Bianshanhan [farming]

Li Maoxian was very concerned about the wooden box chessboard. He was still thinking about it while eating. He accidentally picked up a large chopsticks pickle and drank a large bowl of water, causing Chen to look over it frequently.

After eating, Li Maoxian hurried out.

Li Qingwen went to the fields with his mother and brothers to pull weeds. There were many people and quick hands. They pulled out two fields in the afternoon, and then they waited for the autumn harvest.

When she came back, Jiang had already poured out the water in the basin containing the wheat, and spread the wheat that had been soaking for a day on a grate made of sorghum stalks, and covered the wheat with a piece of cloth to avoid light.

Jiang Shi was afraid that what she did was wrong, so she asked Li Qingwen specifically, and she was relieved when she got a positive nod.

Mrs. Chen was mending in the house, listening to the familiar sound of sawing wood in the yard, and came out to see that her man was lowering his head to fix something. The chisel and plane next to him were different from the previous ones, and they should have been borrowed from someone else's house.

Mrs. Chen didn't say anything, and went back to the house silently.

For two or three days in a row, Li Maoxian was busy in the yard in his free time, and the piles of wood scraps he made were used to kindle the fire.

With the daily watering, the barley sprouts by the west wall grew taller and taller, and Li Qingfeng's eyes became brighter and brighter.

He really couldn't resist the little fourth brother's expectant eyes, seeing that the malt was almost high, Li Qingwen brought it back.

According to what Li Qingwen said, Mrs. Chen tore the malt off the grate and washed it, while Mrs. Jiang steamed the pre-soaked glutinous rice on the curtain in the pot.

Because his son said that the more crushed the malt is, the better, so Mrs. Chen chopped it finely first, and then crushed it over and over again with a rolling pin. In the end, the malt became a watery paste, which was similar to the effect of a grinder.

After the glutinous rice is steamed, take it out and spread it out to dry. When it feels not too hot to the touch, pour it back into the pot, and then sweep the malt water paste on the chopping board into the pot with a cooking broom.

Li Qingwen took a wooden shovel and stirred the malt water paste and rice grains in the pot. Chen thought he was too slow, so he took it.

Chen's work is neat, with a shovel flying up and down in her hand, it's faster than Li Qingwen at 01:30.

The two things in the pot were almost mixed, Li Qingwen told his mother to stop.

There was still fire in the stove, and after a while, Li Qingwen touched the edge of the clay pot, then put his fingers into the rice paste in the pot, and said, "It's just like this, it's hot for three to four hours."

Li Qingfeng volunteered, "I'm watching the fire."

Mrs. Chen didn't agree, "Feng'er, you might start the fire, mother should do it."

There were five or six catties of grain in the pot, and Mrs. Chen was afraid that something would go wrong and spoil it.

Li Qingfeng has a quick temper, and he once burned his rice, but Chen usually wouldn't let him catch fire.

Nothing happened for the next half a day. Seeing that the water tank at home was empty, Li Qingwen and Li Qinghong went to the village well to fetch water.

There are two public wells in Yangshu Village, one in Dongtou and the other in Nantou. They are dug by a partnership in the village. If the wells are dug in their own yard, they can be used at their own expense. Of course, there are several households working together. They paid for it together.

The Li family was used to going to the well in the south, and Li Qingwen followed the third brother with a bucket, walking all the way from the house to the well, receiving many gazes.

There were a few children shouting "Big Fool" against the wall. This name was not unfamiliar, and Li Qingwen heard it a lot in his memory.

Even so, he would not be indifferent, he shouted at the children: "Scream again, and I will tell your parents to make your ass bloom!"

He doesn't care about children, but he doesn't want to be said that, so tell these little things the consequences first.

In the past, these children dared to scold him behind their backs. They were taught by Li Qingfeng and Li Qinghong. Now that they have learned well, they start to yell when they are far away.

The first time I heard the threat from the "fool", the children were a little confused and fled in all directions.

The adults on the side of the road could tell that the Li family's youngest son was really well. He didn't respond to being scolded before, but now he knows to sue.

The well was drilled by a professional person, and I heard that it cost a lot of money. The mouth of the well is about one foot wide, with a pulley on top, a strong wooden frame, and a well rope as thick as a child's arm. Time to replace it with a new one.

The well was very deep and very dangerous, so the adults in the village took pains to warn the children not to play by the well. This well was very scary in Li Qingwen's memory.

Fortunately, in winter, the well is covered with ice made of frozen water, which is easy to slip and fall, so adults should be careful.If you see a child by the well when it is cold, you will definitely be given a meal of fried meat with the soles of your shoes when you go back.

There were a lot of people by the well at this time, including many from the Li family. Li Qingwen greeted each of them politely. Several elders held Li Qingwen's hand and asked questions, which made it impossible for him to shake the water with the third brother. .

However, there are many people by the well, so it would be nice to just give a hand.

The well rope went up and down again and again, and buckets of water were shaken up. According to the principle of first come, first served, the person in front of the line received the water first, and soon the bucket brought by Li Qingwen was also full of water.

The two brothers left with water under the watchful eye of the crowd.

The wooden barrel itself is not light, and it is even heavier when it is filled with water. When it comes to home, Li Qingwen's arms are sore and painful. His body has never done physical work and lacks exercise.

In addition to not looking like a peasant boy, Li Qingwen's face was also very pale. The original owner didn't work in the fields and didn't go out much, which was obvious in the tanned faces.

There was something in the east pot, and the lunch was porridge cooked in the west pot. Li Qingfeng really wanted to lift the lid of the pot to have a look, but he heard his younger brother say that he could make sugar before going to bed, so he held back.

After lunch, I cleaned the western pot, and Jiang put a few scoops of water in it.

After the water is boiled, it’s about time. First, scoop a ladle of boiling water and pour it into the sugar grains of the Dongguo, then take Chen’s washed fine cloth and cover the mouth of the empty basin, and use a ladle to scoop up the soup and water from the Dongguo. Get up and pour it on the muslin little by little.

The sugar water ran through the muslin into the basin, and the sugar grains remained on top.

After several times, the pot bottomed out, and I got two big pots of sugar water and a pile of sugar grains.

Do not throw away the sugar grains, put them back into the east pot, continue to put the boiling water in it, try to get the sugar water in the sugar grains as clean as possible, and then pass through the fine cloth.

The color of the sugar water is turquoise, which is almost the same.

The east pot is connected to the kang in the east room, and it has been heated for several hours. It is impossible to sleep at night, so the sugar water is put in the west pot and starts to boil.

Mrs. Chen picked up the rice dregs in the candy grains and asked if they were still edible. Li Qingwen thought for a while, then said cautiously: "Mother, let's feed these to chickens and pigs."

There was no shortage of food in the past, and no one ate these things without nutrients.

Although reluctant, Mrs. Chen still planned to divide the rice dregs into three meals and feed them to the pigs. The chickens could find worms to eat, and the pigs would eat grass without gaining weight.

Don't relax when boiling sugar, and keep stirring the pot to prevent the pot from sticking to burnt.

It was the first time I made sugar at home. No matter adults or children, it was very strange. I walked around the stove, and I didn’t see any tricks at first, until the sugar water in the pot became more and more viscous, and the bubbles burst one by one. The sweet fragrance It spread out.

At this moment, he was only a few steps away from success, Li Qingwen was finally relieved, and asked, "Mother, do we have black sesame and soybeans at home?"

Before Mrs. Chen could speak, Li Qingfeng immediately said: "Yes, there are all of them! Just wait, son, I'll get them!"

He ran out with a "whoosh", but Chen's scolding didn't catch up.

Li Qingfeng brought sesame seeds, and Chen shi laughed and cursed, the whole family was happy, and she didn't say much.

Li Qingfeng said: "Mother, I can make maltose, and I can sell it to buy medicine for you in the future."

Because of what he said, Jiang grabbed a few more soybeans and put them in the pot to stir-fry. She watched people selling maltose in the county town, and it cost a penny for two yuan.

The fried soybeans turned yellow and were shoveled out and put into a bowl. Li Maoxian took them over, mashed them with a wooden pestle, and then used a rolling pin to grind the crushed beans into powder.

It stands to reason that it is easier to use a stone mill, but there are not many soybeans, so using the big mill in the village is a bit overkill.

Continue to fry the sesame seeds in a hot pan. The sesame seeds are small and very ripe. After turning them a few times, they will have a fragrance, so you have to quickly take them out.

Most of the eyes of the family were attracted by the more and more fragrant syrup, and the youngest, Li Zhengming, even babbled and wanted to squeeze into the pot.

Fearing that his little nephew would be scalded by the splashing sugar solution, Li Qinghong picked him up.

Li Qingwen had been staring at the soybean noodles and sesame noodles, so he used chopsticks to pick out some sugar liquid from the pot and put it into a bowl filled with water. The hot sugar liquid cooled down in cold water.

Li Qinghong took the chopsticks, and the little nephew began to lick the candy on the chopsticks.

Sesame is better because it is easy to break, and soybeans can't be made into a very fine powder without any tools at hand. However, if you eat it yourself, you don't need to make it so fine.

Soybean powder and sesame powder were put into two large bowls respectively. Under the watchful eyes of the whole family, Li Qingwen scooped the sugar juice from the pot into the two bowls, and immediately kneaded the noodles with the sugar juice without any delay.

He was a little anxious for a moment, his hand was scalded by the hot sugar juice, and a blister soon formed.

Chen's eyebrows twitched, "Boy, let mother come!"

Mrs. Chen is used to work, and her palms are rougher. When she kneaded the noodles in the bowl, she poured them out and kneaded them with her hands.

The other bowl of sesame noodles was taken away by Mrs. Jiang.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law finished kneading, but the noodles were still very hot. Li Qingwen wanted to make it himself, but was stopped by Jiang, "Zaier, you can do as you say, sister-in-law and mother-in-law."

Li Qingwen couldn't resist, so he asked his sister-in-law and mother to roll the soybean noodles and sesame noodles into thin slices, and then cut them into thin strips.

These two people are very familiar, and it is not much different from making noodles.

According to what Li Qingwen said, Mrs. Jiang and Mrs. Chen stacked soybean noodles and sesame noodles together for an unknown number of layers, and finally wrapped them with a layer of yellowish soybean noodles.

After wrapping it up, the two of them began to pull each other to the sides.

After doing fine work for a long time, Jiang and Chen have a better grasp of strength. Li Qingwen said that the strength should be even, so they can pull very steadily.

The noodle block was stretched to the height of a finger, and Li Qingwen cut off the head with a knife, and an upside-down "Fu" character could be seen on the neatly cut surface.

The sesame noodles are a little softer, and the word "Fu" is a bit round, but it doesn't affect the clarity of the characters.

"It's a word!" Li Qingfeng's eyes were sharp, and he gestured with his hand, "It's a blessing!"

Several children in the Li family follow their father to read and write. Although there are not many of them, they can still recognize the word "Fu".

Li Maoxian looked at it carefully for a moment, nodded and said: "Yes, it's a blessing."

The words were "written" with noodles, and the people in the room exclaimed.