Chapter 52 Chapter 52 Chapter Fifty...
Chapter 52
"Auntie, Auntie, I'm up!" Qi Mingzhe happily skipped over. He had just woken up in his uncle and aunt's room. Although Qi Mingzhe didn't say anything, his expression was very smug, as if to say, "Come see me, I'm so happy!"
"Get up! Can I have steamed buns with stir-fried pork and chili peppers for breakfast?" Yao Anhui originally wanted to make something else, but she stopped when she saw the bowl of steamed buns.
Yao Anhui was used to eating soupy breakfasts in the morning, and Lu Yuanqing would eat with her. Even though he wasn't used to it, he never asked Yao Anhui to follow his recipes. At most, he would make some food for her to prepare.
Lu Yuanqing loves steamed buns. Now that the weather is getting cooler, he usually makes extra, enough for him to eat for two days. This bowl of steamed buns was made the night before last. If Lu Yuanqing were with his family, they would have finished them today.
However, Lu Yuanqing isn't home, and Yao Anhui can't finish eating it in three days.
Fortunately, Yao Anhui found a place for them this morning. In order to let the little soldiers finish off these steamed buns, the stir-fried pork with chili peppers I cooked this morning was exceptionally good. I hope I won't be accused of being a poor host.
"Auntie, can I eat the steamed bun burger that Aunt Hua mentioned?" Qi Mingzhe asked in a low voice.
A steamed bun hamburger is simply a steamed bun with meat, eggs, and other fillings. Hua Fangling made it once for Qi Mingzhe, and unexpectedly, he started to crave it.
"Sure, just break the steamed bun open and put the meat inside later." Yao Anhui agreed, saying that as long as he ate steamed buns, he was a good boy no matter how he ate them.
"Thank you, Auntie!" Qi Mingzhe was overjoyed.
"Then hurry up and wash up. After breakfast, it's time to go to school." It's Monday again, a school day.
"Sister-in-law, we've put all the taro stems in Qi's yard." The young soldiers returned, carrying loads on their shoulders and covered in sweat.
Yao Anhui quickly stopped them: "Hey, wait a minute, have some breakfast before you go."
"No need, sister-in-law, we'll just eat at the canteen," the young soldier waved his hand repeatedly.
"There probably won't be anything left to eat in the cafeteria at this time, right?" Yao Anhui checked the time; it was already 7:10.
Yes, yes.
"You're not allowed to leave either. You came here on an empty stomach to work for me, how can I let you leave on an empty stomach?" Yao Anhui forcefully brought over a basket of steamed buns and a lunchbox of stir-fried pork with chili peppers.
"Actually, I wanted to ask you for help. My husband loves steamed buns, and he steams so many at once, but he's not home, which is a real headache. I don't like steamed buns, so please help me eat them so they don't go bad."
The young soldier felt he lacked knowledge; were there really people who didn't like to eat these days?
Yao Anhui forcefully handed the basket to the other person: "You have to go to training later, and my Xiao Zhe has to go to school too, so I won't keep you any longer. You can come to my house for dinner later."
After seeing off the enthusiastic young soldier who had come to help, Yao Anhui wiped non-existent sweat from her forehead. Sure enough, Yao Anhui still didn't like dealing with people.
Just like going to work, we go to work to make a living and earn money. Being able to go to work doesn't mean we like it. It's the same principle.
*After breakfast.
There was a knock on the door. Qi Mingzhe's classmate, who was ready to go to school, said, "Qi Mingzhe, are you done yet? We're leaving."
"I'm here, wait for me a moment." Qi Mingzhe hurriedly slung his schoolbag over his shoulder, leaving Yao Anhui with only the words, "Auntie, I'm going to school."
When Qi Mingzhe started school, Yao Anhui only drove him once. After that, Qi Mingzhe went to and from school with his classmates every day, and Yao Anhui didn't need to worry about him at all.
Qi Mingzhe went to school, leaving Yao Anhui alone to face the taro stems that had piled up like small mountains in the yard, feeling utterly overwhelmed.
Pick out some of the taro stems that can be stir-fried and keep them for later consumption. Wash the rest and make pickled taro stems.
The method for pickling taro stems varies from place to place, but Yao Anhui's method is the simplest: just use salt.
Wash the taro stems thoroughly and let them dry. Then cut them into small sections, add salt to marinate them, press them firmly into a sterilized jar, and seal it well.
But when Yao Anhui looked at the eight bundles of taro stems, which weighed at least four or five hundred pounds, she thought, "This is going to exhaust me."
So Yao Anhui decided to try a different approach. She washed the taro stems, cut them into 30-centimeter-long sections, and then dried them for a day. Instead of cutting them into smaller sections, she directly pickled them with salt.
This method means that you'll have to cut it again in the future, but because it's been air-dried, it's easier to preserve.
However, this is not what is giving Yao Anhui a headache now. Pickling taro stems not only requires her physical labor, but also the salt.
Even if it shrinks after drying, even if 10 jin of taro stems are used with 10 jin of salt, that would still require 30 to 40 jin of salt. Yao Anhui suspected that the supply and marketing cooperative in the military region didn't even have that much salt.
Moreover, with so many taro stems, you'll need several pickling jars.
Uh... it doesn't seem so. The kimchi jars in the original owner's memories weren't very big. Twenty or thirty kilograms was considered large. After all, there was no shortage of vegetables in the south all year round. Even when it snowed in winter, the vegetable garden was still lush and green.
After all, the north is covered in snow in winter, while the scenery in the south is simply too beautiful.
To be honest, Yao Anhui was stunned when she first saw the huge vats used by northerners to pickle sauerkraut. They were so big that they couldn't be described as sauerkraut vats; they were as big as the water vats used in southern households, and almost every household had several of them.
However, from now on, Yao Anhui's family will probably have no shortage of sauerkraut jars.
Yao Anhui single-handedly washed all the taro stems clean and then dried them. In order to dry the taro stems, Yao Anhui also borrowed drying baskets from Hua Fangling, Xiang Xiaowen, and Zhuang Dajuan. It was only after gathering tools from four families that the drying was finally completed.
This exhausted Yao Anhui, and she was even injured.
Don't underestimate the power of simply washing the taro stems and drying them in a basket.
In fact, the taro stems weren't just washed once; Yao Anhui washed them three times in total.
And the most important thing about washing taro stems is not washing, but the water. Yao Anhui kept shaking the well and shaking it. The taro stems were washed clean, but Yao Anhui's palms were also chapped.
Originally, Yao Anhui had planned to cut the more than one-meter-long taro stems into three sections before drying them, but she decided to leave them as they were and just leave them as they were. This is the main reason why four or five hundred kilograms of taro stems could be dried in four drying baskets.
Today is fine, but Yao Anhui has no idea about tomorrow's process. The palms of both her hands are always cracked. If she has to pickle sauerkraut in this condition, with her wounds open, she will have to rub the salt hard. It will be like she is dying and coming back to life.
Yao Anhui frowned, her expression not looking good. She was thinking about finding someone to do the work tomorrow, since she was going to just give up anyway.
Yao Anhui first went to Hua Fangling's house next door, deciding to try her luck there.
Yao Anhui "bought" 20 jin of salt from Hua Fangling, and also gave Hua Fangling a lesson on pickled taro stems, a specialty of Jiangnan. Then she gave Hua Fangling 50 jin of taro stems to pickle herself.
After leaving Hua Fangling's house, Yao Anhui's mind opened up. She then went to Xiang Xiaowen and Zhuang Dajuan's houses, and found that the taro stems had decreased by another 100 jin.
Then, on the way to the supply and marketing cooperative, I detoured to Zhao Zhishan and Xu Tinglan's house and successfully sold another 100 jin.
After selling 250 jin (125 catties) of goods, Yao Anhui finally had a smile on her face when she arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative.
That's great, all she needs to do is buy a small jar to pickle taro stems.
Yao Anhui was quite lucky. Every autumn, when it was almost time to pickle sauerkraut, the supply and marketing cooperative would purchase a batch of sauerkraut jars. Yao Anhui successfully bought the last cylindrical sauerkraut jar with a diameter of 40 cm.
Then, just as Yao Anhui was asking how to bring the sauerkraut jar home, Guan Kangde and Xiang Jinghe arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative.
"An Hui".
"Uncle Guan, Aunt Xiang, it's been a long time since we've seen you." Actually, it hasn't been long. Yao Anhui and Lu Yuanqing visit the Guan family from time to time. The last time they met was less than a week ago.
"I was just saying I was going to visit your house, but I didn't expect to run into you here." Xiang Jinghe was very happy to see Yao Anhui. Yao Anhui had already won Xiang Jinghe's favorability to the max. At this moment, Xiang Jinghe's favorability towards her was several times higher than when she first arrived. She had truly regarded Yao Anhui as family.
As mentioned before, there's no one Yao Anhui can't win over if she wants to. Xiang Jinghe has been cultivating Yao Anhui's favorability for over half a year, so how could it not have an effect?
Xiang Jinghe now truly cares about Yao Anhui. When she said she was going to visit Yao Anhui, she wasn't just being polite; she really meant it. In addition, one of the reasons she came to the supply and marketing cooperative was to buy things for Yao Anhui.
Xiang Jinghe's main reason was that she was worried about Yao Anhui. This was Lu Yuanqing's first mission outside since their marriage, and it was earthquake relief, which was very dangerous. Xiang Jinghe was worried that Yao Anhui would panic in this situation for the first time. She came to comfort her and also to prevent her from being frightened, since last night was quite scary.
"Then I'll have to prepare a delicious feast to welcome you," Yao Anhui said, affectionately linking arms with Xiang Jinghe.
"Then I'll have to go on an empty stomach. I know you well; the food at our military dependents' home is famously good."
“Then you’ll have to come back in a while. If you come in the next couple of days, you’ll probably only be able to eat porridge.” Yao Anhui showed her a pair of shockingly pale palms.
"How did it get like this?" Xiang Jinghe frowned.
"You have no idea how much it hurt from pumping water from the well. Yesterday, I went mushroom picking with everyone on the mountain, and then I saw a huge patch of taro stems... You have no idea how amazing the taro stems looked this morning... Luckily, I came up with a solution: Hua Fangling and the others each got 50 jin (25 catties)... I'm finally relieved..."
Yao Anhui kept rambling on and on... She received the wrong item yesterday, but finally spoke up when she got back?
You can tell how resentful Yao Anhui was; she rattled off the whole story in no time.
Finally, after Yao Anhui's nagging, Guan Kangde and Xiang Jinghe didn't even go into the supply and marketing cooperative. Guan Kangde carried the sauerkraut jar home, while Yao Anhui and Xiang Jinghe followed behind as cheerleaders.
What happened next was even simpler. When Yao Anhui said that the palms of both her hands were broken, Xiang Jinghe immediately said: "Have Guan Kangde come over to marinate them tomorrow at noon. Let the men do these rough jobs."
To avoid getting marinated, Yao Anhui agreed with this.
And they successfully distributed another 50 jin of taro stems, so now the kimchi jar can finally hold all the taro stems.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
