Chapter 160: Roasted Chestnuts
The weather is getting colder day by day, but the villagers of Liujia Village are becoming more and more restless.
According to the date, the laborers who were recruited to transport grain to the border should have returned by now.
Women and children from other families would run to the village four or five times a day, hoping that their men would return home safely.
Those who have a little free time would go to the main intersection of Xiahe Village in groups of three or five to take a look and find out if anyone has returned home first.
When he learned that some laborers from the same county had returned home, he became even more excited and anxious.
Only Qin Yao and her mother and two of her two children acted as if nothing had happened and continued to eat and drink as usual.
Look, Dalang brought half a basin of chestnuts, and Qin Yao brought a bucket of fine sand and stones sifted from the river. The mother and son found out the time when He got off work and came to the old house of Liu family. They insisted that Zhang and He study the roasted chestnuts together.
As soon as she saw the sand in the bucket, Zhang frowned, "People don't use river sand to fry chestnuts, they use iron sand!"
Qin Yao didn't care about that. She was so greedy that she couldn't sleep. She had to eat it today, even if it was a weird thing.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law couldn't do anything about her, so what else could they do? Just fire her.
He brought out a big pot, and Zhang lit a pottery stove in the yard. The charcoal fire was red and burning vigorously.
When the children heard the noise at home and saw Qin Yao standing by the stove, they immediately guessed that their third aunt was going to prepare something delicious again.
Jinbao and Jinhua immediately left their friends behind, called Erlang and the twins who were playing with ball, and rushed into the yard.
When He saw him, she quickly waved her hand to drive him away, "Go away! Don't let the charcoal burn you."
"It's not hot, it's quite warm. Mom, my hands are cold, let me warm them!" Jinbao squatted beside the stove and stretched out his hands as if he was warming them by the fire, but in fact his neck was stretched very long.
When he saw the pot was full of sand, his eyes widened, "Grandma, why are you frying sand?"
Can humans eat this? Jin Bao exclaimed in his heart.
Erlang rolled his eyes at him and said, "Don't you know that you have to use sand to fry chestnuts?"
Jinbao Jinhua shook her head and said she didn't know.
Sanlang pulled his sister to stand far away, and said, "Don't get too close, or your clothes will be caught by sparks."
The brother and sister looked down at their new padded jackets. Si Niang even weighed her feet. On her small feet were a pair of thick-soled embroidered shoes with morning glories embroidered on them, which looked delicate and lovely.
Jinhua also had the same pair. The two cousins looked at each other with telepathic understanding. Jinhua immediately left her cousin Jinbao and came to her sister's side. She rubbed her hands to warm them up, and covered Si Niang's frozen red little face. The two of them smiled with their foreheads against each other.
After a while, Jinbao's scream was heard in the yard. A hole was burned on his new jacket. He was so angry that she picked up the big spatula in her hand and was about to beat him.
Jinbao felt so aggrieved that he was chased all over the yard by his mother, but he just didn't want to go out, fearing that he would not be able to have the first bite of delicious food.
In the end, Qin Yao thought he was being too noisy, so she grabbed him by the collar from behind, stretched out her hand to block He's big spatula, and said something to persuade him. Only then did the mother and son stop fighting.
Just as He had calmed down a little, a few minutes later, there was another noise in the kitchen. Turning around, she saw Jinbao standing on tiptoe to get the soap on top of the cupboard to wash his hands, but the soap was too slippery and he dropped it on the ground.
"Liu Jinbao!" He roared, "You want to spend all the good things at home. Your third aunt only gave you two pieces, and your grandmother and second aunt were reluctant to use them to wash their hands. You kid, try it again!"
Qin Yao and Dalang and Erlang, who were standing obediently beside her, looked at each other and gave the two brothers a wink.
After a secret shove between Dalang and Erlang, Erlang gave in, ran into the kitchen and dragged Jinbao away.
"Brother Jinbao, let's go play in the fields!"
There was mud and straw in the fields, and we could use the mud to make stoves, start fires, and play house. Children as young as twelve or thirteen and as young as three or four loved to play this game.
Jinbao's eyes lit up, but before leaving, he reminded Jinhua: "Call us when the chestnuts are ready!"
Jinhua said "oh" and looked at Si Niang. The two sisters thought to themselves, you're finally gone.
The yard became quiet and both adults and children breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhang looked at the dry sand and asked He to bring some oil. He was shocked, "More oil? This is a big pot, a little oil may not be enough, right?"
Qin Yao readily took out ten copper coins from her pocket and asked Dalang to go to Liu the peddler's house to buy half a pound of oil.
Young people have good legs and feet. In just a few minutes, Dalang bought the oil and Zhang poured it all into the pot so that the sand could be stir-fried evenly.
Then pour in the chestnuts that have been cut into cross shapes in advance, stir-fry and heat until the chestnuts are cooked.
Soon, a fragrance wafted out, so fragrant that the twins and Jinhua who were watching secretly swallowed their saliva.
Qin Yao didn't show it on her face, but she was actually very excited.
Finally, after Zhang and He took turns stir-frying the chestnuts, they were cooked. Although they were not fried with iron sand, they looked very good.
The sand ensures that the chestnuts are heated evenly and will not get burnt, but the chestnut meat inside is cooked.
Zhang scooped a shovel of hot chestnuts into a bamboo basket. The weather was cold and the chestnuts cooled down with a slight breeze. Under the expectant gazes of everyone, Qin Yao picked up the chestnuts, peeled them and put them into her mouth.
Take a bite, it's soft and sticky, with a slight caramel sweetness.
Qin Yao raised her thumbs up, "It's delicious! You should try it too, it's really no worse than the ones sold in the county."
Although she had never eaten the roasted chestnuts in the county town, the taste of this bite was the same as she remembered.
Upon seeing this, everyone could no longer restrain themselves and each picked up a chestnut to taste. The three younger ones were not very good at chewing the shells, so they bit the shells together and put them into their mouths. They ate the soft and glutinous flesh first and then spit out the shells.
He thought that anything would taste good as long as it was fried with enough oil, not to mention that these were chestnuts that he had fried himself.
He took a bite and it was indeed fragrant and sweet, one after another.
Zhang looked at everyone's happy faces with amusement. She scooped out all the chestnuts in the sand, sifted out the sand, put them in bamboo baskets and asked everyone to take them into the house to eat.
But eating in the house was not as good as eating in the yard. No one moved, they just gathered around the stove and ate one after another.
After seeing this, Zhang had no choice but to follow them. She went into the house and found a straw mat to cover the bamboo basket to prevent the heat from dissipating.
Jinhua ate seven or eight chestnuts in a row before she remembered to call Jinbao. She and the twins, the boy and the girl, each filled a bag with roasted chestnuts before going out.
"He's showing off again. Just wait and see. He'll be back with an empty bag in a little while." Qiu gave Qin Yao a helpless smile.
Qin Yao looked indifferent. Children also have social needs. "There are plenty. I still have half a pot at home. We can fry another pot after we finish eating."
Zhang and He, whose arms ached, shuddered.
He was outspoken and said angrily, "Don't do that! If I can't lift the spoon tomorrow and delay everyone's meal in the factory, don't blame me!"