In front of Ran'er's fence courtyard is a small stream, the water of the stream is clear and sweet, there are small fish, small shrimp. Behind it is a small hill, which is covered with bamboo, and occasionally a few poplar trees. March is the day to pick bamboo shoots. After Ran'er and Qinglian talked in the grass pavilion of the rain pavilion, Qinglian lit the fire and Ran'er began to make breakfast. Breakfast was simple, just a hot pot of rice left over from the previous night, and then a stack of pickles pickled from bamboo shoots was fished out of a coarse porcelain jar. Qinglian eats very sweetly, especially the sour and salty pickles. Q Ran'er said:

"Sister, what is this made of? It's delicious. ”

"It's pickled bamboo shoots from the bamboo on the mountain behind the house, after eating, my sister will take Qinglian to dig bamboo shoots."

"Okay."

"It's my mother's church. Because the bamboo shoots are relatively astringent, people here don't eat them, and my mother is very coincidental, so she can always do something that others can't do. ”

There was some pride in Ran'er's tone. Every time I mention my mother, Ran'er is either sad for her mother's death, or proud of her mother's ingenuity and talent.

After the meal, Ran Er carried the only bamboo basket used to sell eggs, took a small pickaxe, took Qinglian's hand, and went to the bamboo forest on the hill behind to dig bamboo shoots, and Rhubarb also followed behind with his tail wagging his tail. Sometimes Ran'er is very strange rhubarb, although the dog is not poor at home, but since the death of her mother, the food at home has been very tight, almost never fed rhubarb, don't want rhubarb or stay at home. I don't know how rhubarb finds something to eat. Rhubarb also has the advantage that some dogs do not have, whenever Ran'er eats, Rhubarb never comes to the front, just lies far away, and sometimes looks at Ran'er without paying attention. Although Ran'er really wants to feed rhubarb, but she can't eat enough, what can she feed it?

After a few days of rain, it is the time when the bamboo shoots grow wildly. Ran Er led Qinglian into the bamboo forest, and there were small bamboo shoots that had just sprouted everywhere. Ran'er dug out the bamboo shoots with a pickaxe in front, and Qinglian picked them up and tore off the old skin on the outside of the bamboo shoots, and then put them in a basket. In a moment, a basket will be filled. Every basket was filled, Ran Er carried it to the stream, and so on, digging more than a dozen baskets of bamboo shoots back and forth in the morning.

"Sister, let's dig these up today, I can't eat too much."

"Oh."

Qinglian simply replied, stood up, and patted her two little hands. followed Ran'er and came to the stream in front of the small courtyard. Ran Er picked up a bamboo shoot and tore off the outer layer of skin, washed it in the stream, put it in the basket, and said to Qinglian:

"Learn from my sister, after washing, my sister pickles it, and we eat these for more than half a year."

After washing a basket, he carried it to the shade under the grass pavilion to dry. He also brought out six coarse porcelain jars, washed them with stream water, and put them to dry in the sun. After lunch, after seeing that the porcelain jar was dried, Ran Er used a knife made of bamboo to split the bamboo shoot core in half, put it in the coarse porcelain jar, and sprinkle it with an appropriate amount of salt. When the six coarse porcelain jars were filled, the lids were covered, and the mouth of the jar was sealed with some mud from the stream, and each one was placed in the sunlight around the grass pavilion. moved his sour waist and legs, and said to Qinglian:

"Okay, in half a month, you can eat it."

"Sister, do people here eat bamboo shoots like this?"

"No, this is a mother's invention, and no one else will."

"Sister, I wonder if I can sell it at the market? Qinglian remembered that her father would pickle a kind of sauerkraut, and if she couldn't finish eating it herself, she would sell it at the market. Every time I go with my dad and sell sauerkraut, my dad will sell candy to Qinglian to eat. ”

yes, why didn't you think of it? Qinglian's words couldn't help but remind Ran'er. Why don't you take it to the market and sell it? My mother didn't seem to think about it that way at the time. No, you have to try, if you can really exchange money, it will solve a big problem for the two of them in the future. The four old hens, who have been fed for more than three years, see that they are laying fewer and fewer eggs, and if they can't find a way to make money, they are doomed to starve if they only rely on selling food.

"Hehe, my sister is so smart. My sister didn't expect that tomorrow would be the day of the market, so I would try to bring some of the original pickles, and if I could sell them for money, my sister would buy new clothes for my sister. ”

"Qinglian doesn't want new clothes, buy them for my sister, my sister is beautiful. Qinglian wears her sister's old clothes. ”

Alas, sensible little Qinglian. Every time Ran'er heard Qinglian's similar words, her heart was very sour. Reached out and touched Qinglian's hair, but didn't speak again. Seeing that the sun overhead was already in the west, I was so busy with bamboo shoots that I forgot to cook all morning. Hurriedly went into the house to get rice to the stream to shop, and when he came back, Qinglian was already lighting a fire. After simmering the rice, Qinglian took out four more eggs, flipped them in her hand, and put one back. Or scrambled onions with eggs, and a plate of bamboo shoots and pickles. If Qinglian hadn't come, Ran'er would only scrambled an egg to eat every day when she had dinner. There are basically no other dishes at home. At the end of the year, only during the Chinese New Year, Ran'er will eat meat once.

When her mother died, she left two things for Ran'er. One is, ten taels of silver, and more than 300 forty-five copper coins, but Ran'er has not moved. The second is that a small red wooden box is tightly sealed by the mother. Mother said that the box is a secret about Ran'er's father. Ran'er hasn't seen her father since she was a child, and when she asked her mother, her mother always said that she would sue her when she was older. When the mother was leaving, she handed the box to Ran'er, who was only six years old, and instructed:

"Ran'er, my mother can't take care of you anymore in the future, Ran'er has to learn to grow up. That money is the only thing that Ran'er can leave to Ran'er, and Ran'er must use it carefully. The box is a secret about Ran'er and Ran'er's father's life experience, and Ran'er has to promise her mother that she can't open the box if she is less than fifteen years old. ”

At that time, Ran Er took the box in her mother's hand, nodded vigorously, and said in tears:

"Mother, Ran'er agreed."

"Sister?"

Qinglian saw that Ran'er was holding a rice bowl, her eyes were red, and she couldn't help screaming in a daze.

"Sister misses her mother, okay, Sister Qinglian, let's eat."

As he spoke, he flicked more than half of the scrambled eggs with green onions into Qinglian's bowl, and only picked up the pickles on the plate to eat. I didn't want Qinglian to put the rice bowl on the table, and said to Ran'er:

"Sister, when you came, you said okay, we'll eat together."

Seeing Qinglian's serious look, Ran Er smiled, knocked Qinglian's forehead with chopsticks, and brought back the dishes in her bowl a little more, and Qinglian picked up the bowl and began to eat.

After lunch, Ran'er led Qinglian to the edge of the two acres of paddy fields to take a look, and said to Qinglian:

"Sister, this is our family's land, and in a few days we should plow the ground and plant seedlings."

"Sister, Qinglian doesn't know how to plant seedlings. We don't have rice there. ”

"Qinglian is still young, so she doesn't have to work now, just follow her sister to learn."