Chapter 72 May our ancestors bless you!

Chapter 72 May our ancestors bless you!

When they got home, Huang and Su were making mugwort rice cakes and alkaline glutinous rice cakes.

Huang said with concern: "You've been gone for almost a whole day. You must be hungry. Come and eat some Aizi. They are freshly made and very fresh."

Sun Shan put the pork he was given on the dining table, washed his hands, grabbed an wormwood cake, stuffed it into his mouth, and ate it voraciously.

After having breakfast early in the morning, I was tired and hungry after climbing the mountain for most of the day.

Sun Boming was not to be outdone. He took an wormwood cake as big as a baby's fist and finished one in two bites. He ate several in a row before he recovered.

Huang said distressedly: "You two are so hungry. Eat slowly. Glutinous rice is hard to digest."

Su rolled a round yellow glutinous rice cake and said with concern: "This year it is later than in previous years. If I had known this would happen, I would have brought some food with me."

Sun Boming explained: "There are a lot of weeds on the grave this year, so it will take a little longer." He took the water handed to him by Guyu, took a sip, and continued to eat the mugwort rice cake.

Sun Shan took a small bite and smelled the aroma of mugwort. There were fried peanuts and low-quality yellow cane sugar in it. It tasted fragrant and sweet, with a pure natural fragrance.

During the Qingming Festival in Sunjia Village, people would make Aici (green rice balls) and alkaline glutinous rice balls one day in advance.

Ai ci has stuffing inside, usually peanut candy stuffing. Jianshui glutinous rice ci has nothing inside, it is just glutinous rice flour soaked in alkali water and rolled into pieces. It is usually fried and can be eaten with sugar or soy sauce.

Sun Shan took a sip of water and slowly finished an wormwood cake. It was freshly baked and delicious.

Huang said, "Bomin, go to Zhengjia Village early tomorrow to cut 5 kilograms of meat and bring it back for the mountain worship."

The weather is getting warmer. I am afraid that the pork I buy today will go bad tomorrow. I might as well go to the pork seller in the next village early tomorrow morning to buy some.

Sun Bo nodded and said, "Mother, I know. I will go early tomorrow. By the way, mother, will you make Jiaozizi tomorrow?"

My second and third brothers will come over tomorrow to pay respect to the ancestors together. We will naturally have dinner at the old house, so we must prepare food at home.

Although I see my second and third brothers every day, I always make the holidays grand and cook a delicious meal for them.

Before Huang replied, Su rushed to say, "Do it. Go to the village to grind flour tomorrow morning. Make it in the morning. After you eat, go to the mountain to worship."

Sun Shan also liked to eat Jiaozizi, and asked anxiously: "Mother, what is the filling?"

The four Lixia sisters helped to make glutinous rice balls.

Hanlu said crisply: "There are white beans and ferns."

He glanced at Huang and said, "Grandma, do you want to stir-fry it with pork?"

Huang smiled and said, "Yes, it tastes better with meat."

He said to Sun Shan, "My dear grandson really likes pork filling."

Sun Shan smiled embarrassedly.

The jiaozici from Sunjia Village looks like the bamboo shoot cake from the Hakka people in Meizhou, but the ingredients are different.

Soak the rice overnight, grind it into rice paste, cook the rice paste over fire, knead it into a ball, pinch it into a rice ball by hand, and wrap it with the fried fillings.

As for what the filling is, it depends on personal preference and conditions.

Wrap it into large dumplings, steam it in a pot and you can eat it.

Sun Shan loved this kind of food very much, especially after it was cooled down the next day and then fried in a big pan, it tasted even better.

Su and her daughters finally made the glutinous rice balls and placed them in a ventilated place.

After finishing the work, if it was still early, they would go to the fields to work. There was no end to the farm work, and farmers spent the rest of the time tending to the crops except for the short one and a half months during the Chinese New Year.

Sun Shan walked into the study. He hadn't studied for most of the day. Even though it was a holiday, he couldn't delay his studies.

Follow the plan, learn ahead of time the content that has not been taught, and take notes on what you don’t understand.

Then I went to the well to practice calligraphy. You can't slack off in calligraphy practice. If you don't practice for a day, you will regress.

During this time, De Ge'er brought his childhood friend Big Head Dog to play, but Sun Shan rejected their invitation, asked them to leave the yard, and continued practicing calligraphy.

Before leaving, the big-headed dog said admiringly: "Shanzi, you are really hardworking."

Then he said to De Ge'er, "Ade, you are so lazy."

De Ge'er was so angry that he broke off his friendship with him for a day. When they met on the mountain on Qingming Festival, they put aside their past grudges and played together.

After completing the calligraphy practice task, it was already dark and Sun Boming and others came back one after another.

After dinner, the family sat in the main room and enjoyed their leisure time.

Sun Shan taught the sisters how to read seriously. Su also came occasionally to learn a few words. Only Sun Boming was busy running around and was unwilling to learn.

Sun Shan had no choice but to put him and Huang together and stop forcing them.

When I woke up and walked out of the bedroom, I smelled the scent of burning incense.

Huang inserted willow branches in front of the main gate and the courtyard gate to ward off evil spirits and ghosts.

Su and her daughters were making jiaozi rice cakes.

At this time, Uncle Sun Er and Uncle Sun San came in with their wives and children.

Uncle Sun called out from afar, "Mother, I'm here. What delicious food did you make? I'm in for a treat today."

He ran into the main room and saw Su and others making dumplings. He said cheerfully, "Oh, I haven't eaten it for a long time. I'm going to eat more today."

De Ge'er also ran in and called everyone sweetly. His greedy look was exactly the same as that of Sun Sun's uncle, and he muttered, "Grandma, Auntie, is it ready? I want to eat it."

Aunt Sun San also came in, took out a piece of fresh pork, and said loudly: "Auntie, sister-in-law, this is the meat we bought, it's very fresh, where should I put it?"

Second Aunt Sun also came in, holding a piece of meat in her hand. It was obviously bigger than the one Third Aunt Sun had. She smiled and said, "Mother, sister-in-law, where should we put this meat?"

Guyu put down the work in his hands, took a round tray, and put the meat brought by the second and third aunts on it. These two pieces of meat will be blanched in water for the mountain worship later.

Aunt Sun took Xiaoxue to the well to wash her hands and help make glutinous rice cakes. Uncle Sun took Dingming to the yard to help Sun Bomin butcher and pluck the chicken.

Uncle Sun and Aunt Sun watched Huang making glutinous rice cakes. The couple chatted and laughed, but did not do any work.

Sun Shan was dragged to the yard by De Ge'er and others to play around.

After playing for a while, Su called people to have breakfast.

Huang smiled and said, "Hurry up and eat. After you finish eating, go to worship the mountain. Go early and come back early before it rains."

There was a drizzle early in the morning, but now the sky is clear and it is a perfect time to visit the graves.

Uncle Sun picked up a jiaozi ci and praised it exaggeratedly: "Oh, it's so delicious. It's still the best made by my mother and sister-in-law."

Sun Shan also thought they were delicious and ate several of them in a row until his stomach was full.

After breakfast, it was already past 10 o'clock. The Sun family members set out together, holding hoes, sickles, and carrying sacrificial offerings.

This time, except Huang and her three daughters-in-law, everyone else went, including the girls.

Huang specifically instructed: "You must go to the Wild Boar Hill to worship."

That is where Doctor Sun died and where Sun Shan was born. There is life and death, a beginning and an end.

Sun Shan followed his family and repeated the same process of paying respects to the grave as he had done yesterday.

In addition to paying homage to Doctor Sun, the graves of Doctor Sun's parents, his parents' parents, his parents' parents, big and small, and all the ancestors since memory were paid homage one by one.

Some are included in the Five Blessings, but you worship yours and I worship mine, and we don’t worship together.

By the time everything was done, it was already past 3pm.

After returning to the old house and resting for a while, it was time for dinner.

They roasted a big fat chicken and fried a large dish of pork and Chinese cabbage. The Sun family ate until their stomachs were full.

The annual Qingming Festival has come to a temporary end, and everyone in Sunjia Village is saying in their hearts: May our ancestors bless you!