Free Days in Siheyuan

Chapter 35 Storing Winter Vegetables
After harvesting the pumpkins, it's time to stock up on winter vegetables. For the sake of winter life, the family has to be busy.

With the continuous improvement of people's living conditions in later generations, the custom of storing winter vegetables in autumn is not only rarely seen anymore, but also seldom talked about. It is only mentioned when recalling.

In later generations, due to the convenient transportation and greenhouse technology, there are all kinds of fresh vegetables supplied to the market even in the cold winter for Chinese people to choose and enjoy.Therefore, except for some special periods, Zhang Yu really didn't stock up on vegetables. He always bought them when he ate them.

Because he has already started working now, my sister-in-law thinks that he should learn some life skills when he grows up, so she called him to join him from the beginning of hoarding vegetables, and of course the others did not fall behind.

Although the supply may not be so sufficient this year due to some reasons, the supply in Beijing is not bad. Although it is not as much as in previous years, it is still not bad in this year.

This time period should be the busiest time in Beijing. There are people queuing up everywhere, and there are piles of cabbage everywhere.

Every morning, there are people queuing up to buy Chinese cabbage, and the bustle of people coming and going is extraordinary.

"This Chinese cabbage is the main dish of our old Beijingers. We rely on this idea of ​​cabbage throughout winter and spring." Zhang Guifang pointed to the pile of cabbage in front of him and said.

When Zhang Yu and my sister-in-law came to the vegetable station with the vouchers for buying cabbage, the queue had already reached a long way.

Seeing this, my sister-in-law gave the voucher to Zhang Yu and said, "Xiaoyu, you wait here first, and I'll see what else is available in other places, okay, let's buy together."

"Okay, sister-in-law, then you go first."

Looking at the long line, Zhang Yu felt that he might not be able to line up for him today. Just as he was about to give up, a seven or eight-year-old child suddenly ran past him and said to an old woman in the line in front of him: "Mom! , Don’t queue here, we have set up Chinese cabbage sales points at the entrance of the alley and the side of the road, and they will start selling it soon, my brother is queuing there, let me call you.”

"Let's go, let's go!" Hearing this, the aunt in front of the line stopped queuing, picked up the thing and trotted towards the alley.

After hearing this, several people nearby gave up queuing up and ran towards the entrance of the alley.

And Zhang Yu, relying on the effect of running and exercising every morning, rushed ahead of many people and ranked in a relatively high team.

But because the queue was relatively far back then, my aunt and the others thought it would take a long time, so they didn't ask him to bring the guy with cabbage, and planned to wait a while before bringing it to him.

But after changing the team, it will be his turn in a while. If you go home to get it now, you won’t be able to line up after you get back. Don’t go back to get it, and there is nothing to pack.

Just when Zhang Yu felt in a dilemma, he saw the children playing next to him, and he happened to know one of them, so he shouted loudly: "Qi Gang, Qi Gang, come here."

"Uncle Xiaoyu, what are you calling me for?" Qi Gang, who was playing with a group of friends, heard someone calling him, looked up and saw that it was Uncle Xiaoyu in the yard, and ran over dangdang.

"Go to the yard and call someone for me. After you go back, see who is in my house. Call whoever is at home, and ask them to come over with the things they need to buy cabbage. Say it's my turn soon."

As he spoke, he took out a few candies from his pocket and put them in his hand, using the cover of his pocket, "This is a reward from Uncle Xiaoyu."

Qi Gang looked at the candy in his hand, and immediately put it in his pocket, "Uncle Yu, I'm the fastest runner, just wait for me, I'll be right back." After talking to his friends, he was about to run back.

"By the way, when you go back, yell in the courtyard, saying that cabbage has started to be sold at the entrance of our alley, and let everyone in the courtyard come over quickly, and if it's too late, they won't be able to get their turn." Zhang Yu thought of something else , exhorted aloud.

"Okay," came the voice, and the child had already run a long way.

After a while, my uncle and elder brother Zhao Feng came over pushing the floor cart, and he happened to be in the queue. With the purchase receipts of the whole family, they bought a whole cart of cabbage.

The eldest brother pulled it in front, and he and his little uncle pushed it behind. They pulled it to the house, put it at the door first, and planned to hang it in a sunny place for a few more days, and then put it under the eaves. Eat it all winter.

My sister-in-law came back at this time, looked at the cabbage they bought and said in surprise: "Xiaoyu, you are in the queue soon?"

"No, I heard people say that there is a temporary sales point at the entrance of the Hutong near us, so I ran over there quickly. It's not just in time."

"I said, why so fast!" Zhang Guifang took a cabbage and patted it with satisfaction, pinched it, and then pinched it a few times, and said: "The cabbage you bought today is not bad. I think it is big. Yes, it’s porcelain solid, I just pinched it, it’s crispy and juicy, it’ll definitely be refreshing when you eat it.”

Seeing that my sister-in-law was in a good mood, Zhang Yu said, "Sister-in-law, this cabbage is stuffed with dumplings. Does it taste the best? Let's eat dumplings today."

"That's right, it's a pity not to eat dumplings for such a good cabbage." The eldest brother also echoed, he knew that as long as Xiaoyu asked, his mother would probably agree.

"Okay, then go and get a cabbage, I'll make some stuffing, let's eat dumplings stuffed with cabbage today."

With that said, Zhang Guifang began to wash her hands and prepare tools for chopping stuffing.

And Zhang Yu took out a catty of meat from the kitchen and put it in front of my sister-in-law: "Dangdang, sister-in-law, what do you think this is?"

"When did you buy it? I didn't even line up early yesterday morning." Looking at the meat on the chopping board, Zhang Guifang was a little delighted. You must know that she planned to have a good meal when she was storing winter vegetables last week, but because of There is a supply problem, and the meat has not been grabbed.

"My colleague went to queue at three or four o'clock in the morning yesterday, and grabbed a total of 3 catties of meat, but he just talked to a partner and needed a ticket, so why don't you give me 1 catty instead?" Knowing that my sister-in-law would ask, So there is indeed this matter, and it happens that he has extra cloth tickets.

Zhang Guifang originally planned to cut a part of it and put it in the cabbage stuffing. Zhang Yu sucked his teeth after seeing it. If there is anything he is not used to, it is the attitude of people in this era towards meat. A catty of meat has to be eaten several times.

"Sister-in-law, let's put it all, there are not many anyway." As he spoke, he brought the rest of the meat from my sister-in-law and chopped it up.

A meal of dumplings stuffed with cabbage and pork will satisfy the whole family.

There are still a few days to work, and a lot of things need to be stored.

In addition to cabbage, radish and wax gourd are also the focus of storage.

There are also all kinds of pickled vegetables, these need my sister-in-law to do it herself, the few of them can't pickle the taste, so they can only help by the side.

(End of this chapter)