Agui's father died young, and he lived with his mother and sister.

Agui's sister is not a few years older than Agui and is still in junior high school, while Agui is in elementary school. Although both children are currently within nine years of compulsory education, it is not easy for a widowed woman to support these two children in addition to studying.

Fortunately, the relatives in Agui's village usually help them, so the two children have been able to insist on going to school under such difficult conditions, instead of dropping out early to work.

Liu Qingshan smiled: "Fool, I don't blame you." I didn't say I wanted you to pay compensation. ”

Ah Gui raised his head and looked at Liu Qingshan in surprise: "Really, don't you blame me?"

Liu Qingshan shook his head, feeling a little painful in his heart: "I don't blame you." ”

The children of the rich are tired of school and rebellious, but the children of the poor are desperate to study. Probably because, in today's solidified social hierarchy, the only legal way for the poor to turn over is to study hard.

"Really?" Agui's eyes were not only clear, but also black and white. The black part is like a dark night, and the white part is like a clear cloud.

He widened his eyes, looked up at Liu Qingshan, and asked again in great surprise: "Really?

"Haha, what am I lying to you for?" Liu Qingshan rubbed Agui's hair with his hand and said, "Look at you, your hair is so long, and if you don't cut it, I almost recognized you as a girl." ”

Ah Guihan laughed twice, lowered his head to look at the snakeskin bag in Liu Qingshan's hand, and asked, "Brother Qingshan, are you going to dig bamboo shoots?" ”

Liu Qingshan shook his head, pointed to a large bamboo forest on the gable next to the tea woodland, and said, "I don't dig bamboo shoots, I pick bamboo leaves." ”

Ah Gui looked down and saw that the large piece of leaves was gently swaying in the wind under the sun, and his heart moved, and he snatched the snakeskin bag in Liu Qingshan's hand and ran towards the piece of bamboo.

When Liu Qingshan came back to his senses, the child had already climbed up the gable along a path next to the gable, standing in the middle of the green bamboo with a happy face, waving the snakeskin bag in his hand, and said with a bright smile: "Brother Qingshan, thank you for not blaming me, I'll help you pick the leaves." My cow eats your tea, and I'll work to pay off my debts. ”

Seeing his small figure standing in the huge mountain, but still as vivid as a star in the night sky, Liu Qingshan smiled knowingly: "Okay, since that's the case, then I'm welcome." You must help me pick more, and don't crack the bamboo leaves. ”

"I know, I know. He bent down and said, "I pick bamboo leaves every year, I know." ”

Seeing that he really picked the bamboo leaves very seriously, Liu Qingshan also wanted to be idle, so he walked to the big stone where Agui was sitting just now, and looked at the books on the big stone.

Originally, he thought that what he was looking at would be something extracurricular, but he didn't think that what was placed on the big rock was a Chinese textbook and a math textbook.

Liu Qingshan flipped through it casually, but found a very interesting phenomenon.

The surface of the textbook is clean and there is no dirt or damage.

However, when I opened the cover, it was a different scene inside. The pages of the book are not only loosely turned, but also filled with all kinds of dense notes.

It can be seen that this child really likes to study.

The cover is intact because he regards 'going to school' as a very sacred thing, and he knows that books can give him knowledge, so he is grateful and does not want to defile the cover of books.

And the book is full of notes, which is his attitude towards learning.

I am grateful and have worked very hard, but now I am afraid that I lack the most basic material conditions.

If all the conditions are complete, presumably Agui will definitely have a future in the future.

Liu Qingshan looked at Agui who was standing in the bamboo forest picking leaves from a distance, and felt a long sigh in his heart.

Compared with such a hard but serious child, looking back on his childhood, it seems that there is only 'play' left.

I went to the mountains with my grandfather and played in the fields with my father, and I seemed to be helping with the work, but in fact I didn't do much work, and I had to let the adults worry about it.

I don't know what blessings he accumulated in his previous life, so he can have such luck and obtain such divine power in this life.

Since he has divine power, he naturally can't waste the good intentions of the heavens.

Liu Qingshan said to Agui: "Agui, you pick the bamboo leaves first, and when you go home, you will send them to my house by the way, and I will go home to get a hoe and dig some bamboo shoots to eat." ”

"Huh? ”

Liu Qingshan really left Agui to dig bamboo shoots.

When he returned home, he took a hoe and snakeskin bag, and Liu Qingshan went straight to the mountain.

Although the nearby bamboo forest has been almost dug up by the villagers, the bamboo shoots are not all popping up at once, so when you go to see it every two days, new bamboo shoots will emerge.

Therefore, with Liu Qingshan's vigorous efforts, he dug for two hours and dug up fifty or sixty catties of bamboo shoots.

When I returned home, it happened that Agui also sent the leaves.

This child is very sincere, and in more than two hours, he picked a bag of bamboo leaves.

When Wu Cuimei saw that Agui sent bamboo leaves, she slapped Liu Qingshan fiercely: "What's the matter with you? I asked you to pick bamboo leaves, why did you let Agui pick them?"

Liu Qingshan covered his hot arm and said aggrievedly: "It's Agui who wants to help pick it up." ”

Ah Gui hurriedly explained: "Yes, yes, auntie, I want to help, not Brother Qingshan asked me to pick it." ”

Wu Cuimei glared at her son and said, "Agui wants to raise cattle again, and he wants to help you pick bamboo leaves, if his cattle run to other people's fields and waste things, then blame you." ”

As soon as Ah Gui heard this, he was anxious, for fear that Brother Qingshan would tell him about the cow running to the tea woodland, so he hurriedly waved his hand and said, "It's okay, it's okay, I can watch the cow." ”

Looking at his nervous appearance, Liu Qingshan couldn't help but smile and said: "Agui, thanks to you today, if it weren't for your help, I wouldn't have time to dig bamboo shoots, so it's okay, you helped me pick so many bamboo leaves, I'll send you some bamboo shoots, and it will be your reward." ”

"Huh?" Agui was stunned. Obviously, it was because his cow ran into the tea forest of Brother Qingshan's house, so he took the initiative to help pick bamboo leaves, why is he still paid now?

Liu Qingshan put a big bag of bamboo shoots in front of Ah Gui and said: "Ah Gui, there are more than 50 catties of bamboo shoots here, and the bamboo shoots are not valuable, don't dislike it, what about me, I don't have time to sell it, and I can't eat so much, so you can take it back." ”

"Huh?" Ah Gui stared at the big bag of bamboo shoots on the ground.

That's amazing, isn't it?

With the increase in the number of mountain people digging bamboo shoots in the mountains, his mother can only dig more than 50 catties of bamboo shoots every day these days, but as soon as Brother Qingshan makes a move, he will give him more than 50 catties of bamboo shoots, which is too proud.

Seeing that Agui was stunned, Liu Qingshan deliberately frightened: "What? Don't you want it? Don't forget it, I'll take it and dump it into the river, so as not to spoil it at home and stink." ”

"No, no, no. As soon as Ah Gui heard that Brother Qingshan was going to dump bamboo shoots into the river, he was anxious, so he hurriedly hugged the snakeskin bag and said, "I want it, I want it, I didn't say no." ”

Protecting the bamboo shoots, he looked at Brother Qingshan again and asked, "Brother Qingshan, you gave me so many bamboo shoots, so do you have anything else you need me to do?" I will do a lot of things. ”

Liu Qingshan thought for a while and said with a smile: "Well, Agui, I haven't thought about it yet, I'll tell you when I've thought about it." Go home and don't keep your mom in a hurry. ”

"Okay, when you think about it, you must tell me. ”

"Okay. Liu Qingshan sent Agui out, divided the bamboo shoots into two bags, then tied a knot at the mouth of the two snakeskin bags, and then put the two bags on the cow, one left and one right.

Ah Gui followed the cow, holding a bamboo pole in his hand, driving the cow with a clamour, carrying the sunset on his back, and walking to his house in the outer village.

Ah Gui left, and Wu Cuimei smiled at this time: "You kid can, do good deeds so low-key." ”

Liu Qingshan sighed and sighed: "Alas, what can be done? Who made me such an unpretentious and low-key person?"

"Less nonsense, hurry up and wash the leaves. ”

The leaves are picked and can't be used immediately, even if you don't need to blanch them with boiling water, you have to wash them with clean water.

After all, such a large leaf may not be able to carry how much bird droppings.

After washing the leaves and letting them dry for a while, Wu Cuimei will use them to wrap the glutinous rice cakes.

Different from making zongzi, there are more procedures for making zongzi.

Zongzi is directly wrapped in rice, while glutinous rice is wrapped into flour, and then added sugar and water to stir and knead into a dough.

After that, the dough is divided into several small doughs, the small dough is rounded, and then flattened into an oval shape like the palm of the hand, and then wrapped with hoop leaves to become 'leaf wrapping'.

Although there are no peanuts or pork like zongzi, the soft and sweet taste can be equal to that of zongzi.

The zongzi in the mountains are salty and fragrant, but the leaf dumplings are pure and sweet.

The sweetness of the sugar, the softness of the glutinous rice flour, and the spontaneous fragrance of the leaves, the three are combined into one, and after boiling over a high fire, it has become a soft leaf wrapper that the elderly and children love to eat.

Because it is made in the evening, after wrapping, it has to be boiled until more than 10 o'clock in the evening.

In this way, Liu Qingshan did not have the good fortune to eat the soft leaf dumplings that had just come out of the pot.

In order to make her son eat more happily, Wu Cuimei also specially used an iron pot to heat the leaf dumplings that the family was going to eat this morning.

In this way, after Liu Qingshan gets up, he can eat hot leaf dumplings similar to those that have just come out of the pot.

Unlike pastries such as potbelly dumplings or triangle buns, they don't have a short shelf life, but can be stored at room temperature for many days.

Probably because of the leaves and the fact that the glutinous rice has been powdered, a lot of water has been removed, so their natural shelf life is longer than that of zongzi.

Of course, there is also a reason because the weather is not too hot at this time, and in such pleasant weather, it is no problem to store it for a week.

The only problem is that over time, the leaves will gradually harden, and in the end, they will hardly be able to chew.

However, the advantage is that the drier and harder the leaf wrappers, the longer they can be stored.

And when it's time to eat, put the leaves in the pot and steam them over the water to get a fragrant and soft taste.

Liu Qingshan grabbed a piece of hot leaf dumplings and untied the belt of leaf dumplings.

Unlike local zongzi, leaf wrapping requires three rice stalks to be tied to keep the glutinous rice grains firmly trapped in the leaves. There is only one rice stalk in the leaf wrapper, and it is tied directly in the middle.

If the zongzi is the plump Yang Guifei, then the leaf bag has the posture of Zhao Feiyan, who is as light as a swallow.

It is thin and thin, and wears a large coat of hoop leaves, and is tied around the waist with a rice stalk as a belt, which looks very light and weak.

Although it looked weak, when you untie its belt and peel off its clothes, you can see a torso as white as jade and as moist as water.

It is not thin and only bones left, but boneless, lying soft in the palm of the hand, and there is a faint fragrance on its body.

Liu Qingshan swallowed his saliva, blew a few breaths on the leaf dumplings, and then put the leaves in his mouth.

At the beginning of the mouth, it was slightly hot, but at the same time, there was a strong fragrance of the leaves, which arched straight into the throat with the power of the steaming heat.

At the same time, the teeth touch the soft glutinous rice dumplings, and the tip of the tongue is also entwined with them, so that a sweet but not greasy taste bursts out from this small glutinous rice dumpling, lingering with the teeth and dancing with the tongue.

The fragrance of the leaves, the sweetness of the glutinous rice cakes, the two seem to be a natural pair, and they are complementing each other with just the right amount, and you have me, I have you.

The second day of the second month of February is not a big festival, but it is also a festival, so most of the people in the village have prepared glutinous rice cakes, only some families are more difficult, and the mountain people who really have no extra heart to prepare do not regard the second day of February as a festival.

Liu Qingshan's family is now considered to be well-off, and after the family has a simple breakfast, they began to prepare the delicious food they will eat today.

Wu Cuimei looked at her son who plucked chicken feathers and sighed: "Alas, people's lives are getting better and better day by day, I remember when you were young, in a year, you can only kill chickens during the New Year, which is like now, even if you can kill chickens on the second day of February." ”

Liu Yuanhe added with a smile: "In the past, let alone killing chickens on the second day of the second month of February, pork may not be eaten." ”

"That's it. Wu Cuimei said, "In the past, who would dare to imagine that life would be so good in a few years." ”

Hearing a conversation between the two, Liu Qingshan laughed and said: "Is it so exaggerated, pork is so expensive now, and chicken is only half the price of pork, so eating chicken is not a big deal, don't say it as if our family can afford to eat chicken." ”