Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

"Yes, our families are indeed different. Think about it, my mother's family treated her badly when she was a child, and I did the same. Even you, didn't your stepmother treat you badly? We all suffered when we were children. How can we be willing to let our children suffer any more? Although our family's life is not very good, these children have never suffered any injustice." Mr. Xue threaded the last few pieces of meat and gathered all the wooden sticks. Get up and put it in a big basin.

The meat they wear is not a small string with a few thin slices of meat on it like Jinghan's previous life. But each skewer must have more than half a kilogram of meat on it, and some even have seven or eight taels. This is the real way to eat meat. The rabbits were also marinated in seasonings and impaled on some of the thickest wooden sticks.

When the children came back from the river, Wen Han and Pengcheng carried a wooden bucket full of small fish. It turned out that they used the dock to dock the bucket. When Mr. Xue saw it, he quickly found a big basin, poured the fish into it, and then everyone started squeezing the fish together. "Let's keep these fish to dry in the sun. It's getting colder today. You're not allowed to go into the water to catch fish anymore, you know?" Mr. Xue looked at Wen Han and Jing Han. She knew that the two children in her family usually took the lead in these matters.

"Mom, we understand. The water will be cold from now on. You can't go into the water, otherwise you will get sick from the cold." Wen Han quickly assured.

Xue looked at Jinghan without saying anything, just looking at her.

Jinghan understood that her mother wanted a guarantee from her. The eldest brother and the second brother will go back to town in a few days, and the children at home will listen to them. "Mom, don't worry, we won't go into the water anymore. Jinghan knows the severity." Jinghan quickly expressed her position.

Mrs. Stir-fry two vegetables and simmer some rice, and don’t just eat barbecue, as that won’t make you full.”

"Hey, let's go right away." Wenhan agreed and quickly led these people to the fire. They placed firewood in the most open area of ​​the yard, and then found some hay to start a fire. Wenhan took the flint and lit the fire, and then slowly the whole fire caught fire.

It happened that the old man and Zhixin also came back from the ginseng field. Everyone was holding meat skewers and grilling them on the fire. Zhixin was afraid that the girls would be uncomfortable if they were too close to the fire, so he took a few more wooden sticks and asked Jingxian and others to go into the house to help. Just let the boys do it here.

Jinghan and the others entered the kitchen and saw that Mrs. Xue and Mrs. Zhu had fried several dishes and the rice was ready. So those who served the dishes and those who held the dishes and chopsticks all started working together outside. I had this meal outside tonight. By the time Jinghan and the others put all the food on the table, the meat here was almost done. The aroma of barbecue wafts in the air, making people twitch their index fingers when they smell it.

"Okay, the meat is almost done, let's start eating." The old man spoke. "Wenchang, go get some wine for grandpa. Grandpa wants to drink two cups today. The meat is so fragrant, how can you not drink two cups?" The old man was addicted to alcohol and wanted to drink some.

Wenchang hurriedly went to get the wine. Jingwan listened and quickly went into the room to get the wine glass and put it in front of the old man. The other two cups were also placed, which were reserved for Zhixin and Zhiming.

Mrs. Chen quickly called Yue Pengcheng over to eat. Yue Pengcheng was holding two skewers of meat and grilling them. The meat is already cooked and the aroma is fragrant, making people salivate. Pengcheng came over with two skewers of meat in his hand and gave one to the old man and Mrs. Chen, "Grandpa, grandma, come and taste the meat I grilled."

"You can keep it for yourself. Don't you see that Wenhan's father still bakes it here? They are all the same." The old man refused and held Zhixin's cooked meat skewers in his hand. "Child, you can keep the roast for yourself. There is plenty of meat today. You can eat it as you like."

When Pengcheng saw this, he stopped giving in and picked up a bunch of meat and started eating. The meat is well marinated and grilled at a good temperature. When you eat it, it is really delicious. Pengcheng nodded while eating, "It's delicious, so good."

Naturally, the children eat meat first. Who will eat when there is meat to eat? Of course the adults couldn't be like children, so they each filled a bowl of rice and looked at the children in the yard while eating. The firelight reflected on their faces, making each of their little faces flush, with happy and contented smiles on their faces. "How great it would be if we could be like today, eating as much meat as we want and as much as we like." The old man sighed.

"Dad, don't worry, there will be such a day. Let's work hard and we can live like that sooner or later." Zhixin said from the side.

"Okay, just because of what you said, we men have to drink one too. Come on, boss, third child, let's drink. It's like having wine and meat." The old man raised his glass and drank it down. Zhixin and Zhiming also drank the wine in their glasses, and the three of them drank from one cup to another. Since Zhixin and Zhiming had to go for a walk in the evening, they didn't dare to drink more. After one person drank three or four glasses, they stopped drinking.

Mrs. Chen and her two daughters-in-law didn’t drink. They just ate some vegetables and rice. Then Mr. Xue also went to barbecue. After grilling, she handed a skewer to Mrs. Chen, “Mom, let’s also taste the taste of this barbecue. Eat meat like this. It’s such a joy.”

A skewer of meat will still weigh three to four ounces after it is cooked. Children can't eat as much as they want. Two skewers per person is enough. Jinghan ate two skewers and then touched her belly, afraid to eat any more. The boys could eat more, but it would only be three or four skewers, no more. When Jinghan saw that everyone had eaten a little too much, she suggested that they dance together so that they could still digest the food.

So the children danced around the fire. There was no music, everyone clapped their hands and danced and made noise to their heart's content. When the children are tired from dancing, they sit down to rest, eat something, and then get up to dance again. In this way, the meal lasted from the beginning of Youshi to the beginning of Xushi. In fact, everyone didn't eat much, they just went to play.

The fire was almost lit, with only red coals left. The old man drank a little too much and staggered back to the house to sleep. Zhixin and Zhiming didn't drink much and acted like normal people. They also went for a walk in the ginseng field and then went back to their houses to sleep.

Mrs. Chen, Mrs. Xue and Mrs. Zhu packed up everything on the table. I wore more than fifty skewers of meat today, and two rabbits, but I didn't expect to eat them all. Mrs. Chen looked at the large bundle of sticks and couldn't help but shake her head, and then smiled again.

The children were all tired from dancing and almost digested by now. When they saw grandma and mother clearing the table, everyone hurried over to help.

"Okay, you are tired enough, so go to bed quickly. Tomorrow, when people come to the village to play with sticks, you have to cheer up. Okay, we will do this little work, and go to bed quickly." Mrs. Chen began to chase her away. people.

Jinghan and the others were really tired. When they returned to the house, Jinghan brought hot water. The three sisters washed their feet one by one, then spread the quilts and lay down to sleep. Before going to bed, Jingxian also said, "Second sister, do you think we can still eat meat like today? I am so happy today. I have never eaten so much meat."

After hearing this, Jinghan couldn't help but smile. Today, she had everything to do with Yue Pengcheng. Otherwise, her grandparents would not have agreed. Farmers live a life that is not so wasteful. Today's meat can be eaten for a long time, but I didn't expect that it would be all consumed in one night. "We work hard to make money so that we can eat like this again in the future. When our family's life is better, you may not like this way of eating. You must also think that eating like this is too oily and delicious. "

The three sisters fell asleep soundly with their longing for a better future. In their sleep, they weave their expectations for the future.

Naturally, nothing happened that night. On the morning of August 16th, everyone got up early as usual. After breakfast, Zhixin took everyone to the place where the goods were shipped this year. Xue and Zhu also passed by. Only the old man and Chen were watching from the house, waiting for people from the village and the Yamen to arrive.

When everyone arrived at the ginseng site, Zhixin took an ax and opened the mallet shed at once. Then Wen Han and Peng Cheng both took sickles and cut down the ginseng leaves. In the past, no one cared about the ginseng leaves at all. This time, Jinghan heard that the ginseng leaves had such effects, so Wenhan said to keep the ginseng leaves until they were tied up and dried. Since we want to stay, we can't just cut them down casually as we did in the past. Wenhan bent over, holding the stem of the mallet with one hand, and cutting off the bottom with a sickle with the other hand. Then put the cut ginseng leaves together and arrange them neatly.

Pengcheng also held a sickle in his hand, watching Wenhan's movements and imitating them. Although he has never done this before or held a sickle, Pengcheng is very smart. Gradually I got the hang of it, and within a short time I was doing very well.

After cutting the ginseng leaves, Zhixin and Zhiming over there each had a three-tooth pick and began to plan the sticks. Every time three teeth are dug down, three or four stick sticks can be dug out, and the snow-white ginseng trees are displayed in front of everyone. The Xu family had long been accustomed to such a scene, but Pengcheng had never seen it before. He was stunned at once, "Wenhan, is this ginseng, right? I didn't expect that fresh ginseng would look like this. He looks like a fat little baby." Pengcheng had already finished cutting the ginseng leaves, and now he followed Jinghan's example, kneeling in the soil and starting to pull out the ginseng leaves one by one. "Oh, it's really hard for these ginseng farmers. They have to kneel down to give ginseng all year round. If ginseng is not expensive, how can it be worth it?"