After Zhao Lanxiang sold all the meat, she rode her bicycle and quickly disappeared from Qinghe County. She hurried all the way to a desolate mountain road before stopping to take a breather and count the banknotes in her pocket.
There was a thick stack of banknotes, the denomination notes, the denomination notes and the meat notes, scattered and thin. Excluding the duck meat that was given to the customers to taste, she sold the meat for a total of 14.47 yuan and 14.75 yuan. After deducting the cost of the duck meat, which was 6 yuan, and the cost of the spices, she made a net profit of more than 6 yuan. She also earned 9.62 yuan in meat coupons.
Zhao Lanxiang felt as if she had drunk cold and sweet Sprite. Her heart was filled with joy.
However, she didn't get carried away. She thought of the young man who sold grain at the stall next to her. Although he was sloppy, he dressed very carefully. If she wanted to continue this illegal business of buying and selling, she had to be more low-key and cautious.
Zhao Lanxiang habitually took a detour around the remote mountain road from the county to the town. After she sold her things, she didn't dare to stay in the county anymore. She only dared to buy a catty of pork tripe, a catty of sugar, and five catties of Fuqiang powder with the bill in town. After she finished shopping, she braved the scorching noon sun and returned to Hezi Village.
After returning to Hezi Village, Zhao Lanxiang returned her bicycle and invited Tang Qing to eat noodles at her house. When she went to look for Tang Qing, he was playing the violin in his room. In addition, Zhao Lanxiang unexpectedly bumped into Jiang Li at the brigade leader's house.
When Jiang Li saw Zhao Lanxiang, she let out a deep snort. "What are you doing here?"
In Jiang Li's eyes, Zhao Lanxiang's image of her clingy brother had been deeply ingrained. She was also used to Zhao Lanxiang's small attempts to curry favor with her. When Zhao Lanxiang became slightly colder, Jiang Li was more sensitive than anyone and immediately felt uncomfortable. Especially when her life was so miserable, while Zhao Lanxiang's life was incomparably comfortable.
She would only be scolded by Li Dali if she asked for leave every other day. However, when it was Zhao Lanxiang's turn, it became a natural thing. Li Dali never found fault with her and treated her kindly. How could this make Jiang Li happy?
Jiang Li said angrily, "My brother wrote me a letter. Do you want to read it?"
Jiang Li happened to come back from the village post office to pick up a letter. She took out a white letter from her pouch and waved it in front of Zhao Lanxiang.
Jiang Li knew what her brother wrote to Zhao Lanxiang. After Zhao Lanxiang read her brother's letter, wouldn't she unite with her from now on?
Last time, Jiang Li didn't get to eat Zhao Lanxiang's meat buns and was really angry. She wrote to her brother that she and Zhao Lanxiang were assigned to Hezitun. At the end of the letter, she wrote a bunch of bad things about Zhao Lanxiang.
As her brother, Jiang Jianjun was very surprised when he received this letter, but he immediately understood.
Zhao Lanxiang might be taking a roundabout route. She finally became smarter and knew to bypass him to directly curry favor with his sister.
Jiang Li was the apple of everyone's eye. Jiang Jianjun's uncles gave birth to six boys. It wasn't until four years after his mother gave birth to him that she finally gave birth to a girl. The Jiang Family did their best to dote on their only child.
Jiang Jianjun knew in his heart that it wasn't easy to please his sister.
Zhao Lanxiang's eyes fell on the letter. She said with disinterest, "Oh."
She didn't need to read to know that Jiang Jianjun's letter must be full of requests to take good care of Jiang Li. Jiang Li had never suffered since she was young. If possible, she should help her more. Jiang Li was simple and impulsive. She could be easily deceived. She should keep an eye on her, and so on.
Of course … she wasn't Jiang Jianjun's wife yet. Jiang Jianjun's tone when he made these requests must be more subtle and tactful.
Zhao Lanxiang had no desire to read this kind of disgusting letter.
She said with a smile, "Oh … really? As an outsider, it's not convenient for me to read your letter. I have something else to do … I won't disturb you. "
As she spoke, she walked to Tang Qing's room, knocked on his door, and shouted a few times.
Soon, the violin in the room stopped abruptly. He opened the door and saw Zhao Lanxiang. There was a touch of relaxation and joy on his young face. "Finished?"
Zhao Lanxiang nodded and said straightforwardly and generously, "I went to town to buy some noodles. There's no time like the present. Let me treat you to a meal."
She went to the county at least three times a month to do some bad things. It was definitely not safe to take a car. Wouldn't it be exhausting to walk on the mountain road alone? The only way was to borrow Tang Qing's bicycle. In this way, she had to build a good relationship with Tang Qing. If there was a back and forth relationship, Zhao Lanxiang wouldn't be so embarrassed if she borrowed his bicycle.
Tang Qing didn't refuse. He was very happy to hear that there was food. "Then I must thank Comrade Zhao! I'll change my clothes first. Please wait a moment. "
He was wearing the white undershirt that he usually wore in the living room. His two arms were exposed to keep cool. Since he was invited by a female comrade to eat noodles, he definitely had to wear something formal.
Zhao Lanxiang waited patiently at the door. Her eyes moved from the wooden door to Jiang Li.
Jiang Li's pretty face was red with anger at this moment. Her eyes were full of vigilance when she looked at Zhao Lanxiang. "What on earth are you doing here?"
Zhao Lanxiang was stung by her eyes. She suddenly thought of something. Jiang Li didn't necessarily come to the leader's house to look for him. She probably came to look for Tang Qing.
Combined with the strong hostility in Jiang Li's eyes, Zhao Lanxiang's guess was undoubtedly 100% correct.
Tang Qing had a good temperament and was popular with people. His parents were high-level intellectuals who were professors at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. He was also neat and handsome. In addition, he was friendly and helpful. Probably many girls secretly admired him.
For a moment, Zhao Lanxiang's brows furrowed slightly.
Jiang Li's attitude also reminded her that she should keep a certain distance from Tang Qing. It was not appropriate to invite him to her house to eat alone.
So she said to Jiang Li, "I bought some noodles and invited Comrade Tang to eat noodles as a thank you. Do you want to join us?"
Jiang Li was happy. She immediately said the steamed buns that she had been thinking about. "I want to eat steamed buns."
Zhao Lanxiang politely refused. "It's too late to make steamed buns now. Let's eat noodles."
After she said that, the door of Tang Qing's room opened. He had changed into a dark blue shirt, which was loose and neat. Perhaps he was afraid that the female comrade would wait for him, so he carelessly wiped his face and came out with water droplets on the ends of his hair.
Tang Qing said, "Noodles are good. Comrade Zhao's noodles are delicious."
Jiang Li couldn't say anything more after Tang Qing said that. She felt shy and sweet. She didn't dare to look directly at Tang Qing. She lowered her head and said hesitantly, "Really? Then let's eat noodles. "
She probably hadn't even seen such a young girl before, right?
Zhao Lanxiang clenched her hands into fists and covered the corners of her mouth that she couldn't help laughing.
She walked in front with a huge schoolbag on her back and led the two to the He family's house. Jiang Li was very satisfied with Zhao Lanxiang's tactful avoidance, although she was too shy to speak while walking beside Tang Qing.
As for Tang Qing … his mind was now full of that bowl of delicately made noodles.
When Zhao Lanxiang returned to the He family's house, she found that Sister He wasn't at home.
Sister He was assigned the job of raising a large group of cows. The cows needed to be taken care of every day. At this time, Sister He should be in the cowshed cutting grass for the cows. Zhao Lanxiang looked around and found that He Songbai was chopping firewood in the yard. She put down her schoolbag and carried the noodles, meat, and candies she bought into the woodshed.
She casually glanced around. The ashes in the stove were completely cold, so she knew that He Songbai didn't have lunch. She took out the fuqiang powder, cracked an egg into the noodles, added water, and mixed the noodles. The noodles with egg were more bouncy. Thirty minutes later, she took out the dough and used the rolling pin to roll it over and over again, kneading and throwing it. She rolled the noodles over and over again. The white noodles were unbelievably obedient under her hands. They were soft and tough.
She stir-fried the spicy pork belly with lard and added some cornstarch to fry the pork belly until it was crispy. Finally, she poured the pork belly into the cooked noodles. With a sizzling sound, the hot oil fell into the clear soup. It was so fragrant that it was tempting.
She scooped out four bowls of noodles, one for each of them. Zhao Lanxiang knew that He Songbai probably didn't like to eat at the same table as strangers. She first took a bowl of noodles to his room, then walked to her room and called Tang Qing and Jiang Li out to eat noodles.
Tang Qing and Jiang Li happily went to the woodshed to eat noodles, but Zhao Lanxiang walked to He Songbai.
The man was sweating profusely under the scorching sun. He chopped the thick firewood into thin firewood. This batch of firewood was thinner than the previous ones.
Zhao Lanxiang's heart was suddenly filled with sweetness when she saw it.
Zhao Lanxiang had an unavoidable problem recently. She wasn't used to cooking with the firewood stove in the countryside.
She had to pay attention to the control of the fire when cooking. When the dishes were almost done, she had to reduce the fire to a small one. In the past, she only needed to turn the switch of the gas stove to reduce the fire. Now, she had to take out the unburned firewood in the stove, making the woodshed dirty and smelly. He Songbai chopped the firewood into smaller pieces, so it was more convenient. She just needed to control the amount of firewood. When the fire was big, she would put more firewood, and when the fire was small, she would put less firewood.
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