Eating big melon is so refreshing

Zhaojia Village is thirty miles away from Huangyang County. Go out of the east gate and walk five miles forward at the fork in the road at the banyan tree, climb two small hills south, and walk another three miles to the entrance of Zhaojia Village.

The Zhao family is a large family in Zhaojia Village. Among the 133 households, 75 are surnamed Zhao. Zhao Bei, who lives at the end of the village, has three older brothers, Zhao Dong, Zhao Xi, and Zhao Nan. Unlike his three brothers who have a small family, Zhao Bei's family is very good at giving birth to children and they are able to support them all.

Twenty-six-year-old Zhao Dalang and Wang had three sons, seven-year-old Zhao Daniu, five-year-old Zhao Erniu, and three-year-old Zhao Sanniu.

Twenty-four-year-old Zhao Erlang and Jiang gave birth to four-year-old Zhao Chunya and Zhao Linqiu.

Twenty-two-year-old Zhao Sanlang and Mrs. Du gave birth to three-year-old Zhao Daqing and one-year-old Zhao Xiaoqing.

Twenty-year-old Zhao Silang and Gao have been married for a year but there has been no news. Anyway, the pressure is quite high now.

Seventeen-year-old Zhao Wulang is looking for a marriage partner. He is quite picky, but he is not in a hurry anyway, so there is no point in others being anxious.

Except for Zhao Dalang and the unmarried Zhao Wulang who still lived in the old house, the others moved out to avoid friction between brothers and sisters-in-law.

The residences are separated but the families are not. When serving in the army, only one male member from each household is required to serve, and fathers, sons and brothers can take turns. This is how it is done in the village.

A large population means facing the difficulty of food. Zhao Bei has thirty acres of dry land. In addition to growing wheat, he can only grow some beans. The annual harvest of thirty acres is three thousand kilograms of wheat and two thousand kilograms of soybeans. Minus the fifteen kilograms of tax levied on each acre, the remaining food will be divided according to the population and each person will not get more than twelve kilograms of food per month.

Some people may say that twelve kilograms of food per month is not enough to eat, but that is in modern times when there is plenty of oil and water. In ancient times, too many people in Zhaojia Village could not even eat one meal of pork in a month. Let alone twelve kilograms of food per month, even one hundred and twenty kilograms of food could be finished!

In this situation, even if Zhao Erlang married into the Jiang family, his old parents would have no choice but to nod their heads. When they couldn't even get enough food to eat, where could they find the money for a dowry to marry their son?

According to Daye's laws, if a man is over 18 years old and unmarried, or a woman is over 16 years old and unmarried, she must pay a fine.

There is a saying: live by the mountain, eat by the mountain; live by the water, eat by the water. There is little land in Zhaojia Village. If you have the ability, you can go hunting in the back mountain five miles away. It is said that the mountain is called Fenghuang Mountain, which is three hundred miles long.

"Wulang, I heard that Sanlang went to the county town?" The one who asked was Ludan, a gossip-monger who loved to gossip.

"My second brother wrote to say that the cloth shop was busy before the Dragon Boat Festival and asked my third brother to go and help out for a few days." Zhao Wulang had no idea that the people in the village were so boring. People were gossiping about his third brother just one day after he left the village.

Uncle Ku didn't pamper Donkey Egg and scolded him, "Wandering around the village all day like a long-mouthed woman, are you still a man?"

Donkey Egg was afraid of Uncle Ku and walked away embarrassedly.

"Uncle Fugui has a son like Donkey Egg, so he must be miserable." Zhao Wulang complained, and then changed the subject, "Uncle Ku, I want to go into the mountains."

"The mountains have been uneasy these days, so we can only walk around the outskirts." Zhao Wulang's martial arts were taught by his uncle Ku, so he knows the ropes well.

"Got it. I think my second brother will be back today. I'll just walk around the periphery and try to come back in the afternoon."

Zhao Wulang went home excitedly to get his bow and arrows. His second brother was already very tired carrying heavy bags to sell things at the dock, and he also had to help his third brother sell toys. After thinking about it, he decided to carry a backpack, so that if he couldn't catch pheasants and mountain rabbits, he could dig some fresh bamboo shoots to take back.

Stir-fried bamboo shoots with coriander. People in the village don’t like to eat bamboo shoots, but my twin niece and nephew like this dish.

Old Zhao's family has many grandsons, so they are not interested in them anymore. They only have one granddaughter, who is chubby and cute.

Afternoon

Zhao Wulang came back exhausted. He was lucky today and caught a pheasant and dug up a lot of bamboo shoots.

A mule-drawn cart rumbled into Zhaojia Village. The driver was Zhao Erlang, who had managed to run the cart in a decent manner in just two days.

Today is the Dragon Boat Festival. Every household is cooking rice dumplings at this time. In previous years, Zhao Erlang would come back after the Dragon Boat Festival, but who knew that he would come back early this year, and even come back in his own mule and horse carriage.

At this time, all the members of the Zhao family gathered in the old house. When they heard the sound of horse hooves, they just wondered in their hearts whose relatives had come. The next second, Zhao Wulang's voice was heard.

"Dad, Mom! My second brother and the others are back!"

"Is Jiro back?"

Everyone walked out of the yard and saw a mule-drawn carriage parked at the door. A chubby little girl in a green skirt jumped out of the carriage.

, and then a pretty little boy in blue clothes got out of the car.

"grandmother!"

"Old man, come out and see who's back." Zhao Yang knew that the old man was staying in the room, worrying about the boy and girl twins. It was so hot and the children were so young, she didn't expect that the whole family would come back.

"Grandpa, Xiaochuner misses you!" Xiao Chunya yelled in a loud voice, and Zhao Beifei rushed out of the house. He always felt that his granddaughter was most like him, and this loud voice was very similar to his style back then!

"Xiao Chun'er" Zhao Bei reached out and picked up his chubby granddaughter. She looked like a doll in a New Year picture and looked very blessed. He really wanted to keep her by his side and not let her go back.

"Grandpa, my brother wants a hug too."

"Your grandma will hold her." Having many grandchildren is not a big deal. Although this grandson is the best-looking among all the grandchildren, he is still far behind the granddaughter.

Xiao Qiulin didn't like being held by others, so he took the initiative to hold Zhao Yang's hand and said, "Grandma, let me help you into the house."

Zhao Yangshi is obsessed with looks. The family that came to propose marriage was much better off than Zhao Bei's family. Yangshi liked Zhao Bei mainly because of his face. Among her five sons, only Erlang looked the most like the old man, and he lived far away.

Jiang has become a background, not to mention Zhao Erlang. The old couple is typical of not wanting a son after having a grandson. Who can they turn to for justice?

Main hall

Take out the freshly cooked sheep-horn rice dumplings, let them cool down, peel off the leaves and eat them with a chopstick. Put red bean paste or mung beans inside. This is the Dragon Boat Festival. The river in Zhaojia Village is too small and there is no dragon boat racing.

"Maichaozi?" It was the first time that Zhao Bei heard this name. Looking at the strange tool in his hand, he felt eager to try it out.

"This was caused by Xiaochun and Xiaoqiu. Xiaoqiu's fingers are all broken."

Zhao Erlang was kicked in the butt by his old father just after he finished speaking. Zhao Bei roared at him with a dark face, "Your hands are disabled. Why would a child do such a dangerous job?"

Are a few bamboo sticks dangerous?

At this moment, Zhao Erlang felt that he might not be his biological son. It seemed that his father had never been gentle to him and he was always yelled at when he was raised!