Chapter 7： water chestnuts

Chapter 7 Water Chestnuts

 Jiang Sanlang hummed softly, scooped up two ladles of water, took off the sweat towel from his shoulders and rubbed it twice in the basin, washed his face three or five times, and wiped his neck and arms.

Finally cool.

Looking again, the water in the basin was completely black.

After pouring the water, he saw his wife coming over holding her waist.

“Sanlang, put the vegetable soup and noodles under the basket. Yingbao and I have already used them. You can eat them quickly.”

"Okay." Jiang Sanlang nodded and took out a large bowl of shepherd's purse soup, five black flour pancakes, and a boiled goose egg from under the basket.

“Where did you get the goose eggs?” Jiang Sanlang sat down at the small table, rolled up a piece of cake and took a big bite.

"Dani sent it over." Chun Niang took a cattail fan to cool her husband, and gave Ying Bao a few fan blows as well. "Bring two, Ying Bao and I will eat one, and leave this one for you."

Jiang Sanlang took a sip of the vegetable soup, then picked up the pancake and munched, "I'll give you the goose eggs for tomorrow. People say that if pregnant women eat goose eggs, the babies they give birth to will be white. Why would a man like me eat this? It's a waste!"

Chun Niang laughed and said, "Nonsense, why are you wasting your food? Ying Bao and I have boiled eggs every day, as well as screw shrimps and loach sent by my eldest nephew, including this goose egg. Hurry up After eating, if you **** the ground under the bright sun on such a hot day, you will get the heat if you don't touch the meat."

As he spoke, he picked up the goose egg and knocked it on the corner of the table a few times, breaking the shell into pieces, and handed it to her husband.

Jiang Sanlang had no choice but to take it and peel off the shell bit by bit.

Chun Niang sat down on a high stool, waving the cattail leaf fan to cool her husband and daughter. She saw two hens at home surrounding the little daughter, as if begging for food. She said softly: "It's strange to say that these two hens in our family are... The chickens have gained a lot of weight recently and are laying eggs more diligently. They lay two eggs a day, both of which are double yolks. "

Yingbao looked up at her mother, then squatted on the ground and played with the chicken's head and feathers.

Two hens cooed and pecked their little master's toes very affectionately.

Hearing this, Jiang Sanlang paused and frowned, "They are probably fed with earthworms. Didn't Dani often take Yingbao to dig earthworms to feed the chickens these days? The chickens are strong and naturally lay eggs frequently."

"That's right." Chun Niang looked at her daughter with a smile, the more she looked at her, the happier she became.

 Ying Baoer is getting more and more beautiful, with pink makeup and delicate eyebrows like a doll in a New Year painting. Even though I was running around all day and being exposed to the wind and sun, I didn't get a bit darker.

Looking at the other children in the village, after the summer harvest, they all looked like black loaches, and it was almost impossible to see them.

"Bao'er, come on, open your mouth." Jiang Sanlang picked up a piece of egg yolk with chopsticks and stuffed it into his daughter's mouth, then gave another piece to his wife, and then ate the remaining goose egg.

After dinner, the family of three lay down on mats and took a nap.

Yingbao couldn't sleep. When her parents fell asleep, she got up and slipped out of the yard.

Two hens followed her step by step.

The three little ones came to a small dry ditch.

This is the earthworm base that Yingbao and Sister Dani often visit. The soil in the ditch is rich and fertile, which is suitable for raising seedlings.

Yingbao squatted in the pit and dug a shovelful of soil. She shoveled the soil with some fallen leaves into a small bamboo basket, then carried it back to her vegetable patch and spread it around the saplings.

She was so tired after two trips back and forth that she sat down on the ground to rest.

Suddenly I slapped my forehead and realized that I had an invisible mobile warehouse. It would be no problem to transport some soil.

Hey, people have really become smaller and their heads have become rusty.

Looking around, there was no one around. It was noon, and everyone was at home to escape the heat, so no matter what I did, no one would see me.

Yingbao immediately became nervous and picked up a shovel to shovel the soil.

Shovel once and collect once, shovel once and collect once.

Soon, she harvested a large area of ​​fertile soil in the dry ditch.

The two hens cooed anxiously when they saw that they could not eat the insects. They tilted their heads and looked at their owner in confusion.

Ying Bao apologized for touching them and promised: "Wait a moment, when Sister Dani comes, you will have bugs to eat."

She had to collect more soil when no one was around so that she could grow seedlings later.

"Bao'er, what are you doing?" Jiang Sanlang woke up and his daughter was missing. He hurriedly went out to look for her. No, he saw his daughter squatting in a ditch with her face and hands covered in black dirt. She didn't know what she was doing.

Yingbao suddenly stood up and ran over. The two hens followed closely behind her, running so fast that their wings fluttered.

“Dad, Bao’er dug earthworms for the chickens to eat.” Ying Bao dumped the blame on his companions without blushing.

Two hens: She is lying! She lied! She ate it all herself, not even the dirt was left. Jiang Sanlang took his daughter home, wiped off the dirt on her body, washed her hands and face, placed her next to Chun Niang, squeezed the little knot on her head, and threatened: "Sleep! If you dare to run around alone again, be careful to spank her." !”

Yingbao giggled, nestled next to her mother, and made a face at her father.

Jiang Sanlang stood up and said to his wife: "The sun is not so strong outside. I'm going to **** the remaining land. You should be careful at home and don't go out for a walk. Look at the little cherry blossoms again and don't let her go out. Running around."

"Yes, I understand." Chun Niang leaned on the couch, touched her daughter's little head, and said softly: "Bao'er has really been wild recently. If he is not careful, he will disappear. I can't catch up. You can go back later. Call Danni from the front and ask her to come over and play with our Yingbao."

"good."

Jiang Sanlang went to the kitchen to fill a can of cold boiled water, put on his straw hat, and went out with the hoe.

Not long after, Dani ran over, followed by her youngest brother Yuanbao.

“Third Aunt, let’s play with Yingbao.” Dani said.

Chunniang was walking back and forth in the house. When she saw her niece and nephew, she smiled and waved: "Dani is here, come in quickly, the third aunt will make you some sugar water, eh? Doesn't Yuanbao have any homework today?"

Yuanbao is six years old this year. He has just entered a private school for enlightenment in the spring. Going to school every day feels like going to the execution ground, and coming back is like a monkey descending a mountain.

"No, no homework." Yuan Bao sniffed and looked downcast.

He didn’t understand why all the adults liked to ask him this question when they met him. Couldn’t he say something pleasant?

Yingbao ran over and held her little cousin's hand, "Brother Yuanbao, can you read to Yingbao?"

Yuanbao touched the back of his head, his face full of confusion: "I, I only know the Three Character Classic." The first few paragraphs.

Alas, I shouldn’t have come with my eldest sister.

"How about brother Yuanbao reading the Three Character Classic?" Although Yingbao is literate, he can't let his parents know.

Only if I have more contact with Yuanbao and learn more, can I dare to reveal it a little bit.

Yuanbao couldn't stand the expectant look in his little cousin's eyes, so he had no choice but to clear his throat and start to recite: "In the beginning, people are inherently good by nature, similar in nature, and distant in habits..."

After memorizing "Three talents are the benevolence of heaven and earth", Yuan Bao started to stumble and scratch his ears and cheeks.

Yingbao clapped her little hands and praised, "Brother Yuanbao is so awesome!"

Yuan Bao blushed, but his small chest straightened up instantly.

Chunniang greeted: "Come here quickly and drink sugar water. Yuanbao, ignore your sister, come quickly and drink water to moisten your throat."

"Yeah." Yuan Bao breathed a sigh of relief and quickly ran over to avoid his little cousin.

Yingbao snickered and ran to drink water.

After drinking the brown sugar water, the three children stayed in the house for a while. They felt bored, so they ran out of the yard and fished for bugs in the woods in front of the door.

Yuan Bao was the most familiar with this game. He picked a handful of locust leaves and pulled them off, leaving only the slender stems.

He lay down on the ground to find a few small wormholes, poked a thin leaf stem into it, patted the ground with his hand, and shouted: "Ma Gou, Ma Gou, come out quickly!"

Then with a slight twitch, a small green and white insect was caught on the leaf stem.

Yuan Bao laughed loudly, wiped his nose with the back of his hand, and showed Ying Bao a small insect.

Yingbao took a few steps back, she didn't want to play such a little kid's game.

He turned to Dani and said, "Sister Dani, would you like to go pick up the water chestnuts?"

 Their small mountain village has rice fields, and you can find many small water chestnuts in the paddy fields, which taste sweet.

Dani was also very moved and immediately nodded in agreement.

So Yingbao went home and told her mother-in-law, and ran to the nearby paddy fields with Dani Yuanbao.

In the paddy field, the seedlings have just taken root, and the small water chestnuts are also quietly sprouting.

Dani and Yuanbao took off their shoes and stepped into the paddy field. They bent down and dug out a handful of small, round water chestnuts. They quickly pulled out a pocketful of small, round, black water chestnuts.

This kind of water chestnut is only the size of a fingernail and tastes sweet and refreshing. Yuan Bao immediately stuffs a few into his mouth.

(End of this chapter)