The eldest sister-in-law became rich by farming in the mountains

Mrs. Zhou felt even more relieved. Although these were just wild vegetables and mushrooms, it showed that they were made with great care.

It's no wonder that the Zheng family was so surprised. The imperial court had been at war for years and had extremely strict control over ironware. Apart from necessary farm tools and kitchen knives, ordinary people could not afford an iron pot in their entire lives.

Without a iron pan, you can't stir-fry, sauté, deep-fry or pan-fry.

It’s not that pottery pots can’t be used for cooking, but the firing technology in earthen kilns is limited, and the pots will crack after just a few uses. Moreover, cooking requires oil, which ordinary people simply can’t afford.

Therefore, people here cook in the same way as Jiang, just wash them, throw them into a clay pot and cook them. As a result, the sour and astringent taste of many wild vegetables is difficult to remove.

Now when I eat the wild vegetables carefully processed by Xu Yingtao, I am naturally amazed.

Seeing the second daughter-in-law Zhao picking up perilla leaves with chopsticks, Mrs. Zhou frowned and said, "Second daughter-in-law, you were not happy when I asked you to make a straw mat before. Do you still enjoy it now?"

Zhao blushed and said awkwardly, "Mother, I am a bit of a chatterbox, but I have done my best. If you don't believe me, ask my sister-in-law."

Little Zhou smiled and nodded: "My younger sister-in-law contributed the most, and she made many more pages than I did."

Xiao Zhou was Mrs. Zhou's niece. She was gentle and honest. Since she said so, Mrs. Zhou didn't need to criticize her second daughter-in-law anymore, and the family continued to eat happily.

On the other side, Xu Yingtao and her three daughters also finished their lunch.

In addition to the side dishes she made, she also added a bean flour, mushroom and wild vegetable soup.

Although she was full, this way of eating only made her lose fat but not gain weight. Xu Yingtao craved carbohydrates and fat more than ever before.

Smacking his lips, he looked up at the sky. The sky was high and the autumn was getting deeper. It was time for the mountain products to mature.

Xu Yingtao turned to look at Jiang who was tidying up the straw mats in the yard, and smiled, "Mom, do we have any chestnuts in the back hills?"

Jiang paused, and her face showed joy: "If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten that the chestnuts in the mountains should be ripe. These days everyone is busy drying the grains. I'm afraid everyone will have to go back into the mountains in a few days."

Every household is not rich, so foods like chestnuts, which are very filling and can replace grains, naturally become popular in the eyes of the villagers, and no family will miss them.

"Then wait until Uncle Awen has repaired the roof, and then we'll go into the mountains to pick chestnuts."

How could Jiang not respond?

Just after cleaning the kitchen, Zheng's mother and son came to help repair the roof. Xu Yingtao hurriedly poured two bowls of boiled water for them.

Jiang came forward and said, "Aunt, it's so hot, why don't you take a nap before coming over? Or why don't you stay at my house for a while?"

Mrs. Zhou waved her hand and handed the basket of clean bowls to Jiang: "I know your family has to go to town to do business tomorrow, so I asked Awen to finish it quickly so that you can get ready."

Jiang was so moved that she didn't know what to say.

Xu Yingtao instructed the two children to move the stools, and she herself came forward with a cup of boiled water: "Grandma Zhou, do you like those side dishes?"

Mrs. Zhou was happy to see her, and her wrinkles at the corners of her eyes deepened a little when she smiled: "It tastes good, it couldn't be better, especially the perilla leaves, which are fragrant and tasty. Your Aunt Zhao loves it the most."

Xu Yingtao smiled and said, "That's easy. Next time, pick some perilla leaves, wash them, steam them for a while, and then make some sauce and spread them evenly on each leaf."

Before Mrs. Zhou could react, Xu Yingtao also told her the method of making the sauce.

Mrs. Zhou was so shocked that she couldn't speak.

Xie Bai couldn't help feeling distressed when he saw his sister-in-law easily tell others the recipe for pickled perilla leaves.

If you make and sell such delicious side dishes, you will definitely make a lot of money.

"You silly girl!" Mrs. Zhou patted Xu Yingtao's arm and said angrily and amusedly, "You look like a clever girl, but why are you so stupid? How can you easily come up with a recipe?"

Xu Yingtao smiled and said, "Your family has been very kind to us, and we really have no way to repay you. Now we can finally express our gratitude through this pickled vegetable recipe. Please don't despise it. This pickling recipe is not only great for pickling perilla leaves, but also delicious for pickling other vegetables."

Mrs. Zhou looked at Xu Yingtao, her eyes full of love: "What a good child."

Then, she turned to Jiang and said earnestly, "You are a blessed person. Although you lost Xiaosong, you got such a good daughter-in-law. You must treat her well."

Hearing someone suddenly mention her eldest son, Jiang felt a pang of sadness in her heart, but she quickly adjusted her mood, holding back her tears and nodded: "Aunt is right."

Half an hour later, the roof was repaired. Zheng Wen patted his chest and assured that the roof would definitely last for two to three years unless something unexpected happened.

enough.

Xu Yingtao looked up at the thick thatch. Two or three years would be enough for her to earn enough money to replace the roof with sturdier tiles.

After seeing off Mrs. Zhou and her son, the family carried their backpacks and went into the mountains.

Chestnut trees grow deep in the mountains and forests, and apart from hunters, few people visit them.

The journey was very fruitful. In addition to wax gourd, there were also wild kiwi fruit, schisandra chinensis, jujube, myrtle... The whole family ate until they were full, and they picked a full basket, which Xie Li rushed to carry.

After walking for another quarter of an hour, Jiang pointed to a tall tree in front of him and said with a smile, "Look, that's it."

Xu Yingtao looked in the direction Jiang's finger pointed and her eyes lit up.

Chestnut tree!

They saw that the treetops, which were about ten meters high, were densely covered with small yellow-green "thorn balls", each of which was filled with plump and round chestnuts, as if waving to them.

"Wow--" Xie Li exclaimed and ran towards the chestnut tree with laughter.

"Come and see, there are a lot of things dropped on the ground!" she shouted excitedly.

Although the chestnuts that fell on the ground had opened up, they were covered with a prickly shell. But it was obvious that the brother and sister were used to picking them up in the past. They only needed to step on the shell with their feet and pull hard to reveal the chestnut inside.

The four of them worked together and soon harvested two large baskets of chestnuts, which were carried away by Jiang and Xie Bai.

Xu Yingtao knew that everyone was taking care of her out of fear that she would get tired, and a warm feeling welled up in her heart.

Now three of the four backpacks are full, and the remaining one will naturally be used to hold the stinking broom leaves.

The stinking broom is very common. You can see one every hundred meters or so. You can fill a basket with just a few of them before you get home.

When picking the chestnuts to the end, Xu Yingtao reserved some space for the chestnuts and took a few handfuls of chestnuts from Xie Bai's basket and put them into her own basket, which could help him share some of the weight and cover the leaves.

Now that they have to rely on this leaf to make a living, they naturally have to cover it up.

The four of them were chatting and laughing as they walked home, but they unexpectedly ran into Chen on the mountain path. Both sides felt very unlucky.

Chen came up the mountain to chop firewood.

Originally, this job should not have fallen on her, but she was really itching to do it. She was afraid that she would not be able to sleep tonight unless she saw with her own eyes how the roof of the second room was repaired.

Therefore, she used the excuse of going to the mountains to collect firewood, took the eldest son's place, and followed her eldest daughter-in-law into the mountains.

When she saw the thick thatched roof, Chen's eyes almost rolled up to the sky.

She spat fiercely, secretly cursing the Zheng family for worrying about other people's business, and then continued walking up the mountain path with a gloomy face.

As luck would have it, I happened to meet a family returning with a lot of goods.

Chen was startled at first, then she pouted and said sarcastically, "Chunhua, your fourth brother just wanted to eat wild chestnuts at noon, and I was thinking of going into the mountains to pick some tomorrow. Now, some poor guys are really taking advantage of others. I'm afraid all the wild chestnuts on the mountain have been taken away by them!"

Wu Chunhua knew something was wrong the moment she saw the people from the second house. She felt it was even worse when she heard her mother-in-law's sarcastic words.

She smiled and called Jiang "Second Aunt", and tugged at Chen's sleeve, "Mom, let's go into the mountains quickly, it will be dark if we stay any later."

Faced with Chen's sarcasm, Jiang naturally would not confront her head-on, following the principle of less trouble is worse than more.

But Xu Yingtao is definitely not the type of person who would be bullied.

She curled her lips and smiled sincerely, "Xiaobao wants to eat chestnuts too? This is a coincidence. I just discussed with my mother that we will send some chestnuts to my uncle's family after we go down the mountain."

"What bad intentions are you planning?" Chen immediately looked alert, not believing that the second wife would take the initiative to send food to her family.

Xu Yingtao smiled even more: "Look at what my aunt said. Although we have divided the family, we are still one family. Our family is too poor to afford food, so I was thinking if I could use two catties of wild chestnuts to exchange for one liter of millet at my aunt's house."

"no way!"

Chen's refusal was so decisive and decisive that spittle flew out of her mouth. The sound was so loud that it echoed in the forest.

What a wishful thinking! Exchanging the chestnuts they picked for the food they grew with so much effort, why wouldn't that be heaven's will?

Xu Yingtao smiled secretly in her heart.

The matter of exchanging grains was just something she said casually, and seeing Chen's reaction, she wanted to tease her.

Xu Yingtao looked regretful and continued to poke her with words: "Hey, two catties is too little, three catties should be ok, right? I'll go find my uncle right now and borrow not much, just four or five liters."

As she spoke, she was about to take a step forward.

Chen immediately exploded: "Jiang! Take care of your daughter-in-law!"

If this damn girl was from her family, she would have slapped her in the face.

Jiang said timidly, "Well, how about we borrow two liters less?"

Chen was so angry that she almost vomited blood. She jumped up and down and cursed, "Lend me your grandma's legs! I was wondering what you two were doing hanging around in front of my house yesterday. It turns out you were planning to steal my food. I'm telling you, no way!"

After saying that, Chen stuffed the hatchet into Wu Chunhua's hand and hurried down the mountain.

She couldn't help but take this matter seriously. After all, her husband might really borrow food from the second wife when he saw that she was not at home.

When Chen left, Wu Chunhua was left standing there, so embarrassed that she dug her toes into the ground. She tried to force a smile towards Jiang: "Second Aunt, please don't bother with my mother."

Jiang was always kind to the younger generation. She smiled and took a handful of chestnuts from Xie Bai's backpack and handed them to him: "Why would I bother with her? Take it and eat it."

Seeing that Wu Chunhua didn't dare to take it, Jiang simply stuffed it into her hand and told the three children to go down the mountain.

After they walked some distance away, the family couldn't help laughing.

At first, it was Xu Yingtao who started laughing, and then Jiang followed suit. Then one infected the other, and the whole family laughed until they were crying and couldn't walk.

This was the first time in such a long time that the family laughed so happily.

Finally we got home, and the first thing we did was of course to cook chestnuts to satisfy our cravings.

The food eaten at noon has already been almost digested, and now it is urgent to replenish calories.

Chestnuts can be eaten raw or cooked, but eating too many raw chestnuts will cause indigestion. Cooked chestnuts, on the other hand, can strengthen the spleen and stomach, and are perfect for people suffering from chronic malnutrition.

There is no need to peel the chestnuts, just wash them, make a cross cut on the shell with a knife, and then put them in water to stew.

After about two quarters of an hour, the whole kitchen was filled with the sweet and rich aroma of chestnuts, and Xie Li suddenly felt that the wild fruit in his hand no longer smelled fragrant.

The little girl had been waiting by the stove, looking anxiously forward to it, and Xu Yingtao couldn't help swallowing her saliva several times.

These chestnuts have twice the calories of rice and steamed buns and can quickly replenish energy. Who can resist them?

Therefore, as soon as the chestnuts came out of the pot, no one cared about the heat. They grabbed a chestnut, tossed it back and forth in their hands, and then opened the shell and put it into their stomachs.

"So sweet!" Xu Yingtao exclaimed sincerely.

The wild chestnuts looked small and unattractive, but they were sweeter and softer than any chestnut she had ever eaten before.

Sweets can evoke a sense of happiness in people. After eating a dozen chestnuts, Xu Yingtao sighed with satisfaction.

Once upon a time, she avoided such high-calorie foods in order to control her weight, but now she wants to punch herself.

People always learn to cherish things only after they lose them.

Seeing that Jiang had packed two bowls of chestnuts and placed them aside, Xu Yingtao asked casually, "Are these two bowls going to be sent to the Zheng family?"

Jiang hesitated: "One bowl is for Xiaobao..." At the end, she felt that she had lost her confidence and her voice became smaller and smaller.

Xu Yingtao was speechless for a while.

Just now, Jiang accompanied her in acting, and she thought that the dough-like person finally became tough, but unexpectedly, she turned around and did not forget to please the eldest wife.

But she experienced what it means to be disappointed in someone.

However, on second thought, it is difficult to change one's nature, and it is not possible to change an adult's character overnight.

Forget it, take your time.

Just as Xu Yingtao was about to persuade Jiang, she saw Xie Bai stand up silently, pick up a bowl of chestnuts and pour it directly back into the winnowing basket.

"There are plenty of them on the mountain. If they want to eat, let them pick them themselves." Xie Bai had a stern face, and a hint of coldness appeared in his clear eyes.

Xie Li, her mouth full of chestnut kernels, echoed incoherently: "That's right, we don't even have enough to eat, why would we care about Xie Bao!"

Jiang looked a little embarrassed and stammered, "But after all, my family owes your uncle's family two hundred coins."

Xu Yingtao rubbed her brows and said earnestly, "Mom, I know you feel bad, but we just owed money, not sold ourselves into slavery. There is no reason to be humble and servile to please us all the time. Besides, the aunt-in-law always speaks ill of us every time we meet. We are kind enough not to ask her for mental damages. You still send things to their house. If you don't believe me, just send a bowl and try. I guarantee that the aunt-in-law will not only not appreciate it, but will also think that we are trying to borrow food for no reason. It's good enough if we are not kicked out."

Jiang once again deviated from the main point: "Mental damage compensation?"