pastoral life

Wang Dahe was very melancholy, really, he felt that asking him to hold a book was more melancholy than killing him.

"Brother Mingzhu, I really don't like reading. You just want me to go to work in the fields. The housework requires me to be the eldest brother and the third younger brother to study well, and our family can have hope."

Wang Dahe tried to persuade Mingzhu, but the person who was quite talkative in the past is now biting this point no matter what, and he must follow suit.

"You have to read the books of your eldest brother and third brother, and you can't let yourself go!"

Mingzhu forced the book into Wang Dahe's hands with a strong attitude. It wasn't because he was stubborn. In fact, he didn't think that only reading is the right way. It's just because Wang Dahe only confines his vision to home.This kid admits death, and is always willing to leave the good things to his brothers to do the most tiring and hardest work. He believes that studying is a good thing, so he refuses to do it at all. Seeing the child's distress, Mingzhu didn't care about his own wishes at the moment, so he had to force Wang Dahe to swallow a few sips of ink before he was reconciled.

"Brother Mingzhu is not forcing you. The life at home is getting better and better. Even if you hire someone to work in the field, it is okay. It's okay without your help. Why are you so stubborn? I don't have to ask you Going to the test of merit is just to broaden your horizons by reading and writing. Don’t keep thinking about working for your family. You have to think about yourself when you take time off. In the future, you will always marry a wife and have children. Could it be possible to subsidize this family for the rest of your life? ?”

Mingzhu took Wang Dahe's hand and patiently persuaded him. There are thousands of ideas in the book. He didn't point to Wang Dahe's real learning, but just wanted him to read more and think about it, so he wouldn't be so honest and easy to deceive. In the end, he still had to walk the road ahead by himself. Even if he and Wang Mingchuan were willing to spend more time on him, they couldn't cover everything.

"Then I still have to go to the ground like the elder brother!"

"Okay, all the boys in our family have to go to the farm, and Xiaohu has to go down when he grows up—don't be stubborn with me. It's common sense for a man to make money to support his family. You can't let Xiaohu learn to eat, be lazy, and only read. Do you recognize him as a younger brother?"

Wang Dahe thinks about the same reasoning, so he doesn't want to fight for Mingzhu again. He is obedient and easy to serve, once he accepts Mingzhu's orders, he will do it honestly, so now he no longer resists books, but He took what Mingzhu gave him and ran to Wang Xiaohu to study with him.

**

I don’t feel it when I’m busy during the day, but I don’t feel deserted until Mingzhu is wrapped in bed alone at night. It’s been more than half a year since I’ve been in this world, and he’s been married to Wang Mingchuan since the first day here. It was unbelievable that he actually stayed by this person's side, and he still wanted to stay like this forever.

Mingzhu looked at the mosquito net in a daze, until her eyes were sore and unbearable, she closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep, but she was not used to sleeping with no one next to her pillow, so she simply put on her clothes and went to a few small rooms to see if everything was covered. quilt.The two little girls are well-behaved, and Dahe doesn't need him to worry about it. Only Wang Xiaohu likes to kick the quilt, which is fine in summer, but now that it's autumn, he can't mess around anymore.

"It's better to make a sleeping bag to wrap you up."

Mingzhu covered the child with a quilt and then slapped him on the buttocks to relieve her anger. Every time she ran, she could see the quilt appearing under the bed in various poses, and asked him to say that she could kick him so persistently every night. The quilt is also a good skill.

The child was slapped and moaned for a while, but he still didn't wake up. He slapped his mouth a few times and still fell asleep heartlessly.

Mingzhu tightened the clothes on her body and shook her head helplessly and went back. Fortunately, what he likes is that men can’t have children. Raising children is really not an ordinary thing. The few young ones of the Wang family are enough to worry him Where can I spare my energy to take care of other things.

Speaking of which, if Wang Dahe and Wang Xiaohu want to study seriously, they have to set up another study room at home. The existing room is just poorly furnished, and they need to buy more books, pens, inks, papers and inkstones. When I came back, although there was no big money left in the family, the small money was not bad.If Xiaoxi and Xiaotan are interested, they can also ask them to learn together. The girls know more and won't worry about being fooled when they get married.

I thought about it a lot, until Mingzhu was lying on the bed, still thinking that Xiaoxi should start learning female celebrities, he can't teach him, but Aunt Jiang can take him more, girls always have to know this skill In the future, when I go to my in-law's house, I won't ask people to find fault.

Thinking of this plan for the sake of the children at home, Mingzhu lightened Wang Mingchuan's thoughts a lot, but fell asleep in a daze.

When I opened my eyes, it was dawn.

**

Mingzhu plans to do a lot of work in the field, and now it's time to harvest. Because their family didn't grow much food in the past, it's not troublesome to harvest now, but he still can't do it alone, so According to the usual practice, several acquaintances were invited to help in the field, so it was inevitable to invite them to have some meals at night after working during the day. Mingzhu asked Mrs. Jiang, and sent them away after paying more than other families.The next day I went to work as usual, and the wages were settled every day, and I was served with good food and food, which made those peasants very happy.

"Mingzhu, you are a kind person. You are no better than those people who forget their roots when they are rich. If you need help in the future, you will call us. Don't worry, I will do it for you!"

"Shouldn't I have to bother you guys? My namesake Chuan and I don't know much about the work in this field, and I will have to rely on the elder brothers to teach me a few tricks in the future."

Mingzhu is looking for people from Shangwan, they all get along well on weekdays, they are honest and do their jobs without causing trouble, and they are careful in their hands, even if a stalk of rice falls, they will pick it up and put it away, no matter how much it is Always have a mindful attitude, and it is comfortable for people to look at.

"According to me, if your family is doing well, it's time to hire a long-term worker. Your Chuanzi wants to study, and Dahe and the others are still young. Now that life is getting better, why don't you want to find a long-term worker to help in the field? It’s better to make a lot of money if you sell it.”

After hearing these words, Mingzhu moved her mind, but in the end Wang Mingchuan wasn't there and he couldn't express his opinion directly, so she answered vaguely a few times to divert the topic away and didn't go further.

After Wang Mingchuan came back from the exam, the rice and corn had already been moved back from the field, and the rice had to be taken to the threshing ground to make millet, pick it up and put it on a bamboo mat to dry. The corn was also spread out and dried in the courtyard dam. Now I can still look at some sunny days, and then it will rain in autumn and add cotton clothes and I can't dry things anymore.

"Why was it empty when I passed Wantian on my way? It turned out that you had to clean it up."

After Wang Mingchuan put down the book basket, he stepped forward to take the broom in Mingzhu's hand to sweep the millet. It was dark to collect the bamboo mats, and if he didn't put them in the main room, it would be a waste of time to wait until the frost fell.

"Hurry up and sit in the house for a while. I'm not in the field for the past few days and you have to work hard. Why don't you wait for me to come back and do it again. It's a good idea to be tired from such a hurry."

"You think I'm as honest as Dahe. I invited Uncle Ma and the others to help. If I were to be alone, I wouldn't be able to finish it before you come back. Xiaoxi and the others also helped, picking peppers and cutting peppers. , it’s not all due to me.”

If Wang Mingchuan didn't mention the Township Examination Pearl, he wouldn't mention it either. It's easy to pass the exam, and life will always go on as usual.When they got together, they always talked about the harvest in the field and their plans for the coming year, and occasionally talked about their siblings, but this chatter was all about hiring long-term workers.

"The three pieces of land I bought back earlier are also vacant. Now that the work in the field is getting heavier, it's not easy to ask you to do it all the time. The family is not short of money. I want to ask two long-term workers to help. Firstly, if someone is more familiar with it, it must be better than ours. Secondly, when we are free, we will spend a lot of planning and planning on business matters. Only when we have more money can we buy the barren slope. Naturally, it takes more time for you to study. Yes, we can no longer cram like these two times."

Mingzhu laid out everything and made it very clear to Wang Mingchuan. The latter listened carefully and then raised a few words of his own opinion. They put them all into bamboo baskets, and with the afterglow of the setting sun, picked up all the harvests of the past half year and brought them back to the main room, so that the big house that was empty from the beginning would be enriched day by day, making people feel at ease.

**

When the weather turns cold, this cold cake and cold shrimp can no longer be sold. Although the raw materials for sour candy are gone, I stocked up a lot earlier and can sell it for a while. Now that it is cold today, I don’t worry about keeping things for long. Therefore, at the beginning, Mingzhu had to make a lot of people, put it in a jar, seal it, and store it up.It's just that Yunlaifang can't stop fresh food, Mingzhu thought for a while, and inadvertently looked at the orange grove next to her yard, but she had an idea.

"Collect glutinous rice again?"

"That's right, the glutinous rice, pickles, white sugar, sesame, and peanuts are all harvested, and even the leftover bacon from previous years is also harvested. Let's make leaf rakes!"

Ye Erpa is well-known in Sichuan. It is an extremely common glutinous rice product just like glutinous rice cakes. Mingzhu ate it a lot when she was a child, but she never ate a bite when she grew up and went to study abroad. She is not lazy. Do, but without the most important raw material - orange leaves.

"There are orange trees planted next to the yards of every household in Chuanshandang, and they are all on the ridges of the fields. We spend money to collect orange leaves that are in good shape and have no insect eyes. Regardless of size, we collect them by the catty. If these things can be sold, it will be enough for us. It's been on sale for a long time. Don't be lazy today, pick the orange leaves for me, and I'll give you something delicious tonight!"

The little ones ran madly into the orchard when they heard that there was something delicious to eat. The orange tree was short and had many branches. Even at Xiaotan’s age, he could climb up to pick the leaves effortlessly. The only few orange trees were left alone and concentrated on preparing raw materials.Naturally, Wang Mingchuan went to help in the kitchen, because he was already familiar with the most glutinous rice at home, and without Mingzhu's orders, he would wash the glutinous rice and mix it with water and put it in the pot to burn, but Mingzhu stopped him from taking the glutinous rice to the millstone Grind it into powder and bring it over there, and he himself brought pickled vegetables, lean meat, sugar jars, dried peanuts, spread them all out and threw off his arms to work.

The peanuts were fried in their shells. Before Wang Mingchuan left, the fire was ready, so Mingzhu just stir-fried it, because even the whole family ate Mingzhu and didn’t fry too much. Ask him to wait for it to cool and peel the bowl to fill it, while he turns around and chops pickles and minces the meat.When all the minced pickles and minced meat were minced and mixed together, Wang Mingchuan also peeled the peanuts. Mingzhu took it and mashed it and put it in a bowl with sugar for later use. His eyes were shining brightly at the pearl.

"Look at it, but there is nothing to eat. Get water, wash the leaves one by one and put them in the Shakei. Take them all, wash them quickly so you can eat them sooner!"

"Oh!"

"Oh!"

"Oh!"

"Oh!"

The whole family divides the work. After the glutinous rice flour is ground, Mingzhu takes a big pot and puts it in water to knead the dough. The glutinous rice is very sticky and it takes a lot of effort to knead it. Therefore, it is always necessary to sprinkle some flour in while kneading. According to their family's habit, Mingzhu I also beat a few eggs, mixed in the egg whites and kneaded them together, and when everything was ready, I started wrapping and raking.

"It's not too difficult to bring them all together and make a bun. Let's have dinner earlier after we finish it."

Mingzhu took the lead in taking a piece of washed orange leaf as a demonstration. First, she took out a small ball of dough from the basin, rounded it up, flattened it, put a mixture of sugar and peanuts in it, and then rolled the stuffing like glutinous rice balls. Put the orange leaves in it and put it in the steamer.

"Two pots of stuffing, the sweet and salty ones are wrapped separately. Just remember to put more glutinous rice balls in the stuffing and squeeze the smaller ones. Anyone who wants to make a big one has to eat it by himself. Remember these and start working for me!"

The whole family gathered happily around the table and raked the leaves. After all, it was the pearl of glutinous rice. They didn’t dare to make too much. They just let the steamer full and put it in the pot and steamed it until the orange leaves were on the table. The color and taste have been steamed into the glutinous rice dumplings, and it is very beautiful to see each one is white with green.

The sugar filling has already turned into sugar water. The skin of the peanuts has absorbed enough sugar juice, but the inside is still crispy. When you bite down, you can taste the fragrance of the orange leaves and the softness of the glutinous rice, followed by scalding The sugar juice mixed with fried peanuts flows into the mouth, sweet, fragrant, soft, and glutinous, but this mouthful is a mixture of four distinct and harmonious flavors, making people feel sweet and warm.

The pickled vegetable minced meat stuffing is not inferior to the sugar stuffing at all. The aroma of the pickled vegetables is already strong, and the minced meat adds a bit of oil and gas mixed together, making people smell the aroma of oil and water before they bite it.The entrance is still full of the fragrance of orange leaves. When the pickles are mixed with minced meat and wrapped in a half circle of orange leaf-flavored glutinous rice balls and chewed together, it really makes people realize the true meaning of salty, fragrant and delicious. The meat and pickles are minced and integrated, even if you don’t put much meat, you can eat enough oil and water for the Chinese New Year with just one bite. Raw pickles are so greasy that you still don’t think it’s enough. Take another bite until you hold your stomach and can't eat anything anymore.