The Garden Life of a Little Gardener

The dejected Zhouquan followed his eldest cousin into the house. Next to the stove in the east room of the hall, Zhou Quan's aunt was adding firewood to the stove, while his cousin was guarding the kitchen cutting meat and vegetables.

Hearing someone entering the house, Zhou Quan's aunt raised her head, and she saw Zhou Quan, a nearly 80-year-old old man, smiling so much that her dentures were all exposed.

The not tall old lady stood up carefully from the grass futon she was sitting on, and walked towards Zhou Quan with very quick steps.

Seeing this, Zhou Quan rushed to meet her, he knew that his aunt's legs and feet were starting to feel uncomfortable as she got older.

It's been a long time since I saw Zhou Quan's old lady stroking Zhou Quan's face with her hands, and while she was talking about losing weight, she wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

Grandma Zhou Quan died early, and his parents also left when he was in elementary school because of an accident at work.

There was a time when Zhou Quan basically grew up with his aunt's grandmother, so the old man loved his nephew very much, no worse than his own grandson.

Passed the Poria biscuits brought over to the old lady, and stuffed the cigarettes to the uncle, Zhouquan helped the aunt to the back room, and comforted the old man while walking: "Auntie, have I grown up and lost weight? The face just lost the baby fat and added some contour."

Hearing this, the old man touched Zhou Quan's face again with rough hands, and said in disbelief: "It's obviously thinner, but it was still fleshy when I touched it last time. Fortunately, I stewed an old hen for you. Remember to eat more."

In the village, hens are more precious than roosters, because hens can lay eggs.

In the past, when the economy was bad, the oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar in the villagers' homes were all obtained from the hens laying eggs.

And in the eyes of the older generation, old hens are the most nourishing, more nutritious than those roosters that are killed after one or two years of breeding.

Therefore, the old hen laying eggs here is used for confinement for the daughter-in-law, or for the sick at home to take care of their bodies.

Although the economic conditions are good now, it is not difficult to eat chicken, but at my aunt’s house, only when Zhou Quan visits the door, the chicken in the chicken stewed mushrooms will be the old-age hen personally selected by my aunt .

Helping his little aunt into the house, Zhou Quan took a look and asked, "Hey, Brother Wen Li hasn't come back yet."

Uncle Wen Wenyan, who followed the east room with a cigarette between his fingers, said: "The last train on the line he drives leaves at six o'clock, and every time he drives the evening shift home, it is almost eight o'clock. We don't have to wait for him." .”

"So late, is it a long time?"

"It's not very long. They work in shifts in the morning and afternoon. The bus in our city runs on the suburban line, but their line is busy, and it's too late when there are too many people."

As he spoke, he saw that Zhou Quan had already opened a bag of the Poria biscuits he brought over, took out the beige palm-sized biscuits inside, and handed them to his aunt, saying, "Auntie, this is a specialty of the imperial capital, made of Poria cocos." Crackers, I heard they are good for your health."

On the other side, the uncle was not polite to his nephew, and took a look at Zhongnanhai's cigarette sticks and said, "Good guy, is this Zhongnanhai? I have only heard of it before and never seen it before. I heard that those leaders in Zhongnanhai Many of you smoke this, how can I taste it? Today, thanks to your boy, I also enjoy the treatment of the old leaders of Zhongnanhai."

It's a pity that before the eldest cousin opened the cigarette sticks, the cousin who was preparing dinner in the kitchen suddenly approached the room and said: "Old Chen, the soy sauce is gone at home, you can go to Erlong's house at the entrance of the village to buy some. It will be used for cooking later.”

Bao Erlong's family runs the only grocery store in the village. Of course, Erlong is not his real name, but just a nickname that everyone has mixed up.

When Zhou Quan heard that he could help to buy soy sauce, his aunt hurriedly said, "I don't need you, you don't know what brand to buy, I'd better let your cousin go."

Zhou Quan scratched his head when he heard this and didn't say much. He remembered that there seemed to be only two kinds of soy sauce operated by Bao Erlong's family. One was the bulk soy sauce blended by the country workshops, and the other was their own soy sauce and pickle factory in the city. A kind of plastic barrel produced holds two liters of soy sauce.

The jumbo bottles produced by the soy sauce factory in the city are not bad. Although they are not as delicious as famous brand products, they are regular products that have passed the inspection and inspection.

The bulk ones are completely blended with salt, water and pigment blocks, and they taste nothing but salty.

So what’s the difference between these two soy sauces?Could it be that since I haven't been back for many years, the grocery store in Bao Erlong's house has new goods?

It is possible to think about it. After all, compared with other villages, the economic conditions of the two surname villages are still very good, so it is reasonable to expand the operation of the grocery store.

The eldest cousin of the Chen family obediently followed his wife's orders and went out to buy soy sauce. Zhou Quan took this opportunity to stuff a piece of Poria cocos pancake into his cousin's hand.

"Auntie, try it too, it's a specialty from the imperial capital."

The eldest aunt took a bite of the Poria cocos cake and said: "The taste is quite bland, the old lady should like it very much."

What my aunt said was so right, it only took a few minutes, and my aunt Zhou Quan had already finished the first piece of Poria biscuit, and now she is eating the second piece naturally.

Seeing this, Zhou Quan smiled and pushed the rest of the tuckahoe cakes to his aunt, but said to his cousin: "Auntie, is Wenjuan coming back these days? I bought two sets of cosmetics in the capital. One set is suitable for you and the other is for Wenjuan. However, I have too much luggage and I will send it to the courier. The address is Wenjuan's work unit. It is estimated that it will arrive tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. You can try it when the time comes. "

Chen Wenjuan is Chen Wenli's younger sister and Zhou Quan's cousin. After graduating from junior high school, she went to a medical school in the city. After graduation, she entered the county hospital and became a nurse.

Zhou Quan has a very good relationship with this lively cousin, so before leaving, she directly informed her on WeChat, and packed and mailed back the presents for her and her cousin, so as to save the crowding in the suitcase.

My aunt smiled and said, "Ah Quan is careful. That brat Wen Li doesn't care what cosmetics his mother and sister use. The bone-replenishing medicine you mailed back to your mother-in-law last year is very good. My mother-in-law said that the joints in the bones did not hurt so much."

My aunt suffered from arthritis when she got old. Zhou Quan bought glucosamine sulfate and calcium tablets and mailed them back to the old man when he found out about it from his cousin. He had a colleague whose father was an orthopedic doctor in a large hospital. These two things are effective in treating and relieving osteoarthritis.

"That's great. The doctor said that calcium tablets should be taken regularly. The glucosamine can be taken for two or three months a year. I will bring it to my aunt next year."

"No, we all left the packaging, and when we want to eat, take the packaging to the pharmacy in the street, or your sister's hospital to open it."

While they were talking, there was a buzzing sound from the road outside the yard, and every now and then an electric motorcycle with two people on board drove in.

Hutou, who was lying on the kennel at the door, still didn't bark this time, but walked out of the kennel slowly, wagging his tail slowly towards the two people in the car.

Carrying soy sauce and wine, the uncle of the Chen family and cousin Wen Li walked into the house together.

"Hey, why did you leave work so early today?"

After looking at the old-fashioned wall clock in the house, Aunt Biao asked her son.

"My colleagues knew that our family came back today and helped me with my shift, so they came back early."

"That's okay? It's too much trouble for others."

"It's not troublesome. Back then when his wife gave birth to a child, I also took over a lot of shifts for him. It's normal for each other to help each other when there is nothing at home."

"Oh, since this is the case, you can talk with Ah Quan, and I'll go to the kitchen to fry the vegetables."

Aunt Biao worked very quickly. Except for the pot of chicken stewed with mushrooms and potstickers pancakes that my mother-in-law took care of, it only took my Aunt Biao half an hour to make four stir-fried dishes and one mixed vegetable.

Uncle Chen put the kang table where he usually eats, and Zhou Quan and his cousin lifted a round table and covered it on the square kang table below.

After setting up the round table, the two brothers went to the kitchen to help pass the dishes.

At the banquet, the relatives who hadn't seen each other for many days were chatting with each other about their recent situation. My aunt took the old hen's two drumsticks to Zhou Quan, and Chen Wenli looked on, shaking his head and sighing pretendingly.

Seeing this, the others laughed, and Zhou Quan deliberately picked up a chicken leg and took a bite out of it just to get angry.

To be honest, there is a lot of fat under the skin of an old hen. If it is not handled well, it will taste very greasy, and my aunt is not a chef, but just a rural method.

However, soil has its benefits. The mushrooms used in this pot of stewed chicken with mushrooms are a kind of mushrooms produced locally in his hometown.

Zhou Quan didn't know what the scientific name of this mushroom was. Anyway, the old people in and out of the village called it red mushroom, and the younger generation followed suit.

The whole body of this kind of mushroom is dark red, and the meat is thick and has almost no peculiar smell. I like to use it to stew all kinds of meat in my hometown. It not only enhances freshness and absorbs oil, but also does not overwhelm the taste of meat.

For example, in this pot of stewed chicken with mushrooms, all the fat in the chicken is absorbed by the thick, slightly fibrous meat of red mushrooms, so that even the old hen with a rich subcutaneous oil layer does not taste greasy at all. .

And the abundant animal fat fills the fibers of the red mushrooms, so that the mushrooms are full of the taste of chicken juice.

One bite of the chicken leg is about to go down, the teeth pass through the slightly tough chicken skin, and the firm and tender chicken leg meat of the domestic hen is immediately swallowed into the mouth.

Just the right heat and sufficient oil and water make the old hen's meat tight but not sticky, and it is smooth and elastic when chewed but not greasy. is to enjoy.

The red mushrooms are juicy when picked up, and they taste bursting with juice. The full chicken is mixed with the own fragrance of red mushrooms, and it slides down the throat directly after one bite.

The old hen stewed mushrooms, served with the special three-in-one noodle potstickers pancakes made by my aunt, full of family taste, the cheeks on both sides of the food are bulging.

The children in the family ate deliciously, and the elders were naturally happy to see it. The eldest cousin took a sip of his favorite millet, served a mouthful of food and wine, and then subconsciously glanced at the antique quartz clock hanging on the wall.

"Yeah, it's time, turn on the TV."

Saying so, the cousin jumped off the kang nimbly and turned on the big-headed color TV set on the cabinet.

thump~thumpthumpthumpthump~~~, the familiar music sounded, and the news broadcast started on the TV.

The cousin sitting on the side rolled her eyes silently when she saw this, and then said to Zhou Quan who was sitting opposite her: "Your eldest cousin watches the news broadcast every day, and the wind and rain never fall. Those who don't know think he is a cadre." .”

Uncle Chen's family heard the words and said very seriously: "I am not a big cadre, but I am the head of a village anyway. What's wrong with caring about current affairs? Our village can be considered rich if it is ten miles away. For the current situation, my grandfather, Bao Uncle, and how much painstaking effort did Ah Quan’s grandfather put in? It’s not too much to say that painstaking effort is not too much? I don’t mean to carry forward the country that the old men have worked hard to build, and I must not discredit them. News broadcast is the fastest and most prepared way to understand national policies Safe channels, why don’t I look at this?”

"I can't tell you, just watch it, and I didn't say anything. It's just that you have watched it for so many years, and I haven't seen you analyze any powerful policies for our village."

"Hey, why do you say everything, old lady, let me tell you..."

Before the uncle finished speaking, there was a sudden burst of shouting and cursing from Hexi not far from the second floor of Zhouquan's small house.

Accompanied by the noisy yelling and cursing, there was also the barking of the watchdog in the village. Even the big cousin's tiger head crawled out of the kennel and began to bark in the direction of the noise.

Dogs in the village wouldn’t bark unless they smelled strangers. The eldest cousin lay on the window sill and looked out, carefully identified the direction and said: “It’s broken, it’s the old house of Bao’s house, no Could it be that a thief came in and stared at the things in the old house? I have to go and see."

As he spoke, the eldest cousin put on his clothes and shoes, and strode outside.

After Chen Wenli and Zhou Quan looked at each other, they followed in a very tacit understanding.