Chapter 223: Grinding Beans
Luo Zhi’er came back in the evening and blanched the washed radish and vegetable leaves in boiling water…
She thought for a moment, “San Mao, come here!”
“Huh? Oh!”
She was afraid she wouldn’t make it sour enough, so she had Li Sanmao blanch the vegetables.
Li Sanmao saw her roll up her sleeves and assign him the task, nodding repeatedly.
“Hey!”
If she couldn’t make it sour herself, she would switch to someone else to blanch the vegetables; this was her experience.
Making sour water was also something that required picking the right person; this was a saying from her modern rural hometown before.
Anyway, she had never successfully made it sour herself; she originally wanted to help Grandmother with the work, but every time it wasted ingredients.
Later, she would wash and chop the vegetables, and Grandmother would add the boiling water, and the sour vegetable dish would turn sour.
To be safe, she added a tomato today; she had originally told Li Sanmao to ask Fifth Brother for some old sour water as a starter.
But as soon as she got back, she heard Zhou Shi still muttering curses, so to avoid affecting her mood, she dropped the idea.
She bought these radish leaves precisely to avoid listening to Zhou Shi’s nagging.
Her own family’s mountain land originally had a patch of radishes too, but now it was divided to Old Li Tou and them.
Thinking about it, she didn’t bother asking for those rejects; it was just a few coins, so she bought some conveniently in town.
She had Li Sanmao place the large clean stone she had just fished from the river and washed on top of the wooden bucket; the two washed up and prepared to rest…
“I hope it will be sour by tomorrow!”
“Wife, don’t worry, it will definitely work!”
Li Sanmao agreed!
The weather was still good; it would sour overnight.
For a permanent solution and to enjoy some leisure, a few days ago she had also sold the scallion oil recipe to Ye Beiyao; baked bread was postponed, so now she would first catch loaches and smoke dried tofu to sell in town.
This sour water was precisely for making tofu; most tofu sold at modern markets wasn’t made with plaster!
Lying in bed, her mind wandered to who knows what, and she fell asleep in a daze; by the time Li Sanmao finished washing his feet and came over, the person on the bed was already breathing evenly.
Li Sanmao quietly climbed up; before getting into bed, he tucked in the corner of the quilt for Miaomiao, gently placed his wife’s head in the crook of his arm, leaned down to kiss her forehead, and then fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, before dawn, Luo Zhi’er got up to start grinding soy milk.
She had ground for less than a quarter of an hour when the main hall door of the old house creaked open, followed by Old Li Tou’s muffled coughing.
Old Li Tou came out and saw two dark figures moving at the hand mill against the wall of the old house.
He squinted and looked closely; it was Li Sanmao and Luo Zhi’er grinding soybeans at the hand mill.
He was stunned; he hadn’t expected that after the family division, they got up even earlier than him—he had thought they would laze in bed sleeping late.
He glanced at the eldest son’s family and second son’s family; no one was up yet. He walked over and said, “Old Three, you two are grinding beans?”
“Yeah, Dad, why are you up?”
Old Li Tou wanted to ask what they were grinding so many soybeans for.
He thought about it; since the family was already divided, it didn’t seem appropriate.
“Heh heh! There’s still land on the slope that needs turning; you and Daqiang have all split off, so if I don’t do it, who will?”
Old Li Tou was just saying it offhand; Li Sanmao felt a bit awkward and guilty, “Dad, in a couple days after I finish my current tasks, I’ll go help you turn the land!”
“Cough… forget it. Anyway, I’m old, can’t sleep in the mornings, and it’s boring at home doing nothing, so I’ll go. You stay busy!”
Old Li Tou coughed, went to the woodshed to get the hoe, hunched over, and prepared to head out!
He thought for a moment, then stood at the doorway and shouted a few times, “Old Five! Old Five! Get up and come with Dad to turn the land on the slope!”
After shouting a few times, he had a bout of heart-wrenching coughs, spat a glob of phlegm on the ground, and rubbed it with his foot.
He shouted for a while with no response at all; frustrated and sighing, he shouldered the hoe alone and went up the slope.
Thinking back to before the division, when Oldest Brother and Old Three worked the farm with him, and before going up the slope, Third Wife would make them corn cakes to eat—he touched his belly, empty as could be.
This Old Five was his son too, the most treasured one at that; he felt an indescribable disappointment…
Old Li Tou went up the slope; Li Sanmao and Luo Zhi’er ground for over half an hour, then Li Daqiang also got up, fetched two buckets of water for the family, and shouldered the weeding hoe up the slope.
Zhou Shi had woken up early, but she knew the old man was going up the slope to work and would definitely order her to make corn cakes…
She grumbled on the bed, complaining that her back hurt so much she couldn’t get up and needed to lie longer; Old Li Tou just let her be…
After Luo Zhi’er finished grinding the soy milk, she started making breakfast: she ladled a few scoops of soy milk, rinsed the rice bought yesterday to make sweet soy congee, took a cabbage, shredded and salted it, and mixed in seasonings.
She took a few potatoes, sliced them thin, blanched and cooled them for a simple meal.
While cooking, Second Sister-in-law Chen Shi came over, hovering at the kitchen doorway several times, but Luo Zhi’er ignored her.
Seeing Luo Zhi’er ignore her, Chen Shi was secretly angry but put on a fawning face, “Heh heh, Third Sister-in-law, when will your kitchen be free? My two kids are starving!”
This Luo Zhi’er had bought quite a few seasonings yesterday; her eyes scanned the cutting board: oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, white sugar… all of them were there.
There was also rice flour and grains and oil; maybe they were stored in the kitchen too. She was scheming in her mind to sneak some to the second son’s family later.
Luo Zhi’er glanced indifferently at her, making her feel a bit guilty.
“Second Sister-in-law, this is my family’s kitchen; you can’t keep doing this. My family only has these two pots; I’m about to make tofu in this one, so you should think of another way!”
She had bought a new pot yesterday, which Li Sanmao had just set up.
If it were before, she might have been soft-hearted, thinking Jiabao and Jiayong were pitiful, but the pitiful surely have detestable traits—what had Chen Shi done?
Think about Little Grey?
Think about how she badmouthed her last night in front of Li Sanmao, sowing discord?
Hmph! She didn’t deserve it! She wasn’t willing anymore!
“This…”
Chen Shi bit her lip, held back, and said again, “Since that’s the case, I see you’ve made quite a lot of food in your pot; could you share a few bowls of your breakfast with us…”
Luo Zhi’er looked at her amusedly; this Chen Shi really had thick skin!
“Heh heh! I can skip it, but Jiayong and Jiabao are still small and growing—they can’t go without eating!”
After saying that, she saw Li Sanmao come out from the inner room and started to cry!
Her face turned pale, as if Luo Zhi’er had bullied her again.
“How about this: since you’re unwilling, just give us a basin of the soy milk you ground this morning.”
She said it as if she had been wronged.
Her family’s Jiabao and Jiayong going hungry had nothing to do with her originally; she had helped them for so long, even their own grandparents hadn’t helped, and the soy milk was made from beans she bought with silver.
“No way!”
“You!”
Chen Shi stomped in anger, glared at the gloating Li Sanmao, covered her face, and ran off.
Luo Zhi’er coldly gave Li Sanmao a glance, then lowered her head to continue mixing the potato slices.
“Wife…”
“Hmph!”
His wife ignored him.
What was going on? Chen Shi had provoked her, so why was she ignoring him now?
Wasn’t this getting caught in the crossfire?
“Wife, if you’re not happy, just don’t be; why get upset over others?”
Li Sanmao leaned close, his magnetic voice in her ear; Luo Zhi’er shrank her neck…
“Stay away from me!”
“Hey!”
Li Sanmao quickly turned and went to the stove to add firewood for her.
“Wife, how about this: I’ll go fix a stove for her?”
“Up to you!”
Luo Zhi’er said irritably!
Huh?
Why was his wife even angrier now?
“Wife, I just thought she keeps coming to bother you and it makes you unhappy; this way, she won’t have to come bother you every day.”
“What are you explaining? I didn’t say anything?” Luo Zhi’er pursed her lips.
“Heh heh! Got it, heh heh, is breakfast almost ready? Husband is so hungry!”
He rubbed his belly…
“Wipe the table, serve the food.”
“Hey!”
At breakfast time, Old Li Tou came back with a gloomy face.
The sun had risen; these past few days his body had been worn out too much, he felt dizzy, and after squatting pulling weeds all morning, his stomach was hungry!
Li Daqiang’s cornfield was next to Old Li Tou’s radish patch; Old Li Tou planned to clear the weeds from this plot to plant sorghum later—he pulled for half a day, then Li Daqiang arrived.
This oldest son, at his age, had toiled in the fields facing the dirt all morning, yet he stubbornly didn’t come help at all!
Especially when he was so hungry his chest stuck to his back, stomach growling.
He saw Oldest Brother squatting alone in the corn rows, seemingly eating a corn cake…
He didn’t even offer him a bite; thinking about it made him feel so aggrieved!
He felt too embarrassed to remind him, and really hungry, so he pulled a radish, rubbed it on his clothes corner, and ate it peel and all…
Maybe he was too upset; he accidentally knocked out a front tooth, not to mention it was so spicy his eyes watered, and his stomach started feeling bad.
Old Li Tou had no more mood to pull weeds; clutching his stomach, he came back belching foul-smelling burps…
This oldest son was good in every way, honest and dutiful, just one bad trait.
Stingy from childhood, petty, rigid; he liked to hide anything good away until it molded and grew fur!
Who knows where he got it from?
He wasn’t hiding good stuff anyway, and another thing: if you didn’t tell him to do something, he wouldn’t take initiative to help.
He was still upset about the family division; how could he bring himself to call him over to help pull weeds.
Without assigning him, he really didn’t come; did the division have to be so clear-cut?
So the more he thought, the angrier he got, and he came back with a sullen face.
