The happy little days of the Ye family

Ye Qingqing saw the tall courtyard wall of the Ye family from a distance and couldn't help but start running.

Before entering the yard, he shouted loudly: "Grandpa, grandma, I'm back, have you missed me?"

Mrs. Ye heard the sound and as soon as she walked to the yard, she bumped into a little girl carrying large and small bags in her arms.

"Oh, these are big and small bags. It seems that the veil was sold for a big price this time?"

"My handkerchiefs have been collected by the Yang Family Embroidery Shop. I only have one handkerchief for 18 Wen. I bought all these meats and candies. I'm not that good!"

Ye Qingqing took out all the meat and candy from the basket and placed them one by one in front of Mrs. Ye to ask for credit.

"Grandma's little Qingqing is the best." Looking at the cute little appearance, Mrs. Ye couldn't help but pinch Ye Qingqing's chubby little face.

"It's too late at noon. Let's eat braised pork in the evening. I'll share two candies with each person. The rest is mine." Ye Qingqing stuffed a candy into Mrs. Ye's mouth and ate another one herself.

"Okay, listen to our little Qingqing. Where is your mother, why hasn't she come back yet?"

"Mom is chatting with the aunt at the entrance of the village. I'll be back first." There is no entertainment in the village, and the mother and daughter who see the big bags and small bags have to inquire carefully.

When Ye's mother returned home, Mrs. Ye and Ye Qingqing had finished complimenting each other.

"Mom, I was lucky enough to buy some batches of cheap fabrics today." Mother Ye took out the fabrics and handed them to Mrs. Ye.

"This fabric is really ugly to be woven and dyed. Have you been deceived?" Mrs. Ye disliked the fabric very much.

"This fabric is a bit inferior, but the price is only half of the normal fabric, so it won't affect the quilt cover and outerwear for work."

"This fabric is good. Just wear the old clothes for work. Don't waste such good fabric. Let's make clothes for the old man and Fengsheng."

When Mrs. Ye heard the price, she didn't mind immediately. What a good fabric.

"On the way, my mother said she was making clothes for my eldest brother and younger brother."

"Children have strong self-esteem and have to go to school, so it is better to dress decently. This fabric should be used by the old man and Fengshou." The wife was afraid that her grandson would be laughed at, so she refused to use this ugly fabric to make clothes for them.

"These two naughty guys were either going up the mountain or down the river all day long. The new clothes they just made became dirty and torn within two days. The fabric is good, and it doesn't hurt if it gets damaged."

Eventually the fabrics were made into several quilts and several outer garments for farm work.

"I have already prepared the meal. We can eat when Dong Lin and Xi Lin come back."

The two brothers of the Ye family both go to school in the village, which is close to home. They go home for lunch every day.

"Grandma, mother, we are back. What delicious food did you cook today?" As soon as these words were said, the two brothers came back.

"There are only sweet potatoes and green vegetables. Eat them if you like." I think about delicious food all day long, and there is not enough money to eat, so I just follow the old man to learn these bad habits.

"Old man, it's time to eat."

"Hey, here we come."

The Ye family just brought back six little piglets half a month ago. Mr. Ye has to hunt pigweed every day. Although the piglets are not big, they eat a lot. Mr. Ye has to pack several baskets of pigweed every day.

The old man was very fond of these piglets. The youngest, Ye Xilin, was even jealous and felt that his grandfather treated these piglets better than he did.

In the end, Mrs. Ye mercilessly hit me: "Piggy can sell money and eat meat, but you little brat can eat it. How do you think you can compare with this piggy?"

Poor little Xilin was laughed at by his father and elder brother for a month because of this incident.

"Have a meal"

After Mr. Ye and Mrs. Ye moved their chopsticks, Ye Qingqing and the others started to use their chopsticks.

The rice is a combination of rice and chopped corn, and the dishes are simply two fried vegetables and a plate of steamed eggs. It is already the best food in the village, and everyone keeps eating hard.

After dinner, Ye Mu took Ye Qingqing to clean the sewage and pig trotters bought in the morning, while Mrs. Ye went to clean up the dishes.

First use fire to burn off the foreign hairs on the pig's trotters, then scrape off the dirt with a knife, then scrub it several times with plant ash, clean it and chop it into small pieces.

Turn out the dirty side of the pig's large intestine first, wash it several times with plant ash, and finally wash it again with the black side, so that the pig's large intestine is clean.

Cut the pork kidney in half, remove the dirt inside, simply close it and rinse it with water.

Clean the pig lungs and make soup with the big bones given by the butcher.

Ye Mu first blanch the pig's trotters and then set them aside. After cleaning the iron pot, sauté the onions, ginger and garlic over high heat, then add star anise, bay leaves, cinnamon, peel and peppercorns and stir-fry until fragrant.

Mr. Ye picked the star anise and Sichuan peppercorns from the mountains and dried the peels at home. Only the bay leaves and cinnamon bark were purchased from the drug store.

After the aniseed is fragrant, add the pig's trotters and water and stir-fry continuously to release the fat, then add water and start stewing.

This braised pork needs to be marinated for more than an hour. After it is marinated, it needs to be soaked in the soup for an afternoon until it is just right for dinner in the evening.

The two brothers Ye Donglin and Ye Xilin spent the afternoon thinking about the braised pork in the evening. As soon as get out of class was over, they hurried home and smelled an extremely overbearing fragrance before they entered the house.

As soon as they entered the house, together with Ye Qingqing, the three of them squatted at the door of the kitchen, pitifully waiting to be fed.

"I know how to eat all day long. Even the gold and silver mountains are not enough for you." The old lady glared at the group of gluttons angrily, turned around and went into the kitchen, filled a small bowl with a few pieces of braised meat and brought it out.

"I'll give you a taste." Mrs. Ye gave each of the three greedy cats a small piece of braised pork.

“It’s so delicious, not salty but not bland and tastes just right.”

"It's delicious. It's better than the braised pork dad bought in town."

"Let's make braised pork and sell it in the town. It will definitely be a good business."

"Okay, disperse quickly, I couldn't have said it any better."

If it was Mrs. Ye, they could still cheat her into eating two more pieces of meat, but when they encountered the fussy old Mrs. Ye, they could only walk away obediently.

When Ye's father came back, Mrs. Ye cut each part into a quarter, and put the rest in a basket and hung it above the well for storage.

The weather is not too hot now, and the temperature of the well is relatively low. If the braised meat is stored in the well, it will not go bad for several days.

After the braised pork was cut, Mrs. Ye took out two small bowls, filled each small bowl with braised pork, and handed it to Ye Mu and Ye Donglin.

"Xiuxiu, take a bowl back and give it to your in-laws to try."

"Thank you, mother, I will take it back to my mother's house right away."

Ye's mother's family is very close to each other. Every time the two families cook something delicious, they would bring some to each other to try. The relationship between the two families has always been very good.

"Dong Lin, take this bowl to drink with the village chief. Thanks to the village chief lending it to our family for the ox cart a few days ago, otherwise we wouldn't be able to plant rice now."

Not many families in the village have cattle, and people who want to borrow cattle from the village chief have to wait in line for a long time. Fortunately, the Ye family has a good relationship with the village chief, otherwise the several acres of land in the field would not be cleared away just by manpower.

When making dinner, Mrs. Ye deliberately cooked a little more. The chopsticks were used very fast when eating, and by the end of the meal, Ye Donglin and Ye Xilin almost licked the bowls clean.

In the end, the seven members of the Ye family ate neatly in the yard.

The Ye family's house was built in the fifth year after Ye's father and Ye's mother got married. The walls are made of adobe bricks and the roof is covered with tiles. The eight square rooms are the envy of the villagers.

Originally, Mr. Ye wanted to use blue bricks, but blue bricks were expensive and unavailable, so he had to give up in the end.

Mr. Ye had a childhood friend who helped people build houses in the county town. He taught him to use glutinous rice water to make adobe bricks. He said that the adobe bricks made from glutinous rice water were stronger than blue bricks and were warm in winter and cool in summer.

Mr. Ye used glutinous rice water to make a few mud bricks, soaked them in water for a few days, and then smashed them with stones. They were indeed very hard.

The money saved was enough to build two more houses and build a wall to enclose the yard.

The Ye family raises pigs all year round, but they have to be wary of thieves. It would be terrible if the pigs were stolen.

There are 8 rooms, one is a living room for dining and entertaining, one is a utility room, and the remaining 6 are living rooms.

Mr. Ye and the old lady lived in one room, Ye's father and mother lived in one, Ye Donglin, Ye Qingqing and Ye Xilin each lived in one. There was also a guest room and utility room.

In addition, Mr. Ye built two smaller rooms next to the living room. One is a woodshed for farm tools and firewood, and the other is half kitchen and half bathroom.

Mr. Ye and Mrs. Ye are both people who have experienced famine years. They pay great attention to food and specially dug a wide and large cellar at home to store food.

The front yard is not big. There is an osmanthus tree and a pomegranate tree as soon as you enter the door. There is a shed in the open space near the kitchen, which is filled with dry firewood.

There are several buckets and clothes-drying poles placed in the open space on the other side. The clothes-drying pole made of bamboo is filled with clothes from the Ye family.

The backyard is much larger than the front yard. The Ye family raises pigs all year round and has two pig pens at home. In order to facilitate cleaning the pig pens every day, a well was specially dug in the backyard. There are two pools next to the wells.

Because the well is in the backyard, Mother Ye and Mrs. Ye would come to the backyard to wash vegetables or other things, and the used water would be poured into the pool and used to clean the pig pen.

There are 2 tall jujube trees next to the well.