"Grandpa Shi, the fish are here, fry them for us!" They stood outside the door and shouted in unison.
"You guys are here to use the fried fish from the oil shop again." When Shi Song saw two girls, he cursed, "Damn it, you all go out and collect firewood first."
The oil mill was built in a secluded ravine in the mountain behind the village. It was the ancestral property of the Shi Song family. Now Grandpa Shi is old and can no longer do the heavy work of oil extraction, so he can only do odd jobs.
When Shi Chizi was five or six years old, he liked to play in Youfang and was very familiar with the situation there.
There is some land around the oil mill that is the private land of Grandpa Shi's family, which is used to grow vegetables.
Grandpa Shi sweeps the floor, often sweeping the dust and scattered dirt into the shovel, and pouring it into the ground to use as fertilizer. Therefore, his melons and vegetables grow particularly lushly.
In summer and autumn, vines of pumpkins, winter melons, bitter gourds, loofahs and kidney beans climb on ridges, stone walls and eaves. The edge of the oil mill seems to be surrounded by a hedge or green wall, and there are flowers of various colors.
Flowers are blooming everywhere, and fruits are hanging everywhere, making it difficult to tell whether this is a vegetable garden or a flower garden.
Tender pumpkins and winter melons can be cut into slices on the river beach, and cowpeas can be blanched in boiling water using the rice cooker in the oil mill, then picked up and thrown on the pebbles by the river to dry.
.
In the afternoon of that day or the next day, Grandpa Shi’s daughter-in-law Li Ying would come home with the basket on her back and store it away.
Or they can be made into various canned vegetables and kept until winter so that they can be eaten at home or sold in the market for money.
The old pumpkins are picked out and stored in the living room to satisfy hunger when the harvest is dry.
Shi Chizi often comes to the river. In autumn, pumpkins grow as big as bamboo hats. When he returns home, he is happy to carry a big pumpkin back to his grandfather.
When carrying a pumpkin and swimming across the river, Shi Chizi likes to ride the pumpkin on his crotch and use it as a ball to swim across the river.
One year, Shi Chizai's family had a large population and life was difficult to endure. It was only because his grandfather sent two loads of old pumpkins to eat that the Shichizai family survived the famine years.
…
After Grandpa Shi drove them away to collect firewood, he stopped what he was doing, put on his outer clothes, took the fish to the ditch, opened it, gutted it and washed it.
After carving up the fish and cleaning the pot, they have gathered the firewood.
Grandpa Shi set up the pot and poured half a pot of peanut oil into it. He waited until the oil was cooked and then put all the fish into the pot. Then he just let them watch and fry slowly while he went on to work.
The pot squeaked loudly, and the strong aroma of fish oil filled the stove. They stood by the pot and kept smacking their lips, so greedy that they almost dropped their saliva into the pot.
Seeing that the fish in the pot was almost ready to be fried, Shi Chizi deliberately wanted to move the four of them away, so he said, "Maybe there is not enough firewood. You have to go pick up more firewood."
The four of them were no more cunning than Shi Chi Zai. They went to collect firewood again and found that Shi Chi Zai had stolen a fish from the pot.
When Wang Erniu saw Shi Chizi eating the fish secretly, he felt that he was at a disadvantage and cursed: "Damn Chizi, you want to die if you eat alone!"
"I'll try it first to see if it tastes good enough." Shi Chizi argued.
Wang Erniu hurriedly reached out and prepared to pick the biggest fish he had caught.
He stopped him and said, "Keep that one for Grandpa Shi.
"Grandpa, come and eat fried fish soon." After Shi Chizi called to his grandfather, he went outside to pick a few pumpkin leaves, washed them in the ditch, wrapped the fish with the leaves, put it aside and squatted down to eat.
I caught a lot of fish this time, but life was difficult at that time. There was a lack of oil and water in the dishes, and my stomach often growled with hunger. Even if a person usually eats two or three kilograms of fish in one meal, he probably doesn’t feel very full. When eating
When there was only half the pot left, Wang Erniu and Shi Chizai were worried that they would not be full, so they started to fight over it.
Wang Erniu thought that Shi Chizai had eaten a fish alone and was a little dissatisfied. Then he saw that Shi Chizai was eating so recklessly that he was reluctant to spit out the bones and bones of the fish. He just kept picking up the fish and stuffing it in.
In the mouth.
When Long Xiaolan saw Shi Chizi eating enthusiastically, she scolded Shi Chizai for being the reincarnation of a starving ghost.
But Shi Chizi just giggled and seemed unconcerned. He continued to stay by the pot and wolfed down the food. After a while, he poured the remaining fish meat and the oil soup into his stomach.
Then he walked to the lawn outside the oil shop, belched loudly, patted the frog's swollen belly, and said with a satisfied look: "It's so comfortable to eat! I don't even need to eat dinner when I get back."
…
A burst of "cracking" firecrackers interrupted Long Zhaotian's overwhelming memories. The sound of firecrackers told him that it was already 12 o'clock at midnight, and it was the first day of the new year to pay New Year's greetings and welcome the God of Wealth.
He bowed far away to the southwest of the village and prayed: "God of Wealth, I will go back right away with the red candles burning and firecrackers blasting to welcome your beloved God of Wealth back to the village! May the chicken farm have all the best in the new year and make a lot of money."
A lot of money, a whole village’s worth of time!”
After Long Zhaotian finished praying, he looked at the ancient tree affectionately and said in his heart: "It's time for me to go back and rest."
When Long Zhaotian woke up, there was already the rising sun facing the window, the noisy sound of gongs and drums, the crackling of firecrackers, and the New Year's greetings from people saying to each other, "Happy New Year, congratulations, good health, happy family, and good luck in everything!"
, echoing throughout the village, it was so lively.
After Long Zhaotian carefully dressed himself up, he arrived at the old place where he and Long Xiaolan had a date before 10 o'clock. He saw that the hall was full of people wearing new clothes, and some were watching the lion dance performance.
Some people gathered around the ancient lecture platform to listen to Uncle Zhang's lecture on ancient times.
Uncle Zhang's sonorous voice reached his ears from far away. When he stopped to listen, Uncle Zhong was telling a story about his return to his hometown to set up a chicken farm.
He squeezed forward, only to hear Uncle Zhang preach: "Let's talk about the wise man in the village. He drank water and thought about the source. He gave up his stable life and returned to his hometown to start a chicken farm. We built it together, shared a happy life, and benefited the villagers. The first batch of broiler chickens
After going on the market, Tianwazi and Xiao went to the five major counties of 'Nanfanshun' and sold a thousand Fengshan native chickens! They won the first battle and took advantage of the momentum. By the end of the year, they achieved unprecedented results! The money spent in vain was poured into the money of the villagers.
They share fish and chickens at the end of the year, as well as consolation money, so every family celebrates the fat year!"
"Isn't this my original intention of returning to my hometown? Is there anything worth talking about? Uncle Zhang is also..." After hearing this, Long Zhaotian thought of his date with Long Xiaolan and went to the ancient tree.
There is a lion dance performance here, and the crowds are surging. People are attracted by the wonderful lion dance performance and burst into cheers.
He picked up his heels and looked around but didn't find Long Xiaolan.
He secretly guessed: "Did Xiaolan come to see him, but her mother found out and was not allowed to go out? Or..."
While guessing, he couldn't help but look at his watch and laughed secretly: "I'm too impatient. There are still 15 minutes until 10 o'clock."