Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

Chapter 367: 367: Preparations Before the New Year Festival

Translator: 549690339

Regarding this, Liu Sisi really had nothing to say.

When Elderly Mr. Di first came, his legs were clearly not agile, and it was difficult for him to speak and eat.

But after these days of recuperation, his body had gradually improved a lot. He ate faster, walked more nimbly, and even did household chores much more quickly.

Thinking of this, Liu Sisi took the opportunity of Guihua grinding the mill, adding a spoonful of soybeans mixed with more than half hot water into the mill, and then opened her mouth to speak.

“Dad has been doing much better recently, but he always insists on doing things himself. I’m really worried about him getting tired.”

Guihua happily pushed the mill and couldn’t help but laugh: “How could that be? You probably don’t know, right? When your father was young, he was famous for being capable. Just look at Brother Ye Lei, he’s just like your father when he was young. I heard people say that when your father was young, the big mill in Land Officer’s home spun like crazy! That was a big stone mill, weighing two or three hundred pounds!”

“What! So much strength! It’s true… you can’t judge a person by their appearance!”

No wonder Liu Sisi felt unbelievable!

Although Dad looked lean, he didn’t seem as mighty and burly. He looked like an ordinary old man, and it was hard to imagine that he had such great strength when he was younger!

“There’s so much more you don’t know!”

Guihua continued to work and talk without stopping: “For example, Di Family’s old house used to be a big family. Before Ye Lei was born, Di Family not only had countless fertile lands but also many maids and women-servants. But all of these were brought by your real mother-in-law, Ms. Hu, as dowry. I heard that on the day your mother-in-law married, the rouge spread ten miles. One end was already in Di Family, while the other end with rouge carrying pole was still in the small town. That was really… amazing!”

“Was it really that much?” Liu Sisi also became interested.

“Isn’t it? The stable in your house was one of the dowries brought by your real mother-in-law, Ms. Hu. What do you think?”

Guihua gave her a look: “If it weren’t for Ms. Hu’s sudden accident during childbirth and her death, maybe your father would be an official by now. Because at that time, Brother Ye Lei’s uncle had already donated the official position for your father. When your mother-in-law died, your uncle was furious and almost killed your father on the spot. Naturally, the matter of becoming an official came to an end.”

It turned out that there was such a secret!

Liu Sisi suddenly remembered that the current Ms. Zhao was the cause of the death of the real mother-in-law, Ms. Hu. No wonder! No wonder Elderly Mr. Di gave the impression that he would never forgive her!

The two talked and laughed, and soon they ground two large pots of soybeans into soy milk.

Up next was Liu Sisi lighting the fire and Guihua making tofu.

Taking advantage of the boiling soy milk and before it turned into tofu, Liu Sisi deliberately left half a pot of soy milk, added white sugar, and the pure and unpolluted soy milk was really appetizing.

She gave a bowl to Dad and called several children to have a bowl each. Everyone enjoyed drinking it happily.

Guihua was drinking soy milk while making tofu on the side. The local people used brine to make tofu instead of gypsum. Her movements were fast, and the two large iron pots were full of boiling soy milk. It quickly solidified into tofu under her hands. When the soy milk turned into clear water, there was a thick layer of tofu at the bottom of the pot.

It took six large pots of soy milk to make all the tofu. Guihua was exhausted and couldn’t get up as she sat down: “This much tofu is enough for our two families to eat until the Lantern Festival. We don’t need to worry about not having vegetables to eat.”

“Pfft! So you’ve been working so hard because you’re worried about not having vegetables to eat? Well, you guessed wrong. How could we run out of vegetables? Come on, let me show you.”

Liu Sisi said, then walked out with a mysterious face.

Guihua hurriedly chased after her worriedly, “Sisi, where are you going? It’s snowing outside, be careful not to catch a cold…”

“I’m not going far away, I’m just right here. You come over and have a look.”

Liu Sisi said with a smile.

Guihua followed her into the chicken coop and was immediately stunned.

Inside what seemed to be a chicken coop, there were densely packed rows of horizontally placed bamboo tubes.Trimmings The bamboo tubes were growing lush rows of turnips, spinach, and baby bok choy. The rows of verdant green were so pleasing to the eye, making people feel refreshed and eager to eat them all.

“Sisi, you… you actually!… This is simply incredible!”

Guihua looked at the rows of green and had no idea what to say about it!

She finally found her voice: “So many vegetables, it must take a lot of effort, right?”

“Not at all, it’s actually very labor-saving. Look, these bamboo tubes are made from thick Moso Bamboo, cut directly in half, and the joinerintosh is used to set up the rack, which is the most labor-intensive part. Then, we scatter seeds directly in the bamboo tubes, and cover them with a thin layer of soil mixed with farmyard manure. We only need to water the top row of bamboo tubes with warm water once a day.”

Guihua watched with amazement, thought about it, and said, “Hey! Wait, how come it’s so warm in your chicken coop?”

“That’s because…”

Liu Sisi smiled mysteriously: “There’s underfloor heating below that leads to the stable. In winter, the chickens have a small moving range, so I concentrated them on the inside part of the coop and used the middle distance between the two areas to grow these vegetables.”

“This is simply unbelievable!… Sisi, what are you thinking about? How did you come up with something like this?” Guihua was full of curiosity.

“Well… I saw someone grow plants like this in a book, so I followed their methods.”

Naturally, Liu Sisi would not tell her about the numerous greenhouse vegetables in the future, nor would she mention her cousin’s love for gardening in her previous life. On her home balcony, she had rows of drainage systems made from discarded plastic tubes. In addition to planting flowers, they also grew a remarkable number of vegetables.

In short, what she did was just mimic someone else!

“By the way, since you’re here, why don’t you pick some vegetables to eat? My space is not very large, and even though the amount of vegetables is small, it’s enough for all of us to have a side of green.”

As she spoke, she picked some vegetables for Guihua to take home.

Guihua’s family was also having a tedious time eating steamed cornbread with pickles and preserved beast meat. At the moment, she saw the verdant vegetables and could not refuse.

“Great, thank you, Sisi!”

Guihua said happily.

As she headed home in the afternoon, she carried tofu in one hand and a bamboo basket of green vegetables in the other.

By coincidence, she bumped into the Land Officer’s wife on the way home and naturally attracted her attention with the basket of vegetables.

Guihua didn’t hide it and told her what had happened. When the Land Officer’s wife learned it was Liu Sisi who had grown the vegetables, she shamelessly went to her house and asked for a basket as well.

Soon, the news of the Di Family’s green vegetables spread quickly throughout the Upper Village.