Chapter 21: Dividing Clothes
When he woke up, the winter sun shone in through the window. Sun Shan threw back the quilt, put on his clothes and cotton shoes, but his aunt and grandmother in the next bed were long gone.
I walked out of the bedroom and through the main room. The house was so quiet that I felt strange.
I walked into the kitchen and saw my elder sister Guyu cooking pig food.
The eldest sister smiled and said, "Shanzi is awake, come and wash your face and have breakfast."
Sun Shan took the washing brush, brushed his teeth with salt, and washed his face. He felt refreshed. Judging from the position of the sun, it should be around 9 o'clock in the morning.
Sun Shan has been here for so long, and the greatest sense of accomplishment is learning to estimate the time by looking at the sky. He was not used to it at first, but after asking more questions, he gradually learned how to look at it himself.
Guyu took out a bowl of steaming rice porridge and said with a smile, "Shanzi, come and have some mussel porridge."
This is what my aunt brought back. She said that I should often cook mussels and scallop porridge for Shanzi, which is nutritious. This morning's breakfast is mussel porridge, which is enough for the whole family.
Guyu thought it was a bit fishy and didn’t like eating it very much.
Sun Shan took the porridge, sat on a stool, and asked with concern: "Grandma, where are my aunt and the others?" Guyu was the only one left in the room.
Guyu saw that the pig food was ready, so he scooped it into the wooden barrel and prepared to feed the pigs.
Smiling, she said, "The village chief came this morning and asked my aunt, uncle, and cousin Yu to go to his fish pond to catch fish. My grandma and my father and mother went to pick vegetables."
As for the three younger sisters, the second sister herded cattle at the beginning of summer, and the third and fourth sisters went to cut grass for the pigs to eat at night.
Sun Shan had just finished his porridge when he heard Yu Ge'er's voice through the wall. After a while, the door of the courtyard was opened.
Sun Shan ran out to see. Yu Ge'er said with bright eyes, "Shanzi, come and see, what a big fish."
Sun Shan also wanted to know how big the fish was, so he walked over to take a look. It was indeed very big, at least more than 15 kilograms.
I went to look at Uncle He's bucket again, and there were two of them in it, also quite big, definitely around 2 pounds.
I looked at Aunt Sun’s buckets, and there were also two of them, each weighing about 2 pounds.
Sun Shan asked in surprise, "Cousin Yu, where did you go fishing?"
Brother Yu chuckled, puffed out his chest and said, "It's from the village chief's grandfather's fish pond. There are many big fish in his fish pond.
"The village chief came to Sun's house early this morning and took Aunt Sun and her family to the fish pond to fish. The village chief said it was good to fish early in the morning because the fish were very hungry, so he was sure to catch one. In a short while, they caught 5 big fish.
Aunt Sun put the fish into the water tank and said with a smile, "I never thought that the fish in my uncle's fish pond could grow so big."
At this time, Huang, Sun Boming and Su, who had gone out to pick vegetables, also came back. They pulled some white radishes and prepared to stew the radishes with pork for lunch. Of course, stewing beef would be best, but cows are protected animals, and killing cows is a big deal, which requires reporting to the government.
Huang smiled and said, "The village chief is thoughtful. He asked you to go fishing early in the morning."
Yu Geer said excitedly: "Grandma, there are so many fish in the fish pond of the village chief's grandfather, and they are all very big."
Sun Bomin put down his hoe and said with a smile: "The village chief's uncle has been raising fish for three years, but he has never caught any fish. I heard that he will catch some in two days and sell them."
I don’t understand why the village chief raised it for so many years. Maybe it was to fatten it up.
Fish is easy to sell and expensive during Chinese New Year.
There is a custom in Huangyang County that a fish must be steamed on New Year’s Eve, the bigger the better.
Save it for eating on the first day of the new year, symbolizing that there will be fish every year and enough food and clothing in the coming year.
The big fish from the village chief’s house will definitely be popular with rich people, so they can be sold at a higher price.
At this time, the village chief came in from outside. When there were people in the farmyard, the door was usually not closed and anyone could come in.
The village chief carried a bucket filled with eels and loaches, and panted as he said, "Chunlan, you guys walked too fast. I told you to wait, but you didn't."
Pointing to the eels and loaches in the bucket, he said, "This stuff is delicious, even fresher than fish." He then found a bucket from Sun's family and poured the water into the bucket.
Sun Chunlan quickly stopped him: "Uncle, we have already taken five big fish, that's enough, you can keep these for your family to eat."
Uncle He echoed from the side.
Yu Ge'er also pulled the village chief and shouted, "Grandpa, you take it back and eat it, we can just eat the fish."
The village chief rolled his eyes at the He family and angrily scolded them, "Just eat it if I give it to you. You only come back once a year, at most you can eat once a year. If you come back often, I won't give it to you."
This statement made everyone laugh.
Huang smiled and said, "Thank you, village chief. Brother Yu is in for a treat today."
Sun Chunlan also likes eels. She said it would be best to cook rice with eels. It smells so good that she makes her mouth water just thinking about it.
Then he thought of something and said to the village chief, "Uncle, I brought back some old clothes. You can take them back and distribute them to the villagers, especially the elderly in the village. I brought back a lot of cotton-padded clothes and trousers."
When the village chief heard this, his eyes lit up. He thought Chunlan didn't get it this year, but it turned out that she did. He said happily, "Where is it? Let me see. I thank you on behalf of the villagers."
Everything had been packed up long ago, with thick clothes and thin clothes classified into categories, for men, women, and kids, and put into 4 large bags.
When the village chief saw the four large sacks, he was so happy that he couldn't stop grinning. He laughed, "Why are there so many this year?" There were usually some, but this year the amount was particularly heavy.
Sun Chunlan said with a smile: "Some of them were collected by Yu Niang. Her mother-in-law also had some old clothes, so Yu Niang asked for some of them."
He Wenshu works in the government office, and his wife's family also works in the government office. Although they live a wealthy life, they always throw away a few old clothes throughout the year.
Yuniang also wanted to go to Sunjia Village, so she shamelessly asked for it. Sun Chunlan also told her to wait until she had a firm foothold before asking for things, and not to be impatient.
It's a good thing to miss your parents' home, but you need to have the ability to help them better.
Sure enough, the village chief immediately asked, "Why did Yu Niang want it?" She had just gotten married, so she should never ask for things casually. Old clothes are also things, so how could a young wife ask for them?
Aunt Sun quickly explained: "When we were chatting, I mentioned that I would send old clothes back to my parents' home every year. Yu Niang told her mother-in-law to bring the unwanted clothes back to me. Don't worry, I didn't ask for them on purpose."
Fortunately, Yu Niang asked for it in a refrain instead of saying it specifically, so He Wenshu's family didn't say anything.
But this matter can be big or small, those who mind will mind, and those who don't mind will just laugh it off. You can't let people feel that the young wife is moving things from her mother-in-law's house to her own.
Yu Niang also knew that she was wrong and promised to talk less and do more next time.
After hearing this, the village chief felt relieved, as long as it wasn't something Yu Niang wanted specifically.
Looking at the pile of clothes, he smiled again: "These clothes can be distributed to almost everyone in Sunjia Village."
There is a record at home of whoever got it last year, and whoever got it this year won’t get it.
Sun Boming took a cart, put the clothes on it, followed the village chief, and pushed the clothes to the ancestral hall.
The village chief took the registration form from home and distributed the clothes according to the number of people.