Early days, various childhood joys. Bird hunting, fishing, catching toads. Mid-phase, uplifting the small mountain village. Later phase, rolling in wealth, mastering technology, eliminating enemies...
Li Dazhuang drank every last drop of the tofu pudding, then let out a satisfied burp before speaking to the old village chief.
"Uncle Yu, this is so delicious! Xiao Wei Mo's cooking skills are unparalleled, this is definitely it!"
After Li Dazhuang finished speaking, he gave the old man a thumbs-up.
The old village chief was very happy to hear the brigade leader's praise. He was also overjoyed to hear it was his eldest grandson.
The tofu should be ready by now, Wei Mo called out to Qian Manman and Li Xiuxiu beside him.
"Aunt Xiuxiu, Aunt Manman, the tofu should be almost ready. Let's open it and take a look."
"Okay, little brat, move aside. Your Aunt Manman and I will take care of it."
As soon as Wei Mo finished speaking, everyone turned their attention to the three of them. They saw Li Xiuxiu and Qian Manman remove the bricks and lift the wooden board.
The large, white tofu peeking out from inside looks so appealing.
"Little brother, little brother, I want to eat this, it looks delicious."
Wei Xiaomin watched the large tofu with her mouth watering. It looked so white and tender, it must taste amazing!
Li Dazhuang's eyes lit up, and after thinking for a moment, he spoke.
"Hey, Xiao Weimo, your family can't eat this much. Why don't you keep some and sell the rest to the brigade? Don't worry, this is definitely not considered selling things; the brigade will just buy from your family."
Wei Mo was hesitant about selling to the brigade, and couldn't help but look at Old Master Yu. Old Master Yu chuckled and said to Li Dazhuang,
"Dazhuang, making this tofu took a lot of soybeans. You can just take some soybeans; let's not do any buying or selling."
Li Dazhuang nodded in agreement, his mouth watering as he looked at the tender white tofu in front of him.
"Okay, okay, I got it, Uncle Yu, don't worry. I'll go to the brigade to get the beans in a bit, and then I'll sell this tofu to the villagers."
Actually, Li Dazhuang was thinking that he should hurry up and have his wife go home to get a basin so he could pick out a few more pieces to eat. Judging from the taste of the tofu pudding and soy milk earlier, this tofu would definitely taste good too.
After discussing the tofu, the old man turned his gaze to Li Dazhuang, waiting for Li Dazhuang to speak.
Li Dazhuang had already tasted the tofu, so after thinking for a moment, he looked at the Wei Mo family in front of him and spoke.
"Uncle Yu, how about this? The whole brigade will take the mill, Xiao Weimo's skills, and all these wooden equipment and give them 150 work points. What do you think?"
Upon hearing Li Dazhuang's words, the old man snorted and said...
"Get out of here right now! Who do you think you're trying to fool? This millstone took me a lot of effort to make, plus my great-grandson's skills! Is the village desperate for money?! Get out, get out, get out!"
"If you're going to be this stingy, then get the hell out of here."
Hearing the old man was angry, Li Dazhuang quickly said...
"No, no, no, Uncle Yu, how much do you think is appropriate? Just say whatever you want, okay? I misspoke earlier, alright?"
The old man was quite satisfied to hear that Li Dazhuang had changed his attitude. After thinking about it, he realized that he had actually asked for the millstone himself, but his grandson had also made so many tools.
Finally calculating that a laborer could only earn seven or eight work points a day, and considering a month's worth of work points, he directly addressed Li Dazhuang, who was standing nearby.
“Give me 300 work points, or you can figure it out yourself. My grandson’s skills are top-notch.”
“Let me tell you, if it weren’t for my eldest grandson saying so, I wouldn’t have given it to the production team! Our family doesn’t need those measly work points!”
Li Dazhuang thought about it and realized that made sense. They still needed Wei Mo's skills to sell tofu, tofu pudding, soy milk, and even dried bean curd sheets to the town.
He nodded and said to the old man and Wei Mo's family.
“Okay, we’ll do it your way, sir. 300 work points it is. I’ll call someone to come and move the equipment and the tofu in a bit.”
Seeing that Li Dazhuang wanted tofu, the old man couldn't help but continue speaking.
"If you want big tofu, you'll also need to bring 20 jin of soybeans separately!"
Li Dazhuang nodded, looking at Old Master Yu in front of him.
"Alright, I'll do as you say. I'll go back to the brigade to find someone now."
With Li Dazhuang gone, the family got busy again. Wei Mo was very happy with this outcome, since he no longer had to get up early every day to make tofu.
Wei Mo was exhausted after just one day. If this continued every day, how could he possibly cope?
Not long after, Li Dazhuang, along with Shan Chao and several others, arrived at Wei Mo's house.
Qian Manman had already cut off a large piece of tofu, intending to eat it for lunch and dinner, and gave the rest to the brigade.
The team leader led the oxcart and directed the others to load the machines onto it. Everyone's eyes were glued to the giant tofu.
The captain reprimanded from the side.
"What's the rush? Right now, only a few of us know. Once we get to the brigade, quickly have your wife take the soybeans to the brigade to exchange for them, or it will be too late."
Hearing the captain's words, the men who had accompanied him were also very happy and nodded in agreement.
These people quickly loaded everything onto the oxcart and then followed it away.
Wei Mo not only received 300 work points, but also got a new pot for his family.
Although the old man bought the new pot, 300 work points are enough to buy a new pot, which will make it much more convenient to cook whatever we want in the future.
Originally, the old man didn't want to buy it; he wanted to bring over the pot from his own house, since his house no longer had a fire.
But that pot was too small and couldn't meet Wei Mo's needs. So now there are three pots at home.
In the 1960s, even a single pot was a rare find, but the Wei Mo family now has three!
Making tofu isn't actually a very technical skill. After Wei Mo explained the technique to Li Dazhuang, Li Dazhuang nodded, thinking that anyone could do it.
Then they selected people from the village to make tofu. Of course, all of this had nothing to do with the Wei Mo family anymore.
As long as I can drink delicious soy milk and eat delicious tofu pudding every day, and occasionally have a few pieces of tofu to improve my diet, then that's enough.
Wei Mo was very happy about the village making tofu, and so was the old man. After all, the village no longer lacked food, and everyone could finally have a good meal.
As the days went by, the family's life got better and better. However, recently Qian Manman felt something was strange because no matter how much they ate, their rice bag didn't seem to be getting any smaller.
Not only that, but even things like oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar are subject to this rule.
After finally asking Sister Wang, I learned that it was Sister Wang who had been adding details, but in reality, it was Wei Mo who was doing all of this!
The village's tranquility is always short-lived; sure enough, the second weaving group is in turmoil again!