Lin Chuxia arrived home to find Mrs. Qin and her sister-in-law busy sorting vegetables in the yard.
They were some tender green beans picked during the bean-pulling season, along with some small cucumbers planted by Mr. Qin in their private plot, also pulled up at the same time, amounting to two large piles.
There were also some hot peppers and other vegetables picked from their own garden.
Seeing Lin Chuxia return, Mrs. Qin pointed to the yard’s vegetables and said, “Last time, didn’t you mention you wanted to prepare some pickles for the customer at your shop? See if these are enough. Your sister-in-law is skilled at pickling; let her pickle more, enough for the whole winter.”
In this era, every household in the village pickled vegetables to eat during winter when fresh vegetables were scarce, something Lin Chuxia was aware of. She didn’t expect that Mrs. Qin and her sister-in-law were preparing these for her shop.
She had only casually mentioned it last time, but they took it to heart.
“That’s wonderful, I also find the pickles made by my sister-in-law delicious and was thinking of learning her techniques soon.” Zhang Guilan’s pickles had no strange taste, precisely capturing the flavor of whatever was pickled, a rarity in pickling.
When it’s time to eat, just refine the pickles a couple of days in advance, whether they are soy sauce pickles or spicy pickles, they are all great.
Zhang Guilan waved her hand, “What’s there to learn? There’s not much work in the field these days, I can help you with the pickling, it’s not at all troublesome.”
Little Zhuangzhuang, playing with the green beans nearby, also lifted his little head and said, “Auntie, I can help too. I can lift that big stone.”
“You are really amazing,” Lin Chuxia touched his smooth little cheeks and couldn’t resist pinching them.
Little Zhuangzhuang frowned slightly, somewhat troubled, “Auntie, I’m grown up, you can’t pinch my face anymore, but if you like, I’ll let you pinch it secretly, not in front of others though. Last time Aunt Yun pinched my face, Jiange and Niuniu made fun of me.”
Lin Chuxia found his conflicted little expression utterly adorable, prompting Mrs. Qin and her sister-in-law to laugh as well.
Unable to resist, she pinched his cheek again, “Alright, auntie remembers. Since Zhuangzhuang treats auntie so well, auntie will give Zhuangzhuang a gift.”
She took out a little military uniform from her bag, and at the sight of the army green cap, his eyes lit up bright, though he didn’t dare to reach out.
His eyes filled with excitement as he looked at the uniform and then at Zhang Guilan, his voice brimming with joy, “Mom, it’s a military uniform, look!”
Zhang Guilan truly hadn’t expected Lin Chuxia to buy clothes for her child, especially this little military uniform, which was not like ordinary clothes and certainly not cheap.
“Sister-in-law, you see, you shouldn’t have gone to such expense.”
“Sister-in-law, I bought it for the kid, Zhuangzhuang is so adorable, I love buying him things.”
Lin Chuxia didn’t explain much. During her time running the business, her elder brother and his wife had helped take care of things at home, especially the work in the fields, really saving her from any worries.
She didn’t say much, not wanting to feel too distant, but she was clear in her heart.
She then took out the clothes and shook them open, waving at Zhuangzhuang, “Come and try it on. Let’s see if it fits.”
Zhuangzhuang looked at his mom, and Zhang Guilan nodded her head, “Go on,” then he ran over like a little firecracker.
Lin Chuxia helped him into the clothes. Without experience in buying children’s clothes, they were slightly big, but it’s better for children’s clothes to be bigger; they grow fast and can wear them for a couple more years.
Mrs. Qin was very satisfied, “The size is just right, he can wear a sweater underneath in winter, and can still wear it next year.”
Zhuangzhuang, in his little military uniform and cap, joyfully ran across the yard.
Seeing Mr. Qin come out from the house, he skipped and shouted, “Grandpa, Grandpa, look at me, I am in the liberation army now.”
Mr. Qin laughed in response, “Hmm, our Zhuangzhuang is capable, being so little and he can already play as a liberation army, but he just lacks a gun. Grandpa will make you a wooden gun in a bit.”
“Yay, yay, Grandpa, I want a gun, I want a big gun.”
Once he had the gun, he would take a round in the village, his buddies would definitely be envious.
Last time, Brother Jianye from Second Uncle’s house brought a wooden gun, and when they all played cops and robbers, he played as the cop. This time, dressed in his little military uniform, he surely wanted to play the cop again.
Several adults watched Zhuangzhuang running joyfully around the yard, Mrs. Qin asked about something Lin Chuxia had mentioned earlier.
“When are you going to Yangyang’s place? I heard it takes three to four days by train, Yangyang’s birthday is at the end of the month, on the 28th. Didn’t you say you were going to join him for his birthday?”
It really wasn’t that Mrs. Qin was meddling in Lin Chuxia’s personal matters, watching the grandchild of her eldest son running around, how could she not think about her younger son?
Her younger son and his wife lived apart, and his wife was so capable, having started the Bun Shop on a whim, and they even hired many staff to help.
Her eldest son was talking to his wife in the yard that day, though in a quiet voice, she heard quite a bit.
Compared to her eldest son, she had had these concerns for a while, it wasn’t that she doubted her daughter-in-law’s character, but she was indeed outstanding, and with the children living separately, there wasn’t much of an emotional foundation.
If she stayed there for a few days this time and got pregnant, having a child would tie them down, and their relationship might become a bit more solid.
Lin Chuxia hadn’t realized Mrs. Qin thought so much, “Planning to leave the day after tomorrow, I’ll arrive just in time for his birthday. But this means the fieldwork will fall on my elder brother and sister-in-law again.”
Right now, it was time to plant wheat, a busy time in farming.
Zhang Guilan didn’t mind at all, “You go without worries, your bit of land, your brother and I will take care of it easily.”
……….
Lin Chuxia mentioned learning how to pickle vegetables from Zhang Guilan, and it wasn’t just talk; their snack shop used a lot of pickled vegetables, and it was the pickling season too.
The next day, she had Sun Bingnan buy two large jars, and also had him load up a truck with tender cucumbers, tender green beans, and tender chili peppers.
She invited Zhang Guilan to the courtyard to personally guide her in pickling the vegetables.
Seeing the large jars and vegetables in the courtyard made Zhang Guilan dizzy, not to mention a bag of salt.
“I was just saying that we almost finished pickling at home, it looks like I was too naive.”
“Sister-in-law, what you said, thankfully you remembered this, otherwise I would have completely forgotten about it.”
Zhang Guilan, knowing her sister-in-law was easy to get along with, the sisters-in-law didn’t say much and got started pickling the vegetables.
Cucumbers and green beans could be put in the same jar, but chili peppers needed to be pickled separately — not to mention they could make the other vegetables too spicy.
This was Zhang Guilan’s first time pickling so many vegetables, although it was for eating through the winter, the fact that a Bun Shop could use so much pickled vegetables also indicated how good the business was, which further solidified her thoughts.
In less than half a day, the vegetables were pickled, placed in the jars on the shaded side of the wall. As long as they were sealed off from dirt, they would be ready in a month.
When the weather got colder, she planned on pickling another jar of mustard greens and radishes, which should be enough.
Lin Chuxia also arranged for the Bun Shop and cooked food, especially the cooked food used her secret spice packs. During the time she was away, she left all the spice packs that would be needed with Su Wensong.