My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 220 Pineapple
Wang Cunye and Gao Xiulan did not come on their own.

It was brought over by Wang Qingzhong and his wife. They used two packhorses to pull the cart, and they got up very early to rush here, arriving at 2 p.m. that day.

Wang Susu really didn't expect her parents to come; they hadn't given her any prior notice.

Moreover, it was my second brother and sister-in-law who brought our parents over from a great distance.

She was so excited.

It is said that the eldest brother, Wang Qingwen, and his wife have been too busy with classes lately to come; otherwise, they would definitely have come along.

This made Chen Ling sigh inwardly.

This is the family.

In other families, if the elderly go to take care of their daughters during childbirth, it's no wonder the daughter-in-law complains.

Are you so preoccupied with your daughter that you don't even care about your grandson?
This is where the problem lies.

In short, Chen Ling was both touched and happy that his father-in-law and mother-in-law could come. There was no other way; without his parents, he, a grown man, really wasn't confident he could take care of his wife. He also had no experience as a father, so how could he compare to his mother-in-law coming in person?

Now I feel much more at ease.

To his dismay, the old couple didn't come empty-handed. Besides carrying large and small bags, they also brought back a lot of wild boar meat for him. Wang Qingzhong and his wife had piled the cart full of it, so it seemed they had brought quite a lot of things as well.

"Dad, Mom, we have plenty of food at home, why are you bringing all this stuff? It's a long way, it takes up space, and it's such a hassle to transport it down the mountain."

After he finished speaking...

Wang Susu also felt somewhat resentful.

Mr. and Mrs. Wang Cunye just laughed when they heard this, saying that they had stayed for a long time this time and had accidentally brought too much stuff.

This excuse made Chen Ling and his wife sigh, and then they had nothing more to say, and did their best to receive the two elders.

Upon learning that they hadn't eaten lunch yet, Chen Ling went to the kitchen again, with Wang Susu assisting him. Soon, a table full of dishes was ready.

With his father-in-law and brother-in-law both present, Chen Ling also set out the wine he had brewed before the New Year on the table, pouring a bowl for each of them. The rich aroma immediately filled the air.

The hot meal, mixed with sweet wine, made the group of people, who had been starving, feel much more comfortable.

"This wine is delicious, with no astringency at all." Wang Cunye and his son took a few sips, savoring the taste carefully. They found the wine to be sweet and refreshing, with no strange flavors whatsoever.

"Lingzi, how did you brew this?"

"Oh, this is made from wild grapes from the mountain. I added a lot of sugar when I was making it."

"That's right."

Upon hearing this, the two were immediately unsurprised. They had witnessed firsthand how Chen Ling cooked; the amount of oil he used in one meal was equivalent to the amount of oil an average farmer would use for a month.

They must be adding sugar like crazy when making wine, no wonder it tastes so good.

After a while, having eaten and drunk their fill, the family brewed tea and sat down to chat.

Not long after, Wang Zhenzhen also rushed home with the little yellow dog. It was Sunday, and after her parents came over, the first thing she did was take the little yellow dog that Wang Cunye raised to run wild outside the village. The little yellow dog loved to play just like Heiwa. Now it was four months old and had grown into a big dog. It was still lively and mischievous, which suited Wang Zhenzhen's temperament very well.

During the Chinese New Year, I would take my little yellow dog and let it run all over the mountains. It's still like that now, never stopping for a moment.

"Where have you run off to again? Your parents have come, but you don't even sit down and talk to them. All you do is take the dog out and run around."

Seeing her younger sister covered in sweat, Wang Susu scolded, "Come here, come and have some water."

“I took the dog to catch snails, hoping my brother-in-law would cook a delicious snail meal for my parents.”

Wang Zhenzhen is very quick-witted. These past few days, she has been going to collect snails after school to feed the chickens. Chen Ling promised her that she could raise a few hens and sell their eggs to earn pocket money. These hens are her "chicken butt bank," and she takes it very seriously.

But when facing Wang Cunye and Gao Xiulan, she didn't say that. Instead, she chose to say something nice, saying that she had picked up snails to have Chen Ling cook for her parents, not to go out and have fun.

This guy made the old couple so happy they couldn't stop smiling.

In truth, the elderly couple knew exactly what their youngest daughter was thinking, but seeing her innocent, witty, and mischievous nature, they were happy even if they had been fooled.

Seeing that she had fooled her parents, Wang Zhenzhen turned to run away, "Hehe, I'm going to wash my hands and then tidy up the house for my parents."

After saying that, he skipped away with the little yellow dog wagging its tail and sticking out its tongue.

Guo Xinping was delighted to see this and said to Wang Susu, "See? This girl has such a sweet tongue. She knows how to flatter our parents."

Wang Qingzhong grinned and said, "That's right. She's the most capable one in our family. During the New Year, she helps our mother make dumplings, roll out dough, and steam New Year's buns. That guy even complains that his sister-in-law's skills are not good enough."

Everyone laughed when they heard this.

……

"Sister, sister..." Everyone in the main room was laughing when Wang Zhenzhen rushed over again.

"What's wrong? You're so anxious, running around at home. Aren't you afraid of tripping over yourself?" Wang Susu frowned.

"Sister, have you seen the pineapple on my table?" Wang Zhenzhen asked eagerly.

"Pineapple? What's a pineapple?"

Wang Cunye and the others were completely confused.

“It’s fruit from the south. My aunt in Beijing sent it to me a few days ago,” Wang Susu explained.

"Oh, fruits from the South, amazing! They must be rich to be able to get fruits from so far away."

Wang Zhenzhen ignored their sighs and kept saying that the pineapples were gone.

"Both pineapples are gone. I was planning to share one with Xizi and the others."

"Oh? Your pineapple is gone? Oh right, I remember now, your brother-in-law was eating a pineapple this morning, so it was probably him."

Wang Susu lowered her head and thought for a moment. Suddenly, she remembered that when she was milking the goats that morning, Chen Ling was walking around in the yard with a pineapple, eating it non-stop. After she finished milking the goats, he even used a juicer to make her half a bowl of pineapple juice.

"Ugh, you stinky brother-in-law, you bad brother-in-law, it's you again! You stole my food again!" Upon hearing that Chen Ling had eaten it, Wang Zhenzhen ran over to him and started tearing at his food, angrily saying, "You ate all the sunflower seeds, and you ate all the instant noodles! You have to pay me back..."

The more I talked about it, the more heartbroken I became; tears welled up in the little girl's eyes.

Actually, Chen Ling didn't eat them on purpose. Wang Susu said she was worried that her younger sister would get a sore throat from eating too many sunflower seeds. As for instant noodles, she brought them to school and would often crush them and eat them dry, mixing the seasoning with them and swallowing them all at once.

I've told them several times, but they won't stop. The temptation of sunflower seeds and instant noodles is too great, so they always sneakily eat them behind my back.

This won't work.

Chen Ling ate them all, so he simply stopped buying them for her and that was the end of it.

As for the pineapples, Chen Ling hadn't really noticed. He had planted them in the cave, and then picked two to try. They were delicious, so he ate them all and forgot to pick two to put back for her.

……

After Wang Susu quietly explained the situation to her parents, they couldn't help but laugh when they learned the reason.

Gao Xiulan advised, "Alright, stop making a fuss. Last year, your sister told me that you were always fighting with your brother-in-law. If you continue to be so immature, you should go back to school in town with your brother. I think your sister and brother-in-law have spoiled you."

“That’s right, your brother-in-law treats you so well, he’s always making you this and that food, what’s wrong with him eating two pineapples?” Wang Cunye quickly chimed in.

"But I promised someone else."

With tears in her eyes, Wang Zhenzhen said, "Xizi has never celebrated her birthday. I gave her pineapple for her birthday, but it's gone now."

"Who is Xizi? Is he Zhenzhen's classmate in the county town?" Wang Qingzhong asked.

"No, it's a little girl in our village. She has no parents and is quite pitiful. She used to like to come to Susu's house and would often sit next to Susu for half a day. Now she's always following Zhenzhen around."

Chen Ling shook his head and said to the little girl, "Don't cry. I'll go to Aunt Hongyu's house and get you two more pineapples, okay?"

"Okay, but I still want to eat he luo noodles," Wang Zhenzhen said, wiping away her tears and sobbing.

Chen Ling couldn't help but smile: "Okay, noodles it is, we'll all have noodles tonight." Wang Cunye and Gao Xiulan both tried to stop them from going.

"Lingzi, ignore her. How can you give her whatever she wants? If you do, she'll become spoiled and unruly."

"It's alright, Mom. We're happy today, so make whatever you want to eat. We have plenty of food at home."

Looking up at the time, Chen Ling realized it was getting late, so he stood up and said, "I'll go to the village to find a noodle press, and when I get back we'll make some noodles."

A heluo press is a tool used to make heluo noodles; some are made of wood, and others of iron.

Heluo noodles are made from buckwheat or sorghum flour. Compared to noodles made from wheat flour, they have less gluten, are harder, and are more likely to break into pieces. Therefore, a heluo press is used to press them. The kneaded dough is placed on the heluo press and squeezed out into strands of heluo noodles through a sieve with honeycomb-like holes.

Chen Ling had planned to buy this before, but he kept forgetting. After all, there were many noodle stalls in the county town, and he could eat two big bowls every time there was a market day, so there was no need to make it at home.

There are relatively few noodle presses in the village.

Chen Ling searched high and low but couldn't find anyone with it, so he finally asked Cui the Cripple.

That's when I asked the question.

Cui the Cripple said that Chen Sangui's family had some; the old man used to like eating it and was also a carpenter, so he made some himself. However, ever since his son Chen Baoshuan got married, all their savings for their funeral had been used up, and they hadn't had the heart to make any more he luo noodles.

I don't even know if they'll have any left to borrow now.

We arrived at Chen Sangui's house. The old house had been renovated last year, but the courtyard wall had not yet been built; it was just enclosed by a fence, but the courtyard was quite large.

Chen Ling stopped at the door and called out, "Uncle Sangui, are you home?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than two geese appeared out of nowhere, flapping their wings and honking loudly as they charged toward him, trying to peck at his calves.

Chen Ling quickly stepped back two paces, reached out and grabbed the heads of the two geese, throwing them aside.

Compared to dogs, geese are just as good at guarding the house. Moreover, these creatures are not afraid of people at all and have extremely strong fighting power. Even many dogs have to give them a wide berth when they encounter them, making them notorious village bullies.

Chen Ling has a lot to say about this. When he was a child, he was chased and pecked by a goose several times on his way to school. One peck from that goose was terrible. For about half a month, his calves and ankles were covered in bruises because whenever they pecked at him, they would twist and turn him in circles, which could make him cry from the pain.

"Who is it?" With the voice, an old man with a hunched back came out.

"It's me, Uncle Sangui."

"Oh, it's Fugui. The furniture will be finished soon. I was just saying I'd call you over to see it in a while."

"You need it urgently?"

Chen Sangui, wearing reading glasses and covered in sawdust, stood by the door, supporting his back; he had clearly been doing carpentry work at home.

Because his son Chen Baoshuan had too many troubles, the old man visibly lost weight in half a year. He lost his former clean and neat appearance, his white hair was messy, and his withered body looked like a hunched shrimp.

"No rush, Uncle Sangui. I came to see if there's a heluo bed at home that I'd like to use."

Since Chen Ling also needed to put some commonly used furniture in the rooms of the farm, he had already told Chen Sangui last year to have the furniture made as soon as possible.

The old man thought Chen Ling had come to urge him to hurry up.

"A noodle press? Come in and sit for a while, I'll find it for you."

The old man continued speaking slowly, then chased away the two geese and led Chen Ling home.

Chen Ling followed behind as they walked towards the main room when he heard a weak voice call out, "Uncle Fugui."

Turning my head, I saw a thin little girl with wet hair walking out of the kitchen.

"Xizi, are you washing your hair? Why haven't you gone to visit your aunt these past two days?"

"He has lice on his head."

Xizi will be seven years old by the New Year, but compared to a normal six or seven-year-old girl, she is more than a head shorter, skinny, and as thin as a stick. This is a typical case of malnutrition.

However, the little girl is a good student and exceptionally sensible. She is very quiet when playing outside and always follows quietly behind Wang Zhenzhen and the others.

Even so, no one in the village bullied her. In the past, when boys from Jinmen Village urinated on Xizi's pencil case, they were even beaten up by Liu Nier and her friends.

Do you have any lice powder at home?

"Yes, Grandpa bought it for me."

"That's good. Your aunt had lice in her hair last winter too. She got some lice powder and washed her hair with hot water several times and it got better."

After sitting down with Chen Sangui in the main room, Xizi brought over a kettle to pour them tea.

"Xizi is so sensible. Her birthday is coming up soon, isn't it? Here, have some milk candy."

As Chen Ling spoke, he took a handful of milk candies from his pocket and stuffed them into the little girl's hand.

Knowing they were coming to Chen Sangui's house, they bought it from Cui the Cripple on the spot.

To everyone's surprise, Xizi gently pushed her away, saying, "I don't want it. Aunt Susu gave it to me during the New Year, and I haven't finished eating it yet."

Chen Sangui quickly declined, saying, "Why give her that? Milk candy is too expensive."

However, Chen Ling still insisted on giving it to the little girl.

I chatted with Chen Sangui for a bit more, and was shown some of the finished furniture.

The old man found the noodle press for him and put it at the very back of the cabinet; it was still clean.

It's clear that despite the many troubles at home, he's still the same earnest and meticulous old carpenter.

When Chen Ling left, he saw him to the door.

The old man didn't talk much, but he was very grateful to Chen Ling. If it weren't for Chen Ling asking him to do carpentry work before the New Year and paying him half the money in advance, his family would have really been starving.

When making furniture for Chen Ling, they put in a hundred or two hundred times the effort.

Chen Ling was extremely satisfied after reading it once, thinking to himself that he had definitely found the right person.

If you hire a carpenter in the city, it will be faster, but the quality of the work will definitely not be as good.

……

After Chen Ling returned home with the heluo noodle press, Wang Susu, Gao Xiulan, and Guo Xinping had already started kneading the heluo dough.

The buckwheat noodles and sorghum noodles were obtained from Chen Yuqiang's family. Yuqiang's wife and sister-in-law had mentioned last year that they wanted to open a noodle shop to sell noodles at the market and in the county town. Chen Yingqiang's family also had a mill, making it very convenient to grind any kind of flour. Last winter, when grain prices dropped again and again, they started preparing to open the shop.

After exchanging the two types of flour, buckwheat flour was mixed with wheat flour and sorghum flour to form a dough.

Once the noodle press is cleaned, the dough is divided into evenly sized pieces. Each piece is placed in the press and pressed firmly, and the noodles are squeezed out like toothpaste, forming thin, bluish-gray noodles.

The quality of Heluo noodles depends not only on the noodles themselves, but more importantly on the quality of the broth.

Adding the broth from cooking meat to the noodle sauce is the key to making it delicious.

The Chen family never lacked meat, and they could easily make a large pot of meat soup.

In addition to the broth, the toppings in the noodle sauce should be plentiful, including soybean sprouts, fried tofu strips, cooked pork belly, and cabbage. When the noodles are first cooked, sprinkle some spinach leaves on top and add a drizzle of sesame oil.

This fragrant and delicious gravy for he luo noodles, poured over cooked he luo noodles, is so good you wouldn't trade it for a bowl of meat.

At dinner time, the whole family slurped up the smooth and chewy noodles and drank a couple of sips of the sour, spicy and salty noodle soup. It was a truly delicious meal.

The next morning, when Wang Qingzhong and his wife left, they ate another bowl of noodles for breakfast before departing satisfied.

My brother-in-law and his wife left, but my father-in-law and mother-in-law stayed behind.

With the two elders taking care of Wang Susu, Chen Ling felt much more relaxed. During this time, the family took some time to go to the hospital for another check-up. Wang Susu's condition remained good, and the family was relieved. Chen Ling then busied himself in the fields, plowing and planting crops, waiting for the farm to be completed.

(End of this chapter)