Four Foods in the Mountains

In the back room of the Lu family, Cen Ning was talking to Aunt Qian's elder brother.

Cen Ning has been married to Yunxi Village for so many days, Aunt Qian saw that he looks good, behaves well, and can embroider well, so she wanted her brother to learn from him.

Her brother Zhu is sixteen years old, and he has already appointed Mr. Wu, the pig butcher in the village.The Wu family is well-off. There are two brothers and a girl in the family. The eldest married a wife a few years ago, and the second and brother Zhu will get married next year.

So in the afternoon of this day, Aunt Qian washed the dishes, opened the cupboard, and wrapped some preserved fruits in oiled paper.

No one was found in the hall, so Aunt Qian asked her daughter-in-law, "Where's Brother Zhu? Did you run out to play again?"

The daughter-in-law, Mrs. Li, was making shoes for the children in the yard, and said, "Brother Zhu came into the house. He got up early this morning, so he must be tired by now."

Aunt Qian went to Brother Zhu's house and opened the door, and she saw Brother Zhu sleeping on the bed sprawled out.

"Ancestor, you go to bed after eating, and you don't know how to help your mother wash the dishes, and you still sleep like this with your buttocks naked, how can you look like a brother?"

Aunt Qian looked worried, stepped forward and slapped Brother Zhu's buttocks, "I'm afraid of getting married if you're like this, and the Wu family will send you back. Get up quickly, don't sleep!"

Brother Zhu turned over to escape from his mother's claws, and muttered: "Mother, I'm exhausted. If sister Ru and I hadn't gone fishing by the river in the morning, where would we get fish soup at home? Let me sleep Will."

Thinking of the pot of milky fish soup at noon, Aunt Qian moved a little more lightly, and said helplessly, "Your brother Chuanzi's husband has been married for several days, and when you woke up, you took your needle and thread and went to walk around, talk, and talk to others." Learn a little bit."

"I'm going to get married next year, and I still look like a child, how can I be a husband for someone?"

Before he finished speaking, Brother Zhu's soft snoring sounded in the room.

"What an ancestor, I'm so worried." Aunt Qian covered Brother Zhu with a quilt, and left the house with a sigh.

When Brother Zhu woke up, he took the oil paper bag and needle and thread and walked to the back room of Lu's house according to his mother's instructions.

Brother Zhu has a round face and almond eyes, loves to laugh, and has a bright personality, and he got acquainted with Cen Ning within a few words.

There were still some roasted seeds and nuts bought when they got married, so Cen Ning grabbed a lot of roasted melon seeds and peanuts, and soaked a glass of honey water.

"There are no snacks at home, so I can only treat you with this."

Brother Zhu took a sip of the honey water, his eyes were so sweet that his eyes narrowed: "This is already very good, I haven't tasted the taste of honey for a long time, my mother looks like something in my jar of wild honey. "

The two chatted and laughed while doing needlework. Brother Zhu was quick-talking, and he had exhausted all the gossip in the Kung Fu Village all afternoon. Cen Ning kept adding water to him, fearing that his mouth would dry up.

It wasn't until the smoke rose in the village that Cen Ning was about to light a fire to cook the pot, and Brother Zhu returned home with a sewing basket.

When I got home, Aunt Qian was cooking in the kitchen, and Mrs. Li was coaxing the children in the yard. My nephew was only two years old. Brother Zhu teased him a few times, and slipped into the kitchen to help before he opened his mouth to cry.

Aunt Qian was cooking, when she saw Brother Zhu, she asked, "How is it, Brother Ning, you know you're shameless when you see someone?"

Thinking of Cen Ning's good looks, soft-spoken, and making honey water for him, Brother Zhu nodded, thinking that next time he caught a fish, he would give Cen Ning one.

Aunt Qian hit the rails while it was hot: "If you know it, you have to change it. From now on, you should stop wandering up and down the mountains and practice sewing at home. Otherwise, you won't be able to make shoes well before you get married. I wonder if the Wu family still wants you?"

Brother Zhu curled his lips when he heard this, and said, "That stuffy gourd of Wu Erhe, dare you not want me?"

There are three brothers and sisters in the Wu family. The eldest is Wu Dajiang, the second is Wu Erhe, and the youngest is Wu Xiaoxi.

Aunt Qian slapped Brother Zhu on the back: "You don't feel ashamed to say such things before you are married!"

It was still light when Lu Yunchuan arrived home.

There is an old tree in the village. During this season, the free men in the village like to play chess in the shade of the tree. When they see Lu Yunchuan coming back with a basket on his back, they all say hello.

Lu Yunchuan responded one by one, and when he reached the gate of his courtyard, Cen Ning was indeed busy in the kitchen.

Hearing a noise outside the courtyard door, Cen Ning looked out from the kitchen and saw that it was Lu Yunchuan who was a little surprised: "You came back so early today?"

"Go faster."

Lu Yunchuan walked to the stone table and unloaded the basket and put it on. Seeing the melon seeds and cups on the table that hadn't been cleaned up in time, he asked, "Is someone here?"

Cen Ning poured a cup of barley tea and handed it to him, and said with a smile, "Aunt Qian's brother Zhu is here, he just left for a while."

Seeing Cen Ning happy, Lu Yunchuan felt relieved: "Brother Zhu has a good temper, if you are bored at home by yourself, talk to him more."

"Yeah." Cen Ning nodded with a smile, his eyes sparkling.

Lu Yunchuan drank his tea, took out a money bag from his pocket, handed it to Cen Ning and said, "The wages are settled, one or two and a half silver, I spent 420 cash for shopping in the town, the rest will be handed over to you on."

As he spoke, he lifted the cloth towel on the back basket and took out all the things he bought.

The special oiled paper bag of the pastry shop, and a whole piece of cotton cloth.

Cen Ning asked in surprise, "Why did you buy these things?" Before he finished speaking, Lu Yunchuan took out another small box and opened it.

"Scent beads?"

Cakes, cloth, Cen Ning never expected that Lu Yunchuan would even buy incense beads.

Looking up hastily, Cen Ning asked, "Why, how do you buy such a precious thing?"

Lu Yunchuan smiled and said: "The family didn't have much money before, and I haven't bought anything for you since we got married. This year's harvest is good, and now I have some money in my hand, so naturally I can't wrong you."

Cen Ning: "I don't feel wronged."

"I know," Lu Yunchuan squeezed Cen Ning's hand, a little embarrassed, "A man earns money, isn't it for his husband and children at home, we don't have children now, so of course we have to leave you alone For flowers."

Working is hard work. Except for a short break at noon, you have to work non-stop at other times. The weather is hot this season. After a day, your shoulders and back are sore, your face is covered with dust and dust, and you have to walk An hour's journey home on the mountain road.

Lu Yunchuan only carried it because of his husband at home. It doesn't matter if he suffers, as long as he can live a good life.

It is a custom in the village that after the new daughter-in-law enters the house, the mother-in-law will tear cloth and make new clothes for the bride.

He separated from his father and stepmother, so Cen Ning naturally had no new clothes to wear when he married him. Not only did he have no new clothes, but Cen Ning even took out the cloth from the dowry and sewed him a middle coat.

Lu Yunchuan was thinking about this all the time, it didn't make sense that everyone else had it, but Cen Ning didn't, so after getting the wages, he immediately went to the best cloth shop in the town to pick out a piece of cloth.

People in the village mostly use linen to make clothes, and a piece of linen only costs more than 100 renminbi, making it very affordable to sew clothes.

According to the work of the cloth shop, he was wearing sackcloth clothes, and he also recommended the linen cloth for him, but Lu Yunchuan chose a piece of smoky blue high-quality cotton cloth for Fulang. Even better.

Because the incense beads are mixed with spices, the price is expensive, a box of two, a total of [-] Wen.

Lu Yunchuan said: "The color of this cloth suits you. I saw that you would look good in it at first glance. You can use it to make a new dress for yourself. The rest of the cloth can be used to sew two jackets when the weather is cold." .”

"There are also incense beads. With this, you don't need to save saponins."

Cen Ning touched the cloth, touched the incense beads, and said in a low voice, "How do you know I'm saving money?"

After he scratched his arm by picking soap horns last time, Lu Yunchuan stopped letting him go up the mountain, and ran to the deep mountains to pick them twice. He felt sorry for Lu Yunchuan and he was too tired to go up the mountain after work, so he has been saving soap during this time. Horns, a handful of saponins has to be washed several times before being willing to throw them away.

But he didn't want Lu Yunchuan to notice it.

The two sat at the stone table and held hands with lowered eyes. They didn't recover until they heard the voice at the courtyard door, and let them go in a hurry.

"Chuanzi—" Lu Yunlang's voice outside the courtyard stopped abruptly.

Cen Ning stood up blushing, "Brother, brother is here."

Lu Yunlang was also a little embarrassed: "It's not the right time for me to come."

Cen Ning's face turned even redder.

Lu Yunchuan stood up: "Brother, why are you calling me?"

"No, I just came back from my old man's house. My old man gave me two sauced ducks, and I wanted to call you over to have dinner and try it together."

"Okay," Lu Yunchuan agreed, "We'll go there later."

"Sure, then, then I won't bother you two." Lu Yunlang smiled and left.

Cen Ning had already cooked two dishes, fearing that the weather would spoil them in the hot weather, he simply took them to the front room to eat together.

After putting the vegetables in the pot into the basket, Lu Yunchuan carried the basket and said, "Take the trough cake, you, your sister-in-law and brother Zhi will eat one bag, and send the other bag to the village chief's house later."

After hearing this, Cen Ning picked up the oiled paper bag, took another incense bead and said: "There are two incense beads, and they all say that this thing is very useful. I will give one to my sister-in-law and let her try it too."

The two walked towards the front room with their hands full of things.

After arriving at Master Lu, Yao Chunling was very pleasantly surprised when she saw Xiang Zhuzi: "Ah, I've only heard of such a good thing, and it's the first time I've seen it."

As he spoke, he dipped his hands in water and rubbed them, and smelled them, "It really smells good. This stuff is much better than saponins. It's not cheap."

Lu Yunchuan was hugging the rope Zhi Geer gave him on the degreasing paper bag, and said: "It's just good to use, I smell this thing is also very sweet, the shop assistant said that all the ladies in the town like to use this."

Yao Chunling was even happier when she heard that, darling, a village woman like her uses the same thing as the ladies in the town.

Lu Yunlang laughed at the sidelines: "That's right, you and Ning'er just use it, and I'll go to the town to buy it next time when it's used up."

Yao Chunling glanced at him reproachfully and said, "That's how it should be. You are a big brother and you want your younger brother to think ahead of you. Brother Zhi and I are all in the second boy's glory."

Brother Zhi was holding a piece of trough cake and eating it with eyebrows twisted, when he heard A Niang calling him, although he didn't know what was going on, he still tilted his head and followed A Niang and said, "Brother Zhi is all wet."

It made everyone laugh together.

Lu Yunlang hugged Brother Zhi from Lu Yunchuan's arms, threw it into the air and caught it firmly. Hearing Brother Zhi's giggles, he said with a smile: "Brother Zhi is in the honor of my second uncle, and I will let my mother take incense Zhuzi will bathe and wash your clothes for you, and we Zhige will become Xiaoxiang!"

After laughing, Cen Ning and Yao Chunling were eating trough cakes. Lu Yunchuan said to Lu Yunlang, "I bought two bags of these cakes, and I want to give the other bag to the village chief."

Lu Yunlang listened and nodded: "That's how it should be. I'll bring another sauced duck over later, as a thank you."

This time, the village chief told his family to tell them about the work in the town. He knew that it was not easy for the two brothers since they were young. The village chief has been helping them for so many years. The daughter-in-law is a matchmaker, and the two brothers have always kept this kindness in their hearts.

The dinner was sumptuous. Cen Ning brought over a plate of fried sliced ​​pork with cabbage and a bowl of braised eggplant. Yao Chunling chopped up half a duck in sauce, fried a plate of cucumber and pig ears, and stewed a pot of sweet potato rice.

After dinner, Lu Yunchuan and Lu Yunlang went to the village chief's house with trough cakes and sauced duck.

The head of the village has a prosperous family and a spacious house.

When Lu Yunchuan and Lu Yunlang arrived, the adults of the family were chatting in the main room, and several children were playing in the yard.

Although they were playing, they were not noisy. Seeing guests coming, Da Huzi shouted to the main room: "Daddy and grandma, Uncle Langzi and Uncle Chuanzi are here."

"The Lu family boys are here? Come in and sit down." The village head's wife hurriedly moved out two benches and poured tea.

Lu Yunchuan handed the things in his hand to the village chief's wife and said, "Auntie, don't be busy, we'll just sit and go."

The sauced duck and the cakes in the shop in the town are good things. Knowing about the work in the town, the wife of the village head is not polite and accepts it with a smile.

Knowing that they had something to say, they even called their daughter-in-law and children to their own room.

The main room was cleared up all of a sudden, and the village head took a sip of tea and said, "Are you done with the work in the town?"

"It's done."

The village head nodded: "It's a tiring job. I think you two brothers are young and strong. You can work harder now while you can do it, and save more money, so that life at home will be easier in the future."

Today, the Holy One is sympathetic to the people, the tax is low, and the life in the village is not bad.

The only thing is that the two brothers of the Lu family don't have any ancestral fields, and they have to buy fields by themselves, so the village head will take extra care of them.

Thinking of the Lu family, the village head said, "Do you know about the fact that boy Rui went to Fucheng to take the imperial examination?"

The two brothers nodded, everyone in a radius of a hundred miles knew where Wang Fengyu went and yelled.

"Boy Rui is smart. I also hope that he can go to high school. It is a big deal for the village to produce a scholar. In the future, no matter whether the boy marries or the girl and brother marry, they will be able to follow suit.

Boy Rui confessed to you two because he had to study hard, so he should know how to be grateful, but I also know your stepmother's temperament, so I mentioned this to you. "

"Uncle, we all understand that since the family has been separated, we don't want to get involved in the affairs over there. We don't hate Rui if he gets admitted, and we won't cause trouble if he doesn't."

The village chief stroked his beard in relief: "It's good to think this way. People, the most important thing is to live your own life with all your heart. Now the world is good, as long as you are willing to work hard, you will not worry about not having a good life. Farmers, eat It's good to wear warm clothes."

The two brothers nodded.

Before leaving, the village chief's wife came out of the house and asked Lu Yunchuan, "How are you and your husband?"

"I would also like to thank Auntie, Husband is very good." Lu Yunchuan nodded with a smile in his eyes.