chapter eight
The Mei family was popular in the village, and the place Gu Nanfeng was interested in was also remote and not in a good location in the center of the village. Therefore, the village chief readily agreed and gave him some surrounding wasteland for cooking.
The vegetable plots of people in the village are basically next to their houses, and no matter what they grow in the vegetable plots around the house, they do not need to pay taxes. Only the fields registered with the court need to pay taxes.
The place that Gu Nanfeng was interested in was not far from the Mei family, separated by a small gentle slope of about 100 meters. The Mei family felt relieved, at least they were close, and it would not be troublesome to go back and forth from both sides.
Although the back mountain is not as flat as the village, it is not without flat land. What Gu Nanfeng is looking for is a piece of flat land.
There is a large bamboo forest next to this land, which stretches far away. Although this is an ownerless bamboo forest, it is far away from the village, and there are many bamboo forests in the village. Therefore, few people come to cut down the bamboo in this forest, but it does happen every year. It’s getting denser every year.
Bamboo has many uses. With such a large bamboo forest right in front of your home, it will be convenient to weave anything in the future.
There is also a large ditch under the bamboo forest. This ditch flows out of the mountain and is mountain spring water. It is convenient to use water. There is no need to go far away to fetch water, which can be regarded as saving a lot of work.
With a place of his own, Gu Nanfeng began to think about how to build a house. He also needed to go to town to buy some things he needed to live. Now that he had nothing, he had a lot of things to buy.
Although building a house is an urgent matter, it is not urgent. Today is the first half of the month. Together with the village chief, the Mei family showed Gu Nanfeng a place and then called him back.
"Let's discuss everything tomorrow. I just want to go home today to discuss building a house."
"Yeah, let's go home first."
It was clear that the open space in front of him was his future home, but when he heard the Mei family calling him to go home first, Gu Nanfeng felt warm in his heart. At least they still regarded him as a family member, so he could be considered a family member. Not alone.
Today was a special day and it was really impossible to start work, so Gu Nanfeng simply followed the others back.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a big day like the Chinese New Year, and it cannot be taken lightly.
Early in the morning, the family started to clear up the altar table and laid out the sacrifices that had been prepared in advance. At noon, they also collected paper money to write on the bundles. After finishing these, they later returned the paper money that had been used for the day. There is a baggage, which is burned to the deceased relatives, and then all the offerings are eaten.
Eating the offerings means taking in the blessings given by the ancestors and blessing the whole family with safety, health and success.
Father Mei is illiterate, but his two sons can read a little, but not much. Therefore, every year, they take the burden to the village chief's house to write. The village chief has read a lot of books and has experience in writing burdens. Most people in the village go to the village chief for help.
The man in the family went out to write a baggage, while Mei Aniang led her youngest daughter and Gu Nanfeng to cook dinner at home. The dinner for half a month had to be sumptuous, because the ancestors had to be sacrificed first before using chopsticks.
When Gu Nanfeng and Mei Aniang were cooking at home, several waves of guests came to the house. Mei Aniang also went out several times. Every time the guests came, they brought some food to the family. Mei Aniang naturally gave it to others when she went out. Send food.
People in the village are also particular about not eating at other people's homes during the New Year and festivals. However, if there is a rare dish at home, sharing it with people with whom you have good relationships can taste it. It can be regarded as a favor and a way to enhance neighborly relations.
Gu Nanfeng didn't have time to think too much last night. He didn't see his sister-in-law at home this morning, only to find that the eldest and second brothers at home were not married yet.
He didn't know the reason before, but now he knows that the year after he left, that is, the year when his little sister was born, Mei's father had an accident. In order to treat Mei's father, he not only spent all the family savings, but also carried a huge amount of money. external debt.
The family has nothing to offer and a father who is seriously ill. With such conditions, it is natural that he cannot get a wife. Fortunately, Father Mei is getting better and better. He doesn't need to drink decoction anymore, which can save a lot of money. I believe that the eldest brother will be able to marry a wife soon.
Today is a day of solar terms, and Aunt Mei is getting better and better. Everyone in the family is happy, and Aniang Mei has cooked a lot of delicious food.
In addition to cooking bacon, I also rarely slaughtered a chicken. In addition, I also went to the Wang family at the entrance of the village to buy a large human fish and stewed it. In addition to these big dishes, there are also various small stir-fried fried food and salad dishes. There are more than a dozen dishes that cannot be placed on the dining table at home, and some dishes have to be placed on top of each other on the edge of the plate.
After all the dishes were put on the table, it took a quarter of an hour to start. Today, there was an ancestor's memorial tablet on the altar table at home, and an incense burner was lit. It was also a day when the ghost gates were wide open, so they had to wait until their ancestors had eaten before eating.
After the time was up, everyone hurriedly served the table. When Mei Aniang finally served the table, she had a smile on her face. As soon as she sat down, she took out a bottle of wine from behind her.
"Your father is getting better this year. The doctor also said a few days ago that you don't need to drink medicine or take supplements from now on, as long as you don't get too tired. This saves you almost one tael of silver every month. By the end of the year, our family’s foreign debt will be paid off, and we won’t have to worry about it anymore. From now on, our family will have meat to eat every month.”
"Ah? Do you only eat it once a month?" Brother Mei quickly caught the key point in his mother's mouth, and his face suddenly fell. As soon as he said these words, he was immediately hit hard on the head by the lady next to him!
"You brat, you only know how to eat? You don't even look at how old you are. People in the village who are the same age as you are already four or five years old. I have to save money for you to get a wife first."
After Mei Aniang beat her son, she rolled her eyes at him again, and then motioned for everyone to use their chopsticks, while she stood up and picked something in the chicken soup.
Mei Aniang picked out two complete large chicken legs, gave one to Mei Xiaomei, and was about to put the other into Gu Nanfeng's bowl when Gu Nanfeng moved his bowl away and covered the bowl with his hand. Mouth, not letting Mei Aniang put it in.
"Auntie, give it to uncle." Gu Nanfeng has never been a glutton, and he can hold back even if he wants to eat something. Besides, there are so many delicious things today, including a chicken drumstick.
"Bring it here." Without any unnecessary words, Mei Aniang stared at Gu Nanfeng without even retracting her hand, and motioned for the person to quickly bring the bowl.
Farmers are poor, and even if they raise chickens and ducks, they will not slaughter them for meat. There are only a few days when chickens are served on the table. For people who eat from the ground, the only way they can think of to save money is to eat from the ground. Save your mouth.
After Gu Nanfeng knew how difficult the life of the Mei family had been in the past few years, he didn't want to drag them down anymore, but the look in Aunt Mei's eyes and the expressions of everyone at the table made him accept the chicken drumstick obediently.
Gu Nanfeng didn't think the chicken legs were much more delicious than the chicken from other places. He was happy to have meat to eat, but the chicken legs in front of him reminded him of something that happened a long time ago.
He actually loved eating chicken legs when he was little, and he also liked chicken wings.
One year, his family was stewed with chicken. He went out to hunt pigweed and came back late. When he came back, the family had already eaten and there were guests. His mother told him that she had left rice for him in the pot. He happily went to the stove and opened the lid of the pot, only to find that there were no chicken legs or wings, not even a piece of chicken, and only a bowl of chicken soup.
Gu Nanfeng felt aggrieved immediately. He was stubborn and refused to eat because he lost his temper. He was even beaten several times by his mother. Although it didn't hurt, he felt even more aggrieved. Later, when he was hungry and ready to eat, his third brother came out and warned him not to touch the bowl of chicken soup. He would make chicken soup noodles tomorrow morning.
He complained to his mother, but his mother said, "Don't you want to eat? It's okay if you don't eat. I'll leave it to your third brother."
Thinking about the past, Gu Nanfeng felt that he was so stupid when he was a child. He didn't know how to look at people's faces. He still wanted to compete with his third brother for favor, and often got angry because of his mother's favoritism. Now that he thinks about it, in those days, he I'm afraid I don't know how much I'm annoying him.
A person who doesn't like you will not accommodate you because of your emotions, but will only annoy you more.
Gu Nanfeng, who was ignorant, became sensible when he was twelve years old. He recognized his position in his mother's heart and would no longer compete with his third brother for favor. But in his heart, his mother only loved his third brother more. That's all, I don't feel so sad at all.
He was really disappointed in his mother and realized that his mother really didn't love him when he got married.
When he got married, his mother gave all his betrothal gift to his third brother, but it was this time that really made him give up, and he no longer had any illusions about his mother.
He still can't figure out how his mother made that decision.
Let his third brother take his place instead of him, and let him be his concubine to serve his third brother.
While Gu Nanfeng was lost in thought, there were a lot more vegetables in his bowl, and everyone was picking them up for him. When he regained consciousness, he saw his second brother putting chicken gizzards into his bowl.
"You love this food."
"Thank you, second brother." The second brother personally picked up the food for him, and Gu Nanfeng felt relieved.
When he left that year, his second brother deliberately didn't send him off. This time when he came back, everyone asked him to stay at home, but his second brother obviously didn't want him to stay.
Although he would not stay at home, his second brother's attitude made him a little sad.
He thought the second brother was still blaming him, blaming him for leaving them behind even though he had promised to stay.
Now that he knew that his second brother was not angry with him, he was naturally happy.
Because of Mei Qingshan's move, Gu Nanfeng obviously relaxed a lot. Everyone started chatting and eating, and also talked about building a house for Gu Nanfeng.
What Dad Mei meant was that if Gu Nanfeng lived alone, there was no need to build the house too wide, but it had to be strong.
Although we are just building a hut, the foundation must be solid, the walls must be solid, and the roof must be thickened so that there will be no rain leakage in summer and no wind leakage in winter, so that it can be comfortable to live in.
Gu Nanfeng had the same idea as Mei's father. After everyone discussed it, they decided to build only three rooms.
Gu Nanfeng is a brother, and this hut must be built. He cannot be allowed to urinate and defecate everywhere without a cover. The kitchen and the warehouse can be connected together, as long as they are made spacious. Then there is the bedroom. The bedroom does not need to be too big, it can just put a bed, wardrobe and two tables.
Dad Mei was a wall builder in his early years. After deciding how to build a house, he had an idea of how many building materials the house would need. He also knew in his mind what the most complicated thing about building a house was.
The most troublesome and time-consuming part of this house is probably the latrine.
Since you want to build a special hut, you can't just dig a hole and build a shed at will. It has to be done properly so that it will be convenient to raise livestock directly in it in the future.
