Lin Lan grabbed a handful of fruit candies from the bag and handed out two to each person. The children happily peeled off the candy wrappers and stuffed them into their mouths.
Some members who knew Lin Guoliang looked at Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang curiously, and greeted with a smile: "Why did Guoliang just leave and come again? Have you brought something to your aunt again?"
Lin Guoliang smiled and said: "Bring my sister and brother-in-law here to see and recognize the door."
The child who had eaten Linlan Tang ran towards Qiaohui's house below and shouted loudly: "Aunt Wu, you have a relative coming to your house."
A tall, thin, middle-aged man from Wu Shufang's house came out of the house and saw Lin Guoliang walking up happily: "Guoliang, why are you here again?"
Lin Guoliang smiled and said: "Cousin, I will bring my sister and brother-in-law to visit my aunt."
An old woman came up panting, looked at Lin Lan and said hesitantly: "Huh? You are... Xiaolan!"
Lin Lan looked at an old woman with gray hair who looked like she was sixty or seventy years old, and thought she must be Wu Shufang. Just as she was about to say hello, Lin Guoliang said to her:
"Xiaolan, Xiangyang, this is aunt! This is cousin Shitou."
Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang smiled and shouted: "Aunt! Big cousin."
Li Xiangyang took out the cigarette and handed it to Zhou Shitou. Zhou Shitou took it with both hands: "Hello, cousin, hello, cousin-in-law! Please, please come and sit at home." He took the reins of the mule held by Li Xiangyang and warmly invited the three of them to go home.
Three men walked in front. Wu Shufang's calloused hand held Lin Lan's hand, her eyes red: "Xiaolan, aunt met you when you were in your teens. It's been so many years."
"Your mother said last time that your life was getting better, and my aunt is also happy for you. Qiaohui went to your place to cause trouble for you. If you don't obey, you will be beaten and scolded. My aunt doesn't feel bad."
Lin Lan smiled and said: "It's not troublesome, Qiaohui is sensible when you look at it."
As Wu Shufang spoke, she took out her handkerchief and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and said gratefully: "I know your mother feels sorry for me. You want to help your aunt. All these years, you have relied on your family and your aunt's family for financial support. The life of your aunt's family has not been so bad."
It’s difficult, but your two cousins also got married.”
When they arrived at Zhou's house, Zhou Dashi stood at the door of the courtyard with a smile on his face. He was hunched over, with gray hair, and a thin and sallow face covered with wrinkles. He rubbed his hands with exposed veins: "Guoliang, hurry up and be harmonious."
Your brother-in-law comes in and sits."
Wu Shufang took Lin Lan into the courtyard, followed by relatives watching the fun.
The Zhou family's house is also made of stone. The house still has three rooms with two rooms arranged in two directions. It also has a small yard, with vegetables and radishes planted on the slope.
The depth of the main room is very low, and the ground in the room has been compacted and is relatively flat. There are lights in the main room. Under the dim light, I can see that there is nothing in the room except an old square table and a few benches.
The three children ran in from outside, stood at the door and called their cousin, then stood aside and looked at Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang cautiously.
Lin Lan saw that the older boy was eleven or twelve years old, and his clothes and trousers were less patched. The younger grandson was about nine years old, and he was probably wearing old clothes and trousers that were too big to wear. He was heavily patched and could not see.
It's better to get there.
The youngest granddaughter is five or six years old, and she is wearing the same clothes and pants. The original color is almost invisible. The good thing is that although the clothes of the three siblings have been patched, they are also clean.
Lin Lan didn't expect Wu Shufang's family to be in such difficulty, so she thought about leaving the collection of goods to Wu Shufang's family, and asking them to help collect pumpkins and beans like Li Guizhi, and deliver them to Shilian to the Lin family, and they could also make some money.
money to support the family.
Wu Shufang pointed to Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang and said to several children: "Call me cousin, cousin."
"Call cousin, cousin." The three children shouted with blushing faces.
"Be good!" Lin Lan grabbed a handful of fruit candies from the bag and handed them to the three brothers and sisters. When he saw several children from relatives, he looked at them eagerly with his fingers in his mouth, and gave them to a few more.
"Oh oh oh! We have candy." The children took the candy and ran away cheering.
The eldest cousin Xu Hongjue came out of a room carrying a large black pottery pot in one hand and several earthenware bowls in the other hand: "Cousin, cousin husband, cousin, drink tea."
Wu Shufang said sheepishly: "Xiaolan, Xiangyang, this is local tea picked by myself in the mountains."
Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang felt embarrassed that they were too polite: "Aunt, you are out of town, the tea in the mountains is delicious."
The two of them picked up the tea bowl as they spoke. The tea in the bowl was very clear, with a slightly bitter aftertaste and a sweet aftertaste in the mouth.
Li Xiangyang smiled and said: "The tea at my aunt's house is made with mountain spring water!"
"Yes! There are two springs on the mountain. In the past, people used stones to build pools around the springs. They opened bamboo joints and used bamboo tubes to draw the water down. Dozens of households in Shishanling rely on these two springs for their daily food."
Zhou Dashi said with a smile, "I'm used to our water. Wherever I go, I feel that the water elsewhere is not as good as ours."
Li Xiangyang nodded in agreement: "This water is indeed better than the mountain spring water I have drunk elsewhere."
While drinking, Lin Lan felt that the quality of this water was a little better than that of Nong or other mountain springs, but not even a little bit better.
Wu Shufang went to the kitchen and asked her eldest daughter-in-law to kill a chicken, and asked Zhou Dashan to buy a hare from a house on the team that knew how to hunt. When the pheasant came back, she asked the boss Zhou Shitou to get charcoal to light it and make a fire for Lin Lan and others. She went into the house and started from the frame.
I scooped chestnuts out of the bowl and roasted chestnuts for them to eat.
Zhou Shitou carried the jacket Lin Guoliang gave him into the room: "Mom, my cousin said these were bought by my cousin and my cousin's husband."
"How embarrassing! I bring so many things every time." Wu Shufang handed him the chestnut, "Use a knife to cut a hole and roast it for your cousin and the others."
Zhou Shitou nodded, took the chestnut and went to the main room.
Wu Shufang took out the things from her pocket and put them on the bed; salt, brown sugar, cloth, medicine, and rice noodles. She looked at these things and she was moved to tears.
It seems that Qiaohui told her cousin that they were short of salt. Xiaolan didn’t know how many favors it cost to buy so much salt. There are also these white noodles, ingredients and medicines. Don’t say they have no money, even Shankaka can buy them if they have money.
Not even there!
Lin Lan, Li Xiangyang, Lin Guoliang and Zhou Shitou were roasting chestnuts in an earthenware pot in the main room.
Zhou Shitou pulled the hot chestnuts out of the fire and placed them in front of Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang: "Cousin, cousin husband, eat chestnuts."
"Thanks!"
Lin Lan picked up a chestnut and before peeling it, Li Xiangyang put the peeled chestnut in her hand: "Try it, I think the chestnuts in the mountains are sweeter and waxier than those outside."
Lin Guoliang smiled and nodded: "The chestnuts here are indeed sweeter and waxier than those outside."
Zhou Shitou smiled and said: "The captain said that Shishanling is colder than outside. The ripening period of chestnut and fruit is longer and the taste is better than outside."
Lin Lan nodded and asked: "Cousin, what kinds of wild products are there in the mountains? Are there many varieties?"