Chapter 77: Eating is still king
After the court was dismissed, Su took the place of Sun Boming to pick up Sun Shan.
When I got home, except for Guyu, everyone was working in the fields. Today was a rare good day and it didn't rain.
Su put down his things and went to work in the fields with a hoe. The rice seedlings had grown to the height of a palm. There was no herbicide here, so weeding could only be done manually. The whole family had to weed in the fields.
As there was water in the fields, Huang and others did not allow Sun Shan to work in the fields, for fear that he would stay in the water all day and get sick accidentally.
Sun Shan put down his bookcase and first completed the homework assigned by Master Zheng. Now he mainly focused on copying and practicing calligraphy.
As for the stories and notes behind the textbooks, Master Zheng only let students have a general understanding so that they know what happened.
The main thing is to teach students to recognize characters, read words and recite the full text.
After finishing the homework assigned by Master Zheng, I began to recite the new content learned today.
After you have memorized the new content, write down Master Zheng’s explanation based on your memory.
Then I reviewed what I had learned previously and practiced calligraphy by the well.
When you have practiced enough, continue to learn ahead of time. For example, today we learned the Thousand Character Classic, which covers knowledge in many fields such as astronomy, geography, nature, society, and history, and each of the 1 characters is different. If you know all the characters in it, you have learned characters.
There are also many allusions in "Thousand Character Classic", such as "Panxi Yi Yin, Zuo Shi A Heng". These four simple words lead to the familiar allusion of "Jiang Taigong Fishing".
Every word and sentence in the Thousand Character Classic needed to be annotated by Master Zheng. Sun Shan had not studied these enlightenment books in their entirety in his previous life. The textbooks were all selected passages. Without Master Zheng's teaching, it would have been impossible to learn on his own.
The only thing to do now is to practice writing and memorize the book first, and then rely on the teacher to teach how to read and interpret the allusions and meanings in it.
After reciting for a while, the sky gradually darkened and the sisters at home all came back. Cooking pig food, feeding cows and chickens. These trivial tasks seemed ordinary, but they were very annoying to do.
Grandma Huang and mother Su also came back with buckets. Sun Shan went out to greet them and got hot water from the kitchen for them to wash.
Huang smiled lovingly and said, "My dear grandson, come and see what's in the bucket?"
Sun Shan looked over curiously and saw two moorhens with their legs tied up and a few moorhen eggs.
He said happily: "Grandma, where did you catch it?" The black-bellied whistling duck runs very fast and is not easy to catch.
This black-bellied whistling chicken looks like a chicken and a bird. It belongs to the bird family.
Su put down the hoe and said with a smile, "I was weeding in our paddy field when it suddenly slipped past me. I pounced on it and just happened to crush it. I encountered another one in a haystack nearby. It had made a nest with several eggs."
Sun Shan had noticed that Su's clothes in front were covered in mud and water, and thought it was caused by working, but it turned out to be caused by the water chickens.
Su ordered, "Guyu, bring the boiled eggs to make soup."
Then he said to Huang, "Mother, I will chop up these two water chickens and eat them tonight."
Huang nodded and said, "Use it to make soup. Go get some wolfberries and red dates." Fortunately, the eldest daughter's uncle sells medicinal herbs, so the eldest daughter brought some back and didn't have to buy any.
Su hummed, went to the bedroom to change clothes, and then came out and killed the bird. Country people occasionally catch birds, mice, and snakes and eat them themselves. Unless they are particularly valuable, they will think of selling them in the county town.
Sun Shan was about to pick up another bucket of bracken.
Huang quickly stopped him and said, "My dear grandson, you don't need to do that. Let grandma do it. These vegetables have hairs. Be careful and they will itch." After that, she poured out a large pile of vegetables from the bucket.
After Hanlu finished feeding the chickens, she ran over to help and said with a smile, "Grandma, there are so many firewood in the mountains. My third sister and I picked some too." She pointed to the firewood shed, where there was also a sack.
Huang said gently, "Okay, after dinner, blanch it in water, dry it, and save it for later."
This is the harvest season for ferns in the mountains, and we have to pick them while they are still young. After a few days, they may become old and inedible.
Both Sun Shan's family and the villagers went to the mountains to dig up wild vegetables.
After drying, it can be eaten all year round.
After Xiaoman fed the pigs, she took the bucket of pig food and went to the well to wash it.
He said to Huang: "Grandma, I heard there are a lot of bamboo shoots in the mountains. Hanlu and I will go pick them tomorrow."
The eldest sister Guyu stayed behind to watch over the door and do housework, the second sister Lixia was responsible for herding cattle, Xiaoman, Hanlu and Xiaoxue from the second room went up and down the mountain with the children in the village, and became more familiar with how to find food in the mountains.
Huang warned, "You better be careful. Don't dig in places that are difficult to dig. Be careful not to fall."
Sunjia Village is surrounded by mountains, one after another. Fortunately, they are not high and cannot be considered as deep in the mountains and old forests.
The villagers only look for food in the nearby mountains. If they go deeper, they will have to travel in groups.
Sun Shan's orchard is on the back mountain. A few days ago, Sun Boming and Su went from street to street to buy pig manure, and added quicklime to fertilize and sterilize it.
I went to the pharmacy and bought some sulfur and tobacco stalks to spray to kill the insects.
The citrus flowers have already faded, so now is the time to focus on fertilizing and pest control.
Of course, the citrus orchard belongs to the Sun family, so all expenses must be recorded and deducted after the oranges are sold.
However, this job usually falls to the first and second wives. As for Uncle Sun and Aunt Sun from the third wife, when asked to work, they either have a headache or a sore back, and they always make excuses.
Guangge'er is more active than them. At least Guangge'er often follows his brothers to the citrus orchard to weed.
Dinner was ready quickly. The black-bellied pheasant weighed less than half a pound, so there wasn’t much meat to stew, and the purpose was to drink the soup.
Sweet and very nourishing.
Huang said worriedly, "I wonder if Bomin and the others have arrived yet?"
Su was also worried. Although the world was peaceful now, it would be a lie to say she wasn't worried when she was out. She scooped a spoonful of meat into Sun Shan's bowl and said, "Mother, we should be there. Don't worry. The escort agency has traveled this road thousands of times. There must be no danger."
In fact, Su had never been to the provincial government, and had only heard Sun Boming describe how he got there.
Huang had never been there either. Whether it was when Grandma Sun came to check the family traditions before her marriage, or when He Shujin held a full-month banquet, it was the village chief and his wife who went. Huang considered herself a widow and unlucky, and she didn't want to bring bad luck to her daughter.
However, when He's father and mother delivered the betrothal gifts, they came to Sunjia Village.
Huang scooped a spoonful of meat for Sun Shan and said, "I don't know what Chunlan arranged for Ming Ge'er to do? He has never been far away from home."
Mingger is the first grandson of the Sun family. Although his status is not as high as Sun Shan, Huang also loves him.
Guyu said comfortingly: "Grandma, don't worry, with Auntie here, Ming Ge'er will definitely be able to adapt."
Su also said: "Yes, elder sister is very thoughtful. Since she can arrange for Brother Ming to go there, he must be going to a good place."
But he was worried that Shanzi was too young. It would be great if Shanzi was the eldest son in the family. This job would definitely fall on Shanzi.
She glanced at Sun Shan who was eating with gusto, and comforted herself that when Shanzi grew up, her aunt would still be around and would definitely be able to provide a good place for Shanzi.
Sun Shan heard their conversation and understood their concerns, but today's bird soup was delicious, so dry rice was still the best.