Chapter 132: Glutinous Rice Balls

Chapter 132: Glutinous Rice Balls

Chapter 132: Glutinous Rice Balls
"My eldest and second brothers have also decided to go home and buy a boat to go fishing with Ah Le. We will make as many as we can and send them to you when the time comes."

"It's better to do it together. With the money we earn, we can build a new house earlier, so that the children don't have to live in the same room when they grow up."

"Ale said that once the new house is built, he will take you to live there."

"I have to run the vegetable stall, and I can earn 30 or 40 yuan a month. It would be a pity to lose it." Zhou's mother looked at her lovingly, "See if there is a suitable residential plot. If the money is not enough, mother will give it to you."

"Keep your money, and we will slowly save up for the new house."

Seeing that she mentioned the money again, Zhou Ruonan stood up and took out the oyster beads from the cupboard, "Mother, look, these beads were found from those oysters."

"How beautiful!" Zhou's mother picked up a perfectly round bead. "Someone has found an oyster bead before, but its quality is far inferior to this one. It's already very lucky to be able to find one."

"Ah Le wants to send it over to see how much it can sell for?"

"I'm not sure. After lunch, I'll take you to the old store on Jiefang Street in the city to ask."

"That gold shop has reopened?"

"It's been open for two years, and business is pretty good." Zhou's mother stood up and said, "Ah Le likes to eat Chui Yuan. I'll go weigh two kilograms of glutinous rice flour and steam some Chui Yuan for him to eat at noon."

Zhou Ruonan hurriedly pulled her back, "Mother, we brought back a lot of fresh food this time. Let's eat the yellow croaker and blue crabs at noon, and then make dumplings for him tomorrow."

It was always like this. As soon as they came back, A-niang would start preparing delicious food. She wished she could cook all the delicious food for them in just two days.

"Ale rarely comes here, so I'll make a few less that don't take much effort." Mother Zhou said as she walked out.

"Mom, wait a minute, there's still some fabric!" Zhou Ruonan hurriedly got up and pulled her to the room to look at the fabric.

I feel ashamed just thinking about it. Every time A Niang came, she would prepare big and small bags for them, but they only had the seafood given by their parents-in-law. This is the first time I have bought something for A Niang in several years.

Mother Zhou touched the fabric and patted her daughter happily, "I have clothes to wear, and Ah Le bought so many, and you didn't say anything to him."

"He didn't tell me when he bought the material. I only found out after he bought it." Zhou Ruonan looked at her with a smile, "He bought it for me and the child, as well as for you and your parents-in-law. He didn't buy anything for himself."

"Why don't you make him one? As the old saying goes, clothes make the man, and gold makes the Buddha. Ah Le is going to sell goods, and if he goes out wearing poor clothes, people will look down on him."

"He said he was good-looking and looked good in old clothes."

After hearing this, Zhou's mother laughed so hard that her teeth were exposed, "Ah Le knows how to coax people with his mouth."

The mother and daughter were talking in the house when Li Xiaozhou's voice came from outside, "Grandma, your brother wants you to give me the change."

"Coming! Coming!" Zhou's mother walked outside with brisk steps, and her movements did not seem like those of a woman in her fifties at all.

When I went out, I saw Li Xiaohai acting like a little adult, helping the aunt who was buying vegetables to pick up chives. "A small bunch costs one cent a bunch, a big bunch costs two cents, and grandma has washed them all."

Grandma Xiang said with a smile: "Ah Xia, your two little grandchildren can do business now."

The aunt who was buying vegetables took the change from Zhou's mother and said, "Your grandson is really smart. Not only can he help sell vegetables, but he can also do the accounting!"

The smile on Zhou's mother's face deepened, and she said proudly, "Yes! You will learn it after watching me sell it once. You are so smart!"

After seeing off the customers, Zhou's mother asked the little one to look after the vegetable stall while she went to buy tofu to make dumplings.

……

Inside the house, Zhou Ruonan put away the beads, got up and went to the vegetable garden. Seeing Li Changle fixing the melon rack and digging the ground with a hoe, she smiled and walked over to him, "Digging the ground! You don't need to earn performance now. It won't be too late to dig after the sun goes down."

Li Changle said with a playful smile: "If I don't try to show my performance, what should I do if Teacher Zhou gets angry and doesn't want me anymore?"

"Go away!" Zhou Ruonan smiled and patted him, "It's too hot, go inside and rest for a while, I'll dig with you when the sun goes down."

"No need. Look, there's only a piece as big as the dining table left. It will be done in a while." Li Changle picked up the hoe and started digging.

"I'll go pick some melons and put them in water to hold them down. You can eat them when you finish hoeing the fields." Zhou Ruonan was like a happy little bird. She went back with a basket and went to pick melons from under the melon rack.

By the time she had picked the melons, Li Changle had also dug the field. When she walked outside the kitchen, she heard the "dong dong" sound of chopping pork.

When I entered the room, I saw Zhou's mother chopping meat. There was glutinous rice flour, a plate of shrimps, oyster sauce, a piece of tofu and a handful of green onions on the table.

After seeing this, Li Changle thought of the Li family's cooking dumplings during the New Year and other festivals. There were many people in the family, and Li's mother would always buy a big piece of fat meat and several pieces of tofu. It was a typical case of not having enough meat but making up for it with tofu.

"Mother, we just had some snacks. Isn't it too early to start making dumplings now?"

"Yeah, I'm still full." Li Changle also said.

"Xiao Hai, Xiao Zhou said he wanted to eat. Besides, it's already past ten o'clock, it's getting late."

"They just had a snack." "Children digest food quickly and will be hungry soon."

Li Changle felt that children of this age never had enough to eat. Xiaozhou was better, but Xiaohai got hungry quickly. He had just finished his meal, so he wouldn't have indigestion if he ate another steamed bun. No wonder the old saying goes, "This little brat will make his father go bankrupt."

Mother Zhou looked at the two of them lovingly, "Anan, scoop a basin of hot water for Ah Le to wipe."

"No need, I'll just go to the well to rinse it." Li Changle said as he walked towards the patio. Zhou Ruonan stopped him and asked him to put the melon in the well to cool it down for a while before eating it.

When he returned to the kitchen, Zhou Ruonan was chopping meat and Zhou's mother was kneading dough. He didn't want to watch TV, so he took the plate and sat at the back door to help peel the shrimps.

When Zhou's mother saw him, she turned around and told him to watch TV, saying that this job was not his to do. When she saw that he insisted on helping, she was so happy that she couldn't close her mouth.

Nowadays, few men help with cooking, and even less so those who live by the sea. When they go out to sea and come home, they live a life of having everything provided for them.

After Zhou's mother chopped the meat, she added tofu, minced ginger, chopped shrimp meat, rice wine, oyster sauce, and salt and mixed well.

The fillings of Chuiyuan are varied and can be sweet or salty, and can be made of dried tofu, dried bamboo shoots, mushrooms, etc.

The flour used to make steamed rice balls is glutinous rice flour and early rice flour, which are mostly mixed in a one-to-one ratio. If there is too much glutinous rice flour, the steamed rice balls will become limp and fall on the steaming grate after being steamed.

Zhou Ruonan rolled the dough into two long strips, cut it into small pieces, rolled it into balls like making dumplings, put in the meat filling and used the tiger's mouth to shrink it, leaving a small hole at the end, and put some chopped green onions on the hole. The finished dumplings looked a bit like steamed buns.

Mother Zhou soaked the cloth and spread it inside the steamer, then placed the plump white dumplings on top. Li Changle happily helped to light the fire.

Cooking on a clay stove is fast. After a few minutes, the steamer starts to come out and the aroma of meat wafts out. After more than ten minutes, the rice balls are cooked.

The moment Zhou's mother opened the lid of the steamer, the aroma of meat filled the air. Looking at the plump, glutinous pork balls in the steamer, Li Changle couldn't help swallowing her saliva, thinking that pork these days is so delicious.

The two little guys smelled the fragrance and ran in, "Grandma, the rice balls smell so good, I'm drooling."

"Slow down, grandma will pick it up for you right away."

Mother Zhou was so distressed after hearing this that she called out to her darling, put a dumpling in the bowl for both of them, and then hurriedly picked one for Li Changle, put it on the table, and poured him a bowl of rice wine.

"Mom, you eat too." Zhou Ruonan said as she came over with the bowl.

"You guys eat, I'm going to save some space for the croaker and big yellow croaker."

After saying this, Zhou's mother went back to busy herself with making lunch. While doing so, she turned her head to look at the few people. Seeing that they were eating happily, her smiles were brighter than the sunflowers in the courtyard.

After the family of four had eaten the soft, glutinous and chewy dumplings, Zhou Ruonan was busy cleaning up. The grandfather and his two children were sent outside to watch TV by Zhou's mother, while the mother and daughter were busy making lunch in the kitchen.

The three of them walked outside and saw that more people were buying groceries. Those who were going home from get off work came at this time and took some groceries home.

When Ah Xiang Po saw them coming out, she waved to Li Changle. After he passed by, she said, "Ah Le, come visit your mother-in-law more often when you have time. She is alone and lonely. She caught a cold a few days ago and has been lying at home for several days!"

Li Changle felt sad when she thought about how she was sick and no one even brought her a sip of water. "I understand, grandma. Thank you for helping to take care of my mother-in-law."

"We have been neighbors for decades and we all take care of each other."

"Teacher Zhou has been gone for several years. If we wait a few more years, Axia will come to her senses and will probably forgive Abin and his wife."

"I know Axia's temper best. She looks easy to talk to, but in fact she is as stubborn as a cow. It's hard to expect her to forgive them!"

As Ah Xiangpo spoke, she sighed and said to Li Changle, "If your eldest brother-in-law and his wife hadn't done that kind of thing, it would be so nice for the whole family to be together!"

Li Changle didn't know what to say. There were many such things in those years, but there were really few like his eldest brother-in-law.

"Dad," Li Xiaohai pulled Li Changle, "Look at my aunt and uncle."

Uncle Zhou and his wife work in a school not far from the old street. One is a math teacher and the other is a Chinese teacher.

Li Changle felt that the saying "Those who are loyal are usually butchers, and those who are unfaithful are usually scholars" was quite true, and this couple was a typical example.

He doubted how these two people could teach good students with their character.

Uncle Zhou and his wife also saw the three of them. Aunt Lin Xuefang looked at them with a look of disgust on her face, "Oh, isn't this my country brother-in-law?"

"What's wrong? Is there nothing to eat at home again? My sister-in-law has brought her family here again, and asked my mother-in-law to prepare some delicious food for you to enjoy!"

Li Xiaohai pulled Li Changle and said worriedly, "Dad, every time they come, they quarrel with grandma. After they leave, grandma will hide at home and cry secretly."

Li Changle patted his head and said, "Dad knows. Close the door to the inner room and don't let grandma know they were here."

(End of this chapter)