Lao Li's family wants to build a building, and the people around the village are not idle, the folk customs of these years are extremely simple, but whenever there is such a big thing in the neighborhood, almost every household has to produce a labor force, no one needs to say it at all, it is very conscious to come over, even if there is really something that can't get out, it will definitely come to say hello and say something apologetic.

There are dozens of people, they do things very neatly, the men have great strength, each carrying a shovel to build the road and shovel the soil, so that the materials for building the house can be transported to the back hillside, the women do what they can, move bricks and soil, and a few help Hu Xiuying to handle the food.

This is a must, people come to help, and they don't need to be paid, and the food must be full.

Li Yajun invited a master who was a mason, he was responsible for the overall situation, and began to dig the foundation under the guidance of the master, the two women of the old Li family were responsible for Zhang Luo's food, Li Yadong, a "weak scholar", originally wanted to go to the construction site, but the people in the village did not do it, and bombed him down, so he simply took it as a purchase, such a large group of people consumed a lot of food every day, how can there be so much inventory at home, they have to buy.

So in the past two days, Li Yadong has been running around in the county and township, and the cement, slate and other building materials other than red bricks have also been booked, and they will be sent over one after another.

As for the ingredients, Li Yadong is by no means a stingy person, pull Uncle Datian in the village, he is a veteran of driving ox carts, every day when the sky is bright, go to the township together, melons, fruits and vegetables, chicken, duck and fish, tobacco and alcohol side food, there are a lot of things, the villagers who came to help eat every day with a mouth full of oil, their mouths are crooked, this has to be put in their own home, there is no such treatment in the Chinese New Year's Eve.

As the saying goes, there is a lot of power in people, only two days have passed, and the new building of the old Li family has emerged from the ground, and then there is no need for so many people, mainly the affairs of the masters, leaving a few people responsible for carrying the ash bucket, it is probably enough.

The villagers are really reluctant to go, especially the old men, the food is not mentioned, this is a good day with cigarettes and alcohol every day, where to find it?

But if you are reluctant to go, you have to go, because tomorrow is the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month, that is, the small year, and each family always has some things to buy.

On the small flat outside Lao Li's house, there is a big iron pot on the stove temporarily built with yellow mud, which is steaming outside, Hu Xiuying's mother and daughter are also tired enough in the past two days, even if Li Yadong says anything, his mother has no reason to be idle, and now the number of people who open their mouths to eat in the new house has decreased sharply, and finally made some time to steam a pot of glutinous rice.

Steamed glutinous rice is naturally used to make glutinous rice, and tomorrow Li Lao Da and Li Lao Er will also come back, the family is reunited, and the New Year will have the appearance of the New Year.

Because the third brother Li Yajun supervised the work in the new house, Li Yadong became the only remaining male laborer in the old Li family.

The washed glutinous rice is steamed in a large iron pot with a wooden retort, and when it is cooked, it is necessary to pour it into the stone mortar while it is hot, there are two kinds of tools, one is a wooden hammer, one is a stone hammer, in general, the stone hammer effect is good, because of the heavy weight, a hammer down the glutinous rice can be pounded to smash, but to strength, the general stone hammer is at least twenty catties up.

"Smack!" Li Yadong held the handle of the hammer in both hands, formed a lunge under his feet, raised the stone hammer above his head, and then hammered it down hard.

Hu Xiuying moved a small stool to sit next to her, with an enamel basin on her side, which contained water and towels.

Because glutinous rice is sticky, and the more delicate the hammer, the more sticky it is, so if this process is missing, Li Yadong wants to pull up the stone hammer, at least it takes several times more effort.

Rao is like this, within two minutes, he was also sweating profusely, and he took off his coat directly, leaving an autumn coat.

"Xiaodong, come, let's change. Hu Xiuying looked at him like this, so she said.

Her son felt sorry for her, so why didn't she feel sorry for her son.

"Mother, it's okay, what a good opportunity to exercise. Li Yadong panted and shook his head, this matter is not negotiable at all, his mother is in her fifties, how can she do such heavy work.

Li Dongmei next to her also said: "Mother, your waist is not good, beware of flashing, or replace me." ”

After all, he looked eager to try.

"You?" Li Yadong glanced at her weakly and said, "Forget it." ”

He didn't doubt that the fourth sister could come with a few hammers, but it was only a few hammers.

Li Dongmei was not happy on the spot when she heard this, and the girl, who was originally quite gentle, directly rolled up her sleeves and stepped forward to grab the stone hammer.

"Smack!"

The first hammer fell, and Li Yadong was indifferent.

"Smack!"

The fifth hammer fell, and Li Yadong raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Smack!"

The tenth hammer fell, and Li Yadong was a little surprised.

"Smack!"

The twentieth hammer fell, and Li Yadong's eyes widened.

The key is that his fourth sister's face is not red and her heart is not beating, and there is not even a drop of sweat on her head.

"You're an ant, you?"

"You are an ant, so that you look down on people. Li Dongmei glanced at him, a little proud.

"Okay, I was wrong, I was wrong......" Li Yadong hurriedly surrendered, and he couldn't accept it.

Even if he came twenty times in one breath, it would be enough to choke.

At this time, Hu Xiuying said with a smile: "The strength must still be small and big, but this beating is skillful, and the hammer must be straight, so as to save effort." ”

"Oh?" Li Yadong listened thoughtfully, it was really not good to let the fourth sister keep fighting, after all, it was a girl's family, it was not suitable to do such heavy work, he took the stone hammer and tried it, and hammered it down in a straight line of 90 degrees, it was really a lot easier, and it was easy to pull it up.

"Mother, why didn't you say it earlier. Li Yadong looked at his mother with some resentment, and secretly sighed that he was still inexperienced, he used to have two brothers in the family, and this kind of thing was not his turn at all.

Hu Xiuying smiled, "Didn't you say you wanted to exercise?"

“……”

Near noon, the two pieces of glutinous rice dumplings were finally ready, placed in a dustpan, spread out into the shape of a large round cake, and sprinkled with a few grains of red rice, which was considered to have completed the preliminary process. After it hardens, then cut it into long strips with a kitchen knife, you can eat it at any time, if you really haven't eaten it during the New Year, you can also soak it in water and save it, and you can eat it until the beginning of spring next year.

At noon, the construction site was started, several masons, plus the village people who stayed to help, a total of fifteen or sixteen, and two square tables were placed outside the door, Hu Xiuying burned a pot of hodgepodge, that is, fish, meat, and vegetables in a pot stewed, a bit of Northeast cuisine, served in an enamel basin, a table and a basin, it is not good-looking, but the taste is actually good.

Li Yadong took out two bottles of wine from the house, the sorghum wine produced by the county distillery, 48 degrees. One table and one bottle, don't dare to give more, just drink a little to warm up, after all, it is a dry construction site, safety first.

In the afternoon, another piece of rice cake was made, but it was not a glutinous cake, the material was rice, and the process was slightly more complicated, after the rice cake was removed from the stone mortar, it should be kneaded into a long dough like a bun, and then torn into a small ball according to experience, and then kneaded into a palm-sized round cake shape by hand.

This is the specialty of the rural areas in the central part of the South - the baby cake.

Generally, when eating noodles, two pieces are added to it, and the taste is very different from that of glutinous rice cakes, which is not sticky, and it is particularly hungry.