Xing'an Mountains 1984: Starting from climbing mountains to support the family

Chapter 112 Dad, it’s snowing!

Time flies...

In the blink of an eye, it is already late November and only a few days left until December.

These days, Chen Weidong either takes his baby to train the dog, or takes Shitou and Bingzi into the mountains to hunt. The three of them have good luck and bad luck.

When they were lucky, the three of them killed a lone wild boar weighing 200 kilograms and two wild wolves. When they were unlucky, they only killed a few pheasants and rabbits for two or three days in a row.

The badger skins, raccoon skins and other items that were hung out to dry at home were also sold. Together with the wild goods he had sold recently, Chen Weidong now has a savings of about 400 yuan, which was considered a "huge sum" in that era.

After all, these days there are still many people who work very hard all year round and still can’t save a hundred dollars.

The weather is getting colder, almost minus 30 degrees Celsius! But even though it's cold outside,
But there was a heated kang in the house, and the whole family was crowded in the small room, so it was very warm.

Even in such cold weather, the little girls often run outside.

Four p.m.

Chen Weidong sat on the kang with a kang table in front of him.

One plate of fried peanuts and the other plate of fried pine nuts.

Liu Xueting was sitting on the kang, mending clothes. A few little ones were playing nearby. From time to time, they would run over and grab one or two peanuts, stuffing them into their own mouths or into the mouths of Chen Weidong and Liu Xueting.

Chen Weidong was shelling peanuts while chatting with Liu Xueting.

In the Northeast, in this kind of weather, people can sit on the kang for half a day, eating peanuts and pine nuts.

"Dad, Mom, look, it's snowing!"

Suddenly Erni shouted to Chen Weidong and Liu Xueting. Upon hearing that, the little guys ran over panting on their short legs.

"Second sister, it's really snowing!"

"Dad, it's snowing! It's snowing!"

"Mother……"

The little ones shouted in baby voices.

The little ones were very happy. In the past, when it snowed, the younger ones had no coats or cotton pants to wear, and could only stay on the kang most of the time during the long winter. The older ones were not dressed thickly, and were not as warm as they are now, so they could run around and play everywhere.

Several little girls quickly called their parents to come over and take a look.

Chen Weidong walked over, and heavy snow flakes were falling from the sky.

It was snowing heavily, and I didn't know when it started.

At this time, heavy snow was still falling, and the heavy snow had covered the yard and the distant mountains.

“It’s finally snowing!”

Chen Weidong murmured.

This year's snow didn't fall until almost December, which is considered late for the Greater Khingan Range.

Looking at the time, it's almost time to cook. In the Northeast, the days are short and the nights are long in winter. It's already dark before 5:30.

Chen Weidong petted the four puppies first, then petted two black tigers and one white tiger to exchange some feelings with them, and then went into the kitchen.

We simply fried two dishes and by the time the family of eight had finished eating, it was already dark.

Chen Weidong added some more firewood to the stove, then washed his hands, went back to the east room, played with his daughters on the kang for a while, and then went to bed.

There was no conversation all night, and the heavy snow outside was still falling silently.

The next day, when Chen Weidong got up early in the morning, the heavy snow outside had stopped.

Silently, the mountains were covered with a thick layer of silver.

After Chen Weidong washed up, he went into the cellar, took out the old hen, and stewed it into pieces. Chen Weidong did not plan to eat it now, but to stew the old hen soup.

Generally, it only takes two to three hours to stew an old hen, but these days, it is more difficult to stew an old hen in an iron pot.
It is best to stew it for four or five hours, which is the most fragrant. You should know that old hens have a long growth cycle and firm meat. Only by slow stewing can its nutrients be extracted.
Chen Weidong is stewing it now so that the whole family can eat it at noon.

The old hens that Chen Weidong bought were not the quick-growing chickens raised in greenhouses in later generations. They were all domesticated chickens.
This was one of the five old hens that Chen Weidong bought a while ago. Originally, they were kept for laying eggs. However, for some reason, this old hen kept biting Sini.

Originally, in order to let your daughter have more eggs to eat, Chen Weidong wanted to let her go!

But no one knew what Si Ni had done. The old hen was very vengeful, so she chased her and bit her, scaring the little guy so much that he didn't dare to go out.

Isn't this posture just to force Chen Weidong to choose one of the two?
It just so happened that Chen Weidong had never drunk old hen soup since he was reborn, and the temperature was low in winter, which was a good season for making soup. Making soup in winter can not only drive away the cold and warm the stomach, but also whet one's appetite.

Look, the chicken was killed around 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon and we planned to eat it at noon today.

Chen Weidong lit the fire, put the chopped chicken into the pot with cold water, added a few slices of ginger, and brought it to a boil to blanch it!
Take it out two minutes after the water boils, rinse it under running water to remove the floating foam, and then clean it with clean water.

Then add enough water, and then add some shiitake mushrooms, Hericium erinaceus, and other ingredients.

Then Chen Weidong put some charcoal at the bottom of the pot and left the kitchen.
Because stewing old hen soup takes a long time, you don’t need to keep watching the fire when using charcoal. You just need to check on it after a while.

Then Chen Weidong picked up a shovel and started to clean the snow in the yard. The snow in the Northeast cannot be cleaned up with a broom.

Even though it only snowed in the middle of the night, the snow was already a foot thick.

"Weidong, why didn't you call me?"

Before Chen Weidong finished clearing the snow, Liu Xueting had already gotten up and dressed.

"It's so cold, you're not feeling well, why don't you get more sleep?"

Chen Weidong said.

"It's much better now! I'm not that delicate." Liu Xueting said with a smile.

"I'm going to cook!" Liu Xueting saw that Chen Weidong had almost finished cleaning, so she didn't help.

"By the way, look at the old hen stewing in the kitchen, add some charcoal to the bottom of the pot." Chen Weidong reminded.

"Yeah!" Liu Xueting agreed, walked into the kitchen and started making breakfast.

In the Northeast, earthen stoves usually have three pots, one big pot in each of the east and west pits, which are used for cooking fried rice.

In fact, there is a hole in the middle of the flue and a small pot is placed there, but it is not usually used and is usually used to steam hot water.

Soon, several little guys came over and ran around in the snow. Before they had played for a while, they were called by Liu Xueting to wash up.
The older one washes himself, and the younger one, Dani, helps.

After Chen Weidong cleared the snow in the yard, he went out and cleared the snow on a section of road in front of the door, creating a wide road that connected to the roads cleared by other families.

This is also called sweeping the snow in front of one's own door.

Everyone cleaned the snow from their own doorstep, and every household in the village cleaned the snow from their doorstep, thus forming a road leading to the entire village.

Of course, it is only during the first snow that it can be cleaned up. After the third and fourth snows, no one will bother to clean it up.

The snow at that time was almost one meter thick and it was impossible to clear it away, so we could only simply make a path out.

However, at this time, most people rarely go out and stay at home.

Otherwise, why is there a saying in Northeast China called "cat wintering"?

It means staying at home.

After breakfast, Liu Xueting naturally wanted to wash the pots and dishes, but was stopped by Chen Weidong.

“Let me do it!

Go to bed and have a rest for a while!"

"No need. How can a woman take a rest and let a man wash the pots and dishes?" Liu Xueting naturally disagreed and rushed to wash the pots and dishes.

"Be obedient and don't catch a cold these two days!" Chen Weidong said gently.

"Is mom sick?"

Sanni asked curiously.

"It's worse than being sick! Listen to mom and don't make her angry, do you understand?"

Chen Weidong said with a smile.

"Got it! Si Ni is very well behaved~"

"obedient!"

"..."

At first, Liu Xueting didn't understand, but after Chen Weidong said that, she understood everything and her face turned red all of a sudden.

Her relatives came last night.

The reason why Chen Weidong knew this was because last night, while the little one was asleep, he wanted to have a deep emotional exchange with his wife, but...

Naturally, Chen Weidong was reluctant to leave his young wife behind, so he used cold water to wash the pots and dishes.

Chen Weidong cleaned the pots and dishes skillfully, and then made a bowl of brown sugar ginger soup for Liu Xueting.

Five little girls, including the ignorant little sixth, were asking Liu Xueting about her well-being. No wonder people say daughters are like little cotton-padded jackets. One by one, they were patting her back and letting Liu Xueting act coquettishly in their arms.

"Xueting, I cooked a bowl of brown sugar ginger soup for you, drink it quickly!" Chen Weidong said gently.

"Uh... I just!" Liu Xueting was not comfortable saying this in front of the children, otherwise these little guys would definitely ask some weird questions.

"Ah."

Liu Xueting blushed and took the brown sugar ginger soup. She drank the brown sugar ginger soup and felt sweet in her heart.

"You drink first, I'll go feed the dog!" Chen Weidong was busy clearing the snow just now, and then he was busy eating, and the dog at home had not eaten yet.

"it is good."

Liu Xueting had a smile on her face and nodded obediently.

"Mom, is this delicious?"

Si Ni said in a baby voice.

"This is the medicine Dad made for Mom. You are not sick." Sanni said.

"I'm just asking, I'm not drinking!"

"Stop talking, Mom is sick now,"

Erni spoke.

……

Chen Weidong left the house and went to the kitchen to get some dog food. He put it into the dog bowl and stirred it with water, and then went to the dog pen.

The four puppies were not afraid of the cold at all. Instead, they were having a lot of fun playing in the dog pen.

They have never seen snow since they were born, so they are having a lot of fun playing in the snow.

Seeing Chen Weidong coming, they all ran towards him, wanting to throw themselves on him and act like a spoiled child to him, but they were blocked by the door of the dog pen and kept howling anxiously.

Chen Weidong stepped forward, opened the door of the pen, and let them out to get some fresh air.

After the four puppies rushed out, they circled around Chen Weidong and pounced on his legs one by one.

Chen Weidong put the dog bowl on the ground, and the four puppies came over and started eating.

When Black Tiger and White Tiger saw this scene, they directly picked up the dog bowl and handed it to Chen Weidong.

(End of this chapter)