Wang family small peasant girl

Chapter 34

The next day, the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, there are only two days before New Year’s Eve. The family’s New Year’s Eve meals that should be prepared at home have to be cooked. Therefore, although the snow did not fall again, Zhang Yun did not go to the market anymore, but stayed at home. , to help the Zhou family cook, and only let the three grandparents in the family carry the whole bucket of stinky tofu that was moldy last time.

Since Chang Juan came here yesterday, seeing that Zhang Yun didn't seem to be in any doubt, the family felt relieved. Although some gossip started to come out outside, it could no longer affect the good mood of Zhang's family. Every household is also busy preparing the New Year's food, so the rumors have not spread from the beginning to the end.

Now that the family has some money, Zhang Youqing and Zhou have made a plan to live a prosperous new year, so they have to eat a lot more than in previous years, such as fried rice cakes, fried sesame balls, fried sesame leaves, etc. I have never done it in previous years. Firstly, there is no glutinous rice at home, and it is expensive to buy. Then, I am reluctant to bear so much oil. This year, it will be fine. The oil left at home is enough for a year. The glutinous rice was bought by myself and sent by my grandmother's house, and there was a full bag.

In addition to these fried foods, Mrs. Zhou also discussed with Zhang Yun that there must be more sweet-scented osmanthus cakes. In addition, she plans to make glutinous rice cakes and rice cakes, and wait until 29:29 to make eight-treasure rice. The steamed buns that are made also have to be made today, and they can be steamed at [-]:[-]. For dumplings, they are wrapped at noon on the [-]th day. Before the New Year’s Eve dinner, they can be boiled directly in the pot and served. Served and ate.

The dazzling array of food made Zhang Yun almost dizzy, but he was very happy in his heart. The more food he cooks at home, the better the life at home and the happier the new year will be.

I am happy in my heart, and this energy is naturally full. Zhang Yun has been busy helping Mrs. Zhou. Most of the food this year is glutinous rice, so Mrs. Zhou put away about half a bag of glutinous rice when Zhou Min returned. After soaking, a day and two nights have passed, and the glutinous rice has already been soaked, but the glutinous rice for making osmanthus cake and fried sesame balls does not need to be soaked. Zhang Youqing ground it into glutinous rice flour two days earlier. These soaked glutinous rice After it is taken out and drained, it is also processed separately. Those who make rice cakes and rice cakes need to be ground into a wet powder slurry, and those who make glutinous rice cakes need to be steamed in a wooden steamer.

These different methods kept the mother and daughter so busy that they could only work separately. Zhou's grinded the wet flour slurry, Zhang Yunshou steamed glutinous rice by the wooden steamer, and washed the black rice used for frying hemp leaves along the way. Sesame, wash and hang on the window sill, and then start kneading the dough for fried sesame leaves, this is the only food made of flour.

The two sides were carried out separately, and Zhang Xing interspersed with helpers from time to time. In this way, the mother and daughter were busy for a whole noon. The sweet-scented osmanthus cakes and rice cakes are already finished without being fried, while the remaining rice cakes, sesame balls, sesame leaves, and glutinous rice cakes all need to be deep-fried, and they are just waiting to be fried in a frying pan after dinner.

When the grandparents of the Zhang family came back, it was already dark. When Zhou heard the news of them entering the hospital, he realized that it was already so late. He hurriedly put away the food and started cooking dinner.

Every year at the end of the twelfth lunar month, during the few days of Chinese New Year's Eating, dinner is always delayed. Everyone is used to it, so when they get home, they put down their burdens and are not in a hurry to eat. They are busy with their own things. Zhang Liangen is naturally consistent. Habits, plug tobacco and smoke dry tobacco, while Zhang Youqing and Zhang Zhang brought shovels and bamboo brooms to clean up the snow in and out of the yard.

When the hands were all free, the family sat down around the table to have dinner. The noodles cooked by Mrs. Zhou today were left over from the dough kneaded with sesame leaves, so she simply cut up the noodles and ate them. On the busiest day of the year, I really didn't have time to make food slowly, so I could only make do with it. All the wine, vegetables, noodles, and rice had to wait until New Year's Eve to have a good meal.

Mrs. Zhou ate the noodles with a sigh of relief, still thinking about business matters in her heart, stopped her chopsticks after a few mouthfuls, and asked, "His father, how is business today?"

Zhang Youqing took the noodles with chopsticks, sucked them into his stomach, and muttered: "There is no cloud, it is worse than before, but it has sold almost a board of tofu, so it is not bad, our stinky tofu is delicious, no need to fry it." No matter how much you yell, some people come up to buy it."

"That's what you say, you can't just stand still, Yun'er won't go every time, after such a long time, Yun'er yells, you won't learn a little bit." Zhou Shi was annoyed when she heard that. Well, the three old men just know how to stick it, so how can it be done.

Zhang Youqing is of Yumu's nature, and there is really no way to ask him to yell. After hearing Zhou's words, he also felt a little embarrassed, so he couldn't help stopping his chopsticks, and replied: "His mother, you also know my temper. If you don’t want to yell, Cheng Zi has a decent appearance, and today it’s all up to him to call for business, and you don’t have to worry about Yuner’s absence in the future.”

After hearing this, Mrs. Zhou, Zhang Yun, and Zhang Xing all turned their heads to look at Zhang Cheng. Zhang Zhang felt a little awkward being watched by so many eyes. He lowered his head and muttered, "It's actually not difficult."

Seeing Zhang Zhang's embarrassed expression, the rest of Zhang's family laughed, and after a few jokes, they started chatting about tomorrow's affairs, "Father, you guys should come back early tomorrow, and take a bath after you get home. , if the family is not busy with business, it should be washed today."

"Well, I have to sell stinky tofu tomorrow. Washing it today is nothing. Let's wash it well when we come back tomorrow, so we can wash off the smell of our bodies and spend New Year's Eve well." Zhang Liangen answered, Although selling stinky tofu can make some money, the smell is really bad.

Mrs. Zhou nodded and laughed, and said: "I will boil a few barrels of boiling water as soon as noon tomorrow, and it will take half a day to make money. Don't be too late, you will be back around noon, and clean up the house when you get home. When you finish your work, take a quick shower, get a good night's sleep, and when you open your eyes, it will be New Year's Eve."

Listening to these words made people excited, and the three grandparents of Zhang's family responded one after another. When everyone talked about New Year's Eve, they talked enthusiastically again, and they stopped talking when the noodles in the bowl were almost eaten. Come.

After dinner, Zhang Yun helped Mrs. Zhou clean up the bowls and chopsticks, while Mrs. Zhou cleaned up the pot, ready to fry the pasta in a frying pan.When the mother and daughter were busy in the kitchen, Zhang Xing came in again without making a sound. When he came in, he went to Zhang Yun's side and knelt down to pretend to help.

Mrs. Zhou was really busy, so she didn't have time to care about this kid's thoughts, so she scooped up a half-full cauldron of tea oil, and when the oil boiled, it began to fry.

Zhang Yun squatted by the stove to wash the dishes, and when Zhang Xing came over, she had already washed everything, and she didn't need his help. After drying the water, she leaned into Zhang Xing's ear and whispered, "You sneaked in because you wanted to Eat it secretly, if you want to read it like this, you should go out and play, I will secretly take some out for you to eat later."

Hearing what my sister said, Zhang Xing smiled immediately on his little face, looked at her with bright eyes, and his eyes were also full of smiles, and nodded immediately, rather coquettishly said: "Sister is the best, Then I'll wait for you."

Seeing his happy face, Zhang Yun stretched out his hand to pinch his cheek, and said with a light smile, "Let's go." Zhang Xing didn't stay any longer, and ran out of the kitchen touching his little face, while Zhang Yun put the bowl away. Put the chopsticks back in the cupboard, and then help Mrs. Zhou to light the fire, pass the bowl, pass the plate, do some manual work, and of course the task of "smuggling" food, it is very busy.

These fried noodles are almost all sweets, so the kitchen is full of sweet aromas. Zhang Yun saw that there were too many sweets, so he thought of making some fried salty ones, so as to adjust the taste, otherwise it would be easy to get bored, so he was kneading When frying the sesame leaf dough, I discussed with Zhou, and put salt into it to make salty fried sesame leaf. I thought in my heart that after frying, the crispy taste and the rare salty Taste will definitely be the most sought-after snack.

Zhou's fried everything, and Zhang Yun "smuggled" out. Zhang Xing's small mouth was never free all night, and the whole mouth was glistening with oil, not to mention how happy it was.

But there are too many "smuggled immigrants", and they will always be discovered. After Zhou's notice, he stopped, ran out of the kitchen and shouted: "You boy, after tomorrow is New Year's Eve, I can't wait for two days, you Be honest with me, and stop thinking about eating these things."

After shouting, Mrs. Zhou went back to the kitchen and continued with the work in hand. After a while, she said to Zhang Yun: "Don't follow your wishes, this glutinous rice is hard to overcome. He eats it all night. When the time comes It’s troublesome if you have a stomachache, and it’s very hot just out of the pot, so you’ll get angry if you eat it, forget about what you ate earlier, and don’t steal it to him later, you know.”

As soon as Zhang Yun heard it, it made sense. She only thought that she might have to save food for New Year’s Eve and the first month, but she didn’t expect that it would be difficult to overcome it. It seems that she misunderstood her. The son has a temper, he is greedy and has no sense of proportion, and he is afraid that eating too much will be bad for his health.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yun turned his head to look at Mrs. Zhou, and saw that she lowered her head and concentrated on picking the fried rice cakes in the oil pan. The heat from the pan blurred her face, but her appearance was even more intense in her heart. clear.

The mother and daughter fried food all night in the kitchen. Although it was a happy Chinese New Year, making all kinds of food was really cumbersome. After a day, they were exhausted. The dough was kneaded, covered with a damp cloth to ferment, and after all was done, they went back to their rooms to rest. After a tiring day, Zhang Yun slipped into a warm quilt and soon fell asleep.

The next day, the three of Zhang's family and grandson rushed to the market early in the morning. This was the last day of business before the year. There was no market on the first day of the first month. The Zhang family had inquired that the market would not open until the fifth day of the new year. Recovery, that is to say, the Zhang family can take a good rest for five days and spend the New Year happily.

The men in the family have all gone out, and Zhou and Zhang Yunmu continue to be busy at home. The fermented dough has to be kneaded, cut and steamed, the chicken brought by the uncle has to be cleaned up, and the large pieces of pork are sliced Sliced ​​and shredded shreds must be cut out for cooking on New Year’s Eve, and the salted fish that Zhang Yun brought from his grandmother’s house before must be soaked, and another dish will be added on New Year’s Eve. I dug it from the mountain, shelled the remaining winter bamboo shoots, chopped them like pork, put some chopped dried tofu, pickled potherb mustard, chopped peppers, mixed them together and fried them in a pan, and let them cool down. The dumpling stuffing is ready.

Zhang Yun was busy peeling the bamboo shoots in his hands, and the steamed buns on the stove gradually gave off an aroma, while Mrs. Zhou was chopping pork. When there was no time, Zhang Yun put down the bamboo shoots, wiped the mud from his handles on the apron, and went to lift the steamer. But I didn't expect it to be so heavy, and suddenly my center of gravity was unsteady, and my hand touched the steamer, it was burned, and I screamed out.

"What's the matter? Ah, it's hot or not. Come and flush the water." Zhou Shi heard the cry, turned her head to look, and saw that Zhang Yun's hand was red, and hurried up, grabbed her hand, and Go to the basin and help scoop water to wash her hands.

"Mother, it's just a little bit hot, and there's no bubbles. It's okay, I'll do it myself." Zhang Yun hurriedly pressed Zhou's hand, took the ladle from her hand, and poured water by himself.

Mrs. Zhou watched it for a while, seeing that it was really not serious, and because she was busy, she didn't delay any longer, stood up to carry the steamer, and said in her mouth: "You are all burned, so don't do it."

Zhang Yun thought about how busy Mrs. Zhou could be by herself, and besides, she had only a small burn, and she would be fine after a day or two of flushing with some water, so she insisted on staying to help, but Mrs. Zhou couldn't help it, so she let her go.

The mother and daughter rushed together, and finally finished all the work before noon, and then Mrs. Zhou freed her hands and started to boil hot water, so that the whole family could take a comfortable hot bath and put a All the bad luck of the year is removed, so as to welcome the new year in the coming year.

(End of this chapter)