Zhao sighed while talking to his daughter, and the sound of chopping stuffing came from outside, which was particularly harsh to her.

opened the window, looked through the window, and saw that the sister-in-law Li was bending over with her back to the upper room, cutting the watery carrot in her hand. On the board, there are piles of meat, celery, cabbage, coriander, onions, garlic and ginger.

Li was dressed in a red cloisonné cotton cloth, a snow-blue skirt underneath, and a wide blue cloth apron around it. The hair was tied up one by one and wrapped in a white handkerchief embroidered with peonies, revealing a smooth forehead.

Now that the house is getting more and more exciting, I have bought a place for daily food, and the children have put on new clothes for the New Year. In previous years, the Li family picked up the clothes that the Zhao family did not wear, and the patches were tired and patched, and the face was hungry and yellow if he couldn't eat well, and the whole person was like a wet old pickle, and he stood in the room so dimly that he hid in the wall, and he didn't want people to take a second look. Today's Li is dressed freshly and refreshingly, and he dares to speak loudly, and the hunger on his face has faded cleanly, revealing a white and full moon face, and he looks five years younger than usual.

"The life of the big house family is becoming more and more prosperous now." Zhao's heart stinged, grinding so bare that her fingernails moved Xue Yao's gold-inlaid jewelry box, after so many years of Chen's family, she has been enjoying happiness, she has never done heavy work and tired work, and she has never brushed a bowl, even her monthly monthly letter cloth strips are washed with the help of Li, and her two hands originally had ten nails like shallots, but now they are bare, and they are all broken after cooking.

Xue Yao naturally heard that her mother's mouth was sour, she picked up a plain silver hairpin with wings spread and inserted it on her head, gently buttoned the jewelry box, and the pearlescent flickering all over the room disappeared at once, took the mirror and brushed her hair, and straightened the hairpin before she spoke: "They are all like little shrimps, and they can make a few dollars by doing a little business in the countryside." I don't know that the sky is high and the earth is thick and dreams of making a fortune, and the big family business of Ding Mansion is not accumulated bit by bit. It's not relying on it yet", Xue Yao sighed heavily, and a snow-white face flashed in front of her eyes, which was the first enemy she had when she entered the mansion, "It's not that there are people in the official mansion who fight up and down." The big house was thrashing. Don't wait for the splash to come out. He was beaten by the waves. ”

Because of Xue Yao, a brazier was placed in Zhao's house, and it was burned warm. Set up a wooden bed by the window, spread a thick mattress, and set up two dog skins brought by Xue Yao from Ding Mansion, and Zhao sat next to each other holding Xue Yao's hand stove and sat lazily.

Of course, Li didn't know that the mother and daughter in the second room were rowing up the big room, cutting the radish, cabbage, and celery on the table into shreds, and chopping onions, garlic and ginger into foam. Chen Xiucai loves to eat coriander and took out a large handful from the cellar. Fresh and tender, the water is delicate, picked and washed, cut and mixed in the vegetables and chopped together, raised his head and shouted at Qi An: "You take off the meat on the eaves, and ask for our own pigs and hind leg meat." Fat and thin. ”

Qi An agreed. Lift your toes and carefully pluck the fattest meat from under the eaves. Lee raised his head against the sun. This scene fell into my eyes, and my heart was extremely ironed. If it weren't for the comparison, she hadn't noticed that Qi An had grown up, and what used to be able to get under the eaves only by standing on the chair had to be removed in a blink of an eye, and she could reach the eaves on tiptoe.

"Mother, my brother and I will chop the stuffing. The noodles are made, you go to the pot house to steam the steamed buns. Chen Xuejiao carried a bucket of hot water and walked from the pot house, her eyes glued to the ground, worried that her feet would slip. Chen Qiping followed, holding an enamel basin in his hand. Chen Qi'an put the meat on the board and hurriedly went to help the girl carry the water.

Li's hands were frostbitten in winter, and since he married into the Chen family, his hands were red and ulcerated and pus in winter. This year, Xue Jiao bought ointment in the crude medicine shop, dried wormwood and applied it in hot water every day and night, and Xue Rujing took over the work of washing dishes and laundry clothes on weekdays.

The noodles were made in the morning, and the noodles were put as an introduction, because it was cold and it was not easy to make hair, so the noodles were placed on the grate in the pot, and the water was warmed inside. Rao is like this, and it takes five or six hours before it is released.

Xue Ru had already pulled the noodles out of the basin in the pot house, sprinkled flour and kneaded them vigorously. There are a lot of noodles, and the steamed buns made should be enough to eat for the whole New Year.

Chen Xuejiao deliberately wanted to introduce the Li family into the pot house, for fear that it would be cold outside, and her hands would freeze again and the gains outweighed the losses. Li straightened his waist, the knife in his hand still fell together, in the past, I couldn't eat a few dumplings during the New Year, this year there is a lot more meat to chop some filling, big dumplings, fragrant, let the children eat enough this year: "I'll chop the stuffing and then go, but a little left and right." ”

Dumplings are the most important delicacy in the New Year, don't dare to be sloppy, Li has to chop the stuffing and adjust the stuffing himself to rest assured.

Chen Xuejiao and Chen Qi'an put the meat in hot water and cleaned it carefully, took it out and put it on the board, and said to Li together: "Sister is steaming steamed buns in the pot house alone, and she wants to steam reunion cakes, and my mother hurried to watch." ”

When Chen Xueru heard this, she threw out the words: "Mother, I can't steam that round cake, I have to watch it." ”

Li Xiao Yingying put down the knife, instructed Xue Jiao a few words, and was coaxed into the pot house by several children.

Chen Qi'an grabbed the knife that Li put down and cut the meat, Xue Jiao took out another knife from the pot house, rubbed it on the cyan whetstone, put the meat slices together, and waved her arm to chop it.

Mix two fillings, one for pork and cabbage and one for celery and lamb. Chop the meat into foam, mix the cabbage and celery, put some soybean oil and sesame oil, and stir vigorously with chopsticks.

The fragrance was forced out by the onions, garlic and ginger, and Chen Qiping pestered Xue Jiao to be coquettish: "Sister, sister, let's make dumplings at night." ”

Chen Xuejiao nodded his forehead: "You snack goods." ”

Chen Qiping stuffed a three-knife knife into his mouth, and when he bit the honey juice in his mouth, it was sweet to the bottom of his heart. Knowing that my sister agreed, I happily took out two of them from the paper bag with one free hand and stuffed them into my brother and sister's mouth.

Chen Qiping is half a head taller than half a year ago, and since he was divided, his thin yellow hair has turned black, his thin little face has flesh, and his arms and legs have become stronger. Li is a pet child, after the family has a few pocket money, snacks constantly, Qi Ping can't stop eating, he is the youngest, there was no opportunity to pet before, now there are conditions, it is difficult to pet if you don't want to pet.

The dumpling filling is chopped here. The fragrance of steamed buns came from the pot house over there. Chen Xuejiao likes to eat white steamed buns that have just come out of the cage, which are Xuan and soft, and she can eat them without any dishes. This time, the fragrance of steamed buns is sandwiched with a burnt fragrance. Chen Xuejiao knew that the Li family deliberately steamed the steamed buns for a long time, so that there would be a slip of dry rice under the steamed buns, this layer of dry rice was burnt yellow, and the bite in the mouth was like a pot. Li often steamed steamed buns to make dried rice dumplings for a few children as snacks.

Chen Xuejiao put the dumpling filling in two large basins. Cover with two pieces of washed snow-white gauze. Chen Qi'an brought hot water, held a brush in his hand, and carefully cleaned the board.

Chen Qilin came from outside with a book in his hand. Just met Chen Qi'an's eyes, and the two of them were stunned and smiled at each other. When these two cousins were young, they often searched together, went up the mountain to catch birds, and went into the water to dig fish, but after enlightenment, they became estranged. Chen Qilin walked by himself, after a long time, the affection really faded, and there was a courtyard where he lived and read in a school, and he didn't talk much. Since he went to study at the White Horse Academy, the two of them didn't say a word.

Chen Qilin couldn't help but sigh when he saw Chen Qi'an's hands full of oil. How can such a job be done by a scholar? Open Mon. Chen Qilin only holds a book, and he doesn't have to do any work at home. At the busiest time of autumn, everyone is rushing to harvest, and he is the only one who does not have to go to the ground. The Chen family passed on a concept to him all the time, and devoted the whole family to his education, he was the greatest hope of the entire Chen family. The most thing Zhao said to him was that you are different from Erfang Qi'an, he reads to foil you.

But no, over the years, all the money in the family has been smashed on Qi Lin. He is the first grandson of the Chen family, although he does not wear silk and satin, and he does not eat delicacies from the mountains and seas, but compared with other countrymen, the degree of food and clothing is fine. Reading requires paper and pen, which paper and pen are expensive to buy in the four treasure shops in the town, and the snow-white and soft rice paper is used to study in the White Horse Academy, and Chen Qi'an can only scratch in the courtyard with a branch when he is a child, and he occasionally draws two pieces of his paper to him, and he seems to be happy.

In the past, he couldn't look down on Chen Qi'an from the corners of his eyebrows and eyes, but today he couldn't take his eyes off. This brother, who fell behind him everywhere, unconsciously gave birth to a graceful demeanor, a tall nose, sword eyebrows and starry eyes, and a coarse cotton jacket could not cover the elegance of youth.

What's even more odious is that the Sun family actually fell in love with him last time.

Chen Qi'an only felt two cold eyes shooting at him, raised his head, saw Chen Qilin holding a copy in his hand, and said, "Has my brother started reading it?" ”

It is a book for the reference of Jinshike, and it will not be tested in the spring of next year, but I didn't expect Chen Qilin to take a fancy to it now. Master Huang told Chen Qi'an that now he only needs to memorize the scriptures and histories, and that the imperial examination will have other arrangements in the future, so don't just think about pulling out the seedlings and giving up the basic knowledge.

Chen Qilin said disdainfully: "That's natural, everyone in the academy has started to see it." ”

In his heart, Chen Qi'an did not participate in the imperial examination. How easy is it to participate in the imperial examination, in addition to fighting for oneself, but also relying on silver to accompany you, the White Horse Academy is full of children of rich and noble families.

Chen Qi'an smiled at him, bright and brilliant, and the surrounding ice and snow lost their coldness. Chen Qilin was slightly in a trance, and went to the upper room with the book.

Chen Xuejiao looked down on this cousin a little, and as soon as Qi Lin left, she quietly said to her brother: "I think my cousin is not as good as my brother in coarse cloth clothes." ”

Chen Qi'an smiled slightly, and said half-dotingly and half-reproachfully: "You can't say that." ”

Chen Xuejiao smiled brightly, turned around and walked towards the pot house, opened the steamed bun, took a white bun, and ate it with sauce beans while watching Li's steamed reunion cake. Reunion cake is an indispensable food for the New Year in Xuzhou Mansion, kneaded into a round cake with whitish, stuffed with meat puree, green onion, pepper powder, the outer layer is pressed with red dates, and steamed in a pot over high heat. On the morning of the first day of the first lunar month, the whole family cut and ate, taking the meaning of reunion, so it is called reunion cake.

Lee's hands were skillful, the kneaded dough was bare, and after rolling it out a few times with a rolling pin, a round cake came out.

Chen Xuejiao was helping the Li family to put on dates, when she heard the sound of shouting "second brother-in-law" outside, Chen Xuejiao stretched out her head from the pot house to see, it turned out to be the second brother-in-law Zheng Huozi came to the house.

The second aunt's family has already given a New Year's gift, and I don't know why my uncle came to the house this time. (To be continued)