever you want, I'm just afraid that you will be tired. It would be good to make more money." Mrs. Chen also sat down to eat rice dumplings.

After eating, Wen Han took his brother and sister up the mountain together.

The monkey legs would grow old after a few times of harvesting. Jing Han and the others went up to the mountains for a total of ten trips, but they couldn't get them. In total, there should be about forty catties of dry monkey legs.There are already a lot of these, and you must know that that thing really does not weigh the scale.The dried monkey legs are divided into two bags, the old ones and the old ones should be separated and cannot be put together.

Vendors who collect dried vegetables have come to the village for a long time, and each catty of dried monkey legs is paid 32 yuan per catty, which is really a good price.Mrs. Chen asked Wenchang to bring the hawker back, and then sold all the monkey legs at home.Forty catties of dried vegetables were sold for a total of more than 300 Wen.

Jinghan and the others made slightly more, selling about 600 Wencheng, while Wen Cheng and the others sold less, selling more than [-] Wen.The children were very happy to see the money.Xue found a box and asked Wen Han to put all the money in it.Wenhan put the money in the box and handed it to Jingya for safekeeping. "Big sister, you are at home all day long, and you are careful. You can take care of this. Jinghan is so hairy and unsteady."

(End of this chapter)