Chapter 5 Egg Rice Noodles
As soon as he was born, Sun Shan knew where this place was before he could see clearly.
A familiar Cantonese accent.
Later I figured it out, they were indeed speaking Cantonese, but it was not the Cantonese of my previous life.
Because this dynasty was called Daqian, a dynasty that had never been heard of.
Perhaps there was a turning point in history, and Sun Shan was still young, and the villagers were ignorant and couldn't understand it.
The climate of this place is exactly the same as that of Guangdong. It is cold and gloomy in winter, with ice forming on the ground, but no snow.
Rice can be harvested twice a year, and this place doesn’t eat spicy food!
Why did he say he didn’t eat spicy food? Because Sun Shan had seen chili peppers, small, wild ones that no one in the village ate.
Sun Shan estimated that the geographical location of Sunjia Village corresponded to a remote mountainous area in a remote small county in Guangdong.
I was a Cantonese in my previous life, so I am very familiar with this environment and climate.
Sunjia Village is said to be remote, and it is indeed very remote, surrounded by mountains. One has to go around two mountains to get to the town.
But it is very close to Guangzhou, the capital of Guangnan Province.
After crossing the mountains to the town, it takes another hour to reach the county town. After going around a few mountains from the county town, it takes two days and one night to reach the provincial capital.
Sunjia Village perfectly avoids what are known as provincial roads and national roads in modern times.
It is difficult to get in and out, the geographical location is worthless, and the chaos and prosperity of the outside world have nothing to do with Sunjia Village.
The ancestor of the Sun family came here to avoid the war and has lived and worked in peace for generations, and he is unaware of the changes in the world.
The situation has been slightly better in the past two years. The Huangyang County Magistrate is a good one. Considering the inconvenient transportation in Huangyang County, he used the annual service to arrange road construction.
Both Sunjia Village and Zhengjia Village built a so-called "official road" that could accommodate horse-drawn carriages.
Although many villagers have never seen a horse.
It has become much more convenient for villagers to travel in and out of the county town.
Occasionally, people from Sunjia Village would bring their local specialties to the county town to sell.
Sun Shan has been in Sunjia Village for 5 years. He has been growing up in the love of the Sun family, but he also knows the hardships of being a farmer.
Working day and night, one can only earn enough to survive.
The Sun family is better off. They are rich farmers in Sunjia Village. They own 30 acres of paddy fields, 10 acres of dry land, and a citrus grove.
Life is much better than that of the villagers, and they can have enough food to eat.
Later, when the family was divided, Sun Boming, as the eldest son, was allocated 15 acres of paddy fields and 4 acres of dry land.
The second uncle Sun Zhongli was allocated 7 mu of paddy field and 3 mu of dry land.
My third uncle, Sun Shuwen, also had 7 acres of paddy fields and 3 acres of dry land.
As for the remaining 1 acre of paddy field, it belonged to the Huang family, which was actually given to the first wife in disguise.
The family's citrus orchard belonged to everyone and they managed it together. The money from the sale of the citrus fruits was divided into four parts, one part for each family plus Huang.
The Sun family divided the family but not the households, and everyone was still registered under the same household. So when it was time to serve in the army, one person from each household would serve, and the three brothers would take turns in serving.
As for Huang's retirement money, Aunt Sun paid for it all, so the three brothers didn't need to pay for it. However, during festivals, the three wives would send food, clothes, etc.
It's winter now, and everything is gloomy and depressing.
Sun Shan sat by the Xiaojin River and watched the naughty kids in the village go into the river to catch snails.
There is nothing a farm boy cannot eat. As for whether he can find it or not, Sun Shan doesn't know. If he were asked to go down to the river, he would definitely not be able to do so, as it would be too cold and his body would be too weak to withstand the tossing and turning.
I walked to the river and saw my reflection in the river.
Sun Shan sighed again, a small bean sprout.
He is short and thin, with a pointy face, high cheekbones, and a pair of dead fish eyes.
Seeing the old from the old, Sun Shan was sure that he was not a handsome guy, and perhaps even a little uglier than ordinary people.
Every adult says that he or she looks like A Niang Su.
Su, on the other hand, was short and skinny, with no flesh on her face and high cheekbones. It was obvious that she was not a pretty girl.
Looking at my father Sun Boming, he is just an ordinary person and a peasant.
So Sun Shan looked at the sky in despair, destined not to be a handsome guy.
Fortunately, it was ancient times, and if you had a family background and money, you could marry a wife. Sun Shan didn't worry about not being able to marry a wife, as he had more than ten acres of land, seven or eight large blue brick houses, and an aunt who was said to be rich.
The girls from other villages were allowed to line up for Sun Shan to select.
"Shan Zi, what are you doing?" Suddenly a voice shouted from behind.
Sun Shan turned around and saw his second sister herding cattle not far away.
Sun Lixia hurried over and nervously pulled Sun Shan to the shore. He must not let anything happen to his brother.
If anything happened to him, my mother and our four sisters would be left without anyone to rely on.
"Second sister, are you herding cattle?" Sun Shan, who was not good at speaking, asked without any reason. The cows were there, what else could she do besides herding them.
"It's almost time to go back. It's almost noon." Sun Lixia pulled her brother to the place where the cows were grazing.
There was a small sack on the ground, and he took out a sweet potato from it, smiling and saying, "It's freshly cooked. Eat it."
Sun Shan had digested the brown sugar porridge he had this morning and felt a little hungry. He took the sweet potato and said with a smile, "Thank you, Second Sister."
I ate it only when I saw there was still some left in the bag. I was most afraid that I would eat it and my second sister would have nothing to eat.
Sun Lixia picked up a sweet potato, peeled it, took a bite, showing her tiny teeth, and smiled innocently: "I dug these from Mrs. Zhang's sweet potato field, four in total, hehe."
Mrs. Zhang's family was famous for their rough workmanship, and millet, peanuts, and sweet potatoes were often spilled all over the floor.
The kids in Sunjia Village like to pick up things from her family’s fields.
After digging the sweet potatoes, after a period of time, the sweet potatoes left on the ground will sprout. You can dig out the sweet potatoes by following the green sweet potato buds with a wooden stick.
Sun Shan also liked to dig up sweet potatoes dropped by others in the fields. Eating free food was especially delicious.
Lixia asked his brother if he wanted more, Sun Shan shook his head, and they drove the cattle home together.
The cattle are herded early in the morning, fed in the morning, returned home to rest for a while, and then taken out again in the afternoon. This way, the amount of food to be stored for the cattle can be reduced.
Don’t even mention the labor cost. For rural people, the least valuable thing is manpower.
The sisters of the Sun family took turns herding cattle.
When I got home, my parents and sisters were already there.
Early in the morning, Grandma Huang took the three sisters to the mountain to chop firewood, while the Sun couple went to the fields to plant vegetables.
Mrs. Huang is over 50 years old, but she works very efficiently. Her family members asked her not to work, but the old lady just liked to work.
Third Aunt was very dissatisfied with this, saying that Huang not only worked for the first wife, but also gave all the money she got from the eldest sister-in-law to the first wife.
Of course, she could only mutter this in her heart. If she said it out loud, her third uncle would definitely slap her in the face. Because of her, her third uncle would be in the wrong in front of her eldest sister, so naturally, she would not get any benefits from her eldest sister.
When Huang saw Sun Shan coming back, she smiled lovingly and asked, "Are you hungry? Grandma will cook you some egg powder."
Not eating lunch was a really uncomfortable habit, but the conditions at home did not allow it, and it took Sun Shan a long time to get used to it.
He shook his head and said, "I'm not hungry." Indeed, he was not hungry. He had just eaten a sweet potato and his stomach was half full.
Huang was just asking and completely ignored Sun Shan's opinion. How could he not be hungry? The kid should eat more and grow up quickly.
He told Su: "Go and cook some egg powder for Shanzi to eat."
He walked through the main room and into the place where food was stored. He took out an egg and a bowl of rice noodles and handed them to Su.
Su took it and asked, "Mother, don't you want to eat?"
Huang shook her head and said, "Just eat some sweet potatoes later. I'll only cook it for Shanzi."
The adults just have to endure it and it will pass. Financial conditions at home are limited, so food will definitely be in the hands of the little grandson.
Sun Shan sighed helplessly. It was really uncomfortable to eat alone, especially since he was not a real child. It was so embarrassing to have the whole family watch him eat.
Soon Su made egg rice noodles and brought them to Sun Shan. She stroked his yellowish hair and said gently, "Shanzi, eat quickly. Eat while it's hot."
My son's hair is still as yellow as ever, and his little body hasn't grown taller. It's all my fault for falling down the Wild Boar Slope, causing him to be born early and become a premature baby.
My health is much worse than that of the kids in the village. I need to take good care of myself in the future.
A bowl of ordinary egg rice noodles with a few green vegetables on top looks particularly tempting.
Sun Shan was a good and filial child. He said to Huang: "Grandma, you eat too."
Huang gnawed on the sweet potato and said with a smile, "My dear grandson, eat it. Grandma doesn't like it. Just eat the sweet potato." The little grandson was very filial, more filial than the other children in the family.
Sun Shan knew that Huang wouldn't eat it, so he picked up the rice noodles helplessly and sucked them into his mouth with trembling hands.