Chapter 225 Cold Wave Strikes, Charcoal Fire Control Scarcity

Deng Qiu took a sip with some skepticism, and his face immediately contorted in a grimace.

"Zhizhi..."

The little cub covered its mouth and giggled.

She drank it all, so she definitely wanted her mother to have a taste too.

We can't let her suffer the torment of a taste that's like dishwater all by herself.

Deng Qiu immediately turned around and handed the soy milk to Jiang Anchao, "Drink! Take a big gulp! Taste it."

"Huh? Ah... isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

Jiang Anchao was confused and thought that his wife always thought of him when she had something good to eat or drink, so he felt quite pleased with himself.

"Don't always think of me first when you have something good. There are still unmarried people here. If they see us, they'll laugh at us for showing off our love."

He smiled slyly with a reserved pursed mouth, took the soy milk and drank a big gulp.

When Jiang Anchao tasted the sour and fermented flavor of the fermented soybean juice on his tongue, he felt as if his entire mouth was filled with this taste.

How can I describe it?

Have you ever had soy milk? Unsweetened soy milk, left to sit for ten days to half a month, has a beany smell mixed with a fermented sour taste.

Then, add a generous amount of white sugar to neutralize the sour taste.

It was so strange, it tasted like dishwater, but even worse, it had a sour smell.

"vomit--!"

Jiang Anchao couldn't hold it in any longer and turned around to vomit it all up.

After seeing Jiang Anchao drink it, Deng Qiu couldn't pretend anymore and turned her head to spit out the mouthful of soy milk as well.

"Zhizhi! You're so cunning! You lied to your mother, and now you've even betrayed your father!"

Jiang Anchao coughed incessantly, tears welling up in his eyes.

He complained to his daughter, and seeing her covering her mouth with her little mouth, he knew from her darting eyes that she was up to no good again.

Jiang Anchao couldn't resist and reached out to pinch the little cub's cheek.

"Let me tell you, even though you're my daughter, if you keep being this naughty, I'm going to hit you!"

"Hmph! Take this!"

Zhizhi picked up the unsweetened soy milk next to her and pretended to feed it to her father.

Jiang Anchao's expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly waved his hands and shook his head, "I beg for mercy, I surrender! Please don't make me drink anymore!"

How did this fermented mung bean juice become a local specialty snack in Beijing?

Who actually likes to drink it?

Ji Chenxing finished eating the braised pork offal with his head down, wiped his mouth, and noticed that none of them had touched the soy milk.

He blinked innocently and took the soy milk from Zhizhi's hand.

"You guys can play around all you want, but don't wrongly accuse douzhi (fermented mung bean juice). It's such a delicious drink, how come you don't know how to appreciate it?"

Bai Qi watched him take the soy milk and drink it all in one gulp with a complicated expression, and couldn't help but move her stool a little further away from him.

"You like to eat it all by yourself, but don't bring all the old Beijingers along. Look around, who among these people likes to drink douzhi (fermented mung bean juice)?"

While munching on a fried dough ring, Zhizhi kept nodding.

"Beat them up, beat them up!"

On the table was a table full of salty braised pork, all of which was very salty and full of the flavor of the seasoning. Although the cooked meat was quite delicious, it was too salty for her to eat.

But she really couldn't accept this soy milk; even if it were given to an enemy, it wouldn't be any better.

They can be taken away and used as torture.

Zhizhi held up the fried dough ring covered in white sugar, "Looking at all of these, it seems like this is the only delicious one!"

The fried dough rings are fragrant and crispy, and with the addition of white sugar, they are quite palatable.

However, she still misses her mother's crispy fried pork even more. The aroma was so delicious that one bite was unforgettable, and she could never forget that fragrance.

"Hmph, what a joke! What's wrong with any of these?"

This wasn't the first time Ji Chenxing's taste had been questioned. To save face, he simply adopted a haughty attitude and salvaged his dignity. He stubbornly said, "Braised pork is very affordable, and fermented bean juice is thirst-quenching. Children in Beijing have been eating it since they were young. What do you know?"

"You don't know anything! We kids in Beijing don't eat this kind of thing often, okay?"

Bai Qi rolled her eyes at him, unable to resist pointing out his unique aesthetic preferences.

She grew up in Beijing and as a child, she would ride in a tricycle with her elders to tour the Forbidden City, stroll around Tiananmen Square, and visit the Children's Palace.

"It used to be called Sijiu City, next to the Children's Palace. When I was a child, there were leek boxes outside the Children's Palace that cost three cents each. I would buy one after class every day and eat it with relish. Later, when I grew up and went to school, I would pass by Guijie Street on my way home from school to eat late-night snacks. During the day, I would eat a door nail meat pie, which was enough to fill me up. In winter, we would set up a copper pot to cook mutton, with cabbage, frozen tofu and vermicelli. Every single one of them tasted like mutton and was incredibly delicious."

Bai Qi vividly described life in the capital as she saw it.

Zhizhi listened with increasing curiosity and longing, "Door nail meat pie? That sounds so interesting."

Moreover, it sounds much better than the braised pork offal and fermented mung bean juice recommended by my uncle.

"Only a few people in the northern part of the city like to drink douzhi (fermented mung bean juice). Before that, most of the porters who couldn't afford to buy meat made offal, so they made offal, which gradually became popular."

As Bai Qi spoke, she took the little cub's hand and said, "When we get home, I'll take you to buy door nail meat pies. The pies are shaped like door nails on the Forbidden City, which is why they're called that. The crust is crispy and fragrant, and the meat inside is as big as a fist. They're especially delicious."

Ji Chenxing turned his head away and muttered under his breath, "It's not worth eating, it's not even as tasty as braised pork."

Under the table, Bai Qi suddenly kicked him.

Ji Chenxing winced in pain, but had no choice but to nod and say, "Delicious, delicious, much better than braised pork. Zhizhi, your aunt is right. Just eat the good food with her later."

"Pfft, hahaha."

Zhizhi's dimples were clearly visible on her cheeks when she smiled.

Jiang Anchao barely managed to eat a bowl of braised pork offal before feeling his hands and feet warm up a little.

He turned to look outside and couldn't help but sigh, "Why is the fog in the capital so thick? No wonder I felt much colder as soon as I came in; the cotton-padded coat I was wearing didn't seem to help at all."

He was used to the weather in Suzhou. He had heard that northern cities were relatively dry, and he thought that the south was damp and cold, with a chill that seeped into his bones.

I didn't expect that the dryness in the capital would make my nose feel uncomfortable.

There was still a lot of fog, and he still felt a chill deep in his bones.

Ji Chenxing curled his lip. "What kind of eyes do you have? That's not fog, that's sand and dust, the sand from a sandstorm."

"ah?"

This was beyond Jiang Anchao's comprehension. "Where did this sand come from?"

“Every winter, the northern part of the city is shrouded in a gray haze. You can lie there and sleep, and your nose might even dry out and bleed, waking you up from the cold. But this winter, a lot of coal has been transported from the coal mines in the Northeast, so it still feels cold. This year’s temperature… I don’t know how many families are having a hard time.”

After Bai Qi finished speaking, she sighed with worry.

She lived in the military and had a dormitory assigned by the military, so her life was actually a little better.

But every winter is the hardest time for many families. Cotton-padded coats are expensive, and family members wish they could take turns wearing them.

Charcoal is expensive, and it's not easy to transport it from Northeast China.

With the cold wave this year, I hope the government can provide some subsidies as soon as possible so that people don't have to suffer too much.

Zhizhi tilted her head and looked at the street outside. She suddenly shivered.

The little cub's voice trembled as it said, "It's so hot... it'll freeze."