Wang family small peasant girl

Chapter 20

The Zhang family carried their burdens into the old ancestral hall. It was deserted and deserted, with no one in sight. The luxuriant weeds were as tall as half a person. The walls were collapsed and the roof was leaking. It was indeed a bit dilapidated.

The place where the wood press is placed is still relatively complete, and it can be seen that there are traces of repairs. When Zhang Yun looked around, Zhang Youqing and Zhang Liangen had already put down the burden in front of the wood press, and Mrs. Zhou followed. After a little division of labor, the people began to move their hands.

Zhang Yun walked forward and looked at this old wooden press. The main body is a thick and thin tree trunk surrounded by two people. There is a hollowed out long groove in the middle. The rope hangs down and is firmly tied to a thick wooden post.

The style of the wooden oil press is quite simple, and it is clear at a glance. Zhang Yun couldn't see how to press the oil for a while, so he looked at his father, mother and grandpa curiously to see how they operate.

I saw that Mrs. Zhou grabbed a lot of fried noodles in the basket, squeezed the sticky fried noodles tightly, took off a few round molds placed on the wooden press, and pressed the fried noodles inside, and it was as good as Qingming fruit. Compression molding is one method, but these molds are much larger than those of Qingmingguo.

Zhang Yun leaned over hurriedly, and helped Mrs. Zhou knead the stir-fried noodles into molds. After the mold was full, Mrs. Zhou put the molds into the groove. Only then did Zhang Yun discover that there were several other round ones in the big groove. For the small groove, Zhou put the pressed mold into the circular groove.

After the molds were placed on several circular grooves, Zhang Liangen took the wooden wedges placed aside. There were more than ten wooden wedges, all of which were as thick as the long grooves, and they were inserted into the grooves one by one. The grooves were all filled, and Zhang Youqing was ready. He grasped the thick hemp rope tightly. After the wooden wedge was plugged, he pulled the wooden pillar and hit the protruding wooden wedge like a monk in a temple. Zhang Liangen followed They went up and hit them together, and Zhou put the wooden barrel he had brought on the oil hole below the groove. After hitting it a few times, tea oil trickled down the oil hole.

Looking at this oil extraction method, although simple and inferior to modern mechanical oil presses, it also reflects the wisdom of the ancients in life, Zhang Yun couldn't help a little admiration in his heart.

When Zhang Yun was excited and admiring, several tea oil cakes had been squeezed dry, Zhang Youqing and his son stopped the impact, took out the wooden wedge again, Zhou took out the molds one by one, and then squeezed out the tea oil cakes in the mold Dig out, and the tea oil cake has become dry and firm at this time, which is similar to Pu'er tea cake, but the color is brownish, not as dark as Pu'er tea cake.

In this way, Zhang Yun understood the whole oil extraction process, and then helped Zhou's press the mold, and dug the oil tea cakes. While busy with his hands, his eyes looked into the oil hole from time to time, seeing the tea oil trickling incessantly. As it flowed down, the joy in my heart never stopped, and I became more energetic when I worked.

This kind of manual oil extraction does take some time. Zhang's family worked in the old ancestral hall for two days before they squeezed out all the fried noodles and filled two large wooden barrels. It is estimated that there are always 300 How many catties of camellia oil.

It was not until the evening of the fifth day that the tea oil was pressed, so I missed the market every fifth day. Although the Zhang family was eager to sell the oil, they couldn't think of any place to sell it except the market. They had to wait until the first day of the new year. On the tenth day, take the oil to the market again.

A few days before the tenth day of the Lunar New Year, Zhang’s family didn’t spend it in vain. The oil had to be picked and sold, and an oil spoon was needed. This can’t be done casually, just like a modern measuring cup. How much oil is in a full spoon? All have to be estimated. When oiling, you can estimate the amount of oil according to the number of spoons. This is a good way to calculate the money. After the tea oil was pressed, Zhang Youqing found an experienced carpenter and spent five copper coins Make an oil spoon.

Zhang Liangen didn't take time off either. He left home in the early morning of the sixth day and walked ten miles to Changyuan Town, looking for oil shops and oil sellers, and inquiring about the current oil price, so that we could negotiate a deal. The price of home-made camellia oil is suitable, and I can also bring back some new year's goods that I want to buy along the way.

Zhou and Zhang Yun started to make sweet-scented osmanthus cake. They wanted to make it a few days ago, but they were delayed because they were rushing to press the tea oil. The whole family is so busy these days that they haven't even had a meal, so they can cook something good, which can be regarded as a reward for everyone.

After Mrs. Zhou cleared away the snow in the yard and tidied up everything inside and out, Zhang Yun also prepared the vegetable plot. After feeding the chickens, the mother and daughter went into the kitchen. Mrs. Zhou wanted to do it by herself, but Zhang Yun Yun felt that it was new, so he pestered Zhou Shi to let her follow him, so that he could fight and steal the teacher by the way.

Mrs. Zhou thought that the meeting at home was relatively free, so she let her stay in the kitchen, chatting about gossip, while scooping powder with a bowl in her hand.

The sweet-scented osmanthus cake made by farmers in ancient times is not changed in various patterns compared to modern times, but is the simplest and original way. It uses glutinous rice flour and japonica rice flour. Pour water into the two kinds of flour, add osmanthus sugar, a little oil and After the wild honey is mixed evenly, put it on the steamer and steam it for about a quarter of an hour. After it comes out of the cage, wrap it with a damp cloth while it is hot. Roll out and cut into pieces.

Zhang Yun followed Mrs. Zhou, helping add ingredients, delivering things, lighting the fire, and chatting gossip. He was very busy. The sweet smell is very good, and it makes people's index fingers move.

The scent floated out of the kitchen with the wind, not only attracted Zhang Zhang and Zhang Xing, but also attracted a little guest, that is Gou Zi.

Gouzi is really a lucky man. It has been snowing for the past few days, and it has been cloudy for two days. It is only today that the sun is counted. Gouzi, who has been at home for several days, can no longer squat. He told his parents When he came to Zhang's house, he ran out excitedly. Just outside the fenced yard, the puppy smelled a strong fragrance and ran into the kitchen along with it.

"Sister Yun'er, what are you burning? It smells weird." Gouzi, a small man, squeaked into the kitchen. No one noticed for a while, but he jumped up first, ran to Yun'er, and jumped with his face up. asked the foot.

Only people in the kitchen found him now, Mrs. Zhou hurriedly smiled and said: "Yo, when did the dog come? It's just in time. Madam just made osmanthus cake, come and eat it quickly." He took the freshly cut sweet-scented osmanthus cake on the cutting board, put it in a bowl and handed it to the dog, and told him to be careful not to burn his mouth.

Gouzi's eyes widened when he heard this, and he hurriedly ran to Mrs. Zhou to take the bowl. This sweet-scented osmanthus cake is not something you can usually eat, and other things are easy, but this sweet-scented osmanthus candy is time-consuming and expensive to brew. , How many people are willing to brew and eat on weekdays.

"Ma'am, it's delicious!" As soon as Gouzi took the bowl, he couldn't wait to take a bite. He felt his mouth full of glutinous and sweet taste, and couldn't help but praise it.

Everyone in the kitchen laughed. Zhang Xing, who was two years older than Gouzi, looked like a little adult. He brought a bench with a smile, pulled Gouzi to sit down, and said: "Sit and eat slowly, no People will rob you."

The dog bit the sweet-scented osmanthus cake, picked up the small bench, and moved it to Zhang Yun's side, then put down the bench and sat down, chewing and saying, "Sister Yun'er, your home is really nice, you have a lot of delicious food."

Zhang Yun squatted down with a smile, and wiped away the residue from the corner of his mouth with his hand, "This is the sweet-scented osmanthus candy sent by your family, otherwise we wouldn't have to eat it. If you like it, I'll pack a few extra pieces for you and take it away with you when you go home." Then let your mother make some for you to eat when she has time."

"Our family doesn't have osmanthus candy, so we can't make it." Gouzi replied without thinking.

Now Mrs. Zhou distributed the sweet-scented osmanthus cakes to everyone, wrapped a few pieces in lotus leaves, and planned to let Gouzi take them back, but when Gouzi said this, he stopped, turned his head and asked: "Your mother brewed such a jar, why did you give it to us, and don't keep some at home."

Gouzi quickly shook his head, stuffed the sweet-scented osmanthus cake in his mouth, and muttered, "This isn't made by my mother, it was rushed to the town to buy it. My mother said she would bring it to thank Sister Yun'er, so she didn't give it to me." Pass."

After hearing Gouzi's childish words, Mrs. Zhou felt even more embarrassed. It turned out that they bought it on purpose. She was afraid she would not be willing to spend the money on weekdays, so she gave it to them instead. Thinking of this, Mrs. Zhou hurriedly reopened the lotus leaf Bao, and took several pieces of sweet-scented osmanthus cakes and wrapped them in, so that almost half of them were taken away, and there were not many left at home.

The charter is big, it doesn’t matter if you eat or not. Zhang Yun and Zhang Xing are smaller and always greedy. You can see that the mother made a lot of sweet-scented osmanthus cakes for the dog. They are quite sensible and didn’t say anything. The dog is here The Zhang family played for a long time, and when they left, they held the lotus leaf bag, said goodbye happily, and headed home.

After Gouzi left, Mrs. Zhou looked at the few pieces of sweet-scented osmanthus cake left behind, took out two more pieces, and handed them to Zhang Xing and Zhang Yun. This kind of food is soft and waxy, which is very suitable for the elderly.

Zhang Yun, who was helping to tidy up in the kitchen, took a peek at Mrs. Zhou, and saw that she had put all the sweet-scented osmanthus cakes in the cupboard, so she knew that she would never try it herself, so she turned her back while Mrs. Zhou was not paying attention. Go, carefully break the sweet-scented osmanthus cake in your pocket into two halves, go around to Zhou's side, and stuff it into her mouth unexpectedly.

This surprised Mrs Zhou, and when he realized that it was sweet-scented osmanthus cake, he hurriedly said, "This is for you, it's fine if mother doesn't eat it."

"I have some to eat too." Zhang Yun pinched the other half of the sweet-scented osmanthus cake with two fingers, raised his hand at her, and threw it into his mouth to chew.

The girl's thoughtfulness warmed Zhou's heart, stopped wiping the chopping board, and smiled while chewing: "There is still a lot of sweet-scented osmanthus candy left, let's make more next time, and then open our stomachs and eat to our heart's content." ,OK."

Zhang Yun grinned and nodded heavily, and said happily: "Mother, let's just make it for the Chinese New Year. There are ready-made sweet-scented osmanthus candies, and it's very decent to make some for entertaining guests. It's just that there are not many glutinous rice flour at home, so I have to buy some more glutinous rice to grind." That’s enough.” I don’t grow this glutinous rice in my own land, so it’s quite expensive to buy from outside, and it’s rare for their family to eat it a few times a year, so I’m willing to buy some for Chinese New Year.

Seeing her daughter's joy, Mrs. Zhou immediately agreed, "Okay, let's do it for the Chinese New Year." Zhang Yun was very happy to see that his mother readily agreed. They chatted nonchalantly for a while, and didn't stop until Zhang Liangen came back. They all ran out of the kitchen and gathered around him. Everyone was thinking about the oil price, so they rushed to ask.

(End of this chapter)