allonlinenovel Chapter 41 An Uninvited Guest Arrives at the House!
Chapter 41 An Uninvited Guest Arrives at the House!
Shen Qingchuan paused for a moment, then quickly regained his composure.
"I've been resting at home all this time, and my injury has healed a long time ago. It's just that my sister-in-law is afraid that I will relapse, so she won't let me do anything. I'm so bored that I'm about to go crazy."
Lin Xingwang smiled and nodded, "That's true, young people recover quickly, but since you've just recovered, it's best not to lift heavy objects."
He couldn't help but sigh inwardly, this eldest son of the Shen family really was as honest and capable as the rumors said!
Previously, one of them lived at the east end of the village and the other at the west end. They had only heard of Shen's eldest son but never seen him work. Now, seeing him leading his wife and daughter to move to the west end of the village after separating from the family, and with his injury just healed, he and his wife carrying a long and thick log, was truly an eye-opener.
The rumors are true!
"Thank you for your concern, Brother Xingwang. I know my own body. It's just two logs, it's no big deal."
"Alright, I'm in a hurry to get home to feed the cattle, so I'll talk to you later."
They just exchanged a few polite words and didn't offer to lend a hand.
However, Shen Qingchuan was an honest man, and he never expected others to help him with anything he could do himself.
Just as Lin Xingwang left, several more villagers walked over.
It was Shen Gou Dan and Li Er Niu.
Because their family has four mu of dry land at the west end of the village, Shen Qingchuan and his wife have been farming, weeding, and tending to the crops for years. As a result, they know several households in the west end of the village whose fields are next to theirs.
Shen Gou Dan was a lively and talkative man. When he saw Shen Qingchuan and his wife carrying a thick, long log and leading their two daughters, he immediately pulled Li Er Niu along to catch up.
"Hey, Qingchuan, you just broke your ribs a while ago. Are you fully recovered? You're already lifting such heavy logs. If you get injured from overexertion, that would be terrible. Why are you pushing yourself so hard? Didn't we split up the family?"
In the entire Guihua Village, everyone knows that before the Shen family divided their property, the eldest son, Shen Qingchuan, and his wife did all the work on the twenty mu of land. They not only raised pigs and chickens, but also ground tofu and delivered it to the town every day. They treated people like oxen.
Now things are fine, they've separated.
The eldest couple can finally catch their breath!
However, Shen Qingchuan's injury had just healed, and he was in a hurry to chop wood and carry it home. He really had too much energy to spare, and he wasn't afraid of relieving his old injury.
Shen Qingchuan smiled憨厚ly and replied, "The injury has long since healed. It's just that I haven't worked for a few months. The house was just repaired, and there are still many things to buy, so I chopped down two pieces of wood."
He hadn't built the tipper yet, and didn't even know how it would turn out. He had only just started cutting wood, so there was no need to mention building the tipper to anyone. He simply said he needed it to buy other things.
“You’re not idle even after the family splits up. You can do the same thing again later. Sigh, the sun is really scorching. It’s so hot that it makes people feel chest tightness and shortness of breath. You have to be careful.”
Li Erniu also expressed his concern, saying, "I don't know where God went to doze off. It hasn't rained for three months in a row. The crops in the fields are about to die from drought. If there is no harvest, we will have to dig up wild vegetables and eat tree bark after we finish the little grain we have left."
Shen Qingchuan and his wife carried the logs and led their two daughters forward, and they were both a little out of breath from exhaustion.
"Sigh, there's nothing we can do. Farmers depend on the weather for their livelihood. Everyone hopes for rain, but who knows when it will rain? We just hope that God will open his eyes soon."
Shen Gou Dan and Er Niu nodded in agreement, "We won't argue with you about what you're saying. We farmers really do depend on the weather for our livelihood and rely on the weather for our harvest."
The two sighed and said goodbye to them before heading back to the village.
When the family of four returned home, Shen Qingchuan and Liu carried the wood into the yard, panting heavily as they sat on stools.
Shen Xiaotang put down her basket and threw all the leaves inside into the pigsty.
Seeing her parents covered in sweat, she felt very sorry for them.
She was only six years old, just a little girl. She only suggested building a waterwheel to irrigate the dry fields. Her parents didn't suspect anything and immediately started cutting wood to build it.
Based solely on her parents' trust in her, she is determined to lead her family to a better life.
"Father, Mother, Xiaoyu, you two rest first, I'll go cook."
Liu said, panting, "Tang'er, your mother and father aren't hungry yet. You should rest for a while before cooking. There's no rush."
"Mom, I'm not tired. Cooking isn't a tiring job."
She first went to the vegetable garden and picked a handful of green beans, two large eggplants, a few green peppers, and two cucumbers. After quickly preparing them, she washed them, cut them into sections and slices, and diced the eggplants.
After preparing the ingredients, she cleaned the large iron pot, lit a fire with firewood, and heated the oil in the pot.
The oil in the jar was rendered from the fat of a piece of meat she had fried with her mother and sister in town more than two months ago. They had been consuming it sparingly, and it was almost empty.
Wait, she needs to go to town to buy some more fatty meat and bring back some big bones that the butcher doesn't want!
The oil in the pan sizzled and produced a thick cloud of smoke. She first put the non-spicy green peppers into the pan and stir-fried them for a few seconds. Then she immediately threw in the chopped green beans and stir-fried them together. She sprinkled a little salt on top, and a plate of green peppers and green beans was ready.
Then she cracked an egg, put it into the diced eggplant, and mixed it well.
There was no other way; there was no starch in this era, so she couldn't even make a braised eggplant dish. She could only try using eggs instead.
Once the pan was hot, she immediately put the eggplant pieces, which had been beaten with eggs, into the oil.
The pot sizzled for a while, and she picked up the spatula and carefully stirred it a few times.
very good!
The egg coated some eggplant pieces without breaking apart!
She picked up two green peppers, chopped them into pieces, threw them in and stir-fried them together. When she saw that they were almost done, she turned off the heat and served the dish.
I made another cucumber salad, but since I didn't have any vinegar, I just ate it anyway.
Three dishes, four boiled eggs, and some corn porridge.
There was no other way; when the family divided their property, the stepmother gave them only corn, not a single grain of brown rice.
Once the rice in the fields is ripe, we can eat rice and drink rice porridge!
After the meal was prepared and served, the couple had rested enough. They got up, washed their faces, and told their youngest daughter to wash her hands. The family then sat down to eat together.
Smelling the fragrant dishes, Shen Qingchuan praised, "Tang'er's cooking is so delicious! Just the smell alone makes one want to eat two more bowls of rice!"
Liu also said, "Yes, don't underestimate Tang'er just because she's young. Her cooking skills are exceptional, even better than mine."
"My sister's cooking makes us all...all so plump and healthy!"
"Okay, it's delicious, let's all eat more."
The family peeled the eggs, ate them with vegetables and drank corn porridge, and enjoyed their meal very much.
Suddenly, the front door was pushed open from the outside, and an uninvited guest entered the house!
Suddenly, Madam Sun led her youngest son in!
She had been lying in bed all morning, and it was already noon, but she still didn't want to cook. Seeing her two lazy daughters-in-law and remembering how they were ganging up on her, she felt a surge of anger.
For the past three months, no one has been working in the fields, and the weeds in the sixteen mu of land have grown overgrown. She is getting anxious and stressed, and she can't even lie down comfortably these days.
She had just heard from the villagers that her eldest son's injury had healed, so she immediately took her youngest son, who had just finished school, and headed towards the west end of the village.
As soon as she entered the boss's room, she smelled the aroma of food, which made her mouth water.