Spring comes to the desperate place

The turmoil in the imperial city had nothing to do with the Song family. At the end of April, Song Chunlin inspected the fields and found that the potatoes and sweet potatoes were almost ripe. The sweet potato vines on the ground were all old. Song Chunlin estimated that they could be harvested after the Dragon Boat Festival.

Thinking about the upcoming festival, Song Chunlin excitedly went to ask Song Amao whether she would make rice dumplings for the Dragon Boat Festival. Song Amao poked his head in annoyance.

"Your little brain only knows how to eat. Look at your belly, it's so fat."

Song Chunlin was horrified. He touched his belly in panic and found that he had really gained weight. When he first came here, this body was skinny and bony, and his butt hurt when he sat down. Now he had a small belly. This was really a happy trouble.

Looking at the conflicted expression on her grandson's face, Song Amao laughed.

"Okay, stop touching it. Grandma will make rice dumplings in two days. Your mother has already bought the bamboo leaves."

"Great!" Song Chunlin cheered, and then started ordering dishes: "I want the one with abalone!"

Song A-mo looked strange: "Will abalone taste good if it's in a rice dumpling?"

"It's delicious. Wait a minute, little grandpa. I'll get some out for you. We'll have zongzi for lunch later!"

Amma Song watched as her grandson produced more than a dozen dumplings at once, some of which were quite large and looked longer than his arms.

"Chunlin, why is this zongzi so big? How long will it take to cook it?"

Song Chunsheng opened the zongzi like he was presenting a treasure: "Little Grandpa, please heat up the pot of water. This is called the Seven-Star Abalone Zongzi. It is said that there are seven salted egg yolks in it!"

Song A-mo: “…” She didn’t quite understand, but she respected him.

Song Dazhuang had just returned from the fields and found the dining table filled with rice dumplings. He saw the big ones at first sight and picked them up in shock, weighing them in his hand.

"Wow, this zongzi is really heavy, it must be two kilograms, right?"

"That's right. I think you're the only one who can finish this."

Song Dazhuang kept laughing, and seeing that everyone was present, Song Ammo let everyone pick out a rice dumpling that they liked.

There was a large table of rice dumplings, and Song Chunlin took out two of almost every flavor. Most of them were bought from the freezer of the supermarket. Although it was not the Dragon Boat Festival at that time, it did not prevent modern people from wanting to eat rice dumplings, so there were a wide variety of varieties, and everyone was dazzled by the sight.

Song Dazhuang was the first to start eating. He opened the largest rice dumpling. After removing the leaves, Song Dazhuang instinctively felt that the taste was different.

The others also looked at the zongzi in his hand. Song Chunsheng was surprised and said, "Dad! There are egg yolks in your zongzi, and it seems there is also meat. There are meat zongzi. Can this be delicious?"

Everyone had the same doubt in their hearts. With a little uncertainty, Song Dazhuang lowered his head and smelled it again and again. There was indeed a smell of meat, but he had never eaten meat dumplings. The dumplings in previous years were all candied dates and date paste dumplings, all of which were sweet. The Song family had never eaten salty dumplings at all.

Song Chunlin looked around and found that their expressions were rather strange. He suddenly realized and said, "Have you never eaten meat dumplings? Meat dumplings are delicious, just as good as sweet dumplings!"

With the intention of testing poison, Song Dazhuang slowly took a big mouthful of glutinous rice and put it into his mouth under the watchful eyes of his family.

He originally thought that the taste would be strange, but the moment he took a bite, he was actually amazed.

The fat in the pork belly had been melted into the rice grains, and the rice grains were soaked with fat, but it did not taste greasy. Instead, it was full of the aroma of oil and meat. Paired with the salted egg yolk on the side, the salty and fragrant taste made Song Dazhuang's appetite whetted. He picked up his chopsticks faster and faster, and it didn't take long before he finished a big zongzi weighing almost two kilograms.

Song Dazhuang wiped his mouth with an unsatisfied look, only to find that his family members were looking at him in shock.

"Dad, is this rice dumpling delicious?" This is Song Chunsheng who is drooling with greed.

Song Dazhuang took a sip of tea slowly: "Not bad, delicious."

After getting the accurate answer, everyone felt relieved to look for the rice dumplings that suited their taste. However, Song Dazhuang inexplicably felt as if something was strange.

The cooked rice dumplings can only be distinguished by the color of the rope. Song Chunlin knew that both Song Amao and Song Qinshi liked sweet food, so he picked a candied date rice dumpling for each of them. Grandpa Song liked a refreshing taste, so he picked an alkaline rice dumpling for him. Alkaline rice dumplings have no taste and can be eaten with sugar or soy sauce.

Grandpa Song looked at the translucent golden rice dumpling. He took a bite without dipping it in anything and found it had no taste. So he started to dip it in sugar and found it tasted better than the candied date rice dumpling. He quickly asked his wife to have a bite as well.

Song A-mo opened her mouth and took a bite, and found that it was indeed better than the candied date rice dumpling, and the taste was different from other rice dumplings, the glutinous rice was obviously more compact.

"How are these zongzi made? What herbs are used to soak them?"

Song Chunlin scratched his head and said, "I don't know. I just know that this zongzi contains plant ash. But it is said that the plant ash has its own requirements. Not all plants can be burned into ash."

Seeing that she couldn't get an answer, Song A-mo stopped asking. She lowered her head to finish the rice dumpling in her hand, and then unwrapped an alkaline rice dumpling.

Song Chunsheng is a carnivore. When he heard his father say that rice dumplings were delicious, he couldn't wait to open a big one. Everyone was worried that he wouldn't be able to finish it and get an upset stomach. Song Dazhuang was ready to clean up the mess for his son, but the child actually finished the whole seven-star abalone rice dumpling by himself, and after finishing it, he looked at the other rice dumplings with a feeling of being unsatisfied.

The character of a young boy who eats his father out of money is embodied in Song Chunsheng.

Song Dazhuang looked at Song Qinshi silently, and they saw a hint of sadness in each other's eyes.

Song Chunsheng was completely unaware that he had just finished eating a large rice dumpling, but his belly did not bulge at all. It seemed as if there was a bottomless pit in his stomach. After eating three or four sweet rice dumplings in a row, Song Chunsheng patted his belly and slumped in his chair with satisfaction.

The others had finished eating long ago, even Song Xiaobao was fed by Song Qinshi. They looked at Song Chunsheng and the pile of rice dumplings in front of him in surprise, afraid that he would say "I'm not full".

It's terrible. Song Chunlin thinks that teenagers in their puberty period are really terrible. Their appetite is enough to support their entire family.

On the fourth day of the fifth lunar month, the Song family began to get busy. Song Dazhuang was in charge of washing the rice and the pots, while Song Amao and Song Qinshi worked together to make dumplings. The first pot was candied date dumplings, which the Song family would make every year. The second pot was salted egg yolk and pork dumplings, which were the first time for Song Amao and Song Qinshi. The seasoning for the pork belly was provided by Song Chunlin, and the family was most looking forward to this pot.

It took a whole morning to wrap two pots of zongzi. Song Dazhuang washed ten kilograms of glutinous rice and finally wrapped more than a hundred zongzi. The cooked zongzi were taken out and spread out on a large wooden board to cool. When they were no longer hot to the touch, Song Amao tied five of each together and made ten into a pack for Song Dazhuang and others to deliver as festival gifts in the village.

"Give the extra two to the village chief and the head of the neighborhood. We are new here, and they have taken great care of our family. We must be polite to them. As for this biggest one, you can take a carriage to the city tonight and deliver it to the Marquis' Mansion."

Song Dazhuang received the task and took the rice dumplings away, and Song Chunsheng followed him to deliver the holiday gifts.

After hundreds of dumplings were given away, only about twenty were left, just enough for the Song family to keep for themselves.

The families who received festival gifts from the Song family also gave back their own rice dumplings. Song Dazhuang originally went out with a basket of rice dumplings, and when he came back he brought back another basket of rice dumplings.

Song Chunlin and Song Xiaobao curiously leaned over to take a look, and saw that it was filled with dumplings of different sizes.

"Dad, what do these dumplings taste like?"

Song Dazhuang said as a matter of course: "Of course they are all sweet. Your meat dumplings are not popular here."

"Oh." Song Chunlin felt a little regretful. The rice dumplings were so fragrant, why didn't they like them?

On May Day, Gu Fengyun brought Gu Fengyue to the house, and with them came a little kid of about four or five years old.

The Song family members all knew that there were only two brothers in the Gu family, and they felt very strange about this child who suddenly appeared.

Song Chunlin poked Gu Fengyue: "Is this your brother's...child?"

Gu Fengyun was standing right next to them. The kid didn't even know how to hide his secrets when whispering, but he could hear it all clearly. Gu Fengyun coughed awkwardly.

"This child's parents are both dead, and there are no relatives willing to take him over, so I brought him back and raised him for the time being. Just treat him as a new playmate for Fengyue."

Gu Fengyue's mouth twitched when he heard this. This little brat is only four years old, and he is already fourteen. How can there be playmates with a ten-year age difference? His brother is really lying with his eyes open.

Noticing his brother's unfriendly gaze, Gu Fengyun felt even more embarrassed.

In fact, the child was given to him by the Third Prince. The situation at that time was: Gu Fengyun went to pay his respects to the Third Prince, and then he saw the Ninth Prince sleeping soundly in the Third Prince's arms.

The Third Prince was almost going crazy taking care of the children during those days. The Ninth Prince wanted to stick to him during the day and at night, too. He was so clingy that the Third Prince's wife began to suspect that the Ninth Prince was his illegitimate child.

Gu Fengyun: “…”

No one knew what was going on in the Third Prince's mind. He looked at Gu Fengyun and suddenly remembered that when the old Marquis Gu passed away, Gu Fengyue was also about four years old, the same age as the Ninth Prince today.

So he looked at the Ninth Prince in his arms, and then looked at Gu Fengyun who was standing.

Gu Fengyun instinctively had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, the Third Prince smiled at him and said, "Lord Gu, I remember your brother was also this big then, right?"

"…right."

"Then you must have a lot of experience with taking care of children, right?"

"…right."

The word "yes" made Gu Fengyun grit his teeth, but the Third Prince turned a blind eye and threw the hot potato in his arms to him. His reasoning was that it didn't matter whether he raised one or two. Since he had already brought up Gu Fengyue, it would be easy to raise the Ninth Prince as well.

"Don't worry, Marquis Gu. I will order the Ministry of Internal Affairs to deliver the prince's share to your residence. The Marquis' residence doesn't have to pay a penny."

Gu Fengyun roared in his heart: Is this about money? Tell me, is this about money?

Gu Fengyun found that he could no longer keep smiling, and in the end he could only accept this gift from heaven with an expressionless face.

Because of the misfortune he had experienced, the Ninth Prince became timid and clingy. When he woke up and found himself in a different place, his eyes immediately filled with tears. When Gu Fengyun opened the door, he saw the kid curled up on the footstool, crying with tears and snot, but he didn't dare to cry out loud, perhaps because he was afraid that Gu Fengyun would despise him. When he saw Gu Fengyun coming over, he hurriedly wiped his face.

Gu Fengyun inexplicably saw Gu Fengyue from ten years ago in this child, who was just as timid and fearful, with eyes swollen from crying, and did not dare to leave his side even a step.

A four-year-old child does not know what death means. He only knows that from one day on, all the close relatives who once surrounded him are gone. He is afraid that he will lose his brother Gu Fengyun again, so he follows Gu Fengyun closely, thinking that as long as he sticks close enough, his brother will not abandon him.

But the Ninth Prince is not Gu Fengyue. Although they both have older brothers, the Third Prince does not really want the Ninth Prince to rely on him.

The original intention of the Third Prince was to hope that the Ninth Prince would forget about it, forget his identity as a prince, and forget everything that had happened in the palace. This was a kind of protection for them.

The Ninth Prince was only four years old. In a few years, if he had almost forgotten his past life as a prince, the Third Prince would find an excuse for him to make him "die" in front of outsiders.

As long as the Ninth Prince is gone, the rumors will gradually be forgotten. As long as no one brings them up, it will not hurt the child.

Gu Fengyun felt that the Ninth Prince was lucky. If the Third Prince was a cruel person, he would have let the Ninth Prince die quietly in the palace long ago and would never have gone to the trouble of changing his appearance and letting him live.

The Song family has a younger boy named Song Xiaobao. The Ninth Prince obviously let down his guard when facing a child younger than himself. Song Xiaobao blinked his big eyes, as if he liked this handsome little brother very much, and he hugged his arm and giggled.

Song Chunlin finally understood that this kid was a complete face control! No wonder he liked to stick to Gu Fengyue every time he saw him. Now that he saw someone better looking, he immediately threw Gu Fengyue out of his mind.

The Ninth Prince poked Song Xiaobao's cheek curiously. Now the Song family not only had enough to eat, but also ate well. Song Xiaobao's weight was increasing and his cheeks were chubby, which was very funny.

The two human cubs soon started playing together, their heads touching each other and they were chattering about something. Song Chunlin listened for a while. Most of the time, it was Song Xiaobao who was talking, and the Ninth Prince was listening, occasionally interjecting a word.

Song Chunlin listened for a long time but didn't quite understand what Song Xiaobao said. But seeing the serious look on the Ninth Prince's face, it seemed that he was not talking nonsense. Could it be that children have their own language system?

The two kids played for a while, then it was time for dinner. Before dinner, Grandma Song tied a hundred-string rope to each child in the family. The rope was woven from five-colored silk threads and worn on the hands, it was meant to ward off diseases and evil spirits and ensure good health.