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In the 1970s, there was no open sale of food on the market. It was all bought and sold by the state. The non-agricultural households in the town were allocated food according to the number of people,
The rural households were allocated food by the production team at the end of the year. Before going to the countryside, Feng Lian was worried that her daughter might not earn enough to support herself,
So she handed over her grain and oil supply to her daughter,
She could get 35 catties of grain every month,
The treatment was very generous. Ordinary residents in the city could get 30 to 35 catties of grain every month. Feng Lian's school was very lucky and gave the old employees an increase of five catties of grain every month.
Last month, Zhao Lanxiang used up 15 catties of grain,
She ate 20 catties and saved up 10 catties. The extra five catties of grain and oil were lent to Zhou Jiazhen.
Zhao Lanxiang bought 15 catties of flour in one go, which made Zhou Jiazhen suck in a breath of cold air.
Zhao Lanxiang was definitely the most extravagant rich person that Zhou Jiazhen had ever seen,
Every time she bought food, she didn't blink her eyes,
She was also extravagant with food and flowers,
Every time she came to town, she bought pork,
She also liked to buy lean meat. One had to know that fat meat was much more valuable than lean meat,
Fat meat could be squeezed for oil, and it was delicious. It was crispy and tender when fried, and it was very fragrant. However, Zhao Lanxiang wanted to buy pork and oil separately. She was too particular.
But when it was time to buy pork,
The extravagant "rich person" Zhao Lanxiang found that..,
If she ate meat at the same speed as yesterday, the meat ticket sent by her parents would soon be empty. Her brows furrowed slightly.
Actually, it wasn't that Zhao Yongqing and Feng Lian didn't give enough shares,
It was that Zhao Lanxiang's appetite was no longer the same as before,
After coming to the countryside, she would eat some meat every now and then to satisfy her cravings. For Zhao Lanxiang, who ate meat every meal in the future, of course, she was frugal,
But compared to the 18-year-old Zhao Lanxiang, who was used to eating whatever she had, it seemed extravagant and wasteful.
Zhou Jiazhen saw Zhao Lanxiang walking towards the grocery store again and quickly stopped her. "Why are you buying pork again? Have you finished yesterday's food?"
Zhao Lanxiang replied, "I've finished eating."
Although she was distressed to spend so much money, the gluttonous bug in her stomach was already clamoring. Humans lived in this world for the sake of eating. She had three meals a day. In the past, the 18-year-old Zhao Lanxiang had not seen much of the world. Now, Zhao Lanxiang was an old person who had experienced decades of changes. The conservative and thrifty nature in her bones had long been thoroughly changed by the spirit of the new era.
In the end, she boldly bought... one catty of meat, half a catty of pig intestines, and half a catty of pig trotters.
Zhou Jiazhen watched as "Extravagant Zhao" bought the pork and turned to the supply and demand cooperative to buy some cloves, nutmeg, star anise, cinnamon, and other spices. She also bought some soy sauce, white wine, aged vinegar, and so on. Zhao Lanxiang steadily folded the shopping list and put it in her pocket. There were too many things to buy, and she was afraid that she would forget them.
In her previous life, although Zhao Lanxiang was the kind of person who didn't do household chores, in order to please Jiang Jianjun, she became a virtuous and virtuous military wife. She trained hard to cook just so that he could have a delicious meal when he returned home. As time passed, calluses gradually formed on her hands and her palms became rough. No one in the courtyard didn't say that the food she cooked was good. When the oil heated the food and put it in the pot, the fragrance from the kitchen attracted people from all directions.
Later, Zhao Lanxiang married He Songbai. The He Family had a big sister who was a foodie, so the two of them just happened to get together. On the weekends, the He Family's kitchen would be filled with the fragrance of food. He Songbai had fattened up because of her.
She listed more than 30 spices on the list, but she only managed to buy a small portion of the spices on the list after searching everywhere. Zhao Lanxiang wasn't discouraged. After all, the economic conditions and resources in the county were far inferior to those in the city. It was good enough that she could buy half of the spices.
Zhao Lanxiang returned home with a full harvest this time. Zhou Jiazhen also bought two feet of homespun cloth to make summer clothes. Her family's conditions couldn't be compared to Zhao Lanxiang's, but she had a good mentality. After living in the countryside for so many years, she had saved a small sum of money and didn't have to worry about food and clothing.
However, Zhou Jiazhen, who had never been depressed before, was worried for the first time since she was about to reach the age of marriage.
Did she really want to plant her roots in the village?
She glanced at Zhao Lanxiang, who was carrying bags of various sizes back to the brigade with satisfaction, and for the first time, she envied her youth and vitality.
…
Zhou Jiazhen helped Zhao Lanxiang carry a bag of flour back to the He Family's old house. Zhao Lanxiang took out the wild fruits that San Ya had left for her to reward Zhou Jiazhen. This kind of purplish-black fruit was called a twist. When it was ripe, it was sweet and delicious, and could be found all over the mountains. San Ya would bring back a bag of it when she went to the mountains to gather pigweed. San Ya, who didn't have any sugar to eat, treated it as a precious treasure. Every year, she hoped that summer would come faster so that the twist in the mountains would ripen faster.
It was obvious that Zhou Jiazhen loved this kind of fruit. She was pleasantly surprised and ate a big handful of it. She didn't care that her fingertips were covered in its juice. After eating, she licked her lips in satisfaction.
"How did you get it? I went to the mountains to gather firewood a few days ago, but I couldn't find it. Someone had plucked it bald."
Sister He and San Ya were used to gathering pigweed in the mountains, so they were familiar with all the treasures in the mountains.
Zhao Lanxiang just smiled and poured a glass of water for her.
Zhou Jiazhen gulped down two big bowls of water and burped. "Although the He Family is poor, I didn't think that these old houses would be so decent. Even though you don't like what I say, the He Family is really … "
As she spoke, she walked out of Zhao Lanxiang's room. She suddenly realized something and shook her head.
At this moment, Zhao Lanxiang was carrying a pig intestine to the well to wash it. She was surprised to see a man squatting in the plot to water the vegetable sprouts. The pea sprouts crawled all over the fence and covered his tall and thin body.
When he saw Zhao Lanxiang's surprised look, he coldly turned his head away.
Zhao Lanxiang coughed lightly and explained, "I'm the cafeteria's new buyer. I'm in charge of buying meat."
After Zhao Lanxiang said this, the salesperson's doubts were dispelled. It had to be known that the people in the city sometimes didn't have as much freedom as the people in the countryside. Each person's monthly share of pork was only half a catty to one catty. Zhao Lanxiang bought an entire year's worth of pork in one go. It was hard not to raise eyebrows.
Zhao Lanxiang put the meat in a bamboo basket and quietly left the long line. She gave a look to He Songbai, who was hiding in the alley.
In order to not attract attention, Zhao Lanxiang didn't take the car. Instead, she chose to walk back to Hezi Tun. She even specifically chose the remote mountain roads.
In this era, there was no such thing as free trade. Except for a small portion of the farmers' own production and sales, the rest of the grain and materials were all classified as speculation. Speculation was very dangerous. If she was caught, depending on the severity of the case, she would be sent to reform through labor or go to jail. She didn't want to lose her life for making money.
Zhao Lanxiang walked ten miles and finally returned to Hezi Tun before the sun set.
He Songbai's dark and thick eyebrows hadn't relaxed since he came back from the black market street.
He followed this "daring" Zhao Zhiqing. Along the way, he watched her carefully walk around the mountain roads. She also grabbed a few handfuls of wild vegetables and covered them tightly in a basket, pretending to be digging for wild vegetables. Only then did his tense face become less ugly.
If she was caught, the He family wouldn't be able to escape being an "accomplice". He Songbai explained his behavior of following Zhao Zhiqing in his heart.
Zhao Lanxiang didn't know the complex psychological activities of the man at this time. After returning home, she went into the woodshed and began to cook busily.
She cleaned the meat quickly, picked out the chicken and duck meat, cut ginger slices and onions, and marinated them with seasoning wine and salt. It took a long time to marinate, and it would be completely marinated at noon the next day. She found a clay pot and put them in. Then she began to prepare the delicate marinade.
The meat she was going to make was similar to the cold duck neck and duck feet that were popular in the future. It had a unique flavor and was very attractive.
In those days, because she and Sister He liked delicious food, Ling Tianyi sponsored a huge sum of money for a popular food program. Zhao Lanxiang was often invited to be a guest judge. The theme of the program was to go into the folk food and explore the secret recipes of the lost food. She benefited a lot from this program. From the first episode to the last one, she collected a lot of secret recipes.
She had tried all kinds of cuisines and local delicacies that she was interested in and tasted good. She didn't expect that this interest that she had cultivated in her spare time as a hobby would now become her specialty.
Zhao Lanxiang shook her head. Her face was filled with emotion at the impermanence of the world.
She boiled more than 30 kinds of seasonings, such as star anise, cinnamon, fennel, grass fruit, cloves, amomum, cardamom, parsley, bay leaves, and other spices into a pot of marinade. She boiled it until it had a color and let it cool, waiting for the duck meat to be marinated tomorrow.
After she finished cooking, the kitchen of the He family overflowed with an incredible fragrance. The delicious spices were mixed with the sweet taste of meat.
Although the old house of the He family was located in a relatively remote place, no one lived nearby. Zhao Lanxiang deliberately closed the windows when she was cooking. There was also a basin filled with charcoal that was not completely burned to absorb the smell. After she finished cooking the cold duck meat, she went out to take a breath of fresh air. The woodshed with the windows closed was as hot as a stove. Her black hair was sticking to her face, and it was sticky and uncomfortable.
As soon as she pushed the door open, she saw He Sanya drooling.
Zhao Lanxiang smiled as she took out a piece of caramel candy from her pocket. "Have some."
This was the candy she bought for the child when she went to town. He Sanya loved to eat sweet things, but she had never eaten candy in her life.
He Sanya's dark and bright eyes seemed to have been blessed. She accepted the candies, but her eyes couldn't help but look at the woodshed. This shabby and old woodshed of the He family had now become the heaven she yearned for in her heart. She smelled the fragrance coming from the door and saliva kept coming out from the tip of her tongue. She swallowed her saliva from time to time.
Zhao Lanxiang looked at her pitiful yet adorable expression and her heart couldn't help but soften.
She said, "There will be pork trotters for dinner tonight. Don't worry, I won't forget about you."
She then pinched the child's nose and the corners of her lips curled up unconsciously. It was the greatest affirmation she had received that she was able to please someone with the food she made.
Although... the child had probably never eaten anything good before and couldn't stand even the slightest smell of something good. But it didn't matter... She would use everything she had learned in her life to let her taste everything and fatten up this weak and pitiful child.
Zhao Lanxiang was worried that the fragrance in the woodshed would overflow. She went back and took out a pile of charcoal that hadn't been fully burned. She smashed it into small pieces and laid them flat on the ground. Then, she tightly sealed the jars that contained the marinade and bacon.
She waited until the smell was almost gone before she started to stew the pork trotters. Making the pork trotters with five spices was not as troublesome as making the marinade. A few days ago, when she made the five-spice pork trotters, she didn't find enough spices. This time, she went to the black market and bought a lot of spices to fill in the blanks. Tonight's pork trotters would be even more fragrant!
After He Songbai returned home, he went to chop firewood and fetch water. He finished all the miscellaneous chores in the house. Only now did he have time to think about the "restless" Zhao Zhiqing.
When he smelled the aroma coming out from the window of the woodshed, when he saw He Sanya happily eating the meat, his dark eyes flashed with a trace of darkness and complexity.
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind to make this woman behave. On the way back, he was repeatedly tortured. However, when he saw this scene, He Songbai was shaken.
All these years, they had been honest farmers, not daring to break the rules and do bad things. Could it be that God had let them go and let them live a peaceful life?
No. Ever since he could remember, the gossip around him had never stopped for a single day. Rumors and malice had enveloped his life. He was branded as a bad person. He was grateful that the organization didn't completely abandon them and gave them a chance to turn over a new leaf. However, he knew that as long as he was alive, the He family would have to tuck their tails between their legs. They would always carry the mark of shame that couldn't be washed away.
The situation was already as bad as it was. What else could make it worse?
...
At night, Sister He drove the large group of cows into the cowshed. When she washed her hands by the well, she faintly smelled the fragrance of meat in the air. She thought that Zhao Zhiqing must have bought pork back for a meal again. Sigh! She definitely couldn't eat her meat tonight. She had already eaten a lot of good things for free. However, she couldn't take out anything that was worth returning the favor. Sister He was extremely ashamed.
However, in the next moment, Sister He was slapped in the face.
When Zhao Lanxiang saw Sister He, she enthusiastically pulled her to the woodshed. The white, fragrant, and soft rice was placed into the bowls. Every bowl of rice was drizzled with a layer of fragrant gravy. The agate colored pig trotters were glistening under the kerosene lamp. Zhao Lanxiang didn't say anything. She directly picked up a piece of soft pork trotter and stuffed it into her mouth.
"Delicious, right? San Ya ate two bowls of rice with this gravy. "
Sister He only felt a rich and mellow taste spread in her mouth. Her tongue and teeth cooperated very well. She couldn't help but chew. She also seemed to enjoy a joy that she had never experienced before. The sweet and mellow honey was so delicious that it made her lose her mind. Her hands and feet began to move uncontrollably. She walked to the table, picked up the rice bowl, and happily ate the meat in big mouthfuls.
After eating one, she still thought about the next. When the last bowl of rice was empty and her stomach was full, Sister He suddenly woke up.
Fortunately, the young man's focus wasn't on this. He happily said, "I didn't expect to meet you here.
"I didn't expect to see you here. It turns out that you live in Brother Bai's house. This is really a flood against the Dragon King's temple. Sigh! In the past, when I came to Brouther Bo's house, why didn't I see you? "
Zhao Lanxiang said, "I'm an educated youth in the brigade. My dormitory collapsed, so I'm temporarily living in the He family."
The person who sold grains looked at her.
"The mung bean cake that Brouther Bo sold this morning was made by you, right? As soon as I saw you, I knew … He doesn't have this kind of skill. In the past, I always urged him to join the industry and work with me, but he refused. Maybe he looked down on bad elements like me! You are quite capable. You can make Brouther Bo willingly help you sell things. "
Zhao Lanxiang was a little surprised. When this young man mentioned He Songbai, he always called him "Brouther Bo". His tone was natural and respectful. He wasn't like the villagers in Hezi village, who looked at him with disdain.
This made Zhao Lanxiang have a good impression of the young man who sold grains.
"Those customers who bought duck meat from you last time came to my grain stall every day to ask about you. You made them stretch their necks and wait for you for so long. In any case, you should give them a definite answer. When will you make another jar to sell? It's really strange. Is this thing really so delicious that it makes people yearn for it? "
Zhao Lanxiang couldn't help but laugh. She didn't plan on making duck food for a long time, "I won't make it. Next time, I'll sell something else."
It wasn't that she didn't want to make money. It was because when she sold duck food last time, she didn't pay attention and showed her face. Out of consideration for her personal safety, she didn't make duck food to sell this time.
Moreover, it wasn't easy to buy duck meat. People stingily bought one or two taels of duck meat to satisfy their cravings, but she bought more than ten kilograms in one go. It was hard not to attract attention. In addition, waiting in line was also a problem. Whether or not you could buy it depended on luck. In this era of planned economy, where could there be so much meat for everyone to eat?
In summary, it wasn't easy to make a duck food business. Zhao Lanxiang wouldn't make duck food in the short term.
Zhao Lanxiang asked with a smile, "You haven't eaten yet, have you?"
She led the grain seller to the kitchen. The young man stared at the fragrant braised meat rice in the pot and couldn't help but swallow his saliva, "Your cooking is pretty good. No wonder the duck meat was sold out so quickly that day. Can you give me a bowl of such fragrant rice? "
The grain seller was very conscious. Even though he and He Songbai called each other brothers, he didn't want to freeload food for free. Before coming to the He Family, he had already prepared to eat chaff and wild vegetables. He didn't expect to be surprised like this! The He Family's situation had changed for the better. The food had completely changed. They were so rich that they could eat meat!
This kind of fried rice with meat and vegetables was already a luxurious feast in the eyes of the grain seller.
Zhao Lanxiang also filled a bowl for the grain seller. Fortunately, the laborers in the family were all big eaters. When she cooked, she was used to making large portions. Otherwise, if they all came to share a bowl, there wouldn't be enough to eat in the end.
The grain seller said, "Brouther Bo and I rushed all the way back. He also didn't eat anything. Give me the rice and I'll bring it to him. "
Zhao Lanxiang smiled and said, "Okay."
The young man scratched his head and said, "Actually … My name is Liang Tiezhu. You can just call me Tiezhu."
Tiezhu held a bowl of rice in each hand and walked to He Songbai's room. He used to be a good-for-nothing hooligan in the Green Valley Brigade. He owed a lot of debt and his family's situation was worse than the He Family's.
A few years ago, he was beaten by a group of hooligans and was almost beaten to death. In the end, He Songbai saved his life. He Songbai seemed to have descended from the sky and beat all the people who bullied Tiezhu to the ground with his bare hands. He beat the hooligans until they cried and knelt down to beg for mercy. Tiezhu's heart was shaken. He was so grateful that he hugged someone's leg and cried loudly.
The friendship between men was built through fighting. Whoever had the hardest fist would be the boss.
The hooligans who were beaten to a pulp that day, including this weak chicken, regarded He Songbai as their big brother from then on.
Tiezhu brought the rice to He Songbai's room. He Songbai was changing his clothes. His only decent clothes were already dirty and torn.
He Songbai had only ridden a bicycle twice. The first time was because of his brother and he rode a bicycle as if he was experiencing it. The second time was this morning. How would he know how to drive this "western bicycle" with just one poor experience? However, in front of Zhao Lanxiang, he didn't know how to and he braced himself to ride it.
She didn't expect that before they even reached the main road, a small turn caused He Song Bai to fall down. The delicate mung bean cake was tightly held in his arms, not even a little bit of skin was scraped. However, a piece of skin was scraped off his whole body and blood was flowing out.
He Songbai was glad that he did not damage the golden bicycle. This kind of flesh wound was nothing to a man. He chewed a handful of smelly grass on the side of the road and applied it to his wound. Then, he rode the western bicycle to the county town.
Tiezhu happily held the rice and shouted, "Brouther Bo, come and eat. There's fat pork. It smells so good!"
He saw that the skin on He Song Bai's leg had been scraped, and was both shocked and ashamed, "What happened here, you even rode all the way back. Is it serious? "
Tiezhu saw the bloody leg and admired He Songbai very much. Although he was also selling food at the side, he did not see anything wrong.
He Songbai was bleeding and selling things. He also rode a bicycle all the way back without making a sound. He was a man of steel.
However, Tiezhu could not help but sigh and said somewhat angrily, "If I knew, I would have brought you back. You still treat your brother as an outsider!"
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