Splendid peasant girl busy farming

Chapter 11923

Old Yang sighed deeply, feeling utterly helpless towards the Tan family.

Since that was the case, Yang Ruoqing decided not to play the villain anymore. She turned around and squatted down in front of Old Yang, earnestly instructing him: "Grandpa, my grandma is a dangerous person. You must be careful and protect yourself while you are with her!"

Old Yang nodded with relief: "It's alright, it's alright. I've been living with her for more than a year or two. Your grandma has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. Her mouth and hands are always faster than her brain!"

"I'll protect myself. I won't let this old body really die in her hands, hehe..."

To avoid making Yang Ruoqing worry too much, the old man even forced out a couple of laughs.

Yang Ruoqing nodded. "By the way, did you call me earlier because of something?"

Old Yang had almost forgotten after being interrupted earlier, but now that he remembered, he continued, "I wanted to tell you that your grandmother only came back during her free time. You should arrange a carriage to send her back to Mei'er's place tonight. Keeping her at home... is just a recipe for disaster!"

Old Yang whispered the last two words, 'the root of all evil,' so that only he and Yang Ruoqing could hear them.

Yang Ruoqing understood, nodded, and stood up: "I'll make the arrangements right away. After lunch, I'll send my grandma away..."

"I do not go!"

A voice came from the doorway; it was Mrs. Tan returning, carrying a thermos of hot water.

The hot water jug ​​looked almost as long as her upper body, so much so that when she hid behind it, at first glance, it looked like the hot water jug ​​was talking...

Yang Ruoqing stood up and looked coldly at Madam Tan. "Grandma, you should go to my aunt's place. My aunt needs you too."

With a stern face, Mrs. Tan, carrying the thermos, walked straight to the table. Yang Ruoqing and Old Yang instinctively assumed defensive stances. If anything went wrong, if they sensed the old woman might smash the thermos, they would immediately spring up to avoid it. At the same time, Yang Ruoqing had already found the perfect angle; ideally, she could kick the thermos out the left window before the old woman could smash it, causing it to explode outside…

It turned out that they had overthought things; the Tan family had no intention of 'taking action' or 'ambushing' this time at all.

With a stern face, she placed the thermos on the table, then went to get a teacup and tea leaves to make tea for Old Yang...

Wait a minute, she took an extra bowl. It seems she must be thirsty too, after fighting for so long.

As she made tea, she muttered, "I'm not in a hurry to go back to town. I've been staying with Mei'er for almost a year now, and it's almost December, so I should come back."

"What? You're not going? But all your clothes and luggage are still in town!" Old Yang looked up in surprise.

When I went to pick her up, she didn't say she wouldn't go in December.

Tan didn't even lift her eyelids, and continued, "When I came back, I told Mei'er that I might go back for a few more days, or I might not go at all in December. When that happens, I can just ask Kang to bring my luggage back for me. It's no big deal!"

Hearing that the old lady was going to stay in the village in December, Old Yang's eyes lit up and a smile appeared on his face.

He seemed to have forgotten that just a few minutes earlier, he had whispered to Yang Ruoqing to quickly send this troublesome old woman to her daughter's house in town.

"It's good that you're back. It's Chinese New Year, so you should come back. At worst, you can go back to town after the New Year to help them take care of the kids." Old Yang said with a smile, nodding repeatedly.

Yang Ruoqing remained silent. This was the old lady's home, and if she wanted to stay, no one could force her to leave.

But this means my fourth uncle and aunt who live across the street are going to suffer a lot. Things like today's incident will probably happen every now and then…

"Hey, let's have some tea, everyone."

Tan pushed the first bowl of tea towards Old Yang, and the second bowl towards Yang Ruoqing.

Yang Ruoqing was surprised.

This was the second time I had misjudged the old lady's behavior. I thought she was making it for herself, but I never expected that the old lady was actually making it for Yang Ruoqing.

Suddenly I felt flattered and overwhelmed; how pathetic of me...

Old Yang was especially pleased to see Tan's actions. "Qing'er, have some tea."

"Thank you for the tea, I appreciate the thought, but I won't drink it, it's too hot, and I have to go back for something." Yang Ruoqing calmly put the teacup back.

"Sir, since you've all agreed, I'll head home now."

"Okay, go back now. I'll call you if anything comes up."

Before leaving, Yang Ruoqing glanced at the west room across the street one last time and gave the old man a look.

The old man understood immediately.

She winked at Yang Ruoqing, her eyes saying, "I'll keep an eye on things and make sure your grandma doesn't do anything reckless again."

Yang Ruoqing nodded almost imperceptibly, then turned and left.

When Mrs. Tan saw the bowl of tea on the table that hadn't been touched, her eyes dimmed.

He muttered to himself, "That fat bastard won't drink the tea I brewed. She's still angry with me. She has quite the temper!"

She, an elder of an elder, even took the initiative to make tea for her granddaughter. What a kind gesture! But that fat girl wouldn't take it. She's really hard to coax.

Old Yang chuckled, "Of all our granddaughters, Qing'er is the one who looks most like you!"

Mrs. Tan raised her head, about to argue as usual: "What? She and I are the worst enemies..."

"Ha, that's why we don't get along!" the old man said again. "She's also the most successful, just like you in that respect! She never suffers a loss anywhere!"

These words... Tan liked to hear.

"But she won't drink my tea..." She was still struggling with this.

Old Yang waved his hand and said, "You're overthinking it. How could she possibly drink tea that hot? Besides, she already said she appreciated it, so isn't that a way of saving face?"

"Alright, alright, let's put everything behind us today. When you see Fourth Brother and his wife tomorrow, don't hold a grudge."

"Why should our large family always make a fool of itself in front of our neighbors and relatives? Just think how successful our grandsons are! Da'an, needless to say, is a high-ranking official!" "Now that Tiedan and Hong'er have both passed the imperial examinations and become scholars, our ancestral graves are practically emitting auspicious smoke. You and I are at this age, we should cultivate our character, take care of our health, and try to live a few more years so we can see more of our grandsons' success!"

Tan turned her face away and grumbled, "Hmph, I want to live too, but these people will drive me crazy sooner or later!"

That being said, the old lady's raised eyebrows and the corners of her mouth that she couldn't suppress clearly proclaimed her inner pride and self-satisfaction!

Her grandson and great-grandson are both successful. As long as they are not bad, she will feel gratified, happy, and proud.

……

The Laba Festival is coming soon.

Every household in the village is busy cooking Laba porridge.

Unless they were starving and had no other choice, anyone with a little grain in their granary would cook some porridge on this day in the twelfth lunar month to celebrate the festival, to honor the Kitchen God, and to treat the elderly and children in the family to a meal.

Even if we can't make Laba porridge as varied as the Luo family and the Yang family, who gather eight different kinds of grains every year... we still need to make porridge with three or four kinds of ingredients, just like other families.

Sure enough, the Luo family was extremely busy on Laba Festival.

Two or three days in advance, Wang Cuilian and Rong Gu had already started preparing all kinds of ingredients needed for Laba porridge. For Laba Festival, the Luo family prepared a full 30 kinds of ingredients for Laba porridge!
Yang Ruoqing even asked people to bring back many grains, dried fruits, and other things that were not available locally, and delivered them to Wang Cuilian and Ronggu, which made them very happy!
"We need to make more Laba porridge this year. Our family has several happy events this year. Your uncle said that we will not only send some to relatives and friends, but also set up a shed on the riverbank at the foot of the mountain to serve porridge for a day!"

"Villagers from all around can come and eat our Laba porridge today, Qing'er, what do you say?"

"Of course it's great! This year, our Dazhi passed the imperial examination with flying colors and we also had a baby girl, Nini. Our daughter has finally found a good match, so it's time to spread the good karma by distributing porridge."

Yang Ruoqing said this, but she knew in her heart that Luo the blacksmith's grand gesture was not just for the reasons mentioned above. Deep down, she was probably trying to accumulate some merit and silently pray for Luo Da'e of Zhoujia Village!
More than half a month has passed since Luo Da'e's sudden illness last time.

In the past two weeks, the skilled doctor at Yihechun has prescribed two doses of medicine for Luo Da'e.

As a result, after taking the medicine, Luo Da'e's health not only did not improve, but she also became increasingly thin.

She was only eating half the amount she used to, and a lump had grown on the side of her neck. The lump was growing at a visible rate every day, and the pain was so bad that Luo Da'e couldn't eat or sleep well.

As a result, Luo the blacksmith's mental state also deteriorated, and he forced a smile in front of his family every day.

Privately, she was always frowning and sighing, her mind full of worries. Only Wang Cuilian knew the truth about this.

So Wang Cuilian secretly relayed the news to Yang Ruoqing, and as a result, Yang Ruoqing could turn a blind eye to the grand Laba Festival porridge distribution and let Luo the blacksmith do as he pleased.

But deep down, Yang Ruoqing didn't believe that simply distributing porridge could actually help Wang Cuilian's condition.

There's a big lump next to my neck that keeps growing every day. As it grows, it's putting pressure on that area of ​​my neck. Do you think it could be anything good?
In modern times, that would require a slice to be sent for analysis...

Sigh, never mind, it's all fate, destiny's arrangement.

To let the heavens feel the sincerity contained in this Laba porridge, the old blacksmith Luo, who used to only go into the kitchen once a year, rolled up his sleeves and personally participated today.

They helped cook the porridge, tended the fire, cleaned the large wooden buckets used for holding the porridge, moved the buckets to the wooden cart, and then helped harness the mules to the wooden planks, driving them to the sheds that had been set up in advance on the riverbank behind the village, where they were laid out in a row...

The Luo family had a history of giving alms several times in the past, so they had seven or eight of these large wooden barrels specifically used for giving alms in their storeroom.

Each container can hold nearly 70 to 80 kilograms of eight-treasure porridge.

Seven or eight large barrels were lined up in a row, containing nearly 600 kilograms of porridge.

The villagers who came to collect the porridge each had their own bowl. If they brought a large jar to scoop the porridge, they would be laughed at, and the Luo family would not allow such a thing to happen. They had announced the clear rules in advance when distributing the porridge.

When people come to collect porridge, they can only use their own regular rice bowls. These bowls are filled to the brim at once, and the amount of porridge is at most about half a pound.

Therefore, each distribution of porridge weighs nearly 600 jin (300 kg), which can meet the needs of more than 1200 villagers.

Changping Village has only about 1200 people, and if you include the surrounding villages, the total population is less than 3000.

Even from the most remote villages, people wouldn't travel all that way just for a bowl of eight-treasure porridge. Those who would throw themselves over for a bowl of porridge are villagers who can easily walk from nearby.

Moreover, many of the villagers who were able to get there were elderly people and children, so it was already very impressive that they were able to distribute these seven or eight large buckets of eight-treasure porridge.

According to Yang Ruoqing's budget, there might be an extra bucket left over.

When the time comes, the one or two buckets of eight-treasure porridge that were left behind can be taken back to the village and given to relatives and friends back home.

what?
Will it break?
Don't you even consider what kind of weather this is? It's the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the coldest time of winter, the worst of the coldest days. You don't even dare to put your hands up in your clothes. The shallow water in the river below the dam has already frozen solid.

Yang Ruoqing was worried that the porridge wouldn't be distributed within half an hour, otherwise it would get cold!

I didn't bring the big iron pot, and I was too lazy to bring it anyway. The time for serving porridge has already been set out in advance, so those who want to come will naturally arrive within the designated time...

"Qing'er, then we'll head over there." The group carried the freshly cooked, steaming hot porridge to the mule cart at the door and called out to Yang Ruoqing before leaving.

Besides Luo the blacksmith, Ping An, Xing Wang, Rong Gu and other members of the Luo family, people from the neighboring Yang Huazhong, Sun Shi, and various branches of the Yang family also came to help.

Liu and Yang Huaming were the first to be affected. Yang Huaming drove one of the mule carts, while Liu walked beside it, holding onto a large wooden bucket filled with porridge.

Liu walked with a proud and vigorous stride, holding onto the wooden bucket, her back straight, her eyes bright, full of energy!

"Thank you all for your hard work. The porridge distribution is now complete. Come to our Luo family's house for dinner tonight!" Yang Ruoqing saw them off at the gate of the courtyard, thanked everyone who had come to help the Luo family distribute the porridge, and made the promise.

Hearing this, the group, led by Liu, became even more motivated.

After watching everyone leave, Yang Ruoqing and Luo Fengtang didn't sit idle either.

Luo Fengtang prepared several buckets of water, intending to personally tidy up the backyard stables, focusing on grooming the coats of his frequently used horses, feeding them hay, and soothing them.

Yang Ruoqing, of course, was helping him out, using a large brush to groom the horse's mane.