Chapter 89: Giving Zongzi to Each Other

Chapter 89: Giving Zongzi to Each Other

The days in school passed quickly. Not long after lunch, after practicing calligraphy for the entire afternoon, it was time to leave school.

Since tomorrow is the Dragon Boat Festival, Sun Shan doesn't have to go to school.

After returning home, he first completed the homework assigned by the teacher, then advanced his study of the Thousand Character Classic, and then went to the well to practice calligraphy.

As soon as I lowered my head and raised it again, it was dark.

The eldest sister Guyu called out, "Shanzi, come and eat."

Sun Shan responded and walked into the main room. There would be pork fried with sour bamboo shoots tonight.

Su brought back the sour bamboo shoots from her mother's home. Hulingshan Village is even more mountainous than Sunjia Village, and they rely on the mountain for their livelihood. When it's bamboo shoot season, Su's grandparents dry or pickle the bamboo shoots to make sour bamboo shoots.

Whenever Su went back to her parents' home, the thing she brought back the most was bamboo shoot products.

Huang asked: "Mr. Old Master, how are your father and mother in good health?" As per custom, she always asked this question to show her concern.

Su smiled and said, "Mother, they are all fine. They said they will come to Sunjia Village when they have time. I haven't seen you for a long time."

Today, after Sun Bomin sent Sun Shan to school, he and Su returned to her parents' home. It took a long time to get there, and everything was the same as before. Only Second Aunt Su looked older, which made Su feel distressed, but she could do nothing.

Huang nodded, welcoming her in-laws to visit.

After dinner, they lit an oil lamp and sat in the main room to work.

Huang was responsible for all the mending and sewing. Su's craftsmanship was very poor. When she mended clothes, the stitches were crooked. She could still wear underwear, but if people saw her sewing outerwear, she would be laughed at.

Usually, Huang did the mending while Su did the helping. As for the four older sisters in the family, they followed Huang to learn.

Sun Bomin used the cut bamboo strips to make farm tools such as winnowing baskets and dustpans.

There will always be a few that break every year. Although my skills are not very good, I can still make them myself and don’t have to buy them outside.

Sun Shan was teaching his four sisters to read, and he started by teaching them according to the Three Character Classic.

Now that I can read more and more words, I start by teaching me the words I use in daily life.

Of course, teach them their names first and explain the meaning of their names.

I don’t know how Sun Bomin came up with the name.

Sun Shan didn't understand, so he asked, "Father, how did you choose the names of my elder sisters?"

Sun Bomin smiled and said, "I don't want to name her Damei, Ermei, Ah Hua, Ah Cao. I'll just name her after the solar terms of the year and whichever sounds good."

Then he explained: "When your second uncle heard how I named your sister, he also randomly chose one of the 24 solar terms. Even though he had never seen snow, he still named your sister Xiaoxue."

When Sun Boming said this, everyone laughed.

As for Sun Shan's name, Sun Bomin didn't need to explain it. He was present and heard with his own eyes how Sun Banxian chose it.

After studying for a while, it got late at night and everyone went back to their rooms to sleep.

Sun Shan followed his previous practice and read it silently once before falling asleep.

When I wake up, I review what I learned yesterday. Even if I have holidays, I will study every day.

Before I even left the study and bedroom, I could smell the smell of sulfur.

When I walked out of the bedroom, I found a half-meter-high sulfur incense stick in the corner of the door.

Looking around, every room was filled with sulfur incense.

Walking out of the courtyard gate, this incense stick is even more exaggerated. It is one meter high and as thick as two thumbs, and a sulfur smell hits your nose.

Seeing her brother wake up, the elder sister Guyu smiled and said, "Go wash up and have breakfast. Today we have rice porridge with salted eggs, which is your favorite. The egg yolk is very fragrant."

After saying that, he scooped a basin of warm water from the small pot and handed it to Sun Shan, thinking that his younger brother was weak and could not take a bath with cold water.

After Sun Shan finished washing up, he sat in the main room eating salted duck eggs. His second sister Lixia came back carrying a piece of half fat and half lean pork.

It seems that he was sent to buy pork early in the morning.

There is no pork seller in Sunjia Village, so you have to go to Zhengjia Village to buy pork. You have to go early in the morning to buy pork here, otherwise it will be sold out if you go too late.

Butcher Zheng is not a butcher in the true sense of the word. He can only be considered a middleman. He goes to the town early in the morning to bring back half a pig. Anyone who wants to buy pork can go to his house. If there are no customers, he goes door to door selling his pork.

Today is a festival, so pork will definitely sell well. If you want pork, you must buy it early in the morning.

After breakfast, Su and Huang came back from the vegetable garden and quickly marinated the pork with five-spice powder as they would make rice dumplings later.

Before the Sun family had finished wrapping the rice dumplings, Uncle Sun and Aunt Sun came in with their son and daughter, bringing some rice dumplings and a piece of meat.

Xiaoxue smiled and said, "Shanzi, come and try my rice dumplings. They have lots of meat in them."

Sun Shan nodded and asked, "Sister Xiaoxue, did you make the rice dumplings this year?" She asked me to eat rice dumplings for no reason, so she must be trying to express something.

Sure enough, Xiaoxue's eyes lit up and she asked happily, "Shanzi, how did you know?"

Sun Shan didn't know either, so he just asked casually, but with an innocent smile on his face, he said, "I think your rice dumplings are particularly beautiful this year, and I thought you must have made them. I heard from the villagers that the rice dumplings you make are particularly beautiful."

According to someone, heard someone say, in fact, they are all said by oneself. For a girl of such a young age, it is not bad to be wrapped like this, Sun Shan praised her generously.

Xiaoxue's face and ears turned red, and she said shyly, "Who told you that? My wrapping is just average, but it can't compare to Sister Guyu's."

Her eyes shine with a light that blinds you, proving that she likes this kind of compliment.

Sun Shan said a few more words to praise her and took a bite of the rice dumpling. He found out that this year Aunt Sun put mushrooms, salted duck egg yolks, and half fat and half lean pork in it. It tasted really good.

Uncle Sun and Aunt Sun put down their things, secretly gave Huang 200 coins, and went back to work, expecting to come back for dinner in the evening.

Not long after they left, Uncle Sun and Aunt Sun came over with their three sons, bringing some rice dumplings and a piece of lean meat.

Without saying anything, Uncle Sun tasted a bite of Uncle Sun's rice dumplings and said with a smile, "The rice dumplings from my second brother's house are especially delicious this year. They are made with salted duck egg yolks, and they are very fragrant."

Uncle Sun also sent rice dumplings to Uncle Sun, but the quantity was less than that of the first wife. Everyone in Uncle Sun's family ate one, and then there were no more.

When I came to the old house, I saw the rice dumplings from Uncle Sun’s house. I was still not satisfied, so I ate another one.

Uncle Sun never knew how to write the word "polite", but his mother and eldest brother didn't care anyway.

De Ge'er played with Sun Shan for a while, and then was taken back by Uncle Sun and his wife to clean the house.

Sunjia Village is cleaned up twice a year.

During the Dragon Boat Festival, after the house was cleaned, sulfur incense was lit and mugwort was burned to help drive away pests and prevent diseases, which was also a form of prayer.

The second time is naturally before the New Year to clean up and welcome the new year.

Before leaving, Uncle Sun and Aunt Sun secretly gave Huang 100 coins, as red envelopes must be given to elders during festivals.

If you have money, give more; if you don't have money, give less.

After Sun Shan's family cooked the rice dumplings, Su sent them to Uncle Sun's second uncle and Uncle Sun's third uncle's homes during the Cold Dew and Grain Full seasons, and also to the village chief, neighbors, and closer relatives.

In the past, people would send it to Sun Banxian, but since his death, there are no more five-guarantee households in the village, and there is no need to send it to the lonely and orphans.

Sun Shan's family also received rice dumplings sent by villagers. Whether they were delicious or not, they were all ate.