Chapter 133: Baking sugar cakes to train pigeons
The weather these days is not too hot, the sky is high and the clouds are light, and it has a bit of autumn flavor.
After breakfast, Chen Ling went out again.
He went to borrow books from his sister-in-law. In fact, Wang Zhenzhen’s excuse for not bringing any books was just an excuse. New textbooks are only issued at the beginning of the new semester. This girl has been on summer vacation and hasn’t started school yet. The book that came?
However, their place is too remote. Sometimes textbooks are not printed and distributed in time, and they need to borrow them from senior students. This is a common thing.
It's just that there are not many children in Chenwangzhuang who have finished primary school. You can count them on two hands. It's not easy to find third-grade textbooks. I went to several stores and couldn't borrow them.
Forget it if you can’t borrow it, it’s the same thing if you go to the city to buy it tomorrow, it won’t cost much.
When I got home, Wang Zhenzhen had already disappeared and was playing around with Liu Nier's gang and a group of dogs.
Chen Ling accompanies Wang Susu to weave straw mats at home. It is not difficult to learn, and you can master it after just teaching it a few times. The materials are also easy to find. Straw, reeds, and cattails can all be used for weaving. It's more time consuming.
Besides the poultry and livestock at home, straw mats should also be laid on the bed to prevent moisture, which is used in many places. However, after the two knitted for half a morning, they only made two dog mats and laid them in the doghouse.
At almost noon, Wang Chunsheng came to Wang Chunyuan's place to hang out, and was going back to the county. He came to say goodbye to him, mainly to ask if he could help renovate Chunyuan's house later.
Of course Chen Ling did not agree. He declined by saying that he would be busy for a while and would not have much time.
This man is also honest.
What does he care about when his brothers don’t care?
After he left, Wang Jusheng came over and gave him moon cakes, and then he talked about Wang Chunyuan. He said that an old lady had been put to death in Tianxiang Health Center a few days ago and had been detained for several days by her family members. From now on, it is estimated that no one will dare to see a doctor. Wang Chunyuan can no longer survive and wants to return to the village.
But no one knew what his couple was like in the village, and I couldn't count on it. I had to ask Wang Chunsheng to find someone for help. He went to several houses, including Wang Jusheng, but unfortunately no one was willing to help. , and some even didn’t even give them a nice polite word.
Wang Chunsheng had no choice but to find Chen Ling in the end.
In his impression, Chen Ling is still a lazy guy. Even coming here to look for him shows that no one really cares about him.
The three of them were standing in the yard talking, their big heads babbling, and running around chasing rabbits all over the yard. Now that the yard at home is bigger, Big Tou chased her too hard and stumbled several times. He didn't cry and got up as soon as he could. He grinned, showing his half-grown baby teeth, and smiled extremely happily.
“Let’s stop fussing. Your uncle hasn’t made lunch yet. Let your uncle cook quickly. It will be half past twelve soon. Let’s come back to play another day.”
Wang Jusheng walked over and picked up Big Tou and prepared to go home. Big Tou hadn't finished playing yet. He looked at the little rabbits and couldn't bear to move away. They kept struggling in his arms and opened his little hands to reach them.
"Big Tou likes little rabbits. I'll catch two for you and take them home to play with, okay?"
Chen Ling grabbed Big Tou's little hand and shook it, smiling.
"Don't catch him when he's rich. Don't let him get used to this problem. Just give him whatever he wants. He should be ignorant from now on."
Wang Jusheng hurriedly stopped him.
He refused to let Chen Ling catch the rabbit, and Big Tou didn't cry. After Chen Ling grabbed his hand, he stared at him and giggled, and then shouted vaguely "Uncle...Uncle..." , opened his arms for him to hug.
"Haven't you given your uncle enough hugs? It's time to go home. It's time for your uncle to cook."
In front of Chen Ling, Wang Jusheng always felt that he, his biological father, was very important. Failed, he hugged his big head and trotted out of the yard.
Chen Ling and Wang Susu were very happy to see them.
This baby is indeed strange. When he comes to the house, he only looks for Chen Ling and never lets Wang Susu hold him.
After Chen Ling held him for a while and put him down, he chased rabbits around the yard.
"Aling, why are there so many wild pigeons coming near our house these days? They land on the roof every day and can't be driven away. Judging from their behavior, they are looking for a place to build a nest here. , How about shooting them down with a slingshot?"
Chen Ling was cutting vegetables in the kitchen, and Wang Susu raised her head and looked at the pigeons walking back and forth on the roof, holding leaf stalks in their mouths, feeling a little worried. road.
Pigeons are not popular in mountainous areas. In the surrounding villages, I have never heard of anyone raising pigeons. This is mainly because pigeons have a very bad habit of pulling at tiles on the roof. Can this guy's tiles be easily pulled off? What's the point of pulling it out on a rainy or snowy day?
So even if pigeons are here, everyone won’t shout about beating them, but as long as wild pigeons land near their home, they will drive them away, or lure them down with food and catch them, adding a meat dish to the dinner table.
"It's okay, no need to fight. I'll just spread some grain to lure them down after dinner. We already have chickens, ducks and quails, so we can just add a few more pigeons."
Chen Ling said.
These wild pigeons are the ones released from the cave sky.
Although the environment in the outside world is incomparable to the environment in the cave sky, the cave sky is too small. After seeing the sky outside, these pigeons refused to go back.
Chen Ling just followed them. They were not smart anyway, so there was no point in raising them outside.
One sheep is herded, and so is a group of sheep. Now that there are a few of them in the house, they are not too many.
"Okay, then I'll make a pigeon nest, lure them down, clip their wings and keep them there for a few days."
Wang Susu has no doubt about Chen Ling's skill in luring birds.
In fact, in the 1970s and 1980s, most rural boys could catch birds. They set up sieves and ground traps. There were no entertainment activities, so they just caught birds, fish, and frogs. This is also considered their basic skill.
Chen Ling smiled when he heard this and said nothing. He had raised these pigeons since childhood. They were different from other wild pigeons. They had to be kept in a cage for a while if they wanted to be mature.
That is to say, he didn't want to be caught back into the cave these days, and he couldn't scream no matter how hard he screamed. In the past, Chen Ling could fly to him immediately as long as he whistled twice.
That’s why Wang Susu said he wouldn’t object if they were detained for a few days, just to temper their temperament so as not to become too wild.
After lunch, Chen Ling called two dogs to drive the rabbits back to their nest, and then cleaned the yard. There were so many rabbits, chickens and ducks, pooping and peeing, and they had to do it every day. Cleaning frequently, forget about normal times, mainly today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and I have to bake sugar cookies in the yard in the afternoon.
This is a custom here. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, they bake sugar cakes, which are reunion buns, which means reunion.
Although Wang Susu still hasn't been able to see her parents, her sister's presence during the Mid-Autumn Festival this year can be regarded as a reunion in a sense, so she got together early. Chen Ling was cleaning the yard, and she was in the kitchen and above. .
Baking sugar cakes, eating moon cakes, and steaming big buns, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also one of the more important festivals besides the Chinese New Year. The food on this day is not much different, and basically every household celebrates it this way.
Wang Susu steamed the big meat buns in the morning, mainly making sugar cakes.
After Chen Ling finished cleaning the yard, he brought back some firewood from the firewood pile across the alley and set up a stove fire in the yard.
After a while, Wang Zhenzhen also ran back, sweating profusely, and went inside to drink water.
"Brother-in-law, why are you lighting a fire again? Haven't you had lunch?"
"Make sugar cakes, are you still going out to play? If you don't go out, wash your hands and face, and help your sister make sugar cakes later."
"Then I won't go out, I will stay at home to help Sister. "
After all, this girl is sensible. When she heard what Chen Ling said, she immediately said.
Then he ran to the well to wash his hands and face. After washing, he rushed to the kitchen to help Wang Susu mix the sugar filling.
The sugar filling contains sugar noodles, date paste, sesame seeds, and sometimes chopped walnuts and longans.
After mixing the sugar filling, Wang Susu brought it out.
Then the table was set, and Wang Zhenzhen sat at the table. The little girl came to roll out the dough, and Wang Susu wrapped the sugar filling in it, then rolled up the edges of the dough and sprinkled sesame seeds on the surface of the dough.
Not only that, Wang Susu also printed a lot of patterns of flowers and rabbits on it, which looks very beautiful.
Chen Ling was lighting a fire nearby. When baking sugar cakes, you can't use fast fire, you must use medium fire.
It is not considered cooked until the sugar cake is browned on the outside and tender on the inside, browned on both sides, and the aroma of date paste and longan can waft out.
Chen Ling brushed a thin layer of oil on the cake pan, put two of them in, and turned the sugar cakes over while watching the heat. When they were cooked, the whole yard was filled with the aroma of burning dates mixed with pureed dates.
Soon, a similar fragrance wafted out from every house in the village. They were all baked with sugar cakes.
"Don't be mistaken about the sugar cakes. You can't eat the ones with flowers and rabbits now. You can only eat them after offering them to Grandma Moon at night..."
Wang Susu said Then, I picked out the patterned sugar cakes from the octagonal dustpan and put them aside.
"I know, my mother said it every year, how could I be wrong." Wang Zhenzhen nodded and broke open a sugar cake. The full sugar filling was steaming, and a richer aroma suddenly filled the surroundings. .
The little girl blew twice, took a big bite, and let out a soft hum of satisfaction.
"Brother-in-law, these sugar cookies are so delicious. Where did you learn this craft? Everything you make is delicious."
"Every meal is delicious, I I don’t want to leave.”
“Haha, if you don’t want to leave, just stay here. I happen to go to school in the county town and it’s very close. It’s not like in the village where you have to travel far to go to school.”
Chen Ling smiled and took out a freshly baked sugar cake. "Here, eat this after you finish eating. It's freshly baked."
"Just stay here. You make so many good things for your sister every day. You can’t even finish the food. If you let your brother and parents see it, you will definitely get scolded. Let me help you eat it.”
Wang Zhenzhen broke off a piece of dough and dipped it into his mouth with the sugar filling. Rise.
Hearing this, Chen Ling and Wang Susu looked at each other and both smiled.
This girl doesn’t know yet, but she hasn’t cut off her flesh every day since she came.
If they were a young couple, it would just be a daily routine.
Pork, chicken, rabbit, and mutton have not been eaten in the past six months. They eat it every day and every meal. They have long been tired of eating it, so the two of them ate relatively lightly. Today they steamed some meat buns. He didn't eat it either, leaving it to Wang Zhenzhen to eat.
It made her feel strange for a while.
I can’t understand why my sister and brother-in-law don’t eat such good food.
……
While chatting and baking sugar cakes, it took half the afternoon to bake all the sugar cakes.
At dusk, Da Nier and Liu Nier brought a basket of pomegranates. In the front yard, Kodama Qiang’s family gave some walnuts, and Chen Ling also gave two buckets of peanuts and beans to the two families.
It’s not a holiday gift. These are things for people to use. If anyone doesn’t have them, they can get them from each other.
When the sky was slightly dark, Wang Susu and her sister set up a table in the center of the yard, placed sugar cakes, moon cakes and fruits, and painted a pentagonal pattern on the ground around the table with firewood ash. One kind of grain is placed in each corner to pray to Mother-in-Law for blessing the harvest in the coming year.
Wait for the golden full moon to rise from the east.
Wang Susu lit incense candles and worshiped Mother Moon. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, men did not have anything to do, and women mainly did it.
Chen Ling had nothing to help with, so at the begging of his sister-in-law, he helped her make a small lantern.
It’s just that his hands were too clumsy and he felt too ugly halfway through the process. In the end, Wang Susu made a small lantern that looked like a rabbit.
After lighting the candles, the dim yellow light shines out, which looks very delicate and beautiful.
The little girl just couldn’t put it down.
"Uncle Fugui, Uncle Fugui, has your little aunt finished eating? Let's come and play with our little aunt."
Not long after the lanterns were made, little kids came and shouted, one by one They all held various small lanterns and stood in the yard looking around.
Wang Zhenzhen couldn't stay any longer and wanted to run out, but Wang Susu pulled her into a long-sleeved coat: "Don't rush out and run out. It's cold at night. Wear some clothes before going to play."
Chen Ling also walked out and warned the children: "You can't run out of the village, there are wolves on the mountain, do you know?"
"Uncle Fugui who knows, we will definitely not leave the village. ”
The little kids said in unison.
What the little children in the village like most is to celebrate various festivals. During the festivals, there are delicious food and fun things.
But just because they are afraid of overdoing it, these skinny monkeys get together and come up with crooked ideas one after another just for fun, and they dare to do anything.
Fortunately, it was indeed a bit chilly tonight, and before an hour came, the kids all went back to their homes.
Just in time, the incense candles in the courtyard were burned out at this time. Wang Susu took down the offerings, packed them up, and returned to the house to continue making new clothes that had not yet been finished.
Wang Zhenzhen was tired from playing and went to sleep in the east room early.
Chen Ling accompanied his daughter-in-law, sat next to her, made tea, and read a newly bought novel to her. When reading a wonderful part, Wang Susu would also add a few sentences, The two laughed and talked.
It wasn’t until late at night that I turned off the lights and took a rest.
This plain and warm Mid-Autumn Festival has passed like this.
……
Early the next morning, Chen Ling spent a lot of effort to deceive a few pigeons.
As soon as they fell beside him, Chen Ling used the basket to catch them without saying a word.
These pigeons are becoming more and more disobedient.
I used to be extremely affectionate to him, and I didn’t have any vigilance at all. Every time I got tired from flying, I would take the initiative to fly back to him, fluttering my wings and wanting to go back to the cave. These pigeons were not very big at that time, so they were very familiar with the birth of pigeons. They are more nostalgic for this place, and no matter how good the cave environment is, they are reluctant to leave.
This is not the case now. I fly around with the wild pigeons outside all day long. My wings have become hard and my heart has become wild. I don’t even want to go back to my hometown. How can this be done?
It must be shut down for a few days.
Eighty percent of the wild pigeons here are rock pigeons, which mainly inhabit rocks in the mountains. Rock pigeons are also called rock pigeons. This kind of wild pigeons are easy to domesticate. The original domestic pigeons are from Pigeons are domesticated, not to mention that these pigeons have been fed by humans since they were young, so they are even more tame.
"Brother-in-law, what are you doing?"
Wang Zhenzhen walked out of the house rubbing his eyes and saw Chen Ling holding a bamboo basket in the yard. Something was bumping and flying around.
Two dogs stood nearby with their ears twitched, staring at the basket and wagging their tails.
"I caught a few wild pigeons."
The little girl's eyes lit up when she heard this: "Brother-in-law, you are so awesome. Are we going to eat stewed pigeons today?"
"No, It needs to be raised. Go and get the scissors from your sister. I'll cut off the wings."
"Okay, I'll get it."
Wang Zhen heard that it's not for food. I’m not disappointed. I eat meat every day at my sister’s house, including pigeon stew.
Then Wang Susu also got up and came out. One person took a pair of scissors and caught the pigeon. Wang Zhenzhen caught it and asked her sister to cut off the feathers on the pigeon's wings.
Chen Ling grabbed one himself, pressed it to the ground and cut it.
Two scissors, the cut was done quickly.
Pigeon Nest, Wang Susu made it yesterday.
Next to the chicken coop, a fenced area was built next to the courtyard wall, covered with barbed wire. The pigeons with their feathers clipped were put in, and food and water basins were placed. They were pressed with bricks, except Apart from feeding and adding water every day, there is no need to use tubes.
After all, pigeons are birds with a gentle temperament, and they don't have much temperament. After being shut up for a while and pruning their feathers diligently, and their temperament is smoothed out, these wild pigeons will be no different from domestic pigeons.
"Okay, wash your hands. The meal will be ready soon. After dinner, I will go to the city to buy you textbooks."
Chen Ling clapped her hands and smiled at her sister-in-law. He said: "Going to school tomorrow, how are you? Are you really happy?"
Hearing this, the little girl became happy. She pouted her mouth like a donkey, stomped her little feet and walked towards Wang Susu complained.
"Sister, look at him..."
(End of this chapter)