Chapter 801: Fifty-year-old sister-in-law (34)

Xu Yin does not find life in Beidahuang boring or boring at all.

 If someone thinks so, it must be that they have not discovered the beauty of labor.

 Inch by inch of land was reclaimed from under our feet, and more and more wasteland was planted with crops.

　From spring plowing to summer work and then to autumn harvest, from nothing to something, from less to more, each crop is finally threshed into pieces of precious grain, enriching the granary of the motherland.

This sense of satisfaction and achievement is enough to make up for the hardship and fatigue of working.

During the off-season, she and Cheng Shaojin often went to the mountains to dig wild vegetables, plan fresh bamboo shoots, pick some mushrooms, occasionally hunt pheasants and hares, and improve their food. The little life after their marriage was busy and fulfilling.

Cheng Shaojin saw that she liked to eat pheasants, so he built a small yard behind the dormitory with a bamboo fence, built a chicken coop, and raised several chickens for her.

Dried pheasants have little lean meat, so how can domestic chickens be fatter and more satisfying to eat?

Chicken food is also convenient. Xu Yin spread a wave of chicken grass in the yard. The seeds of chicken grass are what chickens like to eat most.

 Occasionally, mix them with bran, wheat bran and broken rice, which is considered a snack.

The chickens, who were well fed and drunk, were running happily in the yard.

Others thought raising chickens was troublesome at first. They had to feed the chickens every day and clean the chicken coops. It was tiring enough to cultivate the land. Who wouldn’t want to lazily rest on the kang if they had some time?

I really want to eat. During the Chinese New Year, everyone gathered a bag of rations and asked the villagers to exchange for half a chicken. Wouldn’t it be possible to eat a few bites of chicken?

But when spring turned to autumn, the food was smoothly put into the warehouse, and the first snow fell in the Great Northern Wilderness. The chickens Xu Yin and his wife raised in the spring finally grew into the white-cut chicken, spicy chicken, and yellow chicken that were served on the table during the Chinese New Year. The braised chicken looks so plump and plump that I can’t help but salivate.

You can eat chickens without having to collect rations, and it's not just half a chicken, but several chickens. Everyone is envious of it.

“Captain, how about we raise a few chickens next year? I think Xu Yin and the others didn’t take care of them much this year. They just kept them in a small fenced yard and let them peck at insects and find food. It doesn’t seem to be difficult.”

Captain Fu glanced at them: "What? Are you greedy when you see Xiao Xu eating chicken?"

　　　…”

 Don’t say it even if it’s the truth.

 Whether we raise chickens next year or not, there is no chance this year.

 It’s all snowing.

If you were to list cities across the country as to which city would be the first to enter winter, Beiguan would not have to compete at all, ranking first every year.

Xu Yin remembered that at the beginning of the year, she sent a telegram to her hometown saying that she would definitely go back during the Chinese New Year this year, so she said hello to the team leader in advance.

 The two planned to return to Yuanshan County first so that the mother-in-law could meet her son-in-law.

　　Celebrate the New Year at Lao Xu’s house and then set off to visit his parents.

Xu Yin packed some New Year’s goods, including the rations she had saved, dried mushrooms, dried bamboo shoots, and smoked cured chicken.

However, she thought about it and put away half of it, leaving only five kilograms of rations, a small bag of dried bamboo shoots and mushrooms, and a cured chicken.

With so many people in the old Xu family, they thought she had made a fortune outside. Anyway, this was enough to feed her and Comrade Xiao Jin during the New Year.

Before leaving, she brought half a steamed white chicken to visit the captain: "Captain, Shaojin and I will leave tomorrow. We will see you after the new year."

“Okay, okay! Pay attention to safety on the road. You didn’t go back last year. If you go back this year, just stay a few more days. Just come back before spring plowing.”

Xu Yin took the train back with Cheng Shaojin and did not take up the space in the truck.

 Other team members had no money to buy train tickets and could only stay here to celebrate the New Year if they couldn't win the lottery.

Xiao Jing and Huang Xiaohong didn't have the same good luck as last year this year - they didn't win the lottery. Last year they were able to exchange rations for quotas. This year everyone has enough rations and they all want to go home. Therefore, watching Xu Yin being picked up by Cheng Shaojin to catch the train, The team members who had no chance to go home were so envious that their eyes nearly popped out.

Captain Fu, as the leader of the team, had to stay behind and take charge, but he had half a chicken sent by Xu Yin. He roasted it on the fire in the snowy weather and ate the chicken with a glass of wine. Not to mention how comfortable it was, the others could only watch. . This made them even more determined: they will also raise a few chickens in the next spring. How delicious they will be during the Chinese New Year!

 …

 The steam train carried the young couple to Yuanshan County without hesitation.

　　It was already getting late when we came out of the train station.

Cheng Shaojin was worried that she would be tired, so he suggested: "Why don't you go to my aunt's house to stay for one night, and borrow a bicycle by the way, and I will ride with you tomorrow."

Xu Yin thought about it, so she took out a smoked hare and a bottle of sorghum-burned sorghum liquor from the duffel bag, and asked him to carry it as a souvenir.

 Cheng Shaojin laughed and grabbed the duffel bag: "I'll do this. Let's carry the wine and Rabbit."

 His daughter-in-law always seems to like to do physical work, both in the reclamation team and when she is alone with him.

He is not a weak young man who cannot carry his shoulders or lift his hands. He always feels that she has reversed their genders.

So Xu Yin followed him to her aunt's house with a bottle of wine in her left hand and a smoked rabbit in her right hand.

“My uncle’s surname is also Xu. He might have been in the same family as you eight hundred years ago.”

"What a coincidence?" Xu Yin smiled happily, "Then I have to ask my uncle to have a good drink."

 Unexpectedly, when I arrived at Xu’s house, I discovered something even more coincidental—

 Cheng Shaojin’s cousin is actually named Xu Wenfa!

 “Xu Wenfa?”

“Yes, cousin, have you heard of me?”

Xu Wenfa asked excitedly.

 A letter from my aunt said that my cousin got married in Beiguan. The news of the marriage was so sudden.

 The brothers and sisters talked about this topic for many days, and they were all curious about what kind of woman could win over her cousin so quickly.

 Xu Yin smiled but said nothing.

Xu Wenfa is a name I have not only heard of, but also used.

Had it not been for the owner of this name, she might not have been able to go to Beiguan or open up wasteland.

Turning her head to meet Cheng Shaojin’s smiling starry eyes, she gave him a super sweet smile in return.

This fate is really wonderful!

After Xu Wenfa welcomed them in, he ran into the kitchen excitedly with the smoked rabbit and soju that Xu Yin handed him: "Mother! Mother! My cousin came to our house with his newlywed daughter-in-law, and also brought wine and rabbit. It smells so good! Can you eat it today?"

Xu's mother held up a spatula and pretended to hit him: "What are you doing? It's the first time your cousin-in-law comes to our house. If you don't treat her well, why do you come to the kitchen? All you can think about is eating."

 Xu Wenfa shrank his neck: "I'll go out to entertain you right now."

"Are you going out empty-handed? The water in the thermos has just been boiled. Take it out and make a cup of sugar water for your cousin. The sugar is in my room."

“Mom, if I don’t come in, don’t you still have to call me in?”

 “...You brat! You deserve a beating!”

 Xu Wenfa stuck out his tongue, and walked out of the kitchen with a hot water bottle. He went to Xu's mother's room to get sugar and tea that his father was reluctant to drink. He made tea for his cousin and a cup of sugar water for his cousin's sister-in-law.

 In this era, sugar water can be said to be a very high treatment for entertaining guests.

 (End of this chapter)