pastoral life

When picking wild hawthorns earlier, Mingzhu took Wang Xiaoxi to plan a lot of wild sweet potatoes, washed them and cut them into slices to dry in the yard.Ducks always like to peck and play, and Wang Xiaotan also likes to chase ducks away, so every day you can see duck feathers flying around in the yard. Go to the paddy field and call it back when the cage is collected at night.Domestic ducks always know their way home, and as soon as it gets dark in the village, you can hear the loud voices of the women calling home:

"Beep beep—come, come, come—"

"Beep beep—come, come, come—"

The woman's thin and long voice echoed in the valley, and the ducks in the paddy fields stretched their necks to look at their masters, and after a moment of silence, led by the ducks Swim up to the ridge in a triangular shape, go ashore—stand still—shake off the water from your body, and then line up and walk to your own home. Those who are too proud always like to spread their wings and flap them With one side soaring to the sky——

"Quack-quack-quack-"

"Quack-quack-quack-"

Watching the ducks go back, Mingzhu collected the dried wild sweet potatoes in the courtyard dam and put them in bamboo baskets in the hall. The big bamboo mat used to dry things was made by Ming Chuan’s father. Now that the four corners are broken, the family is still reluctant to throw it away. It has been making do with it all the time, and only a new bamboo mat has been groped for weaving.

After dinner, Mingzhu picked up the basket of dried wild sweet potatoes that was first dried, scooped half a bucket of water from the water tank, and washed it roughly two or three times. It had been washed before drying earlier, and now it was just dust removal without too much effort. , I really want to wash it hard, but the sugar is washed away.

After washing the glutinous rice, pour it into an iron pot and mix it with water to cook first. Wang Mingchuan still kept the fire on the sidelines. Mingzhu took advantage of the idle time to cut the dried sweet potato into thin strips with scissors. Wang Dahe also found a pair of scissors to Help, those little ones also gathered around clamoring to cut, Mingzhu simply went to Aunt Jiang's house and borrowed two pairs of scissors for Dahe and the others to use, but she took half a basket to the chopping board to cut with a knife. Wang Mingchuan saw that the glutinous rice was almost done, so he took a big basin to clean the rice and put it aside to dry. After finishing, he ran to Mingzhu and took a kitchen knife to cut the dried sweet potatoes until the dried sweet potatoes in a large bamboo basket were cut into shreds. When Mingzhu was born, I took the steamer and poured all the shredded sweet potatoes and glutinous rice into it, stirred them evenly, and then steamed them in a pan, until there were three layers of steaming.

"You guys go to wash and sleep first, and I will get the rest with your elder brother."

Mingzhu wiped her hands and drove the younger ones to sleep. Before the latter left, she turned her head to stare at the steamer with great reluctance. Mingzhu didn't know that these people wanted to try something new, but glutinous rice is not easy to digest, if It’s late at night and falling asleep after eating glutinous rice is really bad for the child’s stomach. It’s better to make it today and have it hot for breakfast tomorrow morning.

After the children had left, Mingzhu locked the kitchen door and very seriously pulled Wang Mingchuan aside to talk about the matter.

"Today, I settled the bill with shopkeeper Zhu. The total is 28 taels. I gave Da Shunzi one or two half-hangs to his elder brother Fang, and bought some things from the city. There are 26 taels left, which is 24 taels." I exchanged the silver and two taels for copper coins, and they are all in the jar."

Mingzhu wrapped the silver in a cloth bag and put it in Wang Mingchuan's hands. After the latter took it, he stuffed it into Mingzhu's arms.

"You have always taken care of the money at home. I will hand over all the money I earn to you in the future. If I really want to spend it, I will pay it from you. Don't give it to me."

Since Wang Mingchuan said so, Mingzhu is not polite to him. Anyway, the money in his hands is for the whole family. in case for need.

Why do I suddenly feel like my wife is giving her husband pocket money...

Mingzhu was struck by her own thoughts, she shook her head and continued cooking the glutinous rice and dried sweet potatoes in the steamer.What he wants to make is dry cake, which is actually a kind of glutinous rice cake.People in Sichuan like to eat glutinous rice, especially white glutinous rice dipped in sugar, rice dumplings, glutinous rice cakes, yellow rice cakes, leaf rice cakes, glutinous rice sweet rice. Yes, the white glutinous rice dipped in sugar, and the heart-warming ones, these were all made by myself at home when I was young, and I started to buy them outside when I grew up. Mingzhu watched by the stove since she was a child, so she is naturally familiar with these methods.

"How to do it?"

"It's the same as hawthorn cake. You bring the stone pounder, and we'll pound it up tonight when it's just out of the pot."

Wang Mingchuan went to take out the mixture of glutinous rice and shredded sweet potatoes, while Mingzhu turned around to melt the sugar. Originally, the glutinous rice would taste better if dipped in sugar, but Tangpinzhai only sells finished products. I will definitely send a dry cake tomorrow. It's already cold, if you don't heat it up and dip it in sugar, you can't eat it, so Mingzhu changed the steps, and I don't know the taste in my heart.

The rest was hard work, Wang Mingchuan pounded the glutinous rice, Mingzhu watched the gap and added sugar water, and waited until the glutinous rice was all pounded before taking it out to cool and set it. It took a while before the two washed and went to sleep.When returning to the room, Mingzhu noticed that Wang Mingchuan's arms were shaking a little, and then she remembered that the effort to pound glutinous rice was not comparable to that of wild hawthorn, because Wang Mingchuan was too able to endure the whole process, not only did he not make a sound, but even showed a little uncomfortable expression on his face None, so Mingzhu directly forgot about it.

"Go and lie down on the bed, and I'll press it for you."

Mingzhu turned around and went back to the kitchen to fetch the remaining hot water, then took Wang Mingchuan's own towel and put it in the basin.

"It's late at night and you have to get up early tomorrow. I'm not in the way, just rest overnight."

Mingzhu didn't argue with him either, she directly grabbed Wang Mingchuan and made him lie on the bed.

"Take off your clothes."

Wang Mingchuan froze for a moment, his face flushed slightly, which looked suspicious no matter how he looked.

"What's the matter, you and I are both men, can you be held responsible just by looking at it?"

Mingzhu's towel soaked enough water in the basin, wrung it dry and returned to the bed. At this time, Wang Mingchuan had already taken off his shirt and was lying on the bed in his double lapel. After a month of recuperation, she is no longer as skinny as before, and because of the frequent work in the field, the muscles on her arms are in good shape, and her skin color is also the wheat color Mingzhu likes. If she met Wang Mingchuan Mingzhu earlier in her life, she might be tempted, but now... …

He really couldn't accept the age difference.

Mingzhu pulled the scarf and put it on one of Wang Mingchuan's arms, and pressed his fingers alternately on his arm. After all, he was young and could feel that the muscles under his hand were not thick, but he still insisted on carrying a hoe to the ground every day. After Mingzhu cooks and eats from the sidelines, she will definitely be able to show a strong physique.

Well, there is something about how the more you raise, the more you develop towards the appearance you like.

Mingzhu shook her head to get rid of the obscene thoughts inside, calmed down and concentrated on massaging Wang Mingchuan, washed the towel in the basin again and again, until finally Wang Mingchuan was snoring softly.

The corners of Mingzhu's lips hooked slightly, and the tenderness in her eyes was so strong that her face was burning hot.

Put the towel back into the basin, Mingzhu didn't take it outside, just put it on the table like this, turned off the oil lamp, and went to bed to turn Wang Mingchuan over to sleep, never thought that this guy was dead He tried his best to sing against Mingzhu.Mingzhu used all her strength to turn him over and leaned over to grab a thin quilt beside him to cover her. She never thought that she would suddenly lose her balance and fall because of a sudden force on her waist as soon as her body was lowered to an arc. Into Wang Mingchuan's arms.

"It's crazy what happened, is it fun to pretend to sleep at night!"

Mingzhu hit Wang Mingchuan once, and the latter still closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, but only strengthened the strength in his hands and held Mingzhu and did not let go. Mingzhu struggled but let him go, and simply hooked up the quilt to comfort the two. People covered her, and Mingzhu's original quilt was neatly stacked at the end of the bed...was kicked to the corner by Wang Mingchuan again.

Pearl: ...

**

The next morning, Mingzhu and Wang Mingchuan came out of the house one after another. The former had a gloomy face, while the latter rubbed his pinched waist and looked helplessly at the back of the person in front of him.

It's not bad for the lady to be capricious occasionally.

Mingzhu cooked porridge this morning and asked the whole family to eat it with dried cakes, but this food is not easy to digest Mingzhu didn’t dare to ask for a few small ones to eat more, the tradition of Sichuan people’s love for glutinous rice is probably also the same as this food. It is related to hunger. When we were poor in the early years, there was little oil and water in our meals. After eating meals, we always became hungry quickly. But glutinous rice is different. You can feel full without eating much, and it can last for a long time. One of the excellent substitutes for meat, every household can eat glutinous rice just like Chinese New Year.Because of the frequent eating, there are more patterns of eating, and the glutinous rice culture in Sichuan has developed so much that when the new era comes, life is getting better, and glutinous rice is still inseparable during the New Year and festivals.

After breakfast, Mingzhu still had to go to the city, because if there was a new product today, she had to talk to the other side, and she couldn't just ask Fang Tiezhu to take a cart and pull it over.

"What's the matter, why do you look so bad?"

Wang Mingchuan put the jars filled with dry cakes into the bamboo baskets, and when he turned his head to see Mingzhu's brows and eyes, the mood was not as relaxed as before.

"It tastes better when it's steamed."

"what?"

Mingzhu took a piece from the jar and stuffed it into Wang Mingchuan's mouth, and the latter felt the difference even after chewing.He tasted a little bit when he just made it earlier, but he didn’t know which one was better because he hadn’t eaten it just out of the pan. No matter how much you eat, you can't feel the difference, but now the difference is more and more obvious.

"I thought there would be a problem early in the morning. Glutinous rice is always eaten hot. Although it can be made into cold instant snacks, the taste is still not good. But Tangpinzhai can ask us to set up a stove to sell this Is it? Impossible!"

An old store like Tangpinzhai has formed a fixed pattern after so many years of operation. It is extremely difficult to make changes for a small person like Mingzhu. After much deliberation, I finally decided to put it in Mrs. Li's breakfast shop and sell it steamed. Although the money is small, it is still worthy of my tongue, and the taste of this cold dry cake may not be liked by many people. It is better to sell cold cakes directly.

cold cake...

Mingzhu's mind turned a corner, but she remembered this. It is impossible to have cold cakes in summer, and the ice powder is gone, but cold shrimps in cold cakes are absolutely indispensable. Otherwise, why would it be called summer?

"Today, let me go to the city instead. Give Aunt Li a basket of dry cakes and a basket of Tangpinzhai's hawthorn cakes. You slept late last night so you can rest well today."

Mingzhu glared at Wang Mingchuan, if he hadn't had a convulsion last night, wouldn't she be able to sleep well by herself? Because of anger, Mingzhu really wanted Wang Mingchuan to go for him, but she was worried that he would just go on the road like this, so she took money from him. He took a tael of silver from the jar and put some small money in his hand and said:

"I took the time to sew an inner pocket on your clothes yesterday. You should carry some money with you when you go out. Don't save money. Our family's life will always be better."

After Wang Mingchuan took the money, he took a deep look at Mingzhu, seeing that his face was burning hot, but before he left, he kissed Mingzhu's half of the face with the black birthmark, and then jumped into the bullock cart to urge As Fang Tiezhu drove towards the city, Mingzhu was so angry that she stamped her feet at the back of the car.