The Little Dumb Wife of the Mountain People

Chapter 109 Tuantuan is sick and eats cakes
Wen Bao and Song Dalang went to the county to attend Wu Houye's engagement. When they returned home, they brought home the grain produced this year from the land they bought last year.

This year is the first year of drought. There is Qinglong River in Nanning County. When the Wen family bought the land, they also considered watering it. Therefore, although the rent they received was not as much as that of the nearby land, it was more than that of the land near the mountainous area that lacks water. But much better.

What's more, Wen Bao's land is under Wen Chengquan's name, and they don't have to pay taxes, so they can take home a lot of food.

After the rice was harvested, wheat should have been planted, but this year there was a drought. Wen Bao asked the tenants to rest this winter, cultivate the land, and plant drought-tolerant corn and other crops in the spring of tomorrow.

Back home, Wen Bao and the others are slowly preparing things for the winter.

"If there is still no snow this winter, there will definitely be a severe drought next year."

The Wen family has Mrs. Liu as an in-law, and they all know some news from other places. This year, Wen Youcai specially notified a few children that the food was not allowed to be sold.

Having earned money this year, no matter whether it is Wen Bao or the sons of the Wen family, they all listen to Wen Youcai and are not going to sell grain.

This time of year should be the cheapest time for food, but this year's food prices remain high.

"Our cellar is big, so we can store more grain this year, more jerky, and more ice."

Wen Bao was talking, thinking about what to keep at home this winter.

Even if she has silver in her hand, if the drought is severe, she will not be able to buy many things with silver.

Song Dalang naturally agreed with Wen Bao's proposal.

Their family has a large population now. Although the children are still young, there are also many adults, and they have to eat a lot of food for every meal.

After Wen Bao decided to save more things, he took Mei Hua to prepare things.

The cowpeas were scalded with tender boiled water and then dried in the sun. Wen Bao dried two hundred catties of cowpeas in the sun, and bought a lot of dried vegetables, mushrooms and dried seafood.

Kelp, seaweed, dried shrimp, dried fish, as long as it is available dried seafood, Wen Bao has a lot of it.

There is less wine this year, so the big cellar has been vacant, but Wen Bao has filled the big cellar.

In November, when the temperature dropped, Wen Bao started to buy pigs to take home.

Wen Bao pondered for a long time, the meat that can be preserved for a long time, except for ham, is smoked meat.

I made more than a dozen hams with pork legs, and the smoked meat was hung on the entire wall. This winter, there was still not a single snowfall.

Perhaps it really confirms the saying that the hotter the summer, the colder the winter. This winter is very cold.

"Mother, mother."

Tuantuan turned into a ball, was playing with Jingyan in the yard, when he heard movement at the door, he immediately ran towards Wen Bao.

'paji'

Wearing too many tuan tuan did not walk steadily, fell to the ground, tuan tuan did not cry, tried hard to get up, but it was too round, turned over several times, but could not get up.

Wen Bao had seen Tuantuan a long time ago, seeing that Tuantuan couldn't get up, he immediately walked over and hugged Tuantuan up.

"Mother, Tuantuan, I'm hungry."

I don't know who Tuantuan looks like, but now his mouth is very sweet. Since he got older, he has slipped away a bit, and what he likes to say most is 'Tuantuan is hungry'.

Wen Bao went to the market today, although the year is not good this year, but the Chinese New Year is approaching and there are quite a few people going to the market.

Wen Bao and Song Dalang left early in the morning, it was too cold, so Mei Hua didn't take Tuantuan to the market, but Tuantuan remembered that mother would buy her delicious food today.

Seeing Tuantuan blinking his big eyes, Wen Bao burst out laughing.

After autumn came, there was an additional family making rice cakes in the market. Her rice cakes were very delicious. Wen Bao would buy a lot of them every time he went to the market.

The rice cakes are soft and are included in Tuantuan's recipe, and the rice cakes are sweet, which children like.

Hearing Wen Bao laugh, Tuantuan looked at her in a daze with a bewildered expression.

Tuantuan's appearance is so cute, Wen Bao suppressed a smile and said: "GongGao is at your father's place, go ask your father for it."

As soon as Wen Bao finished speaking, Tuantuan went all over the yard looking for Song Dalang. In fact, Song Dalang followed Wen Bao and entered the yard a long time ago, but Tuantuan didn't find Song Dalang in order to eat cakes.

Seeing Song Dalang in the yard, Tuantuan immediately smiled sweetly at Song Dalang, and then said in Nuo Nuo's little milk voice: "Daddy, Tuantuan, I'm hungry!"

While talking, Tuantuan was still touching his stomach, proving that he was really hungry.

What Song Dalang couldn't refuse the most was his daughter's soft voice, beckoning to Tuantuan, took out a piece of warm rice cake wrapped in kraft paper in his arms, unwrapped it and handed it to Tuantuan.

Tuantuan was very happy when he got the rice cake, he tried his best to break off a piece, and then generously handed it to Jingyan.

"Thank you for the cakes."

Jingyan thanked Tuantuan, and Tuantuan held a bag of rice cakes in her arms contentedly, "It's all Tuantu!"

She spoke too hastily, and changed from 'Tuan Tuan' to 'Tuan Tuan' again, Wen Bao didn't care about her, Tuantuan had already learned to eat and share with others.

Sure enough, after Tuan Tuan picked up the rice cake, he handed it to Wen Bao first, and then Song Dalang. After both Wen Bao and Song Dalang took a bite, Tuantuan held the rice cake and started eating.

Tuantuan's life is simple. He wants to grow up and drink goat's milk obediently every day. When it is warmest, he goes to Wen's house to visit Wen Liushi, the younger brother in his stomach. After that, he eats rice cakes three times a month.

The last market this year is on the twentieth of the twelfth lunar month. This is because of the addition of a market during the New Year. Because Wen Bao buys rice cakes every time, and the children in the family like to eat them, so this time Wen Bao made a special offer to the little rice cake seller. The daughter-in-law ordered a lot.

Buy it back and freeze it, and steam it over water when you want to eat it. Although it is not as delicious as freshly made ones, it is almost a month during the Chinese New Year, and you can’t buy it, so you can only do this.

"There are two kinds of rice cakes today. In addition to the white rice cakes I sold before, I also made brown sugar rice cakes, which are still at the old price."

Mrs. Hu sent a pot of specially made brown sugar rice cakes to Wen Bao's hands. The brown sugar rice cakes were not only added with brown sugar, but also sprinkled with red dates. This was specially made by Mrs. Hu to thank Wen Bao for taking care of her business.

The Hu family is from the next door village. The husband of the family has broken his leg in the past few months and is paralyzed on the bed. There is a blind mother-in-law above, and a son and a daughter below. She is a young woman doing business in this market. If it wasn't for Wen Bao's help, she would have been bullied long ago.

But the family is in trouble, and this year's food is expensive, and she wants to give it away for free, but Wen Bao is definitely not willing to take it, so she thought about making a pot of brown sugar and selling it to Wen Bao at an ordinary price.

Wen Bao didn't refuse Hu's brown sugar rice cake, nor insisted on paying more, but she gave Hu's a five-jin piece of smoked bacon she made.

"I made it for the first time this year. You can take it home and give it to the children to taste. It is very delicious when you wash it with rice washing water and fry it."

Wen Bao knew that the conditions of Hu's family were not good, and now the whole family was supported by her alone, and if she was given five catties of meat, their family could also have meat dishes for Chinese New Year.

Hu didn't expect that Wen Bao would give her meat. Not only did the family not get much food this year, but the man broke his leg while working in the county, which cost him a lot of money.

She originally thought that she could just buy a catty of meat and go home and make dumplings, but she didn't expect that Wen Bao would give her five catties of meat.

Things are expensive this year. The five catties of pork cost at least 150 Wen during Chinese New Year in previous years, but this year it costs at least [-] Wen.

She is spending every penny now, and with so much meat, the family can eat more oil and water.

"me……"

Hu was too excited to speak, but Wen Bao held her hand and said, "My children like to eat the rice cakes you made, so I have something to ask you.

On the second day of February, my cousin got married. I would like to ask you to make some rice cakes for me so that I can take them to the county.

Here is the capital of five taels of silver. You can make whatever taste you like. I will go to your house to get it when I am thirty, okay? "

If the five catties of meat given by Wen Bao was to allow the Hu family to have meat to eat during the New Year, then the five taels of silver really helped the Hu family.

Hu's mother-in-law is in poor health and has to take medicine every winter. Her husband can't work these few months, and the family really has no money.

The money earned from selling rice cakes in the market every time can only maintain the basic life of the family.

"Don't worry, I will do everything I know how to do."

Hu knew that Wen Bao wanted to help her, so she wanted to refuse, but the family situation did not allow her to refuse Wen Bao's kindness.

Wen Bao left from Hu's stall, Song Dalang had already packed up the stall, and they were ready to go home.

"Have you negotiated?"

Song Dalang saw Wen Bao come back with a smile on his face, and knew that the matter was done.

Deciding to help the Hu family, Wen Bao also told Song Dalang in advance.

Wen Bao smiled at Song Dalang, and then said: "We have discussed it. This year is not good. Many families have not received food. At least the Hu family still has a handicraft. We also have Qinglong River in Nanning County. Some places have no water source. It's even worse."

What Wen Bao said was true, Nanning County has the Qinglong River, so life is somewhat easier, but in the inland area, there are no big rivers, some small tributaries and water sources, and life is really hard under such arid conditions.

Song Dalang didn't answer Wen Bao's words, but he knew very well in his heart that before marrying Wen Bao, he didn't have enough to eat every winter.

The mountain people earn unstable money. If they hunt prey and sell it for silver, they have money to buy food. Without prey, let alone mountain products, they can only starve.

This New Year, although Wen Bao and the others still cooked a lot of dishes, compared to last year's happy atmosphere, this year's was much more dull.

Snow still hasn't fallen!

"Dalang, go and see why Tuantuan hasn't woken up yet."

It was too cold, and it was supposed to be the season of warm spring and flowers blooming, but the cold spring made the temperature drop a lot.

After Wen Bao and Song Dalang got up, Tuantuan was still sleeping, so the couple left Tuantuan to sleep alone, but it was already bright, and Tuantuan was usually awake at this time, but today, Tuantuan was still sleeping.

Hearing Wen Bao's words, Song Dalang put down his things and entered the room, but within three breaths after entering the room, he suddenly yelled.

"Daughter-in-law, come quickly, Tuantuan is sick!"

(End of this chapter)