Chapter 67 Spring Solstice
When the weather gets cold in winter, everyone stays at home, and there are not so many people visiting. Liang Xianyue is also very idle recently, the crops grown on the island are not yet mature, so he fiddles with food at home in different ways every day. The old duck soup with sour radish last time was very popular, and every time Liang Xianyue passed the duck house, he would look at the ducks with extremely hot eyes.
After having time, Liang Xianyue also tried to unlock new recipes in the cooking stove that is convenient for making food. In addition to the toasted bread, millet cakes, and fried fish nuggets they had already tried, they also tried shrimp and seagull eggs as raw materials. Shrimp Baked Egg, Squid Wrapped in Flour Fried Calamari, Mushroom Stewed Chicken Made of Straw Mushroom and Poultry...
Liang Xianyue originally wanted to try more combinations, but unfortunately there was not enough flour in hand, and the cooking stove only The flour that can be grown from sea island seeds is only more than one hundred servings in total, but it is the most frequently used ingredient in recipes, which is not enough at all. Try more foods that don't require flour first.
Other ingredients on the island are not as uniform and neutral as flour, and can be perfectly combined with most ingredients. Liang Xianyue put the fish and seaweed together into the cooking stove, and a black lump came out, which was inedible at all, and even the two kinds of seafood couldn't be mixed together casually.
A single ingredient can never go wrong, just like the seafood that Liang Xianyue is most likely to get. She has eaten all kinds of grilled fish, grilled crabs and grilled shrimps these days. When you are tired and come back from the sea, you just need to stuff all the ingredients into the cooking stove and you can eat.
But sometimes I also want to eat dishes with rich ingredients, like the seafood vermicelli pot he is going to make today.
Going out to catch the sea in the morning, today's tide is not strong, the harvest is not rich, but it is fresh and there are many kinds, which makes Liang Xianyue come up with the idea of making a seafood vermicelli stew.
The method of seafood vermicelli stew is very simple. Liang Xianyue was too lazy to fry the ingredients, so he cut half of the hot pot base. He chose the hot pot base without spicy oil, because Liang Xianyue wanted to add Zhen Min's homemade garlic chili sauce. A batch of peppers were planted in the yard of the island, most of which were dried and ground to make chili powder, and some were picked out to make hot sauce.
After the seasoning melted in the water, Liang Xianyue began to add various side dishes, onions, cabbage hearts, potato chips, and several kinds of seafood prepared by Liang Xianyue. When it is half-cooked, add clams, shrimp and small abalone.
The bright red soup is bubbling, the clams on the top open their mouths quickly, and the color of the vermicelli gradually becomes transparent. This pot of seafood vermicelli is ready to cook!
The vermicelli is tender, the abalone is strong, and the clams are delicious. Liang Xianyue's meal of this extravagant seafood vermicelli pot is very enjoyable. He would hesitate to add an extra clam when ordering takeout on weekdays, but now he can add it without any scruples. All kinds of fresh seafood, if the pot is not too small to fit, she can't wait to add some good ingredients!
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Just when Liang Xianyue kept her ears to the outside world and was thinking about all kinds of delicacies. Someone came to her and asked her if she was interested in tutoring some children in the village whose parents were willing to pay for their tuition.
It turned out that one of the villagers' parents had nothing to do at home in winter and wanted to test and teach their children literacy. The children in the village have not been to school since last winter. The villager's child also went to the fourth grade of elementary school, but he didn't open the book for a year, and even forgot many basic words. This can make parents very anxious. In the current situation, even though they don't expect their children to succeed by studying, they can't raise an illiterate one.
So I talked to a few villagers in the village who had children in the same family, and wanted to find a teacher for the children. I didn't want to learn too many advanced things, as long as I could read a few words and know some arithmetic. With several people added up, isn't Liang Xianyue the best candidate?
When Liang Xianyue heard the news, she politely refused. Even if these villagers said that they don't need to trouble him to run around, they can let their children come to class. Although the weather is cold, it doesn't matter as long as you wear more clothes. If the children are kept at home all the time, then they will grow into flowers in the greenhouse, and they will fall ill when they see the wind.
Liang Xianyue was not worried about these two points. A group of children, big and small, came to their house. Not only could she not take care of the island at all times, but she would be easily discovered if she opened a small stove. Besides, he is not short of the supplies that the villagers can give him, which is not worthwhile no matter how you look at it.
The villagers knew that he refused, although they regretted it, they could not force it. Seeing their disappointment, Liang Xianyue pondered for a while and said, "Although I can't teach children, I know someone who is also a college student and he might be willing to take the job." The villagers wondered who he was talking
about To be honest, there are not many college students in the village. The only few are the parents of their children. No matter how old they are, they have basically never read too many books. They feel that they are teaching their own children at home. It's very strenuous, the child's heart has been playing wild this year, and the parents' teaching always lacks flavor and dignity. It always seems to be playing around, so I want to find another teacher to teach.
"He is our current neighbor. He is from another place. He has been with our family for a while. He has a very good personality. If you believe him, I can ask him if he would like to come and teach the children.
After a few parents did some research, Liang Xianyue asked Ji Mingcen for his opinion, and finally made a bridge in the middle, allowing Ji Mingcen's small winter classroom to start successfully .
Parents will bring him some things from home for tuition, sometimes a bundle of firewood, sometimes a pumpkin. It just so happens that Ji Mingcen has nothing to do at home except raise rabbits. Teaching a few children simple literacy and arithmetic is also a kind of adjust.
Liang Xianyue packed up some extra notebooks and signature pens at home, and wanted to send them to Ji Mingcen for the children to use. When Ji Mingcen opened the door for him, Liang Xianyue walked into the room and found that the desks and chairs moved back from the junior high school happened to be the children's desks now, and a few scattered children were sitting in the main room opened by the small supermarket. , but also very spacious.
A blackboard was hung on one wall, and a man stood in front of it. Liang Xianyue took a closer look and found that it was Yang Shulan, who was drawing a plum blossom stroke by stroke on the blackboard with a red chalk in his hand.
She drew very slowly and carefully, and the children below followed her to trace the outline of plum blossoms.
Liang Xianyue said pleasantly: "Auntie's situation has improved again?"
Ji Mingcen smiled: "Since these children came, my mother has indeed improved a lot, and she is already sober. Just a word."
Ji Mingcen looked out the door, and said happily: "Actually, what I'm most worried about is winter, and I'm afraid that he will be stimulated by thinking about last winter and make his condition worse. I didn't expect that there has been no snow this year, and the house is very lively. , my mother has recovered a lot."
Liang Xianyue found a stack of colored paper from under a stack of notebooks in her hand, which she bought for handicrafts at some point, but she kept throwing it there after she got it. , Turned it out when I was looking for paper and pens for the children today. "Hey, this is for you." He handed the colored paper to Ji Mingcen, "You can use these colored paper to fold small animals or make paper-cuts. Auntie
will definitely like it." "Thank you."
He was still learning how to draw with Yang Shulan, and took Liang Xianyue to the hut to watch the little rabbit.
Rabbits are timid animals, and they are even more sensitive after giving birth, so they always hide the little rabbits in the innermost part of the cage. During this time, except for Ji Mingcen who came to feed it regularly, no one else stepped into the house.
The pregnant female rabbit gave birth to a total of six little rabbits. The female rabbit was a big gray rabbit. The last time Liang Xianyue saw it was plump and round, but now she has lost weight. Still looking very haggard.
Most of the bunnies are tawny and gray, they grow very fast, they have round heads, and now is the cutest time. One of them has the most beautiful color, a blue-gray body, with smooth fur, long trembling ears, and dark brown eyes covered with natural eyeliner. It stands out from the brothers and sisters. See.
"This is so beautiful!" Liang Xianyue turned to look at Ji Mingcen, "Is it a male or a female?" "It's
too small now, I can't tell." Ji Mingcen wanted to take this little rabbit out for Liang Xianyue to admire carefully , was stopped by him.
"It's better not to take it out, what if it is so scared that it dies of illness." Although rabbits are cute, they are also delicious. These are rare meat nowadays, and a dead one is a great loss. .
Liang Xianyue turned her head to look at the hay piled on the side of the room. It had been a few weeks since she had seen it, and there was a large pile of hay missing: "Is there enough food for the rabbits?" "The consumption of hay is
faster than I expected. It's hard to get through the whole winter with hay," Jiming Cen mused, "but thanks to the new job you found for me, parents sometimes send some Chinese cabbage over. My mother and I couldn't finish a whole cabbage. The extra was fed to the rabbits.
I also went to the back mountain to dig some soil with grass seeds in it, and put it in another room. The temperature in the house is high, and the grass will grow out soon, although I don't know how much it will help Busy, but it should be able to be delayed until next spring."
He spread his hands and said, "There is really nothing to feed, just kill the rabbit and eat meat. At that time, I didn't even think about raising rabbits. When I caught this female rabbit It's almost winter again, and many things are not ready."
It's a pity to kill it, now is the time when the little rabbit is growing meat, although Liang Xianyue didn't say it at the time, she decided in her heart to help Ji Mingcen with some rabbit rations. She also stocked a lot of Chinese cabbage at home, and the island is full of weeds, so she can cut some grass out, and told Ji Mingcen that she learned from the grass he planted in the house.
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There was no snow this winter, so Liang Xianyue was a little undecided whether to take out the wooden thorn trap that was placed in the yard last year. There has been no news of the beast going down the mountain. Besides, Liang Xianyue now has a gun in his hand, and his own strength has been upgraded and strengthened by the island several times.
But after two months of winter, the law and order in Liangjia Village became worse and worse. Either the chickens raised in the house were stolen today, or the firewood in the barn was missing. There have also been a few masked robberies, which can be seen as disguises made by the villagers for fear of being recognized.
Zhen Min said that many people didn't save enough food and firewood for the winter this year, and they couldn't keep going after only two months, and they started to think of crooked ways.
People in the village were panicked. The village head wants to mobilize everyone to find out who stole and robbed, but no effective evidence has been found. Moreover, the thieves can clearly know what the family has and where they put it, and they have gone through many visits, most of which were done by people in their own village.
The village head called a lot of people to a meeting to discuss. No one wanted to offend anyone, so they kept silent. They just wanted to keep their own house safe, and they didn't want to spend any more time investigating any cases.
Liang Xianyue's family seldom went out, and now they hide far away. Liang Xianyue took out all the traps he made last winter. The wooden thorns were poured with water and frozen in the yard, and the anti-theft thorns were fixed under the barbed wire of the fence. Anyone who walked by could see the tight defense of their house, even a little The idea should also be dispelled.
Xiao Hei's nest was also moved to the door of the main house. There used to be a hollow for firewood near the stove, and now Xiao Hei stays there at night. Cotton cushions, even though the temperature at the door is lower than other places in the house, Xiao Hei doesn't feel cold at all.
Not to mention, after Xiao Hei moved to the door, he did hear barking outside for a few nights. Hearing the movement, Liang Kang went out with a flashlight, and the people outside the door fled immediately. Another time, Xiao Hei only yelled a few times, and when he got up the next day, he heard about the coal being stolen from a nearby family. Several people in his family slept soundly at night, and when they got up in the morning, they saw that a large piece of the coal pile had been hollowed out. It is estimated that two to three hundred catties of coal were stolen.
Liang Xianyue guessed that the person should have passed by her house, which aroused Xiao Hei's vigilance. In this way, the direction of the thief's house is also known. But the scope of this clue is too large, and it is not enough to find out the thief that day.
The impression left on Liang Xianyue this winter is the gray sky and dry and cold air. There have been no disturbances for several months, and even the New Year is deserted. The villagers have no good ingredients to celebrate the arrival of the New Year. Those chickens and ducks were killed and eaten early, otherwise they would be missed by thieves, and the chickens and ducks that had been raised for several months would be empty.
The long winter is actually a precious period of recuperation for people who have experienced floods, high temperatures, and earthquakes in just a few months. But winter itself is a test, coupled with the turmoil in law and order, most people don't live very comfortably.
However, spring came as expected in March, which made everyone breathe a sigh of relief. The branches of the fruit trees sprouted new buds, and a layer of fluffy grass grew on the ground, but people were also confused.
Will this be a good year for farming? Will it be like last year, after a year of hard work, insect plagues and unexplained diseases can easily take away their harvest for a year?
Everyone has this question in their hearts.
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