Rise From the Humble

"It's really thin."

At this time, it was about three or four o'clock in the afternoon. After Zhu Ping'an returned to the yard, his mother, Mrs. Chen, checked Zhu Ping'an several times and came to a conclusion, feeling very distressed.

"I look at Erxiao, but she's getting fat." Zhu's father held his bag and looked at Chen's distressed red eyes, and said something with his mouth flattened.

Father Zhu originally wanted to comfort Chen Shi not to feel distressed, but he didn't expect it to be the opposite. This sentence annoyed Chen Shi, and Chen Shi gave Father Zhu a look, "It's not the flesh that fell from your body, of course you don't feel bad! "

Father Zhu

"Mother, I don't suffer at all when I'm outside." Zhu Pingan comforted Mrs. Chen, and after seeing the game such as fungus and mountain mushrooms drying in the yard, he couldn't help but change the subject with a silly smile, "It's better mother, these are all Let me dry it."

"You're the only one with sharp eyes." Chen said with a wide-eyed smile.

Almost as soon as they settled down, the eldest brother Zhu Pingchuan came back, took a big piece of meat, and looked constipated.

"Why do you buy so much meat? You can't let it go today." Seeing that the boss took such a large piece of meat, Mrs. Chen couldn't help complaining.

"Mother, it's not that I want to buy so much, it's Uncle Zhao who insists on giving so much, and doesn't charge for it. What are you talking about, Mr. Xiucai, um, that is, Brother Zhu. The first piece of meat he eats when he comes back is his family's. What an honor. I gave the money, but he chased me half the village and stuffed it up my waist." The eldest brother Zhu Pingchuan looked helpless.

"I can't let someone give it to someone for free. Go and give someone money." After Zhu's father heard about it, he took the meat, took another handful of money from his pocket, and stuffed it into Zhu Pingchuan's hand, letting him Then go to give people money.

"This Zhao Laosan is really true, he said that my son is like a bully." Mother Chen blamed. But there was an inexplicable pride on his face.

The eldest brother Zhu Pingchuan went out and came back after a while, holding two big bones and a waist tied with a straw rope in his hands.

"It took me a lot of effort to leave the money there, but Uncle Zhao insisted on using these two big bones and this kidney to make up for Brother Zhu. If I don't accept it, he won't accept the money. I had to bring it." Zhu Pingchuan shook the big bones and waist in his hand, with a helpless expression on his face.

"Forget it then." Father Zhu rubbed his hands.

"Big bone soup is also good." Chen took the big bone and kidney from Zhu Pingchuan, and went into the kitchen.

Not long after mother Chen entered the kitchen, she came out with a knife and went straight to the chicken coop.

Then I heard the crowing of the old hen.

Zhu Ping'an couldn't help being startled when he saw the fat old hen in his mother's hand. When I came back last time, my mother had to say that this old hen lays one more egg a day than the neighbor's old hen, so why would she kill and eat it?

"Mother, mother, don't kill the chicken. Doesn't this chicken lay a lot of eggs?" Zhu Pingan couldn't help running over to stop his mother Chen. Eggs are also very precious at home, although the conditions are much better now.

The most important thing is that mother Chen has feelings for these hens raised at home. These old hens are all grown up by Chen. They include vegetable leaves, small insects, shells and aquatic plants in the river. Mother Chen feeds a group of chickens. The little hen can care about it. It is not easy to raise them from the palm of the hand to the present, especially after the hens lay eggs, the mother Chen takes care of them meticulously. Every time when the New Year needs to kill chickens and eat meat, it is always the saddest time for my mother. She is reluctant to kill the chicken. If she doesn't kill it, it will be a bad year. I have to kill one, which one to kill, every hen Chickens are unique in the eyes of my mother. Mother Chen always struggles for several days every time before gritting her teeth... Let Zhu's father catch and kill casually, mother Chen is not willing to look at it.

Therefore, Zhu Ping'an was very surprised to see his mother, Mrs. Chen, picking out the old hen that could lay the most eggs. Can't help but speak out to dissuade.

"The old hen that lays a lot of eggs will mend. There are still more chickens laying eggs at home. Zhu Shouyi, come here." Mother Chen lifted the dry egg that she used to lay in her hand, gestured twice with a knife, and felt that she couldn't do it, so she Call Father Zhu.

"Chicken, don't be weird, you are a dish in the world, go early this year, and come early next year."

Knowing Mrs. Chen's entanglement, Father Zhu was happy to relieve Mrs. Chen's worries. After taking the hen, Father Zhu took a knife from the stove and sharpened the blade on a stone with the water, and then recited the chicken-killing curse handed down from generation to generation. Then, he stabbed the chicken's neck with a knife, and threw the killed hen to the ground very neatly, letting it struggle for a while and lay there quietly to become food.

After mother Chen handed the hen to Father Zhu, she hid in the kitchen early. She couldn't bear to watch. Mother Chen waited until Father Zhu brought the clean white striped chicken that had been slaughtered and shaved off its hair and viscera to the kitchen. Mother Chen didn't feel much about the white striped chicken, and happily went into the water to cook the soup.

After a while, the smell of chicken soup came from the stove. Zhu Pingan took a deep breath of the scent like when he was a child, and then walked into the stove to help his mother, Mrs. Chen, to taste whether it was cooked or not. As an excuse, he rubbed two pieces of chicken and put them in his mouth without feeling too hot, which made his mother Chen laugh for a long time.

The dinner was very sumptuous and the quantity was very large. After Mrs. Chen finished cooking, under Zhu's father's expectant eyes, he asked Zhu Pingan to fill a large bowl of chicken and a large piece of cooked meat from the pot with some reluctance. , sent to the old house.

Zhu Pingan was holding a large bowl, smelling the aroma, and walked towards the old house.

At this time, the villagers were probably preparing dinner, and wisps of cooking smoke wafted behind the house, like rising clouds. According to legend, the lights of thousands of families are passed down, and the random stretch of smoke is the most harmonious picture of life in Xiahe Village.

"Ma'am, my mother is stewing chicken at home, let's go eat meat at home."

On the way to the old house, I ran into Mrs. Zhao, a neighbor who was usually close to her mother Chen, and Zhu Pingan took the initiative to say hello.

Aunt Zhao has seen Zhu Ping'an from a long distance, but Zhu Ping'an has been away for half a year, and the half-sized child grows fast. Aunt Zhao looks a bit like the second elementary school of the Chen family who was admitted to the scholar, but she is not sure, and is preparing to When I got closer, I didn't expect Zhu Ping'an to say hello from afar.

This made Aunt Zhao very happy. It was not for everyone that a scholar could take the initiative to greet her and invite her home to eat meat. Aunt Zhao felt light all over.

"Master Xiao Zhu is back." Aunt Zhao smiled happily.

Mr. Zhu?

When Zhu Pingan heard this address, he almost fell over.

"Don't be like this, ma'am, I can afford it. If you keep doing this, it will ruin my life. You can just call me Xiaozhu as usual." Zhu Ping'an smiled wryly.

"Then how come, last time people from the county called you Master Zhu." Aunt Zhao shook her head.

"That's them. Ma'am, you watched me grow up, so just call me Xiaozhu." Zhu Ping'an smiled brightly.

"You child, the aunt asked you to call you Ping An Lang." Hearing Zhu Ping'an's words, Aunt Zhao felt even more fluttering all over, and smiled even more happily.

"Oh." Zhu Pingan smiled silly.

"Where is Ping An Lang going?" Aunt Zhao asked curiously seeing Zhu Ping An holding a large bowl of meat.

"My mother stewed chicken at home and asked me to send it to the old house. Auntie, let's eat meat at home. Mother has mentioned you many times." Zhu Pingan explained it again, and then persuaded Aunt Zhao to eat meat at home with a silly smile.

"Ping'an Lang is filial, your family is filial, but your grandfather is partial." Aunt Zhao heard the words and felt a little bit grievance for the Zhu family.

"It's all over." Zhu Ping'an smiled stupidly, "I'll send it while it's hot, and it won't be late for dinner. Madam must go home."

"Then you send it quickly. The aunt won't go, the house is ready, tell your mother, and the aunt will go to your mother to talk about the housework some other day."

Aunt Zhao declined, and waved Zhu Pingan to send him to the old house quickly.