CH 43

May 23 2022

A delicious snack

“Changfeng, come and serve the dishes!”

When Xu Qing’s voice came from the kitchen, Li Changfeng quickly stood up, “Let’s eat first, we’ll talk after the meal.” Chen Qi nodded, sniffing the fragrance of the food in the air, he became hungrier. This morning, he wasn’t even in the mood to eat, and after walking so much, he was already very hungry.

“So what’s the matter?” while pouring water into the pot, Xu Qing asked Li Changfeng, who had just entered the door, “The Chen family and the Ma family broke off their engagement, but Chen Hong insisted on marrying Ma Fugui.” He really couldn’t understand what Chen Hong was thinking. But Xu Qing has already started to think of his own gers that have only grown up a little.

Xu Qing was also stunned, he never thought that Chen Hong would actually still want to marry Ma Fugui after hearing the truth, “Forget it, this is their family affair, let’s eat first, today I made your favorite braised pork.”

Braised pork

(credit: authentic-chinese-recipes.com)

Chen Qi went to Anle Village after lunch. He was going to find his wife. As a husband, there was something he couldn’t say.

***

It was already noon, there were smoke from cooking coming out of the villagers’ houses, but the Chen family had a cold pot and a cold stove. When Old Man Chen came back from work, he saw Chen Ama sitting in the yard with a blank expression.” Are you still angry? Have you cooked?”

“What cooking? I’m still full of anger; everyone is so worrisome!”

Old man Chen put the hoe away, listened to his wife’s words, and looked at the room where Chen Hong lived, “Xiaohong hasn’t come out yet?”

Chen Ama was so angry, “Not only him, but even Chen Qi and his wife are gone! At a time like this, the two of them just had to do this, worrying people!” Jiang Fan stayed for a while, he worked so hard on weekdays, but he didn’t see his favorability and trust rising.

Chen Hong was sitting in the room, with a gorgeous red robe in front of him, his slender fingers dexterously handling the threads, his eyes were calm as he sewed the wedding dress. He agreed to marry into the Ma family. He was indeed a little sad. When the marriage was cancelled, he didn’t care, but after he learned from his elder brother that it was Li Changfeng who told him about the Ma family, he felt that Brother Changfeng still had him in his heart. In that case, he is willing to make mistakes again and again, just to get a trace of worry from Li Changfeng.

***

After Xu Qing poured the thin stack of pig food in the piglet’s food tray, he looked at the fifteen chickens jumping around in the coop, and suddenly found that one of them was a little sullen, and Xu Qing carefully avoided it from the other chicks and picked it out.

“What’s wrong?” As soon as Li Changfeng turned around, he saw Xu Qing squatting on the ground and fiddling with something, and when he stepped forward, he saw the chicken in Xu Qing’s hand who was trying to escape his control, “I don’t think it’s in good spirits. Can you go get some water for me?”

After Li Changfeng brought the water over, Xu Qing carefully put the chicken down, pressed its small head, and moved it closer to the water, who knew that the chicken didn’t cooperate at all, but struggled even more.

Li Changfeng directly put the water in a pot that was not used very much in the chicken coop, and then put the chicken under Xu Qing’s hands into the chicken flock, “If there are more of the same species, its fear will dissipate.”

Xu Qing looked at the sullen chick who was drinking water with the rest after returning to the flock. He listened to what Li Changfeng said and felt that it was true, “Have you finished yet? Go on with it.” After Li Changfeng left, Xu Qing took the opportunity to drop a few drips of the spring water into the water basin. The chickens were keenly aware that the water was unusual. After a while, the water basin was surrounded by the chicks, which were desperately drinking the water inside. If it was cheating, Xu Qing would not be able to memorize the answer steps in such a short period of time.

“Changfeng, when you finish this, let’s go to the mountain.” Xu Qing remembered that there were a lot of mahogany on the periphery of the back mountain, which was a good thing for furniture. Reddish-brown to dark-brown, with obvious dark streaks, and the wood is shiny, interlaced and clear in texture, hard material, high in strength, wear-resistant and durable.

Li Changfeng buried his head and grinded the wooden board hard, and nodded, “Okay!” Anyway, there is not much farm work now, and it is a pleasure to accompany his wife to look around occasionally.

This season is a good time for wild fruit trees to bloom in the mountains. There are apricots and peach blossoms, as well as wild cherries. The wild cherry tastes a little bitter, but it is also one of the favorite fruits of the village children. The farmers are in tight hands. Few families could afford to bring snacks for the bear children at home. There are also some fruit trees on the outskirts of the back mountain, providing the children the sweets they long for.

When the couple went to the back mountain, Xu Qing was dazzled by the red in the east and the green in the west, “You say, doesn’t it look so beautiful?!” Li Changfeng nodded and said: “They are quite ripe, must be delicious.” They picked some fruits and brought them back home. Li Changfeng remembered that his mother and younger brother also liked to eat wild fruit. He and his other brothers were only greedy when they were young, but they became less interested when they grew up.

Zeng Ama was accompanying his husband carrying the chopped pine wood when he heard two people’s voices behind him, “Ah, isn’t this brother Qing!”

Xu Qing recognized Zeng Ama as soon as he saw him. At the beginning, he used this person’s mouth to spread the news that he had “treated” his face in the Lin’s pharmacy. “Changfeng, this is Zeng Ama from the village. His family also does woodwork.” Li Changfeng said hello to Zeng Ama with a wooden face, and then he stopped talking. When Xu Qing followed Zeng ama out, Xie Jingxian put down his pen and glanced over there.

“Zeng Amo, what are you two doing here?” Xu Qing looked at the pine wood in front of Zeng Ama and guessed that Uncle Zeng from Zeng Ama’s family was a woodworker, so they probably came to the mountain to collect wood.

Zeng Ama stopped the movements of his hand with a smile and deliberately fixed the extremely secured-in-place silver hairpin on his head, “Well, your Uncle Zeng has taken over a few more jobs! The wood at home is not enough, so we had to come and collect some more.”

“What’s wrong, you can’t pull it anymore? I’d help if I knew it earlier!” A short, stout, middle-aged man, holding a knife in his hand, said to Zeng Ama; his tone was very gentle. This was Uncle Zeng.

“Sure. Why don’t you stop and chat with Brother Qing and his husband!” Zeng Ama let Uncle Zeng take the things in his hand, “I made you laugh, my husband just can’t bear to let me suffer, and he would do more work! It’s annoying!”

Xu Qing listened to Zeng Ama’s deliberately high tone, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, this person is really…He frowned slightly, thought for a moment, got up and followed.

“The young couple is going to the mountains; we will go first. When you have time, come to our house to hang out, and the gers in the family are all married out. The house is so quiet and boring!” Uncle Zeng’s round face was full of excitement; his gentle smile is like that of a laughing Buddha. They only have a small business at home, talking like this with this tone just annoys people.

Zeng Ama has only two gers in total, both of them are married, and there are only the two old people left in the family. Zeng Ama is really not used to the days when no one’s around to gossip.

“Alright, just don’t think we’re annoying then,” Xu Qing was really embarrassed when he spoke. In the village, there was already someone who makes furniture, and people in the village usually looked for him, but since he was only one person, the furniture business is just right for his own family

Looking at the back of Uncle Zeng and Zeng Ama leaving, Li Changfeng looked at Xu Qing thoughtfully, “Do you really want to go to their house?” Xu Qing: “…”.

Rosewood is just a general term for a kind of wood. It was what Xu Qing is looking for. This type of wood is roughly divided into three categories: black rosewood, red rosewood, and white rosewood, of which, it was the red rosewood tree that was in front of Xu Qing and Li Changfeng at this time. After a few rounds of results were released, everyone found out that it was too early for them to be surprised.

Xu Qing remembered that the teacher said in class that rosewood was the main raw material for mahogany furniture in the Qing Dynasty. Even after hundreds of years, the furniture made of rosewood will still look new as long as it is moistened with a little varnish. Excellent, they found the kind historically appreciated by the world. Better reading experience on h olo lo nov els for sure.

The color of rosewood is dark and light red. Generally, the quality is high, and the texture is clear and varied. The rosewood furniture is polished and painted, smooth and sleek, durable and lustrous, giving out a kind of pure and subtle beauty. Not only the rosewood tree usually is large, but the wood quality is also great, and the manufacturing process is more exquisite. In the modern concept, it is the real mahogany furniture.

“Changfeng, just these few trees, make a mark.”

These trees are relatively old, perfect for making the furniture. Xu Qing thought of his own house, but the mahogany furniture wouldn’t match the décor he had in mind.

After marking the trees, the two entered in the periphery of the mountain, Li Changfeng was leaning against Xu Qing when all of a sudden, he covered Xu Qing’s mouth with his big hand and hugged him, squatting down.

“Shh, don’t talk, there’s someone!” Li Changfeng whispered against Xu Qing’s ear, Xu Qing was so puzzled, what happened with having others in the public place to hide like this! Just as he was about to take Li Changfeng’s hand away, Xu Qing heard a sound not far away.

“Lighter, you bastard!”

“What lighter, don’t you just like it when I work so hard?”

“Disgusting! Ah…” Xu Qing shook his head: “No, I just think… How come you have made so much progress.” He was puzzled, but he was happy.

This is a proper encounter with people ‘fighting’! At this moment, Xu Qing honestly stayed in Li Changfeng’s arms and did not move. If he made a sound when moving around, it would be embarrassing for everyone.

Li Changfeng was afraid that Xu Qing would be tired from squatting, so he deliberately sat down slowly, let Xu Qing sit on his lap, and said “Don’t look!” Li Changfeng covered Xu Qing’s sneaking eyes with his hand, he didn’t want these things to dirty Xu Qing’s eyes!

Xu Qing’s eyes that wanted to take a peek were so ruthlessly covered, he just wanted to pull the big hand in front of him with his hand, but he was caught by Li Changfeng, who understood his actions, “Be obedient!” “If you keep your voice low, you will lift the roof off.” Xu Qing said calmly, “I’ve been practicing calligraphy since the summer vacation.”

When Xu Qingzheng was about to struggle, another sound came from there.

“How is it? Do I make you more comfortable than the man in your family?” This voice sounded like a hooligan, but, what does this mean, the two of them are committing adultery?

“Then do I satisfy you better than your wife?” This voice was almost identical to that of the fat matchmaker who came to his house before to propose a marriage.