"Big brother, second sister, third brother, you're back!"

Hearing the movement at the door, Yang Zi looked at it, immediately jumped up, and rushed over.

Seeing this, Xing'er hurriedly grabbed him: "Brothers and sisters are carrying a bunch of things, don't get in the way." ”

The three children who had just returned home had not yet put down the heavy objects on their backs, and when they saw Chang Xile sitting in the yard, they all stepped forward and said in surprise: "Uncle, are you okay?" ”

Seeing this, Chang Xile hurriedly said, "You put down the things first." ”

Chang Chenghuai, who was carrying a large bundle of dry branches, grinned: "It's okay, it's not heavy." ”

The eldest grandson, Chang Chenghuai, is only nine years old this year, but he is already a little expert in work, and he basically collects the firewood at home. The other two Chang Zao'er are seven years old and Chang Chengshan is six years old, and they also shoulder the burden of the family early, and they are responsible for the food of the domestic animals raised by the family.

Poor children are in charge of the family early, although they have always been sick in their previous lives, unable to run or jump, and have few opportunities to go out in previous years, but at least they have no worries about food and clothing, how can they live so hard like these children, there is endless work every day, and it is difficult to achieve even the most basic satiety.

Huaizi put the firewood in place, and he didn't even have time to breathe, so he went to the kitchen to find a knife and a dustpan, and cut the pig vegetables brought back by dates and cedars in the yard. Chang Xi was happy to see that he was tired for Huaizi, who was only in the fourth or fifth grade of elementary school in his previous life, and couldn't help but speak: "This pig dish is not in a hurry for a while, you drink saliva slowly first." ”

Huaizi raised his head and showed a big smile that saw his teeth and eyes, he looked very honest, his lips were thick, his face was a little square, and his appearance was not good, but he felt honest when he looked at it.

"It's okay, I've got to cut this pig vegetable quickly, I'll have to boil it up in a while, and if it's late, those guys will have to make a fuss again." This animal is delicate, and if it is too late, we will have to lose a few taels of meat, and we will have only one pig left now, but we can't go on a business trip. ”

After saying that, Huaizi continued to move in his hands, the kitchen knife was very heavy, but although Huaizi was only nine years old, he cut it very neatly, and he knew that he often did this at a glance. And Xing'er and Shanzi didn't rest, and poured out the snails they had just caught out of the back basket, ready to smash the snails to dig up the meat.

Chang Xile was surprised when he saw the snails on the ground, no wonder he saw that the backs of the two little guys were bent just now, and they had to be supported by Huaizi on the side.

"Why did you pick up so many snails? Do you want to eat it at night? ”

The snails are a good thing, the cooking techniques are appropriate, the taste is very good, especially the soup is very authentic, and it is also a meat dish.

Several children immediately pursed their lips and laughed, and Zao'er said, "This is for chickens." ”

Chang Xile didn't react for a while, and just wanted to say that this is a waste! The words are on the lips before the violent reaction This is not modern, wild snails have become a rare thing.

Huaizi: "Uncle, do you want to eat?" If you want to eat it, take out half of it and soak it, and you can eat it in two days. ”

"Forget it, let's talk about it later." Although Chang Xile really wanted to eat, he couldn't take the hard-earned gifts from the children to make a tooth sacrifice, but he suddenly remembered a question, "Do we have chili peppers at home?" ”

Several children looked at each other, "What is chili?" ”

"It's just spicy and spicy, and it's usually red."

Huaizi thought for a while, "Uncle is talking about dogwood?" ”

"No, it's not that small, it's usually long." Chang Xile drew a snail dipped in water on the ground.

Huaizi looked at it carefully and shook his head, "Uncle saw it in the county?" We don't have this thing in Taoyuan Village, why don't we wait for Ah Gong to come back and ask? ”

Chang Xile didn't have much hope in his heart when he heard this, although the original body had very little memory of eating, for him, eating was just to starve to death, but it was still quite clear that there was nothing spicy in the usual food. Chang Xile likes spicy food very much, but because he is not in good health, he can only salivate and watch others eat. And the memories of the snail recipe are all spicy and sour series. Now I don't worry about the snails that are fished out of the waste ditch, and I have a good body that can be raised, but I still can't eat spicy, which is really depressing.

However, thinking of the current economic situation of this family, even if there is chili pepper for a while, it will not be able to realize the recipe in Chang Xile's heart, because it is too oil-intensive! With such a developed modern productive force, there are unscrupulous merchants who use gutter oil with a conscience in order to save costs, and the world will feel that oil is even more expensive.

"Are snails easy to find?"

Shanzi, who was in charge of finding the snails, said, "It's okay, it's enough for our chickens." Our chickens are now only the size of their fists, and they don't have much to eat. ”

Chang Xile suddenly didn't know what to say, in the original memory, the Chang family raised a lot of chickens, and he had at least one egg to eat every day. In order to ensure the supply, even in the winter when the chickens do not like to lay eggs, the Chang family will raise a few hens that can lay eggs in a relatively warm kitchen. When those hens stop laying eggs, they will go to the county to sell them for money, except for the New Year, they will not keep them for their own food.

But now there are only chickens the size of a fist, which means that all the chickens that were raised have been disposed of, and before the original body was injured, every time I went home, a flock of chickens flew around, but now it is nowhere to be seen, and I think they are all sold for money to treat the original body. Now the rest of the livestock is too small to sell, and if it weren't for his arrival, these little things might not be saved. Chang Xile sighed, this family is really good to the original body, no wonder the original body thinks about this family, and always feels indebted.

"Are our cattle gone?"

A few children suddenly stopped talking, you look at me and I look at you.

Although Chang Xile had expected it for a long time, he felt that the responsibility on his shoulders was heavier when he received a positive answer.

While the children had tended the animals and made dinner, the adults came back in the moonlight. Everyone was very happy to see that Chang Xile had been able to sit in the yard, especially Chang Laosan and Grandma, seeing Chang Xile's appearance, they felt that the hard work of the day had dispersed.

Chang Xile did not eat alone in the house that night, but ate with everyone around the fire.

Taoyuan Village uses a fire pit to cook food, and there is a three-legged iron shelf in the middle of the fire pit of the Chang family to set up pots, which can also reflect that the Chang family had a good life in the past. Because iron is very expensive in this world, some people don't even have an iron pot, and they still use clay pots for cooking and cooking, and they will explode if they are not careful. Some people can't afford iron pots, and many people are reluctant to buy iron pots, but build them with stones.

There are many Chang families, so children can't be on the table, in addition to feeding, they have to pick up vegetables and bring bowls to the side to eat, and they can be served to the table to indicate that they are adults, and there is no rule that women can only eat in the kitchen.

Although Chang Xile inherited the memory of the original body, he had never experienced it himself, so he was curious about many things. For example, this fire pond, he has seen pictures or TV before, and he has never eaten around, so he has always found it very interesting. It's just that I really tried to find that it was not as beautiful as I imagined, because it was firewood, and it was inevitable that the smell of smoke was very strong, especially when sitting in the direction of the wind, the smoke was so big that I couldn't open my eyes. Moreover, the straw mound is very low, and the whole person sitting on it is shrunk, and it is as if the stomach is on top when eating.

But everyone is very used to it, and they don't think there's anything wrong, although Chang Xile is not used to it for a while, he doesn't think it's a big deal. Besides, although it is early summer, the countryside is quite cool at night, and it is quite warm around the fire.

Dinner was very simple, the main dish was a cake made of rice bran and bean dregs, and the dish was a cucumber and a pot of green vegetables blanched in clear water soup. Chang Xile saw that when his grandmother put oil, he dipped a little lard in chopsticks and stirred it in the soup pot, and the same was true for salt. Chang Xile used to cook green vegetable soup like this, thinking that only by eating it this way could he feel the original taste of vegetables, which was very refreshing, but it was based on a table of hearty and greasy meals, and now there is only such a dish, and the whole person has to eat green.

The reason why Chang Xile was so surprised was because he didn't have such a shabby memory, whether it was his original memory or what he had eaten in the house in the past few days. In the past few days, he has been raising green vegetables, brown rice porridge, and an egg every day.

Seeing this, Grandma Sun was immediately dissatisfied, "Where's Xiao Wu's meal?" Who's in charge today? ”

Cao's second sister-in-law stood up, "Mother, it's me." It's not like seeing my uncle is good, and he wants to eat with us, thinking that he doesn't need to make special preparations. ”

"When did the fifth child eat the same as us?! You mother-in-law wants to be lazy all day, and you don't bother to do this little thing, if it weren't for the fact that Zao'er could do things, would you still starve our whole family to death! ”

Cao's second sister-in-law pursed her lips, "How did I know that my uncle was like this, and he would be different from everyone......"

When Sister-in-law Wang heard this, she hurriedly pulled Cao's second sister-in-law's sleeve and glanced at her, so that Cao's second sister-in-law didn't finish her words.

But Mrs. Sun had already heard it, so she jumped up directly, pointed at Cao's second sister-in-law and scolded, "You stinky mouth wrapped in shit, what kind of shit are spraying!" ”

Chang Laosan's displeased eyes also shot over, although Cao's second sister-in-law was unhappy, she didn't disobey her in-laws head-on, and quickly slapped herself, "Look at my mouth, Daddy, I didn't mean that, it's not that I don't want to give my uncle good food, I've been here for so many years, do I still care about this, it's that there is really nothing at home, no matter how capable I am, I can't change it." ”

This sentence contains several meanings, Chang Xile can understand it when he is no longer in the situation, no matter how selfless this family was to him before, but now it is not what it used to be, and it is not difficult to understand Cao's second sister-in-law's thoughts. Chang Xile will not feel unhappy because of this, nor will he feel that the world is cold, after all, if he thinks about it empathically, even if he will not be like Cao's second sister-in-law, he will inevitably feel uncomfortable. This family poured too much into him, and if he didn't say it well, he sucked it dry like a vampire. The other brothers are also people who have started a family, but for his own suffering, not to mention the hardships of his wife and children for so many years. In the past, maybe everyone didn't care about it, because everyone still had a thought, but if he was still like before, without any contribution, and still occupied the best resources of this family, no matter how strong the relationship was, one day it would fall apart.

Grandma Sun still wanted to say something, but Chang Xile hurriedly spoke, "Mother, how can everyone eat together be different from me, which makes me not taste good." ”

How could Grandma Sun not understand, tears suddenly fell, grabbed Chang Xile's hand and said: "Son, you are sensible, but your father and mother are incapable......"

"Mother, you can say that, it's the child who is ashamed of you. Besides, everyone can eat it, why can't I eat it? I'm much better now, my mother cares about me, I know, but I'm fine, I don't need to be like a patient. ”

"This ......"

Chang Laosan waved his hand, his tone full of impatience, "Eat, eat!" It is better to have the strength to speak than to have the strength to eat. ”

Seeing this, the grandmother didn't say much, and the family was born and began to have dinner, and there was only the sound of chopsticks and bowls colliding during the banquet. There were no words, but as you know, something has changed since tonight.