Chapter 158 Picking Chestnuts
Qin Yao took the tiger head and packed two dishes from the restaurant, intending to take them home to satisfy her craving.
Sanlang and Si Niang were drooling with anticipation. After all, the family hadn't had a delicious meal for a long time since their father left.
Occasionally, Qin Yao couldn't bear the greed anymore, so she would just buy some meat, and the five of them, mother and son, would shamelessly go to the old house to eat.
Thinking of this, Sanlang and Si Niang suddenly thought of their father. They followed Qin Yao and asked her,
"Mother, when will father come back?"
Qin Yao was stunned. What father? Whose father?
Looking back at the two children, oh, Liu Ji, is he still alive?
"He should be back when the food is delivered to the border." Qin Yao thought, should she prepare a funeral mat for him in advance?
Sanlang and Si Niang looked at each other and stopped talking, feeling a little depressed.
Qin Yao took the two of them to visit various shops in the city. They had to buy some pens, ink, paper and inkstone, as well as a jar of soy sauce and vinegar for daily seasoning.
A salt smuggler passing by would secretly buy five pounds of salt at a lower price than the market price and keep it for his own use.
I heard that this year in December the villagers plan to pool their money to buy a pig and kill it to celebrate the harvest.
Fresh meat is not easy to preserve, so Qin Yao thinks it is better to marinate some meat in advance. If it is well preserved, it can be eaten for a whole year.
However, pickling meat is not the strong point of He and Zhang. Qin Yao plans to go to find Mrs. Zhou, whose pickled bacon is simply amazing.
When the time comes, you can cut it and eat it as a hot pot dish, or stir-fry it with other wild vegetables, it will all be very delicious.
Thinking of these delicious things, and the fragrance of the vegetable buns in her hand, Qin Yao couldn't help swallowing her saliva several times.
After all the things were bought and put on the carriage, the mother and her two children drove the new carriage home happily.
Sanlang and Si Niang each held two candied haws in their hands and took a sniff from time to time, feeling both expectant and satisfied.
Although she said that she would never talk to her two brothers again, she did not forget about them when buying snacks.
Passing by Xiahe Village, Qin Yao stopped at the door of the blacksmith's house.
The last time I cut a tiger, the edge of the knife curled up and became unusable, so I had to take it back and ask the blacksmith to melt it down and forge another one.
After paying five hundred coins, Qin Yao took back a brand new knife. He wrapped the blade with a cloth strip and placed it on the shaft of the carriage, then drove the carriage slowly back home.
Because it was a horse carriage, the speed was far slower than before. It took two hours to get back, which was only slightly faster than walking.
The twins both took a nap in the car. Fortunately, Qin Yao had the foresight to bring a thin blanket, otherwise they would have caught a cold.
When the carriage entered the village, it attracted everyone's attention. After all, there were rarely new things in the village on weekdays, and the slightest movement from each household would attract everyone's attention.
By the time Qin Yao greeted the villagers who came to see the carriage and returned home, it was already dark.
Dalang and Erlang have returned. They made two trips and brought back four baskets of chestnuts.
Because Dalang was very good at climbing trees, no children in the village could compete with him. Although they went late, they still got a rich harvest.
All the hairy chestnuts they had picked were poured onto the floor of the main room. While they were roasting them over a fire, they used charcoal tongs to peel off the thorny shells of the chestnuts.
Keep the shell, it is especially useful when making fire.
Two young men who were temporarily staying at Qin Yao's house were also helping. The four of them made a large basin of chestnuts and peeled the shells while eating.
Raw chestnuts are very sweet and crunchy when you bite them.
Erlang was greedy and buried a few chestnuts in the charcoal stove. However, because he forgot to open the mouth of the chestnuts, the chestnuts exploded due to the heat, making "bang bang bang" sounds and sending out a lot of ash, making him look embarrassed.
Fearing that Qin Yao would scold him, Erlang hurriedly cleaned up the main room and his own home.
When they heard the noise of carriages and horses outside the house, the two brothers stood up excitedly and ran out.
Sanlang and Si Niang poked their heads out of the carriage. When they saw their brothers, Sanlang completely forgot about the grudges they had in the morning and shouted excitedly, "Big brother! Second brother!"
Si Niang also raised the candied haws in her hand and shook it, "Look, mother bought it for us!"
Sanlang suddenly remembered something and said, "Brother, my mother helped you get the tiger head back."
Dalang was delighted and stepped forward to help hold the reins. Erlang jumped onto the carriage, got in, and exclaimed "Wow".
Dalang was steady. He helped Qin Yao park the carriage and moved the oil, salt, sauce and vinegar into the house. Only then did he take the time to look at the carriage.
The little boy's eyes suddenly lit up. He looked here and touched there, feeling very happy.
Seeing Erlang, Sanlang, and Si Niang rolling around in the carriage, Dalang called out in a gentle voice:
"Stop jumping around and get off quickly so that Lao Huang can have a rest."
The three of them then jumped off the carriage one by one, holding the candied haws, and waited for their eldest brother and mother to finish before entering the house together.
The carriage was unloaded and the horses were sent to the stable and fed with water and grass. Thinking about their hard work today, Dalang added an extra bucket of sorghum to the trough.
Qin Yao dragged the carriage to the backyard wall and found a straw mat to cover it to block the rain.
After finishing all this, the five of them, mother and children, closed the gate and went into the house together.
The main room was warm, and the two young men who were staying there tactfully went back to their rooms, leaving the space for the family.
The chestnuts roasted by Erlang were still on the table. Qin Yao picked one up, peeled it and put it in her mouth. It was half-cooked, crispy on one side and soft on the other. The taste was strange but very sweet. Then she took the second one.
Dalang walked back and forth in the main room with the tiger head in his arms, worrying about where to put it.
"Put it in the room. It's a bit scary here." Qin Yao reminded.
It would be bad if Old Man Liu suddenly came over and saw this thing and got scared and had a mental illness.
Dalang thought about it and it made sense. The four brothers and sisters rushed into the room all at once and came back to the main room after a while. Perhaps they had found a perfect place to put the tiger head.
Qin Yao tilted her head to glance at the children's room. Wow, it was placed directly on the wooden box at the head of the bed. It seemed that he was not afraid of scaring himself if he got up in the middle of the night.
Maybe Dalang also felt that it was not appropriate. After thinking about it, he ran back to the house and found a piece of cloth to cover it.
Qin Yao was thinking, it would be nice if there was a glass cover.
Unfortunately, she doesn't know how to make glass.
"How many chestnuts have you picked?" Qin Yao asked curiously, looking at the chestnuts in the basin and the raw chestnuts on the ground that had not been pried open.
Erlang replied, "Four bamboo baskets. My brother and I will go again tomorrow and pick all of them!"
After saying that, he took a bite of the candied haws. Even though it was hard, he was not afraid of gritting his teeth. Instead, he roasted it over fire to melt it a little before eating.
Sanlang and Si Niang were not so anxious. They put the candied haws on the charcoal stove to roast them until the sugar coating was a little softer before eating them. However, they still ate them in a mess. The sugar crumbs fell on their clothes and some of them stuck to their clothes when they picked them up.
Qin Yao frowned, and suddenly remembered the soap she had hung under the beam in the utility room. It should be ready for use, right?
She stood up and walked out the door, carrying the whole basket into the main room. The four children all gathered around curiously.
After a month of drying, the previously soft soap has become hard.
Si Niang stretched out her little finger and poked it, then looked at Qin Yao in surprise, "Mother, it has become like a stone."