When the peach blossoms faded, clothes became thinner, and more fruits were sold in the market, Jiang Miao suddenly realized that time really flies like a white horse passing by.
When he was a child, he liked to use this passage when writing essays. However, he did not feel that time passed quickly at that time. Instead, he felt that time passed slowly. After he became an adult, time seemed to have been accelerated, and it often passed quietly without him noticing.
It seemed like Qingming Festival was just yesterday, and the Dragon Boat Festival came as scheduled. Jiang Miao heard that the locals also had the custom of eating rice dumplings, so he prepared to make some rice dumplings and sell them in Jiang's shop. It just so happened that he was worried about what fresh food to prepare for everyone in May.
Jiang Miao did not plan to buy the leaves for wrapping the rice dumplings. When he went back to Jiangjiawan to worship his ancestors before the Qingming Festival, he found that many young leaves had sprouted in the ditches at the foot of the mountain. Calculating the time, it should be time to pick them.
Jiang Miao picked a less busy time and took Jiang Yu and the two children back to Jiangjiawan. In addition to giving festival gifts to his uncle and aunt, he also wanted to pick more rice dumplings.
Uncle Jiang and his friends were very happy to see Jiang Miao and his friends come back. They took the gift and casually put it on the table next to them, then asked Jiang Yu to go in and "talk" to Aunt Jiang, asking her to pick up the eels that she had caught in the fields yesterday so that they could cook for them in the evening.
"You also caught eels? Second uncle, you are really good!" Jiang Miao's eyes lit up immediately when he heard the word eel. After processing it, chop it into pieces and put it in the pot to braise it. Dip a piece in the soup and put it in your mouth, the meat will come out. Then put some rice in your mouth. It tastes better than anything else!
"Of course not! I may not be good at other things, but I am quite good at catching eels..." Uncle Jiang began to brag about how good he was.
Jiang Miao, who was listening to it for the first time, was very interested, but Jiang Xin, who had listened to it many times, was a little impatient. He glanced at Brother Shitou, then looked carefully at the child who looked as handsome as a New Year picture doll, and his eyes rolled around, and he came up with a bad idea.
"Brother Shitou, let's go see the eels. My dad caught a lot and kept them in the basin over there." He leaned close to Shitou and whispered.
"Look at the eels? Well, little wood, do you want to go see the eels?"
Pei Mu nodded, thinking about the fish he usually fed Xiao Baidian, and followed them to the kitchen.
"Look, it's right there." Jiang Xin pointed to the large wooden basin with a wicked smile, and the two of them looked in the direction his hand was pointing.
"... !!" Pei Mu felt hurt. In the big wooden basin, a bunch of long, yellow-brown things were entangled and squirming, and from time to time they would raise their pointed heads and look up. He unconsciously took two steps back, revealing an indescribable expression.
"Hahaha! Hahaha!" Jiang Xin was so happy that he couldn't straighten his back when he looked at his expression.
Xiao Shitou, who was marveling at the size of the eels, turned around in confusion and saw Pei Mu, who had a pale face, and Jiang Xin, who was overjoyed.
"Little Wood, are you afraid of these eels? Don't be afraid, let your brother cook them for us later." Little Stone saw that he was afraid and comforted him earnestly.
Unexpectedly, Pei Mu's face became even uglier after he said this, and his eyes looking at the eel were full of resistance. He shook his head repeatedly, ran back to sit next to Jiang Miao, and refused to look over there again.
Jiang Miao touched his head, looked at Second Uncle Jiang who was still a little unsatisfied after talking about the secret of catching eels, and asked: "Second Uncle, are you going to collect taxes soon?"
Speaking of taxes, Uncle Jiang's face became a little heavy. This is a hurdle that every farmer cannot avoid.
"Yes, after the wheat is harvested, the group of people should come."
"Uncle, I'm afraid I won't be able to make it back in time to collect taxes. Here's the tax money. You can keep it first and then pay it for us directly when the time comes." Jiang Miao took out a small cloth bag and handed it to Uncle Jiang.
Uncle Jiang didn't reach out to take it. He glared at Jiang Miao and said, "This tax is just a few dollars. You don't have to pay. I will pay it. Save your money for Xiao Shitou's education. Our Jiang family is counting on him to make a name for himself."
"Second Uncle, if you don't accept this tax, I will feel embarrassed to bring them back to live with me in the future. Every time I come back to give you money, you never want it, and you think I'm wasting when I buy food for you. Now you don't even want to accept this tax. How can a grown man like me have the nerve to come back and take advantage of you?" Jiang Miao looked like he would leave immediately if you didn't accept it.
Uncle Jiang had no choice but to take the bag. But as soon as he touched it, he felt something was wrong. It didn't look like copper coins. He opened the bag and found some silver coins inside. It weighed at least a dozen taels.
"Hey, kid!" Uncle Jiang wanted to put the money back into his hand.
Every year, including the land tax, household tax and head tax, all the members of the Jiang family have to pay about three taels of silver at a time.
If there was a bad harvest or a disaster in the family, the money had to be borrowed. When the Jiang family's children were young, Uncle Jiang had to borrow money every year to pay taxes, and he could only pay it back after selling new grain. These years, life has been better, but although he doesn't have to borrow money anymore, he can't save much. Jiang Miao spent more than ten taels at a time, and even if Uncle Jiang searched the house, he couldn't find the cash.
Jiang Miao pulled Pei Mu into the yard, shouting as he ran.
"Uncle, please don't force it on me. I didn't spend any money on the Qingming Festival last time, and you paid for all the money we should have spent in the past. Now that I have saved some money, it's natural for me to pay. You should also think about your sisters and brother Xin, and just accept it!"
Uncle Jiang chased them for a while, and had no choice but to accept the silver. Since he was determined to show his filial piety, the money would be used to pay taxes in the future. There was no need to worry about taxes in the past few years, and the family could save some money. The children were all grown up, and there would be many more places to spend money in the future.
Seeing that he was willing to accept it, Jiang Miao stopped running around the yard. He wanted to go and see the eels, but Pei Mu stopped him and stood there like his feet were rooted, so he had to give up.
Jiang Miao looked up and saw that it was still early, so he thought about picking some leaves for the rice dumplings. When he went to find the backpack, he was seen by Xiao Shitou and Jiang Xin, who wanted to follow him. So Jiang Miao went out with three tails in tow.
Before leaving, Jiang Miao told his uncle Jiang that he would cook the eels when he got back. Jiang's uncle quickly agreed, saying that his nephew's cooking skills were better than his wife's, so he would have a good meal tonight. Jiang's uncle was very happy, humming a tune and walked to the kitchen, taking out tools to prepare the eels.
On the other hand, Jiang Miao and Pei Mu took one step at a time and occasionally stepped into a small mud puddle next to them and sprained their ankles.
Xiao Shitou is better than them, but after all, he has lived in the city for too long and can't be as agile as Jiang Xin.
Few families in Jiangjiawan make zongzi, which must be made of glutinous rice, which can only be bought in the city. Therefore, except for the wealthy families in the village, other families only make a few to suit the season, and then cook them together in one pot. As a result, there are not many people to pick such a large piece of zongzi leaves growing at the foot of the mountain.
The zongzi leaves grew very lushly. Jiang Miao compared them with his hands. The largest one was as long as his forearm and as wide as his palm. One piece was enough to wrap a big zongzi.
Several people started picking. Jiang Xin was very quick, Jiang Miao caught up later, Xiao Shitou was not in a hurry, but Pei Mu compared each piece he picked with the ones in the basket. Jiang Miao paid attention and found that the leaves picked by the child were almost the same size.
Jiang Miao smiled. It seemed that the two brothers were quite similar. They were both very picky.
After picking a basket of zong leaves, Jiang Miao called the children back. Jiang Xin saw a bunch of mountain bubbles below, so he went down to pick them, put the zong leaves in the spring under the mountain wall, washed them, and then put them in front of Jiang Miao and the others.
"Brother Miao, Brother Shitou, Brother Mu, come and eat, this is delicious!"
The name Mu Tou Ge made the three of them stunned. Jiang Miao held back his laughter and said, "Xin Er, you can just call me Mu Ge from now on, not Mu Tou Ge."
"Oh." Jiang Xin couldn't figure out the difference between them and urged, "Eat it quickly, this one is very sweet!"
Jiang Miao reached out and took one and put it in his mouth. A rich and sweet taste instantly rushed into his mouth. Although this thing was small in size, it tasted much better than the strawberries grown in greenhouses.
Little Stone also started to eat. When he was still in that family, what he looked forward to most every year was picking the fruits grown on the mountain. He could eat as much as he wanted and no one would scold him.
Pei Mu had never eaten this before, and after taking a bite, his eyes lit up. He took one piece after another and stuffed it into his mouth.
Jiang Miao tasted two and stopped eating. After they finished eating, he took them to wash his hands and then went back home carrying a large basket of rice dumplings leaves.
When I returned to the yard, it was already dark. Wisps of smoke drifted out from the chimney, and the unique smell of burning firewood mixed with the aroma of food also filled my nose.
"You're back. You've picked so much. By the way, your aunt has cooked the other dishes and is waiting for you to cook the eels." Uncle Jiang even went to the village entrance to get some wine for the eels.
"Okay, I'll go right away." Jiang Miao put down the backpack, washed his hands and walked into the kitchen.
The pot has been washed clean, and the one lighting the fire is Jiang Miao's little cousin Jiang Yue, who just turned ten this year. She is rounder in figure than her older sisters and looks very cute.
"Brother Miao, the food you cook is delicious."
"Haha, you should eat more later." Jiang Miao was amused by this simple compliment. He scooped a spoonful of lard into the pot, waited for the oil to heat up, put in garlic cloves and ginger, and after frying until fragrant, he poured the washed and drained eel pieces in the bamboo sieve into the pot and quickly stir-fried them. The hot oil made the eel change color and curl up quickly, and the fragrance came out. Jiang Miao poured some rice wine into the pot to remove the fishy smell, then quickly flipped the spoon and stir-fried, letting the eel pieces jump in the pot until they were covered with soup.
Jiang Yue inhaled the air in ecstasy, as if this could trick herself into tasting it. Jiang Miao smiled, added various condiments one by one, and finally boiled it over high heat until the sauce thickened, then poured it into a large bowl.
At the dinner table, everyone praised the eel cooked by Jiang Miao. The eel meat was fragrant and tender, and the taste was lingering in the mouth when dipped in the soup. A bite of eel and a bite of rice, the satisfaction would make people feel extremely happy at the moment.
However, there was a person at the table who was outside of happiness. The scene he saw in the wooden basin before was so uncomfortable that Pei Mu developed a psychological trauma towards eels. Even though the eels tasted so delicious that it made his mouth water, he did not dare to use a spoon to scoop one to eat.
"Little Wood, this is eel. It's delicious. Try it and remember to spit out the bones." Jiang Miao thought Pei Mu didn't dare to eat it because he had never eaten it before, so he picked up a piece and put it in his bowl.
Pei Mu felt like he was facing a formidable enemy. He looked at Jiang Miao and then at the eel. He wanted to dig it out but was afraid that Jiang Miao would say he was wasting it. So he made up his mind, closed his eyes, and put it into his mouth.
"!"
Ugly fish is so delicious! The taste in his mouth opened the door to a new world for Pei Mu. The scene he saw in the afternoon gradually disappeared from his mind, leaving only this pot of steaming and fragrant braised eel slices.
Jiang Miao picked up some and put it in his bowl for him to eat slowly. He said, well, no one can resist the taste of eel.
(End of this chapter)