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“Auntie Zhao, you raised them too well. Even I want to nourish my grandmother’s body…” Ger Qiu washed the steamer and wiped the flour from the table with a rag.
Zhao Liniang smiled helplessly. The wrinkles on her face deepened. “I’ll have Ger Yan bring you a hen in a few days…”
Ger Qiu quickly refused, “No need. Thank you, Auntie Zhao.”
“Just take it. It’s not anything valuable.” After speaking, she stood up, and patted her buttocks. She rubbed her shoulders and said in a relaxed tone, “You’re a little Ger. How good would it be if you were a man instead. You would be handsome and strong…”
“Hehe. Thank you, Auntie Zhao.” Two red spots appeared on Ger Qiu’s dark face. “I’ve been strong since I was a child. My grandmother said I was nine catties when I was born.”
“Nine catties. Wow, that is very heavy. Your mother must have suffered a lot giving birth to you.”
“Mn. My mom saw how fat I was and thought I was a boy…”
“…”
After chatting with Ger Qiu for a while, Zhao Liniang went to the back to wash her hands. She picked up her things and led the little donkey, preparing to go home. She tied the little donkey to the cart, put the two empty chickens, sat in the corner, and left. When she left, she happened to see a young scholar enter Lin’s Restaurant. From afar, she heard him say he wanted to buy some mooncakes.
“Ger Qiu, I want a basket of mooncakes.” The voice was loud and familiar. It was probably someone who came to purchase from the restaurant often.
Ger Qiu prepared his basket for him. The mooncakes placed on the counter of the store weren’t for sale but for display. The finished snow skin mooncakes were stored in a special wooden box. In addition to the lid, the wooden box was equipped with a dark compartment on all sides. Below it, ice cubes were stored. The mooncakes were placed in squares separated by a wooden shelf.
Lin Lixuan had someone make the bamboo baskets for the mooncakes. The person who made it was very skillful. The bottom of the bamboo basket was weaved into a peony flower. There were some people who really liked this basket and came to the store to buy mooncakes just for this bamboo basket.
“Feibai, how do you have time to come to our store everyday recently to buy mooncakes…” Ger Qiu handed him the basket full of mooncakes.
The young scholar in white looked at Ger Qiu with a smile. His voice was low and gentle. “My mother loves to eat these…”
Lin Lixuan didn’t set the price of mooncakes to be low, and this scholar came to buy mooncakes everyday. He was probably a young master of a wealthy family in the county town. Seeing his scholarly outfit, Zhao Liniang couldn’t help but think of her naughty child. These past few days, it seemed like there was a fly buzzing in her ear, telling her to whack him to death with a fan. After sitting at the store and calming down for a day, she didn’t hear all the noise and started to miss it.
Saying that he won’t go to the academy or take the imperial exam. They would build a new house at the foot of the mountain next year. A house where they could see both the north and the south, and the front and back door were connected. They could build a chicken coop, specially used to raise livestock. Or build grape trellis in front of the main entrance, then open some vegetable field below that.
Didn’t those kinds of days sound nice? Zhao Liniang sighed in her heart. Maybe she had been too greedy.
When Xuan’Er was a fool before, her wish was very simple. All she wished was that her son would be taken care of for a hundred years. Now that Xuan’Er had recovered, her ideas returned. She was like bubbling, boiling water, expanding more and more. Old man, if you were still here, how great would it be? You could tell me what to do…
Lin Lixuan held Ger Yan’s hand on the way back. They unloaded the bamboo basket and placed the firewood in the ventilated corner. They needed to wait for the water to evaporate before they could use the wood to burn fire. Ger Yan noticed that the firewood shed was a lot quieter than usual. When he entered to take a look, he realized that over half the poultry were gone.
Lin Lixuan brought back the thing he thought was peanuts. He spread the dry and nutrition lacking seeds into the field in front of the door. He didn’t know if they would grow even if he planted it, so he decided to do it casually. If they grew, peanuts might grow next year, and they would have roasted peanuts.
When they returned, there was light snow. They didn’t know it would snow. Small, little rice beans fell to the ground and disappeared after a while.
Zhao Liniang, who was inside the room, heard noise from outside. She walked into the courtyard and called out to them. “You got blown by the wind in the mountains all day. Hurry and come inside and drink a bowl of fish soup.”
Ger Yan responded with agreement.
On the way home, Zhao Liniang bought a fish from the county town. After she arrived home, she processed the fish body, slightly fried it in the pot until it was golden brown, added water, a handful of minced green onion, ginger, and a little rice wine, then carefully boiled it.
Because it was winter, the pot was directly set up in the house. The dry firewood that was being burnt was covered in a layer of white ash. Lin Lixuan picked up the long bamboo tube that was stuck in the ash and blew air to the fire. He blew away the white ash and until red glowing sparks appeared. The wooden branches burned with a soft popping sound.
At first, Lin Lixuan didn’t know how to use this thing and blew dust into his face. After getting used to it, he would always take up this job. If he blew it incorrectly, Zhao Liniang and Ger Yan would tease him.
Ger Yan handed a bowl of fish soup to Lin Lixuan, then poured a bowl for himself. Lin Lixuan lowered his head and tasted a mouthful of fish soup. Little green onion floated in the milky white soup. Below the white soup was the tender fish meat. The delicate white and tender tofu was extremely smooth. The rich aroma of fish soup filled their nose. The umami flavor lingered on the tip of their tongue. It was sweet, strong, and extremely fresh. The beautiful flavor stimulated their buds. The bowl of fish soup was drunk, and their entire body felt warm from head to toe.
Zhao Liniang also came over and sat by the fire. Ger Yan was busy serving a bowl of fish soup to his mother. “Ger Yan, no need. I’ve already drunk some.”
“Mother, did you go to the county town today?” Ger Yan remembered the chickens and ducks that were missing from the firewood shed.
Zhao Liniang threw the firewood in the fire. The red light of the flame shone on her face. “Mn, I sold the chicken and ducks we raised.” Speaking of which, Zhao Liniang remembered what made her angry. “Fortunately, I came back early today. The female duck actually hatched her ducklings today.”
It happened that Lin Lixuan had a bowl of fish soup in his stomach. “Mother, the fish soup you cooked was really delicious.”
Zhao Liniang glared at him, then finally exhaled out heavily. “If it’s delicious, then drink more.”
“You children are getting older. I can’t control you anymore,” Zhao Liniang muttered. The tense atmosphere in the room disappeared in an instant. Lin Lixuan and Ger Yan glanced at each other. They understood that their mother’s attitude finally softened. “Don’t worry about the things at the store for a few days. You can focus on buying things for a few years…”
Ger Yan spit the fish bones out of his mouth then suddenly remembered something. “Is the village buying pigs this year?”
“Oh, right. We need to buy meat.” Zhao Liniang also remembered. Around new years, the village chief would organize to buy a pig back for everyone to slaughter. They would sell the slaughtered pork to everyone. The price would be a lot cheaper than buying it from the butcher in the city. Almost every household in the village would buy a few catties of meat.
“Slaughter pigs? Lin Lixuan blinked. “Let’s buy more meat then.”
Zhao Liniang was displeased. “You just love eating meat. When the village chief comes over tomorrow, we’ll tell him that we want a few dozen catties of meat.”
“Buy a bit more. It’ll be cheaper than in the city. It’s going to be the new year again. We should buy at least a hundred catties or else it won’t be enough to eat. It can’t be helped. Ger Yan can eat a lot…” Lin Lixuan looked at Ger Yan with a sly glance.
Ger Yan, who “can eat a lot,” widened his eyes when he heard this. He was nervous as he quickly explained. “I-I-I… I can’t eat that much meat. I don’t eat meat…”
“You silly boy. What nonsense are you saying? Will you even be able to finish it if we buy over a hundred catties of meat? Ger Yan, let’s not listen to him. Only we will eat the meat we buy back,” Zhao Liniang couldn’t hold back her smile. She let her chopsticks cook in the boiling water for a second before picking up a piece of fish for Ger Yan.
Ger Yan was reluctant and hesitant. “We should give him some too.”
“Fine, we’ll give him a bit… We’ll give him the old and hard pieces.”
The next day, the village chief of Jade Creek Village went to each household to ask how much meat they wanted to purchase. It was only after confirming the final quantity did they choose the pig of the correct weight to buy. The village chief was a little old man of fifty or sixty years old. He wore a black cotton jacket and held a pot of hot wine as he knocked on each door.
Zhao Xingde, the village chief of Jade Creek Village, took this opportunity to walk house to house. He hummed an out-of-tune song as he staggered along the path through the village. He walked into the courtyard of the Lin resident and shouted before entering, “Little Miss Zhao, are you here?”
“Xiucai Lin!”
Zhao Xingde first saw Ger Yan, who was combing the little donkey outside. “Ger Yan?”
Ger Yan nodded. “Uncle Zhao.”
“It really is Ger Yan. I can’t even recognize you. How did you become so good looking? You look just like the Gers in the city…” Zhao Xingde said with a smile.
Ger Yan was a little embarrassed by his words. Many people had said he’d become good looking, but he didn’t think there was any change. He had obviously become fatter. Lin-dage said he was being raised like a pig. Pigs should be raised to be fat, strong and delicious…
Zhao Liniang heard his voice from afar. “Lao1-Zhao, come in and have a seat.”
Zhao Xingde made a u-turn. He took a sip of his wine and walked into the house. As soon as he entered the house, he found there was already firewood burning inside. It was hot and bright. He hurriedly took off the wine gourd from his waist and put it by the fire to warm it a bit.
“How much does your family want this year?”
- Means old. Used to show closeness with someone who is older than you. ↩︎
