Chapter Fifty-Nine: Drought Smoke Bag

  "What's going on?" The whole house woke up.

  "Outside the window." Lian Menger pointed to the south window.

  Outside the south window is a newly brewed grape wine. Sanshilipu can be said to be a village with simple folk customs, although it cannot be said that the road is not picked up and the night is not closed, but the theft of small thieves is rare, especially those who can sneak into Lianjia's family with walls and gates to steal, even less.

  Lian Shouxin silently got out of bed and ran out with the doorstop, Lian Man'er also followed him out in a hurry.

  The vegetable garden under the west wing, surrounded by a low wall, because there are chickens in the yard, afraid of chickens entering the vegetable garden and damaging the vegetables. On the low wall, mud was added, and corn stalks more than one foot high were inserted, making it convenient for the bean sprouts and cucumbers to climb up, but also preventing even the most energetic rooster from getting into the garden. Of course, at the same time, it also made it impossible for people to climb over the wall.

  There is a small door under the window of the west wing, which is the only entrance to this vegetable garden.

  At night when the work was finished, this small door was closed, but now it is open. Lian Shouxin approached the door and stepped on something under his feet, making a crisp sound. Then, there was a clanging sound from the vegetable garden, followed by a black shadow trying to climb over the wall from the vegetable garden, but its foot was caught by the high corn stalks and the vines on top of the short wall.

  Lian Shouxin hastily ran over and lifted up the person with one hand.

  "Fourth son? How is it you?" With the faint moonlight, Lian Shouxin saw that the person he had caught was indeed Si Lang from the second house.

  "Fourth Uncle, I just came out to take a piss." Si Lang struggled in Lian Shou Xin's hands.

  But this won't fool Lian Shixin.

  "What's wrong with peeing somewhere else? Why did you have to sneak into the garden? When you heard someone coming, you even jumped over the wall and ran away. I thought it was a thief."

  Lian Wan'er hurriedly walked into the vegetable garden with an oil lamp, carefully examined the wine jars placed there, and saw that the lid of a wine jar on the edge had fallen to the ground. She immediately understood what was going on.

  "Dad, a vat has been opened." Lian Man'er immediately came out and said to Lian Shouxin.

  "Si Lang, what have you done?" shouted Lian Shou Xin.

  The courtyard was so noisy that the upstairs landlord lit an oil lamp. The west house and east wing of the upper house were silent, however.

  "Fourth uncle, I didn't do anything. I just took a look."

  "You haven't had enough during the day. If you really want to see, why don't you come over openly in broad daylight and tell us you want to see? Why sneak in at midnight, what do you want to do?" asked Lian Man'er.

  "I'm just taking a look." Shirō said with his head hung down.

  Lian Shouxin glanced at the faint candlelight in the upper house, then looked at the quiet and still east wing, suppressing the anger in his heart.

  "Fourth brother, I'm still counting on the things in these jars to exchange for some money to get by. We're country folk, we hate wasting things. You listen well, if there's a next time, don't blame me when I turn against you." Lian Shouxin let go of Fourth Brother.

  Back in the house, everyone couldn't sleep anymore.

  "What do Second Uncle and his wife want to do?" Lian Man'er was furious in her heart.

  "Maybe it's just a mischievous and curious little kid..." Lian Shou said, but from the tone of his voice, he didn't quite believe what he was saying himself.

  "It's all connected to the family, he can't be too excessive. At night we'll sleep lightly and wake up early, during the day I'll stay at home with the windows open, and absolutely not let anyone touch those jars." said Zhang.

  The next morning, Lao Lao Ye called the laborers from the neighboring family to work in the fields again. Although all the grains had been harvested, there were still some bean stalks left in the field that needed to be transported back home, which could be used as fodder or firewood.

  Lian Wan'er thought about last night's events and felt that this kind of thing should be solved from the root. In Lian's family, there was only one person who had the prestige to solve this problem.

  Lian Man'er walked up to the upper house, Zhou Shi and Lian Xiuer went to the back garden to pick vegetables, and there was no one in the house. On the windowsill of the kang, two sections of a tobacco pouch were placed, which was used by Master Lian to hit Lian Shouren that time and had been left on the windowsill ever since. Actually, Lian Man'er knew that Master Lian didn't like rolling his own cigarettes, he preferred smoking from a tobacco pouch. But for some reason, he refused to buy a new one.

  Lian Man'er climbed onto the kang, picked up two sections of a tobacco pouch from the windowsill and weighed them in her hand. They seemed to be made of copper. Lian Man'er then tucked the tobacco pouch into her bosom and came out of the upper room.

  "Mother, I'm going to town in a while, what should I buy?" Lian Man'er asked Zhang Shi.

  Yesterday, Lian Wan'er bought five kilograms of bean oil, a can of salt and some daily sundries. Lian Shouxin also brought back a bag of millet and a bag of millet flour from the upper house, which is their monthly ration.

  "Man Er, you bought bean oil yesterday, but we still don't have lard at home. Go to the butcher's shop and take a look, if they have pork fat, buy one piece back, so we can use it for cooking." Zhang Shi said after thinking for a moment.

  "Okay." Lian Man'er went into the kang cabinet to fetch some money, then asked Xiao Qi, "Xiao Qi, are you staying home with your mother or going to town with your sister?"

  Xiao Qi's big eyes rolled around, he actually wanted to go to the town with Lian Man Er, but his assigned task was to accompany Zhang Shi.

  "Mother, otherwise I... would still be accompanying you at home." Little Qi said to Zhang Shi, with a pair of big eyes clearly shining with pleading light.

  Zhang didn't seem to notice.

  "Go with your sister and don't run around, come back early." Zhang told Xiao Qi.

  Xiao Qi let out a cheer and carried the basket as she followed Lian Man'er out of the house.

  Arriving in town, Lian Menger first went to Zhao's Copper Workshop.

  "Sister, what did we come here for?" asked Xiao Qi.

  Lian Man'er then took out the two sections of the arid smoke rod and handed them to Zhao Tongjiang, asking if he could re-weld the two sections together.

  Zhao Tongjiang took the snuff bottle holder and looked at it, then nodded and said "alright".

  "This is something I often do. It's just that the welding doesn't look very good, do you want to add a copper hoop, it's just a few more cents."

  "Alright, this is my grandfather's treasure, you must take good care of it, or else I'll come back to find you." Lian Man'er said after agreeing on the price with Zhao Tongjiang.

  "I know, I know." Zhao Tongjiang said, "The little girl is quite fierce."

  "This dry tobacco pouch is given to you to weld. We'll go buy some other things first and come back later." said Lian Man Er.

  "No problem, I'll get it done for you right away." Zhao Tongjiang replied.

  Lian Man'er came out of Zhaoji Copper Shop. Then she went to the largest grocery store in town, picked the best white sugar and bought five catties of white sugar. Each catty cost fifteen cents. Then she went to another store and bought three catties more. After visiting several grocery stores, she bought a total of twenty catties of white sugar, spending three hundred cents.

  White sugar is a crucial step in brewing grape wine. Without adding white sugar, grape wine can still be brewed, but the resulting wine has a low alcohol content and is prone to spoilage and acidification. Adding white sugar can increase the alcohol content of the grape wine, making it a true dry red wine. If stored properly, this wine can last for two to three years. The taste of the wine is also better.

  They bought white sugar and divided it into two baskets, Lian Man'er carried one, and Xiao Qi carried the other.

  "Sister, didn't you say you were going to buy meat?" Little Qi reminded Lian Mian'er.

  "Don't worry, I haven't forgotten." Lian Man'er said with a smile.

  Lian Man'er walked into the butcher's shop and saw a newly slaughtered half pig on the meat counter, with beautiful meat color and a thick layer of fat, especially in the thickest part, which was as thick as three fingers. Such pigs have more bacon, produce more oil, and are fragrant.

  "Mr. Zhang, do you have lard?" asked Lian Mian'er.

  "Ah, Third Sister, you've come at just the right time. Here's a piece of pork belly." Zhang Butcher took out a piece of braised pork from the meat counter behind him.

  Pork fat is the thick layer of oil in a pig's belly. The oil extracted from it is called lard. Soybean oil is also a precious thing for ordinary rural families, and what they usually eat is lard. Some families buy a piece of pork fat every year, extract the oil, and use a small amount when cooking, which can last for a year.

  At home, there is both lard and bean oil, but more lard is consumed.

  "Is there still no meat bone?" Lian Man'er turned over the plate of oil and saw that it was clean inside, so she asked again.

  "There are." Zhang Tufu said, and bent down to pick out two pig leg bones and a piece of pork spine from a large willow basket under the meat counter. "If you buy this lard, I'll sell these bones cheaply to you."

  "Sister, we've got some oil left over, why don't we use it to make some oil fritters?" suggested Little Seven.

  Lian Man'er looked down at Xiao Qi and thought of Lian Zhi'er and Wu Lang's frail bodies, then nodded.

  "Just using oil and vegetables isn't tasty, let's buy some meat," said Lian Mian'er.

  "The oil dumplings are enough, no need to buy meat." Little Seven said sensibly.

  "We won't buy much, just one catty." said Lian Manger.

  Lian Man'er had calculated in her heart that for the next year, they would have enough food. She had the money saved by Xianggu Niang, and yesterday Li Shi had left a sum of money, plus two silver ingots, each weighing about two taels, making a total of five taels of silver. Once the grape wine was sold and they bought land, their life would be even more comfortable next year.

  Mrs. Zhang wants to supplement her body and children. Lian Shouxin is the main labor force, and she also needs to eat well. The younger ones are also growing up at this time, so the increased nutrition cannot be vague.

  Lian Man'er then asked Zhang Tufu to weigh another catty of bacon.

  The board oil is eleven catties and a half, calculated as eleven catties, each catty costs fourteen cents, which is one hundred and fifty-four cents. The big bones are three pieces with five and a half catties, each catty costs ten cents, which is fifty-five cents. Adding the one catty of hind leg meat, each catty costs twenty cents, the total is two hundred and twenty-nine cents.

  "Add another piece of money, to make up three hundred coins." Zhang butcher then cut off another piece of meat and threw it into the scale, weighing a full two taels with some extra.

  Lian Muer agreed and handed over 300 coins to Zhang Butcher. Zhang Butcher wrapped the bones, lard, and meat separately in large leaves and put them into Lian Muer's basket.

  Lian Man'er and Xiao Qi carried the basket back to Zhao's copper workshop, where Master Zhao had already repaired the tobacco pouch. Lian Man'er took a look and saw that the broken part had been welded, with an additional copper hoop added, polished very smoothly. Then Master Zhao inserted a thin copper wire into the mouthpiece, all the way through to the tobacco pouch pot, indicating that everything inside was fine.

  "Even for Third Sister-in-law, I'll help you clean up the oil stain on your tobacco pouch." said Zhao Tongjiang.

  Lian Man'er couldn't help but smile. In this era, business people don't have the slogan "the customer is God", but those who can survive in business treat their customers with an attitude and service awareness that makes one feel like a spring breeze.

  According to the agreed price, Lian Wan'er added another copper coin, making a total of fifteen copper coins given to Zhao Tongjiang. Then she and Xiao Qi walked back from the town. Because they bought a lot of things, the sister and brother walked slowly, stopping frequently, and were sweating all over when they finally returned home.

  Lian Man'er first put away the things she had bought, then went to the vegetable garden, opened the jar, and found that the grapes inside had already started fermenting. At this time, the people from Lian's family who had gone out hadn't returned yet, and those who stayed at home were all afraid of the heat and hid in their rooms. Lian Man'er then evenly divided the white sugar into several portions, adding one portion to each jar.

  To make the wine taste more layered, Lian Man'er plans to add white sugar in several batches. This is the first time, and there will be a second time later.

  By the time Donglian finished all these, it was almost noon. People who went out to work began to come back one after another.

  Lian Wan'er handed over the meat, bones and suet to Lian Zhier, letting her handle it, while she herself went upstairs to find Old Master Lian.

  Lian Xiuer was burning fire in the outer room and saw Lian Man'er coming, so she was a bit unhappy.

  "What are you doing here?" Lian Xiu'er asked with a glare.

  "I'll go see my grandfather," said Lian Man'er as she walked straight into the house.

  "Grandpa." Lian Man'er sweetly called out as soon as she entered the door.

  "Man'er is here." Lian Lao Yezi was sitting on the kang, rolling a dry cigarette, and responded with a "hmm".

  "Grandpa, take a look at this." Lian Man'er handed the finished water pipe to Old Master Lian.

  Even Lao Yezi saw the tobacco pouch in Lian Man'er's hand and turned his head to glance at the windowsill.

  "Is this my old pipe?" Lao Lao took the pipe from his hand, and it had not only been repaired but also cleaned of its internal and external tobacco stains, looking as good as new.

  "Grandfather, I see you're not used to smoking dry tobacco, it's better to smoke this water pipe," said Lian Man Er.

  "Was it you who fixed it?" asked Old Master Lian.

  "Yes. I know Grandpa loves smoking and drinking. When the grape wine is ready, the first one will be given to Grandpa." said Lian Man Er.

  "Good boy." The old man said, stroking his tobacco pouch.

  Zhou's family came in from outside, and Lianmeng smiled and came out of the house.

  "Ah, this water pipe, is it fixed?" Mrs. Zhou saw the water pipe in Lian's hand.

  "Yes, that child has a heart." said Old Master Lian. This tobacco pouch had accompanied him for nearly half his life, he wasn't used to smoking paper-rolled cigarettes. These two things, the people at home should all know about. But his tobacco pouch had been broken for so long, no one in the family thought of taking it to be repaired, nor did anyone think of buying him a new one. In the end, it was only Lian Mian'er, this child, who fixed the tobacco pouch and gave it back to him.

  The old man even lit a bag of dry tobacco and slowly began to smoke it.

  "She's got a mind of her own, and she's got too many tricks up her sleeve." Zhou Shi muttered discontentedly.

  The old man held an empty tobacco pouch in his hand, paused for a moment, and suddenly burst out laughing.

  "Go and get Old Second, his wife, and those few kids for me." Lian Yezi said to Zhou Shi.