Peasant woman

Chapter 41

Mrs. Li thought about it too, and heard Da Ya say that the output of this thing is quite high, even if it can't be sold at that time, it can be kept for the family to eat, so she didn't say anything more.

After Fugui helped plow the land, he took Heizi to the mountain with a bow and arrow on his back. Xu Cao and Mrs. Li were busy planting potatoes, while Daddy Xu went to tend the corn. Erya and Sanya hugged the hill and sat with Miaomiao Dig sweet roots on the side of the ridge to eat.

After finishing the one-acre field of potatoes, seeing that it was still early, Xu Cao asked Erya to go back and get a bamboo basket, and was busy picking some wild vegetables.With a few people together, the speed is quite fast, and they picked a basket in a short time.The two little fellows, Xiao Shan and Miao Miao, also followed behind the group and happily pulled weeds.

When Xu Cao turned her head, she saw Miao Miao pulling a weed vigorously, she hurriedly smiled and said, "Oh, our Miao Miao is really capable, I know how to help mother with work."

Miao Miao pulled up the weeds, shook the wild vegetables in Xu Cao's hands, and laughed cheerfully.Xiao Shan at the side heard that the eldest sister only praised Miao Miao, unconvinced, pulled a handful of weeds, shook them vigorously at Xu Cao, and shouted: "Eldest sister, I pulled them out too."

"Okay, our Xiaoshan can do it too."

Only then did the little guy smile, and he worked even harder.

After the sun went down, Li Shi and Xu Cao led everyone back.

Mrs. Li was busy cooking in the kitchen, while Xu Cao washed all the wild vegetables in the yard and prepared to eat them cold.Seeing the weeds pulled by the hills and Miaomiao beside her, her heart moved, and she shouted to the kitchen: "Mother, I will accompany you to the town tomorrow to catch two piglets and bring them back to raise. I will kill one and sell the other during the Chinese New Year. Raising two little pigs can also improve the environment at home."

Mrs. Li in the kitchen was a little tempted when she heard that, she added a fire to the stove and ran out in a hurry, squatting beside Xu Cao, "I also want to buy two piglets to raise, but the chaff to feed the pigs is not enough." It’s not worth it to ask for money to buy it.”

Xu Cao was busy putting the washed wild vegetables in the vegetable basket, and said: "Mother, there is nothing to worry about. Our village is close to the mountains, and we often come back from cutting pigs and grass on the mountains. Pigs are not picky eaters. Buy less in winter." Bring back some bran and mix it with dried hogweed and cook it for them to eat, and they will grow fat. Besides, we still grow corn at home, and when the rice husks are crushed, we can feed them to pigs. Otherwise, corn cobs The core can also be ground and fed to the pigs. My two little piglets are fed like this."

People should be more diligent. Taking advantage of the fact that there is a lot of grass for pigs on the mountain, cut more grass and dry it in the sun for the pigs to eat in winter. There is no money to be wasted.

"What, pigs eat that thing too. We usually dry it for firewood." Mrs. Li was very surprised, never thought that pigs would eat corn cob cores.

"Of course I can eat it." During a famine, people can eat that stuff, let alone pigs.

Hearing what Xu Cao said, Mrs. Li also agreed to catch the two piglets and bring them back to raise. "Okay, then tomorrow we'll go to town to catch them, and we'll bring the chicks back to raise them."

The two of them were talking about Father Xu coming back with a hoe on his shoulders. Seeing the chatting and laughing mother and father, Father Xu also laughed in a rare way.

When Mrs. Li saw Mr. Xu coming back, she hurriedly stood up and took the hoe in Mr. Xu's hand, and said with a smile, "The head of the house, you're back, hurry up and wash in the house, we'll have dinner when Fugui comes back."

Not long after, Fugui also came back with two pheasants. Seeing his wife, the tall man showed a simple and honest smile, "Daughter-in-law, I'm back."

"Come in." Xu Cao said with a smile.

Seeing her father coming back, Miao Miao rushed towards him, "Father..."

Fugui picked up Miao Miao, and handed the pheasant in his hand to Xu Cao, "Daughter-in-law, you and mother go and clean up the pheasant, let's eat it tonight."

Xu Cao didn't delay either. He was so busy with the field work these days that he didn't have a good meal. On weekdays, there were thick noodles, steamed buns and wild vegetables.The wild boar from years ago had been eaten last month, and Fu Gui didn't go up the mountain during this time, so she was already a bit gluttonous.

These two pheasants are quite fat, and one of them weighs four or five catties.Xu Cao quickly boiled hot water and scalded the chicken feathers.After processing, chop the chicken into pieces again, and the ginger and garlic are ready.

"Mom, let me cook it too. You go back and cut some leeks, and you'll fry some leeks later."

Mrs. Li responded, and took the basket to the back to cut leeks.Erya helped to light the fire. Seeing that the pot was dry, Xu Cao dug out a small spoonful of pork suet and put it into the pot. Seeing that the oil was hot, she quickly threw garlic and ginger into it. The chicken nuggets were thrown in.This pheasant is quite fat, with a thick layer of chicken skin.Xu Cao was frying like this, frying all the chicken fat inside.

It didn't take long to smell the strong fragrance, Sanya led the two little guys and ran in, "Sister, it smells so good." Sanya sniffed her nose vigorously and swallowed her saliva.

Erya, who was burning the fire, also kept swallowing her saliva.On weekdays, the two girls seldom eat meat. Mrs. Li was reluctant to get the wild pork that Xu Cao sent years ago, and now there are more than half of it left, and they also cut a few pieces to fry for Xiaoshan on weekdays.

Xu Cao naturally knew about these things, but when she told Li Shi, Li Shi didn't listen.In fact, it's not just the Li family, most of the poor families in the village are like this. If there is something delicious, it must be reserved for the son.

Xu Cao was a little sad. Seeing that the chicken pieces in the pot were almost fried, she hurriedly added a ladle of water into it, covered the lid, and smiled at the two younger sisters: "Simmer for half an hour and you can eat it. Such a big pot Enough for us to eat enough, and the second and third younger sisters will open their stomachs to eat later."

After hearing this, Erya Sanya's eyes lit up, and she smiled at Xu Cao.

Mrs. Li quickly cut the leeks back and washed them clean.

Half an hour later, the whole room was filled with the smell of stewed chicken, so Xu Cao filled the chicken with a bowl, and quickly fried the leeks.

This era is all pollution-free food. Pheasants grow up eating worms and wild vegetables. They don’t need much seasoning at all. You only need to use ginger and garlic to remove the fishy smell. After frying, the taste is naturally more fragrant.

The family of eight had dinner together.

This time there was a lot of stewed chicken, and with the wild game hunted by her son-in-law, Mrs. Li was embarrassed to ask Erya and Sanya to eat less so that Xiaoshan could save more, so the two girls ate very happily.

The family was eating when there was a knock on the door outside.Li was taken aback, and shouted loudly: "Who is it?"

"Siblings, it's me, sister-in-law."

Li Shi's face darkened upon hearing this voice, and he glanced at Father Xu.Father Xu didn't say a word, so Li had no choice but to open the door.

Standing outside the door was a petite woman, wearing brand-new clothes, with a gold hairpin stuck in her head, and a layer of white powder on her face. She looked about 30 years old.With a pair of hanging eyes, it is not easy to get along with people at first glance.

Mrs. Li smiled at her, stood at the door and refused to let the woman in, "Sister-in-law, why are you here?"

The woman sniffed, glanced at the door, and wanted to squeeze in, but saw Li Shi who was like a door god, so she had to give up.The woman rubbed her nose and said with a smile: "Sister and brother, I came all the way here, why don't you let me in and sit down?"

Mrs. Li snorted softly, and Xu Cao, who was sitting inside, laughed when she heard this. The two families were only a few steps away, and the eldest aunt was ashamed to say that she had come all the way.

The woman outside is Xu Cao's eldest aunt Qian Shi, the mother-in-law of Xu's father and elder brother.

Seeing Fugui's blank expression, Xu Cao whispered in his ear, "This is my great aunt, let's just eat ours and ignore her."

Fugui didn't ask any more questions, just nodded and continued to eat.

Seeing Li Shi ignoring her outside, Mrs. Qian couldn't help but put on the airs of an elder and reprimanded her: "Second brother and sister, I am your sister-in-law after all, so why not let me in when I come to your house as a guest."

Mrs. Li snorted, thinking that although this sister-in-law is quite annoying, but the eldest brother treats them pretty well, and secretly helped them a lot in the past, so she turned sideways and said, "Sister-in-law, come in and sit down."

It can't be blamed that Mrs. Li hates Mrs. Qian so much. Mrs. Qian is very annoying, not to talk about it, but also loves to take advantage of others.It was Qian who said that Mrs. Li and her mother-in-law had a bad relationship at the beginning. It was Mrs. Qian who made trouble when their family was separated.At that time, when the family was separated, the Li family was divided into a few acres of broken land, some broken bowls and chopsticks, and a few taels of silver in debt.Later, after Li's parents-in-law passed away, the Qian family spared no effort to trouble the Li family.At that time, Li's Baozi didn't know how to resist.

Fortunately, the boss secretly gave them some money, otherwise they would not have been able to survive those days.

The elders secretly subsidized their money, and when Mrs. Qian found out about the money, she came to the door all day to make trouble, demanding that Mrs. Li return her money.It was because of Qian's urging that Mrs. Li and Father Xu had no choice but to marry Xu Cao to Fu Gui early on.

Xu Cao also knew all these things, but he just couldn't understand why the eldest aunt was free today.

Mrs. Qian entered the house, saw the stewed chicken on the table, her eyes lit up, and said with a smile: "Yo, the head of the house told me that the second child's family is poor, and asked me to help you more. If there is meat to eat, your eldest brother and I can only eat some meat mozzarella during the Chinese New Year. Well, brother and sister, I haven’t eaten dinner yet, you can fill me up with the meal, so that I can enjoy your money and eat some meat.”

Mrs. Li kept a stern face and didn't speak, Xu Cao and Erya and Sanya ignored her, and Father Xu kept his head down and ate his food without saying a word.

Qian Shi was short of breath, raised her eyebrows, and said to Li Shi: "Hurry up."

Mrs. Li sneered, she had buns when the family was separated, but not now.

Seeing the less than half of the stewed chicken left, Li sneered and picked up the stewed chicken, divided some into each person's bowl, and each of the eight people shared a less than half a bowl.

Seeing this, Qian's face was distorted in anger.

(End of this chapter)