Chapter 57 Voting for Hot and Sour Rice Noodles
A day passed in the blink of an eye.
After work, everyone was told to take their bowls and stools and go to the threshing ground in groups of three or four.
At noon, Ge Tai picked up mud and built a temporary stove.
Yu Zhile and Zhang Wenxin prepared the ingredients and simulated the scene of setting up a stall at a market.
"Hey, do you agree or disagree?"
"I don't know. Let's wait and see."
Conversations like these were happening all over the threshing floor.
More and more villagers gathered, and everyone looked at the stove with confusion, and slowly formed a circle with the stove as the center.
"Xinni, what are you doing?" someone asked.
Zhang Wenxin looked at the crowd and estimated that more than half of them had come. He picked up the loud speaker and shouted, "Before voting, Lele will make a dish of sour soup rice noodles. Everyone can taste it before voting."
"What is sour soup rice noodles?" everyone asked at once.
Zhang Wenxin deliberately kept it a secret: "You'll know in a moment."
After hearing what she said, everyone's attention shifted to the side dishes on the stove.
The rice noodles were crystal clear, and the spicy and sour diced radish gave off an enticing aroma, which immediately aroused the appetite of the villagers who had been working for several hours.
The goal has been achieved, Zhang Wenxin shouted again: "Everyone step back a little to avoid getting burned while cooking."
Ge Tai stepped forward to help maintain the situation, and everyone retreated one meter away.
Yu Zhile makes rice noodles using old rice from the village. One and a half pounds of rice can make four pounds of rice noodles, which are specially cut into two or three centimeters in length.
Ge Tai started to light the fire, and the water in the pot gradually boiled.
"Put the rice noodles in slowly so as not to get scalded by the splashing hot water," Yu Zhile reminded.
She and Zhang Wenxin carefully put all the rice noodles into the pot, and the aroma of rice gradually spread.
After cooking for about three minutes, Yu Zhile asked Ge Tai to remove some of the firewood, take out the rice noodles and soup, and start seasoning.
Pour a thin layer of oil into the pan, stir-fry the chopped ginger, onion and garlic, then add soy sauce, salt, vinegar, chili and coriander in turn, pour in the rice noodles and half of the soup, and bring to a boil.
The sour and spicy aroma gradually filled the threshing floor. Everyone swallowed their saliva and stretched their necks to stare into the pot.
"You can eat now. One spoon per person. Line up and get yours." Zhang Wenxin raised the horn again.
Everyone rushed to grab the front seat. Fortunately, with Zhou Yuesheng and Ge Tai there, the scene quickly became orderly.
The small spoon for scooping the rice noodles is a special bamboo tube, with only one mouthful of it in one spoon, plus a piece of spicy and sour diced radish.
The person who received it didn't even bother to think that it was freshly cooked, and couldn't wait to drink the noodles and soup into his mouth.
The sour and spicy taste hit everyone's taste buds, and the crispness of the diced radish prolongs the time the delicious taste stays in the mouth.
Those who eat it can't help but sigh and smack their lips as they savor the taste.
This makes those who are still queuing even more eager.
After the hot and sour rice noodles were distributed, Zhang Wenxin made sure that everyone had tasted them and began to speak.
"Everyone has tasted the hot and sour rice noodles, so I guess you have a certain understanding of Lele's cooking skills."
"You have all been to the market many times and are very familiar with the food stalls there. Many of you have also tried the wontons and vegetarian noodles there. I believe many people think that the hot and sour rice noodles are more delicious."
"They can all make money by setting up stalls at the fair, so how can we lose money?"
"How can we give up the sideline group just because of one failure? Don't you want your children to have new clothes every year like the children in Xishan Village?"
At this moment, Zhang Wenxin exuded confidence and his voice was so sonorous and powerful that everyone could not take their eyes off him.
She paused for a moment, looked at the people in the front row one by one, and continued, "Our sideline business plan will not stop at the big market. We want people in Hai County, and even the whole province and the whole country, to see our seafood and know about our Haiyu Village. Don't you want that?"
Everyone stared at her in amazement.
"I want to!" Ge Tai responded in a deep voice.
Everyone came back to their senses, suddenly felt their blood boiling, and responded in unison: "Yes!"
The loud voice echoed throughout the threshing floor.
"Okay, now let's vote." There were two baskets in front of the old secretary. "Those who agree should throw their stones on the left, and those who disagree should throw their stones on the right."
Voting was done in queues, but the lines moved quickly.
The Ge family fully supported any choice made by Ge Tai. Everyone voted in favor, and the stones in the basket on the left gradually piled up into a small hill.
When it was the old bald man's turn, he snorted and yelled, "When we were growing kelp two years ago, they said it was a sure win, and we only paid off the money we owed last year! My family was against it!"
After saying that, he threw a handful of stones into the basket on the right.
Aunt Huang followed closely behind and echoed, "It's absolutely impossible to do it! Don't let us get into trouble and have to pay for it! My family is against it too!"
"We agree." Zhang Haimei and her two sisters refuted her words.
Aunt Huang slapped Zhang Haimei without saying a word, but Zhang Haimei grabbed her wrist and she was unable to move forward or backward.
Zhang Haimei asked her sister to pry open her other hand, take out three stones and throw them into the basket on the left.
"You three are really rebellious! I will teach you a lesson!" Aunt Huang roared.
"Everyone has the right to vote. Anyone who disrupts the voting process will have their work points deducted!" The old branch secretary stopped the farce with just one sentence, and the voting continued.
The old bald man, Aunt Huang and others tried hard to persuade the people at the back of the team, but to no avail.
The voting is over and the results are clear.
Aunt Huang and her friends gave up hope, and a group of old men and women sat on the ground and acted like a spoiled child, including Old Lady Yu.
There was no trace of Zhang Zhenhua and Yu Taohong was sent back home by the Zhang family. She had always been resentful of Yu Zhile and didn't want her to have an easy life.
"Okay, Wenxin, make note of those who object and exclude them from the sideline group. From now on, the profits and losses of the sideline group will have nothing to do with them!" said the old branch secretary angrily.
When Aunt Huang and others heard this, they immediately got up from the ground and brushed off the dust on their clothes.
The old bald man chuckled and said to the others, "When the time comes to pay the money, you will cry."
"Don't get involved if we're making money." Someone couldn't stand their expressions and retorted directly.
"Then we'll see. I'm waiting to see you make a lot of money." The old bald man said with contempt, and left the threshing ground with his head held high. He believed from the bottom of his heart that Yu Zhile and Zhang Wenxin would not be able to accomplish anything.
A group of people who shared his same bad habits followed him and left, leaving only Old Lady Yu on the ground. She crawled up dejectedly.
Because of the disturbance caused by the bald old man and others, the old branch secretary discussed with the village cadres and decided to separate the accounts of the sideline group from the village accounts, and first lend 20 yuan to the sideline group from the public bank.
After paying off the debt at the end of the year, the remaining money was distributed equally among the villagers according to their accounts.
With this, the Haiyu Village sideline business group was formally established, with Zhang Wenxin as the main person in charge and accountant of the sideline business group, Ge Tai in charge of delivery services, and Yu Zhile as the chef and in charge of cost control.
The first hurdle was overcome, but the three did not slack off and decided on the time and content of the next full-staff meeting.
After they separated, Ge Tai immediately took the deposit and went to Datao Village to customize a small clay pot and stove.
When I returned to the courtyard, it was already dark.
Dinner was simple, still rice porridge with two side dishes.
The mud snails were ready-made and could barely be considered a dish.
There was still a small amount of rice noodles at home. Tonight Zhou Yuesheng was the chef, and Yu Zhile was guiding him as he made a dish of fried noodles with sour bamboo shoots.
The sour, spicy, salty and fragrant fried noodles made everyone's appetite whet, and the porridge was also enjoyable.
Night slowly fell. As there was a lot to do today, Yu Zhile went back to his room early to rest.
The surveillance on the hillside continued, and Ning Tan knocked on the window of the west room.
Inside the house, Yu Chi was already fast asleep. Yu Yue got up and lit a candle. Zhou Yuesheng opened the window to let Ning Tan in.
Ning Tan supported himself with the corner of his clothes on the windowsill and easily climbed into the house.
The moment he saw Yu Yue, he was stunned and looked at Zhou Yuesheng.
"He knows everything." Zhou Yuesheng explained, moving the candle to the center of the square table.
The three of them each took a direction and looked at each other in silence.
After a long time, Zhou Yuesheng broke the silence and asked Ning Tan to explain clearly about Wu Sheng's injury.
Wu Sheng suffered a serious head injury and was thrown in front of the armed forces department at noon. He was still in a coma after being sent to the hospital for treatment.
"Do you think it's my sister?" Yu Yue asked directly.
Ning Tan didn't answer, but his expression was obvious.
He took out a cigarette box from his pocket, crushed a cigarette, and played with the lighter in his other hand but never lit it.
"Every time an enemy agent shows up, they go straight for my sister, drawing your attention. If you don't find out, they disappear or die."
"Are there really so many coincidences? Are they really that stupid, or is there someone behind the scenes manipulating everything, just to make you get rid of your comrades' orphans?"
“In fact, you have been trapped in the bureau.”
Yu Yue stared at the dancing flames and expressed his views.
Ning Tan still didn't say anything, but deep down he wasn't that opposed to Yu Yue's words. He just felt his mind was in a mess.
When Wu Sheng suddenly appeared, he had a hunch that Wu Sheng would be seriously injured or die within a week, and now the facts have confirmed his guess.
"Then how do you explain Yu Zhile's strange behavior? Is he sick?" he said in a bad tone.
Yu Yue and Zhou Yuesheng looked at each other.
The next second, Yu Yue stood up from the wheelchair.
"Your legs, it's impossible." Ning Tan's brows suddenly frowned.
Zhou Yuesheng said: "This is her secret."
Ning Tan was shocked, and the aftereffects were still there. Yu Yue and the others had already stepped beyond the chess game and reviewed the entire incident.
At this moment, Zhou Yuesheng was in a very complicated mood.
Everything was so coincidental that it was ridiculous, even crudely done, but every step was designed completely in accordance with their habitual thinking.
This means that the person playing chess has been lurking in the special forces for five years or more.
Ning Tan also realized this and looked unhappy.
The two of them were speechless.
After a long time, Yu Yue blew out the candle.
After leaving Haiyu Village, the two stopped tacitly.
"How did he cure his leg?" Ning Tan still lit a cigarette.
Zhou Yuesheng didn't want to reveal too much, so he let him finish smoking and continue to rush to Huaxi Village.
The two first arrived near Captain Du's house and found that the yard was brightly lit and they could faintly hear crying and shouting one after another.
"Twins, a boy and a girl."
"Single, boy."
The door of the house opened from time to time, and an old woman stuck her head out and called out in a low voice.
In the yard, a young man was holding a notebook and writing something down.
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