Affection for Sidaogou during the Famine

"Look at what you said. Chairman Mao taught us to work hard to have enough food and clothing!

You want to get something for nothing, there is something wrong with your thinking. We are all good neighbors, of course I can't just watch you make a mistake, so what if I let you pay for it? It also saves you from walking a few stops with your child, you can get the vegetables at the door, saving you a lot of trouble! "

Xiao Sanzi is a chatterbox, and his words are like a machine gun. Even if no one is looking for trouble with him, his mouth is still sharp enough. The daughter-in-law of the Qing family went to look for him, which was just like going to the toilet with a lantern in the middle of the night - looking for trouble (shit) when there is no need (shit).

"Hmph, who would buy yours if you wanted to spend money? You didn't choose or wash them, and you still want money. You're so beautiful!" Knowing that she couldn't win the argument with the little third son, after saying this, the Qing family's daughter-in-law picked up the child and turned around to go home in shame.

Giving a thumbs up to Xiao Sanzi, several of his friends laughed.

The tricycle drove directly into the Han family's house. As soon as everyone entered the door, the door closed heavily with a "bang", blocking out many views from outside.

"Hey, Han Zhaozhao and the others are back, right? Tsk, poor idiot, you're riding a tricycle to pick wild vegetables?

By the way, Xiao'e, when did Han Zhaozhao’s family buy the tricycle? Why didn’t I hear about it?

No, next time we go to the suburbs, I'll ask my sister to borrow it for us to ride."

Xiao'e rolled her eyes. Today was another unlucky day. She was stuck with it and her basket was not even full.

"You don't have a good relationship with Zhao Zhao, so why should he lend it to you? If you want to ride it, go buy one yourself!"

Xiao'e turned around and went home. She was looking forward to having steamed buns with wild vegetables in the evening, so she didn't have the time to listen to her gossiping behind people's backs.

Wu Ni rushed over with her arms folded, and Han Zhaozhao and Xiaoliang both opened their arms, waiting for her to throw herself into their arms, but they didn't expect that their feelings would be wasted in vain.

The little girl didn't wait for Niu Xiaomin to stop the tricycle, she grabbed the side of the tricycle and tried to climb up.

It was Xiao Sanzi who had sharp eyes and grabbed it.

"Oh my, auntie, please don't climb. The cart is loaded with precious medicinal materials, you can't step on it."

Han Zhaozhao pulled her protruding ears and said, "You naughty boy, I think your third brother has to give up this title to you.

You better calm down, go and get the stool out from the main room, we need to collect the herbs and wild vegetables."

The medicinal materials must be cleaned and processed.

The wild vegetables also need to be picked. They dug a lot today and the several families definitely can’t finish them all. They plan to let Aunt Niu take the rest to the pigeon market to sell.

After unloading the car, the three siblings and the third son of the Niu family went home for dinner, and agreed to come back to help after dinner.

There are so many wild vegetables to be picked and tied into small bundles, the Gastrodia elata to be washed, steamed and placed on bamboo plates to dry, there is a lot of work to do in the evening.

The old lady and Aunt Shufen had already prepared dinner, and the two families went back to their rooms to eat.

As soon as the food was served, Han Zhaozhao started laughing. Sure enough, her grandma always cooked the same three things: steamed bread, corn porridge, and pickles! No matter how many times she said it, the old lady still didn't change. If she said it again, she would be scolded:

"We have dry food, liquid food, and snacks. We have three meals a day and we are full every time. Where can we find such a good life? We should be content. Back then, our life was so hard that we couldn't even get full with sweet potatoes..."

Finally, Han Zhaozhao could only flee! Generation gap will always exist!

Finish your meal quickly, wash the dishes and pots, and start working immediately.

Afraid that Wu Ni might damage the Gastrodia elata, they threw her a stool and asked her to pick wild vegetables. The little girl pouted and refused, "You didn't take me with you to the mountains, and you didn't take me with you to collect the herbs!

I don’t like picking wild vegetables, I want to pick Gastrodia elata!”

The little girl was very smart. She saw that the bare leaves of Gastrodia elata were almost the same size as potatoes and were easier to clean than wild vegetables.

She had made a scene in the morning and wanted to go with them to pick wild vegetables, but Han Zhaozhao refused to take her.

She has short legs but still wants to climb the mountain. Isn't that a joke? When she can't walk anymore, should she let someone carry her or the herbs?

The little girl has learned her lesson now. She dares to act coquettishly and make requests. If it is not excessive, the old lady and Han Zhaozhao will agree to it, but if it is not acceptable, they will never compromise.

Wu Ni is a person who knows how to read people's expressions. She will try her best to fight for what she can, but if she can't get it, she will quickly give up and will not be willful. She also repeatedly tests the minimum tolerance limit of her grandmother and cousin.

There are generally two ways to prepare Gastrodia elata: raw sun-drying or steam-drying. Han Zhaozhao plans to use steam-drying.

We have a wood-burning stove at home, and the big pot has ten seals, so we can steam a pot very quickly.

The yard is big, and last winter she bought dozens of bamboo plaques for drying medicinal herbs, which also makes it convenient to dry Gastrodia elata.

Before steaming the Gastrodia elata, it must be scrubbed clean in a large basin. She went back to the house and found two pig hair brushes. The old lady saw them and asked, "Zhao Zhao, when did you buy the brushes? They are quite easy to use!"

"Grandma, have you forgotten? This was made by the shoemaker who helped make the leather boots. We provided the wild boar hair ourselves and they processed it for us. It was very cheap, almost like giving it away for free!"

The old lady lives her life carefully. She tries not to spend money whenever possible and wants to make do with everything, especially the small household tools. She would rather turn her hands into jujube tree bark than spend a penny more to buy convenient tools and free her hands.

Han Zhaozhao is just the opposite. She always wants to take shortcuts and never wants to do things that can be done with tools. The concept of protecting the skin has long been ingrained in her bones.

Picking wild vegetables is a time-consuming job. Fortunately, the Niu brothers and sisters and the third son came back to help after dinner. Even Aunt Qian and Aunt Niu came after finishing their housework.

They had never picked Gastrodia elata before, so they didn't dare to do it. Picking wild vegetables was their forte. Some picked and washed them, some steamed them, and some made fire in the kitchen.

Wu Ni was tired of picking wild vegetables, so she pushed Niu Xiaoyun aside and went into the kitchen to boil the pot.

"Luckily it's not hot now, try it in the summer!"

Han Zhaozhao retorted to Wu Ni, who boasted about her love for cooking, that this girl had been a little bit arrogant recently and even wanted to disobey her orders, and she couldn't indulge her bad habits.

Wash the Gastrodia elata, steam it in a steamer until it is cooked through, take it out and dry it in the sun until it is completely dry. It can then be stored for use as medicine.

Gastrodia elata can also be dried directly in the sun, but raw sun-dried Gastrodia elata is not as easy to preserve as steamed Gastrodia elata, and the active ingredients in steamed Gastrodia elata are also more stable.

The reason is that the steaming process of Gastrodia elata can kill the bacteria and insect eggs in Gastrodia elata, effectively preventing Gastrodia elata from deteriorating during the storage process.

Of course, for other friends, the processed Gastrodia elata can be sold at a higher price, which is the most important thing for them.

A dozen people worked until half past ten. After picking the wild vegetables, they tied them into small bundles and were taken away by Aunt Niu. She was going to the Pigeon Market to trade before dawn.

About 200 kilograms of Gastrodia elata were steamed, and nearly one-third of it had not been steamed yet.

Several children were so sleepy that they dozed off. Tomorrow was Monday and they had to go to work and school, so everyone packed up and went their separate ways.

The next morning, Han Zhaozhao came back from the park. The old lady and Aunt Shufen had already gone to work. Wu Ni was taken away, but Xiao Liang stayed and was helping to spread the Gastrodia elata to dry in the yard.

She first took out the food left in the pot, ate it directly in the kitchen, washed the dishes and the pot, and then steamed the Gastrodia elata left over from last night.