"You've lost so much weight."
It was around three or four o'clock in the afternoon. After Zhu Ping'an returned to the yard, his mother Chen checked Zhu Ping'an several times and came to the conclusion, feeling very distressed.
"I see that Erxiao has gained weight." Father Zhu, holding the luggage and looking at Chen's distressed face with red eyes, pursed his lips and said.
Zhu's father originally wanted to comfort Chen and tell her not to feel bad, but he didn't expect it to backfire. Chen was irritated by his words and glared at Zhu's father. "It's not your flesh and blood, of course you don't feel bad!"
Zhu's father...
"Mom, I didn't suffer at all outside." Zhu Ping'an comforted Chen. After seeing the fungus and mushrooms drying in the yard, he couldn't help but change the topic with a silly smile, "Mom is still the best. These are all dried for me."
"You have sharp eyes." Chen smiled.
Just as we were settling in, our eldest brother Zhu Pingchuan came back with a big piece of meat and looked constipated.
"Why did you buy so much meat? It can't be kept today." Chen couldn't help but scold when she saw the eldest son taking such a big piece of meat.
"Mom, it's not that I want to buy so much. It's Uncle Zhao who insisted on giving so much and refused to charge. He said something like, "Master, the scholar, well, that is, my little brother, the first piece of meat I eat after returning is from his family. It seems like such an honor for him. I gave him the money, but he chased me across half the village and forced the money into my waist." The eldest brother Zhu Pingchuan looked helpless.
"How can you let people give it to you for free? Go and give the money to them." After hearing this, Zhu's father took the meat, took out a handful of money from his pocket and stuffed it into Zhu Pingchuan's hand, asking him to give the money to the people.
"This Zhao Laosan is really a scoundrel, he makes my son sound like a bully." Mother Chen scolded, but her face showed an inexplicable pride.
The eldest brother Zhu Pingchuan went out and came back after a while, holding two large bones and a kidney tied with a straw rope in his hands.
"I took great pains to leave the money there, but Uncle Zhao insisted on giving these two big bones and this kidney to my brother to replenish his body. He wouldn't take the money unless I accepted them. So I had no choice but to bring it." Zhu Pingchuan shook the big bones and kidneys in his hand, his face full of helplessness.
"Forget it then." Father Zhu rubbed his hands.
"It's also good to make soup with the big bones." Chen took the big bones and kidneys from Zhu Pingchuan and went into the kitchen.
Not long after mother Chen entered the kitchen, she came out again with a knife and went straight to the chicken coop.
Then I heard the old hen clucking.
Zhu Pingan was stunned when he saw the old hen with black background and yellow flowers in his mother's hand. Last time when he came back, his mother boasted that this old hen laid one more egg a day than the old hen in the neighbor's house. How could it be killed and eaten now
"Mom, mom, don't kill the chicken. This chicken lays a lot of eggs." Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but run over to stop his mother Chen. Eggs at home are also quite precious, although conditions are much better now.
Moreover, mother Chen had a special affection for the hens she raised. She had taken good care of them and fed them with grass seeds, wild vegetables, bran and vegetable leaves. They were not only well fed, but also well treated. Before winter came, mother Chen always asked father Zhu to clean up the chicken coop. I still remember that when killing chickens during the Chinese New Year, mother Chen was always very entangled. She always gathered all the hens and picked and chose from them. She was reluctant to give up this one and that one. Finally, she had to make a decision, and she made up her mind to choose an old chicken with a declining egg production rate.
So, when Zhu Pingan saw his mother Chen picking out the best egg-laying hen, he was shocked and could not help but dissuade her.
"Only old hens that lay a lot of eggs can be used as a supplement. We still have many egg-laying hens at home. Zhu Shouyi, come here." Mother Chen picked up her former egg-laying expert, gestured with the knife twice, and felt that she couldn't do it, so she called Zhu's father over.
"Little chicken, don't be weird. You are a dish on earth. Go early this year and come back early next year."
Zhu's father did not try to persuade her. He walked over, took the old hen and the knife, rubbed the blade twice on the stone by the well, and then recited the chicken-killing curse passed down by the elders twice. After that, he cut the hen with a clean and decisive move.
When Zhu's father was sharpening the knife, mother Chen hid in the kitchen. She did not come out until Zhu's father had cleaned the old hen. She happily picked some dried mushrooms and other things, and carried the cleaned old hen back to the kitchen to make soup.
This also proves the saying that a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen.
The dinner was unusually sumptuous and the quantity was very large. After Chen was done, under the expectant gaze of Zhu's father, she somewhat reluctantly asked Zhu Ping'an to scoop a large bowl of chicken and a large piece of cooked meat from the pot and send them to the old house.
Zhu Ping'an held a large bowl and walked towards the old house with a fragrant smell.
Smoke is seen rising again, and the twilight shines on the earth.
At this time, the villagers are probably preparing dinner, and wisps of smoke are floating behind the houses, like rising clouds. The lights of thousands of houses are passed down from generation to generation, and the smoke from the cooking stoves is the most harmonious picture of life in Xiahe Village.
"Auntie, my mother is stewing chicken at home. Let's go home and eat some meat."
On the way to the old house, Zhu Ping'an happened to meet Aunt Zhao, a neighbor who was always close to his mother Chen, and he took the initiative to step forward and say hello.
Aunt Zhao saw Zhu Ping'an from a distance, but Zhu Ping'an had been away for more than half a year and the boy had grown up very fast. Aunt Zhao thought he looked a bit like the second child of the Chen family who passed the imperial examination, but she was not sure. She was about to walk closer to recognize him, but unexpectedly Zhu Ping'an had already taken the initiative to greet her from a distance.
This made Aunt Zhao very happy. Not everyone could have the opportunity to be greeted by the scholar and invited home to eat meat. Aunt Zhao felt very happy.
"Master Zhu is back." Aunt Zhao smiled happily.
Master Xiao Zhu
When Zhu Ping'an heard this name, he almost fell down.
"Auntie, please don't be like this. I don't deserve it. You're shortening my life. Just call me little pig as usual." Zhu Ping'an smiled bitterly.
"That won't work. The last time someone from the county came, they all called you Master Zhu." Aunt Zhao shook her head.
"That's them. Auntie, you've watched me grow up since I was little, so just call me little pig." Zhu Ping'an smiled brightly.
"You kid, I'll be so arrogant as to call you Ping'anlang." When Aunt Zhao heard Zhu Ping'an say this, she felt even more elated and smiled even more happily.
"Oh." Zhu Ping'an smiled innocently.
"Where is Ping'anlang going?" Aunt Zhao asked curiously when she saw Zhu Ping'an holding a large bowl of meat.
"Mom is stewing chicken at home and asked me to bring it to the old house. Auntie, please come home to eat meat. Mom has been talking about you many times." Zhu Ping'an explained and then smiled innocently to persuade Aunt Zhao to go home to eat meat.
"Ping'anlang is filial. Everyone in your family is filial. Only your grandfather and his family are partial." Upon hearing this, Aunt Zhao felt a little unfair for the Zhu family.
"It's all over." Zhu Ping'an smiled innocently, "I'll deliver it while it's hot, so it won't be late for dinner. Auntie must go home."
"Then you can send it over quickly. I won't go there anymore. Everything is ready at home. Tell your mother. I'll go and chat with her some other day."
Aunt Zhao declined and waved her hand to ask Zhu Ping'an to send it to the old house quickly. (To be continued)
ps: Let’s focus on these two chapters today. I will revise the two chapters that were written by great writers in the evening. I hope you can give me more suggestions then.