"Well (I) think so. As long as he reaches the three-way intersection, we can pick him up at a certain time." said the head of Shitou Village.
"Brother, when are you going to restock?"
"The socks are sold out. You can go tomorrow or in a few days."
"Are you going to deliver soap?"
"Oh, you remembered wrong, there are still more than ten days, and it will be delivered on the 26th. By the way, they want ten pairs of high-end shoes and twenty towels, as prizes for advanced workers. They all have to be customized and brought to the brick factory. By name.”
"Oh, thank you for your hard work. Brother, if it doesn't work, you can go back to Xizhou tomorrow. Let the third brother rest for a day, just in time to find food for us. When you come back, take Yantan. After you get off the bus station Walking into the vegetable field along the road, the third house belongs to the vegetable farmer uncle. If there is no one in the field when you go there, I will write a note and put it on the horse bed in the shack at the end of the field. He will definitely come."
"Okay, that's settled."
"By the way, brother, I'll go to the steamer and buy another one this time. One pot of this rice doesn't seem to be enough."
There was no talking all night, and the next day everyone did their own thing as agreed. The person invited to cook arrived before noon. She was a capable middle-aged woman and a member of Village Chief Zhao's clan who helped make wine and banquets at the village chief's house.
"Brother, this is cooking for us, Auntie."
"Hello, Auntie, thank you for your hard work." Yang Liufang came over and showed her the vegetables, rice, flour, oil, and bacon stored with Wang Shan.
"Auntie, there are many people in Emon and they eat a lot, especially the workers, so we have to cook more every time." Wang Shan whispered from the side.
"I know."
"Auntie, please cook us a big pot of food every time. Add more oil and don't forget to add the meat. Maybe it's because everyone is short of oil and water. It will be better after a while when we get tired of it. Rice, noodles, etc., you can Let's see. Anyway, these people make a big pot of rice and probably need to add a few potatoes. And I asked my brother to buy a new steamer." Yang Liufang added based on the amount of food he cooked at noon yesterday. .
"Okay, okay, I'll write it down."
"Auntie, let's start at noon today. For the first meal, you are not familiar with it, so let Brother Er San help you with it first. Er (I) go to work."
Lunch started on time, and it was fragrant soybean noodles. The aunt who had invited me stewed a pot full of soybean noodles with potatoes, cabbage, carrots and pork belly. She cooked a pot of noodles first, and after everyone took out a bowl, they Continue. Just like this, three pots were served in a row like a flowing table. Several people couldn't eat anymore. Yang Liufang ate the slowest. Others had finished three bowls, but he rushed to finish the second bowl last. When I went to put the bowl away, I said to Auntie sincerely: "Auntie, today's noodles are really delicious, even better than the beef noodles I had in Xizhou."
"Oh, Boss Yang, you really know how to speak. As long as it tastes good, is there enough for everyone?"
"I see they all ate three bowls, that's probably enough."
"It's not enough. Auntie can't roll it out anymore!" Auntie rubbed the biceps of her arms, looking exhausted.
"Well, Auntie, thank you for your hard work. Please rest for a while and eat quickly. I suggest that we keep it simple in the future, because you are too tired from rolling the dough alone."
"Thank you, Boss Yang." Yang Liufang felt a little embarrassed when his aunt called him that.
Li Tongfu came back by tractor at four o'clock in the afternoon. As soon as the tractor stopped at the door, he shouted from the car: "Afang, send someone to unload the vegetables. Uncle Han is here to see you."
After Yang Liufang heard this, he quickly turned off the machine, still wondering: Who is Uncle Han? He asked the head of Shitou Village to call the two workers responsible for transporting the wood and hurriedly greeted them out. As soon as the door opened, the vegetable farmer was already standing at the door.
"Haha, old man, I miss you so much."
"Xiao Yang, it's been more than a month since your baby left. Old man (uncle) thought something had happened to you! He was so worried."
"Brother, when Uncle Han heard that you were looking for him, he was so excited that he hired a car to follow you without even changing his clothes after picking these vegetables."
Only then did Yang Liufang see Village Chief Shitou and his workers unloading a truck. The truck pulled a large woven bag of cabbage, half a woven bag of spinach, and a woven bag of potatoes. It turned out that after picking vegetables, the two of them went back to Uncle Han's village and bought 20 kilograms of pork and brought them back together. Yang Liufang looked back at the vegetable farmer with gratitude. Only today did he know that his surname was Han.
"Sou (Uncle), you have been a big help. I didn't prepare anything at first. They were all dishes and food prepared by my brother before. When these workers came over, I was really a little panicked."
"Xiao Yang, now that the team has grown, I'm so happy for you! Your elder brother has told me everything about you, and I'll give it to you. You guys should try it this time and see how much it is. You’ll know how much to pick next time.”
"With you here, I feel relieved. Uncle Sou, how do you calculate this money? Tell me."
"Your brother has paid for it!"
"Brother, you can't treat our old man (uncle) badly!"
"No, no, what Xiao Li gave us was more expensive than what we sold to the vegetable seller!" the vegetable farmer said honestly.
"That's good, that's good." After watching them finish unloading, Yang Liufang pulled Uncle Han and asked the tractor master to come in and sit with him.
"Master, it's getting late anyway. Let's go back together after dinner. Then I'll give you some money."
"That's so embarrassing!"
"It's nothing. Just help me take Uncle Esou back to his home in Yantan." Yang Liufang unconsciously spoke with a Xizhou accent to sincerely persuade him to stay. The tractor master saw that it was barely enough, and he also wanted to earn an extra share of freight, so he got out of the car and followed them into the hospital.
Yang Liufang arranged for someone to pour water for the driver, and he took the vegetable farmer uncle into the bedroom. The two were like long-lost relatives. Yang Liufang asked Gawa about his grades, and the vegetable farmer uncle also asked Yang Liufang about his experience. They were chatting enthusiastically, cooking. My aunt is here to make dinner. Because I didn’t know Ah Fu and there were a lot of people today, I still came in to ask Yang Liufang for instructions about dinner.
"Aunt, you're here just in time. This is my Uncle Han. He will be the one who will serve us food from now on. Today he will try to serve the first batch. You can calculate the amount when cooking in the future so that we won't run out of food."
"Sister-in-law, uh (I) am a vegetable grower in Yantan. Please take care of me in the future."
"Oh, brother, we are all here to serve Boss Yang and the others, so we can't take care of them or not. Well (I) will estimate the amount later and ask one of them to send a message to you later."
"Auntie, my elder brother bought a new steamer. There are fresh vegetables and meat today. You are also exhausted in the morning. Just use a big pot of food and steam more rice. Just make it for four more people than in the morning." He turned around and said Ask the vegetable farmer uncle: "Sou (Uncle), are you used to eating it?"
"Oh, Xiao Yang, of course (I) am used to eating. Sou (uncle) is a vegetable grower, and he is not a wealthy person. This is your benefit. Sou (uncle) will eat whatever you want. "
"Then, Auntie, go and do your work."
Yang Liufang talked to Uncle Han for a while. I lit a lantern to show him the furniture I made. Since the entire set had been moved away, the two young men were polishing and putting putty on an Eight Immortals table, a desk and four benches in the room.
"It's a good thing. I don't understand it very well, but the patterns you made seem exquisite. I told your aunt that you know how to break furniture, and your aunt said, wait a minute. After the new year and the beginning of spring, my family will renovate the house, please go and give me some advice."
"Are you going to build a new house? Uncle, congratulations, you've made a fortune!"
"How can I get rich? To catch up with the good policy of reform and opening up, vegetable prices have increased a lot in the past two years. I have saved some money and want to renovate the house quickly."
"It's a good thing, uncle (uncle), um (I) will do my best."
While the two were chatting, Li Tongfu came in and asked them to come over for dinner. Yang Liufang took Uncle Han and followed Afu out. Just as he was about to go out, he was stopped by Brother Afu, saying that Auntie told Uncle Han that he was a guest from afar and had already served it for us. Let's eat in the bedroom.
When they entered the bedroom, the small kang table was set up. Wang Shan and Village Chief Shitou were already inside. They asked Uncle Han to sit on the kang. Even though the same big pot of food was very simple, Auntie still served it to each person separately. A bowl of vegetables and a bowl of rice.
"Uncle, let's eat. It's quite simple." Ah Fu said.
"Oh, that's great. You don't know, when Xiao Yang was at my place, he got up in the middle of the night and moved the vegetables with me." Uncle Han narrowed the distance between everyone with one sentence.
Everyone ate dinner happily, listening to Uncle Han and Yang Liufang talk about their experiences in the vegetable field. Yang Liufang told about how he took a bath naked, and everyone burst into laughter after hearing this.
