Chapter 250: Sesame Leaf Vegetable Noodle Soup

Vegetable noodle soup, as the name suggests, is to boil the noodles until they are soft and mushy, paired with the unique flavor of sesame leaves, peanut crumbs, chili oil, and the scallion noodle oil at the bottom...

At this moment, a large bowl full of sticky and mushy noodles, eating until everyone is sweating and comfortable.

The satisfaction brought by high starch and high calories is something those who haven't eaten it can't imagine! As picky as Song Tan, she actually finished a large bowl today.

Speaking of which, she has been back for more than two months, and her picky eating habit has actually improved a lot.

Of course, compared to the lowest meal volume of the old Song family, which starts at two large bowls, this appetite is still not worth mentioning, but it has already improved a lot.

But, dinner is finished, and by 7:30, the large light bulbs newly installed in the courtyard are bright again, and the aunts in the village come here one after another.

No way, the silver ear collected in the afternoon is really too much, and it hasn't been processed yet in a while.

This thing naturally has to be dried early, anyway, everyone can't sleep so early, simply work two hours of night shift to earn some money, and can tidy up early.

So in Grandpa's courtyard, it is now full.

A clean plastic film is laid on the ground, and large baskets of silver ear are poured on it. The aunts sit in a line with small stools next to this plastic film, each picking the silver ear in front of them, holding a sharp small knife, quickly gouging out the hard fungus blocks and wood chips on it, as well as the yellow and old edges.

Everyone is used to farm work, although they are not skilled at the beginning, they can work fast after doing it for 10 minutes.

Before long, the silver ear on the film is getting less and less, and the baskets in front of them are getting more and more.

This silver ear has to be cleaned and picked after being cleaned, and then it can be spread flat on the bamboo curtain to dry.

Now it's late at night, I'm afraid there is dew, and it was specially moved into the house. Just like this, the whole courtyard already has a feeling of tension and crampedness.

As for the scraps and edges picked by everyone, Seventh Uncle and Seventh Grandma have many tasks every day, and at this moment they don't have the energy to pick them carefully.

Aunt Lianhua is busy all day but refuses to stop.

Even though Song Tan persuaded her to go back several times, she didn't listen at all. At this moment, she simply pushed the paralyzed old lady at home over, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law put a large basin in front of them, which was full of scraps and edges cut by everyone.

The old lady is old, and her eyes are a bit dim, but at this moment there are so many people in the courtyard, coming and going and laughing, she doesn't feel lonely at all, and her whole mental state is better than a notch.

At this moment, she and Aunt Lianhua slowly picked the scraps in the basin in front of them again, the edges that could still be seen were collected on the side, slightly cleaned, and still spread flat to dry.

For those that really couldn't be seen, Aunt Lianhua couldn't bear to eliminate them, and took advantage of Song Tan leaving the courtyard alone to ask in a low voice if she could take a bowl home.

Reasonably speaking, this thing can neither be sold for money nor eaten, and it is not worth anything even if given to Aunt Lianhua.

But Song Tan was afraid of setting this precedent, which would easily lead to other people's careful thoughts, so she set a number: "Sure, then Aunt Lianhua, you take two jin home!"

The scraps are heavy, actually have no taste and are heavy, but the nutrition is still there, Aunt Lianhua has tasted the taste, and at this moment she is already overjoyed.

She and her mother-in-law whispered, and the two recalled the taste of silver ear soup, and their confidence became even higher, sitting there picking more carefully.

Waiting until after 10 o'clock in the night, everyone finished the work and took the wages and went back, Aunt Lianhua then pushed her mother-in-law and said goodbye to Song Tan.

She opened the plastic bag she was carrying and showed Song Tan: "I just showed Qiaoqiao, two jin exactly."

Song Tan was a bit stunned

Nothing else, it was because Aunt Lianhua was too honest, there wasn't even a piece of crystal clear white silver ear in the bag, all of them were yellow, old, and hard edges.

Reasonably speaking, there are roots and stems cut down by everyone, but there are also many edge scraps! But how...

She reached out and pulled the bag down, and then went to the small warehouse to look—

Sure enough!

Only to see the bamboo curtains piled up layer by layer in the room, except for some complete silver ears of uneven sizes, a layer of gauze was spread on the top layer, and those silver ear scraps that couldn't be more broken were spread flat on it like a layer of broken snow.

This made Song Tan feel uncomfortable again.

She was right to increase the wages for Aunt Lianhua, but 2,500 yuan a month was not much.

Although she brought her mother-in-law to eat at her house, which would not be agreed upon in a general workplace, the mother-in-law didn't stay idle, and she did what she could.

Now she didn't say a word, turned out a plastic bag from the side, and directly loaded a portion of the silver ear scraps spread on the gauze.

Estimating that it was about two or three jin heavy, and then handed it to Aunt Lianhua:

"Aunt, you are so hard-working in helping at our house, our whole family remembers it. A little silver ear scrap, you are so distant, I feel sorry in my heart."

"Take it, you and Grandma have worked hard all your life, my silver ear is very nourishing, stew a bowl at home every day to nourish your body, so you can help us for a long time."

She smiled: "I've been running this farm for decades, it's not easy to find an employee like you."

A few words were warm and enthusiastic, making Aunt Lianhua's heart sway, and the warmth was surging.

Even the paralyzed mother-in-law felt her heart tremble.

Decades, she has been paralyzed for decades, always feeling that she is a burden to her daughter-in-law, and she is timid, and she hasn't dared to die until now...

Now, now just helping out, she can actually help!

She eats at Song Tan's house every day, and now her complexion is well-nourished, and she has strength in her hands, and she knows that the things at home are indeed nourishing.

At this moment, she felt even more embarrassed: "Why take such good things? Keep it for sale... How much do we eat at home every day? Just take the scraps back and soak them as water to drink."

This is what was said, the scraps were really broken and couldn't be broken anymore, even the biggest ones in her hand were only as big as a fingernail.

They were all picked out carefully with scissors, small knives, and tweezers.

These things, they deserve them.

The solar street lights in the village were still bright at this moment, and the road back was flat and stable, and the wheelchair made a lonely and lonely sound, which was particularly clear in the quiet night.

Aunt Lianhua took a deep breath: "Mom, we eat and drink every day... I think, we still have to work hard, tomorrow the house is built, I don't want a raise, just tidy up the house."

Work at the door of the house, they cherish the blessing, know what is good.

Song Tan did not stop them either.

The rules in the village are like this: once a son has received his share of the family property, he must fulfill his filial duties.

She thought for a moment, but didn't mention that she would arrange the furniture and appliances herself—if she had said so, they definitely wouldn't have agreed.

Anyway, let them do it first; she would plan it out in advance when the time came.

Once they gathered later to finish discussing the major family matters, Seventh Great-Uncle began heating oil in the pot, poured in a large bowl of chopped green onions to sauté, and when they were fried to a golden, fragrant crisp, he added a bowl of flour!

He stirred it until the entire pot was filled with golden, sticky flour-coated onions, and only then did he scoop it out.

The green onions were from the vegetable patch, and at this moment, an overbearing, mouth-watering aroma wafted toward them, causing everyone to swallow their saliva subconsciously—

I mean, with it smelling this good, why wouldn't it be worth twenty?

Fortunately, this alluring scent didn't linger for long; soon, after the pot was rinsed, oil was poured in once more, followed by ginger and garlic, which were sautéed again.

Seventh Great-Aunt poured in the blanched, dark green sesame leaves from the side, and Seventh Great-Uncle quickly tossed in a handful of bean sprouts.

He thought for a moment; after all, they were a group of people doing hard labor, and eating only vegetables wouldn't keep them full.

So, he added the crispy, golden-brown diced pork belly that had been stir-fried earlier in a large bowl on the side, and stir-fried it all together.

By the time everyone was so tempted by the aroma that they could barely sit still, he finally added several ladles of water with a flourish, then threw in a large handful of freshly rolled noodles.

In another pot, he heated oil, crackling as he fried eggs, and then freshly stir-fried a handful of peanuts, placing them in a bowl to crush into semi-coarse granules.

With several pots going at once, Seventh Great-Uncle's expression remained calm and unhurried, his hands busy but organized; his demeanor as a master chef was truly evident.

Qiaoqiao was helping on the side, already sweating from the rush.

When the noodles in the pot began to thicken, Seventh Great-Uncle finally mixed in the onion paste he had prepared earlier with the hot oil and flour.

A large bowl of sesame leaf thick noodle soup, topped with crushed peanuts, a dash of fragrant chili oil, and finally, a crispy, golden-brown fried egg on the edge...

Dinner, let's dig in!

Sesame leaf thick noodle soup!!! I really want to eat it, boo-hoo...

Every household in our village now has squat toilets (it's a strict requirement, haha, I like it!), and we've been using tap water for several years; although the mountain village is poor, it is developing where it needs to.

Goodnight, babies.

(End of chapter)