Chapter 623: Jia Zhang’s Noodles
After work, Yang Xiaotao looked at the sky and rode to the courtyard.
Pedestrians hurried along the way, and the gray earthen walls looked solemn under the gloomy sky.
A group of children were playing in the alley, hugging each other and falling somersaults from time to time, and some were squatting in the corner to watch the ants move, which was very novel.
Nowadays, there are insufficient educational resources in the city. There are a lot of children, and fair education is advocated. When the educational resources are averaged, everyone is the same. There is no school district housing like in later generations, so as long as they are of the appropriate age, most people will go to school.
In this way, if the classroom is not enough, students can only be divided into two groups and study for half a day.
These children are representatives of going to school in the morning and free-range in the afternoon.
I think about the children on the farm. If there are more children next year, they will only be like those in the city, half-farming and half-schooling.
Thinking in my heart, I kept walking.
I have just returned home and tidied up. The dark clouds in the sky have come down and the wind has begun to stagnate. Between the sky and the earth, a boring person can sweat.
A calm before the storm.
Intermediate Courtyard
Jia Zhang was sitting at the door, fanning herself with a cattail leaf fan, glaring at Qin Huairu.
Usually Qin Huairu would have come back early at this time, but now the whole family is waiting to eat and the steamed buns brought back, but there is no one around.
In the room, Banggan lay tiredly on the bed and kept complaining that he was hungry.
Ever since he was asked to work by the sub-district office, Banggan’s appetite has been like a bottomless pit, and he can eat more and more every day.
Nowadays, a person has to add two steamed buns to eat one steamed bun. On days when there is no oil and water, he eats more.
"Milk, why hasn't mom come back yet?"
"I'm so hungry!"
Banggeng turned over and Xiaodang beside him was also holding his stomach.
"Who knows where I'm going? It's almost raining, and I don't know if my family is still hungry."
Jia Zhang's stomach growled and she said angrily.
"Is there anything to eat at home?"
"A few cold steamed buns, eat first when you are hungry!"
Jia Zhang pointed to the pot on the table Three steamed buns, Banggeng shook his head, he wanted to wait to eat steamed buns.
Xiaodang walked over, picked up the two steamed buns and started eating them.
She knew that even if her mother brought back the steamed buns, it would not be her share.
In the past, she could share half of it with her grandma, but then her brother couldn't eat enough, so her portion gradually decreased.
In the end, there were only two poor people.
On the contrary, grandma’s half has never been reduced.
Ah...
Ah...
On the bed, the little Sophora japonica suddenly started crying.
Jia Zhang ran over and took a look. She was hungry.
"Why are you crying, little brat, you lose money? I really owe you."
"Working as a cow and horse for this family, taking care of my mother-in-law who left, raising my eldest son, and now I have to take care of your little one. I will never have a comfortable day in my life!"
Jia Zhang's mouth He was scolding, but Bangge didn't care. Anyway, he was the only man in the family. Without him, who would take care of him in old age?
Front yard
Xu Damao walked in happily carrying a pig intestine. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Yan Fugui sitting on the threshold and sighing.
Between the gray doorframe and a thin old man sitting there with a melancholy expression, he felt desolate no matter how he looked at it.
Xu Damao rolled his eyes and approached Yan Fugui.
"Uncle Yan, are you cooling down?"
"Da Mao! You're back!"
Yan Fugui agreed, after all, the title of Uncle Yan still made him very happy. Satisfied.
Seeing the pig intestines in Xu Damao's hand, he added, "You are living a happy life!"
"Hey!"
Xu Damao sat aside and snorted in his heart, I am not forced by you.
"It's good to be alone. I can eat whatever I want. I don't have the burden of raising a son, and I have less worries."
Yan Fugui stopped talking. There has been a lot of commotion in his family recently. .
Yan Jiecheng and his wife stopped paying. From now on, this gap will open up, and the following three children will follow suit. How will they support themselves in old age?
Seeing Yan Fugui's silence, Xu Damao took out half a box of cigarettes from his pocket and handed one to Yan Fugui.
Yan Fugui reached out and refused. How could he be in the mood to smoke, not to mention that it belonged to Xu Damao.
Now, smelling the smell around me, it’s good that I didn’t chase him away.
Xu Damao took out a match, lit it with a hiss, and took a big puff. After a while, half of the cigarette turned into ashes.
"Xu Damao, if you have something to say, just say it. If you have nothing to do, go home and wash yourself. Don't bury people here."
"Hey, Uncle Yan, something really happened." Yan Fugui shook off the cigarette ashes, "I, now I have brought bad breath to your family."
"Bad breath? What bad breath? We don't have any bad breath in our family. If you suffer evil, stop talking nonsense. "
Xu Damao chuckled, walked up to Yan Fugui and whispered, "Today I..."
As Xu Damao spoke, a smile appeared on Yan Fugui's face, and in the end it even Laughed.
“Da Mao, you are qualified for what you are doing!”
"If this kind of thing is discovered, we must stop it resolutely and never tolerate it."
"Of course, we are the same, we all have a jealous temper, and we can't get rid of the sand in our eyes."
Xu Da Mao stood up and said, "Uncle Yan, it's going to rain. I'll go back first."
"Okay!"
Yan Fugui stood up to see him off. When Xu Damao passed the hanging flower gate, Yan Fugui Gui spat thick phlegm on the ground.
"Who is like you! Shameless guy!"
Turn around, "Mother, good news, good news!"
"Bah!"
Same for Xu Damao Spit on the wall, "I just use your money to piss you off."
Boom
The low thunder sounded, as if telling everyone that rain was coming.
A moment later, bean-like raindrops hit the ground, popping continuously.
In the yard, all the ripe tomatoes and cucumbers were picked by Yang Xiaotao. At this moment, the remaining seedlings are welcoming the gift of nature.
Pah pah pah
Puff puff puff
The raindrops continued to fall, and soon they became connected to threads. Like a loom, the threads fell straight down, forming a forest of threads.
The sky and the earth were dark, and lightning flashed out from time to time to illuminate the surroundings, like naughty children, moving here and there in an irregular manner.
The entire courtyard became silent in this thunderstorm.
Whether it is the gloating of the Yan Fugui family in the front yard, the cursing of Jia Zhang in the middle yard, or the pride of Xu Damao in the backyard.
They are all washed clean in this rain.
"It's a good sleep on a rainy day!"
Yang Xiaotao opened the window in front of his desk, and the exposed space was immediately occupied by water, and the humidity in the room quickly increased. On the side, Wangcai wagged his tail, looking like he was trying to please.
In fact, Wangcai is really trying to please because it hasn’t eaten yet.
Yang Xiaotao didn't seem to know, he just touched the dog's head, then picked up a pen and paper, thought for a moment, and started writing.
Uncle Chen, aunt!
How good it has been lately...
…
Jia’s family
Banggeng was hungry and looking for something to eat. He looked at the last nest in the bowl and couldn’t help it. If it feels cold and hard, just pick it up and eat it.
"Milk, will mom come again?"
Jia Zhang was feeding the little Sophora japonica with millet porridge. He didn't bother to warm up the leftovers from lunch. It was very hot anyway. Not cool.
Seeing Banggan eating the last of the steamed buns, Jia Zhang filled her lips.
Then he looked fiercely and said, "Who knows where he died."
Looking at Banggeng, I still wanted to save some face for Qin Huairu.
In her mind, Qin Huairu must be fooling around outside and forgetting about home.
After all, she has been ringed, so what worries does she have?
"Milk, is there anything to eat? I'm hungry!"
Banggan ate a small amount of steamed buns, but he couldn't feel full. He looked at Jia Zhang and begged.
Jia Zhang was also very hungry, "Wait a minute, I will make noodles for you later."
After saying that, he put down the bowl and went to dig noodles in the noodle vat.
Crunching
The noodle scoop made a harsh friction with the bottom of the vat. Jia Zhang struggled to collect a ladle of 2-in-1 flour, then looked at the exposed noodle vat and shook it twice more .
It is only the beginning of August, and the next appointment will be in the middle of the month, with more than a week in between.
Now that we have no noodles at home, how will we live in the future?
Now there is no Yi Zhonghai sending stick noodles to their family.
For the first time, Jia Zhang felt that the head of the family was very tired.
After a while, Mrs. Jia Zhang started to add water to make noodles. Banggan and Xiaodang were watching, waiting for Mrs. Jia Zhang’s noodles.
At ten o'clock in the evening, the thunder had gone away, the rain began to slow down, and Linda got up happily.
Yang Xiaotao put down the pen, looked at the three pages of letter paper in his hand, wrote his name at the end, then stuffed the letter paper into the envelope and affixed a stamp.
Write the address, the postal code, the receiving address...
After everything was done, Yang Xiaotao felt hungry, and by this time Wangcai was already lying on the ground, sticking out his tongue feebly.
Yang Xiaotao got up, went to the kitchen and found some tomatoes, took out the eggs, and found a few packs of instant noodles from the space.
Make a fire and cook.
Wangcai suddenly raised his head.
In the Jia family, Mrs. Jia Zhang looked at the noodles stuck into a ball and frowned.
"Milk, are these noodles?"
Banggeng looks like noodles with different thicknesses and some sticky balls, which are completely different from the noodles made by his mother in his memory.
“What do you know? Milk is made of dough.”
“It’s much more delicious than noodles.”
Jia Zhang concealed her embarrassment and complained in her heart that Qin Huairu didn't come back sooner. She hadn't had a knife in many years, but this time she was embarrassed.
"Hurry up and light the fire, let's eat noodles."
Jia Zhang urged, letting Bang Jie light the fire while Xiao Dang looked after the little Sophora japonica flowers.
The family is busy.
Not long after, Jia Zhang’s noodles were put into the pot, and then the pot was in chaos. By the time it came out of the pot, it had turned into a pot of paste.
On the other side, Yang Xiaotao’s tomato and egg noodles are also out of the pot.
Wangcai also got a big bowl on the side, as well as a braised chicken foot.
Banggan holds the "noodle slices" and feels like he is drinking flour porridge, without any taste.
Jia Zhang also took a sip and suddenly remembered that she seemed to have forgotten to add salt.
At this time, I thought of adding salt, but found that the salt jar had already reached the bottom. I could only pick up the soy sauce and add some to a few bowls to give it some flavor.
Even so, the three ladies drank heavily and felt something in their stomachs.
After Banggeng finished eating, he went to stir the bottom of the pot again, then took the last half of the bowl and stood at the door to eat while waiting for Qin Huairu to come back.
Standing at the door, he instinctively looked towards the yard, then froze, and the bowl in his hand fell to the ground with a clatter.
When Jia Zhang saw it, she quickly ran over and spanked Banggeng twice, "You bastard, you're wasting food."
As he said that, he lowered his head to pick up the bowl and used chopsticks to pick it up. Pick up the "noodle pieces" and put them into the bowl.
But Bangge didn't react at all, his eyes fixed on the front.
Jia Zhang frowned and quickly looked up.
Crack
The bowl fell to the ground again, and the noodle soup was scattered all over the floor.
Not far away from them, Wangcai was chewing a chicken paw under the light, his exposed paws shaking constantly.
In its dog bowl is a bowl of oily red noodles.
For a moment, the two women felt that their life was worse than that of a dog.
"Grandma, I'm so hungry. I want to eat chicken."
Jia Zhang didn't say anything this time.
Pull Banggeng into the house, close the door, and go to sleep.
On the other side, Yang Xiaotao was lying on the bed and fell asleep.
After the rain, the air is cool and it’s time to sleep.
However, tonight is destined to be a sleepless night.
As soon as Yang Xiaotao fell asleep, he heard a knock on the door, accompanied by the cry of prosperity.
Yang Xiaotao got up quickly and opened the door to see Zhou Kui looking anxious.
"Brother Tao, I'm going to give birth!"
Zhou Kui yelled out anxiously, speaking three minutes faster than usual.
Yang Xiaotao immediately understood that Liu Yuhua was going to give birth.
“Auntie is here?”
Zhou Kui shook his head.
"Don't worry, you go to Wang Dashan's house first. Let her take care of her."
"I'll ride to pick up my aunt, don't worry!"
Zhou Kui nodded and ran to knock on the door. The door of Wang Dashan's house.
After a while, Yang Xiaotao came out with a bunch of things, including candies, wafers, and chocolates, all prepared the same as when Ran Qiuye gave birth.
At this time, Wang Dashan's family had already arrived, and there were people in the courtyard who heard the news and got up to help, boiling water and covering up.
Yang Xiaotao didn't dare to neglect and hurriedly rode out.
(End of this chapter)