Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

On the fourth day of September, the old man took all the men in the family to the mountain to visit the ancestors' graves and told them the good news. On the fifth day of September, the villagers held a banquet in the ancestral hall. This kind of banquet is that each family takes out some things, everyone gets together, and then makes some wine and food. Of course, there is public silver in the village, and the village chief will take out some of it to fill some of the banquet.

On this day, all the children who were originally studying in the ancestral hall were given a holiday, and some women in the village came back to help. Everyone worked together to celebrate the happy event in the village. The Xu family naturally took out the most things. This is their Xu family's happy event, how can they not take more?

Chen asked someone to send a letter to the town and the county, and Zhide came back with Han and the children. Zhiming came back later, leading Zhu, and the two walked very anxiously along the way. When they got home, they were sweating. Chen saw that they were like that, and felt very distressed, so she quickly asked them to rest for a while.

"Mom, we are not tired. The village is so busy. I will go to help with the work." Zhu was still the same. She had a lot of work in her eyes. She hurried to work as soon as she came. When she walked to the stoves set up over there, she saw Xue busy cooking. "Sister-in-law, is there anything you haven't done? I'll do it." Xue knew that the third daughter-in-law had come, and she didn't even turn her head. "Help cut all the vegetables, and the meat. You have good knife skills, and the slices of meat you cut are thin and even. There are not many people in our village who can have your skills?" Zhu's mother's family used to run a restaurant. Zhu's mother died early, and then her father married another wife. Zhu's stepmother was not good to Zhu, and made her do a lot of work every day. The restaurant never hired waiters, and Zhu had to do everything by herself, and she had to help cut vegetables and so on. It was because of this that she practiced a good job. Zhu's habit in her mother's family was that she had a lot of work in her eyes and never slacked off. Zhu came to the chopping board, picked up the kitchen knife, and slashed the vegetables. After a while, she had finished slicing all the vegetables. Then she slicing the meat. The slices she slicing were so thin that they were almost transparent, and they were very even. People couldn't help but admire her craftsmanship.

"Oh, Mrs. Xu, your craftsmanship is really amazing. If there is a wedding or funeral, you can help. With the same materials, you can cut half a plate more than others, which really saves things for the host." A young wife next to her was very impressed.

"I rely on this skill to make a living. This is a matter of practice. If you also help others, your craftsmanship will also be good." Zhu smiled and continued to cut things with her head down. She helped in a restaurant in the county town. She did this every day. How could she not cut well?

Many wives in the village helped here, and everyone was busy with their own things. There were three wives cooking at the stove, and a pile of plates next to them. When a dish was cooked, it would be put on the plates, and then those who were responsible for serving the dishes would serve the dishes to each table.

There were less than a hundred households in the village, and a total of thirty tables were set up for the banquet. The children were all with their mothers, and there was no separate table for them. Of course, the tables were borrowed from each family, and the bowls and plates were also borrowed. They were all written with red pen on the back, and they just had to return them according to the names on the back. This is how weddings are held here, otherwise who would have so many household items? Those serving the dishes were all half-grown children or young wives, coming and going, and it was very lively.

The village chief came to see that the dishes were almost all cooked, and the rice was stewed in the pot over there. He nodded, "Zhixin's wife, I think the work is almost done, you can lead everyone to eat, I'm waiting for you." The village chief spoke.

Xue wiped the sweat from her head. Although it was already September, it was hot enough to stay at the stove all the time. "Okay, Uncle Zhou, we'll go over there now. You lead the people to start the feast first, and I'll add some fire to these pots. Otherwise, the rice won't cook." After hearing this, the village chief walked towards the banquet, came to the middle, and looked at the villagers, "Dear villagers, today it is Xu Zhixiang, the fifth son of the Xu family in our village, who passed the imperial examination. Our village specially celebrated for him. Our village hasn't had a juren in the past few years. From now on, when we go out, everyone will be proud. Our village has a juren. Come on, let's eat and drink happily today and have a good time." After the village chief finished speaking, he naturally invited Zhixiang to come over and say a few words. Zhixiang walked out of the crowd, "Dear elders and villagers, Zhixiang is just a junior, and I didn't expect to pass the imperial examination. Thank you for your kindness and for setting up a celebration banquet for Zhixiang here. I, Xu Zhixiang, would like to thank all the villagers here. If you need me in the future, I will definitely not refuse." As he said this, Zhixiang bowed to everyone. The village chief saw it and said quickly, "Okay, let's have a feast. Let's eat as much as we can today. The mulberries in our village have grown well this year. It's another bumper year. Let's celebrate together."

When the villagers heard that the feast was about to begin, they all picked up their chopsticks and started eating. There was still wine on the men's table. Everyone had been busy enough this autumn. It was a rare opportunity to take a break today and eat and drink. Who wouldn't eat as much as they wanted? For a moment, the whole ancestral hall was bustling with activity.

Ms. Xue led the helping daughters-in-law to sit down, "I have to thank you all sisters today. If it weren't for your help, this banquet would really not be possible." Mrs. Xue is the eldest daughter-in-law of the Xu family. She said what she had to say.

Many wives nearby smiled and said: "Why are you so polite, sister-in-law? The Xu family is very popular. No matter who has trouble in the village, my sister-in-law will go over to help. It's not too late for us to thank you. If anything happens to my sister-in-law's family in the future, just ask Find us."

The meal was finished in such a lively manner. The old man of the Xu family also drank a lot of wine today, his face was red, and he smiled whenever he saw people. None of the Zhixin brothers drank less, especially Zhixiang. Everyone came to toast him, so how could they not drink? So if you drink one cup on the left and one cup on the right, you drink too much.

Mrs. Chen saw that her husband and son had drunk a little too much, so she asked Wenhan and Wencheng to support the old man and send him back all the way. Then Mrs. Chen took the wives to clear the table. There was nothing left on the table, and the plates were all empty. Today's dishes all have meat in them. Where can you usually see the smell of oil? With such good food, you have to eat it even if you feel full. Bankers don't tolerate any waste.

Stack all the dishes and bowls and carry them to the well, and then there will be many wives washing the dishes there. While I was brushing, there were several literate children nearby who separated the dishes according to the words on the bottom and sent them back to each family later.

Wen Han and Wen Cheng helped the old man back home, and then led a group of young men to deliver things back. Lin Zixuan and Wen Han are close friends, so naturally he is indispensable for this work. There are also children such as Er Gouzi and Tieniu who are about the same age as them. We all get along well with each other on weekdays, so we work together.

After finally finishing everything, everyone left the ancestral hall and returned to their respective homes.

Jinghan also helped pick vegetables and wash dishes today, which was tiring enough for an eight-year-old girl. So when she got home, Jinghan lay down on the kang and didn't want to move. "Jinghan, don't sleep. It's already afternoon. If you go to bed at this time, you won't be able to sleep at night. Come on, come over and let's chat for a while." Jingya was afraid when she saw Jinghan lying on the kang and not moving. She fell asleep and quickly asked Jinghan to get up.

Jingwan and Jingxian next to them came up and pulled Jinghan up, "Sister, please stop sleeping. Let's go outside to the garden to see if there are any good things we haven't brought back?"

Jinghan reluctantly got up from the kang, "Okay, let's go to the garden."

When we came to the garden, there were not many things in the ground now, only cabbage and radishes were left. Each cabbage is wrapped with a big heart. The rain this year has been good, and the cabbage is growing very well. Jinghan led her two sisters to pull out two radishes. This kind of radish was special because it was red inside. "Come, let's go back and eat radishes. The radishes at this time are already delicious." With that, he carried the radish leaves and walked home.

Go back to the house, use a knife to cut off all the leaves of the radish, then wash the radish with some water and cut it into pieces. "Come on, Jingwan, Jingxian, come and have a taste. These are the new seeds we got this year. We have never seen them before." In fact, this radish is the kind that later generations call Xinmei. It tastes very sweet and not so spicy. , tastes good.

A farmer's boy doesn't have much snacks on weekdays, but he still finds a piece of radish very delicious. Jingwan and Jingxian grew up in the county town, and they had never tasted such fresh radishes. They were crispy and juicy. The more they ate, the more they wanted to eat them. "Sister, give me another piece, it's delicious." Jingwan said.

Jinghan cut another piece and handed it to Jingwan's hand, "Eat it, we have a lot of it at home, you can eat whatever you want."

Jingwan took the radish and finished it in a few seconds. She was already quite full from her lunch, but now she ate another radish and she really couldn't eat anymore. Touching her belly, "Sister, look at my belly, it's bulging. It's so funny."

Jinghan smiled when she saw it. Without saying anything, she cut a lot of radishes and sent them to Chen and Xue. "Grandma, third aunt, fourth aunt, mother, let's go get some radishes. They're quite sweet. Let's all try them."

Mrs. Chen quickly took it and said, "These are the new seeds we got this year. They say they are best eaten raw. Try them all. If they are good, I will bring more back to you." There are not many fruits here, but people are willing to grow them. There are a lot of radishes. In winter, if you have nothing to do, you can take them out and eat them raw. It can be regarded as a snack. So if any store has that kind of non-spicy radish, they will leave a lot of seeds and share it with everyone.