Four Foods in the Mountains

This year the field is still full of bumper harvests, the sun is setting and the smoke is curling up, and the air above the village is filled with joy.

It was getting late, and the Wu family was cooking a pot.

There are many Wu families, and the houses are spacious. There are several brick houses connecting the front and back yards, which is very grand.

Oil lamps were lit in the main room, and a square wooden table was placed in the middle of the room. Boss Wu and his two sons sat on the bench and talked about the affairs in the field.The old man's son, Boy Chang, is five years old this year, and he is sitting in front of the threshold of the main room, playing with sticks and drawing characters.

In the kitchen, Aunt Wu, Sister-in-law of the Wu family and Brother Zhu were busy having dinner in front of the stove.Sister Xi moved a bench and sat aside, helping to serve the dishes while chatting and laughing with her sisters-in-law.

"I've been tired of selling food for the past few days. Let's cook some good ones tonight, so we can have a good meal." Aunt Wu said.

"I know my mother, I cooked a pot of dry rice and steamed the flower rolls, which is quite enough." The sister-in-law opened the steamer, and the freshly steamed flower rolls were steaming.

Brother Zhu rolled up his sleeves and was frying a pot of sliced ​​meat in front of the stove.

The Wu family raises pigs and sells meat. The father and son are often invited by several surrounding villages to kill pigs at home. There is never a shortage of meat at home.

Cut the skinless pork belly into thin slices. After the oil in the pan is heated up, sauté pepper, ginger and garlic, and homemade black bean sauce until fragrant, then put the sliced ​​meat into it and stir fry.

The green and red peppers from the vegetable garden are finely chopped and put into the pot, they are choking and fragrant, and seasoned with a little salt and cooking wine.

Spicy, delicious and oily, you can eat another bowl of rice with the chili in it.

Sister Xi was drooling when she smelled the smell: "Second sister-in-law, your meat is too delicious, I am hungry after smelling it."

Brother Zhu smiled at her while filling the bowl with meat: "The pot was cooked late today, so you must be hungry. Eat more later, there is a lot of meat today."

I took two fried pork belly, which couldn't be filled in one bowl, so I divided them into two bowls.

Brother Zhu handed the bowl to Sister Xi: "Put it on the table, I'll cook two more dishes and we'll eat."

With two big bowls of meat dishes, stir-fry two vegetarian dishes and make a soup.

When the hot food was served on the table, Kid Chang was still a child after all, his eyes lit up while holding the corner of the table: "So many delicious food!"

Even Boss Wu patted his grandson's head and said, "With so many dishes, today seems like a holiday."

Aunt Wu smiled and said, "A bumper harvest in the field, isn't it more joyful than a festival?"

When it comes to the bumper harvest, the whole family looks happy. They have sold a lot of grain this year.

There are two pots on the square wooden table, one is filled with steamed spring onion rolls, the other is filled with spinach and egg soup, there are more eggs than spinach.There are also a few thick bowls, a bowl of fried pork, a bowl of hot and sour lotus root slices, and a bowl of fried celery.

A bowl of compacted dry rice was placed in front of everyone.

After a lively meal, everyone ate to fill their stomachs. After washing the dishes, the family sat in the main room to eat and chat.

Brother Zhu took the money box from his own house and said, "This year, we sold a lot of food, and the family also brought a few more piglets. I thought we should also compare the things about Kid Chang's study with sister Xi's." The dowry will be settled first."

If you say that the Wu family is a wealthy family, everyone in the family is honest and quiet. The only thing is that Sister Xi still has some temper, but after all, it is a family of unmarried girls, and it is not easy for her to come forward in some things.

Brother Zhu didn’t move around much before he married in, but he didn’t know until he married in and helped his family sell meat. It turned out that many people in the village came to buy meat on credit.

It sounds good to wait until the New Year's Eve, but everyone in the village can't read a single word, and it's inconvenient to keep accounts, and in the end they all become confused accounts.

After the New Year's Eve, the Wu family went to find someone to settle the accounts, and the person who paid on credit became the uncle.

"It's all right if there are poor families. It's not that many people here can't afford the money. They just treat you as bullying and shameless to take advantage of it. Shameless!" Brother Zhu sat on the kang and yelled at Wu Erhe. road.

The Wu family is honest, but Brother Zhu is not one to suffer.

I mentioned this matter to my family the night before, and when the meat was sold again the next day, Brother Zhu stood in front of the stall with his sleeves rolled up and a machete in hand, and he would not give any more credit.

Paying the money with one hand and the meat with the other hand, don't even think about taking back a shred of meat without taking copper coins.

Some people in the village who like to take advantage of small things are stunned by this posture. In the past, they can get a piece of meat on credit by saying a few good words to the Wu family. What's wrong now?

There is someone who speaks kindly to Brother Zhu: "Brother Zhu, my aunt's child is sick, and he is waiting for the stewed pork ribs to mend his body. You can cut a big piece for me and record it on the account. I will come back in a few days." Send you money."

Brother Zhu crossed his arms: "Auntie, you have to give it a few days earlier and a few days later, you should go home and get the money before cutting the meat."

"Isn't it because my aunt doesn't have broken money at home? After a few days, I will go to the town to exchange copper coins, and I will definitely give them to you."

"Auntie, you can come back to buy it in a few days. If the child is in a hurry to make up his body, it's the same to kill the chicken and duck at home and make soup. It doesn't have to be pork."

There was also the one who became angry when he saw that he couldn't take advantage of it, and cursed loudly in front of the Wu family's stall: "It's only a few dollars for a piece of meat, and the folks are still so fussy, I have never seen you like this!"

Brother Zhu was not afraid at all, and his voice was louder than that person: "Uncle, you can be regarded as seeing you now. Since you don't have much money for pork, you should give it. Why do you want to pay on credit? Your family should not be short of money. The family is."

……

It doesn't count if you don't give credit, Brother Zhu spent a whole night sorting out the accounts of the Wu family in previous years, and brought Wu Dahe and Wu Erhe to door-to-door asking for money.

He walked ahead with a ledger, and the Wu brothers followed behind with a machete.

"Brother Zhu, we should get the money back, but otherwise... we shouldn't use the knife, we are all neighbors, so don't hurt the peace." Wu Dahe said cautiously.

Wu Erhe didn't dare to go against Brother Zhu's wishes, but he also nodded after hearing his brother's words.

Brother Zhu turned around and looked at the two brothers with folded arms: "It's not that I want to hurt peace, it's that I won't get back the money if I don't take the knife. The money for buying meat can be delayed for two years without paying it back. It depends on us alone." Can you ask for it with your mouth?"

Or maybe Brother Zhu was so powerful, the three of them came to ask for money, and there was a rogue who didn't want to give money, and when he saw the knife in the hands of the brothers, he couldn't swear a word.

The Wu family can no longer buy meat on credit, and they have to return all the money they have spent on credit in previous years.

For several days, the village talked about this every day after dinner.

Most people just take it for fun, only a few people gossip and say that Brother Zhu has big ideas, and within a few days of marrying into the Wu family, a new daughter-in-law starts to want to be the master of the house, which shows that the parents-in-law have not been put in the right place. in the eyes.

These people either want to continue to pay on credit, or they are unwilling to settle the money owed to the Wu family in previous years. They just want to spread the word to Aunt Wu's ears so that she, the mother-in-law, can come forward. Deal with Brother Zhu.

But Aunt Wu knew that she was soft-tempered, and that her second daughter-in-law was capable and kind-hearted, so she handed over the family money box to Brother Zhu in front of the whole family.He just said: "Leave this family to Brother Zhu to take care of only the good ones and not the bad ones."

This is what it means to let Brother Zhu be the housekeeper.

Brother Zhu was flattered holding the money box, and then went to see his sister-in-law, afraid that his mother-in-law would make her feel unhappy.

But the eldest daughter-in-law of the Wu family was smiling happily at Yin Zi who was coming back in the next few days, and she had no objection to Brother Zhu.

So Brother Zhu became the first daughter-in-law in the village who started housekeeping as long as her mother-in-law was still alive. She envied everyone, and even Aunt Qian straightened her back unconsciously when she went out for a few days.