Siheyuan: After being reincarnated as a master's daughter

Yi Jiale smiled and handed the watermelon he had just eaten to his father's mouth.

"Oh, my eldest daughter's big watermelon is so sweet!" Yi Zhonghai took a big bite and said with a hearty smile.

On the other side, Sha Zhu picked up his eldest son and said, "Zhiyuan, can you give Dad a bite?"

He Zhiyuan looked at the little watermelon left in his hand, then looked at his father, and handed it to the silly boy with reluctance: "Dad, take a bite less." He Zhiyuan said, pointing with his little finger.

Before He Zhiyuan could finish his words, Sha Zhu took a big bite and ate up all the remaining food.

He Zhiyuan held the thin watermelon rind in his hand, pouting as if he was about to cry!

Sha Zhu patted his son's butt and said, "Zhiyuan, are you so unhappy when I take a bite of your watermelon?"

"Okay, hold your pee in and ask your mother to cut a bigger piece for you when you get home."

He Zhiyuan smiled happily when he heard that there would be a big watermelon.

…………

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the moon is bright and the silver light shines all over the earth. According to the traditional customs of old Beijing, married women have to return to their husband's house to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15, and on the 16th of the next day, they can return to their parents' house to reunite with their relatives. Therefore, every household is very lively today, and people visit relatives and friends, greet each other, and spend this beautiful reunion moment together.

A lady and several other ladies in the yard started to get busy several days ago. They carefully dug out the long-treasured snack tickets and food books from the bottom of the box, and happily went to the store to buy various festival foods. The goods that are in short supply on weekdays, such as sweet and delicious moon cakes, rich and mellow brown sugar, white sugar as white as snow, fragrant sesame paste, and fresh and plump fish, are now in sufficient supply due to the arrival of the festival, allowing everyone to buy as much as they want.

The aunt even invited Lin Ying to come to her home to make mooncakes one day in advance. The two worked together to knead the dough, mix the stuffing, wrap, bake... each process was carried out in an orderly manner. After some hard work, a batch of golden, crispy and fragrant mooncakes were finally freshly baked!

Today, the Mid-Autumn Festival is here, and neighbors are filled with laughter and joy. Everyone will give each other their carefully made mooncakes to share the deep joy of the festival and convey the most sincere blessings to each other.

Yi Jiale and Lin Xiong took the mooncakes given by their mother (sister) and delivered one to each household.

"Uncle Liu, this is the mooncake my mother asked me to give to your family." Yi Jiale shouted inside when he arrived at Uncle Liu's door.

Uncle Liu brought out a small dustpan with mooncakes in it and said with a smile, "Tuanzi, put it in there!"

Yi Jiale and Lin Xiong obediently put a piece from their baskets, and then said goodbye to Uncle Liu: "Uncle Liu, we will go to the next store."

"Okay, slow down." Uncle Liu said cheerfully.

……

In this way, every household in the yard sent a piece, except the Jia family, and the two of them went home with empty baskets.

When I got home, I saw Liu Jiacheng from Uncle Liu's family and Yan Jiedi from Uncle Three's family also coming to my house with baskets to deliver mooncakes.

The two sides greeted each other when they met. Yi Jiale put the empty basket on the table and looked at the various mooncakes in the ceramic basins on the table. He knew that children from other families had also come to send gifts.

People give mooncakes to each other, and no one will give mooncakes to those who don’t have a good relationship with them.

Ever since Yi Jiale could walk well, the job of delivering mooncakes fell to Yi Jiale.

After delivering the mooncakes, I felt a little bored and saw Mr. Huo coming. Yi Jiale waved to him.

"Mr. Huo, have you finished delivering the mooncakes?"

Huo Sheng scratched his head and said, "Yes, we sent it to your family, the two uncles' families, Brother Zhu's family, and Grandpa Liu's family who lives next door. We didn't send it to the others."

Yi Jiale nodded. Everyone gave gifts according to past exchanges. As the leaders of the courtyard, the three uncles had to give gifts to the whole courtyard to set an example. The same was true for Yi Zhonghai's family. Except for the Jia family, everyone else also gave gifts.

Although every family has to send mooncakes, other families will also send something. If a family cannot afford mooncakes, they will send something else instead, such as fruit.

Lin Xiong went home to put the basket away and brought He Zhiyuan with him.

Yi Jiale suddenly saw other children outside the house holding watermelons, and he was working hard to dig out the watermelons with a spoon, so he slapped his forehead and said, "Oh, right, I finally remembered what we forgot. We forgot to buy watermelon lanterns this year."

Lin Xiong rolled his eyes at Yi Jiale and said, "I came to you to talk about this. My brother-in-law has already bought us five watermelons to make lanterns."

"According to my brother-in-law, he went out for a walk in the morning and saw a young man carrying a large basket on his back. The basket was full of watermelons for making melon lanterns. The young man put the basket on the ground and it was almost sold out in a short while. He saw that there were only five left and bought them all."

"The young man ran away immediately after selling out."

Yi Jiale clapped his hands happily: "What are we waiting for? Let's get started as soon as we get to the door!"

"Okay, Zhiyuan, take a small stool and sit at the door and wait for us. We'll go get some watermelons."

He Zhiyuan listened to his aunt's instructions obediently, moved a small stool and sat at the door of the uncle's house.

The uncle and aunt are both at Sha Zhu's house right now. They are spending the Mid-Autumn Festival at Sha Zhu's house this year and cooking there.

Yi Jiale and the other two went to Sha Zhu's house to move the watermelons.

When the aunt saw the children walking over with watermelons in their arms, she knew they were going to start making lanterns again, so she immediately told them, "Tuanzi, get two ceramic bowls at home to hold the watermelons. Eat less because it's autumn now and watermelons are very cold."

Yi Jiale didn't even turn his head: "I know, Mom~"

Lin Xiong and Huo Sheng each held two, and Yi Jiale held one.

Yi Zhonghai was in charge of taking care of He Zhiguo, and he also followed the children with He Zhiguo in his arms.

,,,,,,

At the doorstep of Yi Zhonghai's house, several children took spoons and started digging into the watermelon. They carefully placed the scooped flesh in a ceramic basin, and from time to time they would take a piece to eat.

Some children who couldn’t buy melons this year were envious of the children outside who had melons, and cried to their parents at home.

"Everyone else has melons and can make melon lanterns, but I don't have any, woo woo woo..."

"Alright, alright, stop crying! Here, take this glass jar and make your lantern. Just wrap the string around the opening and put the candle inside. Isn't it also a lantern? It's brighter than their melon lantern." A mother was impatient with her own child's crying, so she handed the can of canned fruit to her son and tried to coax him.

The boy then got up, wiped his tears and snot, and smiled while holding the jar.

When others saw the kids digging out so much fruit pulp, they would go over and take a few pieces with a smile on their faces. Yi Jiale and the others didn't say anything. After all, there was too much fruit pulp and it would be a waste if they couldn't finish it.

When all the flesh has been carefully hollowed out, it is time to show our creativity and skills - to make exquisite carvings on the green and smooth watermelon rind! No need to rely on a sharp knife, just a small and exquisite spoon, you can carve out the patterns and words you desire in your heart.

Next, we need to make this melon lantern more unique and practical. We need to carefully create a small hole at the bottom of the watermelon that can accommodate the candle we use, and make sure it is firmly stuck in the candle to provide warm and soft light. Then, we cleverly drill several small holes on the top of the watermelon, and then string them together one by one with tough thin ropes and tightly wrap them around a thin wooden stick. Even the small lid has been carefully processed: first, a beautiful pattern is carefully carved on it, and then it is polished to be thinner so that light can penetrate more easily.

In this way, a simple and beautiful melon lantern has been made. At this moment, it is quietly waiting for the night to fall, as if it can't wait to bloom its own light in the darkness, bringing endless surprises and joy to people.