Four Foods in the Mountains

The first snow of the year came just in time.

In the middle of the night, Lu Yunchuan woke up with his arms around Cen Ning, and Cen Ning slept peacefully in his arms.

During the New Year's Eve, he ate well and kept eating meat every day, and with the things prepared for the New Year, Cen Ning had grown some flesh these days, and his face looked round in Lu Yunchuan's arms.

Lu Yunchuan liked it, but he was reluctant to wake him up, got up lightly, put on his clothes and pushed open the door.

It must have snowed for a while, and it was still dark outside, but you could still see a vast expanse of whiteness on the ground.

The wind was blowing loudly, Lu Yunchuan hugged his cotton coat tightly and went to the backyard to look at the chicken coop, fearing that the chickens would be frozen by the heavy snow.

Fortunately, he usually cleaned the chicken coop meticulously. There was no wind and snow in the chicken coop, and several chickens were nesting together to keep warm.

After adding some wind-proof straw to the chicken coop, Lu Yunchuan wiped his hands with a cloth towel and went back to the house.

Cen Ning woke up at some point, half-sitting on the kang, still a little dazed, and saw Lu Yunchuan walk in with snow falling on his shoulders, and he woke up a little bit.

"Is it snowing outside?" He moved to the edge of the kang and patted the snow off Lu Yunchuan's body.

"Yes, it has been piled up on the ground. I woke up and felt a little cold. I went out to have a look, and I was afraid that the chicken would be frozen."

As Lu Yunchuan said, he took off his cotton-padded clothes, took them to the kang and spread them out to dry, then lifted the quilt and Cen Ning and lay down in the quilt again.

Cen Ning was used to sleeping in Lu Yunchuan's arms. Not long after Lu Yunchuan got off the kang, he opened his eyes when he couldn't sleep well.

Now that Lu Yunchuan lay down, he buried himself in Lu Yunchuan's arms again, yawned lightly and said, "It just so happens that it's Laba, luckily I went to the town to buy new year's goods two days ago, otherwise the road would be difficult to walk, Laba porridge can't be cooked."

Two days ago, Lu Yunchuan took Cen Ning to Lie Town, and sold the handkerchiefs Cen Ning had saved up for a winter in a shop. basket.

On the night when they came back from the New Year's shopping, the two sat on the kang and carefully counted the money boxes at home.

When Cen Ning first got married, apart from the land deed, there was only three liang of silver left in the family, and Lu Yunchuan gave all these things to Cen Ning.

Now that half a year has passed, the two of them neither spent recklessly nor wasted too much, and there were a total of nine taels of silver and six hundred copper coins in the money box.

Coupled with the money in the money bag under the bedding, you can make up a whole tael.

The savings of ten taels of silver is not much in the village, but it means a lot to Lu Yunchuan and Cen Ning.

"It's only been half a year, and you've already saved so much." Cen Ning smiled while holding the money box.

Lu Yunchuan liked to look at Cen Ning and smile. He rubbed Cen Ning's hair and said, "I've never been able to save so much money by myself before, thanks to you."

These words were not meant to make Cen Ning happy, but Lu Yunchuan's sincere words.

In the past six months, he went out to work, and Cen Ning never stayed idle at home. I don't know how much of the money was bought by Cen Ning for handkerchiefs and bags of bean crisps.

Cen Ning took Lu Yunchuan's hand rubbing his hair and put it on his lap. Lu Yunchuan was only in his early twenties, but his hands were full of calluses and tiny scars, which felt stinging to the touch.

Holding Lu Yunchuan's big rough hands, Cen Ning said with a smile: "I marry you, you are my husband-in-law, there is no distinction between you and me."

After hearing this, Lu Yunchuan stared at Cen Ning in a daze for a long time without saying a word.

Cen Ning used to be ashamed with Lu Yunchuan, he kept many things in his heart and was too embarrassed to say them, but after a long time, he also discovered his husband-in-law's temperament, he was a dull gourd who would rather do ten things than say a word.

They have been married for so long, and they have never spoken a single sweet love story to Cen Ning, and they only know how to use their strength on the bed, and they never coax others with their mouths.

But he was willing to put Cen Ning at the forefront of everything, obviously he did not say a word after all the suffering, but he was afraid that Cen Ning would suffer a little bit of grievance.

Biansheng was very dull towards Fu Lang, and couldn't tell whether Cen Ning was really annoyed or shy with him sometimes.

So Cen Ning gradually changed his temper, and said what was on his mind, so that Lu Yunchuan could also understand his intentions, and don't always feel that he was wronged by following him.

He was able to marry Lu Yunchuan, obviously he was blessed.

Once the snow falls, it is the real cat winter.

The snow fell, and the mountains seemed to be quiet for a while.

The mountains in the distance were covered with snow, Cen Ning washed the beans in the kitchen and prepared to make Laba porridge.

Laba porridge is also called Buddha porridge. It is said that it is cooked in Buddhist temples in the capital for the Buddha to eat. People who cook Laba porridge on this day can get the blessing of the Buddha.

Cooking Laba porridge is particular about cooking glutinous rice with eighteen kinds of dried fruits. These eighteen kinds of dried fruits represent the eighteen arhats in the sky. There is a definite number, and there is no mistake.

Lu Yunchuan lit a fire, and Cen Ning washed the glutinous rice and put it in the pot. He put red dates, longan, walnuts, sesame seeds and other dried fruits into the pot one by one, and added a few spoonfuls of sugar.

The cooked Laba porridge is sticky and sweet, and the dried fruit is also cooked soft and glutinous.

Lu Yunchuan doesn't like sweets, but he also knows that there is nothing wrong with this custom, holding a bowl of Hululu and drinking it, it's like drinking porridge.

"Swallow it without chewing, and you won't be afraid of choking on it." Cen Ning said with a smile.

He knew that Lu Yunchuan didn't like the sticky and sweet stuff, so he put down the bowl and opened the jar, took out a plate of dried spicy radish.

Dried radishes are pickled before snow, so it’s just right to eat salty and crispy.

Lu Yunchuan drank three bowls of sweet porridge with a plate of dried radish.

It was still snowing outside the house, and there was nothing to do in the afternoon, Lu Yunchuan and Cen Ning had eaten porridge, and gathered together in the kitchen, watching the snow flying outside the house and talking.

Children who came out to play in the snow ran past their yard, Lu Yunchuan and Cen Ning stopped, quietly listening to the laughter outside the house, and waited for the children to laugh and run away again before speaking again.

The firewood in the brazier crackled from time to time. Cen Ning sat beside Lu Yunchuan, resting his head on Lu Yunchuan's shoulder, and played with Lu Yunchuan's fingers.

As the snow fell more and more, Cen Ning looked outside the house and asked Lu Yunchuan, "What were you doing at this time last year?"

Lu Yunchuan thought for a while and said, "At the elder brother's and sister-in-law's house, I ate Laba porridge, and I was playing with brother Zhi to turn the flower rope."

Cen Ning imagined the scene of a tall man in Lu Yunchuan accompanying Brother Zhi to turn the flower rope, and asked with a low smile, "Do you know how to turn the flower rope?"

Lu Yunchuan scratched his head: "No, but brother Zhi wants to play, sister-in-law is washing the dishes, and brother is behind the firewood, so I can accompany him."

He also said: "It's just that the rope was too thin, and my hands were heavy, so I accidentally broke it. Brother Zhi almost cried, so I was busy coaxing him again."

Cen Ning laughed even more when he heard this, and buried his face into Lu Yunchuan's shoulder and neck, smelling the fragrance of acacia.

Few of the men in the village are willing to spend time playing with their children, let alone coaxing their younger brothers to play. First, they are afraid of losing the majesty of being the masters of the country, and second, they are impatient with their children.

Therefore, coaxing children is generally the work of the women and brothers in the family by default, and there are very few people who treat brother Zhi like Lu Yunlang and Lu Yunchuan.

Lu Yunchuan turned his head sideways, put his chin against Cen Ning's forehead, and asked, "Ning'er, what about you? What are you doing?"

Cen Ning touched Lu Yunchuan's fingers and thought for a while: "I ate Laba porridge, gathered around the main room to make a fire, my father and elder brother were packing a piece of buckskin, my mother and sisters-in-law were embroidering and talking, and I was teasing my little one with snacks. Nephew."

After he finished speaking, he laughed. Although he and Lu Yunchuan were not together, they were both coaxing the children.

After laughing, there was a moment of silence in the kitchen.

The wind outside the house was blowing fiercely, and the firewood inside the house burst open again, making a "splitting" sound.

Cen Ning leaned on Lu Yunchuan's lap, and suddenly asked softly, "Lu Yunchuan, do you want a child?"

Before Lu Yunchuan could answer, he said, "I thought about it."