It was not yet light when I came here. When I went back, the sun was high and the temperature began to soar.
Upon arriving at the gate, Zheng Cheng saw Zheng Juan holding an enamel bowl, leaning against the branch of the jujube tree, while rhubarb was staring under the tree with her head held high. The girl also grabbed two leaves and threw them down from time to time, making rhubarb bite with her mouth open, but she kept giggling.
"You can't eat at ease. You won't be brave if you fall down soon!"
Zheng Cheng put the spade away and went to the bottom of the tree. He waved at the tree and said, "Come down, I will catch you."
The branch is less than two meters high. Judging from the smooth trunk, the girl probably climbs here.
Zheng Juan's face suddenly became obstinate and shook her head, with two pigtails swinging back and forth. "I don't! Go to eat. I'll eat here."
"Well, let her eat there!" Zheng Guangnian, who was having dinner in the main room, said, waving his chopsticks.
Zheng Cheng shook his head and had to stop caring about her.
In their home, Zheng Guangnian is the girl's backer, so she makes trouble, but no one can say it's useless. After all, this is just a small padded jacket, pointing to someone greeting me when I was old.
Breakfast is a small piece of mixed flour cake with a bowl of corn and sweet potatoes, and it tastes sweet with scallions and chili sauce.
After grunting over the porridge, Zheng Guangnian was the first to finish eating, put down the bowl, exhaled, and said to Zheng Zhi, "After dinner, you take your brother to take the retted dung to the vegetable field."
"What about the threshing ground?" Zheng Zhi asked vaguely as he stuffed food into his mouth.
Although there is not much farm work there today, it is not nice to not go there.
Zheng Guangnian contentedly wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and raised his hand: "You don't have to go this morning, I'll just go. There is nothing to do now. There are a lot of thick skinned goods over there. You can't cope with all the work you are asked to do."
"Hmm."
Compared with the collective farm work, private plots are the plots that villagers are enthusiastic about. Their family also has half an acre of private land, where they grow all kinds of vegetables and oil crops. They usually eat from there, and take the rest to the market for food stamps and money. Because the production of private plots is home grown, they are all very precious. They don't even use fertilizers, so they have to use dung.
Looking up at his father who was drinking water, Zheng Cheng touched his elder brother's arm and winked.
"Dad, let me tell you something," Zheng Zhi said straightly.
"What's wrong?" Zheng Guangnian put down the enamel jar and asked.
"Well... there are a lot of big cars passing by in our town. I don't think they have a place to stop here to have a meal. I wonder... Can you set up a stall?"
Zheng Guangnian's turbid eyes blinked, but he didn't think back for a moment. "Why do you remember this? Isn't there a canteen in the town?"
Zheng Cheng also chimed in, "Dad, what's the canteen like? It's open for a while. If we don't hurry up, someone in the town will do something sooner or later, and the money will be earned."
The rise of the service industry is a matter of course beside the main traffic roads. The impression is that the town opened a small restaurant secretly at the end of the year, and within half a year, the family had purchased three major items, so it can be seen that the business is more profitable.
Without speaking quickly, Zheng Guangnian touched his pocket, took out a rolled cigarette and lit it. After taking two sharp sips, he took a puff of blue fog, which made the room foggy.
Just after returning from the kitchen, Liu Yuying saw the smoke all over the room. She pulled her face and pulled the cigarette down.
"Smoke! How many times have I said that if you are not allowed to smoke in the room, you will not have a long memory?"
When the smoke was pressed out on the table, she went to the cabinet and took a basket out of the hall.
"What a problem!"
Glancing at the daughter-in-law out of the hall, Zheng Guangnian smacked his lips and muttered with some dissatisfaction.
There was no place to be angry. Zheng Guangnian stood up and turned around to go out. Zheng Cheng hurriedly shouted, "Dad, have you promised?"
Zheng Guangnian turned his head and glared, "Whatever! Really, there's nothing to worry about."
……
If Zheng Guangnian doesn't fail, then Zheng Cheng can only think that he has approved the plan and the preparation.
In the morning, after pulling two carts of dung, the two brothers put away their tools and rushed to the river with their snakeskin bags.
Without living in the countryside, it is probably hard to believe that the river is rich in aquatic products in these years. You don't need any good equipment, just a fishing rod, and it's no problem to catch more than half a barrel a day. But if you have good equipment, the harvest will be almost beyond imagination.
Before the cofferdam, Zheng Cheng saw the fish splashing. Needless to say, it should be a bumper harvest.
Jumping into the river quickly, the gap was blocked first, and the two began to splash water. When there is only a shallow layer of water in the cofferdam, the fish also show their backs. At this time, take off the straw hat.
I was busy with mud, and the cofferdam was clean at last. The harvest was about two or three jin, which was pretty good.
The food in summer is easy to smell, and there is no refrigerator. After the fish is cured, it is just dried. In such hot weather, there is no difference between the sun and the oven. It only takes one afternoon.
Spicy fish jerky is Zheng Cheng's family kung fu. He learned it from a colleague in Hunan Province in the past. He eats steamed buns. The taste is still fresh in his memory.
……
The next day after breakfast, the sun had just turned silvery white. Zheng Guangnian and his wife had packed up their housework and were going out to the threshing floor.
"Do you really want to do this?" Zheng Guangnian stood at the door with a broom on his shoulder and asked his eldest son.
Of course, he asked about his son's going to sell things in the town. Yesterday's promise was too hasty, and his heart began to beat. After careful consideration, what the boy wants to do is not speculation? Although it is much looser now, it is not reassuring to let the two boys struggle.
"Dad, can't you stop talking?" Zheng Cheng hurriedly said.
The business hasn't started yet. What's the matter when you turn halfway? I also know that my father loves face, so I have to make a deal first.
"Who says no!?" Zheng Guangnian glared at his second son discontentedly. He became more and more disobedient.
Yang raised his hand and said angrily, "Go ahead! Let's see what can be done."
When the couple left the yard, the family became the territory of the brothers. They had a clear division of labor. Zheng Cheng took charge and Zheng Zhi went to prepare materials.
After graduating from college that year, Zheng Cheng was assigned to the south. Because he could not get used to local food, he studied in the kitchen.
Zheng Zhi is cooking in front of the stove. He looks like his younger brother, but he is not sure.
"Waiter, tell me, do you really know how to cook?"
The sponge gourd was expertly brushing the pot. Zheng Cheng wiped the sweat from his head and said, "I told you. I learned it in the school canteen. How many times have I told you? You still don't believe me."
As he said this, he took up the oil pot and poured it down. That was half of the bowl into the pot.
Zheng Zhi was deeply distressed. The brother of the black sheep, how willing he is! If this fails, I will scold him when I come back.
Boiling, burning oil, scallions, ginger and garlic... After a whole set of standard procedures, the fragrance was quickly aroused and scattered all over the room.
"Brother, what's the smell? It's really fragrant." Zheng Juan's little head poked out of the foggy kitchen door.
With tears streaming down his face, Zheng Cheng raised the shovel in his hand and said impatiently, "Don't make trouble, go away, go away."
Zheng Juan stuck out her tongue and ran away.
After a while, a pot of spicy fish jerky was fresh with hot pepper. Squeeze a little oily and delicious fish jerky and eat it all. It is crunchy and delicious.
When the dishes were poured into the basin, Zheng Cheng casually mixed some cold dishes. Cover the vegetable pots with cloth, put them into baskets, and then fix them on the back seat of the borrowed bicycle.
There is only one car, so Zheng Cheng is the only one to go. After putting on a straw hat and drinking enough water, he pedaled out of the door.