When the postman who delivered letters and parcels came, the Su family was having lunch. They drank the boiled sweet potato porridge, which was neither dry nor watery.
The family was still discussing the meeting with the Wen family when they heard someone shouting outside.
"Are Su Aidang and Zhang Xinlan here? I have your letter!"
Zhang Xinlan was holding the bowl and was stunned, "Are you calling me outside? I love the party. I seem to have called you by your name?"
"Did you call?" Su Aidang was confused.
Su Qingyun excitedly put the bowl on the table, "Second uncle, second aunt, I have your letter! It must be the second brother's letter!"
"Oh my god!" Zhang Xinlan reacted in two seconds and ran out, almost hitting the bowl on the ground.
The postman who was delivering the mail on a bicycle, carrying a military green bag, asked, "Is it Zhang Xinlan?"
"Yes, yes, I am." Zhang Xinlan's eyes were filled with anticipation, and behind her, the rest of the family also came out.
The postman took out a letter from the bag, "This is a letter sent from the Spring City Military Region, and this package is also for you."
At his feet was a medium-sized package.
"Thank you, thank you!" Zhang Xinlan was overjoyed.
After the postman left, the family hurriedly entered the house. Wu Guixiang hurriedly greeted: "Quick, quick, quick, Yunyun, read what is written in your second brother's letter?"
Zhang Xinlan handed the letter to Su Qingyun, "Here, Yunyun." She now regretted that she had not been more serious about literacy.
Su Qingyun looked at the postmark of the Chuncheng Military Region on the envelope. It seemed that the second brother was assigned there. The climate in Chuncheng was very good and it was like spring all year round. The second brother was lucky, and Su Qingyun was relieved.
She carefully tore open the envelope, unfolded the letter, and began to read.
"Grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts, uncles and aunts, eldest brother, Congwu, Yunyun, Zhan Xinjia..." Good guy, this title occupies a row. There is no way, there are many people in the family.
"I have now settled down in the Chuncheng Military Region. The climate in Chuncheng is very good. Even this month, we have only been wearing thin clothes without getting cold. The air is also humid and not as dry as ours. I went down to the recruit company. My comrades are all from all over the country, but everyone is very nice and takes good care of me. The food in the cafeteria is also very good. I am full every meal. Anyway, everything is fine here."
"I will work hard in the army. Don't worry about me at home. I will continue to write letters to my family when I have time. I am also looking forward to news from home. By the way, I have sent you some specialties from Chuncheng. You can try them. If you like them, I will send it home next time, - Su Congwen."
After Su Qingyun finished reading, he closed the letter.
"Is this gone?" After listening, everyone was still unsatisfied.
Zhang Xinlan turned the letter paper over and over, frowning and said: "This kid, finally got some letters, and just writes this little. Isn't this a waste of money for sending letters?"
Su Congwu couldn't help but said: "Mom, my second brother is in the army now, how much does it cost to send a letter?"
"Really?" Zhang Xinlan was stunned, and then said confidently: "Then he should send more back if it doesn't cost money!"
Su Qingyun is convinced by her second aunt, and she is afraid that the country will take advantage of her. She really deserves it!
Su Dalin glanced at her and said, "Second daughter-in-law, you are now the mother of a soldier. You must be conscious. You can't just take advantage of the care of the army. If everyone does this, how will the country still function?"
Su Dalin rarely spoke, but when he did speak he was always serious.
"Yes, Dad, I said something wrong. I will definitely pay attention to it in the future." Zhang Xinlan said bitterly, not daring to talk back.
Su Aidang rubbed his chin but was thinking about another thing. He asked the person who read the most books in the family, "How far is it from Congwu, Chuncheng to us?" The farthest place he has ever traveled in his life is the county seat. , all I know about Spring City is the name.
"This..." Su Congwu scratched his head, recalling the map of China he had seen, and asked uncertainly, "It must be thousands of kilometers, right?"
"Two thousand five hundred and eighty kilometers." Su Qingyun said coldly. Seeing everyone looking over, she explained, "I've seen it in a book."
"One kilometer is equal to two miles, so isn't that more than two thousand kilometers equal to five thousand miles? It's so far!" Su Aidang took a breath, "It takes several days by train, right?"
Zhang Xinlan was anxious, "Then how often can Cong Wende come back?"
"What are you thinking about? The second brother will come back naturally. Let me come and see what good things the second brother has sent." Su Congwu interrupted the slightly depressing atmosphere and couldn't wait to open the package. He lifted He shook his hand and said, "Hey, it still has some weight."
He opened the package and the first thing he saw was a beautifully packaged box, "Flower Cake." Su Congwu read out the words on the box.
Wu Guixiang: "How can flowers be used to make cakes? It's really strange."
Qin Ying took a closer look and said, "This should be a flower cake stuffed with edible roses. It is a specialty of Spring City. I have... eaten it before."
This happened more than ten years ago, Qin Ying's tone was a little sad.
Su Aimin on the side squeezed her hand to express comfort.
"Let's try it together later."
"What is this?" Su Congwu picked up something, which was a leg-like object wrapped in oil paper.
He tore off the oil paper, and a huge pig leg appeared in front of everyone. Everyone was stunned.
"This is...pork leg?" Wu Guixiang said, "But why does it look so dry?"
"Is this still red? Isn't it ripe?" Su Aidang poked the leg, "It's so far from Spring City to us, but this raw meat is not bad?"
He moved his nose and said, "It smells pretty good."
"Second uncle, this is good stuff!" Su Qingyun's eyes lit up, this is ham! Nationally famous Xuandu ham!
The price was not low in later generations. A leg would cost tens of thousands. Even now, it should not be cheap. I don’t know how much a pig leg of this size costs, let alone a ham that is complicated to make and requires a lot of time. .
The second brother has just joined the army, so the stipend is definitely not much. Is he probably all paid for it?
"Meat is a good thing." Zhang Xinlan looked at the ham, a little confused, "But how to eat this?"
"I know!" Su Qingyun said excitedly, "The upper part of the ham can be cut into slices and fried. It's best to stir-fry the bamboo shoot tips. The aroma of the meat and the freshness of the bamboo shoot tips are mixed together, and the taste is incredible. Okay! The lower part has more tendons and bones, so you can cut it into pieces and make soup with some radish and greens. It’s delicious and nourishing, and it will make your eyebrows fall off!”
"Put some potatoes or something in it. It's good to steam it. This kind of good stuff is delicious even if it's boiled directly. Cut it into thin slices and roll it in water for a while. Make a dipping sauce. Tsk!"
Su Qingyun spoke with great joy and her eyes shone. The whole family was drooling as they listened and felt that all the gluttons in their stomachs were aroused by her words.
Qin Ying looked at her daughter funny. Everyone in the family was following her to eat. When did this child become so greedy?
"Let's try it this way tonight." Wu Guixiang said, "Put it away now."
Cong Wendu said that this was sent to his family. Of course, everyone should eat it together. Wu Guixiang naturally put away the large ham and put it in the cabinet. The flower cake was shared among everyone, but even though there were so many, But after one person divided two, there wasn't much left, and the rest was put away in the cabinet to taste when he wanted to eat.
Zhang Xinlan didn't dare to have any objections. The thank-you gifts from the Chen family that Su Qingyun and her father brought back before were distributed to the whole family. She had no reason to keep them and not give them to her family.
When working in the afternoon, the Su family were all thinking about what the ham would taste like, and they were quite absent-minded.
When work was over, a fellow villager called Su Aidang, "Aidang, why don't you come to my house for dinner tonight? Your sister-in-law will make dumplings tonight, and we two brothers will have some drinks. How about that?"
Su Aidang looked at him. They were Lin brothers from the same village. They had a good relationship, but they weren't familiar enough to invite him to eat dumplings and drink, right?
"Brother Lin, if you have any questions, just tell me." Su Aidang was still thinking about the ham at home.
Old Lin smiled naively, "Well, I saw the postman delivering a letter to your house in the afternoon. Has the letter from Congwen arrived? Your family has been in the army for a while, right? I just wanted to ask you about the two of my family. Leng also wants to join the army next year, but I don’t understand, what should I do?”
Is that all? Su Aidang thought for a while, "It was all his own attention when Congwen went to join the army. We didn't know until the child's enlistment notice came home, and we don't understand either. Why don't you ask the captain? Ask him next year I’ll inform you when the conscription comes so that you can prepare.”
"That's it. That's okay. I'll ask the captain." Lao Lin nodded.
After Su Aidang exchanged greetings with him, he hurried home.
Dinner was still served by chef Zhang Xinlan. Su Qingyun smelled the amazing aroma of meat coming from the kitchen and shook her head in admiration. To be honest, although the second aunt has a bit of a personality, her cooking skills are really not bad.
The family sat at the table waiting early, smelling the aroma of meat, and their stomachs were growling with hunger.
"Here it comes, here it comes." Finally, under the attention of many pairs of eyes, tonight's main dish was finally served. Two dishes were made with ham, one was fried Chinese cabbage with ham, mainly because the weather in late autumn is also There are no fresh bamboo shoots to be found, but the juicy Chinese cabbage is not bad either.
I also made a soup with ham, added with dried mushrooms and fresh lotus roots, and topped with thin slices of ham. The ruddy color was extremely attractive, and it was still bubbling when it was served.
The enticing aroma penetrated their nostrils, and everyone couldn't wait to use their chopsticks to have a taste of this delicious food.
Su Qingyun was not slow in his movements. He picked up a piece of ham and cabbage with chopsticks. The cabbage was fresh and sweet, and the ham meat was delicate and had a slightly smoky salty aroma. One bite awakened all his taste buds.
"Drink some soup first." Qin Ying served her a bowl of soup.
The soup was boiled into a milky white color. She blew on it and took a sip. Her eyes instantly brightened. The soup was delicious and full of umami. The hot soup warmed her whole body.
What a delicious meal! Su Qingyun narrowed his eyes with satisfaction.
