The happy little days of the Ye family

The springs in Stone Mountain and Rabbit Mountain are not big, and the water pits used for growing lotus roots are only as big as a table. A total of seventy or eighty kilograms of lotus roots were dug out of these water pits.

After returning from digging lotus roots, Ye Qingqing happily took Tang Xiaojing to make lotus root powder together.

Ye Qingqing is responsible for peeling and cutting into pieces, while Tang Xiaojing is responsible for mashing.

For this stuttering meal, Ye Qingqing went to her parents' house to borrow a donkey and use it for grinding.

With 30 kilograms of lotus root, two people and a donkey worked hard for more than two hours and got three large buckets of ground and filtered lotus root pulp.

"Giggle cluck..."

"Giggle cluck..."

Ye Qingqing woke up as soon as the big rooster from the Ye family next door crowed twice.

Ye Qingqing reached out and touched the side and found that her diligent husband-in-law had already gotten up.

The quilt next door was still a little warm, so it seemed that he had woken up not long ago.

At this time, there was also a slight voice coming from the yard. Probably for fear of disturbing Ye Qingqing, the father and son deliberately lowered their voices.

After quickly getting up and getting dressed, Ye Qingqing muttered as she walked out of the room: "The lotus root starch should have settled."

Walking to the yard, Ye Qingqing looked up at the sky. The sky was blue and white clouds, and the sun that had just risen in the sky was like a round salted egg yolk.

"Today's weather is really good, just perfect for drying lotus root starch." Ye Qingqing came to the kitchen with cheerful steps.

Tang Xiaojing was already there making breakfast, cutting something with his back to her.

Ye Qingqing came closer and looked at Tang Xiaojing's angular profile, with his sleeves rolled up, revealing his strong arms.

Looking at Tang Xiaojing who was making breakfast seriously at the moment, Ye Qingqing felt that he was particularly charming, and he noticed it unknowingly.

Tang Xiaojing saw that she was in a daze, turned around and asked:

"Why did you get up so early today? Did you wake up hungry?"

His wife has difficulty getting up, especially in winter, and likes to stay in bed the most. Usually I get up early to have breakfast when I'm hungry.

"Ah? I'm not hungry. I'll come over and take a look at the lotus root pulp that was ground yesterday."

They were already an old couple, and seeing their husband-in-law distracted, Ye Qingqing felt a little embarrassed, and scampered away like a little rabbit with a red face.

Although Tang Xiaojing thought she was a little weird, seeing her rosy face and smiling face, he didn't ask any more questions.

Ye Qingqing came to the corner and saw that the creamy lotus root pulp that was originally one color above and one color now became distinct.

The top part is clear, the middle part is a little turbid, and the bottom part is the precipitated lotus root powder.

Ye Qingqing lifted the wooden bucket and slowly poured out the clear water, leaving only the lotus root starch sinking at the bottom.

After pouring out the water from a large bucket of lotus root pulp, only a thin layer at the bottom remains.

After 3 buckets of lotus root pulp, there was only more than four kilograms of wet lotus root powder left.

Ye Qingqing found a large piece of clean cloth, spread it in a sunny place with leeward direction, and then placed the lotus root powder on it to expose it to the sun.

The weather was good today, and Ye Qingqing estimated that it would be dry in two or three days.

However, the flour yield of lotus roots is not high. For 30 kilograms of lotus roots, it is estimated that only about two or three kilograms of lotus root powder will be left after drying.

Ye Qingqing thought to himself, no wonder only rich families can afford this food. It is really a waste of both food and manpower.

Ordinary people don't have so much time to make this and eat it.

After the lotus root starch was dried, Ye Qingqing thought for a while, took out an extra piece of light cloth, and covered it with the lotus root starch.

This will not only prevent the lotus root powder from being blown away, but also prevent dust and leaves from falling on it.

This is what is eaten into the stomach, and it must be kept clean, otherwise the gain will outweigh the loss by spoiling the stomach.

While having breakfast, a series of violent screams came from not far away, making Ye Qingqing shiver.

"Kill the pig, kill the pig!"

"Kill the pig, kill the pig!"

……

This was followed by a burst of children's cheers.

Ye Qingqing looked at Tang Xiaojing: "It's so lively. Whose family is killing the pig today?"

"Uncle Lin is killing the New Year pig today, and Uncle Lin is killing the pig tomorrow."

The Chinese New Year is only 6 days away. Recently, people are killing New Year pigs almost every day in the village. The screams of pigs and the sounds of children clapping their hands are everywhere.

Butcher Zhang took his sons and killed pigs everywhere. My calves have become thinner after running, but my wallet has gradually become richer.

After breakfast, Tang Shan and Tang Xiaojing went out to give New Year gifts.

The Tang family doesn't have many relatives in the village, but the father and son have many friends in the county.

In addition, Ye Qingqing had many relatives here, so the father and son made several trips to deliver all the New Year gifts.

The annual gifts prepared by Ye Qingqing are basically the products of his own family.

For ordinary relatives and friends, Ye Qingqing prepared: 2 pounds of lotus roots, 2 pounds of chestnuts, a pound of bacon, and a pound of red date cake made by herself.

Shopkeepers like Ye Jia and Wang have an extra fresh pig leg and a wax rabbit.

New Year’s gifts were sent out, and many New Year’s gifts from others were also taken back.

The New Year's gifts sent out by the Tang family are all uniform, but the New Year's gifts received back are varied and include everything.

There are fried peanuts and walnuts, winter bamboo shoots, pastries, cured fish, cured duck, rare fresh fruits, cloth and so on.

What Ye Qingqing likes the most is the fabric given by shopkeeper Wang, a small half piece of very beautiful dark pattern cotton.

Although the fabric was very beautiful, it was not much, just enough for her and Chenchen to make clothes.

Looking at the fabric in his hand, Ye Qingqing couldn't put it down.

“This fabric is so beautiful, I’ll just keep it for the Chinese New Year.”

Ye Qingqing took the fabric and immediately went back to the house to make clothes. He wanted to use this fabric to make a new set of clothes before the Chinese New Year.

Ye Qingqing hid at home making clothes, and it fell to Tang Xiaojing to buy new year's goods.

Thinking of the pile of New Year gifts his family received, Ye Qingqing felt that he could save a lot of things.

Afraid that Tang Xiaojing wouldn't remember it, Ye Qingqing wrote down all the New Year's goods he needed to buy and asked him to take the note to Ye Donglin's grocery store and buy according to the instructions.

It was rare to be happy during the Chinese New Year. Ye Qingqing filled a whole page with the new year's goods he wanted to buy.

There were quite a lot of firecrackers, paper treasure candles for worshiping ancestors, red lanterns, various snacks, etc.

Fortunately, Ye Donglin's grocery store has everything, so you can buy everything in one visit.

Precisely because Ye Donglin has all kinds of groceries, meat and snacks, the grocery store's business is very prosperous.

Tang Xiaojing stood at the door and saw many women inside buying new year's goods. They all held a lot of things in their hands and looked very generous.

Ye Donglin wandered around the group of women, keeping his feet from touching the ground.

Seeing that his brother-in-law was really busy, Tang Xiaojing was too embarrassed to disturb him.

After saying hello, Tang Xiaojing followed what was written on the note and found everything in the grocery store.

Half an oxcart was almost filled with all kinds of New Year's goods.