Wang family small peasant girl

Chapter 31

When Zaotang was finished, Mrs. Zhou had tied up the carts and horses with sorghum stalks, took over the stove, replaced Zhang Youqing, took out the noodles that had just been cut, boiled hot water, and put them under the noodles. The pot is used to make miscellaneous noodle soup, and after it is cooked, it is filled with bowls and placed on the altar with stove sugar.

Busy from noon to now, finally all the things for the stove were prepared, Zhang Zhang went to call Zhang Liangen, and Zhou and Zhang Yun came out of the kitchen, as the saying goes, "Men don't worship the moon, women don't worship the stove." In ancient times, women were not allowed to worship the stove. Naturally, Zhou and Zhang Yun couldn't stay here, and the mother and daughter went to the main room together.

When Zhang Yun was a child, he also saw the sacrifice stove in the village. It was nothing more than burning incense and praying, and then pasting the stove door with stove sugar, the purpose was to glue the mouth of the Stove Lord so that he could only speak obediently after he ascended to heaven, and then put the old stove on the wall. The king's statue was removed and replaced with a new one, and the old statue was burned together with the chariots and horses tied with sorghum poles and ingots, and the Stove King was sent to heaven on chariots and horses to go to the heaven, all of which carried the good wishes of the people.

Women who offered sacrifices to the stove were not allowed to participate, so that Zhang Yun felt relaxed, and sat with Mrs. Zhou under the eaves in front of the main room, listening to the voices coming from the kitchen, and chatting softly. He took out a few sticks of stove candy and quietly handed them to Mrs. Zhou.

Mrs. Zhou rolled her eyes at Zhang Yun, then opened her eyes to the kitchen, took it, put it in her mouth and started chewing, the two of them chewed for a while, and looked at each other, both of them snickered up.

Although this New Year's Eve has been busy, she will chew the sweet stove candy, and feel the sweetness flowing down the river, as if it can be sweet to her heart, making her happy with this kind of life.

After the Lunar New Year's Eve, it's time to enter the chaotic years. It's really approaching the end of the year. Those who came out to buy late also flooded into the market, and the market was unprecedentedly prosperous and lively.

After Zhang’s family had a good New Year’s Eve, they still had to go to the market early the next day. Fortunately, when Zhang Yun got up early in the morning, Zhang Yun went to remove the tung oil cloth from the wooden basin. It happened to be taken to the market. Taking advantage of the excitement of the market after the New Year's Eve, Zhang's family brought another plate of fried tofu with small pieces of tofu, and sold it together with stinky tofu.

The market for stinky tofu is still very good. A whole board of stinky tofu was sold out in less than half a day. , The stinky tofu has to be broken again. The whole bucket of stinky tofu last time will always have to be moldy for two or three days before it can be cured. If it is not moldy, it can’t be fried. Zhang’s family can only wait patiently. Tofu puffs stay in business.

Before the day when the stinky tofu was moldy, on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, there was another snowfall in the sky, and the Zhang family could only spend time at home again.

Before noon that day, Uncle Zhou Min came with a load. When he arrived at Zhang's fenced yard, the snow was falling densely, and a thick layer of snow had accumulated on the coir raincoat and bamboo hat.

"A Fen." Zhou Min carried a load into the courtyard gate and called out loudly.

When Mrs. Zhou heard it was the elder brother's voice in the room, she hurriedly opened the door and walked out. Seeing him covered in snow, she hurriedly waved and said, "Brother, why are you here at this time? It's freezing, quick, quick!" , went into the house to rest the burden, and sat down to enjoy the fire."

Zhou Min took the burden to the eaves, and Mrs. Zhou hurriedly took over the burden, muttering: "The family has just built a house, and my money is tight, so why do I have to bring so many things here?" , Take off the bamboo hat, hang it on the earthen wall, and the two of them push the door together and enter the house.

In the house, Tou Zhang's family members were all there, and several long benches were placed by the side of the kang, all surrounded by a brazier to warm the fire.As soon as they entered the house, Mrs. Zhou put the burden on the corner of the wall, and the younger members of Zhang's family hurriedly called for uncle.

"It's very lively in this room." Zhou Min walked over with a smile, and Zhang Cheng stepped aside to let him sit down beside him. I didn’t run into each other when I came back, and I didn’t even say hello to you.”

"Uncle, I'm fine in everything, and I'm in good health. I haven't thanked you for the quilt you picked out. It's really costing my in-laws." Zhang Liangen hurriedly thanked him.

Zhou Min hurriedly laughed and said, "It's all cotton grown by myself, and it doesn't cost a lot of money." After a few polite words, he turned to Zhou and said, "Ah Fen, the third daughter-in-law is pregnant this time, doctor Say it's been two months."

"Ah, that Pingzi is not very happy, father and mother must be happy too." Zhou's eyes lit up immediately, and he smiled. Zhou Ping's daughter-in-law, Ma Shi, has been here for five years, and she will be 23 after the new year. I was pregnant for the first time three years ago, but after I lost it, I couldn't get pregnant again. Although the couple and family members didn't mention it on the surface, they were worried in their hearts. Now that they are finally pregnant, how can they not be happy.

Zhang Youqing happily said a few words after hearing this, Zhou Min said with a smile: "That's not it, the third brother has never closed his mouth these days, mother is also Zhang Luo this, Zhang Luo that, I am afraid that I am not thoughtful at all, the whole It’s been a busy day.”

After getting this happy event, Zhang's family was very happy. They gathered around Zhou Min and asked about everything. Zhou Min chatted cheerfully about the topic of people's happiness. He didn't think of anything until he talked about the new year's goods, so he stood up and walked to the burden.

When he arrived at the burden, Zhou Min squatted down and lifted the tung oil cloth covering it, and took out a plucked chicken from inside, "A Fen, this chicken was killed early in the morning, take it and hang it up quickly, I just forgot about it." Yes, it is easy to break if it is stuffy in the basket for a long time."

"Ah, there are only a few chickens in the family, and they were killed for us, brother, you can take them back to make up for Pingzi's wife, we can't take them." Zhou and Zhang Liangen rushed to dissuade them.

"I have one at home, and I killed another one and kept it. I brought it back and asked me to take it back. What is it like? My mother told you, you just keep it. The little chickens at home hatched a lot last time. Raise some." The days are getting bigger, and we can still afford one or two chickens for Chinese New Year, so don’t push it too hard.” Zhou Min said something, and insisted that Mrs. Zhou take it. Mrs. Zhou couldn’t refuse after several times, so I can only accept it.

By the way, Zhou Min also took out a basket with a whole piece of pork in it, and brought out a cloth bag, and handed it all to Mrs. Zhou, saying: "A few days ago, Zhang butcher was invited to kill the pig. I left some cooking dishes for the Chinese New Year, this one is for you, this half bag of glutinous rice is for you to cook for the Chinese New Year, my mother has specially ordered that these are still available at home, so don’t push it any further.” Zhou Min was afraid of the Zhou family. He refused to accept it, so he blocked the conversation first.

After thinking about it, Mrs. Zhou reached out to take it, and went out of the house with both hands, took it to the kitchen and put it away.Zhou Min laughed when he saw that the Zhou family had collected them all, and then took out a few cloth bags from the basket, sat down in front of the brazier with them, and handed them to Zhang Yun, Zhang Zhang, and Zhang Xing, the little ones, " These are freshly made, grab some and taste first, grab less, let your mother put the rest away, and eat it out after the Chinese New Year."

After hearing this, Zhang Yun, Zhang Cheng, and Zhang Xing happily opened the cloth bags in their hands. Zhang Yun looked into the cloth bags, and there were slices of thinly sliced ​​fried rice candies. Zhang Xing held half a bag of soybean sugar and half a bag of winter rice sugar in his hand, and Zhang Zhang held golden and fragrant fried rice, all of which were common Chinese New Year foods.

"Hey, there's still a bag of fried beans, grab some and have a taste too." Zhou Min also opened the bag in his hand, called the little ones to grab it, and he grabbed two handfuls and handed them to Zhang Youqinghe Zhang Liangen, everyone's mouths were rattling for a moment.

After Mrs. Zhou put the things away, she came back to the house. Seeing these bags of food, Zhou Min rushed her to get a bowl, and put fried rice sugar, soybean sugar, winter rice sugar, fried rice, and fried beans into the house. I grabbed a few handfuls and put them in a bowl, and let Mrs. Zhou take the rest and put them in a jar, and then take them out to eat after the New Year.

With these kinds of food, everyone will be more energetic. Sitting and warming up by the fire, biting in their mouths, without delay in talking, the room is warm and lively.

After chatting for a while, Zhou Min talked about the day when the pig was slaughtered, and said: "I wanted to ask you to go over to drink pig slaughter soup that day, but when the second brother came, there was no one in your house. Xuetian came over, thinking that I should be at home."

When Zhou Min said this, the Zhou family hurriedly told him about the business in the town. Zhou Min was naturally happy when he heard it, and it would be a good thing to earn some money to live a healthy life. , Zhang Youqing, and Zhou Min talked again.

When it came to business, Mrs. Zhou thought of something, hurriedly got up and said that she was going to the kitchen to make some fried tofu for Zhou Min to taste, and Zhang Yun followed him.

Going to the kitchen, Mrs. Zhou said that it was a pity that there was no stinky tofu. Zhang Yun thought that the whole bucket should not be too bad, so he ran to lift the tung oil cloth, and took a look. Although it was not completely moldy, it was just for his family to taste. Taste it, if you don't sell it, there should be no problem. After thinking about it, I took a few pieces and put it in a bowl, and then put the tung oil cloth back on it.

After taking out the stinky tofu, Mrs. Zhou smiled and said straightly: "Your uncle must like this, pick more chopped chili later, your uncle likes spicy food." As he spoke, he lit the stove and fried it in oil. Woke up.

After the stinky tofu and tofu puffs were fried, he picked chopped peppers into the bowl, brought them into the house, and gave Zhou Min a taste. Zhou Min said it was delicious and ate several pieces in a row.

Everyone in the room happily talked about stinky tofu and tofu puffs, the bustle of the market, and the prosperity of the business. Everyone had smiles on their faces, and they were full of energy when they talked about the good times.

After Shen Shi was almost over, Zhou Min got up and said that he was going back. Mrs. Zhou hurriedly left him for a while, and hurriedly filled a jar of tea oil, and opened a frying pan to fry tofu bubbles and stinky tofu, while Zhang Yun went to pack it. A bag of camellia oleifera peels, seed shells, and camellia oleifera cakes came, and I also packed the osmanthus cake left over from yesterday's meal, and the stove sugar did not fall, so I packed some together, and filled the burden almost full of miscellaneous things. Zhou Min took it back.

Mrs. Zhou and Zhang Youqing were about to send Zhou Min out of the yard. Zhang Yun quickly stopped him and told him in detail how to use the camellia oleifera peel, seed husk, and camellia oleifera cake. So he put on his coir raincoat and bamboo hat, carried the burden, and went out of the yard under the watchful eyes of Mrs. Zhou and the others.

(End of this chapter)