Chapter Ten: Laba Festival

  By dusk, Zhao Juan became busy, washing glutinous rice, red beans, green beans, chestnuts, lotus seeds and so on, then put them in a pot to slowly simmer.

  La Ba Congee should be boiled with big fire and then simmered over low heat all night to make it more fragrant and delicious.

  Watching Zhao Juan busy, Song Jie felt a bit bored. She suddenly remembered that the things she planted yesterday hadn't been seen yet, and her heart itched, really couldn't wait any longer.

  She pretended to go to the toilet and came into the toilet. Besides corn bread, what she couldn't stand most was this toilet. The whole toilet was just a big pit dug out, with a small ditch scooped out next to it, and two bricks were placed on top of it as a footrest.

  It made her so nervous every time she went to the toilet that she was afraid of falling into it, and such a deep pit could really drown people. Thinking about one day, on her tombstone, it would be engraved: On a certain month and day, Song Jie drowned in a toilet pit, which gave Song Jie goosebumps.

  As soon as the bathroom door closed, Song Jie immediately flashed into the space. If there was no hidden place in her home, she wouldn't have stayed here for a moment, it really smelled too much.

  As she entered the space, the air suddenly became fresh. Song Jie took a deep breath, expelling the stale air from her abdominal cavity, and instantly felt much more comfortable, her mind also clearing up.

  Song Jie was stunned, wasn't it just a few seeds planted? How did it grow into such a large area? The plants inside almost occupied one quarter of the space. The ratio of space to the outside world is 50:1, which means that these grains and vegetables have already grown for a season. Each seed has turned into a plant, how many are there now?

  What if I forget to come in for a few days and let them occupy this place? Thinking that all the cucumbers and corn on the ground are...

  There was no other way, so she had to pull out these plants with their roots first. Song Jie, who was doing farm work, was sweating profusely and didn't even have any tools in her hands. She was so tired that she couldn't straighten her waist. After all, she was still under five years old, and it was indeed a bit difficult for her to do these things.

  It wasn't easy to pull out all these vegetables and grains, she collapsed on the ground panting heavily, reluctant to get up. If she had come in a day later, it would have been fatal. Song Jie felt deeply grateful for this.

  The cucumbers, peas and corn that had been picked were all piled up in the storage room. The time inside the storage room was still and infinite, making it the best place to store things.

  All kinds of vines are thrown directly on the ground, and these will eventually become fertilizer, making a contribution to space.

  Song Jie also reflected on her own carelessness, and should still get familiar with the various functions of space as soon as possible. Can't be like today, wasting effort without achieving anything good, doing things without considering the consequences.

  I've roughly estimated that I've been working for about four hours now. I've been in the toilet for almost five minutes, and I'd better hurry up and get out.

  In a flash of inspiration, Song Jie suddenly appeared in the toilet. She really couldn't stand the smell and opened the door to run out.

  As expected, Zhao Juan has already started muttering about her and even said she wants to go to the toilet to fetch her. It's really making me break out in a cold sweat.

  Dinner was very rich, Zhao Juan mixed wheat flour and corn flour to make a large steamed bun, and also stir-fried a dish with napa cabbage and crispy fried pork scraps.

  Drinking thick porridge, eating soft and fluffy steamed buns, with stir-fried Chinese cabbage, Song Jie came here for the first time and ate until she was stuffed, her little belly bulging out like a ripe little watermelon.

  After a warm sleep, it was already the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month on the second day.

  Good friends and relatives have started to share Laba congee, which is also a local custom, filled with strong human feelings, unlike later generations who don't even recognize each other when they see each other across the street.

  Song Jie wore a big bow and followed Zhao Juan to visit each household, delivering porridge, which was also her first time entering Zhao Juan's social circle, getting to know the neighbors who were friends with her mother.

  The first stop was the neighbor Li Shu's home, where Li Shu is considered to be of a relatively high generation in the village. Generally, they would send gifts to those with higher generations first, and then to friends of the same generation.

  Arrived at Aunt Li's home, there were already people, it was Aunt Li's eldest daughter-in-law, also the mother of Little Swallow. Through Aunt Li, Zhao Juan got along with Aunt Li's eldest daughter-in-law quite well. The two chatted for a few sentences, and Zhao Juan didn't want to stay too long, so she went back home.

  She took another bowl of porridge and went to the village chief's house. Because her own family only had women and children, the village chief usually took good care of Zhao Juan and gave them lighter tasks. Along the way, there were many pedestrians, each holding a basket, and it was clear that they were all going to deliver Laba porridge.

  Xiao Zhang village's head, Zhang Weimin, is a sixty-year-old little old man with deep wrinkles on his face and dark skin, but he has a clever look. In this era, the village head is also a real power figure, and all things in the village are decided by him. Village head's wife, Wang Shu, is plump and gentle-looking.

  When she came into the house, Wang Shu took out a handful of sugar and stuffed it into Song Jie's pocket: "This sugar is for the child to eat as a snack, it was sent back by my son from outside, it tastes better than what we buy at the market. Come and fill up some more." As she spoke, she grabbed another handful and stuffed it into another pocket.

  Zhao Juan hastily pushed back: "How can this be? Nini doesn't like to eat sweets, a few pieces are enough, you still have kids at home, leave them for the kids to eat. By the way, where's Hu Zi?" As she spoke, she took out the candies from Song Jie's pocket again, leaving only a few pieces.

  Hutou is the grandson of the village head, and he's always been a naughty kid. He never has any free time, as expected: "You talk about Hutou, he runs out as soon as it gets light, and he's always running around all day."

  "What are you talking about, in our village, Tiger is the most spirited one, who doesn't praise him?" Song Jie had no idea that Zhao Juan could also speak flattering words, and suddenly looked at her with new eyes.

  One sentence made Wang aunt delighted, and indeed her weakness was her little grandson.

  After exchanging a few pleasantries, Zhao Juan bid farewell and then visited several other homes.

  According to Song Jie's statistics, those who get along well with their own family are mostly some elderly grandpas and grannies, who are relatively kind.

  Only one or two families got along well with young people, among whom Zhang Suishui's wife Li Li was the closest to Zhao Juan, and they were about the same age. The two spoke very intimately, without any taboos. This Li Li had only met Song Jie once, when she had a fever.

  It seems that the two of them often work together, and Li Lian's family conditions are not very good either. She has given birth to three children at such a young age, with the oldest being only one year older than Song Jie. However, she is kind-hearted and diligent in her work, appearing to be a worthy friend to get close to.

  After finishing the Laba congee, and visiting relatives' homes, it's almost noon already.

  Zhao Juan hastily steamed a few mantou at noon, and the two of them had a meal with salted vegetables. In the afternoon, they started wrapping dumplings.

  Finally able to eat a meal of dumplings, Song Jie was filled with emotion, she loved eating dumplings the most.

  Zhao Juan was wrapping dumplings on one side, while Song Jie was making trouble on the other. If she went up to wrap dumplings, wouldn't she become a monster? Zhao Juan pulled down a piece of dough and threw it at Song Jie, letting her play with it.

  Song Jie "learned" to roll out dumpling wrappers like this, holding the rolling pin with both hands and pushing it flat, a few times and a wrapper was rolled out, only they were all the same thickness. This already made Zhao Juan extremely happy, praising her daughter as a genius, having a talent for cooking, and would definitely be skilled in the future. Song Jie broke into a sweat from this.

  In the evening, Song Jie had a delicious meal of dumplings. Although they were filled with fatty meat, they were exceptionally fresh and savory, making her tongue want to swallow itself. She thought shamelessly that from now on, she could just eat dumplings every day...