After everything was packed, Yingbao, her parents and brother went to pay New Year's greetings to her grandparents.
As I was walking on the road, I saw two children jumping towards me on bamboo poles.
There were two colorful paper horse heads on the top of the bamboo poles. They were the two bamboo horse heads that Yingbao gave to Yuanbao and Huzi.
"Haha! Go! Go! Hurry up!" Yuanbao and Huzi ran away in a flash, attracting the surrounding children to follow them.
There were several children in the village who had the same horse head, so they proudly lined up in a row to see who could run the fastest.
Those children without horse heads could only ride on a bare pole and follow behind, looking lonely and lackluster.
Yingbao wanted to laugh when she saw this, and suddenly she had the idea of trying it out.
But this is a boy's game, girls can't play it and are not allowed to play it.
When I arrived at my eldest uncle's house, I kowtowed to my grandparents first, then to my eldest uncle and aunt. When my second uncle came, I kowtowed to him again, and then to my parents again.
After all this busy work, Yingbao felt dizzy.
Da Ni and Er Ni were not much behind and they both kowtowed a round.
After the New Year’s greetings, my aunt-in-law prepared dumplings and rice cakes for us.
The dumplings were stuffed with shepherd's purse and pork, and were very delicious. Yingbao was small, and she felt so full after eating seven of them that she had to give up with regret.
Rice cake is made of glutinous rice and red beans, with honey added in it. It is sweet and sticky and very delicious.
Yingbao took a piece of red bean rice cake in her hand and went out to play with her elder and second sisters Ni.
There were very few games for girls to play. Most of them just stood on the sidelines and watched the boys running around, riding on bamboo poles and dividing into two teams to play games of two armies against each other.
After looking for a while, Yingbao lost interest and suggested going home to sleep.
She still had a lot of work to do in her cave, and she couldn't concentrate at all.
So she said goodbye to her cousin, went home by herself, climbed onto the kang and got into bed.
The first day of the Lunar New Year is a leisurely and happy day. Apart from eating and drinking, the villagers visit each other to wish each other a happy new year.
Only Yingbao had a hard life. She was busy in the cave for a whole day and the skin on both of her palms was worn out.
Oh, next time I must not plant so much food. I am just a small person and I have to work alone without asking others for help. I will be exhausted to death.
The next day, Yingbao went with her parents to her grandmother's house ten miles away to pay New Year's greetings. They had lunch there and hurried back in the afternoon.
In the evening, I met my aunt and her family who had returned from the county town and received a silk flower.
My aunt is in her thirties, her face is pale and she is not in good spirits. This time she returned to her parents' home with only her youngest son, who is about the same age as Yuanbao.
Yingbao was not familiar with her aunt's family. It seemed that she had only seen her once in her previous life. Even after she settled in the county town, she never thought of looking for her.
The first month of the year passed in busyness.
In February, the dragon raises its head and the spring rain drizzles for a few days. When the rain stops and the sky clears, the ice and snow have melted unknowingly and the weather has warmed up.
On the five mulberry trees in the Yingbao Cave, more than a dozen golden ears as big as an adult's palm have grown, like golden pig brains, very beautiful and pleasing.
Carefully cut off one flower and place it in a ceramic bowl. The roots are divided into several parts by Yingbao and planted on a dozen dead mulberry trees.
Before planting, she had drilled holes in the mulberry trees with scissors and stuffed them with finely chopped wheat straw and rice husks.
After that, water them once a day and wait for them to regrow.
That day, Yingbao took Youyou, Dani and Erni to the wild to pick ground vegetables. They walked into a small forest and took out two golden ears from the cave and put them in the basket while the two cousins were not paying attention.
"Let's go home." Dani stood up, picked up the basket and said, "I've picked up half of the basket."
Yingbao nodded immediately: "Go home."
Erni also agreed.
The three little sisters each carried a basket and walked back. When they passed a small ditch, Dani dipped the basket into the water to wash the ground vegetables.
After washing the ground ivy, it is very tender. When you go home and cook it with bean dregs, it is fragrant and filling. It is a life-saving vegetable for poor families during the lean period.
Villagers usually pick up ground vegetables after the early spring rain, wash them clean and dry them, put them in baskets and hang them on the beams as reserve food.
Occasionally grab a handful, soak it, and cook it with wild vegetables, which can be used for a meal or two.
Dani took her cousin's basket and prepared to help wash the dishes. Suddenly, she saw two strange mushrooms in the basket and asked curiously, "Yingbao, what are these?"
"Golden ears." Yingbao answered truthfully.
Dani was curious: "What golden ears? Where did you pick them? They are not poisonous, right?"
Yingbao shook her head: "We picked them in the woods, they are not poisonous. Yoyo likes to eat them, so we can eat them too."
Yoyo turned her head and looked over, blinking her big eyes with an innocent look on her face.
Dani picked up the golden ear and put it under her nose and sniffed it, "Hey, it smells a bit good."
Golden ear has a faint medicinal fragrance, like the scent of osmanthus.
Erni also took it and sniffed it, wrinkled her nose, and put it back: "It doesn't smell good." She didn't like this scent.
Yingbao held the two golden ears in her clothes and shook her head, saying, "These are medicinal herbs. They are very valuable."
The two little girls didn't say anything. They washed the ground vegetables and took their little cousin home.
As soon as they got home, Yingbao handed the two golden ears to Chunniang, "Mom, can we cook this and eat it?"
Chunniang picked it up and looked at it, frowning: "What is this? Who told you it's edible? Baoer, if you eat something you don't recognize, you'll be poisoned. We can't just eat it blindly."
Yingbao paused and made up a lie, "This is a golden ear. The old lady in West Village said that golden ears are very valuable. In the city, they sell for dozens of taels of silver per box."
"What?" Chunniang's eyes widened when she heard the word "valuable". "Which old lady from West Village?"
Yingbao scratched her head, "I don't know her name."
Chunniang automatically imagined the mother of Dr. Wu from West Village, who was also the mother-in-law of the midwife, Aunt Wu Si.
If Granny Wu really said so, then it is indeed possible. After all, Granny Wu's deceased husband used to work as a clerk in a county pharmacy, and her family initially made their fortune by collecting and selling medicinal herbs.
Moreover, her fourth son had some knowledge of medicine, and even her fourth daughter-in-law was a famous midwife in the village.
Chunniang picked up the golden ear and looked at it again, muttering, "Is it really so valuable?"
The family is short of money now. Last time when Jiang Erlang got divorced, the fifteen taels of silver were borrowed from Jiang Da and Sanlang, and some was also raised from my parents, and two sheep were sold for this.
Only two months had passed, and although Jiang Erlang stopped taking medicine, he was still unable to pay back the money for a while.
Besides, Jiang Sanlang said that it would not be too late to wait until his second brother had money.
So Chunniang was poor, so poor that she couldn't even take out thirty cents.
But these things cannot be told to my little girl.
"Mom, why don't we let Dad take it to the pharmacy in town to have a look, what if it's really valuable?" Yingbao added fuel to the fire.
Chunniang's mind moved slightly.
Yes, let my husband take it to the pharmacy for identification. What if it is really valuable
"But, just two..." Chunniang hesitated.
Yingbao knew what her mother was worried about, and whispered, "I can find a lot more."
She gestured with her little hands, "This much."
"Really?" Chunniang's eyes lit up, "Then I'll go with you to take a look."
Yingbao shook her head and said, "No, I'll get it now."
As he said this, he ran out of the yard and dived into the grove at the gate. After a while, he came out again with two mulberry wood sticks and handed them to Chunniang.
Chunniang was stunned.
There were a dozen bright golden ears growing on two black mulberry wood sticks. Each one was bigger than a fist and was incredibly beautiful.
"This..." Chunniang held the mulberry wood stick carefully, afraid of accidentally breaking one of the flowers.
"When your father comes back, ask him to take it to Grandma Wu in West Village to see if it is really valuable."
Yingbao: ...
Do you know what it means to shoot yourself in the foot
"No! Let's go to town. Doctor Li must know more than Granny Wu."
Chunniang thought about it and nodded in agreement.