In previous years, Jiang Youliang wouldn't have been so devout, but what could he do when the two people he cared about most were one who was always running around doing business and the other who had to take the children home from school all year round?
Given how dangerous each of them is, how could he not be more devout?
After all that trouble, we were finally able to sit down and eat.
Looking at the table full of steaming hot food, Jiang Baichuan couldn't help but sigh, "If every family in our village could have such a hot meal when they invited guests, then the New Year would be much less of a hardship!"
After listening to his uncle's complaints, Jiang Xiaoman burst into laughter.
Isn't that right?
I don't know if this is the case all over the country or just here, but when we have guests for the New Year, we have to wait until all the dishes are ready before serving them all at once.
You should know that the temperature in the mountains is several degrees below zero right now!
After the dishes were cooked, they were set aside, and the surface cooled down in no time. By the time all the dishes were finished, the first and best ones were completely cold inside and out!
Therefore, during the Spring Festival in the past, Jiang Xiaoman was most afraid of visiting relatives with his father, especially during the meal. The table was full of greasy and cold meat dishes, and only the freshly stir-fried vegetables and the rice in the big pot were hot...
Imagine what it would feel like to eat a plate of cold braised pork in the dead of winter; that gives you an idea of how miserable it is to have a meal when visiting them for the New Year.
Now that he has more money and alcohol stoves are cheap, he simply bought ten at once to keep at home. This way, he can use them when entertaining guests during holidays or when he opens a bed and breakfast to cook for guests in the future.
Actually, it's more convenient to use a charcoal stove in the mountains, but his family has been busy building and renovating their house this year, and they haven't even had time to burn charcoal, so they can only use an alcohol stove for now.
On the dinner table, several main dishes were stewed on an alcohol stove, while other dishes were served in small enamel pots. When they got cold, they were warmed up on the brazier next to them. The family of three ate and chatted, with the Spring Festival Gala playing on TV. They ate from 7:00 to 10:30!
By this time, people outside had already started setting off fireworks, and Jiang Xiaoman took a few fireworks to join in the fun. However, since he didn't have any children at home, the excitement was a bit dull. After setting off two, he felt it was rather uninteresting and took the rest back inside.
"We'll save them for when Camellia and the others come over to play!" Jiang Xiaoman gave herself an excuse and put the rest of the fireworks away.
Upon hearing Jiang Xiaoman mention the three sisters, including Shancha, Jiang Youliang suddenly thought of his grandmother and granddaughter.
"Xiaoman, I see that Yueyue lives with her grandma and rarely gets to go out and play all year round. Why don't you ask her grandma if she can bring her to our house for a couple of days?"
Jiang Youliang's words reminded him.
"What a coincidence! Brother Xiaoyu said he'd bring the kids to our house for the third year of junior high. We'll ask them to bring Yueyue up too. As for Great-Grandma, she's too old, and there's still snow in the mountains. I'm afraid she can't handle traveling so far for a meal."
Jiang Xiaoman had another idea in mind. Jiang Cancan would be participating in the Spring Festival Gala of J Province TV on the second day of the Lunar New Year, so she definitely wouldn't have time to video chat with them. So, she would pick up Yueyue on the third day of the Lunar New Year and let the two sisters meet via video.
The matter was settled, and Jiang Youliang was very happy. He lived in the mountains and rarely had relatives or friends come to visit. The only time his home was lively was during the Spring Festival.
The three chatted for a while while listening to the background noise of the Spring Festival Gala, and even Jiang Baichuan, who never gossiped, couldn't help but share a piece of gossip with them—
"Xiaoman, do you still remember Camellia's utterly despicable grandmother? She released her before the Lunar New Year, and guess what happened?"
"What happened? Has the person been released? Did they cause trouble in our village?"
“Brother Xiaoyu was worried that she would take the Camellia Sisters back after she came out,” Jiang Xiaoman said immediately.
"Want more children? She doesn't even have a place to live herself now, how can she take care of three granddaughters?" Jiang Baichuan was rarely mean to people, but when he talked about Camellia's grandmother, a sneer appeared on his lips.
"This old hag thought she was selling her own granddaughter, but she didn't realize she had committed the biggest taboo in the village!"
"That mother and son actually dared to collude with human traffickers for such a small amount of money! Think about it, any family with a sane mind, even if they were starving to death, would be willing to sell their children. If she dared to collude with human traffickers once, who can guarantee that she won't do it a second or third time!"
"With people like that living in the village, how could anyone with children dare to go out to work?"
“I have a student from that area. I heard that Camellia’s great-uncle has personally intervened, on behalf of his deceased cousin, to divorce Camellia’s wife, reclaim the family’s homestead, and drive the old hag out of the village so she can no longer live there.”
"Serves her right! She even dared to sell her own granddaughter. Who knows, when she can't make ends meet, she'll set her sights on other children in the village. If it were me, I'd agree to kick her out too!" Jiang Xiaoman exclaimed, clapping her hands in admiration.
"Wait! Uncle, I remember the village has been promoting legal awareness, right? This... this isn't legal, is it? What if that old woman goes to the village committee to complain?" Jiang Xiaoman's laughter stopped halfway through.
It's so disheartening to see bad people protected by law!
"Why didn't they report it? Don't those people in the village committee have children? They may not now, but they will in the future. There are human traffickers living in the village. Do you think they don't feel uncomfortable?" Jiang Baichuan sneered. "I heard that the village committee sent someone over there as a formality to mediate a few words, saying that it was illegal for the brother to divorce his wife, so they had no choice but to return the house and land to that old man."
"And then? Uncle, just tell us already!" Jiang Xiaoman was impatient, feeling that her uncle had become bad too, and had even learned to keep people in suspense when telling stories.
Jiang Baichuan coughed, and Jiang Xiaoman quickly peeled two tangerines and offered them to him.
Jiang Baichuan ate a sweet tangerine to moisten his throat before slowly continuing the story—
"Did that old woman think that her life would be easier after she got the house and land back?"
"Sigh! It's the Lunar New Year, and all the migrant workers have come back! Some families don't grow their own vegetables, so they have to sneak into other people's fields and pluck some vegetables under the cover of darkness, right?"
"And then there are the mischievous boys in the village. When their families finally gave them some pocket money for the New Year, they bought firecrackers and kept throwing them at her yard, either blowing up her manure pit or throwing them over the wall into her yard."
"Pfft~ Wouldn't that old woman be scared to death?"
"More than that... I heard that a while ago some naughty kid squatted in front of her house and ate a pound of bananas. When that old woman went out to empty the chamber pot this morning, she tripped and fell hard! She peed and spit all over herself!"
"Hahaha~" Jiang Youliang and Jiang Xiaoman laughed so hard their thighs were almost bruised from slapping.
What a lovable person! Running to someone's doorstep to eat bananas late at night, how adorable!
“Her next-door neighbor heard her wailing early in the morning and kindly went over to check on her. The old woman begged them to call 120 for her, but the mountains were blocked by heavy snow and the ambulance couldn’t get through! Later, I heard that some relative from her family picked her up and took her away. I guess she’s too scared to come back this time.”
"Does someone like this still have relatives willing to associate with him?" Jiang Xiaoman asked in surprise.
"As long as you have some money in your pocket, who doesn't have relatives?" Jiang Baichuan sneered.
Camellia's father is already in jail and won't be out anytime soon. That old bastard thinks he can rely on relatives? Bah!
He'd seen this kind of thing far too often in the countryside! They'd just take the person over, confiscate their phone, and then an old woman would be left helpless, completely at their mercy.
Perhaps soon, rumors will circulate that the old house belonging to the Camellia family will be sold.
When the money from the sale goes to someone, is there any need to guess?
But why would he want to rescue such a vicious and cruel old woman?
Principal Baichuan, the embodiment of justice, occasionally pretends to be blind...
"Oh dear, it's almost eleven o'clock! Hurry! Let's make dumplings!"
Hearing the notification sound from the TV indicating that people could grab red envelopes every hour, Jiang Xiaoman stood up contentedly.
"Let's make them together, we'll have dumplings for breakfast tomorrow morning." Jiang Baichuan and Jiang Youliang also stood up.
Actually, there was no tradition of eating dumplings during the Spring Festival in Langshan. However, as more people went out to work, they brought the long-standing "dumpling culture" of China with them. Over time, it became popular to eat dumplings on the first day of the Lunar New Year here.
Jiang Xiaoman had reason to suspect that the reason why those people who went out to work advocated eating dumplings on the first day of the Lunar New Year was probably because they didn't want to eat leftovers—after all, in the past, they would just eat the leftovers from New Year's Eve on the first day of the Lunar New Year.
Jiang Xiaoman plans to make some cabbage and pork dumplings. Cabbage is at its best this season, even the stalks are sweet!
However, the cabbage filling must be made fresh. First, mince the pork, add two eggs, and stir clockwise continuously until the filling becomes sticky. Then add dark soy sauce, a spoonful of cooking wine, two spoonfuls of salt, and a spoonful of his own fried scallion oil, and mix well.
Then, finely chop the pre-washed and drained cabbage, wrap it in clean gauze, wring out the water, add chopped green onions, minced ginger, light soy sauce, chicken bouillon, five-spice powder, etc., mix well, and finally pour it into the minced meat and mix well together.
Jiang Youliang kneaded the dough and rolled out the wrappers, while Jiang Xiaoman and Jiang Baichuan made dumplings. In no time, they had filled two steamer baskets with dumplings.
At this time, the Spring Festival Gala had reached its finale. Jiang Xiaoman quickly poured water into the pot and asked her father to help start the fire. Just as the dumplings were cooked, she heard the crackling of firecrackers outside.
"It's still more festive to celebrate the New Year in the countryside. Now the city doesn't allow firecrackers anymore. It's very environmentally friendly, but I feel that if we don't make some noise during the New Year, it's not quite the same." Jiang Xiaoman scooped up a spoonful of cold water and let the dumplings boil again. She ran out and set off her family's New Year's Eve firecrackers. When she came back inside, the dumplings had all floated to the surface.
Jiang Youliang held a bowl, Jiang Baichuan served dumplings, and there was nothing for him to do. Jiang Xiaoman's eyes darted around, and he suddenly remembered the pickled garlic he had made before. He ran to open the jar and took out a bowl of pickled garlic.
Eating dumplings without garlic just doesn't feel like it's missing something.
Upon seeing the pickled garlic he brought out, Jiang Baichuan's expression immediately turned somewhat strange: "Your garlic isn't very big this year either? That's odd; I thought it was just my garlic that was smaller this year."
Jiang Xiaoman: "..."
Hehe~ These are the garlic bulbs you grew, Uncle!
When I went to dig, I forgot to tell you again...
Chapter 138
Worried that Jiang Baichuan would keep staring at the pickled garlic on the table, Jiang Xiaoman subtly changed the subject while eating dumplings.
"Uncle, don't you have several plots of land around your old house? If we don't need them for the time being, could I get some chrysanthemum seedlings to plant?"
"Huangju?"
"It's the kind of golden chrysanthemum that you can brew a cup of tea with just one flower. It's been very popular in recent years! I plan to grow some and sell it along with my honeysuckle."
"Modern people spend so much time on their phones and computers, right? After a while, their eyes get uncomfortable. Both of these herbal teas are cooling and good for the eyes!"
"You don't know, many of my fans are night owls. They're glued to their phones, playing all night long, and their eyes are ruined. They're always worried about buying chrysanthemum tea from outside, thinking it might have some weird stuff added. I feel more at ease making it myself."
"Moreover, the picking of honeysuckle and chrysanthemum requires manual labor. I can give priority to hiring parents of students from less well-off families to help me pick the flowers for tea, and I will pay them wages!"
Jiang Baichuan put down his chopsticks, thought for a moment, and nodded in agreement: "What's yours is yours! You can decide what to plant, but my land isn't very big, only a little over eight acres including the mountain land. Is that enough to plant?"
"That's enough! Chrysanthemums have a pretty high yield per acre!" Jiang Xiaoman nodded repeatedly. "Besides, this is my first time planting them, so I can't spread the business too thin all at once. I'll try planting them for a year first. If the results are good and I can manage, I'll go find other places to plant more next year."
Seeing that Jiang Xiaoman was careful and thoughtful in her actions, Jiang Baichuan nodded and decided to find a few diligent parents for his nephew later.
It wasn't that he favored his nephew; it was just that he frequently visited students' homes, and some parents were incredibly lazy!
How lazy are they?
Jiang Baichuan once encountered a student who had stomach problems every few days. At first, he thought the student was unwell, so he paid out of his own pocket to take him to the health center for a checkup. The doctor said that the student had excessive gut microbiota, which was probably due to unsanitary diet.
Jiang Baichuan personally oversees the hygiene of the school cafeteria. Seeing that the other students are all fine, the problem shouldn't be in the school cafeteria.
Later, Jiang Baichuan visited the student's home and made a special trip to the kitchen, which finally solved the case.
It turned out that his mother, in order to save trouble, would not wash the pot or the dishes after cooking. The next time she cooked, she would just rinse the surface oil with water and continue using it.
Over time, his pots and pans became like they had been patinated, with a layer of dark grease on the rim of the pots and rice grains stuck to the bottom of the bowls from who-knows-when... Jiang Baichuan almost vomited up his leftovers when he saw it!
The most bizarre thing is that this student's parents actually only had two children, and their family burden wasn't heavy. But they just absolutely refused to go out and work.
They also don't want to do housework, or wash the children's clothes and shoes.
Jiang Baichuan estimated that the sheets and blankets in his house were so bad that even a mouse would be suffocated by the stench.
The couple would spend all their free time glued to their phones, watching videos on Wi-Fi wherever they could find a spot, and only going home to cook when they were starving, completely disregarding whether their two children would go hungry.
Jiang Baichuan felt helpless when faced with such irresponsible parents.
He would never recommend such a lazybones to Jiang Xiaoman to work for.
After finishing their dumplings, the three of them quickly went back to their room to sleep.
Actually, I didn't sleep for very long. It felt like I had just lain down and hadn't even closed my eyes when I heard the sound of firecrackers on the first day of the Lunar New Year...
Jiang Youliang slept soundly until after five o'clock, before dawn, and woke his son up with a yawn to celebrate the first day of the Lunar New Year.