Chapter 65: Salty Glutinous Rice Balls on the Winter Solstice

This time, she earned a total of eight yuan from her manuscripts.

Jiang An’an, with her newfound wealth, confidently bought a pound of osmanthus cake and a pound of glutinous rice sticks at the supply and marketing cooperative. Glutinous rice sticks are made by deep-frying glutinous rice and coating it with sugar, they are fragrant, sweet, and crispy.

In her previous life, glutinous rice sticks were a rare treat at the orphanage, and a large group of children would fight over them. But when she grew up and started earning money, glutinous rice sticks were no longer available on the market.

Therefore, this time she bought a whole pound, as a way of comforting and gifting her past self.

“This is specially for you, hurry up and drink it, the bottle needs to be returned.” Jiang Meizi, her second sister, mysteriously took out a bottle of glass bottled soda and stuffed it into her hand without a word.

A bottle of glass bottled soda cost three cents, she had finally managed to get one, even her two children didn’t get any.

Recently, her younger sister had brought her a lot of face, even County Magistrate Bai had personally praised the young and promising Women’s Federation official, Little Jiang. Now, everyone in her husband’s family looked up to her, even her troublesome sister-in-law didn’t dare to fart, life was so comfortable.

The soda was orange flavored, with bubbles, it was incredibly novel to people of this era.

Jiang An’an didn’t like to drink beverages in either of her lives, she took a few sips and handed it back to her sister, her eyebrows furrowed, her expression pitiful, “I can’t drink it, second sister, please help me.”

“Why are you still like you were when you were little, always asking your second sister to help you eat things?” Jiang Meizi tapped her forehead, she took a sip under her expectant gaze, her eyes suddenly welled up.

When they were young, their family was poor, and Jiang An’an was weak, so every morning, out of the four children, only she could have a bowl of egg water.

Jiang An’an had always been clever, she would pretend to not finish her egg water and ask her three sisters to help her, but she was actually thinking of them.

When she left, Jiang Meizi gave her two pounds of glutinous rice flour. Yunzhou County had a custom of eating glutinous rice balls on the Winter Solstice, and today was the Winter Solstice.

With so many things, Jiang An’an put them in a net bag and placed it in the basket on the front of her bicycle, she wrapped her scarf around her neck and head, and rushed home.

There were guests at home today.

Old Uncle Yu came to visit, he brought a full bag of things, just the food included smoked chicken, cured rabbit, and salted fish. In addition, there was the corn hand-cranked machine that Jiang An’an had been longing for.

Jiang Degui was the first to try the new machine, he found that it was fast and effortless to peel corn kernels.

In just a short while, half a bag of corn had been husked.

He couldn’t put the corn machine down, he could do all the work by himself, saving his wife and children from suffering.

Although Jiang Degui was a lazy bum, he was the best at spoiling his wife and children in the surrounding ten miles!

“Uncle Yu, how are the three kids you’re helping?”  Jiang An’an had been so busy with work lately that she only remembered the little girl who was being abused by her family when she saw Old Yu.

Old Yu chuckled, “You’re a good one to think of them. They’re doing well, they eat a meal with me every day, and they’re all in good health. If I’m not around in the future, please take care of them.”

Hearing his tone, it seemed he was going to be away for a long time. No wonder he had brought New Year’s goods to their house in advance. Jiang Degui couldn’t help but stop husking corn and hurriedly got up, “Where are you going? Did something happen? I told you before, things are tense these days, you should stop your business when you need to. How long will you be gone this time? Do you have enough money?”

Old Yu’s heart warmed. His parents had passed away early, he had no siblings, and he was a bit of a scoundrel in his younger years. If it hadn’t been for Jiang Degui, he probably would have died in the famine a few years ago.

This time he was in big trouble, he had to run to another province, otherwise he would implicate his brother’s family, and…

Old Yu glanced at Jiang An’an with hesitation, he stopped himself from saying anything.

“It’s okay, we’ll sit down and have a drink later, we’ll talk slowly.” Jiang Degui’s right eyelid suddenly twitched.

He patted his thigh, deliberately diverting his little daughter, “Yo, An’an, you’re carrying so many things, did you go to the supply and marketing cooperative to see your second sister today? Your mother is in the kitchen, go find her.”

The adults had things to talk about, Jiang An’an wisely lifted the curtain and entered the kitchen.

Lin Meiru was preparing the meal.

Salted fish is best stewed with tofu after being washed clean. She chopped two pieces of tofu with a big knife and put them in the pot, then added green and red pepper segments to add spiciness.

Just the smell made Jiang An’an’s mouth water.

“Your second sister has the best job, I heard that the brigade leader’s wife ran around the county all day and couldn’t buy any, she finally traded some glutinous rice with a neighbor and ground it herself.”

She took out a piece of fresh meat and chopped it into mince, then mixed it with soy sauce, salt, and scallions to make a filling and marinated it.

She then took some glutinous rice, added water, and kneaded it into balls. She used a rolling pin to roll it into round sheets, picked up a chopstick of meat filling and wrapped it in the sheet, then rolled it into a ball.

Jiang An’an was almost shocked out of her wits, “Mom, you’re making savory ones? Aren’t you making red bean glutinous rice balls, sesame glutinous rice balls, or peanut glutinous rice balls?”

Lin Meiru said, “Sweet fillings are expensive and hard to buy, besides, meat filling is so delicious, it’s like dumplings.”

Jiang An’an instantly wilted, like a frost-bitten eggplant, she said pitifully, “Then can you save me a bowl without filling, with rice wine and egg drop soup, add a few strands of ginger, and more sugar.”

“It’s all your father’s fault, I’ll have to discipline your picky eating habits.” Lin Meiru glared at her, washed her hands, bent down and took a bowl from the cupboard, it contained two pieces of osmanthus cake, “Zhu Po’s sweet rice wine is the most authentic, hurry up and have your father exchange it before it gets dark.”

Typical tough mouth, soft heart!

Jiang An’an excitedly hugged Lin Meiru and kissed her cheek, “Mom, you’re the best.”

Lin Meiru felt like she had eaten honey, but she pretended to be disgusted, “You got drool all over my face, isn’t that dirty? If your third sister sees it, she’ll scold you again.”

Hearing this, Jiang An’an’s shoulders slumped, and she began to complain, “I just ran into my third sister at the hospital…”

She swore that she hadn’t exaggerated, she simply repeated what Jiang Ting had said, but Lin Meiru’s hand clenched into a fist, her chest heaving rapidly, as if the anger had already reached her throat.

“The slaughterhouse factory manager’s youngest son ran away with a woman a few years ago, and the woman’s family broke his leg. Your third sister is amazing, she actually found you such a great marriage!”

The last few words were spoken through gritted teeth.

“Your mother and I are not dead, your marriage is not her business. That troublesome thing, her brain must have been kicked by a donkey, she came up with such a stupid idea.”

Jiang An’an sighed, “She also said that they’re already arranging a blind date…”

Lin Meiru grabbed a cleaver and rushed out of the kitchen, cursing, “Jiang Degui, look at the daughter you raised, what a wicked thing…”

Jiang Degui: ???

Jiang Degui was more wronged than Dou E!

Jiang An’an gave her father a look of deep apology, hugged her empty bowl and ran away.

The night was cool and still.

The candle flickered and burned.

After a few rounds of drinking, Old Yu was tipsy, his face flushed red, he swayed and poured another cup of wine for Jiang Degui, his voice choked with emotion, “After this, I don’t know when we’ll see each other again, brother.”

Jiang Degui was almost going crazy, “Just tell me, what happened? They say three heads are better than one, we can always find a solution together.”