RPAGF Chapter 117 Xiaoman's hands are really clever
Chapter 117 Xiaoman's hands are really clever
The peach blossom cake is filled with mung bean paste, with a pink and tender crust and soft mung bean paste filling.
Lin Xiaoman dipped some fried glutinous rice flour to prevent his hands from getting sticky, and called his parents over to taste it.
Only a little mugwort juice is added to the dough of mugwort cake, and the outer skin is not as emerald green as Qingming steamed buns, but a light green color.
"Xiao Man has really skillful hands!"
Li Taohua praised the food while eating, saying it was the first time she had eaten such delicious pastries.
Lin Xiaoman subconsciously pinched the sticky peach blossom cake and took a bite. It was sticky and sweet.
"Bang bang."
The Lin family was enjoying their meal when there was a knock on the door.
"Brother, big brother."
Lin Dahai's shouting came from outside the door.
Lin Dajiang went to open the door and saw Lin Dahai who was extremely happy.
"Brother, the bamboo basket is ready. Take a look. Is it correct?"
"So fast?"
In just two hours, the bamboo baskets they wanted were woven?
"Yes, I didn't expect Lichun to be so good. I gave him a piece of bamboo and Lichun wove it. He made two mistakes in the middle. If he had made no mistakes, such a small bamboo basket would not take an hour."
Lin Dajiang called Lin Xiaoman, and Lin Xiaoman called him "Second Uncle" and then carefully looked at the bamboo basket woven by Lin Lichun.
The size and style were similar to the sketch she had drawn, so she nodded to Lin Dajiang.
"You can ask Lichun to weave more bamboo baskets these two days. We can use them."
Lin Dahai: "Brother, didn't you say 20?"
Lin Xiaoman mouthed to Lin Dajiang that the more the better. Lin Dajiang's heart skipped a beat, but he said, "The more the better. I'll take whatever you and Lichun make up."
After hearing this, Lin Dahai nodded and said, "Okay, big brother, I'll go first. I have to go get some more bamboo and weave more in the next two days."
Lin Dahai rushed home in a hurry.
Wang Chunxiu had prepared dinner and was taking a basin outside to pour water when Lin Dahai, who came in in a hurry, almost bumped into her.
"Boss, what are you doing? Ask Lichun to come for dinner."
"and many more!"
Wang Chunxiu had never seen Lin Dahai so impatient. After all these years of marriage, she had never seen him get angry with anyone.
Could something have happened?
Wang Chunxiu didn't care whether to pour the water or not. She just poured it out, put the basin on the ground, and ran to the backyard in a hurry.
Old Mrs. Lin, who was squatting at the door chewing wild vegetable roots, snorted coldly.
"Nothing will be accomplished if you keep making so much noise."
"Lichun, go ahead and weave. Your uncle said he will take whatever you weave in the next few days."
Lin Lichun, who had been working hard with his head down, suddenly raised his head and asked, "All, all collected?"
"Yes. Come, I'll help you with the bamboo, and you can weave it well. Big brother is taking care of me."
Wang Chunxiu hesitated: "Brother, do you really say that?"
Lin Dahai said in a deep voice: "Then is it true?"
Wang Chunxiu was overjoyed, "Did you give me a deadline? I'll have a piece of bamboo after dinner."
"The day after tomorrow evening, I will bring the bamboo basket to my eldest brother."
Wang Chunxiu became anxious when she heard this. How many bamboo baskets could she make in just two days?
"In such a hurry?"
Lin Dahai rarely put on a serious face and said, "Brother is taking care of me, why are you complaining about it?"
Wang Chunxiu shook her head. "No, no, boss, I'll bring you some porridge. Hurry up and make it up."
After saying that, he hurried to the kitchen, filled two bowls of black rice porridge, and put some side dishes on top.
After thinking about it, he took a little bit of the porridge from his own bowl and added it to Lin Dahai and Lin Lichun's bowls.
After finishing his meal, he moved the stool for Dongzhi and told him, "Dongzhi, eat the porridge and come to the backyard to find your parents, okay?"
"Ah."
-
"Xiaoman, Jingzhe, these are the paper signs that Ci'an and I drew." Gu Changsheng walked in excitedly with two paper signs and gave them to Lin Xiaoman.
Invisibly, Lin Xiaoman became the backbone of the team.
One is a picture of a peach forest in a mountain village, and the other is a picture of a scholar looking into the distance from a high place.
Lin Jingzhe had never seen anyone paint properly before, so he was amazed by what he saw.
"You guys...you guys draw so well!"
With just a few strokes, an artistic ink painting appears on the paper.
Think about yourself again, when I draw a horse, people might think it is a cow.
Xie Ci'an looked indifferent, as if the compliments were not directed at him. Except for some redness behind his ears, he looked like a little adult again.
Gu Changsheng, on the other hand, laughed proudly and said, "Jingzhe, if you want to learn, I will teach you during the monthly holidays in the future."
Lin Jingzhe was overwhelmed and quickly refused: "No, I'm not interested in this."
Gu Changsheng also wanted to be a teacher, so he tried his best to persuade him: "Jingzhe, painting is not difficult. You can learn it in a year or two."
Learning to read from Xie Ci'an would cost several hundred coins a month to buy paper. If he were to learn painting, all the money the family had saved with great difficulty would be squandered by him.
Besides, he is already thirteen, why should he learn painting? It would be better to let Lidong learn it.
With this in mind, Lin Jingzhe said he would not learn anything.
Gu Changsheng was about to persuade him again, but Lin Jingzhe picked up Lidong and put him in Gu Changsheng's arms, "Changsheng, do you want to find a student? Look at Lidong, he is young and has strong plasticity."
Lidong didn't understand what was going on and thought his two brothers were playing hide-and-seek with him, so he immediately twisted his hips and hugged Gu Changsheng and started giggling.
Ping'an was afraid that the young master couldn't hold the child, so he stood by with his arms outstretched to protect him. Firstly, he was afraid that Lidong would fall, and secondly, he was afraid that the young master's bamboo-like body couldn't handle it.
The scene was full of joy for a while.
Lin Xiaoman covered her mouth and laughed a few times, then took out a plate with peach blossom cake and mugwort cake, "Don't worry about the painting, try the peach blossom cake I just made."
Thank you for taking a small sip.
After a few bites, Lin Xiaoman saw the boy staring at the mung bean paste in the peach blossom cake.
Xie Ci'an couldn't believe it, he actually smelled the fragrance of milk in the small peach blossom cake.
However, when he saw that the others did not question it, he suppressed his doubts in his heart.
"How does it taste?" Lin Xiaoman took a bamboo basket, wrapped Qingming steamed buns, peach blossom cakes, and mugwort cakes in oil paper and put them into the basket, and then asked, "This is the bamboo basket for Qingming steamed buns and cakes. How much do you think is a suitable price?"
Gu Changsheng never lacked money, and he would always ask for one or two taels of silver when he asked.
When Lin Jingzhe heard about one tael of silver, he frowned, "One tael of silver, only you would buy it."
Lin Xiaoman looked at his brother and said, "Do you think the three of us are people who can afford it? Even if it's 500 Wen, will you buy it?"
Lin Jingzhe shook his head like a rattle and said firmly, "No, only fools will buy it."
Xie Ci'an: "We just sold it to a sucker."
Lin Xiaoman knew nothing about the prices in Jialin County. Just as Xie Ci'an said, ordinary people would never buy their gift boxes.
After much thought, she decided to wait until she arrived in Jialin County to take a look before negotiating the price.
-
After finishing, Wang Chunxiu hurried to the back holding the bowl of porridge.
"Master, it's the beginning of spring, eat the porridge."
While the two were eating the porridge, Wang Chunxiu took over Lin's work of cutting bamboo strips, and worked hard, chewing them one by one.
After the two of them finished eating, she took the bowl back to the kitchen, just in time, Dongzhi was licking the bowl after finishing his porridge.
After washing the dishes, she carried Dongzhi to Old Lady Lin's room, "Mom, please watch Dongzhi for a while."
Old Mrs. Lin was startled. She protected the minced meat paste on the table and cursed, "What are you doing, you money-loser? You don't even want me to take care of your own child?"
Old Man Lin glared at the old woman and put down his chopsticks. "Come on, Dongzhi, come here."
Wang Chunxiu watched her father-in-law prepare a small bowl of minced meat paste for Dongzhi.
She walked out with red eyes amidst her mother-in-law's scolding.
The three of them were busy for two hours. Wang Chunxiu took Dongzhi to coax him to sleep, and then went to the backyard with an oil lamp to work.
It was not until midnight that the three of them had a good sleep. When the rooster crowed, they got up and started working again.
Not only was the second branch of the Lin family busy for two days, but the first branch of the Lin family was also busy as well.
Even though he was busy, Lin Xiaoman still took time to ask Li Taohua to make a cloth mask.
She had never been to Jialin County, but it was a county town after all. It was not like Dayi Town where every household grew vegetables and few people grew flowers.
Apart from the leisurely and elegant Gu family, no other family is so generous.
In Dayi Town, the most abundant thing is wild peach blossoms in the mountains and fields.
Thinking that Gu Changsheng had finally gotten better with the help of Chinese medicine, he couldn't bear to suffer again.
If we make any trouble, we will be back to the time before liberation and have to start all over again.
"Put this on."
Gu Changsheng looked at the strange cloth bag in Lin Xiaoman's hand, which was pitch black.
Xiaoman asked him to carry it, why should he carry such an ugly cloth bag?
Gu Changsheng picked up the ordinary cloth bag with two ropes tied on it from Lin Xiaoman's hand with a little disdain.
No matter how I look at it, it doesn't look like a cloth bag.
"What...what is this?"
"Wear it on your face." Lin Xiaoman pointed to the two straps on the cloth mask and said, "The two straps hang on the ears, and the cloth covers the mouth and nose to block pollen."
Gu Changsheng put on the mask as Lin Xiaoman instructed, and instantly felt his breathing was a little difficult and a little strange.
He waved his hand and tried to take off the mask.
Lin Xiaoman immediately stopped him and said, "No, you just put it on! You need to get used to it for two days. You will have to wear a mask when you go to Jialin County in two days."
"This thing is for women." Gu Changsheng refused, implying that he was a man and would not wear such a girl's thing.
"If you think cotton and linen are too rough and dark in color, you can choose silk fabric and stack it in two layers." Lin Xiaoman added: "Don't underestimate cloth masks. Don't you cough when you breathe in pollen? Cloth masks can block most pollen."
"Is that really the case?" Gu Changsheng took off the cloth mask and held it in his hand.
"Try wearing a cloth mask when you go out this time. Maybe you can pick peach blossoms with us in the future."
Lin Xiaoman knew that Gu Changsheng had always been concerned about his illness.
Come to think of it, how can I not care?
I have chest tightness, cough and asthma, and it hasn't gotten better for a month.
No one can bear it.
Lin Jingzhe originally didn't believe that this small cloth cover could be of any use, but Xiaoman was right, how would he know if he didn't try?
"How about you put on the cloth cover and go pick peach blossoms with me? Let's try out the effect of this cloth cover?"
Gu Changsheng shook his head unhappily: "Jingzhe, if the cloth cover doesn't work, then I won't be able to go to Jialin County with you guys? Let's try again after Qingming Festival!"
Gu Changsheng decided to give it a try.
Although the cloth mask looks strange and you may be laughed at when wearing it, it is much better than suffering from coughing, wheezing, and chest tightness.
Gu Changsheng gave the cloth cover to Ping An, and Ping An left alone.
In the next few days, Gu Changsheng asked for leave from the academy and lived in the same room with Lin Jingzhe.
During the day, he painted non-stop in Xie Ci'an's study.
Gu Changsheng originally thought that painting was a leisurely and elegant activity.
At the end of the day, he counted the twenty small paintings he had finished and shook his sore arms. He could no longer associate painting with leisure and pleasure.
Seeing that Xie Ci'an was still concentrating on painting, he was unwilling to fall behind.
After two days of competition, excluding those that were wasted, there were more than eighty pieces of paper signatures.
On the day of delivery, Lin Dahai and Lin Lichun carried a shoulder pole with bamboo baskets hanging on both sides.
Lin Dajiang counted them and found there were a total of seventy-two bamboo baskets.
"Lichun, you won't work without eating or drinking these two days, right?"
Lin Lichun shook his head embarrassedly, "Uncle, I only sleep for two hours a day. Dad and I weave together, and my mother gives us a piece of bamboo."
Lin Dajiang asked Lin Jingzhe to calculate the price. Lin Jingzhe calculated in his mind for a moment, "Two hundred and sixteen copper coins."
Lin Dahai: "Jingzhe is really amazing, he can calculate really fast."
Lin Xiaoman thought that if they memorized the multiplication table, they could get the result of seventy-two times three in less than two seconds.
Lin Dajiang went back to the house to count the copper coins. He originally thought that his second brother and Lichun could only make forty or fifty bamboo baskets at most.
I didn’t expect to make more than seventy of them at once.
He had begun to worry whether these seventy-plus bamboo baskets could be sold.
Especially when I heard Xiaoman say that they hadn't even decided on the price of a Qingming bamboo basket, I felt even more nervous.
Li Taohua had been thinking about wasting all her money when Xiaoman and the other three were preparing to do this deal.
Fortunately, I don’t have any worries now.
Lin Xiaoman originally planned to prepare food according to the quantity of fifty bamboo baskets. In each bamboo basket, he prepared four Qingming cakes, four peach blossom cakes, and two mugwort cakes, making a total of ten in one basket.
With seventy-two bamboo baskets, Lin Xiaoman hurriedly prepared a batch of food overnight and arranged the bamboo baskets overnight.
Lin Xiaoman also placed two bunches of mugwort under the bamboo basket and put the prepared Qingming rice cakes, peach blossom cakes, and mugwort cakes in them one by one.
The mold of the peach blossom cake is shaped like four words: peace and good fortune.
It implies perfection and everything goes smoothly.
The Lin family had a good sleep, and when the roosters crowed, the Lin twins and Gu Changsheng woke up.
When they went out, Xie Ci'an was already waiting at the door.
It was still chilly in April and Xie Ci'an was wearing thin clothes, which made Lin Xiaoman a little angry.
"Why don't you knock on the door? If you get cold, Aunt Xie might not let us have any contact with you."
"I won't get frozen. I wear this every morning when I wake up in the cold winter to exercise."
Gu Changsheng looked envious, "Ci'an looks thin, but he is actually strong."
Lin Jingzhe comforted Gu Changsheng: "When your cough is completely healed, I will hire a martial arts master to teach you martial arts. Then you can grow up to be as strong as us."
The three young men were talking to each other, not taking Lin Xiaoman seriously at all.
"Brothers, even though I'm short, I'm not completely blind, right?"
Lin Xiaoman was helpless. They were discussing this openly in front of her. Wasn't that a bit too much?
Xie Ci'an's ears turned red instantly.
He touched his burning ears and said uncomfortably: "Let's go, otherwise it will be too late."
Boss Gu arranged two horse-drawn carriages and sent two warriors to drive them.
One of the carriages was filled with bamboo baskets. Ping An and Kang Tai held the baskets expressionlessly to prevent them from tipping over.
In another carriage, young boys and girls were sitting, and there was a square table in the middle, on which were fruits and snacks prepared for them by Mr. Gu.
Lin Xiaoman took out the scallion oil and egg pancake prepared by Li Taohua and gave each of them a large piece.
"Sister, aren't the biscuits mom made for us to eat as dry food? Why are you eating them now?"
Lin Xiaoman had five taels of silver in his pocket that Li Taohua had given him. He was not worried because he had money in his hand. He looked at Lin Jingzhe with a smile and said, "When you go to Jialin County, you must try the delicious food there, right? Who would still want to eat dry biscuits?