Four Foods in the Mountains

The weather is as cold as it sounds, and every day during the month of the epidemic was muddled, and I realized that the corn in the fields should be harvested.

It rained for so long a while ago, and everyone in the village thought that the designated corn would not grow well this year, but they went to the field to break it off, not to mention a good harvest, but it grew much better than expected, so it was dull because of the heavy rain and the disease. The village that had been there for a long time became active again.

Corn is mainly dried and threshed into grains, so that domestic livestock can stutter in winter, and corncobs and stalks can also be used as firewood.

Because the family has a small population and does not raise pigs, the corn planted is less, so it is not so tiring to collect it. Lu Yunchuan was cutting the corn stalks in the field, and Cen Ning held the basket and broke the corn cobs beside him.

When the sun is good for a few days, all the heads of the village gather in the fields to rush to harvest the corn. Most of the harvested corn is not ripe and has a lot of water inside. It must be dried and peeled in time when the weather is sunny.

After all the corn is broken, the ground will be raked again, and the corn will be smashed and buried in the fertile land.

Baskets of corn cobs are carried home, and after threshing and drying in the sun, they can be ground into cornmeal, which is used to make cornmeal buns and corn cakes.

When Cen Ning was still at home, he loved to eat corn glutinous rice cakes made by his mother when harvesting corn.

"Grind corn kernels into mud, knead white flour and sugar together and steam them on the corn leaves. It tastes like corn." Cen Ning said to Lu Yunchuan while breaking the corn kernels, his eyes sparkling, "When I was young, I called me A Niang made glutinous rice cakes to eat. My elder brother didn’t like sweets so he deliberately teased me. He took the venison from home to exchange pork ribs with the pig butcher in the village, and insisted that I choose between glutinous rice cakes and corn rib soup.

I was greedy and wanted to eat glutinous rice cakes and drink soup at the same time. I was so teased by him that I cried. My father came to beat my elder brother when he heard me crying. In the end, the corn glutinous rice cakes and pork rib soup were put on the table, and my eldest brother punished me in the yard. Standing, I had to secretly serve him a drink. "

Lu Yunchuan listened quietly, thinking of the younger Cen Ning who was teased to wipe his tears and soft-hearted, holding a bowl to deliver soup to his brother, the corners of his mouth raised.

Cen Ning finished his chattering, looked up and saw Lu Yunchuan was smiling at him, then remembered he was shy, blushed and lowered his eyes, and said: "When the corn particles are finished, I will also steam the rice cakes, and then I will cut a piece of ribs and cook the soup Here you go."

"Okay." Lu Yunchuan responded with a smile.

It was a cool morning in late autumn, and there was a heavy fog in the mountains.

At the foot of the mountain, there was a sound from the courtyard of the Wu family.The grandmother of the Wu family was packing steamed buns in the kitchen, and Wu Da was carefully putting the eggs into baskets in the yard, which would be picked up and sold in the town later.

"Is it ready? I'm late today, I have to go faster later." The grandma of the Wu family packed the steamed buns and came out.

Wu Da picked up the bamboo basket: "Don't worry."

"Don't be in a hurry, everyone bought someone else's when it was late, so our basket won't be easy to sell."

Said the courtyard door was knocked.

"So early, who could be here?"

"I'll go and have a look." Wu Da said as he stepped forward and pushed open the courtyard door.

Standing outside the door was Lu Yunchuan.

"Second boy Lu?"

There was still a cool breeze blowing on the mountain in the early morning, but a thin layer of sweat formed on Lu Yunchuan's forehead, and he was slightly panting while speaking: "Uncle Wu, Aunt Wu, I'm here to buy some eggs."

"Coincidentally, we are preparing to pick them up and sell them in the town. How much do you want? I'll pretend for you now." Wu Dao said.

The Wu family's grandma asked from the side: "Second boy, where are you going to get so many eggs? I remember you raised chickens yourself."

Lu Yunchuan wiped off his sweat and breathed a sigh of relief: "Today I will accompany my husband back to my father-in-law's house."

"My father-in-law's house," Wu's grandma was taken aback for a moment, "Is this going to accompany Brother Ning back to her mother's house? Then I'll pick some big ones for you."

"Thank you, auntie."

After picking out the eggs and paying the money, the grandma of the Wu family helped put the eggs into the basket behind Lu Yunchuan. Lu Yunchuan thanked him and walked home.

The remaining Wu family grandma looked at his back and muttered: "It's not the Chinese New Year, the second boy is still accompanying Brother Ning back to his mother's house."

It is a custom in this mountain area that after a daughter or elder brother gets married, she doesn’t go to her mother’s house very much except for the holidays. If the father-in-law and mother-in-law celebrate their tenth birthday, maybe the husband-in-law can go home with his wife or husband.In normal times, being able to bring a gift to accompany a wife or husband home is a matter of great respect and love.

"I just saw it when I was laying eggs for the second boy. There is a big piece of ribs in the back basket. Brother Ning is very lucky to accompany him back to his mother's house and receive such a heavy gift."

Not knowing that he was being whispered about, when Cen Ning woke up, the bed next to him was empty, thinking that Lu Yunchuan might have gone to the field, he dressed and washed, boiled a pot of corn stalks and prepared breakfast.

The corn on the cob was steamed, and the porridge was ready, but Lu Yunchuan hadn't come back for a long time.

Cen Ning warmed up his breakfast, thinking about peeling the corn that hadn't finished threshing yesterday, just in time to wait for Lu Yunchuan.But when he opened the granary and took a look, not only the corn cobs put in last night were gone, but even the sun-dried and piled corn kernels were gone.

Could it be that Lu Yunchuan got up early and peeled it off for grinding?How early to get up.

Cen Ning slapped his head and complained to himself, why did he sleep so soundly, and didn't hear a single movement.

He is afraid of the cold, and he loves to lie in bed when the cool breeze starts to blow in the morning in autumn. After Lu Yunchuan found out, he always got up lightly in the morning and never called him.

After tidying up his clothes, Cen Ning was just about to go to the mill in the village to find Lu Yunchuan when the courtyard door was pushed open from the outside, and Lu Yunchuan came back with a basket on his back.

"Have you broken the corn and sent it to the flour mill? Why didn't you call me along?" Cen Ning stepped forward to help unload the basket.

Seeing him, Lu Yunchuan smiled and said, "I peeled the corn this morning and sent it to my elder brother's house. I asked him to help bring it over when he went to grind the noodles today. I got up early and went to town to cut a rib."

"What are you doing up so early to cut the ribs? It's okay to be later, go and have breakfast." Recalling that he said yesterday that he wanted to stew ribs soup, Cen Ning went to lift the cloth on the back basket.

The cloth was lifted, and besides a large piece of spare ribs, there were more than a dozen round eggs in the basket.

Cen Ning asked in surprise, "Why did you buy so many eggs?"

"There are not enough eggs at home, so I went to Uncle Wu to buy some."

Cen Ning was confused: "Not enough, what are these eggs going to do?"

Lu Yunchuan likes the way Cen Ning's clear eyes are round and round, and Fu Lang's eyebrows are beautiful, and when he opens his round eyes, he looks a bit childish

Come.

He patted Cen Ning's head and said with a smile, "I want to take it to my father-in-law and mother-in-law."

Cen Ning's eyes became rounder, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise after realizing the reaction: "Yes, do you want to go home with me?"

Lu Yunchuan nodded with a smile.

Seeing Cen Ning's happy appearance yesterday when he was talking about family affairs, he paid attention to it.

My husband grew up pampered by his parents and elder brothers at home. After marrying him, except for the time when he went back home, he hasn't been home for half a year. He must be homesick in his heart.

"I was sloppy. I never thought about it. The epidemic has just passed. According to the rules of etiquette, I should accompany you to see it."

Cen Ning didn't know the customs in ordinary villages. He knew that Lu Yunchuan wanted to accompany him back to his mother's house because he loved him. For a moment, his heart felt warm and soft, and he couldn't speak.

He was close to Lu Yunchuan, and he didn't want to thank his husband like others, so he stepped forward and leaned into Lu Yunchuan's arms with a blushing face, and remained silent.

A familiar soft body was pressed into his arms, Lu Yunchuan's Adam's apple rolled, and his big palms were on Fulang's back.

After getting close for a while, both of them felt shy.Cen Ning brought out the breakfast, Lu Yunchuan took a bite of the corn cob and said, "After breakfast, we will set off."

Accompanying the husband to go back to his mother's house is always in the morning, there is no reason to arrive after noon, the sooner he goes, the more respect the husband-in-law has for the father-in-law's family.

That's why Lu Yunchuan went to the town to cut meat and came back with a basket on his back before dawn.He originally wanted to buy some pastries, but all the pastry shops in the town were closed too early.

Gossip spreads quickly in the village, and he likes to chew on the short tongue of these parents. He loves Cen Ning and respects the Yue family, of course he has to show it in every way to save Cen Ning's face.

After breakfast, the two tidied up the bamboo baskets, and Lu Yunchuan put an extra jug of wine in. The two happily locked the courtyard door and set off.

This morning, the riverside in Yunxi Village was very lively, and the laundry aunts gathered together, talking about Lu Yunchuan and Cen Ning.

"Have you seen that the second boy of the Lu family has gone back to his mother's house with his husband today?"

"Who didn't see this, the bamboo basket is stuffed to the brim, I don't know how many good things it contains, the second boy really has nothing to say to Fu Lang."

"This morning, I heard that the second boy went to Wu's house to buy eggs. Although the Lu family is poorer, when it comes to husbands, I don't think there are many people in the village who can compare with the second boy."

"Look at each of you. The second boy of the Lu family has been married for less than a year. When we first got married, which wife and brother didn't enjoy the blessings. The days are still long. Who can say what will happen in the future?"

Here, Lu Yunchuan and Cen Ning didn't know that they were being missed for the future.Tired from walking the mountain road, Lu Yunchuan felt sorry for Fulang, thinking that he would not be nervous about the early departure time, so he walked halfway along the way, and picked a lot of wild fruits on the way to quench Cen Ning's thirst.

Cen Ning ate a few for himself and fed some for Lu Yunchuan, and a few sticks of fruit for the two of them, and then walked to the entrance of Meiling Village.

As soon as they entered the village, all the chatterers gathered at the entrance of the village looked over, saw that it was Cen Ning, and greeted him one after another.

"Hey, Brother Ning is taking his husband back to his mother's house."

There are many aunts here who once fell in love with Cen Ning for their own sons or nephews, but they were rejected when they went to Cen's family to propose marriage.

Seeing this, Cen Ning subconsciously moved closer to Lu Yunchuan, and said with a smile on his face, "Hello, aunts and grandmas."

Lu Yunchuan also greeted Cen Ning.

Even though everyone had Xiao Jiujiu in their hearts, they all had a kind face on their faces. They all praised Cen Ning for looking better after getting married, and praised Lu Yunchuan for being filial and considerate.

When the two of them walked away, they put away their smiles immediately, and commented on everything from the clothes they were wearing, the shoes on their feet, to the things in the bamboo basket.

"Brother Ning's life is not bad. The clothes on his body are made of cotton, and they still look new."

"Do you know where that cloth came from? I'm afraid it was a dowry from the Cen family. It is said that the Lu family is poor, so how can they afford to buy cotton cloth for tailoring clothes?"

"I see that Ning Ge'er married well, but look at the bamboo basket that brother-in-law is holding. It's full of eggs and meat, which means he loves Ning Ge'er."

"What hurts Brother Ning? In my opinion, he brought Ning Geer back to fight the autumn wind. You see, the bamboo basket is full now, and it may be even fuller when you go back later. I see that Lu family boy, from appearance to family background, nothing compares to my son and your nephew."

"Sister, don't take me with you if you talk big. I'm so ashamed to hear this. Mom looks at my son, that shit can be regarded as gold."

"Fart you, how can my son be inferior to that kid?"