Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

The whole family, except for Zhixiang and Wenhan, is considered complete. Mrs. Chen looked at the grandson and daughter in front of her, she was so happy that she couldn't close her mouth and kept smiling. Needless to say, the old man was equally happy and chatting happily with his sons.

When Mrs. Xue saw this situation, she quickly went into the house to cook. It was almost noon. These people couldn't just be happy and not eat, right? When Mrs. Zhu saw her sister-in-law coming into the house to cook, she also went in to help. Fortunately, there were still a few side dishes in the field at this time. After working hard for a while, the two sisters prepared all the meals.

"Mom, let's eat first. There's nothing to do anyway. Let's talk slowly after dinner." Mrs. Xue finished the meal and came out and said.

"Okay, let's eat first. After lunch, we can make rice dumplings together. If I had known you could come back, I would have made more rice." The old lady muttered.

The table was placed outside, and everyone sat around it, eating and chatting. "Huixin, when you came to the mountain, why didn't you go to the Tao family's old house during Qingnian?" Mrs. Chen remembered this and asked quickly.

"I went. Qingnian bought some things and took them over. Without going in, I gave them directly to Qingyu." Huixin replied. It has been more than a year and a half, and the relationship between Qingnian and the old house has not been good. When Huixin gave birth to Jinghui, she went to the old house to announce the good news, but no one went there. After that, no one from the other side of the old house came over during the third day of the bath, the full moon, and the hundredth day. Qing Nian was quite annoying, but even so, Qing Nian did not fall short of etiquette. Every time there was a festival or something, I would buy some things and send them over. I would not go into the hospital and just hand the things in to whoever opened the door. It’s not that he is being unfilial during the celebration, it’s that the other end of the house doesn’t even have the slightest attitude, so what should he do?

"Well, it's true that the old man and the old lady of the Tao family, now that they've made it clear, they can just get along well in the future. How can we get to the point where they don't have contact with each other? Qing Nian did the right thing, let's send things over there "It means you haven't forgotten your parents. It's their business whether they accept it or not. Why should Qingnian treat him like this?" The old lady listened. I couldn't help but say a few words about the Tao family's situation.

"I don't want to think about those things anymore. We have nothing to feel sorry for them. Let's do whatever we love. Now I just want to look at Jinghui well and love Jinghui well." Huixin hugged Jinghui and was talking. Feed him something to eat.

Over there, Jinghan and the others were watching Jinghe and Wenxing eating birds. The birds they caught were all roasted, and each one exuded an alluring fragrance. Jinghan and the others have eaten it often these days, and they are not so greedy anymore. Jinghe and Wenxing have never eaten it before, and now they are so delicious. Although Wenxuan and Wenchang were not at home often, they had eaten wild game in the mountains before, so everyone took one to nibble on, and left the rest for Wenxing and his sister.

"Jinghe, slow down and watch out for your bones." Jinghan warned. Jinghe always eats by himself, but he eats very well and doesn't fall to the ground at all. Wenxing was older than Jinghe, but he ate so much that it fell on the ground. "Wen Xing, you have to eat more slowly, look at you, what you dropped on the floor can feed a chicken." Jinghan teased.

After hearing Jinghan's words, Wenxing felt a little embarrassed, so he ate slowly, being careful not to drop anything on the ground.

After lunch, Mrs. Chen asked the children to take a nap, and then Mrs. Chen led Mrs. Xue and her sisters-in-law to make rice dumplings. Jinghan and the others got up very early in the morning just to look at those silkworms. After dinner, I felt really sleepy, so everyone went back to the house to sleep. Tussah silkworms usually only come out to look for food in the morning. When the sun is too strong, they all hide under the leaves, so you usually don't need to watch them in the afternoon.

When the children woke up, Mrs. Chen and the others had wrapped all the rice dumplings and put them in a big basin.

Taking advantage of the sunny weather, Ms. Chen went into the house and found five colors of silk threads. She mixed them into colorful threads, then tied them up and hung them outside. This colorful thread is a custom during the Dragon Boat Festival and is used to tie children's hands, necks and ankles. This thing needs to be prepared in advance, put outside on the night of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year to let the dew hit, and then tied on the children on the morning of the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. This colorful thread is naturally a kind of spiritual sustenance for people, hoping that children can suppress evil and avoid poison and live a long life.

After dinner in the evening, Mrs. Chen put the rice dumplings in the pot and filled them with water. Place a stone slab on top of the rice dumplings to prevent the rice dumplings from floating upward, which will help them cook faster. Put a fire under the pot, wait for two-quarters of an hour after the pot is boiled, and then slowly stop the fire. Simmer the rice dumplings in the pot overnight, and you can eat delicious rice dumplings the next morning.

On the morning of the Dragon Boat Festival, Wen Cheng took his younger brothers and sisters to the river to wash their faces. There were no mountains too high here, so they didn't go climbing to watch the sunrise. When I got home, the rice dumplings had been cooked out of the pot, and of course the eggs had been simmering in the pot for a long time.

"That's all for this morning, enough rice dumplings and egg tubes." Mrs. Chen said, bringing the large bowl of eggs to the table. Of course, there are not only eggs in it, but also a lot of goose eggs. The Xu family hatched two hundred goslings this year. Including last year's, there are now nearly three hundred geese in the farm, so Xue doesn't feel bad about eating goose eggs or something.

Everyone ate eggs and rice dumplings together, but they didn't eat the goose eggs, but stayed. "Second sister, let's touch the eggs. This goose egg has thick skin and should be more powerful." Wen Xuan said. As a child, the first thing he thinks about is playing.

"You guys play first, Jingwan and I have to go to work. At this time, the tussah silkworms are preparing to eat the leaves of the tussah tree. You have to go and have a look." Jinghan didn't have the time to play with them, so she led Jinghan Wan walked out.

As soon as Wenxuan heard that he was going to see the tussah silkworms, he quickly ran out. Wenchang and Wenxuan had always been together. Besides, he also wanted to see how those tussah silkworms were doing, so he followed closely behind and ran out. Everyone came to the forest to the north.

I saw some insects crawling densely on a few oak trees in the forest. These insects were small and had black bodies. They were all gnawing at the leaves. The trees Jinghan chose were all not too tall, less than two meters tall. Jinghan was now over 1.4 meters tall, so she could easily reach the branches of the trees. Jinghan took a pair of big scissors and cut off some branches. These branches were the ones with the densest concentration of tussah silkworms. Carrying the branches, I walked to the tussah tree not far away that had no silkworms yet, and then put the branches on the tree. I saw those little silkworms slowly crawling up the tree.

Jinghan kept cutting some branches and moved the silkworms to many trees. In the growth process of tussah silkworms, the most important thing is to move the silkworms. If not timely, the silkworms will not be able to survive without food. By the time all the moves were completed, it was already the beginning of the season, and everyone hurried back to the venue.

Just as Jinghan entered the venue, she heard the sound of many people talking inside. When they went in and took a look, it turned out that the eldest brother was back. Wenhan sat on the edge of the kang, with excitement and joy on his face.

"Brother, you are back. We talk about you every day." Jinghan saw her eldest brother and immediately jumped to Wenhan's side. "Brother, how did you do in the exam?"

Wenhan looked at Jinghan and found that his sister had turned tan. "Jinghan, what are you busy with? Look at you, you are tanned." Wenhan said with some distress. "My brother did very well in the exam. Zixuan, Pengcheng, I, and I all passed the government exam, and now we can be considered as children." Wen Han told the good news.

Jinghan looked at her brother, a fifteen-year-old boy who had grown into a tall, handsome man. He had completely inherited the advantages of the Xu family. My brother has grown up and has become a handsome, gentle and graceful young man, Jinghan thought proudly. Jinghan was not too surprised that Wenhan was able to pass the government examination. Although Wenhan was delayed for a year in the mountains, he did not give up studying during this year. He still found time to study every day and also did what Zixuan did. Some topics. Later, when he went to the town to study, Wenhan also worked very hard. If he still failed the exam, he really didn't know how to pass it.

"Brother, are you going to take the college exam in the fall?" Jinghan asked softly.

Wenhan nodded, "Well, there happens to be a college exam this year, and I want to give it a try. Regardless of whether I can pass the exam or not, it is still an experience. Even if I fail, I can still accumulate some experience. I am still young. If I can't do it this year, just Wait until next time." Wenhan's eyes were calm and firm, just like his mood at the moment.

"Okay, we're all back. Let's celebrate well today. Let's prepare some good dishes tonight and have a drink together." The old man was addicted to alcohol again, so he shouted and celebrated well.

Naturally, everyone has no objection to this. "Okay, today is a holiday, so we should cook something delicious. We have meat and fish at home. I will kill a chicken later and let's have a good meal tonight." Mrs. Chen spoke. "Meilin, there is a hen at home that doesn't like laying eggs very much. Kill it and let's quench our thirst."

Chen's words sentenced the chicken to death. In the evening, everyone had a lively reunion dinner together. The food on the table was so rich that the children ate very much, and their stomachs were full after eating.

The old man was very happy today, so he drank a little too much, "Okay, Wenhan is a good guy, much better than his fifth uncle. Come on, boss, you have raised a good son, let's have a drink ." The old man had another drink with Zhixin.

As soon as Mrs. Chen saw it, she knew that the old man was a little too much. He was happy today, so it was hard to dampen his mood. So Mrs. Chen pretended that she didn't see it and turned to talk to her daughter-in-law next to her.

Fortunately, the old man understood it well, and after drinking that glass, he stopped drinking. "I'm too old, I can't, and my ability to drink is too bad. I won't drink anymore. You guys, drink more, and I'll eat." The old man picked up his rice bowl and ate.