Yoshida Mii

Chapter 76
"What?" Lao Cheng's eyes widened, "Why doesn't this count?" Can you lick back the spit?Knowing that Mrs. Song is thick-skinned, I didn't expect to be so thick-skinned!
Dong Bao sighed, "My mother is thin-skinned, so my grandma insisted on asking my mother to take me back. My aunt is not from our village, so it's hard to say something for us. The separation document Everything in black and white has passed the yamen, so it must not be counted! My second uncle said that my grandma misses me and my mother. Although the family is separated, we can still live together. He must want my mother to go home and continue to do business. , they take the money, and my mother can still help my grandma with work in the afternoon... hey, let’s not talk about it.”

As he spoke, Dong Bao took out a knife from the pick, cut a square piece of tofu and gave it to Lao Cheng.

"Old Uncle Cheng, I was just talking about these trivial things with you, and I forgot to give you this. Go home and cook, it's delicious!" Dong Bao laughed.

"Oh, this is impossible!" Lao Cheng hastily declined.

Dong Bao smiled and said: "It's not worth anything. If Uncle Cheng tastes it and thinks it's delicious, tell others more, so that they can buy more of our tofu and take care of our business. My mother and I are still in debt. Lie!"

Old Uncle Cheng patted his chest with pride, "No problem! I'll ask Guizi to carry the beans later." He grabbed a handful of sorghum candies from the shelf and stuffed them into Dongbao's hands.

The three of them went back with their burdens. Mrs. Li hesitated a few times on the way, but she still couldn't help saying to Dong Bao: "Bao'er, why are you telling your uncle Cheng about your milk? Lao Cheng is a... talkative In the future... don't talk about your grandma." She is a kind and honest person, and she can't accept gossip about her elders behind her back. Even if she is dissatisfied with her elders, she will just complain at home and will never get it. Talk to outsiders.

"Why can't you say it! Dong Bao is right!" Li Hongqin was upset, "How many times have I told you, but you just don't listen! Why doesn't her grandma bully others, but you? Isn't it because you are filial and sensible, she Just bully you, a filial and sensible person, with all your might! As for what she did, she would poke her back even if she didn't tell her face to face!"

Mrs. Li silently listened to the elder sister's reprimand, looked back at the direction of Song Yang's grave at the north end of the village, and sighed.

"Mother, don't keep trying to hide it for my mother. My grandma only has my third uncle and the eldest and the second in her heart. Even if you treat her well, she will not accept your favor. If you If you are weak, she will force you to take me back, and we will be separated for nothing. You have to think about it for me!" Dong Bao said, Li Shi has done everything he can to Song Yang, even though Song Yang has never been kind to Song Yang. She is better off, Li Shi still tries her best to protect and respect Song Yang's mother, it has nothing to do with the love between husband and wife, but Li Shi, as a traditional virtuous woman, makes moral demands on herself.

Dong Bao took a liking to Lao Cheng's talkativeness, and she gave Lao Cheng a piece of tofu as "remuneration". Lao Cheng has been in business for so many years, how can such a fine person not know what he means?
There are many idle people gathered in the grocery store, and they can talk about the big and small things in the village. Dongbao believes that Lao Cheng will be very interesting and talk about what should be chattered, and what should be guessed.When the whole village despises the Song family and scoffs at the mention of the Song family, Huang can ignore her own reputation, but she can't ignore Song Bai's reputation. The whole family is bound together, mother is not a thing, son How could it be any better?At least, the Huang family will be more restrained.

Li recalled that before the family split, she was anxious and worried every day, fearing that her only daughter would be sold. Those days were like suffering in hell. She was not afraid of hardship or tiredness, but she couldn't bear the separation of flesh and blood, life and death.Think about the days when everything is up to you now. In comparison, it’s like going to heaven now, and drinking saliva feels sweet.

"Okay, it's all up to you!" Li Shi smiled and sighed, she was thinking about it, because of Dong Bao, she couldn't follow her mother-in-law's wishes. Well, anyway, Dongbao won't let her, a mother, suffer.

As soon as the three of them arrived at the door, the door of the house opened. Zhang Xiuyu stood at the door and smiled and said, "Mother, Auntie, why are you coming back now? I'm so anxious. If it wasn't for Dong Bao who kept telling me not to open the door Get out, I'm going to find you!"

Li Hongqin laughed, "I made a lot of bean curd today, so I sold it for a while!"

Dong Bao smiled and raised the pork belly in his hand, "Sister Xiuyu, look what this is, let's have meat today!"

The situation of Zhang Xiuyu's family is better than that of Dongbao's, but he has no income and has to support Zhang Qian's education. He lives a frugal life and rarely eats meat.Seeing that Dongbao bought meat, Zhang Xiuyu was also very happy.

Not long after returning home, Quanzi and Shuanzi knocked on the door, and each of them brought in half a basket of small fish and shrimp, and the bamboo basket was still dripping with water.

"Sister Dongbao, we have caught the little fish and shrimp you wanted!" Quanzi shouted.

Dong Bao came out of the kitchen, looked at the hair of the two of them first, and saw that it was dry, so he felt relieved. It seemed that the two boys were a little skinny, but they were obedient and did not go to the river to play in the water.

The small fish and shrimps in the basket were still fresh, tumbling non-stop, and the silver fish scales glistened in the sun.

"Okay, let me here first." Dong Bao smiled, weighed the basket, counted out two coins, and handed them to Quanzi and Shuanzi with a smile, "Here's the wages for you two, take it!"

In this era, there are pepper, star anise, cinnamon and other spices, but there is no chili, MSG, chicken essence, and shrimp skin.For seasoning, there is almost nothing else but the original scallion ginger garlic soy sauce and vinegar.If you want to get "fresh", you have to find another way. Dongbao thinks that he doesn't have the ability to synthesize sodium glutamate, so he can only work hard on this small fish and shrimp.

Sprinkle some salt on the small fish and shrimps, dry them, chop them into pieces, and sprinkle them on the tofu curd.

The two little boys looked at each other, and they were no longer polite to Dong Bao. They took the money with a smile, and thanked Dong Bao in unison: "Thank you Dong Bao!"

Dong Bao waved his hand, "Quanzi, go back and tell Uncle Lin and Auntie that you and Brother Dashi will have dinner at our house at noon, and you, Shuanzi, will come too."

The relationship between Lin's family and theirs got closer and closer, and Quanzi responded immediately: "Okay!" Shuanzi also hurriedly agreed, the food cooked by Dongbao was delicious, and his father often envied him that he could eat at Dongbao's house , good luck.

The pork belly bought in the town in the morning is more fat and less thin. Dong Bao sliced ​​it into thin slices and fried it in a hot cauldron without completely squeezing out the fat. Then put the cut tofu in it. With a quick stir fry, the tofu quickly absorbed the oil in the pot, exuding a tempting aroma that floated far away.Greedy Xiao Hei chirped at Dong Bao's feet, spinning in circles, making Dong Bao laugh angrily, and gently pushed Xiao He out of the stove with his feet.

When the heat was almost up, Dongbao poured two scoops of water into the pot, stirred it a few times, put the chopped yellow cabbage in, and stewed it over low heat.

Mrs. Li kneaded sorghum flour and corn flour, and pasted pancakes on the edge of the pot.

When Lin Shi came over, he carried a large bundle of firewood, and Li was moved and felt sorry for seeing it, "My child, why are you so polite, the firewood delivered yesterday has not been burned yet!"

"It's fine for me to be idle at home. It doesn't take much effort to chop this firewood." Lin Shi smiled. In Lin Shi's eyes, a handful of firewood is not a help. Now his family and Dongbao's family can't do anything. Don't care about who helps whom, Dongbao's bean dregs are all given to their family, this is a good thing to feed pigs, and their family saves a lot of money after a year, not to mention Quanzi, a snack who always eats Dongbao's for nothing something.

"Sister Dongbao, what are you doing? I can smell the aroma from a long way from your door!" Quanzi yelled, really wanting to lift the lid of the pot to see what delicious things are stewed in the pot.

"It's just tofu, but it's stewed. I heard from my aunt that your house is all fried?" Dong Bao laughed.

Quanzi nodded, his face was fleshy. The Lin family has always spoiled him and never wronged him when eating. Recalling the delicious food, Quanzi almost drooled, "Tofu tastes delicious when fried."

During the meal, Dong Bao put all the stewed tofu dishes into a bowl and brought them to the dining table. First, he took a piece of meat for Li Shi and Li Hongqin, "Mother, auntie, you eat meat!"

Li's eyes turned red immediately, she smiled, and gave some meat to Lin Shi's children, "Everyone eat!" When she was begging for food under the Huang family of the Song family, she never dreamed that she would earn money by herself. The day when money buys meat, you can rest assured to eat meat.

When the meal was over, Uncle Cheng's son, Guizi, brought beans.

Dong Bao told Lin Shi that he wanted to learn to write, and that he would learn to keep accounts in the future. Lin Shi nodded after hearing this, and went home and brought all the books he had used in the private school as Dong Bao's enlightenment textbooks.

With a teacher, it would be too wasteful to teach her one.Dong Bao recruited Zhang Xiuyu, Quan Zi and Shuan Zi to be Lin Shi's students together.Dong Bao and Zhang Xiuyu will not take the imperial examination, the purpose is only to recognize a few more characters, so that it will be convenient to do business in the future, so Lin Shi only chose the "Three Character Classic" to teach the above characters. I picked a twig and practiced writing on the ground in the yard. When I was proficient in drawing and drawing, Lin Shi taught me the next character.

For Dongbao, she has the basis of her previous life, and a ten-year-old child has a good memory. Learning traditional characters is not very difficult. She learns it faster than Quanzi and Zhang Xiuyu.

Several children were happily learning characters at Dongbao's house, and the meeting in the old family's grocery store gradually became lively.This is not the busy season for farming, and people in the village like to gather in the shop to chat after eating.

"Uncle Cheng, is there anything important going on in our village recently?" A man squatted on the ground and asked.

Lao Cheng smiled and said: "I heard something recently, I don't know if you know it, the old lady of Song Xiucai's family ran to Mrs. Xiucai's home at noon yesterday, and asked Mrs. Xiucai to bring Dong Bao back to Song's house!"

(End of this chapter)