"Xu Niangzi, you don't have to be polite to me, we are all hard-working people, and we have to help each other one or two." When I got closer, I saw that it was a woman, although she was dark-skinned, but her face was kind, and there was a little smile in her eyes, and as she spoke, she handed the basket of vegetables in her hand forward.

Gu Nansang thought for a while, and remembered that this woman's name was Wu Cuihua, a widow in the village, and she had two daughters, the eldest was called Wang Juanzi, and the younger was called Wang Jiedi. usually has some dealings with the Gu family, and his personality is straightforward, but he is a good person.

There were a few Chinese cabbages in the vegetable basket in her hand, and some red tomatoes on the edge, which she thought was going to give to Xu.

"Mother, we're back." Gu Nansang called Xu, turned his head and smiled at Wu Cuihua again: "Aunt Wu is good, Juanzi and Brother are good." ”

She spoke, and Gu Beihuai also said hello one by one.

Wu Cuihua saw that it was her, so she hurriedly took out two tomatoes from the basket and handed them to her and Gu Beihuai, and said with a smile: "Nan Yatou has also grown up, and she can also help your mother share one or two, and even take your brother to be sensible." ”

Xu touched the heads of the two children, and said with a gentle smile: "It's too early to be sensible, but it's just playful." Sister Wu, we can't accept these things, your orphans and widows, there is no laborer at home, how can I accept your things? ”

Wu Cuihua was anxious and put the basket on the ground: "Hey, you are always like this, didn't you also help my family a few days ago?" is so polite to me, I don't think you think I was a sister! ”

She was about to leave after speaking, but Xu sighed helplessly, every time Wu Cuihua used this trick.

Just as he was about to speak, Gu Nansang put the basket on the ground, asked Gu Beihuai to pick up the corners of his clothes, held a lot of green dates inside, and hugged some of them to catch up, shouting: "Juanzi, pick up my brother, wait for me!" ”

Wang Juanzi and Wang Jiedi are both teenage girls, who always help their mother with work on weekdays, and their personalities are quite calm, so they stopped when they heard Gu Nansang's voice.

Gu Nansang stuffed the green dates into the arms of the two of them, and said with a smile: "Today, I went up the mountain with Beihuai to dig wild vegetables and found some fruits, which are quite sweet, if you don't dislike them, eat more." ”

Wu Cuihua also stopped, heard Gu Nansang say this, and said with a smile: "You girl, you are much more open-minded than your mother." ”

The men thanked each other and went home.

Xu Shi picked up the back basket and walked inside, but the back basket was still quite heavy, she looked at Gu Nansang and said, "You two have been going all afternoon today, are you sunburning?" ”

Gu Beihuai hurriedly replied: "Mother, I am hiding in the shade under the tree, and I am still lying on the tree to eat fruits, but it is comfortable!" ”

"You know how to play, do you know that my sister is hard?" Xu's disgust.

Gu Nansang laughed: "Mother, these many fruits are picked by Beihuai, and they are not fun." Beihuai, you go to make a fire, and my sister will make fish for you to eat. ”

"Okay!" Gu Beihuai grimaced and quickly ran to the kitchen.

Xu Shi was strange: "You still caught a fish?" ”

Gu Nansang nodded: "There is a waterhole in the mountain, and there are many fish in it. I also dug up wild vegetables and ate them cold. ”

"That's fine, I'll make up for you." Xu smiled slightly, and ordered Gu Nansang to close the door, she went to kill the fish, and Gu Nansang picked the vegetables.

Gu Dongqing was picking up tiles on the roof, he was walking around the house today, and he saw light spots on the roof in several places, and he was worried about the rain, so he went to the roof to clean up.

After a while, Xu killed the fish and was about to cut it with a knife, but Gu Nansang said: "Mother, you have been busy for a day, go and rest, I'll cook." ”

"You haven't recovered yet, and you've been working in the mountains for so long, how can you still do such a smoky thing?" Xu said: "Go to the house to rest." ”

Gu Nansang knew that the Xu family had always felt sorry for her daughter, but she was a little strict with her two sons, and when she said this, she shook her head with a smile: "It's just to go up the mountain to find something to eat, why are you so squeamish?" Mother, I also pulled some wild onions back, you go pick some, wait and sprinkle them in the fish soup, and let's plant the rest in the backyard, and it will be convenient to use in the future. ”

Xu Shi saw that she was still good, so he also gave up and went outside the door.

Gu Nansang took the kitchen knife at this time, cut off the head of the cleaned fish and cut it in half, split the fish body into two, and then cut off the fish bones on both sides, leaving two pieces of fish meat, cut thin slices with an oblique knife, and put a little salt to marinate and season. Grab a handful of sauerkraut from the few kimchi jars, shred and stir-fry the green onions, ginger and garlic together, stir-fry the fragrance, then add water, cover the pot and boil.

"Sister, what are you doing, it's so fragrant!" Gu Beihuai snorted and stared at the lid of the pot with bright eyes.

"Sauerkraut fish." Gu Nansang glared at him: "Don't lift the lid of the pot." ”

Gu Beihuai was stupid, continued to add firewood to the stove, rolled his eyes, and said, "Sister, why have you never done it before?" And you didn't cook so fragrant before, but now it's even more fragrant than your mother's! ”

Gu Nansang knew that he was complimenting himself, looking at his tiny arms, she couldn't help sighing, she slowed down her voice, and said, "I'll give it to you when it's ready, you remember that after the water is boiled, add less firewood, and boil it on a small fire." ”

"Good!"

When the water boiled, Gu Nansang lifted the lid of the pot, and bursts of strong sour smell emanated from the pot, causing people's index fingers to move. At this time, the head and tail of the fish are cut in half, and then boiled for a while, and then the fish bones are lowered.

"The fire is smaller, don't break it." Gu Nansang told Gu Beihuai.

"Hey!"

Put the marinated fish fillets in over medium heat, and the sour soup boils for a while, and the thinly sliced fish is rolled and becomes white and tender.

Finally, put it in a pot and sprinkle with chopped green onions.

Gu Nansang then chopped the washed purslane into boiling water, removed the sourness, mixed in minced garlic, salt, and green onions, and made a cold purslane.

It's a pity that the people here don't seem to like spicy tastes, and Gu Nansang didn't find peppercorns and chili peppers, so he lost some taste.

In the end, she uncovered the small stove next to the wok, and the steamed sweet potato rice in it was also cooked, so she asked Gu Beihuai to call Xu Shi and Gu Dongqing to eat.

The sky was dark, the moon was newborn, and the family was busy, cleaned up, and sat on the stone table in the courtyard.

The sauerkraut fillet melts in your mouth, the bones are tender and juicy, the fish head is already boiled and melted into a pot of milky white soup, accompanied by blue-brown sauerkraut leaves, and tender green green onions.

Gu Beihuai didn't raise his head after eating, after pulling half a bowl of rice, he soaked fish soup and came in, two mouthfuls of fish meat, and he was sweating profusely.

Even Gu Dongqing, who has always been calm, couldn't help but say: "I haven't been home for a long time, but I don't know that my sister's cooking skills have improved greatly, and it is even better than the noodle restaurants in the city." ”

Xu Shi was also quite strange: "Although you used to cook, the taste cannot be compared with today, what is this?" ”

Gu Nansang knew that he had this question, so he smiled and said: "I have been sick for the past few days, and I have nothing to do, so I read a lot of books in the study and accidentally saw the recipes. ”

The study room was Gu Xizhou's room before, next door to Gu Nansang's room.

Xu nodded, not doubting him, and said with a smile: "Sang'er's skills are so good, I won't have to worry about finding my in-laws in the future." ”

"......" Gu Nansang was quite speechless, she was only nine years old, okay?

However, I probably know that this is the way people think in this era, so they didn't refute it, but asked: "Mother, do we grow chili peppers at home?" ”

"Chili?" Xu Shi wondered: "What do you want to do with that thing?" The peppers are all used by doctors, but they can be seen in the mountains, so why do we plant that? ”

Gu Nansang didn't expect this to be the reason, and asked again: "What about peppercorns?" ”

Xu Shi was even more inexplicable: "That's also medicine." ”

Gu Nansang's eyes were shining, she shook her head and smiled: "It's nothing, I only occasionally read it in the book, saying that peppercorns and chili peppers can be used in dishes, and the taste is very delicious." ”

"There is no such thing as that." Xu Shi laughed: "It can be seen that people who read are not all open-minded and transparent, and some people write nonsense in order to become famous." ”

Gu Nansang held back a smile.

This is unexpected, Sichuan pepper was originally a product of ancient China, in the pre-Qin period was used in cooking, pepper was introduced to ancient China from overseas after the Ming Dynasty, and has been loved by the world since then.

Gu Nansang of this dynasty only knew from the memory of the original owner that this country was called Tianqi Kingdom, but it was not linked to any dynasty in ancient China. However, there is some overlap between some fixed customs and the famous poems and books handed down in the early years.

Maybe it's like a parallel space.

She thought about it, quickly finished eating the rice in the bowl, and beckoned Gu Beihuai to wash the green dates and take them out, and the family sat in the courtyard, eating the green dates while taking advantage of the moonlight to talk, and they were happy.

In this courtyard is a tall locust tree, which in late spring gives birth to tender green buds, fine jade dotted with dry branches, and faintly visible small flower buds.

After the meal, Gu Dongqing took the initiative to clean up the dishes and chopsticks, sent Gu Beihuai and Gu Nansang to send Xu back to the room to rest, and walked to the kitchen with the dishes.

Gu Nansang walked halfway, his heart moved, he turned around and followed his eldest brother into the kitchen.

"Nansang, you've been busy for a long time, and you haven't rested?" Gu Dongqing smiled gently, touched her head, turned around and took a gourd scoop to scoop water.

"Big brother is coming back this time, how long will it take to go to the city?" Gu Nansang has his own plans, even if he is treated as a child, he is not annoyed, and provokes the conversation with a smile.

Gu Dongqing sighed, and between Qingjun's eyebrows, there was a slight sadness: "Nansang, although you are still young, but the eldest brother knows that you have always been sensible, so it doesn't hurt to tell you about this matter." ”

He said solemnly: "When I come back this time, I will not go out again." ”

Gu Nansang thought about it for a while, and knew what this brother was thinking, thought for a while, and said: "The eldest brother has good intentions, although he earns less money, but we are all together, and we are happy, which is better than anything else." ”

Gu Dongqing was very surprised, he was stunned, and smiled knowingly: "Little sister has grown up, I thought I would have to explain a thing or two to you, I don't want you to be more transparent than me, the eldest brother." When my father was around, he used to say that you were a wise man, and he was right. ”

"Mother can't do too much hard work." Gu Nansang also sighed and said softly: "This year, my father is gone, and the labor at home is all handled by my mother, and her body is already weak, and in the long run, I am afraid that it will not be a good thing." ”

Gu Dongqing also understood Xu's hard work in his heart, but the little sister was so sensible and considerate, and he was still very relieved in his heart, he smiled and said: "With a caring daughter like you, my mother must feel gratified." ”

"Big brother, I have a plan, but I don't know if it's feasible." Gu Nansang was upright: "I saw in the study a few days ago that the recipe was fake, but it was true when I was ordered by the immortals in my dream. ”

"Nansang ......" Gu Dongqing hesitated, the action of washing the dishes in his hand also slowed down, and he said in a low voice: "Don't talk nonsense about this matter. ”

"It's true." Gu Nansang knew that he didn't believe it, sighed, and said, "Now we all know the situation at home, and it's really reluctant to do farm work. Big brother, why don't we do a little business. ”