"Ah Zhong, the door is not latched, you can come in by yourself." Du Shicheng came back to his senses and said.

Du Zhong carried a big herring into the house in his hand.

"What are you doing here?" Du Shicheng asked in surprise.

"It's nothing, there are a lot of fish at home, just me and Xiaoshu, I can't finish eating, I'll give you one." Du Zhong put the fish on the pile of fish.

"What is this saying, it's cold this day, pickle it up, and eat it in spring." Du Shicheng resolutely didn't want to accept it, for so many years, only he gave alms to Du Zhong, when was it his turn to accept his things?

"You give me such a big piece of meat, I marinated some of it, and I still have fish at home, it's enough, it's enough." Du Zhong was also not good at expressing himself, so he waved his hand and withdrew and went home.

Du Shicheng looked at the fish and was stunned for a while, he is old and useless?

It took the Dumedu sisters an hour just to clean up the fish, and their hands were numb from the cold, and the skin on their hands was soaked white.

Du Mei hung the fish under the kitchen porch to dry, and drank a bowl of pumpkin porridge cooked by Du Tao and Du Gui, and his whole body was relieved from the cold cold.

According to Wei's command, Du Mei pickled two herring fish and a silver carp, leaving a smaller silver carp to make ingots tomorrow, and the other crucian carp and trash fish, picking a few large ones and pickling them, and the others to eat tomorrow.

That night, several pots of water were boiled in the kitchen, and the whole family took a bath in their own room one by one. The fishy smell of fishing is full of fish, and those at home should also wash the old and welcome the new, and even the small juniper is also clean.

The thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve is the most solemn day of the year and the last day of the busy year.

Zhou and Xie were honestly like quails after yesterday, staying in the kitchen early in the morning to help cook. Mother-in-law Wei also cheered up and turned the whole family around.

On the day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, it is necessary to fry meat balls, lotus root balls, and tofu balls, indicating consummation and reunion. Early in the morning, the chopping boards of every household in Dujiagou were slashed. Even the Erzi family made boiled fish balls and vegetable balls with the herring given by the patriarch.

The biggest effort in making meatballs is knife work, this job Xie can't do, the last time she chopped the bun filling, her arm was sore for several days. Wei also knew it in his heart, so he arranged for Zhou, who was used to doing farm work and had strength.

The lotus root balls are not chopped with a knife, but are rubbed out of an iron plate with a lot of tiny nail holes. This job is suitable for Xie and Du Xing.

Du Mei and Du Ying carried a basket to dig vegetables in the field, and in winter, they usually pick wild vegetables in the field, and the vegetables in the field are easily immovable, just keep them for the New Year.

Rural customs, from the first to the fifth day of the new year, do not go to the fields to work, sickles and hoes cannot be used, and even needles and scissors cannot be used. Therefore, in the Chinese New Year's Eve, I had to cut all the vegetables I ate in the next few days and prepare them at home.

Green cabbage and radish are the big head, and celery, garlic, coriander, spinach and so on are also indispensable. Du Mei and Du Ying soon returned with a large basket full of vegetables. The two of them chose these dishes one by one and set them aside.

Du Tao was cleaning a stack of dishes, saucers, and teacups by the well, which were only brought out to entertain guests during the Chinese New Year, while Du Gui sat in the stove and lit the fire.

The two ducks had already been killed by the Wei family, and they were still waiting for the Du Mei sisters to pluck their feathers.

Du Shicheng, who never interfered in housework, spread the sunflower seeds and peanuts harvested in autumn in the bamboo dustpan in the courtyard to dry. After dinner, these are fried and served to the guests of the New Year.

Du Xuan drove the black mule to grind glutinous rice flour in the mill, glutinous rice is stickier than japonica rice, but the yield is small, and ordinary people are reluctant to take the field to plant this. The Du family also planted half an acre, except for the Dragon Boat Festival dumplings, which were kept for the New Year to make baba.

Du Zhu and Du Zhu took the fried sesame seeds to the patriarch's house and lined up for the sesame grinding.

The so-called molar, is a whole piece of bluestone in the middle of the funnel, put the food to be processed at the bottom, with the same bluestone hammer to smash down until the food is broken to the desired extent.

As for the sesame grinding, it is to grind the cooked sesame seeds very finely, mix them with sugar, and use them to make glutinous rice poop.

The patriarch's rice is an old object, which can not only be used to eat sesame salt, but also rice noodles eaten by weaned children, and all the food that they want to mash.

After generations of frequent use, the four walls have been smooth, bright and shining, and if you smell carefully, you can also smell the fragrance of various foods.

The day of the Chinese New Year's Eve seems to be an appointment, and the family has to join in the fun. Adults laugh, children play. Scheming women also compare themselves with each other in secret. More is stronger than less, black sesame seeds are better than white sesame seeds, and new sesame seeds are more fragrant than old sesame seeds.

Du Jie rarely appeared in the kitchen when it was not a meal. He was boiling paste on the small stove with an old bowl, which he was going to use later to paste the words "Heavenly Money" and "Couplet". Look at the strength of his mouth and stirring seriously, it is the same as reading and writing.

Sanjin, who was dressed in a robe, tucked the corners of his robe into his belt, and with great difficulty and his eldest brother carried a bag of rice and a bag of rapeseed onto the ox cart. Dajin drove the ox cart, and Sanjin went out for the first time to scoop rice and extract oil.

Rice oil extraction should be something to be done in the month of Layue, but the Du family's affairs have not stopped one after another, and this matter has been delayed, and the family is not waiting for the rice to go to the pot, but it is a good sign that the rice is full of oil and the pot is rich.

The principle of rice and sesame seeds is the same, but it is not stepped on by the hands of the human arm, but by the feet, and then in a barn, the rice and bran are separated by a hand-cranked wooden fan.

Oil extraction is to put rapeseed into a long burlap bag, stacked in a groove, on which are placed wooden blocks of different sizes, and the oil extractor keeps stuffing these wooden blocks until the yellow and clear rapeseed oil is drained at the lower end of the groove, and flows down the diversion groove into the oil drum.

Rice making and oil extraction are both manual work, and now it is a busy season, and people who need to come to process it need to help. Dajin's ass is not completely good, so Chung Mi is stepped on by three gold, although he has never done farm work, but after all, he is a man in his thirties, and he still has brute strength for a while.

After loading the rice oil bran residue into the car, Daikin went to buy some two-kick guns and hanging whips. When he went home, Sanjin only felt that his legs were swollen, and they weighed a thousand pounds as if they had been filled with lead. He remembered that the second brother had done all these jobs alone in previous years, and he couldn't help but feel a dull pain in his heart.

The family has long been overflowing with oil incense, and it should be said that the entire Dujiagou is soaked in oil incense. After noon, everyone began to fry the balls. The Du family is the Wei family who personally stands in the pot and is reunited.

Soon, round and golden circles lined up in the plaque. The three types of balls are easy to distinguish according to the size of the head.

In the oil pot, some noodles and fruits were fried, which is a kind of leisure snack, ready for the New Year to be eaten by the children who come to pay New Year's greetings.

There is not much oil in the pan, and the small hairy fish is fried at the end. Yesterday's smallest crucian carp and trash fish, marinated slightly, wrapped in wet flour one by one, slipped down the edge of the pot to the pot, sizzling, and after a while, a fish-shaped dough emerged from the bottom of the pot, and Wei waited for them to be fried until they were golden and crispy before they were fished out.

This is eaten directly, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and even the fish bones are crispy. Don't say that the child is greedy, that is, both Zhou and Xie took advantage of their mother-in-law's inattention and secretly ate several pieces, and Wei just couldn't see it.

The oil pot is removed, and it is time to officially cook the most important meal of the year. The kitchen is back in Dumay's hands.

Ingot fish, braised fish, roasted pork with radish, green vegetable tofu, stewed three yuan, dry cut belly slices, fried intestines with garlic, pig lung with sour bamboo shoots. This is a dish that is made every year, and Du Mei makes it effortlessly.

Just two ducks and don't know how to do it.

In the Dashun Dynasty, people generally did not like to eat duck, thinking that it had a fishy smell. These two ducks have been raised by Grandma for three or four years, and Du Mei has never made them herself, nor has she ever seen her mother cook about ducks.

Du Mei took advantage of the meat on the pot and went into the house to ask her mother for advice.

"You killed the duck?" Xu was a little surprised.

"Yes, grandma said, ducks don't lay eggs, and food is wasted." Du Mei muffled.

"Ducks are cold, and they have the effect of nourishing, relieving cough and reducing phlegm. Your grandfather just had a cough with hot lungs, so you stew duck soup. Xu Shi came up with an idea.

"But the smell of duck." Du Mei expressed the worry in her heart, if she stewed a pot of stinky soup, she would definitely be scolded by Grandma.

"The fishy smell of duck is on the buttocks, cut off a little more, and there will be no taste." Xu Shi looked at Du Mei's helpless appearance and touched her hand.

"The duck meat is cut into large pieces, stir-fried with ginger and soju, the blood foam is removed, and then put it in a casserole with ginger star anise and other condiments to stew, rest assured, it must be a very fresh taste." Xu added with a smile.

"You can't stew both, can you?" Du Mei had another question.

"You can also braise spicy duck pieces, add more chili pepper and soybean sauce, because the duck meat is cold, neutralize it, and children will not get hot when they eat it." Xu gave Du Mei another trick.

"Otherwise, I'll go to the kitchen." The anxious Xu wanted to lift the quilt and get up.

"Don't get up, mother, you can't see the wind. I know how to do it. Du Mei hurriedly pressed her mother.

Du Mei followed the method taught by her mother, and sure enough, there was no fishy smell at all. Soon the kitchen was filled with two different duck scents.

A light and long, in the slow boiling, revealing the most authentic taste of duck meat, cool and extended. It's like the restraint and stillness of an old man.

Another kind of thick oil red sauce, the taste of numb and spicy, at first competed with each other, and then, in the consumption of each other, slowly fused, spicy smooth, numb and refreshing. Just like the enthusiasm and strength of youth.

The other people in the courtyard couldn't help but glance at the kitchen, obviously it was all duck meat, how could they make such a world-wide taste? Neighbors passing by the courtyard gate also looked curiously.

Dujiagou people are trying their best to make the most delicious dishes, which is a silent contest between housewives. However, the two ducks made by Du Mei have a timeless and domineering taste, and the person with the sharp nose almost followed the taste to find it.

"Knock knock." I don't know who put the second kick first, and then there was a crackling whip.

At the beginning of this year, the village was like a fierce beast out of the slaughter, firecrackers roared, and the smell of gunpowder almost overshadowed the aroma of food.

Dajin is taking three boys to paste the Spring Festival couplets and money. Hearing the cannon outside, he hurriedly threw down the work for Du Shu. Hurriedly put the two kicks in line at the gate of the courtyard, and found a whip tied to a thin bamboo pole.

The three brothers had been waiting for this moment for a long time, and they had pasted the rest in two clicks. I couldn't wait to watch my father light the fuse with the fire fold.

"Boom." The second kick flew up, and a shining point of light burst out over the yard, and the artillery battle immediately turned over a harrier, "boom", and exploded again. In the blink of an eye, the light was extinguished, and the debris fell down like a goddess scattering flowers.

Du Shicheng stared at the cannon that flew into the sky and fell again with an uncertain face, and he watched it for as long as he wanted, and when Du Shuo carried the bamboo pole and put the whip, he turned back into the house.