Spring is coming

Chapter 7

Momin was the only daughter in their family, and she married into the next village.

The Liu family did raise a lot of chickens, ducks, geese, etc., but the main reason was that they had no boys and no land.

The chickens, ducks and geese we usually raise either lay eggs and sell them in the town, or if they don't lay eggs, they are sold whole to people who eat meat.

Mo Jingchun thought for a while, then went to the back garden to pull out two juicy radishes and a handful of winter amaranth, and handed them to Mrs. Liu: "Aunt, you and Uncle Ming can try the ones grown at home."

Ms. Liu said happily: "Okay, go back quickly. I'll ask you how many times your breasts have come out."

Hearing that Mr. Gao was looking for him, Mo Jingchun hurried back to the house.

She was still holding eggs in her hand: "Grandma, Aunt Ming sent a dozen eggs, and I gave her two radishes."

Mrs. Gao was putting on Mo Qinglina's shoes for her. After hearing this, she smiled and said, "Your Aunt Ming is generous and righteous. We can have more contact with their family in the future."

Mr. Gao didn't mean to take advantage, but that Mr. and Mrs. Liu were easy and not tired to get along with each other, unlike Mr. and Mrs. Zhou.

Mo Jingchun hummed, and then said casually: "Grandma, I think my second uncle and the others have gone to the ground. We need to loosen the ground too, right?"

"Yes." Mrs. Gao put down the needle and thread in her hand, "Where's Qinglin? Tell him to stop sleeping at noon and go to the fields with me."

She stood up and rubbed her face with water, feeling less groggy.

Mo Jingchun was worried that she was not in good health and would feel uncomfortable when she went to the ground: "Grandma, let me and my uncle go." Anyway, she had done a lot in her previous life, and she would "learn" to pretend later.

Mrs. Gao shook her head: "No, what are you doing for a baby?" Her thighs were not as thick as her arms, so people would say she was abusing her granddaughter.

After Mo Jingchun thought about it, he compromised and said, "Then, while I'm at home, I'll tidy up the vegetable garden in the back room? I can grow cucumbers and beans."

Of course, it was impossible for Mrs. Gao not to let her do anything. It was impossible for two people to finish the work at home.

Growing vegetables is not difficult. Mrs. Gao agreed and brought her a bag of seeds. She also told her that the kitchen craftsman would come in the afternoon and told her to close the door of her house.

At noon, they ate a few thick steamed buns that Gao left for them, which were leftovers from yesterday's banquet, as well as a few pots of leftover fish and radishes.

So I didn’t use much of the stuff in their kitchen, I just took it out after it was heated.

Mo Qinglin ate two steamed buns with the fish and couldn't eat any more: "Mom, how many days will I have to eat leftovers?"

Mrs. Gao pretended to hit him with chopsticks: "I've got meat for you to eat, but you don't mind this or that?"

Mo Qinglin pursed his lips. It wasn't that he didn't want to eat meat, but it was greasy. Zhou's cooking was not delicious to begin with, and it was two days old. I'm afraid even the pigs in the pig trough couldn't eat it.

Mo Jingchun volunteered and said, "I'll cook tonight."

Mrs. Gao thought that if they went to the fields in the afternoon, they might not come back that early in the evening, so she agreed.

"Chun'er, take the eggs Aunt Ming gave you and bake them into pancakes!"

Mo Qinglin was very happy.

Mrs. Gao glared at him, but didn't stop her. She just said that she didn't need to do it herself, and that she could just let Mo Jingchun burn the two of them.

After lunch, Mr. Gao and Mo Qinglin left, and Mo Jingchun started to clear away the dishes.

Then he went to the vegetable garden behind the house. After the separation yesterday, Mrs. Zhou had built a fence between her own house and theirs overnight with wooden branches tied together.

I really can't wait, probably because I am afraid that they will steal my food.

Mo Jingchun glanced at the crooked fence, then picked up a hoe to strengthen it.I'm afraid they will still be jealous of me in the future, so keep it tight so cats and dogs don't come to steal it.

While she was doing this, the craftsmen also came. She led people to the open space behind her house and began to measure the dimensions and lay the foundation.She then turned back to the vegetable garden and strengthened the fence.

After she finished it, she patted the mud on her hands and began to turn over the soil and plant vegetables.

She kept busy until the sun went down, and around midnight she realized that it was time to make dinner.

Jingzhou is located in the middle zone, where both rice and pasta are eaten, and crop rotation between floods and droughts has become popular in farmland.

Single-crop rice is still grown here. Since Mo Jingchun's grandfather's generation, most of the village has grown one round of rice and one round of wheat, three crops in two years, with some beans planted intermittently to balance the soil.

Mo Jingchun put away the tools and the remaining vegetables, wrapped them up and put them back in their place.

I washed my hands and got some water to knead the dough. This time I beat two eggs and the kneaded dough was more chewy and smooth.

I went to the backyard and grabbed a handful of green onions, chopped them into pieces, and kneaded them in.

The leftover vegetables at noon were probably not enough for another meal. She picked through them, picked out a few pieces of fat and thin meat and some prunes, chopped them into fine dices and wrapped them in pancakes to make sesame seeds with dried prunes, vegetables and minced meat.

Zhou originally wanted to make this dish roasted pork with dried plums and vegetables. The dried vegetables made by a good cook absorb the fat of the meat and make it less astringent and fragrant. The pork absorbs the oil through the dried vegetables, making it fat but not greasy. It is a salty and fragrant dish that goes well with rice.

But the meat Mr. Zhou chose was too lean, and the cooking time was not enough. The meat was stuffed to the teeth and lacked flavor, and a whole piece of good meat was wasted.

In the previous life, Mo Hu asked Mo Jingchun to go out and find odd jobs to support the family, while she spent the whole day doing nothing or gambling. She found a helper from a cook in a neighboring village who was known as Aunt Hu.

Aunt Hu is very famous in the nearby countryside. It is said that her husband is the chef of a restaurant in the county, so he knows many dishes.

The banquet noodles are cheap and delicious, so everyone likes to treat her to a banquet, and when they get busy, they want to find some helpers.

Aunt Hu naturally looked for a female cook, but the wages were not high, and older women were not willing to leave men and children at home. Mo Jingchun happened to come to try a few dishes.

Not only did she pass the test, she was also praised by Aunt Hu for her talent, and she often taught her things other than recipes.

In Gao's eyes, Mo Jingchun is still a child who only knows how to bake pancakes and steamed buns, but with the memories of her past life, she can naturally make many different flavors.

I spread out three of them in one go and steamed the scallion pancakes separately with the remaining ingredients, saving them for eating tomorrow morning.

Mo Jingchun wrapped the baked cakes in clean cloth, carried the small basket and went to the fields.

Yongye fields are generally located in relatively far places and are not fertile enough. Mo Changlin's twenty acres are at the bottom of Lianlu Mountain, and there are still several miles to walk from the end of the village.

With his small body, Mo Jingchun had to take a break after walking for so long during the day.

She happened to be leaning on the big rock on the side of the road to catch her breath. Bo Qingshan went out and didn't know what he was going to do, so he bumped into her again.

"Huh?" He raised his eyebrows at Mo Jingchun.

Mo Jingchun stood up silently and said, "Brother Bo, I'll deliver the food."

"Who are you delivering food to? It smells so good." He twitched the tip of his nose and smelled the smell of dried prunes and vegetable pancakes.

I just came here today. I’m so careless if I didn’t hire a cook at home!
In his previous life, he ate food that was unpalatable to Hang Sheng for several months, and he only developed his cooking skills later on.Just now, Hang Sheng brought out a plate of dark stuff, which reminded him of such a thing. He was never willing to go through such a process again in his life.

Bo Qingshan hadn't eaten yet, but when he smelled the aroma of dried plum and vegetable pancakes, his stomach growled twice.

He felt good about himself, but in Mo Jingchun's eyes, he was already greedy, and he was struggling in his heart whether to give him a piece of it.

Seeing that he didn't come to steal her dinner on purpose, Mo Jingchun struggled a bit and took the initiative to reveal the cloth bag: "Brother Bo, what do you want? The pancakes I bake should taste good."

Anyway, I brought three of them, gave him my own, and had some scallion pancakes to eat when I got home.

(End of this chapter)