Chapter 31： valuable

Chapter 31 Value

After finishing packing, Ying Bao, her father, mother and brother went to wish her grandparents New Year greetings.

While walking on the road, I saw two children jumping on bamboo poles.

There are colored paper horse heads on the bamboo poles. They are the two bamboo horse sets that Yingbao gave to Yuanbao and Huzi.

"Haha! Drive! Drive! Rush!" Yuan Bao and Hu Zi ran away in a flash, attracting the surrounding children to follow.

There were several children in the village who had the same horse head, so they lined up in a row and competed with each other to see who could run the fastest.

Those children without horse heads could only ride on a bare pole and follow behind, looking lonely and lackluster.

Yingbao felt like laughing when she saw it, and suddenly the idea of ​​trying it came up.

But this is a boy's game. Girls cannot play it and are not allowed to play it.

When you arrive at your uncle’s house, you first kowtow to your grandparents to pay New Year greetings, and then to your eldest uncle and your mother to pay New Year greetings. When your second uncle arrives, you kowtow to your second uncle to pay New Year greetings, and then you kowtow to your parents again.

Yingbao's head was knocked dizzy after all this work.

Dani and Erni did not give in too much, and they both knelt in a circle.

After the New Year greetings, the auntie ate dumplings and rice cakes.

The dumplings are stuffed with shepherd's purse and pork, and are very delicious. Yingbao is a small person, and he couldn't hold back after eating seven of them, so he had no choice but to give up.

The rice cake is made of glutinous rice and red beans, with honey added inside. It is sweet and glutinous and very delicious.

Yingbao took a piece of red bean rice cake in her hand and went out to play with Sister Dani and Sister Erni.

There are very few games that girls can play. Most of them stand on the edge and watch the boys running around, watching them ride on bamboo poles and divide into two teams to play the game of two armies.

Ying Bao lost interest after looking at it for a while and proposed to go home and sleep.

She still had a lot of work to do in the cave, and she couldn't settle down at all.

So she said goodbye to her cousin, went home alone, climbed onto the kang and got into bed.

The first day of the Lunar New Year is a leisurely and happy day. In addition to eating and drinking, the villagers rush to each other's doors to congratulate each other on the New Year.

Only Ying Bao had a hard time. After working in the cave for a whole day, the skin on both of his palms became bald.

Sigh, next time you must not grow so much food. You will die from exhaustion if you just rely on yourself to do the work, and you cannot ask others to help you.

The next day, Ying Bao and her parents went to her grandmother’s house ten miles away to pay New Year greetings. They had lunch there and hurried back in the afternoon.

In the evening, I went to check with my aunt's family who came back from the county town and harvested a silk flower.

 with a sallow complexion and not in good spirits. This time she only brought her youngest son, who is about the same age as Yuan Bao, with her when she returned to her parents' home.

Yingbao was not familiar with her aunt's family. She seemed to have only seen her once in her previous life. Even though she later settled in the county town, she never thought of looking for her.

While busy, a new month has passed.

In February, the dragon raises its head, and the spring rain has been pouring for a few days. When the rain has passed and the sky has cleared, the ice and snow have melted and the weather has warmed up.

On the five mulberry trees in Yingbao Cave, more than a dozen golden ears as big as an adult's palm have grown, like golden pig brain flowers, which are very beautiful and pleasing to the eye.

Carefully cut off one flower and put it in a pottery bowl. The root was divided into several parts by cherry blossoms and planted on a dozen dry mulberry trees.

Before planting, she had drilled holes into the mulberry trees with scissors and filled them with finely chopped wheat straw and rice husks.

After that, sprinkle water once a day and wait for them to grow back.

On this day, Yingbao took Youyou and Dani Erni to pick up ground vegetables in the wild, and walked into a small forest. When the two cousins ​​were not paying attention, they took out two golden ears from the cave and put them in the basket.

“Let’s go home.” Dani straightened up, picked up the basket and said, “I’ve already picked up half of the basket.”

Yingbao nodded immediately: "Go home."

Erni also agrees.

The three little sisters each walked back with a basket in their arms. After passing a small river ditch, Dani dipped the basket in the water to wash the vegetables.

After the vegetables are washed and tender, boil them with bean dregs at home. They will be fragrant and filling. This is a survival dish for poor families during the lean season.

Village people usually pick up ground vegetables after the early spring rain, wash them clean and then dry them in the sun, put them in baskets, and hang them on the beams of the house as spare food.

  Occasionally grab a handful, soak it, and cook it with wild vegetables, which can also be used for a meal and a half.

Dani carried her little cousin's basket and was about to help wash it. Suddenly she saw two strange mushrooms in the basket. She asked curiously: "Yingbao, what are these?" "Golden Ears." Yingbao answered truthfully.

Dani was surprised: "What golden ears? Where did you pick them? Isn't it poisonous?"

Yingbao shook his head: "It's picked in the woods. It's not poisonous. If you like it, we can eat it too."

Yoyo turned her head and looked over, blinking her big eyes with an innocent look on her face.

Dani picked up the golden ear and put it under her nose and smelled it, "Hey, it smells a bit fragrant."

Golden fungus has a faint medicinal aroma, like the smell of osmanthus.

Erni also took it and sniffed it, wrinkled her nose, and put it back: "It doesn't smell good." She didn't like this fragrance.

Yingbao clasped the two golden ears in her lapels, shook her head and said, "These are medicinal materials, they are very valuable."

The two little girls did not comment, washed the vegetables, and took their little cousin home.

As soon as he got home, Ying Bao handed two golden ears to Chun Niang, "Mom, can we cook this?"

Chunniang picked it up and looked at it, frowning: "What is this? Who told you that it is edible? Bao'er, if you eat something you don't recognize, you will be poisoned. We can't eat it blindly."

Ying Bao paused and made up a lie, "This is the Golden Ear. The old lady in the West Village said that the Golden Ear is very valuable. They are sold in the city for dozens of taels of silver per box."

"What?" Chun Niang's eyes widened immediately when she heard the word "valuable", "Which old woman in the West Village?"

Ying Bao scratched her head, "I don't know her name."

Chunniang automatically thought that Wu Jiaoyi's mother in Xicun was the mother-in-law of the midwife, Fourth Aunt Wu.

If Grandma Wu really said this, it is really possible. After all, Grandma Wu’s deceased wife once worked as a clerk in a county drug store, and her family initially made a fortune by collecting and selling medicinal materials.

Moreover, her fourth son also knows a little bit about the art of Qihuang, and even her fourth wife is a famous midwife in the village.

Chunniang picked up the golden ear again, looked at it, and muttered: "Is it really so valuable?"

The family is short of money now. Last time Jiang Erlang and Li borrowed fifteen taels of silver from Jiang Da and Sanlang, their parents also scraped together some, and they even sold two sheep at home for this purpose.

It has only been two months. Although Jiang Erlang no longer takes medicine, he still cannot pay back the money.

Moreover, Jiang Sanlang said that it would never be too late to wait until the second brother has money.

That’s why Chun Niang was so poor that she couldn’t even afford thirty coins.

But these things cannot be told to the little girl.

“Mom, why don’t you let dad take it to the drugstore in town to see if it’s really valuable?” Ying Bao added to her anger.

Chunniang's mind was slightly moved.

Yes, let your husband take it to the drugstore to identify it. What if it is really valuable?

“Yes, just two.” Chun Niang hesitated.

Yingbao knew what her mother was worried about, so she whispered, "I can still find a lot more."

She gestured with her little hand, "So many."

"Really?" Chun Niang's eyes lit up, "I'll go and see it with you."

Yingbao shook his head and said, "No, I'll get it now."

As he said that, he ran out of the yard and slipped into the woods at the door. After a while, he ran out with two mulberry sticks and handed them to Chun Niang.

Chunniang was shocked.

On two black mulberry sticks grew a dozen or so bright golden ears, each one bigger than a fist and extremely beautiful.

“This” Chun Niang held the mulberry stick carefully, for fear of accidentally breaking one.

"When your father comes back, ask him to show it to Grandma Wu of Xicun first to see if it is really valuable."

ˆ Yingbao:.

Do you know what it means to shoot yourself in the foot?

"No! Let's go to the town. Mr. Li must know more than Mrs. Wu."

Chunniang thought it right and nodded in agreement.

(End of this chapter)