Early in the morning, Cheng Wanwan was awakened by the aroma of mugwort.
Cheng Yuanyuan placed mugwort cut from the fields in every corner of the yard, and burned a handful to repel mosquitoes and insects. The fragrance of mugwort spread everywhere.
Every household is preparing to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, and the village becomes lively early in the morning.
Cheng Wanwan asked Zhao Ergou to go to the Cao family and the Shen family to deliver holiday gifts. As relatives, they would send gifts to each other during the holidays, and the relationship would get better and better.
Because of the festival, the whole family has a rest, and everyone in the old Zhao family will get together to have a meal, so naturally the fire will be held here at Cheng Wanwan.
The old Zhao family brought chickens and ducks over, as well as some dried vegetables. The two families cooked the dishes together. The chefs were Wu Huiniang and Wen Shi. Wei Hongying, Cheng Fang and Chunhua were helping on the side. The four of them were busy busy. A hearty holiday meal is ready in no time.
As soon as the food was served, a carriage stopped at the door of the yard.
"Godmother, we are back!"
Shen Zheng got out of the carriage and jumped out of the carriage faster than Ah Fu, followed closely by Cheng Zhao.
The three of them had travel-stained faces. It was obvious that they got up early in the morning and were on their way back to Dahe Village before noon.
Cheng Wanwan's face was full of joy: "Why are you two back?"
"The official school is off for three days, so everyone can go home to celebrate the festival." Shen Zheng picked up the things in his hands with a smile, "I bought fresh meat rice dumplings from Huzhou. My godmother will try them later."
Cheng Wanwan took the things over and asked, "You didn't come directly to my place and haven't gone home yet, right?"
Shen Zheng coughed: "My grandmother eats fast every day, and my father is definitely not at home. I don't want to go back if the cooking is cold and the stove is cold."
"I'll give the eldest aunt, second aunt, and the teacher first the festive gifts, and then go back." Cheng Zhao took out the things in his hand, "These are Huzhou's double yolk salted duck eggs. I heard they taste very good."
He took out three copies, one each for Cheng Wanwan, Cheng Yuanyuan and Yu Fuzi.
"Come in for dinner first." Cheng Wanwan brought the three children in, "It has been less than a month since I went to Huzhou, and I feel like you have all lost weight."
Cheng Zhao and Shen Zheng sat down at the table, and Mrs. Zhao served them food.
Ah Fu sat on the edge with a bowl. After a while, Old Man Zhao also sat with Ah Fu. If you listen carefully, you can hear that the old man was talking to Ah Fu about carpentry work and some difficult techniques. , Ah Fu spoke clearly and eloquently, Old Man Zhao nodded frequently and wrote down every word carefully.
Here, Mrs. Sun came to Cheng Zhao with a bowl and said attentively: "Zhao'er, are you tired from studying?"
Cheng Zhao put down his chopsticks and said, "Thank you, Third Aunt, for caring. I won't be tired from studying."
As soon as Mrs. Sun stuck her butt out, Mrs. Zhao knew what she was going to do, and said with a straight face: "Third daughter-in-law, what are you trying to do?"
"Aren't I looking for a good teacher for Xuanxuan?" Mrs. Sun said with a smile, "Zhaoer is so good at reading and so excellent. He is the best person in our Dahe Village. As for me, I just want Zhaoer to teach Xuanxuan." The enlightenment of our family..."
Cheng Wanwan: "..."
In the past, when Mrs. Sun had no son, she didn't seem to care about studying. Now that she has a son, she actually has the ideological consciousness that "everything is inferior, only studying is good."
However, Xuanxuan had just been born and was not yet a full moon before he became enlightened. Is it too early to think about this?
"What you have in mind is so beautiful!" Mrs. Zhao spat mercilessly, "What is Zhao'er's status now? Our most powerful scholar in Huzhou will soon become the Master of Juren. How dare you ask the Master of Juren to enlighten your son? I don’t know what’s going on in your head!”
Mrs. Sun's face showed grievance. Didn't she also want Xuanxuan to honor the Zhao family's ancestors? Where did she go wrong?
"Ahem, Third Aunt, Xuanxuan is still young, don't worry." Cheng Zhao said warmly, "Children are enlightened at the age of three and sent to the village school at the age of three. Master Yu is really good at teaching and educating talents."
Mrs. Sun pouted, if Master Yu was really powerful, he wouldn't be a master in a ravine.
But seeing the disapproving looks in the room, she had no choice but to suppress her thoughts. Her son was still young anyway, so she should plan her plans slowly.
After the whole family finished their meal in a lively manner, Cheng Wanwan saw Mrs. Zhao and Mrs. Wen taking Zhao Dawang to Wang's house, carrying many gifts in their hands.
It was the Dragon Boat Festival, and relatives and friends in the village would send gifts to each other, but it didn't attract much attention.
Everyone is happy when the marriage is negotiated, and if it fails, no bad rumors will spread.
"Xiao Zheng, you can go back later." Cheng Wanwan rolled up his sleeves and said, "Da Shan and I went to the lake to smoke some lotus root strips. You can bring them back to give your grandma a taste. People who are vegetarians will definitely like this. Zhao Zhao Son, please wait for a while."
Her relationship with the Cheng family has eased recently, so it's okay to ask Zhao'er to bring some food back.
Shen Zheng also rolled up his sleeves: "Godmother, I'll go with you."
The lotus pond is in the backyard. When you open the door, there is a plank road. After crossing the plank road, you quickly reach the edge of the lotus pond.
"So this is He." Shen Zheng said in surprise, "I heard that last year, Dahe Village relied on this to survive the famine."
Cheng Wanwan nodded: "Now the lotus leaves have grown. In half a month, there will be buds, and then they will bloom and bear lotus seeds. In autumn, you can eat jade bamboo shoots."
"Will there be flower buds after half a month?" Shen Zheng stretched out his hand and pointed, "Godmother, look over there, the pink one is a lotus?"
Cheng Wanwan looked up and saw, right? In the middle of the lake, among the round lotus leaves, stood a slim pink bud. It was particularly beautiful. This lotus flower bloomed so early.
"The green leaves like to turn in the wind, and the red leaves like to shine in the sun." Shen Zheng couldn't help but sigh, "It turns out that lotus flowers are really so beautiful."
There are no lotus flowers in Huzhou, and the people here don't know lotus roots. So last year, Dahe Village didn't even know that there was abundant food hidden in the mud of the lotus pond.
Shen Zheng has been to many places, but he has never seen lotus flowers with his own eyes. He has only seen them in some poems, songs or books and ink paintings.
Cheng Zhao stood on the shore, nodded and said: "When the hot summer comes, this lotus pond will be extremely beautiful."
"One lotus dominates the show, isn't it beautiful?" Shen Zheng's eyes flashed, "Didn't Zheng Wangfeng say yesterday that he would hold some kind of poetry meeting in Yunxi, Fenghuang County? Every year, we go to Yunxi to see the apricot blossoms. I Now that we are tired of seeing them, why not invite everyone to Dahe Village to enjoy the lotus flowers that we have never seen before? Brother Cheng, what do you think?"
Cheng Zhao frowned slightly: "Yunxi Xinghua Garden welcomes literati, but Dahe Village..."
"Of course Dahe Village also welcomes scholars." Cheng Wanwan ruffled the water in the pool, "If you need me to prepare anything, just tell me."
The market in the village has slowly become lively now, but the floating crowd is limited to villagers from the village, men from the next village who come to work in the village, and some official officials. The flow of people is still too low.
Use tourist attractions to attract people and slowly build up its reputation. One day in the future, the market in Dahe Village may become a distribution center for nearby villages and towns... Of course, this is a long process and cannot be rushed.
