Eating melons and raising children in the period literature

"Mother~Mother~Sister-in-law~Sister-in-law, we are back"

"Grandma, here we come"

"Grandma~Grandma~We are here"

...

"Hey! Your sister and the others are here! Let's go out and take a look. I haven't seen your sister for a long time." As soon as Zhao Xiaohua heard the voice outside, she knew that her other daughter, Lizhen, had come.

"Why are you howling! I can hear you from far away. My eldest grandson and granddaughter are here. Come in, come in. You come really early today." Zhao Xiaohua went out, took Li Yanqin and Li Yanli, and called Ma Lizhen to go into the house.

"Mom, look, I prepared a pair of enamel pots for Jianguo. Sister-in-law, is Jianjun back? This is a big happy event for the Ma family. Can he come back?" Ma Lizhen handed the things to Li Weiling.

"He couldn't come back, so he went to the army. How could he come back? I sent him a telegram. His reply arrived yesterday, saying that the army has regulations and he can't go home to visit his family in the first two years. He sent some local specialties, saying that he wanted to celebrate for his brother." Li Weiling answered the question while taking Ma Lizhen's family to the upper room, "You sit here for a while, I'll put the things in Jianguo's new house."

Ma Jianguo's new house is actually the east room newly built by the Ma family this year. In the past, the family only had the upper room, and later when the children grew up, they built the west room. At this time, Ma Jianguo got married and could not live with his younger brother, and his two sons were also going to get married in the future, so they simply built the east room.

Nowadays, the courtyards in Northeast China are all large. Even if a new house is built, the courtyard is still large, and it is no problem to set up seven or eight tables for guests in the courtyard.

"Okay, Sanqiang and I were planning to come yesterday, but my mother-in-law suddenly had something to do, so we didn't come. Don't be angry, sister-in-law. We came early today just to see if there is anything else we can help with."

"Sister-in-law, I'm sorry. My mother fell while fetching water yesterday, so we didn't come. It's my fault." Li Sanqiang also explained, fearing that his mother-in-law's family would think that he didn't take them seriously and would be dissatisfied with him, which would make it difficult for his wife to be in her parents' home.

"What's the big deal? It's nothing to worry about! We are so happy that you can come today." Li Weiling smiled and comforted the elder sister, then went out.

"Okay, your sister-in-law is not that kind of person! She doesn't like to talk usually, but she is smart and not the kind of person who likes to haggle over small details. If she wasn't really quiet, I wouldn't be able to continue to be the director of the Women's Department. You must be tired from the journey, so just sit down and have a rest. The relatives will be here soon, so please help greet them." As he spoke, he poured a bowl of water for each of them.

"Sister, brother-in-law, this is Qingqing, my sister." Ma Liyue then took Yang Qingqing to greet Ma Lizhen's family.

"Hey! I was saying that I have never seen such a pretty girl. It turns out to be Qingqing! We have met her before, but we haven't seen her for many years and I couldn't recognize her. Come on, this is Yanqin, this is Yanli and this is Yansheng, and finally this is my husband, you can just call him brother-in-law like Yueyue does."

Yanqin is a little girl with two pigtails and triangular eyes but a very pretty nose. She doesn't look much like Ma Lizhen or Li Sanqiang. Yanli and Yan look very similar, and they also look like their father. They both look like typical Northeastern men, but they are still young and look a little silly.

"Qingqing, there aren't many people here right now, you and Yanqin can go out and play for a while." Ma Lizhen took a handful of pine nuts from her pocket and handed them to Yang Qingqing. "We collected these from the mountains last year. There's a wedding at home today, so we brought the rest here. There aren't many left, only about five or six pounds, so we just give them as a token of our appreciation."

"Sister, what are you talking about! The pine nuts haven't come down yet. There are none left at home. You can bring so many here, it will bring honor to our family." Ma Liyue looked at the bag in her elder sister's hand, thinking that if a family had some pine nuts and melon seeds these days, they would be almost eaten up during the New Year, and it would not be easy to eat them until the next summer. She saw that her elder sister was saving them.

"When I came here yesterday, I heard my sister-in-law ask my mother if the three pounds of melon seeds and two pounds of peanuts she bought were enough. You brought five or six pounds of pine nuts, which is really amazing! I love to eat pine nuts, but it's a pity that now is not the season. I didn't expect that you brought so many, sister." She said and grabbed a handful.

"Knowing that you like to eat them, I brought them all here. You and Qinghe usually don't have time to make them, so you will definitely not be able to eat enough. Your brother-in-law and I go to the mountains every autumn to collect a lot of them. In addition to selling them to the purchasing station, there are still a lot left." Ma Lizhen said and gave Ma Liyue and Yang Qingqing a big handful each.

"Thank you, elder sister and brother-in-law. I've had enough. I'll eat more when someone comes. You can't give me all of them." Yang Qingqing refused Ma Lizhen. She didn't lack pine nuts. She didn't have to share the food that people gave to their relatives at the wedding.

"Okay, don't be polite. Jianguo is getting married today. Do you know when Po will come back? We sent him a message two days ago. Why hasn't he come yet? Other relatives are coming, and he won't come either. The villagers will gossip about him again." Zhao Xiaohua watched several people being polite to each other, and wondered why her eldest son hadn't come yet. Almost all the villagers had come, except for some relatives who lived far away. I hope nothing happened to them. As she spoke, she walked out the door.

"Qingqing, you can stay with Yanqin and the others for a while. Your aunt and I will go out to meet your second brother and his wife." Ma Liyue said, and she also stood up and followed Zhao Xiaohua out.

"Wait for me. I'll go with you. Sanqiang, you go and find our father. Is there anything he needs your help with? I'll go with you. Yanqin, you and Qingqing go together. You are all familiar with this place."

"Okay, I'll go find our dad, you go ahead. You guys can't cause any trouble, okay?" Li Sanqiang also got up and went out, not forgetting to remind the two brothers Yanli and Yansheng not to cause any trouble.

"Dad, you guys go ahead, I'll look after my brother. Qingqing, do you still remember me? We've met before." Li Yanqin looked at Yang Qingqing, expecting her answer.

"Um... I don't remember clearly, but why were you looking at Yanli and the others?" Although Yang Qingqing had the original owner's memories, there was no such person as Li Yanqin in the original owner's memories. Being looked at like that, Yang Qingqing felt very stressed and immediately changed the subject.

"It's nothing, it's just that I'm always impulsive and cause trouble, and my dad and others are worried. It's okay if you don't remember, that was when my aunt got married." Li Yanqin inherited her grandmother's cheerfulness.

Yang Qingqing likes her like this, as she makes people feel very friendly and not awkward, but she herself can't do that.

"Let's go out and look for Yinping and the others. I can introduce you to Wenjing, Wenxuan and the other kids. You haven't seen them before, right? They are all playing outside." Yang Qingqing thought that if she went to look for them, she wouldn't have to chat alone.

"Okay, I haven't seen Yinping for a long time." Yanqin agreed

"Then let's go quickly, we still want to play with Jianfang." Yanliye Supermarket agreed

Yansheng nodded.