The happy little days of the Ye family

"Xiuxiu, the fruits of the two jujube trees in the backyard are already ripe. If you don't pick them off, the greedy little cats at home will almost eat them all."

As Mrs. Ye spoke, she picked up the overripe fruits that had fallen off the ground.

"Okay, Mom, the weather is nice these days. Tomorrow morning I will ask some of the little ones to pick the fruits together. These two naughty boys, Donglin and Xilin, are like monkeys and are very good at climbing trees."

The two jujube trees in the backyard were given by Ye’s mother’s father, Grandpa Ye.

Red dates are a good thing. They can nourish blood and energy, and can also be used as snacks to coax children. Grandpa Ye also dotes on his children. After Ye Mu was born, he specially found two jujube trees in the county and planted them specifically for Grandma Ye and Ye Mu to eat.

Ye's mother had no shortage of red dates since she was a child. Later, after Ye Xiuxiu got married, her mother's family sent a lot of them every year.

Grandpa Ye felt sorry for his daughter, fearing that there were too many children at home and his daughter would not be able to feed them, so he went to the county town to find two jujube trees and sent them over, and told his son-in-law to take good care of them.

This moved Mother Ye so much that she hugged Grandpa Ye and acted coquettishly with tears in her eyes. The harvest leaves were so sour that I went to the county town the next day and spent half a month's wages to buy two pomegranate trees and two osmanthus trees.

I don’t know if Ye’s mother was moved, but she was so angry that she spent half a month’s wages to buy these things that were not suitable for eating or drinking.

These two jujube trees have begun to bear fruit in the past few years, with more and more fruits year after year. There are many livestock at home, there is no shortage of fertilizers, and Father Ye and Mother Ye take good care of them, and the fruits they bear are large and good-looking.

Last year, two red date trees produced 300 kilograms of fruit, and the dried red dates weighed [-] kilograms.

Old Mrs. Ye, who was very economical, left 60 kilograms of red dates for Ye's mother and several children to eat as snacks. The rest was sold at the market, and half of the money was given to Ye's mother and half to the father-in-law.

The red dates at the big market are all priced at 20 cents per catty. The red dates from Ye’s family are big and very sweet. The red dates weighing more than 200 kilograms were sold out in two big markets.

These two hundred kilograms of red dates were sold for more than four taels of silver. Mrs. Ye was very fond of these two jujube trees.

The two jujube trees, which usually didn't require much care, were actually sold for more than four taels of silver. Mrs. Ye looked at the two jujube trees as if she were looking at silver, and her eyes shone.

This year, the greedy cats at home are even more closely watched. On weekdays, they are only allowed to pick up overripe and fallen fruits on the ground, while those on the trees must be kept and sold for money.

But the big greedy cat and the little greedy cat at home can't stop you at all. I will pick one after you eat it. The dates at the bottom have been picked long ago.

Old Mrs. Ye is a talkative person who talks a lot, but in reality she dotes on her children, turning a blind eye and pretending she didn't see anything.

Grandpa Ye bought these two jujube trees well. They bear fruit early every year and ripen early. The jujubes on the trees are ripe before the Mid-Autumn Festival.

This year's jujube trees have entered the fruitful period, and there are more jujubes on the trees than last year.

The next day was the school's rest day. Ye Donglin and Ye Xilin went to the yard to pick dates after breakfast.

The Ye family brothers and Ye Qingqing were picking dates from the tree, while Mother Ye and Mrs. Ye were holding baskets under the tree.

The red dates fell on the basket one after another, and it didn't take long for the basket to be filled.

It took several people a whole morning to finish picking the dates from the two jujube trees. Mother Ye and Mrs. Ye held the baskets, and their hands were so sore.

The children were full of energy, and the three little guys were crawling around on the tree like little monkeys, as if nothing was wrong.

Ye Mu was a little tired, so she made a simple stewed fish rice for lunch.

Cut the dried fish into small pieces and put it into the pot with the rice. When it is almost cooked, pour the washed beans into the rice, simmer for a while, and the fragrant dried fish and beans stewed rice will be ready.

When farming is busy or time is short, Ye Mu likes to make various kinds of stewed rice, which is simple and delicious.

The Ye family ate dry rice for lunch and dinner, and they could also eat meat from time to time. Mrs. Ye joked that the food was better than what the landlord's family ate.

Mrs. Ye and Mother Ye cleaned the pool in the backyard, then poured the dates into the pool and cleaned them.

The cleaned dates should be boiled in hot water and then fished out.

The Ye family has a huge mat woven with reeds. Mother Ye and Mrs. Ye pour the blanched red dates on the mat to dry.

When the weather is good, let it sit in the sun for three or four days and the red dates will be ready.

Ye Mu took out a small bag of red dates from the house and said, "Mom, there are still a lot of red dates left from last year. Why don't you make some red date steamed buns?"

When they heard that there was red date steamed buns to eat, the eyes of the three little greedy cats lit up, and their three little heads looked at Mrs. Ye expectantly.

Old Mrs. Ye: "Let's do it. There is no shortage of food at home."

Although Mrs. Ye is frugal, she is quite willing to eat under the influence of Mr. Ye.

Mr. Ye eats well and is strong and rarely gets sick. Mrs. Ye still agrees with Mr. Ye's statement.

Red date steamed buns are actually very simple. You only need to ferment the dough, then cut the soaked red dates into thin strips, and then put the red jujube shreds into the risen dough.

Red dates themselves are sweet. Even if no sugar is added, the cooked red date steamed buns will still taste sweet, with the sweetness of red dates.

Before the red date steamed buns were even out of the pot, the aroma had already spread to the yard. The three little guys couldn't wait any longer and were guarding the door of the kitchen one by one.

The three little guys stood guard at the door of the kitchen one by one, waiting impatiently and looking into the kitchen from time to time.

Old Mrs. Ye couldn't stand it, so she grabbed a handful of red dates and distributed a few red dates to each of them before coaxing the little guys away.

It didn't take long for the red date steamed buns to finally be ready. Ye Mu opened the lid, and the aroma of the white noodles and the sweetness of the red dates spread to the entire room with the heat.

Before Ye's mother called anyone, Ye Donglin had already come to the kitchen with his younger brother and sister, waiting for Ye's mother to feed him.

The red date steamed buns that had just come out of the pot were still very hot. Mother Ye used chopsticks to pick up a few red date steamed buns on a plate and asked Ye Donglin to carry them to the yard to eat with his younger brothers and sisters.

Ye Donglin picked up the plate and took Ye Qingqing and Ye Xilin to the yard.

There were five red date steamed buns on the plate, and each of the three of them ate one, leaving two on the plate for Mrs. Ye and Mother Ye to come over later to eat.

Old Mrs. Ye put a plate of red date steamed buns into a basket and asked Mother Ye to deliver them to her parents' family.

Mother Ye arrived at her parents' house in a short while, holding a small basket and humming a tune.

At this time, there were only Grandma Ye, Mrs. Li and Mrs. Li's daughter Xiaoyue in Grandma Ye's family.

Xiaoyue is Ye Qingqing's cousin, one year older than Ye Qingqing.

Grandma Ye: "Your red date steamed buns are well made. Even if you don't add sugar, they will still be sweet."

Ye Mu also picked up a red date steamed bun and ate it, "Are there any red dates at home? I still have a lot of them over there, and I'll ask Qingqing to send some over later. This year's jujube harvest was huge, and I picked 800 kilograms of jujubes in the backyard in the morning. "

"We also have a bumper harvest of dates at home. What I'm most afraid of is that if there are too many dates, the red dates won't be sold at a high price." Ms. Li was a little worried.

Farmers are miserable. The harvest is not good and they are hungry. After a bumper harvest, prices are low.

"It's okay. When the red dates are dried, we can take the harvest to the county and sell them. The price in the county is higher than in the town."

Mother Ye stayed at Grandma Ye's house for a long time, and then she slowly went home when it got dark.