Chapter 6: Stove

"I seem to have a vague impression, but when I think about it carefully, I can't remember it..."

Xia Daohua tried hard to recall, but she really couldn't remember.

Her memories of the modern era, including what she had experienced, what others had said to her, what she had said to others, the novels she had read, and even the web pages she had casually browsed, can all be recalled clearly.

But the original owner's memory can only recall some scenes and fragments sporadically.

The original owner's memory was missing a lot.

Of course, there would be some memory fragments that were triggered by chance. For example, when her great-uncle came to visit her, she suddenly remembered the face of a cousin from her great-uncle's family.

Fortunately, in this situation, Doctor Wang has already explained it to the Xia family.

When her family saw how badly she was injured, they were thankful that she was still alive. As for forgetting the past, it was nothing compared to her life.

Isn't it just getting to know your relatives and neighbors again? It's no big deal!

As long as you don't die, become disabled, paralyzed or stupid, and can survive with healthy arms and legs, it's better than anything else!

Xia Daohua didn’t know what they were thinking. She just felt wholeheartedly that Doctor Wang was her benefactor.

Doctor Wang saved the original owner's life and created conditions for his own time travel;

Doctor Wang cleared the obstacles in front of him - with Doctor Wang's instructions in advance, no one would notice that something was wrong because of the abnormalities she occasionally revealed.

They will consciously or unconsciously attribute all their changes to the wound on the back of their head and the lost memories.

It’s all thanks to Doctor Wang!

Seeing that Xia Daohua seemed to be lost in thought with empty eyes, Lihua quickly comforted her:

"Oh, forget it, forget it, I'm just asking casually, Daohua, stop worrying about it! Eat quickly, eat quickly, or it will get cold if you don't eat it soon!"

Xia Daohua came back to her senses, smiled embarrassedly at Lihua, and continued eating.

The sticky rice dumplings that were a little hot just now are now at a much more suitable temperature.

Lihua was right, it was indeed quite cold at this time.

Especially in the main room, although there is a thick door curtain hanging at the door and two layers of window paper are pasted on the window frames, it is still a bit chilly.

After all, the Chinese New Year is only a dozen days away!

If only the house could be made warmer.

Unfortunately, there were no boilers or radiators at that time, let alone electric heaters and electric blankets! In winter, if you want to keep warm, you can only rely on kangs, stoves, and charcoal basins, which is really difficult.

By the way, there is also the predecessor of the hot water bottle: the soup bottle.

But hot water bottles are also very expensive. Like hand warmers, they are only available to wealthy families and common people cannot afford them.

After finishing breakfast, when Rika and Goro got up to clean the table, the quarrel in the kitchen also ended.

Because Jiang listened to her children's advice and did not go over to get scolded, the two sisters-in-law quarreled more and more fiercely, and even started fighting. Not only did they push each other, but they also broke a bowl.

The sound of breaking the bowl startled old lady Zhou.

Zhou scolded her two daughters-in-law one by one, and then she brought her two sons over and scolded them until their faces turned purple.

After making a fuss all morning, the other families became laughing stock. They were tired and hungry, with their stomachs growling. The second and third sons were also furious. The second son's wife, Ms. Sun, and the third son's wife, Ms. Wu, finally calmed down.

Zhou made Sun and Wu stand in the big kitchen as punishment while she cooked some hand-rolled noodles in a big pot. The old couple and Xia Yujiao ate them.

The second and third wives gathered in the big kitchen and ate some cold steamed bread with the remaining noodle soup.

Zhou watched coldly without saying a word.

Seeing that everyone's face was burning as if they were sprinkled with chili powder, Zhou finally spoke. She asked Erlang to run errands and invited the bricklayer Lao Chen from the village to come over.

He instructed his sons, who had been divided into different families, to choose a place for themselves, set up a kitchen and build a stove.

As for the big kitchen, it was used by the old couple on weekdays. During festivals or other occasions when they needed to have dinner or entertain guests, whoever wanted to use it could discuss it with the old couple.

However, although old lady Zhou invited the bricklayer back, the wages had to be borne by each family.

The newly-minted housewives spent the money they had just received before they could even warm it up, and they all looked distressed. Even Jiang Shi felt a little disappointed.

But Lihua and her friends have already started to imagine a wonderful life with their own kitchen:

"We can give each other special treatment in the future!" Lihua said excitedly, her cheeks rosy like a cute big apple.

"Yeah, sister, I want to eat roasted taro!" Linghua's eyes were sparkling, and there was a suspicious trace of sparkle at the corners of her mouth, as if she had already seen the sweet taro in front of her.

"What's taro? I'll go to the mountains to find some game, and we'll cook it in the small kitchen!" Xia Daohua waved her hands with great vigor. She thought to herself, even if we can't find game, we don't have to worry, we have such a big supermarket!

Wu Lang, who was always calm and composed, suddenly laughed while holding his stomach. "Haha, I am dying of laughter! You are such a small person, and you still want to go to the mountains to find game. Don't let the big bad wolf take you away! You will become the game!"

Daohua refused to give in and pulled Lihua to ask her to make the decision: "Sister, look at my brother! He actually laughed at me, come on and help me beat him up a couple of times!"

The children were laughing and making a lot of noise, and Jiang couldn't help but smile.

Thinking about having an independent kitchen in the future, she could turn off the fire later at night, boil water at night without disturbing others, and the house would be much warmer. Jiang's smile deepened.

Old Chen, his son and two apprentices built the stoves for the second, third, fourth and fifth rooms in just over a day.

The fourth room also built two small tea stoves, one in the kitchen and one in the main room.

It was the coldest time of the year and we couldn't make clay bricks, so we had to go to the brick kiln in town and buy some broken blue bricks. Fortunately, we bought from four families at the same time, so the quantity was larger and the price was slightly cheaper.

In the end, the stove issue was paid for by the eldest wife's share, and the other wives contributed their own money. The fourth wife paid 185 coins.

Among them, the blue bricks cost sixty cents, the labor wages were one hundred cents, and buying vegetables and preparing meals to entertain Lao Chen and his group cost twenty-five cents.

Xia Daohua quietly prepared an account book and recorded all this information.

Xia Daohua has loved keeping accounts since she learned how to do it. It's not to save money, but mainly because she likes the feeling of knowing what's going on.

Later, when she ran a supermarket, Xia Daohua became more interested in keeping accounts.

However, no matter how well the accounts are kept, they cannot resist the power of big capital and the new era, new technology, and new trends.

Personal efforts are insignificant compared to the overall trend of the environment.

New book is here, please collect it, please invest in it, and please recommend it to the female channel! Love you, (づ￣ 3￣)づ

(End of this chapter)